Category: Family Matters

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Sky Vacation Bible School: A Recap

This past week the kids and I spent our mornings at vacation bible school. Every day, from 9:00am- 11:30am, we participated with about 100 of our closet friends. There were flying pigs, a talking chipmunk, some cool science experiments and fun games.

And there were songs.

Oh my were there ever songs. As a volunteer, I received a CD with the music for the week. Every day, twice a day, the whole group sang a few songs, all with actions. Every day, on our way to and from VBS (and everywhere we went) we listened to the CD. Well, MaM wanted to listen. The Fox wanted to sing. After a few screaming matches we compromised.

The ride to VBS is for listening.

The ride home from VBS is for singing.

It really is the little things that can make or break a day.

This year the service component of the program was raising money and awareness for Operation Kid-to-Kid’s efforts in suppling mosquito nets to African children in need. Each day, in addition to learning to TRUST GOD, learning Bible stories and having fun, the kids learned a little more about the importance of helping others and the dangers of malaria.

MaM and the Fox didn’t talk much about VBS at home, except for singing the songs non-stop.

Then tonight I noticed the mosquitoes must have gotten the Fox last night. One of his thighs was a maze of welts, and he was scratching them as he got ready for bed.

“Mom, why did the mosquitos get me?”

“Well, they get everybody. They use your blood as food.”

“They use your blood too, right?”

“Right.”

“And the kids in Africa!”

“Right.”

From there, he explained to me that the mosquitos in Africa have bad germs, and kids can die. And that mosquito nets can help keep the bugs out. And then he used his sheet as a mosquito net, and showed me how the bugs couldn’t get through. He talked and talked, and quite clearly had a grasp on what the whole project was about.

He never ceases to amaze me.

Are your kids experiencing Sky this summer? It’s seems to be the go-to theme for Catholic and Protestant churches alike. Want to get them excited about it?  Check out this video:

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The Week in Review

School is wrapping up here tomorrow, and I have to say, I’m ready for a change in routine. This past week has been, I think, the busiest one of the school year. Nearly every day this week, there’s been a special event at one school or the other (or both!) and a list of very specialized, random items to send in on particular days.

Monday: MaM has an all-morning appointment 25 miles away from where the Fox spends his mornings. Send snack and show and tell with the Fox.

Tuesday: Escort the Fox to school, celebrate his impending FOURTH birthday (hold me) with fruit snacks for 24. Send MaM to school with $3 for a handi-craft fair.

Here's the Fox having fun at the play dough table at school. Doesn't he look almost four?

Wednesday: Take MaM to school and enjoy a breakfast for school volunteers. The breakfast pizza I had made shelving library books all year long totally worth it (for reals. so good). Pick up a medication in the school office while I’m there. Pack a wedge of Asiago cheese and a can of sunscreen in MaM’s backpack. Get a call (too late) that MaM forgot her lunchbox. Apparently gnawing on the wedge of Asiago wasn’t an option. Oops.

Thursday: Send paper plates with the Fox. Get $$ from the ATM for MaM. CLEAN THE LUNCHBOXES AND PUT THEM AWAY for awhile. I’m sure we’ll picnic at some point this summer. Write a list of things MaM needs to remember to bring home from school tomorrow.

Friday: Send $5 & a bag of apples to school with MaM. Leave work early for an end-of-school lunch with the Fox. Remind LKM to do the same for MaM’s end-of-school lunch. Silver Lining: It’s No Lunch Box Friday! (And, I get to meet Mario Andretti and have drinks with the girls later that night- more on that later)

By Friday afternoon, I’ll have a second grader and a pre-k’r. I’m not exactly sure how that happened, but I’m not complaining. Second graders count money and tell time and read chapter books. Second graders also get to make First Communion. Second graders will sometimes also have to go to the orthodontist, but so it goes. Pre-k’rs sleep more at night, are more independent and tell funny jokes, right?

I don’t know what the first week of summer will bring, but I’ll be pretty content if it doesn’t involve leaving the house at 7:30am, random cash in envelopes, and assorted grocery items going in odd directions.

Clearly, I need a drink. I’ll probably have one before Vintage Indiana, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless. If you’re reading this before 9pm on Friday night, click here to enter my Vintage Indiana ticket giveaway!

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Springing Forward

Would you believe me if I told you I gave up blogging her for Lent? Not really, eh? How about that I was busy filling my 2012 Forty Bags for Forty days? (While  I could have been busy with this, I actually was not.)

No- we’re just busy with spring around here.

We’ve been checking out the fun at Conner Prairie.

MaM participated in her first Math Pentathlon & sang in her first chorus concert. She’s planted a tree with her Daisy Scout troop, and will be bridging to Brownies next week, which kind of blows my mind.

This weekend it’s grandparent’s day at the Fox’s school, AND we have tickets to the Music Man at Beef and Boards.

The boy is growing up so fast- he’s figured out the “big kid” swings, and has fun on the playground like he never has before.

The girl? She got a two-wheeled scooter for Easter and hasn’t looked back.

I’m still writing at Persephone, and at Savvy Source, but mostly I’m trying to keep up with my two dynamos!

What’s new with you? I know, it’s been awhile!