Weekend Rewind

Hey hey hey!  Welcome to one of the greatest weeks of the whole year -- FAIR WEEK!!!  We LOVE the county fair at our house and it has officially started for 2015.  Going to be a busy week for us, lots of fair time, so don't worry if you don't hear from me a day or two this week. Now for the weekend rewind!

It all started with Friday, and Friday was HOT.  Luckily there was pool time in our plans!  The boys had their last swim lesson for the summer that morning. Andy came to watch, like he does for all of their 'last' lessons, then we went to lunch quick so we could rush back home to go to our local pool for the afternoon.  The boys are loving going to the local pool - they have their friends there to play with all afternoon and I think in the two times we've gone it's helped with their confidence in their swimming - awesome!  They have to keep up with their friends so they are pushing themselves just a tad more, love it!  Darn, why didn't we do this last summer?!?  And the word on the street is this small local pool won't be open again next summer - it just costs too much and they are already running in the red every summer.  What a bummer!!!  I hope this isn't true.

Friday night Aiden went to his 4-H mentor's to work with her sheep to get ready for this week's Clover Kids Sheep Mentoring program.  He's worked with Raigan 3 times now and they are ready for the show!  Friday night they washed Raigan's sheep and her dad sheared them.  While he was with the sheep we went to my aunt and uncle's place to pick sweet corn. It was so blazing hot still, and there was no breeze but we managed to pick three laundry baskets full to freeze.  To reward ourselves for our hard work we went to the local ice cream joint.  I got their new Peanut Butter Campfire Crunch.  Holy moly, girls, YUM!  It was the perfect amount of peanut butter flavor, plus had chocolate chunks and graham cracker crunchies in it - delicious!

We snacked on our treats on the way back home, picked up Aiden then set up around the wheelbarrow and shucked corn.  It took us about an hour, not too bad.

Saturday morning bright and early we were up and at 'em again.  We had a quick breakfast then Andy went out to set up the turkey fryer for boiling the corn.  That worked so slick!  We could blanch the corn 3 times faster with the fryer than in the big black canner I normally use.

Once I was able to cool the corn off I started cutting it off the cob.  That is my favorite part!  Well, after snacking on that delicious yellow gold while cutting it off, that is the BEST part!  And Tate would agree - I can't get him to eat corn, ever, but once he took his first bite I couldn't keep him out of my bowl!  I totally understand, Tater!

Once we had that mess cleaned up it was time to get ready for the fair!  Saturday was the day for judging non-livestock projects, and that includes Clover Kids projects!  The boys and I headed to the fairgrounds while Andy stayed home with Tate.  We got there a tad early but it was a good thing, they were starting the judging early!  The boys were numbers 10 and 11. Brennan was so darn nervous, poor thing.  I remember that feeling.  But when it was all done he said he had fun!  This is Aiden's last fair as a Clover Kid, in the Fall he'll be a full blown 4-H'er!

Look at these two handsome boys!

Happy 4-H'ers!

After we finished up at the fairgrounds we rushed back home to get ready for some friends coming over for the evening.  What was supposed to be a big party with a bunch of friends turned into a semi-quiet evening with 5 adults and 5 kids.  I made a ton of food but luckily because we nibbled and munched all night we didn't have too many leftovers.  There were jalapeno poppers, restaurant style salsa, bacon wrapped chicken bites, Chicken Lips dip, deer meat and chocolate sheet cake.  My friends brought puppy chow (heaven!), taco dip and sliced up apples.  A huge spread and none of us left with empty stomachs!

It was another hot day and night so the kids had some fun with water balloons, the sprinkler and slip n slide.  Our friends brought this super cool water balloon filler -- it fills the balloons, seals them and they are 100% biodegradable so you aren't finding little pieces of balloon in the yard for the next 2 weeks.  It worked so great!  I can't remember the name of it but they found it in a package with 3 sets of balloons at CVS Pharmacy for about $10.

I couldn't believe how slick that thing worked!  Definitely going to be keeping my eye out for these from now on!

Tate had a ton of fun with the sprinkler again - that boy loves getting sprayed!

The slip-n-slide is always a huge hit!

We had so much fun just hanging out with our friends - we don't see them often enough!

Sunday was yet another workday in the basement.  We made a run to Menards in the morning - on the list: doors (!!!), knobs, drywall mud/tape/etc, and misc.  We ended up grabbing some Arby's roast beef sandwiches to eat on the ride home - haven't had those for a long time!  They were pretty darn good!  Andy hung drywall all afternoon, I took a nap, the boys played, then we headed to my aunt and uncle's to pick some more corn - this time just stuff for eating.  We made a quick delivery to my in-laws with some of that, then came home to shuck it and cook some up for supper.  Something about having just corn on the cob for supper!  Yes, I got hungry about 2 hours later (ha ha!) but it is still fun to just munch on that delicious corn for the meal.  After supper, Andy headed back to the basement while I cleaned up the kitchen. The boys helped dry and put away the dishes I washed, Tate got into EVERYTHING, and then we sat on the couch to relax for the evening after showers.  It was a full day and a busy weekend, but those are the most fun, right?

Like I said, this week will be busy with the county fair.  Brennan and Andy are competing in the Lego competition, Aiden is showing a rabbit and sheep through the mentoring program, then add in to that the evening entertainment, which means late nights - we are going to be exhausted!  And I thought, why not add to the chaos and sign Aiden up for a golf camp in the mornings? So there's that, too!  Wish me luck!

Have a great week!