July was an extremely busy month at our house as we prepared for the Pivot Country Fair - a place where the crafts, artwork, photography and baking that the kids had done for the past year could be displayed, judged, and if we were lucky, even win some prize money. Who wouldn't like prize money... So the kids filled their time preparing numerous exhibits!
They did some paint by numbers that I had picked up for a summer project...
They went through all their school projects from the past year and selected a few things that they could enter as exhibits. In school this year Melodee and Charity were both given the opportunity to make models of tee-pees. They did a great job and decided to enter them in the fair.
Myles spent a great deal of time and effort putting together a house out of popsicle sticks that he has painstakingly saved for several years now. He did an amazing job on it!
Breanna chose to sew a bag. She did a great job. I guided her as to giving instructions, but she did the work herself. Way to go Breanna!
And then there was the pinata projects!!! Every year for our family reunion, we always make sure to have a pinata to crack open. The girls decided to make them early this year so they could enter them in the fair. Breanna made Mike Wazowski off of Monsters Inc.. She did a great job of the project too.
Charity decided to design her pinata after Donald Duck. She creatively created his beak, wings and legs. She was pretty pleased with the results. I must say that this year our pinatas for the reunion are the most creative and lovingly created EVER!!!
Melodee also made a pinata. She chose to make an 'Angry Bird' designed after a currently popular computer game. She did a great job, and after going to so much work, decided that hers would remain a decoration because she didn't want it to be smashed to pieces in a pinata breaking game.
Naomi spent a fair bit of time working on her art. Beth also did an acrylic painting. They both entered the writing categories as well as a fair bit of photography.
When everyone was done entering the fair we had about 140 exhibits. That just shows how busy the kids kept in preparing for the fair. Most of it was done in the 2 weeks since school let out and there were moments when I felt like our house was a crazy house. It took a full 24 hours to label everything so that it was ready to be entered!
It has always fascinated me that when one has a deadline, great things can be accomplished. Yet, if we work toward a deadline consistently over a longer period of time, we actually have better results. This year I saw exhibits that were slapped together and also exhibits that received a lot of time and attention. Had we put as much effort into preparation throughout the year, instead of cramming it in to 2 weeks, we all would have done much better, felt more prepared, and more confident in our entries. I would have liked to enter several more items than I did, but there simply wasn't enough time for me because I was so busy helping my children prepare. Most of my entries consisted of the projects I had done through out the year. How thankful I am to be busy consistently - and not just when the stress is on. So much stress can be avoided by careful planning, and NEXT year, I plan to have my children more prepared for this event so we can enjoy it more fully!!!
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