JERKY Fair 1-1-09

New Years Day got off to a slow start (not for the kids though of course).

We had a second try at a cousins photo shoot. I think Holly got much better results this time... though it wasn't perfect I'm sure, but what can you expect with 8 kids, 12 and under?

We struggled to come up with something to do. Anything we had considered doing was closed for the day. We ended up going to the movies- together- kind of. We had 3 groups in 3 different movies at about the same time. I went with most of the kids and my parents to see Bedtime Stories. I made many many trips with kids to the bathrooms and for refills in popcorn and water. Good thing I'd already seen it. Sunny, Holly and Jillie went to see Twilight. Derek and Hyrum went to Bolt. (Greg stayed home and watched college football.)

The kids had been very busy planning and advertising an activity for the whole family for that evening.

These signs were plastered ALL over the house.

The entire event was planned without a stitch of adult input. We were pretty much in the dark about what was going to happen. The fair began with a quiz for Derek only. (I think he wins the award for favorite adult in the family.) They quizzed him mostly on Wii games trivia and even a name that tune segment- identify which game this song is from... He did amazingly well.

The rest of us got to sit back and cheer him on.

The event continued with a coloring contest, Whack-a-Mole tournament, a bean bag toss game, Pin the Nose on the Snowman, snack bar, dancing party, some dress up

and even a visit from Santa! Check out Ethan 's outfit. Red shirt and pants, a Santa hat with a birthday hat under it so it stands up, and a beard made of tissue paper and tape. The littles really got a kick out of it and really felt like Santa had arrived!

The evening ended with a concert by Reagan on the cello

... and a performance from the bigs who were our event organizers.