Turn a Kid Loose at a Holstein Auction, Guess What You Get

We spent our rainy, northern California Friday night at the annual Redwood Holstein Association fund raiser sale.  Fortunately there were space heaters scattered throughout the show ring, because it was cold.

I just found out that the Holstein Association allows kids {young ones} to show in their shows, in 4H a child needs to be 8 to show a large animal.  I was happy to see that both Paige and Bryce were interested in doing this.  Maybe it helps by watching their older friend, Alex, walking the calves out for the sale.

And their friend, Frankie.

At the sale, calves are not the only thing up for auction. 

Raise your hand for semen!  And Bryce did {he's 6, if you're new here}.  He bought 10 units of semen out of the Holstein bull, 'Detroit' from Alta Genetics.  The kid loves buying things.....anything apparently.

Bryce says, "What did I just buy?"

"Semen" I answer.

"Can I buy more?!"

"No, that's enough" I say.

Logan {sitting next to Bryce} asks, "What's semen?"

"It's what is going to make a cow pregnant." I answer and she seemed satisfied with that.....thankfully.

The things one learns at a Holstein sale!

Where's Waldo Bryce?  He loves trying to sneak into every photo I take.

Oh, and there was one random Jersey calf sold last night also.

Another highlight, and the thing the kids remembered from last year is the Sundae Bar where they can order up an ice cream sundae to their liking.

To finish off the evening, it's always fun to play in a bunch of shavings.

Time to shake them off and put them to bed.

What did you do on your Friday night?

Related post: "What happens when you turn a 6 year old loose at an FFA Cake Auction?"


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Shopping for Kids at the Hardware Store

The other day on our drive up to my parent's house, we made what was supposed to be a quick stop at the hardware store to buy a battery operated fence charger for my horse's paddock.  Bryce is my shopper.  When I told him we were stopping at a store, he immediately asked if he could bring his wallet and buy something.

"Yes, you can, but do you realize that we're not going to Target?"  I said.

"Yes, Mom.  I want to buy something"  he answers.

"Well, if you see something you can't live without, and you have enough money to pay for it, you can buy it."

Well, I knew very well that he would for sure find something he couldn't live without.  He always does.

First Bryce helped Paige pick something out that she couldn't live without.  When they spotted the funnels, they thought these would make the perfect sandbox toys.  Perfect, they were only 99 cents. 

Paige also spotted some contractor's chalk that she couldn't leave the store without.  They didn't have pink so she settled on white.  She also wanted to buy an axe, but I put the kibosh on that thought right away.

Forty-five minutes later, Bryce ultimately decided on big, blue flashlight for $6.99, battery included.  Another one he can add to his collection of flashlights.  What is it with kids and flashlights?  Isn't one enough?  Since Paige didn't own a flashlight of her own, she was allowed to pick one out as well.

I must say, it was fun shopping with the kids at the hardware store.  You can get really creative and I think it might be less expensive than shopping at Target.

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Raise Your Hand For Cotton Candy~My Mommy Grade=C

It was cold, wet and down right bone chilling cold when we left the house yesterday to go to the last 49er game of the season, which was meaningless, if you're a football fan, you know why.  But I'm so glad we went.  The stadium capacity was only a little over half, the perfect amount for bringing the kids along.  That way they don't get trampled, squished, bumped into, lost, frustrated, etc.

We arrived just in time for the pre-show.  After wiping off our wet seats, laying down some blankets to sit on and settle in to get ready for the show and game, who walks by?  The dreaded Candy Man.  Before I could use one of the many skills any Mom possesses such as the artful skill of distraction, or before I could throw my body into their line of vision, Bryce and Paige spot it.....the multicolored cloud coming their way, known as Cotton Candy.

Their hands went up immediately.

The two little eagle eyed kids got what they were after.  There was no denying them.

