Photographers in the making

Kiley and August took a photography class this year through their 4-H club. They learned a lot about colors and subjects. They both have simple Kodak digital cameras. August is saving her money to buy a Canon SLR. We bought a refurbished one a few years ago for $400 less than the cost of a new one. We love our SLR, and haven’t had any problems with it.

Both girls submitted photographs to the County Fair this year. As you can see, the fair is kind of a big deal around here. It’s our 3^rd year entering stuff. It’s great for the kids. They get to see their work displayed, they are rewarded for their hard work with ribbons and prizes and they get free entry to the fair. This year they are working at the fair 4 different days. 3 of those days they will be working at the 4-H Cake booth and the other day they are working a fine arts booth where kids can make projects and take them home. The make-it-and-take-it booth is another area where they can win something for 100% attendance. We think friendly competition is a good thing. They learn to work hard to achieve their desired prize. We also think volunteer work is very important. All of their “working” is unpaid and simply just to give of themselves and their time. It creates selflessness and teaches them more responsibility.

Oh, sorry, got off track, back to the photography. Here are the pictures they submitted. Please take into account they are still learning. I’m curious to see where they place in the judging. The last picture was not submitted to the fair simply because we didn’t realize it was on her camera. It’s my favorite. I like it so much; I’m planning on taking it to have it printed onto canvas so I can hang it in our home.

Kiley took this on her cell phone by accident. She wanted to submit it just for fun. I'm curious to see what she gets. She titled it, "Starburst" 

This is Augusts, rule of 3rds photo. She titled it, "Paradise Trio"

This is the blue jay that lives in our backyard. August had a hard time getting a close enough shot of him.  She titled it, "Blue Jay on the Fence"

And this is the one I fell in love with. August took this while we were driving on a windy day, through the hills. I want this printed on canvas.  Maybe she can submit it next year.

This weekend is going to be another busy one. Happy Fathers Day to the dads. =)

Emily & Julia turned 6

Emily and Julia had their 6th birthday this week. They had their family and friends party today, it sure was fun. They wanted to have an, "Art Party". We decided to make all of the decorations ourselves and was it a lot of work, but it sure turned out cute.


This is their actual birthday. They wanted pizza for dinner and a strawberry chocolate cheesecake. Yum.

Opening the gift they received in the mail

Gifts from mom and dad. 

Emily loves to bake, she got some cookie baking stuff. 

Julia loves to help Daddy work. She got her own tool set and tool bag. 

August used her own money and bought the girls each a fish. They named them Oscar and John. 

The party is what they have been anticipating most for the past couple of months. We had a fun candy buffet and each of the kids took some home with them. Each kid was given an apron to wear and they had several different activities to choose from:

Create your own pom-pom animals; String a Fruit Loop necklace; Decorate a bookmark; Color some playdough and Face Painting. 

We did our best to stick to the rainbow colors or primary colors.

It was a very fun, tiring day.

Starting Back to School

We started back to school on the 15th. August and Kiley started 8th grade, Haley 6th grade and my little babies are big Kindergartner's now. Oh where has the time gone? I was nervous about our homeschool days and how it would go helping Kiley and August and also doing Kindergarten with the little ones, but it has worked out fine.

Julia and Emily in their new 1st day of school clothes, with their new binders.
Big sisters drew Mario Brothers characters for them. 

Kiley and August, 1st day of 8th grade, Pre Algebra

All set to work. They are learning to their whole names.

 They are using flour in a cookie sheet to help them learn to write the letters.

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August and Kiley are working on their Advanced Physical Science forces lesson.
They are building motorized electric racers.

Our first week back in school mode was tiring but exciting too. The girls were all ready to start learning again. I had an 8th grade reading list all ready to go; it included 20 different novels. Considering the public schools only read 4 a year, I figured 20 would be good. They have already read close to 5 of the books. I guess we will be expanding our list some. I have abandoned the text book thing this year, except for math. The books last year were so boring. We are doing a lot more reading with non fiction documentary books we find at the library. This provides a lot more detail into the things we are studying. 

Right now Kiley and August are learning about the Declaration of Independence. They have each chosen one of the signers and are researching and writing a report on that man. August chose John Adams and Kiley Chose John Hancock. Did you know that both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4th? Neato huh? 

Our little kitty Nora is doing well, she is growing so quickly. We are trying to get her litter box trained, which she does fairly well. I am using a small aluminum cake pan because she is much too small to get into a full size one. She is still drinking formula from a bottle but I'm hoping to get her eating real food by next week. She is having fun being a kitten and is very playful now. She's such a cutie. The other day her brother came over for a play date. They were playing together liked they missed one another. 

Nora and Chino

This is Garf our big boy checking out little Nora

It's late. I'll write more soon. Good night and God bless.

At the Fair

Just a quick check in and update. We've been pretty busy and I haven't had a chance to sit down for long to type. Our county fair opened up on Wednesday. We went down to see how the girls did with their entries.
I have a couple of pictures of August's entries I am posting. Kiley's art projects were posted up really high and I couldn't get a good shot. She received 2nd place ribbons for all of her art projects. August received 3rd place ribbons for two of her art projects and for her quilting project, 2nd place ribbon for her table setting and a 1st place ribbon and Best of Class ribbon for her tempera closeup animal painting. They were very happy with their accomplishments. I'm so proud of them.

We skipped he rides at the fair and stuck to the free stuff. We are going back again in a week so the girls can work at the cake booth.

August's Tablesetting "A Very Berry Brunch"

August's quilting

Tempera Painting

Petting zoo

The little girls got their hair curled with a "special" $125 curling iron. I did not buy it.