October 25, 2014

(click here for today's pictures)
Fun times at the World Cheese Dip Championship!

  • The kids were up until after 10 last night and Robby and I were up until almost 2 so it is no wonder that everyone was tired this morning.  We were all still awake and going strong before the clock struck 8.  Keaton is usually one of the first kiddos down the stairs each morning.  I think that whoever wakes up first goes and asks her if she is awake each morning.  This of course wakes her up so indeed she is awake and can accompany them downstairs.  I guess the kids are not used to being alone so they do not like to go anywhere or do anything by themselves-even walk down the stairs to our room.
  • Robby served up breakfast while I had my shower and soon everyone was ready for the big event of the day-the World's Cheese Dip Championship.  Before we left, Grannymom and Grandpa arrived.  They worked on staining our shed (they knew we were going to be gone but came anyway to work-maybe they wanted to work without any interruptions!)  The kids all got to see them for a few minutes but they were excited to leave too.
  • I did run into the dollar store for a minute.  It was suggested to bring muffin tins to hold the cheese dip samples.  I only have one huge muffin pan (yep, probably should put that on my Christmas list)  Of course the dollar store was out of muffin tins so I ended up buying just some plastic baskets that would hold chips and samples-they worked out well because one set of baskets were small enough for the kids to hold while filled with their cheese dip samples.
  • We went in the back gate right at 11 and the crowds weren't bad at all.  We again pointed out the Dennie lesson to the kids of getting to places right when they open.  As soon as we walked in, we ran into another family with 6 kids.  The mom said "this is where big families come, isn't it?"  We agreed with her since kids 10 and under are free!
  • Once we grabbed our bags of chips, we started in order and grabbed four samples of cheese dip.  One booth had very nice decorated cookies that she gave the kids, another had lollipops and one even had very, very spicy chips that I tried.  About 4 samples was all that we could manage at a time while pushing Whitman, watching the kids (who were perfect) and making sure that they didn't spill their samples.  So we then found a spot in the shade and had a seat on the ground to pick a winner.
  • We had 4 wooden chips to distribute among our favorites, so we decided to vote on one each time that we stopped to eat.  We all agreed that we liked the first sample the best-poor Whitman's momma gave him a super spicy sample which caused him to gag, eyes to water and to look like he was choking.  After that I only handed him his cookie to eat and tiny chips with no cheese dip on them and he was much happier!
  • The kids took our chip to the first booth and then we started again.  This time we had 4 more samples and our favorite (my all time favorite) was the cheese dip by City Year.  So after our second round of samples we went to vote for City Year's cheese dip.  
  • There were enough competitors to even had another round of samples.  By this time though the kids had filled up and were not too interested in eating anything else.  Now they did enjoy passing around our drink and finding any candy that they could at the tables.  One of our final two votes went to the cheese dip people that had come from San Francisco.  I figured that you should get points just for coming that far and the last Dennie vote went to a bbq chicken cheese dip. 
  • Now, I will tell you that although the cheese dip festival was lots of fun and we will certainly go back each and every time that we can, I do think that our cheese dip beats any of those that we had.  We use Debbie Dillon's recipe and it is pretty wonderful.  Then there is the other cheese dip that we make that is made with cream cheese and not velveeta-that is a good one too.  Anyway, so one day if you are the World's Cheese Dip Championship and you see a sign that reads "Dennie Family Cheese Dip" then please vote for us.
  • After we had eaten our fill or even more than our fill, we headed back home.  It wasn't long before Reagan's ride came to pick her up.  She was headed to the circus with Cate-Cate and each of her sisters were able to invite a friend to the circus.  My Reagan had a great time and even came home with a huge cup that blinks-what more could a girl want!
  • While she was gone we piddled in the yard and house.  Robby helped stain some and eventually mowed some.  Anderson played with the neighbor boys and Graham did too some. They also watched the football game as closely as they could while it was on.  The little girls helped me fold laundry and then played hard outside.  Whitman had a nap and then went outside to play.  That boy really loves playing outside and can keep himself pretty well occupied-he now really loves the dirt pile (the same dirt pile that Robby so wanted to get rid of when we moved here as provided my kids with hours and even days worth of fun.)
  • Finally, we all came in and the girls and Whitman had showers while Robby cut the boys hair. Whitman's hair cutting days are coming soon but just not today.  After the girls had their clothes on, they started playing "Ms. Tammy."  Campbell was the one doing the hair fixing so she probably should have been the only Ms. Tammy but Keaton was determined that she should be called Ms. Tammy too.  So Ms. Tammy fixed Ms. Tammy's hair until the boys had completed their showers.  
  • After this, we quickly gobbled down supper and then we got the call that the circus was over so we went to pick up Reagan.  She joined us and then we all went to the grocery store. Grocery shopping with our 6 lovely kids is not the ideal situation but the kids did fine-two trips to the bathroom, someone fell down at least 4 times (no injuries though), 1 kid didn't want to sit in the shopping cart so was held the entire time, 1 shoving match, 4 crackers eaten, 2 games of chase and nearly 200 bucks spent.  
  • Once at home, the kids quickly put on their pjs and had a snack, Reagan had her shower and supper all while Robby and I unloaded.  Then it was shortly bedtime for all the crew while Robby and I whipped up a quadruple recipe of chicken spaghetti!

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