4 Miles

I really don't have much to say about today…I was going to blog about a really funny conversation Will & I had in the car, but now I can't remember it, and what I do remember isn't that funny.

Our craft was really simple, but actually really cool. We stuffed flannel bears and they are sending the bears to Africa, for kids who don't have stuff animals of their own. I liked how they made something for someone else and how we did something good, not just made a piece of junk that's going to be thrown out when they get home.  And we only had 1-2 kids ask if they could have one…I was impressed with that. No one seemed upset that they weren't keeping them (the director thought one or two might be).  The only issue we had was a few kids getting over eager in their stuffing.  We had a few bears that looked like balls at the end. I had to laugh at one kid who said "My bear has a beer belly!"  I said "Are you sure it's not pregnant?" He said, "No, it's a boy bear". 

Who-hoo–lost 2 pounds! I will keep on keeping on with what I'm doing. Though I do think part of it is from walking around for 3 hours during VBS, helping kids with crafts and taking pictures.  Not sure how I can recreate that after this week…I guess more walks with the kids in a nice Air Conditioned place, like the Mall!

It is 3:30 and BOTH boys are napping…still. Ahhhh. I rather like these mornings that wear them out!

Today's Bible Point was "God is with us". They talked about how the Iseraelites used stones to remind them of how God was with them and faithful.  Will's group painted rocks for their craft. On the way home, he told me "Teacher said if we put the rocks in the microwave or oven they'll get nice and warm and be yummy food."

Um. What?!?  Further questioning did not help clear matters up much.  I'm not sure if the teacher was saying they could put the wet paint covered rocks in the microwave or oven to make them nice and dry? Or if you put food in the oven for too long it turns as hard as a rock?

I have not doubt she said something that made perfect sense. It just got lost in translation.  I have learned you must be VERY careful what you say to kids–and it's funny what they choose to remember!

Who-hoo! We survived Day 1! 

Day #1 of any VBS is usually a crazy day.  It's crazy as everyone tries to figure out what is going on.  Everyone rotates to different stations and we had 20-30 kids coming to the craft room every 25 minutes.

We had to do our most challenging craft today. The theme is western, the program is called Avalanche Ranch (you've probably seen flyers for it in your area, it's one of the popular programs this year).  Each day the kids get a "Bible Buddy" (or plastic figure) to help them remember the point of the lesson for that day. Today we decorated the "Buddy Bags" to hold the figures (the picture you see).  Kids got to thread the strings through the holes and then add the beads.  Turns out tying the string around the beads was the hardest part.  But we had 1 craft worker per table, plus table leaders so we were able to help the kids easily and most got everything done in time.  We were a bit nervous to be doing our most difficult craft on the first day, so we were all thankful it went well.

I have decided the same skills that made me a good high school teacher makes me good to help with crafts. I do better with the kids coming to me, I help them, and send them on their way. I'm not responsible for a group, I just help and move them on to the next activity.   

Will had a fun time at his first "Bible Ba-cation School" (yes, the name keeps changing).  He had fun with "puppets that talk–I like puppets that talk, Mommy, better than puppets that don't talk", games, snacks and the story about Rahab and the Spies (one of the games they played was Spies & Soldiers where the Spies got to hide and the Soliders looked for them "and the girls were the spies and we looked for them and THEN the boys were the spies").  Alex played in the nursery and they took him to go see the puppet show. They said he enjoyed the show, he wasn't happy when someone moved in front of him.  Now he's taking a nice LONG nap. I would say Day #1 was a success!

Now that we don't have our Tuesday night Date Night, we actually had to hire a sitter for a chance to go out. But, this means we can stay out as late as we want (or are willing to pay).

We did a very basic date…dinner and a movie. We ate dinner too fast and had to do some shopping to kill time in between.  We actually did shopping for James, not me.  He used birthday money & tax return money to get an iPod–we are now joining the 21st centery!  James wanted to get a device he can put in his running shoe that hooks up to the iPod and does things like track distance, pace, etc. (I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you more about it.) There's a long story about how he ordered if from Apple and they messed up the order, but credited him some money and he chose to get it from a real store. (Again, I'm sure he'd be happy to tell you more about it.)

