Fair Week

Fair week is almost over! They both well in their cooking entries. J’s Cinnamon Coffee Cake got a red, but it was a bit dry, which we knew when we took it, but his Vanilla Chip Cherry Cookies got a state fair blue. He’s super excited about getting to make them for the state fair! T’s Snickers Cookies got a blue and his Apple Cinnamon Crumb Cake got a state fair blue (he isn’t old enough to take his to the state fair though.) as well a purple for his level of cooking. He gets to make it again and they will auction it off at the sale. Those of you that know T know what kind of anxiety this is causing him, but we keep telling him to just be proud and enjoy it.
I pretty much let the boys loose in the kitchen this year. J is an old pro and does really well in the kitchen usually. T did well too, it just took him a bit longer and we had to do his crumb cake twice. The recipe called for a 9 oz cake mix, he doubled it, and so I bought 2, but what I didn’t realize is I bought 2 18.5 cake mixes. He kept yelling to me that he didn’t think it was right, that it was really thick. It wasn’t till he was glopping it into the pans that I realized he was right. He followed the directions right…his mom just can’t read the recipe and buy the right ingredient amounts correctly!
We were really surprised when we went back in Wednesday evening to look at the rest of the things that hadn’t been judged yet when the boys left and saw that J’s pencil drawing in open class got a purple! He drew a picture of a bull, with the Burt brand, as well as a fence and hills. He has spent HOURS practicing drawing bulls, and even got a catalog for AI so he could look at all the different body types of bulls. I thought the picture was really good, but then again, I am a bit biased. Anyway, he, as well as his grandpa, were really happy!
Their woodworking projects did well, and so did J’s rocket. Woodworking is their “thing” they do all the time with their dad, and I am always surprised at how much they learn just by listening to him talk about things that he does at work. They pick up and learn things without even trying or realizing they are learning.
Anyway, J made a nightstand, because, well, he needed a nightstand and his mom and dad wouldn’t run down to Hatfield’s and just buy one for him. (The nerve of those people!) He made it from Cherry.
T made a small wall shelf out of cedar. He loves cedar and was a bit disappointed after he put his finish on and realized the smell was no longer there! I laughed when they were working on their plans. T’s shelf cost him a whopping $6 to make. Anyway, though it was a really small project, it was taken VERY seriously by him. T can get a bit anal about things!
We made cotton candy and sold it this year at the community carnival. It was a BLAST! We decided to do this a couple of months ago when I was trying to describe to my boys how its made and the joys of catching it with your tongue as it flies through the air as it’s being made…they had no idea. The boys and the Dunn boys made most of it, while I bagged it up. There were lots of laughs and sticky bodies, and I am afraid I’ll never get the stickiness from my carpet in that area, but I don’t think they will ever forget it!