Frenchboro Fun Fair 2009

If you weren't there...you missed all the fun.

The games:


The baked sale: (and Cadin, going nuts at a handful of tickets being thrown into HIS jar. I'll explain in a minute...)

The auctions:


(Dude did NOT get the spelling gene. We're workin' on that. Also, his version of clean and mine are not even close.)

marginally better. Good job, kid!

Please note: my children were NOT under the influence of...anything.

I have no idea why they both have this look. The pictures weren't even taken at the same time.

maybe it was the paint fumes?

And then there were the contests. The Big Mouth Contests.

There were three groups, segregated by age.

First up, the little kids.

They had to stuff their mouths with grapes for 30 seconds. Then they spit them out, and Mr. F counted them.

(I stood by to do the heimlich if necessary. My kids are only recently allowed to eat grapes-choking hazard- and they are 6 and 8. My 'grape retrieving from trachea with no tools' skills do NOT need to be tested on a rock 8 miles out to sea, thankyouverymuch.)

Look at the last picture. Can you tell who won?

Ten grapes.

The Big Kid Contest:

And the winner is:

Winna, winna, chicken dinna! (name that movie...)

And then.. the BIG kid Contest:

Kids line up in anticipation.

...and they're off!

Who took home the trophy??

Big Mouth on The Big Guy. Nice tonsils.

23 grapes.

And I embarrassed the heck out of this guy with an innocent comment I made.

look, he's blushing!

And lastly, there was the Pie in the Face Contest. Each kid, and Mr. and Mrs. Finn, had a mason jar set out with their picture taped to it. We were told to place tickets in the jar of the person we most wanted to see take a pie to the face!

The kids spent a lot of their own money on this contest, trying to out-vote each other.

"You put one in my jar??!! Well, take that! I just put TWO in yours!"

Through the evening, we all added tickets to the jars. Finally, Mr/Mrs F counted out the votes.

We had an unexpected winner!

Ahhhhh! He's seriously re-thinking this whole thing....

But he's committed to the project. He 'Mans Up'.

Steeling himself for the pie (really just whipped cream)...

And like Emeril says,

BAM!

The pie-thrower was picked by lottery system. It could have been anybody who put a ticket in Cadin's jar.

I did NOT put a ticket in Cadin's jar. Not me.

I wouldn't do that to ya, kid!

Takin' one for the team!

What a good sport!

Now, I didn't notice this the night of the event. As I was going through the 400 pictures I took, I saw this sub-plot being played out before me...

Thing One, looking rather...distressed. This was taken around the time the name was being drawn for the pie contest. Last minute regret, maybe?

She's questioning Mrs. Finn about the pie throwing details. Where will it land? How will he breathe? Is this a good idea?

Another kid shows some concern.

Mrs. Finn knows the score. She knows me. (ocd)

She knows my kids. (kids of ocd mom)

She assures her all will be well.

"But Mrs. Finn, what if it gets all over the place?? What about his clothes and his hair??"

It's not easy being the daughter of an obsessive clean freak.

Mrs. Finn has the patience of a Saint.

But check out the last picture:

Cadin's in one piece, lungs intact, just ever so slightly sticky...but look at the other two!

Can I translate the look on Thing One's face for you?

"Oh My God I can't believe my Mother let that happen."

Seriously, her whole world was turned on its head that evening.

Now lest you think my kids are doomed to a lifetime of therapy...remember that The Big Guy is the antithesis of my clean-freak gene. We are the yin and the yang of dirt.

I don't know what that makes our offspring, but they sure are cute!

And I am so happy to announce that the kids not only met, but exceeded their fundraising goal.

They cleared seven hundred dollars that night!

$700.00!

They ordered the bike rack this morning, and when the details of their fundraising efforts were explained, they received a hundred dollar discount!

(My faith in humanity is bolstered a bit. Every little bit counts.)

The money leftover from their fundraising efforts will be put towards hockey equipment and materials to build their own snowshoes this winter.

Way to go, kids!!