The Mountain State Fair: Winning Ribbons

Today was the day the boys got to pick up their fair entries and see the results up close! They were really excited! So here are a bunch of pictures of them with their ribbons. They were so, so proud of their achievement and so am I!

Cohen won 3rd place for his Christmas ornament, 2nd for his yeast bread, and first for his pie, cupcakes and cookies. His chocolate chip cookies also received a large Judge's choice ribbon (he was really proud of that big rosette!)

Cale won 2nd for his peacock, tempra painting, and his decorated cupcakes. He placed first with his soft pretzels, fudge and metal craft. His panda bear cupcakes also received a Judge's Choice rosette!

Rylan placed 3rd with his dried basil and his cheesecake. He got 2nd place for his banana peppers, oil pastel drawing and garlic bread sticks. His black and white flower photograph and decorated cupcakes came in first. Last year he made flower cupcakes and they placed first and received Best of Show. He made the same design this year and came in first and Best of Show again. He was really excited to see that ribbon again!

 This year Lakin was finally able to take part in the fair in the participation section. He received 3 ribbons (and $3) for his great projects. He worked hard right along with everyone else and I am happy he was finally able to take part.

 Now I have 10 framed art pieces to hang up in the stairwell and shelf space to find for all of their other pieces. They immediately decorated their walls with their prize ribbons, Rylan added his current ones to last years. They already are making plans for what to enter next year!

Have your kids ever entered projects into the county or state fair? I highly recommend the experience!

TN Valley Fair Culinary Arts Wrap-Up

Tomorrow is the drop off day for the Culinary Arts contest. I am not exactly sure why I agreed to let them enter so many categories. But here is a run down of my boys' creations for the fair.

First off we have decorated cookies- all 3 of my older boys entered this category...

Rylan's leaves

Cale's hummingbirds and owls

Cohen's gingerbread men and Christmas trees

Then on to cupcakes....again all 3 entered this category. I really liked how all of these turned out.

Rylan did the red dahlias
Cale did the green monsters
and
Cohen did the turkeys

On we go....anyone want to come eat dessert at my house?

Brownies- yeah....all 3 again.

Rylan's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies (REALLY good)

Cohen's Mint Chocolate Brownies

and Cale's Marshmallow Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies. My chocolate lover was in heaven while tasting these.

Rylan also entered other categories.

Trail Mix

and Any Other Cookie.
He chose Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (my favorite)

And Cale entered one more...cereal squares.
He chose to make Hot Chocolate Krispies.

And that was 2 days of A LOT of baking. Good thing is that this year the boys are much more independent in the kitchen. I didn't have to do too much helping at all. But I did wash my mixing bowl more times than I cared to.

Now to pack up a lot of the left overs so I can get them OUT of the house tomorrow.

Tn Valley Fair Entry Wrap-Up

The boys wanted to enter the Youth Show again this year. So they've been working hard the past couple weeks finishing up their entries.

Here are their drawing and painting entries:

(from L to R : Rylan, Cohen, Cale)

They each made a Christmas Ornament:

Rylan:Cohen:

Cale:
And up there with Cale's egg snowman is his "any other craft" item. A duct tape bag. Rylan made a pillow:
And Cohen made a wallet.
Cale and Cohen both entered the recycled item category. They both made things out of plastic grocery bags and newspaper. Cohen's pumpkin (shown above) and Cale's 'scarecrow'
They all entered the Holiday Decoration category too. Rylan's Halloween candy container:
And Cohen's Lollipop Rabbit for Easter.
I feel bad that Cale didn't get to do his. He's had a picture taped up on his wall for nearly a year now. He saw it just after last year's fair and intended to do it for this year. It was a bear made out of little pumpkins. But there are no pumpkins and gourds in the stores yet.

Cale's final 2 entries were Paper and Jewelry. Here's what he made:
Cohen's last item was something out of clay. He made a little clay owl:

And Rylan made this birdhouse out of Legos:

Tomorrow is drop-off day! Then they can move on to collecting recipes for the Junior Bakers competition in the Culinary Arts contest.