State Fair

Each year that the kids have been in 4-H, they’ve had at least one project selected to go to the Wyoming State Fair. Usually it is a matter of signing their projects over to the extension agent and then picking up the project and ribbons after she brings them back from the fair. This year, however, Twirly Girl was able to not only send the dress she had sewn to be judged (for which she earned a purple) but also go and participate in the state Style Revue.

Her judging time was scheduled for this past Friday morning so we were up with the sun to head to Douglas. Here she is after modeling her dress for the two judges for the junior division (we found out later she earned a blue ribbon):

After she had changed back into her regular clothes, we headed over to the fairgrounds to have a bite to eat and wander around awhile–the boys had asked Twirly Girl to see how their projects did at State Fair. Drama Boy’s project on bullets of the Civil War had earned a first place in that division, so that was exciting. We also picked up the Redheaded Cowgirl on our way east. . .now, what would you do if you had two carsick-prone little girls asking to go on the rides?

Thankfully they thought the carousel was a good idea too–and afterwards I bribed them away from the rides with ice cream. Chocolate Death. It was delicious. (You didn’t think I’d just watch them eat ice cream, did you?)

Twirly Girl had to return to the auditorium by 4pm for a rehearsal and then we ate the picnic supper we had brought outside. The Style Revue itself was at 7pm and while she did a good job of modeling her dress, the heat made it impossible to do anything but wish it was over already. And whether or not she wants to participate again remains to be seen. . .

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Week eight

This was our first full week of using the Institute for Excellence in Writing’s poetry program, and it’s actually gone much better than I thought it would. Imagine that! All five students have mastered the first two poems, both short and silly; as they gain experience and confidence in memorizing poetry, the selections grow longer and/or more serious.

Today I finished reading Little House in the Big Woods to Bouncy Boy and Silly Boy, and much as it pains me we’ll have to read something other than Little House on the Prairie next. The descriptive passages that I love so much are boring my action-packed boys. So. . .I’ll continue rereading the Little House series all by myself, and you can tune in next week to find out what I end up reading to the boys.

This was also our first week to study classical composers using this set. I wish I had these last year–they would have fit nicely with our history studies. Ah well! Being a chronological type, I started with Sebastian Bach, The Boy from Thuringia and plan to read only a chapter each week. I also used iTunes to make a Baroque playlist which has been our background music during school.

Twirly Girl was my procrastinator this week. While I am busy wrestling with teaching the little boys, she slips quietly into her room and. . .I’m not sure what she does. Reads? Cuts out paper dolls? Sorts beads? When I finally check on her, she scrambles to find her schoolbooks. So, she still has work left to finish this weekend.

Finally, all four middle kids met their reading goals for Book It in October. Hooray! I found it interesting that while Silly Boy has been ecstatic about reading Bob books all by himself, Bouncy Boy much prefers to listen to someone else reading chapter books. Boy Genius met his goal because he was finally old enough to read the last two Harry Potter books, and Twirly Girl. . .well, she always has her nose in a book.

Twirly talk #1

Yesterday it so happened that Twirly Girl went to the polls with Larry in the morning, and me in the afternoon–which meant she ended up sporting two FUTURE VOTER stickers. This led to my telling her about the voter corruption for which certain cities are known. And so, for the rest of the day, to anyone who would listen (including the dog) she proudly announced:

I’m from Chicago–I voted twice!