Friday: VBS and old friends

Today was the last day of VBS.  It went well.  Our class says the Bible verse in a circle, one person saying each word, and I time it.  We started out the week at 1:15 and got it down to 25 seconds today!  Today was the first day that it finally felt as though we mostly knew it...it was a hard one this year.  "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land.  I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised."  Gen 28:15.  There are a lot of clauses in it.  The best part of the day was at the end when one of the moms told me that her son ended up in the perfect group because of me.  (And really, because of my helper too.)  We were rather low-key and not in their faces.  We were there and made sure everyone was in the right spot but both of us seemed rather introverted and didn't force much talking.  (That doesn't mean we didn't talk to the kids, but not as much as some teachers do.)  Apparently that was just what her son needed and wouldn't have come back if we had been different.  It was very nice to hear.

This afternoon we met up with Amy and Brian.  The kids played on the playground and we had dinner and took a walk.  It was sad that it was such a short time, but the kids were all near the end of being happy.  And we had a wonderful time while we were together.

Thursday: VBS and 2nd birthday!

"Happy Birthday, Joshua!" I said this morning.  "You're two now!"
"No, no!  Stop!"  he replied.
"I kind of feel the same way about it." I responded

Then we went to VBS.  Twas another fine day.  Isaac and Joshua made the picture roll.

I remained somewhat elusive.  I was in this group shot...I'm sure... (if not, at least it reminds me of how big this even really is.)

I am in this one...the second head down from the top left.  My helper and the boys of the group are also in it.  (edit...you can also see Isaac's shoulder in the bottom right.)

And I'm sneaking in behind my helper for this one

Later in the day Ben said, "Happy Birthday Joshua!"  He again responded with a "No!"  We gave him some ice cream to celebrate anyway.

Wednesday: VBS, naps, worms

VBS again went well today.  They finally got all the pictures up.  I managed to miss the three I saw of my group, but Isaac got in a few...

Sitting in the pew in the sanctuary.  There is a T-shirt on the chair; on the back it say 4s.  He's in the 4 year old orange group.

You can barely see him here; he's in a red shirt on the left.  The 4s and Ks sometimes travel by rope and it really is the cutest thing.  (Although really, it might be good for my fourth graders too!  The group kept splitting up...but at the same time, it also kept coming back together without any problems.)

I took this one this morning.  In the very middle there is a kid in a light blue shirt holding an orange sign above his head.  That's Isaac.

Naps: we all took a nap today, even Isaac.  Joshua and I have been taking really good naps and we've been putting the boys to bed a little early this week, but I guess Isaac needed a bit more sleep.  This doesn't happen very often.  (Although now he's awake really late...it could be a problem again tomorrow!)

Worms: My worms are doing really well!  I checked on them today and they were all over the place.  A week or two ago I could always find worms, but it might take me a few cardboard flips to find them.  This time I would flip over some cardboard and see a whole bunch!

Tuesday: VBS

Today VBS continued.  Yesterday was fine, but ended on a down note...something that wasn't really a big deal but still made me upset.

Today went better, as expected.  I know the kids just a bit better...and it is surprising how some of them just start talking to you because you're there.  I don't talk to people just because they're there.  (Although I expect it is more of a personality thing than a kid/adult thing.)  Again, it went fine/good.

Isaac is able to go for the first time this year and loves it.  His favorite section is the craft, and the ocean bottle that they made yesterday still gets talked about quite a bit.  But he's talked about a few other aspects too.  Isaac looks so big at home and then when we get to church he looks so small.  Our activities are offset from each other, so I see him in the hallway a few times during the morning.  I'm not sure he sees me.

Joshua is doing well in the nursery.  I say nursery, but they get out to some of the activities.  They go to the music section and see the skit.  Today I saw them outside (for just a bit...it was rather hot).  Joshua is reported to really enjoy the music, which makes sense considering how much he likes music.  I should probably put it on more at home, but it just isn't something that I tend to do.  Here he is (not) looking at a sub that they had in the parking lot.  I didn't really want him to see me so it's a rather bad picture.

Usually they post pictures on the website, but I haven't seen any yet. :(  It's one of my favorite parts.

Circuts.

Joshua made the part in front of him.  I sent the picture to Ben; he's been dealing with complicated circuits and I thought Joshua might be able to help.

Weekend: camping

We went camping this weekend.  It was crazy hot and rained at the very end, but we still had a great time.

(Some of the pictures are from Nate and Liz.)

We got the tents set up and the kids played jail before anything was in them.

The boys enjoyed a bunch of jumping.  The castle was up all weekend.  (We have a cute video too, but it is the kind that only the parents will enjoy.)

The kids also enjoyed the jumping pillow; Isaac's been asking for it all year.  The smaller ones took a few times to warm up to it.  The first bit they just liked to sit and be bounced by others, but by the end they were running all over it.

We brought our water table.  With the heat we thought it might be a good option, even if it was rather large.  They didn't get super wet too much, but did enjoy playing with it.

The adults!  There aren't many pictures of us.  The kids were too cute.

I told them they could squirt my toes.  Joshua dumped lots of cold water on them instead.  (I had put some extra ice in the water.)

Bubbles were a hit too.

They all really, really wanted to go on the train.  It was cute to see them all steer as they left the station.  They took it quite seriously.

Tractor ride!

Sunday morning the rain started around 5:30.  I was ok with that...it meant pack up would be annoying, but at least the rain wouldn't have time to soak through everything.  (Side note: Isaac hasn't been camping yet where it didn't rain a lot.)  I thought about keeping the kids in a tent, but it wasn't raining that hard and they had fun with umbrellas.  Or, in Joshua's case, without.

The boys and I went to change after we were all packed up and as I was almost done I looked outside and it was dark.  More storms were coming!  I hurried up, and was caught in about a minute of downpour.  However, our plan was to have breakfast at McDonalds and getting from the car into McDonalds soaked me more than packing up the campsite.  At least everything was in the car by then though!

It was hot this afternoon so I got some of the stuff dried and de-sanded.  It'll be a process.  If only it wouldn't rain.  Joshua slept a big nap this afternoon as he (and Ben and I) hadn't slept great.  We didn't sleep as bad as JJ, but it was nice to be in our own beds.

Thursday: code-a-pillar

Today we stayed home.  There were a lot of things to do at home, and so the day didn't drag...but it didn't go by very quickly either.  Around 11 we moved the furniture and I challenged Isaac to use his code-a-pillar to see how many different spots it could get to, if he always started at the same spot.  At the beginning it was pretty random, but by the end he was making slight adjustments to see how it would change.

Every end spot got a sticky.  Isaac also wrote "End" on every single one.  I wasn't really expecting that, but it seemed like a good way to learn something.

Also, why do children keep bringing things into the kitchen and then leaving them there??  It isn't a large kitchen and on days like today it felt like I could barely move without running into something.  I have a "no pillows in the kitchen" rule and a "don't bring a chair in if there is an available step stool" rule, but they weren't enough today.