You may think I have given myself the Mommy grade of a C for the mere fact of letting my kids eat almost the entire bag of cotton candy, but no, the reason for the self inflicted C grade was simply due to my forgetfulness for packing the wet wipes into the stadium bag.  Of all times, this was not a good one to forget wet wipes. 

My punishment was harsh.  For the stickiness that followed was shared with everything they came into contact with.....my clothes, my camera, my bag, my hair and my face {kisses}.

While the cotton candy was a definite highlight of the day for Bryce and Paige, coming in second were most definitely the cheerleaders.  Yes, the 49er Gold Rush.  Bryce immediately put his photography and video taking skills to good use.

As Paige uses the field glasses, I hear her say, to herself, "Cheerleaders! Awesome!"

I think I had more fun watching my kids than I did watching the game.

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Pelted

This is about as close to snow as we get here in northern California.  Hail.  It comes down hard and fast, though it's not the golf ball sized hail balls the Midwest seems to get, but everyone still runs for cover.

The cows are sheltered in their safe freestall barn,  Joey was too lazy to walk to his barn and decides to take cover under the huge oak tree in his pasture and Chloe gets the urge for a potty break at this very moment and as I open the sliding glass door to let her out, she decides against it.

As for Dominic, he still goes about his work on the dairy; feeding cows, scraping barns all while getting pelted by hail and soaked by the rain.

The rest of us; Bryce, Paige and cousins, Cam and Leila, who are here for a play date and sleepover found indoor activities to keep entertained......

Trouble x's two....

What is it with boys and video games?  Does this love of video games carry on into adulthood?  If I allowed it, they would be on this Nintendo 24-7.

What do you do to keep entertained on a stormy day?

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What Happens When You Turn a Six Year Old Loose at a FFA Cake Auction?

The temptation was too much for our six year old, Bryce.  He saw all these sugar coated treats and couldn't help himself with his bidding.  Paige and I stayed at home, we had a "cranky" day yesterday and she needed to go to sleep at an earlier time so we missed all the fun. 

The Petaluma FFA Cake Auction is a fundraiser for Petaluma FFA.  It happens once a year and is always something to look forward to.  Before Dominic and Bryce headed over to the event, I gave Bryce my point and shoot camera with instructions to take some photos of the event.  He loves a job, especially when it involves my camera.

Bryce surveyed the goods.

Picked out his choices to bid on.

Before the auction, a potluck dinner is eaten by the guests.  A huge array of food to choose from.

Okay, back to the cakes.  This next cake up for bid was Bryce's front runner.  He REALLY wanted it.

The bidding is up to $55, the auctioneer looks at Bryce and asks, "Will you go $60?"

Bryce yells, "I'll go $100!!" 

Going once, going twice........SOLD for $60 to the 6 year old with Daddy's check book!

Sold again to the 6 year old!

And one last time, SOLD for $90 to the 6 year old! {this homemade toffee is to DIE for! Worth every dollar!}

It's a good thing we have our annual Marin County Farm Bureau holiday dinner planned for tonight, because the 20 pound cake is going to the restaurant with us.

Other related posts you may enjoy:
The Dairy Judging Team
A Saturday Night Out - FFA Fundraiser
Scotland or Bust - FFA Fundraiser
Scotland Adventure - Go Team!
Ag in the New Classroom


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More Than One Reason To Call This A Topsy Turvy Cookie Pizza!

As most of you know, I volunteer at Bryce's school twice a month to teach the 1st Graders a cooking class....all five of them {he goes to a one-room school}.  So imagine how loud it can become when five boisterous six year olds find out we're baking a Cookie Pizza, topped with chocolate and m & m's!  The most difficult part for me is to try and keep all of their high pitched voices down, as to not disturb grades 2-6th next door in the other room.  We do our best.

So here are the ingredients you'll need {recipe below}.

Mix all the ingredients together, sugar, brown sugar, egg, butter and vanilla first.  Then add the flour and baking soda.  Stir, Stir, Stir.  Dough should be stiff.

