Monday, April 4, 2011

Santuck and Ella's reward

Last week, we had to help Ella with a project for school. No, I didn't take any pictures. Yes, I'm ashamed. I'm over it, ok? ;) The project was about John Adams. Not John Quincy Adams, but his dad... the second president of the United States. The project was to be on half a sheet of poster board and would be graded and judged at school. The winners would go on to Montgomery for a little regional contest. We took one evening brainstorming ideas on what we would do. She is a bit over ambitious when it comes to crafting (hmmmm...) so I had to reel that little imagination back in several times. But in the end, we decided to do the background in the Star Spangled flag and then glue a picture of John Adams, a small paragraph of his accomplishments, a picture of the White House (he was the first pres. to live there, by the way)and a picture of his home state, Massachusetts. I was proud of how hard she worked on the project. She gets distracted very easily so we had to make sure she stayed on task. She measured and cut out the stripes for the flag and helped glue them on. We used a little bit of hot glue so she wasn't able to do that. She did 85% of the work. She was so proud to take it to school. We had to have it to school on Wednesday at 8am sharp because the "professional" judges, as she called them, would be there to judge. First place, $10, Second place, $7.50 and third place, $5.00. When I picked her up that afternoon, she had this sly look on her face. She gets into the car and says "aren't you gonna ask how I did on my project?" And I said, "well, yes... but you could get completely in the car first!". She was so excited that she got 2nd place! She was thrilled most of all about the $7.50 she was to get the next day. So excited, in fact that when Scott woke her up, she jumped out of bed (as she NEVER does) and quickly got ready. So, her poster is somewhere in Montgomery awaiting another competition. Once it's finished, I'll be sure to post a picture. So, what did she do with her money? She saved it for Santuck! Do huh?? Oh, yeah. If you've been around here (Wetumpka, that is) very long, you've heard about it. It's Santuck Flea Market, but if you are from around here, we just call it Santuck. That's how we roll, ;). Once a month (except January and February), the little community of Santuck hosts a flea market. Now, when I was a kid, it was really a flea market. I've been "going to Santuck" since I can remember and I have very fond memories of the actual flea market. But, of course, things change over the years. Now, you'll find things like knock off Louis Vuiton bags, contraband cd's, machetes, turtles, dogs, candles, plants, unfinished wood, Amish cheese (it's good!), antiques, and the list goes on. I go periodically for a few reasons. Number one... I live a mile down the road from it and why not? Two... the candles (JJ's candle in birthday cake is my fave) and the rugs. Rugs? Really? Um, yeah. 3 rugs for $10? Who can beat that? Oh, back to Ella. What did she get with her money? She had $7.50 to spend remember? Are you ready for this?? Yes, a gun. My baby girl is packin' heat, ha ha ha! And since this picture was taken, Scott has painted the orange cap to make it more realistic... God love that man, ;) The "BB" gun was $5 and $2 for 1000 extra bb's. Scott bought "us" a pair too so we could all shoot. And I tell ya, that has been the most fun money we've spent in so long. Those little suckers shoot a long way too! She'll be wanting a REAL gun next, just watch. So, I'm anxious to hear what she tells the kids and teachers at school when they ask her what she did with her money... she wanted to take it to show and tell but I didn't think that'd go over too well, ;) And here are other images from the day on Saturday at Santuck. One last thing, I do believe this was the most crowded I've seen Santuck in all my years of going. It was crazy packed.