The Results!!!

Category: Derelict Footwear

Forty-five minutes to grab as many pictures as possible of the items on our scavenger hunt list. Two teams.  Two phones.  Off we went to discover as much as we could at the Sherburne County Fair.

Category: Mommy or A's ribbon winning item

Category: Most Unique Lego Project

Category: Sitting at the Sherburne Fair History Building

Category: Someone you know.  We know these sheep. They are owned by good friends from church.  Great job on the Purple ribbons!

Category: A fish

Category: Mommy or A's ribbon winning item

Category: Milkshake booth

Category: Something carved from a chainsaw....that's 'You-know-who' on the log!

TWO categories!: A wrecked car, A classic car

Category: Favorite 4-H project

Category: Weirdest Artwork

Category: A person with a four-legged animal

THE RESULTS:

A and Mommy worked together looking for the items on our list.  We were doing pretty good for a while until we came to the Open Class building.  Since we both entered items into the exhibit, we got severely side-tracked looking for all our items to see if they had prize ribbons on them.  We were pleased to see several winning ribbons on our items.  L, my lovely blondie, was off on her own finding the items.  She worked so hard and did not slow down.  I am happy to report that L, my lovely blondie, WON the photo scavenger hunt hands down.

Fair Time!

Today we plan to check out the Sherburne County Fair.  We will see if A or Mommy won any ribbons for our open class entries.  For our Summer Vacation Grab Bag the girls drew a Photo Scavenger Hunt out of the bag.  So, we will combine the Fair and a Scavenger Hunt into ONE! 
Here's THE LIST:

Photo Scavenger Hunt at the Sherburne County Fair

>Milkshake Booth

>A person with a four-legged animal

>Petting an animal at the petting barn

>Someone you know

>Derelict footwear

>Mom or Amy’s ribbon winning item

>Purple ribbon winning item

>A homemade item in a jar

>Weirdest artwork in the art display

>Favorite 4-H project

>In front of a food vendor advertising something crazy or different

>Something carved by a chain saw

>An alpaca

>Largest tractor

>A classic car

>A military veteran 

>Most unique lego project

>A wrecked car

>A fish

>Yourself sitting at the history of the Sherburne County Fair building

>A miniature

Wish us luck!!!

Summer Vacation Staycation by A & Mommy

Well, since PJ, G, and L are off in the wild blue yonder, we decided to make a SUMMER VACATION GRAB BAG.  Every night we will draw a slip from the bag that tells an activity that we can do.  Today's activity was "Write a blog post on the blog," so here we are.  

When Mommy asked me what we should write about, I said, "Camp!"  I am going to camp this Sunday.  I am so excited, and it is SOOOO hard to be patient.  When we asked Daddy, he said, "We should write about which type of motorcycle is the best."  We just laughed.  Mom wanted to write about our county fair entries and how she has been spending hours online trying to find good curriculums for her third and fourth grade class this fall.  We decided to write about our summer staycation.  

Today, Mommy and I picked beans from the garden and talked about if Mom should use her hardly-grown beets or hardly-grown carrots for the county fair division, "Smallest Vegetable in Show."

 Mom's also going to enter some of her AMAZING strawberry-rhubarb jam and her sauerkraut (I personally think sauerkraut is gross).

I made a doll crazy quilt for the county fair.  Umm...I made a lot of other entries, BUT, I decided not to take a picture of them.

Mom and I made cinnamon-raisin-oatmeal bread today. It's STUPENDOUS!  In the first picture, I was saying through my teeth, "This bread is getting really hot on my hands!"  Then I started to cut with an electric knife that I personally think sounds like a chainsaw!

That's all for now! -the Youngest Child and her mom

What Makes You Happy?

The bright sun rays broke in through the windows of the sunroom and onto our feet.  Several ladies sat in Mrs. Anderson's home sharing God's word and a lovely tea party together.  When asked the question: What gives you joy? several seasoned women answered, "children" or "babies."  These answers never left me as I pondered this time together in that sunroom years ago.  My children were still babes, all under ten years old.  Though they did truly fill me with joy, I couldn't recognize that at the time because my emotions centered more on exasperated, down, and can't-wait-till-they-grow-up-so-I-can-get-some-sleep feelings.  Women who have lived a long time see this joy more clearly.


The question on the YMCA whiteboard this week asked "What makes you the most happy? What makes you smile?"  Very quickly my thoughts focused on this simple answer:
My children.  They make me laugh, make me cry out to God for help, make me wonder how I will answer their profound thoughts, make me smile with pride, make me experience life at a greater level, make me truly enjoy pre-teens and teenagers, make me panic sometimes, make me cry, make me want to tear out my hair, make me dance, make me so thankful.  I love Gretchen, Peter John, Lizzy, and Amy.  My amazing children.

{Easter Sunday Best}

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 
Psalm 127:3

photo courtesy of G

photo courtesy of PJ

 

G and Horton, photo courtesy of PJ

Easter Sunday 2018

photo courtesy of PJ

photo courtesy of PJ

photo courtesy of PJ

Gotta get the CRAZY one in!

Wait, Where in the World is Ethan?

On this cold November day, Ethan is comfortably situated in northeast Tanzania near Kenya. After four days of travel, I should hope so! Taking one day longer than planned, the team arrived safely, and are, Lord willing, setting out to do their jobs in this underserved area. They will be teaching in a college and hope to encourage the Church by training her leaders.

Meanwhile, my son is working on his driver's education class, parent-teacher conferences all went well, and I am recovering from laryngitis. We have begun winter here in central Minnesota, but the red oak leaves and green linden leaves are still clinging to the trees. 

My youngest two daughters play violin in an orchestra in Princeton, MN.  We are so blessed to have a wonderful string teacher who hails from Chicagoland and taught in Germany. My oldest daughter keeps laboring over her junior year classes, including two college-level classes.  Such a hard worker. 

I would like to say with Martin Luther: My conscience is captive to the Word of God.  The words of God are more precious than gold or silver, and sweeter than honey (from Psalm 119).  It really is the constant thing in my life, though I waiver emotionally and in my faith in Christ.  I know God will ever be faithful to His words and that He can be trusted. 

Happy Birthday to this big guy on Friday.

Lots of love, Elysia

Borshch, Bambi's Mother, & Butterflies

Peter John Captured this Beautiful Swallowtail Butterfly on the Zinnias

Cabbage and Kale

Cucumber Plant

Sunflowers & Zinnias

Is this the doing of Bambi's Mother??

Larisa's Borshch Recipe in the Works

"Mom's Cooking, Yum!" exclaims Lizzy. "I love pink soup!" says Amy. The pink color comes from the beets cooked in, and sour cream added at the table.