Summer means participation

Our church has hosted a jam festival for several years now for the community.  This year, for the first time, there was a "best berry dessert" contest and my granddaughter and daughter entered a strawberry pie.  They even went to the Farmer's market that morning to get the best fresh strawberries.  I heard they sampled a few in the process to make sure they got the best!

After fierce judging, their pie tied for first place!  They got a wonderful grape themed gift basket.  The cheeks on the little pie maker are full of yummy grapes.

 They compared their treasures with other winners.  I think Little pie maker  has a new hot chocolate mug.

 There were other events to participate in at the jam festival...smore making....

 a bounce house with a slide.  That would be Graypa partcipating with the grandmunchkins.  I took a few turns myself in the house and down the slide.  We participated in the Advil bottle that night too.

And then, before we knew it, the County Fair was upon us.  I've participated in one form or another since I was a young girl in the county fair.  My brothers raised pigs and showed them at the fair while my sister and I raised sheep to show and sell in the market lamb contest.  Today I do a different kind of participation and it was so much fun this year to take almost all of the grandmunchkins with us to the fair.  We never got to the rides and carnival part since there was so much to see and do and we all wore out.

 There were pumps to pump.

 There were tractors to try out, complete with making the proper tractor noise.

 There were reptiles to pet and see.

 There were shows to see.  Graypa had NO intention of participating but he was a good sport when he was called up from the audience.  I don't think the performer actually thought he would try and get up on the unicycle, but he did. 

 There were animals to pet and see. 

And then we headed over to the textile competion to see how we had done.  Blue ribbons, red ribbons, white ribbons!  We had a them all. 
Miss S entered a skirt and blouse she had made with her Great Grandmother's help.  She won two red ribbons!  She just entered a new level with much older girls competing in the same level so she did very well!

 Miss S entered a blanket in the special division and a hat.  A red and white ribbon.  The hat she entered competed against her older sister's hat. 

Our other daughter, home recooperating from having Mr. C, entered a scarf, hat, sweater, and vest.  A blue and red ribbon!

 I entered a lot of things this year, hoping to win the nifty needler award.  I didn't.  But I still won awards on most of what I entered, some blue, some red, and some white, and one judge's choice.  And best of all, all of the things I made are in use already!  The lady taking our things for entry told me some ladies work all year at making things for the fair so considering I work all year making things for the family and I had to "borrow" them back to enter in the fair because they were already being used, made me feel a bit better.

 All those ribbons and still not enough for the niftiest needler.  Wow, wonder how much the lady that won did?  There is always next year.

 And before we left, Great Grandpa actually got a hug from the littlest one.  A first!  Now we're off to participating in picking garden produce.

Turn out the lights...the parties are over!

It was great fun while it lasted but it was A lot to pile in just three days! Five birthdays in 2 days. Three days of go, go, go, party, party, party. Here is the birthday bunch...5 birthdays in 2 days! And we still haven't celebrated the three youngest birthdays. Good thing they're TWO since they won't remember that on their actual day they got a special breakfast and then...whoosh...it was off to celebrate Great Grandma's 75th.

We celebrated 7 years first. He's into army and camo and all that stuff right now. His Mommy is a great party planner and really does well with their cakes depending on what they are "into" at the time. So! Face paint, an army cake, and ammo party wear!

Ahem, his uncle is acting 7 years old in the picture! Or younger....

We next celebrated my Mom's 75th birthday! We went with a Mickey Mouse/Disney theme because you're never too old to love Mickey Mouse. And yes, she wore the ears all day!
Five of the six siblings gathered for the occasion which made the day even more special. They look pretty young and healthy to me!

And all of my siblings made it. I can't recall the last time we would have been able to get this picture or when it will happen again! We're a good group together...lots of laughs and poking fun at each other's foibles.

Blow out the candles on the Mickey icon cake designed and baked by my sister. She's an ebay aholic and found Mickey sprinkles and candle holders! 75 candles is a whole lot and it's good to have lots of help.

And only two years later we finally get a four generation picture!

I think one of the BEST property improvements we ever made was installing a play structure. It is well loved by all of our grandmunchkins and gives graypa and granddaughter fun times together.

And if two birthday parties in two days wasn't enough...throw in the Jam Festival! The 5th year our church has held this festival. There was sliding for the young....

and young at heart!

Face painting for the little 'uns....

and not so little 'uns! And this not so little 'un won one of the raffle baskets! It fits our family to a tee...it's a nut lovers basket and since we're a bunch of nuts it's perfect!

Are we done now?

I think so!

We're in a jam!

Jam Festival that is. It was the annual Jam Festival put on by our church for the community. 90+ degrees outside but pretty comfortable under the trees and tent. There was live music by three different bands, a magic show by Puckett Family Magic, a blow up obstacle course for the kiddies and some brave or crazy adults, hamburgers, hot dogs, all the picnic salads you can imagine, and fresh berries and ice cream for dessert. Another huge success! As big a turnout as last year, despite the heat. Here's the crowd glued to the Puckett Family Magic Show. They are really good and involve their whole family, Mom, Dad, and all 4 kiddos. The present the Gospel message clearly through their illusions. They've come out to our Awana program and this is their second appearance at the jam festival.

I "had" to go through the obstacle course in order to convince S that it really was fun. Once I went through it with her, she went on her own. The water down was pretty welcome in the heat. May have been part of the reason I went through the obstacle course. Or perhaps, at 50+, I'm not ready to give up on being a kid. Grandmunchkins are a good way to keep bringing out the kid in me or giving me an excuse to act like one.

My daughter in law let the kid lose in herself as well under the pretense of taking her kiddos through the course. Me thinks she was having as much fun as the kiddos!

That's J and Mom headin' down the slide. J said it was the best part of the course.

I didn't get pictures of the bands but their were three with a diverse music genre. There was a fiddler group, a Christian garage band, and a blues band. It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon and evening. Can't wait for next year. I should have 3 more grandmunchkins there to 'help' through the obstacle course.