I was a little concerned about the logistics this time around. It takes place from 9:00 - 12:00 and it's a 30 minute drive. It would be crazy to come all the way home after dropping them off so I determined that the boys and I would just hang out around the area. Unfortunately with the 9:00 start time, it meant that Colby would not be having his usual 9:15 - 10:45 morning nap in his crib. I hate for him to get out of his routine that many days in a row (what if he doesn't want to take a nap in the morning any more or something?) but what can you do? Fortunately it seemed to work out fine. A few of the days he would fall asleep on the way there and then take another short nap around 11:00 and then the other days he wouldn't sleep until after we dropped them off. Either way, he got in his nap one way or the other and still slept great for his afternoon naps too (although I would sometimes have to feed him puffs with my arm at a weird angle over the driver's seat so he wouldn't fall asleep on the way home).
The girls had a terrific time as usual. I don't know how many times Aubree told me "I love VBS!" Unlike last year when she had a crying spell one day and showed some anxiety with my not being there, she had no problems at all this time. Thank goodness! Aubree was in a group with Maddy, Kohlden, a boy Sam from her Little Lambs group in Adventurers, and another boy, Will. Her leader was Sarah. Calleigh was with Braelyn, and three boys. The first day when I asked she said she couldn't remember any of their names but then each day thereafter she would report that she had learned one name. So by the end, we knew they were Zach, Emil, and Julius. Her leader was Ryan, a really nice guy. Funny story on that, actually. When we were at the reception following the Friday night program, I saw my Aunt Wanda talking to Ryan and some folks who looked like his parents. Sure enough, they were. Aunt Wanda had taught Ryan and his sister Holly English at the College but bigger than that, his mom had gone to Greater Boston Academy with my dad. But even more interesting, Ryan's last name is Rigsby and his grandfather delivered me at New England Memorial Hospital. That is the Adventist world for you!
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| Aubree looks pretty blase here but I think I caught her at a bad moment. |
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| Colby watching the singing one morning. If I calculated things correctly, Colby will be in his first year of VBS while Calleigh is in her last (actually, he won't turn 4 until August but if I volunteer they may let him in). |
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| The pink character named Sandy. It's a real animal although...weird. |
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| Closing program on Friday night. There were 153 kids at VBS. |
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| Calleigh's group song. |
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| And Aubree's |
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| Aubree and Sarah |
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| Calleigh and Ryan. Some single lady needs to snatch this guy up! He's studying medicine AND good with kids. |
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| They showed pictures from the week on the big screen. |
Brady Aubree Calleigh
Weight 28 lbs (25th) 28.5 lbs (25th) 34 lbs (75th)
Height 36 inches (25th) 37 1/4 inches (50th) 38 1/4 inches (75th)
BP 82/56
Pants Size 2T
Shorts 18 Months - 2T
Shirts 3T
Shoes 7
He's still the little guy of the family but look, only a half pound less than Aubs at age three. Making some progress! The 25th percentile is completely wrong though for him. I saw the line on the chart and it was much less than that but I'm not sure what it was. She wrote down the 25th but there's no way he's in the 25th as a boy if Aubree was 25th and she was half pound heavier. Either way, the good news is that he gained 3 pounds in the last year which is right on and his curve still has a nice upward slope. I asked the doctor about him not eating vegetables except for cucumbers and he said he'll get over it eventually. Don't force them on him. As long as he's growing, it's all good.
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| Dr. Smith. We love him! |
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| Mall playground. |
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| He loves to stick out that tongue. |
So the sad news is that my brother and Ana are moving to Montana. He's going to be the assistant boys' dean at Mount Ellis Academy in Bozeman. He held this job a number of years ago and really enjoyed it so he decided to have another go-round when the opportunity presented itself. I am INCREDIBLY sad to see them go. Even though we have known for weeks, we didn't tell the kids until this morning and I was bawling! I don't know that Brady and Aubree really got it but Calleigh did and she kept saying "Why did he have to take that job?" We are going to miss them SO much as they have been the absolute ideal aunt and uncle to the kids. The girls made them cards which we presented them at a farewell dinner tonight at the Cheesecake Factory. Aubree's said "Come back soon" and I pray that is true. They are leaving Tuesday but we will see them at campmeeting as they are spending some time up north until they drive out to the school in early August.
