Funneefarm Cousins Camp - day 1

Pappy and I arrived home at the Funneefarm with 6 grandkids in tow just a little after lunch time. We unloaded the cars and we were off to have a crazee time!

First was the treasure hunt -

The older kids read the clues -

Off to find the treasure -

Carly was the lucky finder!!

They gathered in the shade to check out the loot!

Cousins camp tee shirts, eye patches, drink bottles and candy!

Aden - - - - - - - - - - - Seth

Lexi - - - - - - - - - - - - -Carly

Dominique - - - - - - - - - - - -Kaitlyn

Next we made aprons - it was really hard to take pictures and help the kids paint at the same time. The boys did theirs in a hurry and lost interest by the time I could get the camera out.Kaitlyn helped a lot with the little ones - then did her own when they were done and there was no one to bother her.

Creating buggy aprons

Carly hard at work.

Will post pictures of the finished aprons when we use them to protect us from our next project.

I put a pizza in the oven and tried to supervise them all inside and out: coloring, jumping, swinging, blowing bubbles and such while I participated in a mandantory webinar (something about documenting medications for respite clients, I think) for almost two hours.

Then. . . after face washing (sorry, no baths - they are on the agenda for tomorrow), toothbrushing and stories they were all tucked in and the last ones asleep by 9:30 - whew.

Day one complete.

Family Reunion

Sunday and Monday we had our family reunion. We just got together and had a good time playing with the kids and catching up.

We had the traditional smokey bar b que

juicy watermelon (Brandon and Brenna)

Jumping on the trampoline.

Nathan and Heather

We took all the little ones to an awesome little park with a castle , what fun!!

Kris and Tyler

Josie

Johnathan on the slide, sort of.

Brandon

Tyler pushing Aunt april on the swing.

Blake the engineer.

Anneke pushing half a dozen kids in the tire swing.

Merilee causing trouble. Not sure who started it, but they all joined in the bark chip throwing!

Everyone was able to come except for Eric who had to work.

The rest of the family will soon be posting the photos they took, so check out their blogs too.

Funneefarm Cousins Camp

A few weeks ago I sent each of my 6 oldest grandchildren the following letter. I have been planning and buying ever since. I think I am as excited as the grandchildren. Watch for my posts next week. I will try to take lots of photos and blog each night - if I am not to tired anyway.
Dear Kaitlyn, Carly, Dominique, Seth, Lexi, Aden:

You are invited to attend the first annual Funneefarm Cousins Camp in Greybull, Wyoming! There will be 4 fun filled days from June 16th-19th. This camp is for all Pappy and Granny Zito’s grandchildren that are 4 years old or older.
Some of the activities that you will enjoy are: A treasure hunt, swimming, target shooting with paintball guns, bed time stories about when your mom was little, fun songs, a hike, games, lots of crafts, a service project and of course a Cousins Camps t-shirt. There will be time to explore the Funneefarm and get to know your cousins. We will have pizza, ice cream, popcorn, s’mores, popsicles.

You will need to bring your swimming suit, clothes that you can get dirty in, an indoor sleeping bag if you have one. Try to learn a cute or funnee song that you can teach the rest of us.

Please return the enclosed card so we will know that you are coming.
We are so excited for Cousins Camp - hope to see you in a few weeks.

Love,

Granny and Pappy

Open invitation to tie a quilt on the Funneefarm!

You know, I really shouldn't whine that no one helps me. Sewing is what I love to do - Therapy at its best. And . . . people really do help - they donate fabric and money to feed my habit, what more could I ask! And I love boxing up the finished items and sending them on their way.

But, it is fun to have someone to talk to once in a while - soooo if ya ever want to tie a quilt, or have a sudden burning desire to make some booties or a school bag, come on down - I would love the company. tee hee, ha ha, ho ho, he he, giggle giggle, snort!

Humanitarian Day

On our last trip to Salt Lake, I visited the Church Humanitarian Center. The tour was interesting, but afterwards I asked if they had some projects I could take home. They gave me 47 bootie sets, 28 gowns, 50 school bags and 10 quilts! I was so excited, it was better than Christmas!!! I started on the booties soon after I got home and finished all of them in less than 2 weeks – that is 94 booties people!

Yesterday was our humanitarian project day - no one showed up but me (it was at my house). I was a little disappointed; it is kind of like having a Tupperware or Pampered Chef party and no one comes. I am sure they were busy and a couple people did call to say they were afraid to drive down my muddy road - but that didn't stop me from getting lots accomplished!

I finished all 28 layette gowns and finished tying the quilt I had set up the day before for people to work on. After I set the quilt up on Monday I was so excited to have it ready that I tied half of it myself - with help from April and several grandchildren. I also got the binding done on 2 quilts that were tied at our combined Basin/Greybull work day last month. So it was quite a productive day if I do say so myself!
Well, I better stop goofing off with my blog and finish up the plans for cousins camp - and I only have one Bible Quiet Book left again so that is next on my to do list. The quilts and school bags will have to wait.

Visit from April

April and the kids came to visit for the weekend and I didn't take one picture!! So sorry. We had lots of fun tho. The kids played on the swings, in the pool and sandbox all day long. April commented that the bathtub was always full of sand. I think I will have to offer a huge amount of points to have someone move the sandbox from right next to the door to the furthest corner of the yard! Any way, I got lots of hugs and weed bouquets!

Primary Activity

Last month the Relief Society Presidency did a primary sharing time. We explained the RS Declaration with props and 3 or 4 sentences. One of the items that I talked about was "Delight in service and good works." I told the kids we would be making hygiene kits for the humanitarian services of the church and asked them to bring bars of soap to contribute. Today we assembled the kits - the kids had lots of fun and couldn't wait to get in line to make another one.

Brandon putting the toothpaste in.

Millie helping Lexi with the soap.

Lexi and her friend.

This little group of kids completed 62 kits in about 20 minutes ( and 15 more that only need soap)! This was the best humanitarian project we have done so far. We are going to try it on a ward level if we can gather enough stuff or get enough donations to buy more.