Pioneer Day 2013

We had been struggling all week for a plan for Pioneer Day. Since my little ones start school on the 25th, we didn't want to stray too far from home. My sweetie thought we ought to clean the garage, but at that suggestion he received a loud veto.

When he got up this morning and everyone was still in bed, he decided to make it just like any other day so he preserved his floating holiday and headed off to work.

When I was the first one up at about 9:30, I was disappointed at first, but then I decided we could still have fun right here at home. Inspired by my sweet bloggy friend, LeAnn at Living Waters, I decided I wanted to share her pioneer story with my kids. That planted a seed that just grew and grew into something amazing!

Fortunately I had convinced Prima Donna and Princess to mix up a big batch of sourdough bread last night. As I was forming the loaves, I wracked my brain to think of something fun to honor our pioneer ancestors. That's when I thought maybe we could add a dutch oven cookout to that rising bread.

And maybe a few pioneer games...could we all dress in pioneer garb? Did we have enough skirts? I started assigning out tasks, then I texted my sweetie and told him the party started at 6:00, pioneer dress recommended. (I also invited Bossy's family, but they had other plans.) Then I got to work.

My sweetie arrived a few minutes to 6:00 and we convinced him that he needed to quickly assemble all of the parts we had prepared for the dutch oven. Princess and I were finishing up the dessert, and yes, we were all decked out like a little pioneer family.

While my sweetie got the coals ready, I shared LeAnn's story. Then Prima Donna shared another story and a song. Then it was time for games. Sport and Princess were in charge and they had scoured the internet. The first one was called "My Little Birdie." We all sat in a circle and someone in the middle was holding a cup of water. That person asked for a color and if you had the wrong color he flipped a bit of water at you. But if you happened upon the right color, that cup of water got poured on your head! Curly got me good. It was so hot the water dried quickly.

Then we played the pioneer version of Ring Toss. Each team had a 15" dowel and a canning ring. They stood 10-feeet apart and tossed the ring to the other party. They had one minute to catch as many as they could. My sweetie and I were the winners with four catches.

The most popular game by far was the three-legged race. My sweetie and I sat that one out, but the kids loved it. Curly and Scout moved really well together, until I said "Go!" Then they couldn't keep it together at all. Crafty and Sport were the hands-down winners although Drama Queen and Prima Donna tried really hard.

We had a few more relays and then a game from Crafty and Scout. They had prepared a button swap game. I hadn't realized that the pioneer girls loved their buttons and trading was a huge thing for them. We each started with 10 buttons and had to make trades until we had 10 unique buttons that we threaded on a string for a necklace. Baby Doll loved this game but she didn't really like giving up her buttons to get one from someone else. I think a few of the girls ended up with only 9.

Dinner was a huge success! After food we decided to crank up Drama Queen's mood music and kick up our heels for a little square dancing. The Virginia Reel was easy enough that everyone could participate. My sweetie and I were in a threesome with Baby Doll and she giggled the entire time.

After we were all sweaty and tired, we pulled up our chairs and had scriptures and family prayer followed by peach cobbler hot from the dutch oven. I have to say, other than last year when we were somewhere far away on our perfect vacation, this was definitely the

best.
pioneer day.
ever!