Miss R & Cloverbud Creations

Fair this year for Miss R was a bit different.  She has been sick on and off over the past month and we needed to take it easy. But that didn't mean we missed out on taking her exhibits to the fair. 

Miss R is still a Cloverbud which means:
1. She gets to make whatever she wants, there are no project areas for her creations to fit in.

2. She doesn't have to write out the dreaded cards that must accompany all the exhibits, that's a fun killer.

3. She gets to interview all of her projects, not just a few as the 'Big 4-H' kids are limited to. 

     As you can imagine she had a lot of exciting stories to share with each of the precious projects she brought.  I think all in all she brought eleven.
4. She gets to pick the ribbon color she wants.  Her goal this year was to pick ribbons to match the project. I think towards the end, she just picked the color she liked the most. When it was all done, she had a mitt full of ribbons and a big smile to match! 

Here is a peak at a few projects she took this year.  Hopefully it will inspire you with your young children. 



I ordered her a wooden name cut out from Zulily and she decided to make it school colors. Painted it black and we added gold glitter.  Note that the project is still in the plastic bag, that glitter can get everywhere and we thought it was best to contain it at the fair, of course at home is a different story.  

The bowls are probably her favorite project.  I picked up the bowls at the church give away last fall. Last time I was in the big town, we picked up a 16 pack of sharpies. Nothing gets creative & organized kids more excited then a rainbow of sharpies. Miss R was instantly looking for ways to use them. It's easy to pull out the stencils and encourage her to make something special. I think she may give these as gifts to all of her friends for Christmas. 


She did her fair share of foam craft.  I find this is something easy for her to do that I don't have to supervise. This year she made a different snowman for each family member, including our new puppy, Cali. Well now it's official, if you have a foam piece, you're stuck with us.

 As I've said many times, the secret to getting 4-H projects done is working on them throughout the year. Miss R created this beautiful piece at her birthday party this year. It's her modern interpretation of golf. I think my golf game is the inspiration. Notice how the ball is not far off the tee, that's usually how far I hit it. 

A Cloverbud can't show livestock. So in her switch to being an official 4-H'er next year she will get to show. As we were watching her siblings show pigs the morning of the fair,  I said this will be you next year.  She said 'No, I"m not a pig showing girl'.  I said really?  She was quick to follow with 'No, I'm a beef girl.  I want to show heifers'. So, the prayers have began for her to be gifted with a mellow heifer to start her beef showing career out with. 

Memories of a Lifetime... Fair Recap

County Fair has come and gone in a flash.  Left in the wake are wonderful memories, many laughs and another successful year of accomplishments. We squeezed a lot into our small town fair.  It's not like many of you think a county fair is.  We don't have a carnival, we don't have venders that offer fair food or trinkets to buy, we don't have bands that play music.

What we do have is volunteers that make pies to sell as a fundraiser, we have kids that run wild with their friends laughing and enjoying the last drops of summer, we have good clean fun like kids doing gunny sack races.

The kids had an amazing fair. We were all very disappointed when the beef cattle project didn't work out this year. T's heifer was hurt early on and the focus was getting the heifer healthy, not a 4-H project. Miss O's heifer had an attitude and a will that made it impossible for a young girl to safely show the animal. So, for the first time the beef people didn't bring beef cattle to the fair. Let me tell you it was weird! We did have the pigs and it went well this year. No, major fights in the show ring and Miss R won Reserve Champ Market Hog. Best of all, we will have pork in the freezer soon!

I've had great feedback from my I'm NOT a Crazy 4-H Mom piece. Here is an update on our  projects.  I'm so proud of T and all he accomplished!  Our wood pile scavenging came together with a new end table, clothes hanger, and display base for his deer heads.  Thanks to our local carpentry shop the boards were plained and turned out amazing.  He's a creative boy and I really love how he can take his vision and with a bit of help make it happen. He's taking orders for the end tables if you would like one too.


Miss O had an outstanding fair. She spent every waking moment that was allowed at the event. She helped friends show goats,  had fun with a friend at the pet show, learned the value of a good interview and went home with 4 best of show's, 2 trophies and although she is totally exhausted, this may be the highlight of her summer.

 Miss R had to pace herself this year since of her sickness setback. She wasn't able to do extended activities. She filled her fair time with many memories. All of which is going to be in my next post. Believe me it deserves it own post...

My absolute favorite memory of this years fair, is this picture.  Dad sharing some solid advice with his son before going into the show ring.  That my friends is what it is all about.  Those tiny moments of sharing wisdom that stick with you for a life time.

I'm NOT one of those Crazy 4-H Moms

"I'm not one of those crazy 4-H moms"  I repeat that to myself many times a day as I look at this mess....

9 Days.. County Fair Crunch time has began at the Hadrick House! As you can tell by this picture there is still a lot to do.

There are 2 'Rules" I have when making 4-H projects. My kids like to create, they come from a long line of creators and I'm always looking for ways they can create.  So, I leave a lot up to them on what they want to make and that means picking their own colors, embellishments and encouraging them to make what they see in their mind.

My other 4-H project rule is that it has to be useful. I don't need junk around my house.  Let's face it, I don't spend a lot of time dusting and I don't need more stuff to collect it.

So, we make useful & creative things, can you find them in the picture...
Recycled cookie sheets- new chore charts painted with chalkboard paint.  Kids picked their colors and from the many old cookie sheets I've collected make their chore charts.

Deer head is being mounted on a recycled board from the old wood pile to display the boys last season kills.  T and I spent an hour a few weeks ago scavenging through the huge farm wood pile.  He took the old planks into our cabinet maker and asked him to plane them.  They turned out amazing and we're also hoping to get the end table done he has started...

The huge pickle jar I picked up from the church give away last fall- our new Fun Money jar. Miss O is going to stencil on it. She's picking the colors and letter stencils.

Oh see the candle holders- one cream and one teal... I got those from our on-line rummage site. I have to admit the teal one isn't what I had planned, but Miss O has a vision and I'm letting her run with it.  After all I can just paint it again when she's done with it.  Actually she can repaint it and use it in the recycled project area in if the future... Always thinking

See the copper dear head- Zulily find, the boy love hunting and this is a easy paintable item that adds to his room decor.  I typically have him spray paint, because who doesn't like to spray paint??  But for this item he is using some really cool metallic paint that we sell at my store.  I may have to find somewhere else to display it, because it is turning out really cool!

Don't forget the galvanized bucket at the end of the table...that's our new entertaining bucket for drinks or it might be the new towel holder for the basement bathroom guest towels.  Whatever the case, a stencil is being added in the color of Miss O's choice

Now we do have some projects complete... We don't save everything for the final week. The tubs and boxes hold the things we've worked on all year long. The painted frames we did at a fun paint class, pottery we did with the cousins in the big town, Tye Dye from bible school and the extension cords we did with the club.

Plus we have these cool boards with knobs on them for each child done.  Thanks in most part to my mother who came with her power tools.  I had the supplies, again a trip to the farm wood pile and the big town where each child picked the knobs that spoke to them.  These will be displayed in their room to hang important things on.

I'm sure there is more then that...

You know what I don't see in this box- the rockets, where Dear Lord did I put the rockets???

As a side note, Miss R is still a clover bud and with that comes freedom to create like no other! The State Fair 4-H rules do not apply to her and so her creations are a whole different blog post.  I may not get to it until after fair, but I promise to take pictures and have her commentary. 

Wish us Luck!  I didn't even get to the livestock... 2 pigs raised like cows and 2 heifers that are being pampered like I can only dream of.