Pepper Paints

The Ohio State Fair

Note the “Theeeee” at the beginning of most everything in Columbus, maybe all of Ohio.  It’s not the it’s theeee.

The Fair is almost a national holiday at my house, although with my kids getting older, not as much this year.  Molly usually has a count down going about 2 weeks prior to the it’s arrival.  Every year we go the Fair, early in the morning until late at night.   We spend too much money on wristbands and admission.   We pack a lot of food and drinks that mostly don’t get eaten.  My kids ride rides the whole day.

I don’t.

I follow them around trying to find an inch of shade to stand in, watching all the different people walk by.

And yell things like, “Hey did you plan that?”  Not really.

I complain about not spending time looking at he “fair” side of the fair and not just the midway.  They appease me by quickly walking through the Fine Arts Building

(And look what I saw!!!)

and The Ag building-mostly because they have to use the bathroom.  I think they have looked at the animals a couple of times over the years.  This year Jake and I walked off so I cold take some photos and look at a few real fair attractions.

The sun started to finally go down,

we loaded crabby, overtired kids and most of our food back in the van for a car ride home of screaming, yelling and crying of the volume 10 type.  Add to it blaring music from the boys up front so THEY didn’t have to listen to all that, “whining and carrying on ” in the back.   So I sat stoically in between two sets of  guttural cries of, “We didn’t get to ride the …” and “Take me back, I want to play that game.”    After throwing them separately into the shower and into bed, I too fell into a deep needed sleep.

Today we are moving slowly-although I have much to do.  They are reminiscing this years day at the fair as if it were one of the best so far..ugh!  Glad it is a happy memory for them and I am sure by next year I will once again forget the year before, as I do every year.

Clay/Dough

Today we made a clay/dough that can be baked or air dried.

Mix together 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt , 2 Tablespoon of oil and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cold water.

We used this dough to make a few beads among other things.

We rolled the beads and then gently threaded them onto skewers and laid them on a foil lined tray.

We baked them at 300 degrees for almost an hour. bake until they are hard.

After they cooled we painted them with acrylic paints.

Once the paint dries you can put a coat of clear shellac or acrylic.

Molly also made a small box to hold her beads.

These can also be air dried for 48hrs.

A funny story about these beads:  when Jake was little and we made these, he walked out the back door to get into the car and our stupid dog-not our smart dog-jumped up and ate the beads right off of Jakes neck.  I drove around for years with a half strung necklace of those beads in my ashtray waiting to be fixed.  Moral of that story I guess is keep these beads away from your dumb dogs as they are sure to think they are treats.  But your smart dogs will know better!  Or at least they will wait till your not looking.

Dirty Beach and Dirty Mouths

This is the first summer in the past several that we have not spent a whole week camping at Delaware State Park.  Last night we camped just for the night while Jake went to a Birthday party of one of  his best friends  near by.   I spread the moth broth on a nearby tree.  Later when I checked there were several moths visiting but I thought I would wait until the girls were with me to take photos.  Bad idea-after returning from watching Lilo & Stitch drive-in style  we excitedly checked again-nothing!  But this morning I did find this guy outside the bath house

not such a good shot…but he was big!  Side note-the bucket of moth broth was hijacked into the woods by some raccoons.  Yes, the whole bucket was gone this morning.  There must of been some party going on in those bushes!

I love this park.  There is so much to do here; hiking, fishing and it is really big.  Today we went for a bike ride.

And of course there is always the beach.  I use this term very loosely… as  well this is the best we got here in the middle of Ohio..and it aint much! But my kids love it.

The photos make this place look pretty good-buyer beware!  Litter everywhere, duck poop everywhere, cigarette butts and foul language everywhere.  And not your regular old potty talk.  Lord knows I can keep up with the best of them!  But, grown men calling their friends  pussy in front of theirs as well as everyone else’s kids.  I sort of draw the line with that and the “C” word!  The sand is granulated dirt and the water is muddy green color.  Sounds great huh?

