Blue Ribbon County Fair

Well, County Fair week is over....all the hard work and more hard work that we, as a family, put into our show cows, and the projects made, are now behind us. 4H is such an amazing organization for children. Seeing their homemade projects and all the different animals that these children are a part of is truly inspiring!

Gunnar posing with Crimson and Clover

I will show different parts of the fair in upcoming posts, I wanted to start with their homemade projects.

I love sports and school sponsored clubs, but I think the opportunities that 4H and FFA gives is just as (if not more) rewarding, educational, and important.

Our 4H Club's project booth

First, these children learn the importance of hard work. (You should have seen my little man using all these BIG MAN tools...he will make a great Baileyhusband and daddy some day:)

Second, they are learning a craft that they would otherwise probably never do on their own. (And what kid wouldn't love to learn how to do home improvement....such a valuable skill if you ask me!:)

Third, these children have to go in front of a judge and show off what they have done and have someone critique it! What a humbling lesson that can be!

(I wont post a pic of any of the judges, to spare them the embarrassment, and I didn't get their permission)

We saw so many creative projects and have tons of ideas already written down for next year....
The different types of "projects" range from homemade goodies such as cookies, muffins, etc...to photography....to horticulture.....to woodworking....to painting, sewing, anything you can dream up! I took pictures of a few of my favorites that I saw this year:

This painting is of the 4 seasons....beautiful!

Would love to learn how to do this!

Made by melting crayons!? Awesome!

A little fairy garden in a beautiful container....so adorable!

These are what my children made this year....

Wyatt won a GOLD ribbon (the best a 4th grader can get) for his burlap message board

Our new tack box...yes, made by Wyatt! (with daddy's supervision)

Wyatt's garden gazing ball

Sierra's jewelry ladder

This ladder was made for her sister's dorm room, which will involve a lot of ZEBRA pattern, so Sierra made it black and white. I think it turned out really cool!

sunburst mirror

The sunburst mirror was a neat idea, in theory. She used paint sticks that were free from the hardware store and pre-cut mirrors from the craft store. Sierra asked her dad to get adhesive for her....she wanted a silicone caulking....he got mirror glue. Without going into detail, this is the best picture I have of it....one of the judges broke off a sun-ray and it went downhill from there :(  She did get a blue ribbon, however. 

Sierra's "Hunter's Breakfast" place setting

She had to come up with a meal plan, and show pictures of the meal using this place setting. This display case was not the best way to show this off....as a mama, I wanted to "fix it" before I took a picture, but I couldn't touch it! UGH! :)

What a fun, but exhausting week we had....I am so proud of all the 4H kids, I really wish more children got involved and took advantage of this awesome opportunity to build great life skills!

Throughout the week, I will be showing more of the activities from the County Fair!

Hope everyone stays indoors as much as possible this week.....icky sticky heat!!!
~Kim