All Aboard!!

Last week was VBS (f.k.a. vacation bible school) at our church. The theme this year was Bommerang Express - an Australian Outback Train type theme. I remember liking bible school as a child. I have vivid memories of gathering outside the sanctuary with the other kids in my grade behind a teacher with a flag, filing into the sanctuary to sit with my class and singing "Onward Christian Soldiers" and learning to pledge allegiance to the Christian flag (and the the Savior for whose kingdom it stands...) It was fun, but boy, I did not know what I would be missing if I had just been born 30 years later. Luckily, I can live it vicariously through my kids and the 1st graders that I taught.

VBS is now quite a production. The songs are way cooler than Onward Christian Soldiers, there are fun motions to all the songs, and for the grade-school kids, the worsip assembly was in the "backlot" building (which is our gym) and featured a train station, a train that had real smoke coming out of the smoke stack, and confetti cannons. There was a competition going on all week between the kids sitting on the two sides of the gym (spirit, participation, etc.). At the end of the week, the leader for the losing team had to drink an "Aussie smoothie" of stuff they'd been gathering all week (e.g., a big ole link of sausage they were calling an Outback snake). The kids got a huge kick out of the leaders drinking the smoothie and pouring the nasty stuff all over one another. (Since the stage was tarped and the microphone packs had been removed, it was clear to the adults that these shenanigans were planned in advance.) Anyway, big fun was had by all, and I'm very grateful for adults and teenagers in our church who were willing to give all of themselves to pour into these kids for a week.

My kids were in the preschool program, which is big fun for them, but the production value is not quite so high. They still get to learn fun songs and Pressley got VERY into it. She particularly loved the "Boomerang Express" song, which allowed her to shake her little booty for all she was worth (though the motions called more for simply bending the knees and not so much for the booty-shaking: that was her creative interpretation).

My sweet daddy got the whole thing on video on the last day and then was kind enough to load as much of it as blogger would accept. This is only a small clip (he's got about 24 minutes of video), but you get the idea.



Here are some other photos my dad took during the week:

Evan and me at the Family Night Cook-Out

Lil' P

The kids performing one of their songs at Family Night

The set and the grade-school worship team

Worship team in front of the train

Disappointment

Today was the first time in some time that we have just stuck close to home and had a "chill" day. No errands, no play dates, no plans. It was just what the doctor ordered. The kids have been sweet all day. They have played with toys, watched movies, we "hunted" tigers together in the afternoon, etc.

We had some yard work done over the last few weeks including installing an irrigation system, drainage work and new sod. (I promise I'm going to tie it together...) The landscape company wanted $350 to deliver and spread mulch to finish off the job. Ummm, I don't think so. Instead, I bought 22 bags of mulch and paid a college student from our church $40 to spread it and saved $250.

Anyhow, said college kid was due to come over to finish the job this afternoon, and I had promised the kids that after he left we would go to the pool to end of our stay-at-home day. So, after he left, we went to Chick-fil-A to pick up some nuggets, came home and packed our picnic, put on our bathing suits and trudged up the hill to the pool in the 90-some-odd-degree heat and humidity. As we got closer and I saw the unusual number of cars on the street, I started to get nervous. It slowly began to occur to me that I had read in an e-mail at some point that the pool was closed one night a week for swim meets. WHY I didn't think this information was important enough to file away in my memory, I WILL NEVER KNOW... Yep. Tonight was the night. So, we turned around to head back home, all sweaty and hot with no pool to cool us off.

Now, I'll tell you that I was panic-stricken when I saw all the matching bathing suits through the fence and I began to connect the dots. I was certain that I would have two GIANT melt-downs on my hands and the evening would be just a difficult mess. But, it did not happen that way at all. The kids were disappointed, for sure. (So was I, with the trickle of sweat running down the center of my back.) Yet, they rallied beautifully. We had our "picnic" at the kitchen table - still in our bathing suits - and sitting on beach towels, because wouldn't you know it-this was the one time I remembered to lube them up with sunscreen before we left the house. And, as I type they are in the jacuzzi tub in my bathroom - still in their bathing suits - playing and getting the sunscreen off before we head downstairs to have an impromptu movie night. What little troopers.

I know I often tell stories of frustration about my kids. My blog. My prerogative. But, today I realize that we must be doing something right. They are pretty great kids.

Highlands

We had a fabulous weekend last weekend. We left the kids with my parents and went to Highlands, NC for the wedding of our good friends, Jim and Laurie. Jim was Corin's roommate in law school and is part of the close group of his law school buddies that we still hang out with. We are so glad Jim found Laurie. Not only does she seem to be a perfect fit for him, but is also a great addition to our little group. Between the Friday night festivities and the Saturday night festivities, we found some time to explore Highlands a bit. We hiked to a couple of falls, I got a much-appreciated massage in town, and we had a lovely lunch in an outdoor garden beside a man-made waterfall. The inn was cozy and romantic; the wedding was gorgeous; the reception was fun. Good times had by all.

The kids also had a great time with GranNan and Poppy. We missed them, but it is always nice to have a little adult time.

There are many more photos in the June 09 album, including photos of a fun visit from Corin's Aunt Anne, who painted the kids' faces, cheered them on at swim lessons, and just generally spoiled them rotten for two days. :-) An aunt's prerogative, I guess...

So behind the 8 ball

It is hard to believe that it has been over a week since I blogged. Where do the days go? We had a fun weekend last weekend. We took the kids to the air show at the Peachtree DeKalb Airport. There were fire trucks, airplanes, and jumpy things, so the kids had a big time. It was hot, and we stayed past nap time (for Pressley), so there were eventually melt-downs, but I guess that is to be expected with kids.

Monday was my birthday, so after a day packed full of activities, we met up with daddy at the Atlanta Fish Market for a birthday dinner. The kids were super-excited about the promise of a gigantic fish out in front of the restaurant, and they diligently helped me look for it from the car. They were not disappointed. It took some wrangling to get them inside the restaurant, but they were thrilled to find live lobsters in a tank inside. I was thrilled to be at a grown-up restaurant for my birthday. It was a good day, made more special by a sweet husband who let me sleep until 9 a.m., kids who were more or less agreeable all day, and thoughtful friends who sent many well wishing messages. I could not be more blessed. Really.

On Tuesday, we went to a strawberry farm out in Loganville to pick strawberries with Helen and Tricia and their boys. It was a fun adventure. VERY hot. But, fun. We picked strawberries for about an hour and then had a picnic in the shade. I was a bit disappointed in our take. We got a whole bucket of beautiful strawberries, but by the time I got them home to wash them, over half of them were complete mush. I don't know what happened. They were still tasty, but not nice and firm like you'd expect from freshly picked strawberries. Oh, well. It was worth the $10 just for the activity and adventure.




In addition to all the other fun activities this week, the kids have been taking swimming lessons at Dynamo. Pressley was making such good progress with her lessons when the last session ended that I thought it would be a good idea to keep going for one more session. And, I knew Evan would not be amused if I made him sit with me while she was in the pool, so he is getting lessons too. They are both enjoying the lessons. Pressley did get paired with Mr. Keithan again (thank GOODNESS!!). They are both getting a lot out of it. Evan is learning to float on his back and Pressley is learning to "torpedo" all by herself. But, I will be so glad when they are over. It is a lot of work to get two kids up from naps and into the car for a 30 minute drive in traffic to get to a 4:40 swim lesson and then back home in traffic to cook supper. The lessons are every day, Monday through Thursday for two weeks. So we are halfway home.

Perhaps it is all this activity that has me so behind on my blogging. I'll try to do better.

More pics at the May 09 and newly-created June 09 links.