And there were these creepy crawly things EVERYWHERE!  Anyone know what these are?

It was a lot of packing up and unpacking for one night but all in all it was fun and glad we got to get away for the night!

This week Molly is attending camp at a craft museum as she has for the past several summers.  It is only 1/2 a day so I am hoping  to find some time for a few activities at home too.  Stay tuned.

Success

KidzArtz was a huge success! Fun was had by all!!

And this piece of Molly’s even sold. It really was a wonderful day.

More soon-now off to a baseball game.

Found my Backbone

The unschooler in me has left the building.  At least for  few days.  I don’t make a habit of forcing my kids to do too much.  They usually have a compelling reason if I give their side consideration.  But Molly has several craft projects started ,very few finished and is signed up as a vendor for KidzArtz on Saturday.  Her cousin is in town visiting for the week and the fun is calling her away.  I was a bitch and said “No.”  I told her she needed to finish a few things this afternoon before she could go visiting.  Maybe I should let the natural consequence of disappointment be my guide.  But I decided -not this time.  I think I the consequence of follow-through and commitment are the route we will be taking this week.  Go me!

So today was a day of crafting.  Molly spent a good part of the day at the sewing machine.  They did some painting…

some dumping and cooking…

Too hot to cook…so egg salad is is on the menu…

But not for me!!  I am going OUT for free Wifi and ladies night..woohoo!

And come to think of it…I actually I used my spine 1 1/2 times in the last 24hrs.  Yesterday we found 2 kittens outside our library.  The animal lover (sucker) that I am took the babies home..just until we decided what to do with them.  I never really wanted 2 more cats!!  But of course my kids were crying and making lots of promises.  I couldn’t make a decision…so my husband came home made a few phone calls and asked me what I thought and I said, “Take them away”  I had a very upset 9 yr old girl for many hours and thought I was a horrible parent, cuz they can guilt me real easy like that!!  But not a mention was made today of those kittens-I am so glad we didn’t keep them!!-So there is my 1/2 a spine story.

Oh my-I was upgraded and now I  have no spell check…Dawn??

COSI and Watercolors

It has been really nice to spend some alone time with Ginger this week while the big kids are at Circus Camp. This morning we went to COSI. Ginger loves to spend time in Kids Space but when we are there as a family she always seems to get short changed on her time there. Not five minutes after we arrived she was pretty much soaking wet from playing in “OCEAN”.

I hadn’t brought a change of clothes but suggested we head to the bathroom to dry off with the hand dryer.

That was good enough for her and off to Kids Space we headed for the remainder of our visit.   Thank goodness for easy going kids- so much more adaptable than my other two kids. I can take no credit for that personality trait-that’s all from her Daddy!!

This evening we worked on some watercolors and followed this tutorial that I have had book marked forever. I love some of the other projects on this sight as well! Molly ended up spending the night at a friends so we will definitely have to do this activity again when she is around; which is fine with both Ginger and I. We never seem to tire of watercolors!

Tired and titleless

Life has been busy around here even with out the daily crafty activities.  My big kids are at Circus Camp this week from 9-3:30.  Being anywhere by 9 AM is really early in this family.  We are all dragging around -partly from the early rising, the long days,  swimming at the pool,the driving around and the heat and humidity.   Jake will continue Circus next week too, but during evening hours, thank goodness.  Maybe some energy will return!

Molly has been busy getting ready to sell and exhibit at KidzArtz .  She has several projects in need of finishing touches all over the house.  If you are local, there is still time to sign up to participate!   Ginger and I have had a few playdates at the pool and I have gotten nothing done in the house.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow!  Here is a what some of the past few days have looked like…

Jake spray painted his bike -the whole bike-with chrome spray paint.

My daredevil son-

You have to notice that she was sticking her tongue out at me to fully appreciate this one!

Here they are stretching out at the end of the day.