After the fair...

Isn't there a song with that title?  (Maybe that was "After the Ball"?)
If not, there should be...and it should be a song about tons of laundry and clean-up and trying to get everybody back on track with their schoolwork, etc.!  LOL!
I think we are completely recovered from the fair now...there a just a few ribbons left floating around the house.  I tried to get the girls to take those to school to display.  (Very sneaky way to get them out of my house.)  The fair was a great success except for my photography.  My camera would not take a decent picture in the arena.  The lighting was too low and even with the flash the pics are very dark.  Also everyone has glowing eyes, reflecting the flash...especially the cows.  They look like Halloween zombie cows.  Not exactly the look I was going for. 
Here are Abby and Hannah with the big prize winner, Hallmark Lila, our senior 2 year old.  She won the 4-H Grand Champion and Reserve Champion in the Open Show. 

And here are a few other photos from the fair...mostly taken by someone else (Amelia!) whose camera did better than mine.                                                                                                                           

Here are the little kids that showed for Marengo County...Sarah Ying...a cousin, Gavin Easterling and another cousin Misha Allen.  They were not old enough for the real deal...but had a great time training their calves and doing the showmanship clinics/classes that they always have at the fair.

Had to throw this one in (even though I am in it...eeek!) because it ended up being the only picture with Josh in it.  He had trouble with his older calf (though she won all her classes.)  And then his younger calf turned all nasty on Monday.  She just totally freaked out during the showmanship competition and had a giant tantrum back in the barns and scratched herself/hurt her tail.  So, most of the time he was showing, I was helping him, not taking pictures. 

Now we are back to our usual activities.  We had the All-State Orchestra auditions this past weekend in Tuscaloosa.  So we are looking forward to the results of that.  Josh tried out for the Consort Strings this year and I am keeping my fingers crossed!  He played the prepared pieces quite well...but had some "issues" with the sight reading.  Oops.  I know the girls did well, too.

Today we had to spend quite a bit of time winterizing.  It is actually cold here!  And I mean COLD!  The kids wanted to build a fire in the fireplace, but I didn't get enough of the other chores done to do that.  We did fill the birdfeeders and insulate the chicken house, put lots of stuff away and got out all the coats and so on.  All very necessary!  Supposed to be as low as 38 tonight.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Stay warm everyone!

Amy