I had never made this recipe before, and I didn't realize that a regular sized cookie sheet would be too large.  So, I had the kids spread the dough on only half the pan.  I was sure it would turn out just fine.

Until I went to put the pan in the oven.  Whoops.  One of the things I tend to forget about the little one room school is that everything is in mini-me sizes, including the oven.  This is when I taught the kids to improvise.  One can make almost anything work if one tries.....right?  I then, secretly began to pray.  Please, please, PLEASE turn out!

Half way through the baking process, I took a peek and saw that the batter was sliding off the edge to one side, onto the bottom, inside of the oven.  Improvise again, tip the pan in the other direction.  Finish baking.

The "Topsy Turvy Cookie Pizza" was then renamed to "Molten Lava Cookie Pizza", which the kids liked even better!

After melting the chocolate and allowing the 'cookie' to cool, the kids spread the chocolate to cover the cookie.

Sprinkle with m & m's and slice with a pizza cutter.

This was GOOD!  And it didn't look half bad either.

Clean up time!

Topsy Turvy {Molten Lava} Cookie Pizza

Ingredients:

• Non stick baking spray
• 1 egg
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup {1 stick} butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 ¼ cups flour
• ½ tsp. baking soda

SAUCE:

• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 2 T butter
• 3 T milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup m&m’s

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray baking pan with non stick spray. Crack egg into bowl, add brown sugar, sugar, ½ cup butter and vanilla to egg. Stir with wooden spoon until mixed. Add flour and baking soda to sugar mixture. Stir until mixed {dough will be stiff}. Spread dough in the greased pan, using back of spoon or hands. Bake for 15 minutes or so until crust is golden. Cool for 10 minutes.

For sauce: put chocolate chips, 2 T butter and milk in saucepan. Cook over low heat about 5 minutes, stirring all the time with the wooden spoon, just until chocolate chips are melted. Add the powdered sugar to chocolate mixture and stir until smooth and shiny. Spread sauce over crust and sprinkle m&m’s.

Happy Saturday!

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Mom's Day at Preschool & Homemade Playdough Recipe

I recently had the pleasure of attending 'Mom's Day' at Paige's preschool.  Very exciting to see what this four year old does during the days she spends there.  She took me by the hand, straight to the playdough table.  At the school, fresh playdough is made weekly {recipe below}.  Always with a different color and this week the color was baby blue.    Tons of fun to roll out the dough and use the cookie cutters.  I was told the playdough table is one of Paige's favorites.

Then as a suprise to us moms, we were given an assignment to draw a family portrait with our child.  WHAT!  Stick figures are my forte.  I don't draw and I was not amused with this idea.  But I showed no signs of uncomfortableness.....at least not to Paige anyway.  I pulled up my big girl's pants, took a deep breath and sat in a kiddie chair next to Paige and preceeded to help Paige draw our family portrait.

Basically, Paige told me what clothes she thought everyone should wear in the picture and picked out all the colors for me.  Even down to the pink bow in her portrait.  I drew myself, Paige, Bryce and Chloe and Paige drew her daddy and I think she attempted to draw herself as well.

Masterpiece.  It now hangs in Paige's room.  {I think I'll stick with the playdough and cookie cutters}

Homemade Playdough Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup water

1 T vegetable oil

1/2 cup salt

1 T cream of tartar

Food coloring

1 cup flour

Directions:

Combine the water, oil, salt, cream of tartar and food coloring of your choosing in a saucepan and heat until warm.  Remove from the heat and add the flour.  Stir and knead until smooth.  Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag.  Do not refrigerate.

Tip: save your containers from store bought cake frosting {or something similar}- perfect for storing playdough!

Happy Thursday!

This is a fun project to make with your kids during the upcoming holidays!  If you would like to share this recipe, feel free to click the 'Like' button for your facebook friends, or copy and paste the link to this post and share it:)

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