After that we went to see Oceans 13. (I know, we're a few weekends behind. Just an aside, we heard Evan, Almighty was really funny and clean from people at church.)  We enjoyed Oceans 13 a great deal. But we enjoy many of those "funny 'good' guys robbing bad guys" movies.  Highly recommend it if you enjoy them as well.  Since it's Sunday (our free day in the diet plan), I bought a box of movie candy–Skittles. I've never had so many Skittles in one setting before.  I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, and think I have successfully cured any desire I will ever have for Skittles again. 

Computer Tech Support was able to fix the problems we'd been having on the computer…finally. Odd things had been happening. The computer had been running slower, and then the mouse stopped working. We got a new mouse, but after that the computer wouldn't recognize my camera's USB cord.  James looked at it, but didn't really have an answer. It wasn't until he realized he couldn't play his Flight Simulator that he really started to work on fixing the computer though.

James reinstalled a few things and then when he tried to restart the computer, it kept shutting down. In the end we needed a new CPU. And now we have a working computer!  I finally was able to download some pictures off my camera and easily post them.

I wanted to get everything off my camera because I agreed to bring it to church this week to take pictures of each child for VBS. (We'll be using those for our final craft day on Friday.) I thought it'd be easiest of we ONLY had VBS pictures on it.  So I downloaded pictures and then reformatted the memory card of the camera (for a "fast" delete).  Then I realized I'd only downloaded on of the folder of pictures, I'd forgotten the other one. DOH!  So the really cute pictures of Alex playing with the hose that I was going to share?  Gone.  You'll have to be content with what I shared today… Will mastering a climbing "ladder" at the park, and Alex learning his letters.

Well…Week 6 already. I must admit, I am very fortunate to not have gained any this week.  I was a bit ticked off after last week (worked out, ate well, lost nothing). While I ate well, I did not work out. Once.

But it's a new week.  And I'm encouraged again. And I'm not joining Weight Watcher's yet. James found this site that lets you track calories, workouts and your goals. And I'm coming up with a better workout plan to factor in for the nights I have things happening, so I won't be skipping those nights.

I was reading this site, as she described the changes she's seen in the last 3 months after keeping up with her healthy eating & working out.  Three months.  I'll be 33 in 3 months.  I'd like to see some changes before then, I can't keep this up.

SO…new plan is in place. Today. 

Today I saw a glimpse into my future with the boys. Alex is beginning to want to do EVERYTHING Will does.

Sometimes this is cute. We went for a walk and Will found a dandelion. He picked it and started to blow the seeds off. Alex came running over, trying to blow as well (but he can't get air out yet, it just results in spitting).  Will got all the seeds off and threw the stem aside.  Alex wasn't content to just help blow on that one. We continue walking and I watched him walk over to the side of the road, pick a long blade of grass and try to blow that.

I just had to shake my head and laugh. Earlier in the morning it was a bit more frustrating.  We were outside and I was reading a book to Will on the swing. Alex went into the house, got his "own" book and brought it back out to me to read to him. It's tricky trying to read two books at the same time–he was not content to listen to Will's book.

Hmmm…I see some competition issues up ahead.

Will's Sunday School class made gifts for their Dads for Father's Day yesterday.  The teacher brought in brownies and the kids cut out the letters DAD from them. It was win-win…the dads got a cool, yummy gift and the kids got to eat the scraps.  I'm feeling a bit gyped for only getting a tissue paper flower for Mother's Day.

Will also was telling us they had a cowboy come to their class to tell them about "Bible School Ba-cation". (Vacation Bible School).  I found that funny. He's excited about it, it's the first time he's been old enough to go. And I'll be helping out with crafts.  Next week. I'm sure it'll be fun & crazy!