Vacation Bible School 2015

This past week we had Vacation Bible School at our church.  Last year was Parker's first year….but this was my first year to actually help out.  I was in the 4 year old class (but not in Grace's class…which worked out because nobody was upset that I was in one's class and not the other  :)

The theme was Journey Off the Map…and we had theme days so just wanted to document here.

It was such a great week.  We all loved VBS!  (but it also wore us out!  haha!)

Day 1- the girls were still going strong when we left.

This bub was OUT!

Day 2: animal print face (paint face or wear mask)

Day 3: Buff It (think Survivor--the head band type thing) 

Day 4: animal print tee (so I whipped up these animal print skirts in less than an hour with a tank top from Wal-Mart.  and they'll wear these again!).

this guy is still trying to catch up on his sleep (as we all are).

And one of the favorite things to play these days….VBS.  love it!

Isaiah 30:21

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 

"This is the way; walk in it."

keepin' busy

so i've tried to wear the kids out each day to keep us busy these summer days by doing at least one semi-fun thing.  my mommy guilt-o-meter gets a little high (READ: higher than usual) if and when they watch too much tv.  so the one fun-ish thing we do (try to do) each day takes my guilt to a tolerable level.  :)

this week we are expecting cooler temperatures and possible rain…so i figured that we'd end up inside a lot.  so what to do?  legos?

the girls got a little lego set for Christmas that we've played with a few times.  so the other day i picked up a little lego jr. set (for ages 4-8) and it was perfect.  the girls weren't that interested at first….but i think their interest grew a little that afternoon…and i plan to continue to encourage the legos.

we built this house and yard 'together'.

and then they played.

we took a little strawberry and chocolate milk break.

then today….i was determined to take the girls to the splash park…to get them out of the house before we were 'stuck' in the house.  i decided that we'd go in the morning and Nolan would just miss his morning nap, but it would be ok and life would go on.  haha.  

anyways.  just wanted to include this picture.  i fully realize that blogs and pictures and just social media, in general, can paint a very happy-go-lucky picture.  and while all the good and beautiful times i share here are the truth and did happen…imperfection happens here.  a lot.  and so i just wanted to share- the girls had to sit in time out for the first 5 minutes at the splash park.  one couldn't keep their hands to themselves on the way over and was aggravating and then disobeying…and the other was just downright ungrateful and already complaining that 'this splash park wasn't good enough'.

his first splash pad experience.  his eyes were just in awe.

then the water touched him and it was a little too cold since we ventured out early (9:30ish)…. and with the mid-summer cool front that came through…. and so he was mostly done with the water after that.

this girl pretty much stayed out of the water all together.  and honestly- i don't blame her a bit.  it was a little cool!

Parker wanted to stand under this and let is splash her…but then she couldn't do it and would run away before it dumped.

 there was a little playground right next to the splash pad and the girls actually spent most of their time over there.  and nolan…well….he just wanted to walk around wherever he pleased.

this guy found a bench that he crawled under over and over like it was a game.

i really need to get the girls back in gymnastics.  they've been asking for a quite a while now, but i kept putting them off until school was out and dance was over for the year.  so now i have no excuses.  

she found this bar and just kept flipping over it... over and over again.

half way

i think we're a little more than half way through with summer.  i'm not sure how it happened…and i've basically accomplished almost nothing that i had set out to do on the academic side for Parker.  oh well.  it's summertime!  :)

i'm still not ready for school to start back up….and because i'm afraid that i might not ever be ready (i kid.  sort of.)….i'm trying to jump on the ball and get the school room/sewing room organized and de-cluttered.  i made some good progress with this room last year…but i'm still figuring out what will work best….and i'm sure it will change many, many times….but the main thing for me right now is making things more functional.  oh…and get rid of the stuff we don't need.

we pretty much dropped the ball on the whole summer reading i had initially planned, and never returned to the library.  but we did today!  i picked up a few books on her summer reading list, and i even made us sit down and read one of them before quiet time.  yay!  so i still plan to record the books we read on the reading log….i guess i just never followed through with any incentive so it was't as 'fun' anymore.  also life happened.

i also checked out Stuart Little.  right now Geoff is reading the girls the new American girl doll book, Isabelle, and when we finish this- we'll start Stuart Little.  and once that's finished….we'll have a special family movie night to watch the movie.  so that's fun and something to look forward to.  

math facts.  oh my goodness.  haven't touched them.  and i reeeeeally plan to start working on these again this week.  i know first grade will bring with it new math facts, and i just want to set her (and myself!!!) up for success and not have to worry about these particular math facts.

i still need to order her curriculum.  i don't know why i am dragging so.  this week it will happen.  hopefully.

a little of what we've been up to….

~the girls made this little 'fort' one day with the toy baskets (this was 2 days after Grace came home from the hospital).  they were drawing and coloring.  made pallets.

when Nolan woke up from his nap….the girls decided to trap him inside.  i didn't initially realize this since i was in the kitchen cleaning…. but i thought this was too funny...mostly because they trapped him in and then went into their room to play.  he was just fine and dandy all alone.

until he saw me.

so i beckoned the girls to come back and let him out.

~popping popcorn….adding a little bit of popcorn butter flavored oil…then lots and lots of seasoning and shaking it all about. parker's favorite is ranch.  grace's favorite is the butter flavored powder.  mine is the white cheddar.  and i just found jalapeño cheddar that i'll probably try tomorrow.  and the neat thing is….i can store the leftovers (if any) in tupperware for a couple days and it stays fresh.

patiently waiting.  they're having lots of fun.  really!

always so fun and neat to see it pop out.

~one afternoon while nolan was napping and i wanted to work in the school room…i also wanted the girls with me for their quiet time, so i set up the iPad so they could rest and watch a movie all in the same room as me.

~mornings at the park before it becomes too hot.  and we still only last 20 minutes.

~and after lunch sno-cone fun.  they're both so sweet to share with their bubba.