Oh, How Lovely

A day at home. Well, sort of. We started off with an early trip to the park. Packed up some breakfast-y snack items and hauled some still sleepy-eyed girls to a favorite play spot. We started off by climbing "the hill".





This is always fun, and Miss E acted as nature guide, stopping to point out some tracks, and even the "most beautifulest thing in nature". (whithering weed flowers)



After the short trek, we kicked around our kick ball and soccer ball then broke for snacks.



Of course we hit the swings...



And both girls quickly found playmates.




Fun times!

Then on to WallyWorld for goldfish food and a new tank. Yes, you read right. E's VBS teacher so sweetly announced that "if it's OK with your parents..you can take home a fish!". Sigh. I cannot resist the sweet pleas of Miss E. Little A may just whine or whimper or repeatedly ask. E says things like, "If I sit here very quietly and don't ask again, can we take one home?", and, "I'm not asking again, but if you say, 'We'll talk about it', does that mean 'Maybe'?".
So we came home with two goldfish. And I'll admit. They're alot more fun than the Betas. Much more active and responsive. And this child has not stopped thanking me. On the walk to the car: "I don't want to take them back, but just WHY did you let me get two fish??", and "Thank you, thank you, thank you so so much for these fish! I'll feed them every day!"
Sure...feeding them is the easy part!
Anyway-a quick trip to Walmart for food and a tank and no drama, right? WRONG.
Miss A decides she wants some more water balloons. I tell her we still have some at home. She says we don't. I say we do. etc. etc.
Then begins the crying. Then screaming. WAILing. I'm not kidding. This was a first for me. Never until today was I the mom dragging a screaming kid from the store. I'm chanting with each step, "she's over tired, she'll tire out soon, she's worn out, she'll give up when we get to the car...."
Nope.
All. the. way. home.
Screaming.
WAY louder than my loud music. Way louder.
I walked her to her room and said she could come out when she was finished crying. She walked out less than a minute later, trying to control her sobs. Red, swollen eyes. Sat in my lap and rocked for a minute. Was distracted by the new fish and hasn't mentioned it sense!
Did I mention we were tired? It's been such a long week. Late nights at VBS (I'll post pics from that next) and NO naps.
About to start a little crafty project and then dinner, maybe some tramp time and a late evening walk to the mailbox. All in all, a nice summer day.

VBS '08

Another great year of VBS has come and gone. I love, love being a part of this! It is so amazing to see the kids so eager and receptive to learning and worshiping. I know, it's alot of fun and games. And the most exciting part is when the life size rooster ("Booster") appears at the end of each night...BUT they really do get something out of it. Miss E would retell the stories and the lessons each night. Miss A could name the main characters and get some details from the lessons. I could talk to Miss E about the meaning of the stories and how we could practice these in our own lives.
It's just such a magical time for the kiddos. All year long, their told to "sit still", and "be quiet" in church, and this is a time, just for them, to yell!, sing! and get a little crazy! and have fun with worship.
Here are some shots from the week:

This Little Light of Mine!


In class (yes, she's the only one standing...)


Snack Time! And, Sing it Girl!


Miss A and sweet Miss M




Dear God, Thank you for my Freeze Pop...


I know! I know!


It's Booster! Here he comes!


And there he goes...notice even some of the kids are plugging there ears. Yes, the scream were THAT loud!


And by the third night, I pull in, and look back to this:

Full Swing

I'm sorry. I was just reading the first lines of my last post. Did I say things were slowing down??

Can you hear me laughing out loud??

I am in full Operation Graduation mode. After some attempts to dissuade me, the Principal gave me permission to discuss with E's teacher possible graduation ceremony ideas. Little did she know......!!
I went straight from the Principal's office to E's classroom, ran down my list of ideas with the teach, and set up a schedule of sorts for getting things started. We hit 7 (yes SEVEN) stores after school looking for a coupla certain items.
Miss A and I were back up at the school on Friday for 3 hours on our own (Miss A did AMAZINGLY well!) to kick off the first things on my to do list.
We were back up there for FOUR hours today. This time I was smart and recruited two moms (one strategically sought out for her 3 1/2 yr. old daughter :)! ) And we were able to knock out some big things.
The girls and I stayed after school to cut strips and squares to make caps. I brought home shirts and iron ons that the teacher printed out. And the teacher...she is just as excited about this (if that's possible) as I am! She told me she was printing up diplomas over the weekend and made a special trip up to the school to look up all the kiddos middle names, so the diplomas look "official". How cute!

So I think we'll pull it off. The class will sing a song, they'll get their diplomas and special gift we've been working on. They have class shirts that we've made to wear instead of gowns. And they'll walk down the aisle to the Pomp and Circumstance playing on our little CD player!
We have donated balloons and a cake. And another mom is making custom tassels!
I have a book for the teacher to read, I'm working on programs. I'm going to include in their goody bags a "when I grow up" survey that parents will love. I'll share E's answers later.
I am very excited and I just hope it goes off without a hitch. Well, without a major hitch. :)