Delivering Love

I've mentioned before that we really enjoy visiting the nursing home with our 4-H group. Some of the homeschoolers of our club visit one of the nursing homes during the school day. The kids like making cards and visiting with the residents. Before we went for Valentine's Day, Henry said "I know when we go to the nursing home they gonna kiss me. They like to kiss me and hug me." Henry frequently finds himself on the receiving end of a smooch on the cheek. I love that he isn't bothered by it in the least.

The kids take a bit of a divide and conquer approach and travel down the halls. We're definitely "organized chaos" as getting preschoolers to do anything in a methodical manner is hard,  but we get the job done. 

This was Felicity's first trip and she and Liberty got lots of attention. The three of us often fell behind because residents and nurses alike wanted to see the babies. 

Towards the end of the visit at the first and largest nursing home, I let Liberty out of the stroller and she insisted on carrying a bag of cards like the big kids. The bag was nearly as tall as she is but she wouldn't allow anyone to assist her.

Later that afternoon, we met up with some more 4-H members and visited two more nursing homes. The other facilities are smaller and we get our visiting done much faster.

Visiting the Nursing Home

Before Christmas, we visited the local nursing home with our 4-H club. Our club does a lot of community service but I try not to miss the nursing home visits.

So many children are afraid of the elderly and I love that my children freely give them hugs.

When we arrived at the nursing home, Mrs. Jennifer had hats and my younger kids grabbed them up.

In the weeks before the visit we made cards. We took the cards along with some candy and passed them out to the residents.

The kids grouped into pairs and entered the rooms. The residents seemed to really enjoy the "Erry Tismus!" greeting they received.

Christmas is a Comin'

Last week we attended the annual Christmas parade. Our older children were on the 4-H float so we headed downtown with the littles to enjoy the show. Please forgive Mary Claire's ragamuffin appearance, she seems to enjoy pulling the rubber bands out of her hair and of course, I couldn't find them in the dark.

Because the Christmas parade is at Christmas time and in the dark, it's normally quite cold. We always park near the end of the route and watch from the van. The kids don't get much candy parked there but most of the  floats have diminished their supply by the time they get to the end anyway. We made two exceptions to sitting in the car. The first was Henry and Mary Claire insisted they needed to go see Miss. Arkansas Rice, Jenna. Jenna is in our 4-H group and our younger kids adore her. They search the local paper each week for pictures of Jenna.

The other exception was the Soaring Eagles 4-H float. Our poor group had a rough go on getting in the parade. First the trailer they planned to use was unavailable (due to rescheduling the parade because of snow and ice). Next, the tractor had a flat happen while they were sitting in line. Thankfully,  the man with the tractor ran to his farm and secured another trailer and pulled it with his pick up. They had to resort to plan C but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Happy Thanksgiving!

* I meant to post this Wednesday so you can pretend that I'm not always running way behind. ;-)

 

Our 4-H club frequently visits area nursing homes. This is one of our favorite activities in which to  participate. We were also really glad to get to include Christopher in our fun.

The nursing homes have small aviaries and the kids love to watch the birds. They wanted their picture made with the pretty birds.

 

The kids make homemade cards to hand out to the residents and staff. The kiddos also enjoy the card making party we have. Madisyn and I do most of the writing and the younger kids really get into decorating them.

 

This little turkey loves to talk to anyone. She and Henry will even enter rooms by themselves to holler "Happy Tanksgivin".

 

We have a great group of 4-Hers. I love how involved they are in the community.

 

The second nursing home we visited is more of an assisted living facility. One of the ladies started reading the card she was given and my little ones and Christopher flocked to her like she was about to read the best storybook ever.

 

Later the same evening we were able to attend a grant ceremony where our club was awarded $1250 to use in our community service projects!

The next day we visited another nursing home and were able to take Christopher with us. The kids are loving that they have a cousin that lives close.

 

Bowling Is Right Up Our Alley

Back in May we participated in a "School's Out" bowling party with 4-H. We had trouble locating my camera so I borrowed Madisyn's camera. Some how the memory card was misplaced and we just found it! I'm so glad, as it held the only pictures of most of the kids first bowling trip and Henry's Birthday.

Our older children had been bowling before but the last time we went as a family, Ben wasn't a year old yet! Needless to say, they were able to participate much more this time.

We were very thankful that the bowling alley placed bumpers in the gutters. This made the game much for fun. The 7 and under crew played on the bumper lane and the rest of us played on the other lane.

Daddy was able to join us and he was a great coach! The ball was nearly as big as Henry and Mary Claire but they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Even Libby enjoyed the family time!

Big sisters make everything more fun!

The little girls only made it through one game but the rest of us played two! Kent and I took turns holding little people, bowling our frames and helping the middle kids. We were worn out by the time we were done!

We had a great time bowling. It's amazing how much more enjoyable it is to bowl since smoking has been banned. We look forward to more family times at the bowling alley.

The Results Are In

We visited the fair after the judging to check out the results. Madisyn was pleasantly surprised to learn that her pen of chickens were awarded Reserve Champion.

We were a little disappointed that her pillow didn't get a blue ribbon and was turned around backwards. The rest of her items did well.

When we picked up our items we found out that Madisyn was awarded a John Deere cooler for her Reserve Champion chickens. She entered the most items in the fair of our children. She had several blue ribbons and a few red ribbons.

Griffin's pen of chickens were awarded a blue ribbon. The larger chickens next to his pen were the Best of Show.

This was Griffin's first year to enter the fair. He did really well.

Three of his items, including his painting, received blue ribbons. He was also awarded a chicken feeder for his blue ribbon chickens.

Ty's chickens also received a blue ribbon and a feeder.

Ty had several blue ribbons as well and was pretty excited to see his crafts displayed.

Ty had a very good showing in the fair and is looking forward to next year.

Ben was a little disappointed that his chickens didn't get a pretty ribbon like Madisyn's. He did get a blue ribbon for his pen of three.

This was also Ben's first year to show in the fair and he is already looking forward to entering more next year.

Ben's items received 24 points all together and is very proud of his ribbons.

Carpentry is For the Birds

The kids were so excited when Mrs. Jennifer {and Mr. Dennis} gifted them with pre-cut pieces to make birdhouses. We had them for about a week before I found an opportunity to put them together and heard many requests to complete them now during that time.

Other than helping hold a few pieces while they drilled, the kids completed the entire project on their own. I have to admit, letting them have free rain to do projects as they please is a bit hard on this perfectionist mama. However, I have been really pleased with how much they've learned. If only the desire to clean up was a great as the desire to create, life would be perfect! :-)

I'm not sure which part they enjoyed the most, using Daddy's drill or playing in Mommy's paint. They assembled the houses and then set to sanding.

Once they sanding was done, the part I like best came next. It was really neat to see what they each come up with. Since they were planning to enter the birdhouses in the fair, I did lay a few ground rules like no names or auction company logos. Ben got past me and may have autographed his a few times before submitting it to the fair.

I'm not sure what look Ty was originally going for but his final design looked like a barn, complete with an "X" front door.

Madisyn gave her birdhouse a funky boutique look and it turned out to be really cute. We'll have to see if the judges like it as much as I'm sure our feathered friends will.