Camille and Mom Date

Trailblazer held a Cookies and Canvas night, so Camille and I got to go on a date night. It was lovely to have some special time with her, and she loved being with her friend Annie, too. It was a great night! 

 

4H End of Year Party

 It's not really an end of year party since we start again in a few weeks, but fair did finish so our club had a celebration. Because we have a future president of the United States, Anjanli Ruh, in our club, and she has an entire exhibit in the museum dedicated to her (she really is amazing- she's Times first ever Kid of the Year, and she deserves it), we had the celebration at the Colorado History Museum. This happens to be our favorite museum, and we got to see the basement of the museum which we had never seen before. Afterwards we got to go tour the museum. Pro tip: Go to the museum on a Saturday afternoon- it's empty!

The kids discovered that Camille makes a very handsome 1920s boy:

4H Results

 We went down to fair to see the girls 4H projects.

They all did awesome- I'm so proud of all of them! They all chose complicated projects. Camille was bummed because she got 3rd place (a result of choosing a hard pattern/project rather than keeping it simple with something like a pillowcase). Both Audra and Claire won 1st place and will go to state, and Claire won Reserve Grand Champion, which I think means she got 2nd for all sewing projects, which is a great accomplishment.

And just for fun:

4H Fair!

 It was a stressful week getting record books and Audra's project finished. But, we did it! Interviews were done, record books turned in, and I am so glad to have that crossed off the to-do list.

Camille made a skirt so she could add that to her record book accomplishments.

Audra made this cute tree skirt. We can't wait to use it this Christmas!

All three of the girls learned a new skill- applique. Thank you, YouTube!

Sew Day

 With a foot of snow outside, we hung out inside and did some sewing. Camille finished her sloth for fair, Claire worked on an apron and Audra worked on a skirt, both for trek.

Pajama Day

Camille won for "best dressed" at the 4H meeting. The theme was pajama day.

4-H Service

 For 4-H Audra, Claire, and I went to the Promise Ranch to do some service. Our first task was to build garden boxes. We (meaning the three of us, nobody else knew we were doing this) treated it like The Amazing Race- working together to fulfill the task and beat the other teams. Well, if it was The Amazing Race- we would have won! We followed the directions whereas others didn't, so we were able to complete the task quickly and without issue. It was great.

But, I did admit that I would have actually being on The Amazing Race and do tasks like this day in and day out. It's exhausting!

Sew Day!

 We got about a foot of snow, so Audra had no school! We knew the storm was coming and expected a day off, so I've been talking up a Sew Day for awhile.

Today we started on the girls' 4H projects: Baby Grogu, sloth, a tree skirt, and I am working on a fun Disney quilt- I'm calling it my "happy quilt."

Camille's fabric is super slippery. I said, "I know it's hard to work with, but isn't it beautiful?" and Camille said, "It's quickly becoming my worst nightmare."

We got a lot done, and the girls also had fun playing outside. It was freezing, so Audra and Claire didn't last long, but Camille stayed out with her neighbor friend for a couple of hours.

Chicago: Day 3

 On day 3 we hit the Museum of Science and Industry because that was built for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and I wanted to see it. We went to the Field Museum, then went on an architecture river cruise, and to see the Grant Park Fountain.

Museum of Science and Industry:

Field Museum:

Because of the marathon, we could not get a taxi from the museum back to downtown. We had about 5 taxis cancel because they couldn't get around. Finally, an Uber came, but the rules are you can't sit in the front seat. Knowing there really were no other options, we all climbed into the back. We really didn't have a choice. So, I sat on Steph's lap and we did buckle in. That's what sisters do when there is no choice.

We went to Portillo's for dinner- another Chicago institution. They are a hot dog place. I'm not a fan of hot dogs, but I was actually quite impressed as these really were quite good.

This is the face of someone who is VERY upset because they waited 20 minutes in line waiting for her chocolate cake to be ready, and the rest of us had finished their meal by the time she got hers:

Then, the moment we were waiting for: The architecture cruise.

At this point we were all pretty exhausted, so mom and Liss stayed at the hotel while Steph and I went to see this famous fountain. It was very pretty!