I had gotten some gift cards for the Cheesecake Factory hence our selection for a place to eat. But mercy, it is expensive to feed a family of six there if we didn't have those! Of course, we did get several slices of cheesecake which are now at the bargain price of $7.50/each. Just wow. Guess it had been awhile. Anywho, we completely stuffed ourselves and I had let the girls pick a cheesecake to share. Calleigh was initially upset that she didn't get her own piece, she was sure she could eat a whole one herself, but as expected, they couldn't finish it between them. I shared with Brady who selected a chocolate tuxedo piece. He's my chocolate lover. So there we are after this whole big meal. We get in the car and Brady's first words to me are "Do you have a snack for me?" Seriously??
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| Thank you someone for letting me know that black strappy thing was showing. |
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| Playing with the giant checkers outside the Cheesecake Factory while we waited for our table. |
Colby has had a pretty good week. He is now:
- Climbing stairs
- Standing up by himself (pulls himself up and then let's go)
- Popping out his first tooth. It's all swollen and the white is about to break out at any moment.
- Waving
- Doing blow out poops right before I have to leave to go somewhere in the morning causing me to run around frantically changing him, changing me, and generally putting me in a state of panic that we will be late. But wait....I think he's already been doing that.
This week I discovered a major boneheaded thing I did. At the end of last year, I had gone in to the eye doctor for an exam so I could get a bunch of contacts before our partial employer reimbursement ended. I didn't need them right away but I wanted to get them while I could. So, six months later now, I need a contact lens. I put it in and I seriously can't see anything. It feels fine but it's completely blurry. It's like if you had perfect vision and you put on someone's glasses. I thought maybe it was a fluke so I tried another one. Same problem. I open the pack for the other eye which is a different strength. Still the same problem. I am completely stumped. I've never used Acuvue Oasys with Hydroclear Plus (which the doctor recommended and the prescription for) so I thought maybe the "Plus" meant something and and I shouldn't have gotten the Plus. But no, those are the regular pair. Since it's been so long, Walgreens (where I purchased them) wouldn't accept returns. I called the eye doctor to see if I could come in and they could look to see if the contacts were defective. I talked to two different people who thought maybe my prescription had changed in those six months (come on!). At a loss, they finally had the doctor himself call me who quickly asked "Does the box of contacts say -2.50 or +2.50?" So yeah, turns out I bought +2.50 which is what people who can't see up close use for reading. Duh!! I felt like such an idiot. I went back to the Walgreens website and sure enough, when you're choosing the strength, they have a drop down box with the numbers and all that shows up are the + numbers. You have to scroll down to get to the - but I just saw the 2.5 and didn't even notice the + next to it. There goes a bunch of money down the drain. If anybody knows anybody that uses contacts as "reading glasses" with a prescription of 2.5 or 2.75, I have some free contacts for you! Eight boxes to be precise. Lesson learned.
A couple of quotes before I sign off. Brady enjoys playing "Guess the animal" while we drive in the car. I describe an animal and then he guesses.
Me:"This animal is an insect and it's really small and black.
Brady: "I don't know."
Calleigh: "And they build ant mounds."
Me:"Calleigh! You just gave it away!"
Me:"Calleigh! You just gave it away!"
Brady (all excited): "A pider!!"
This made me laugh on several levels. He does not pronounce his "s" when it's followed by a consonant and secondly, he was given the answer and still couldn't get it. That's my boy!
As many kids do, they have names for things that aren't quite right. For example, Brady calls a dump truck, a dumper truck and he calls a tow truck a hooker. Which causes things like this to happen:
Brady (spotting something in the distance):"Look!! It's a hooker!!"
Brady (spotting something in the distance):"Look!! It's a hooker!!"
Kind of disconcerting to hear someone yell those words.
A few more pictures to close...
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| The girls made the shirts and hats at VBS. Aubree wanted me to take a picture and send it to Duncan. She specifically said, very seriously, "Make sure you tell him it's Aubree in case he doesn't know it's me." (And no, she was not watching the show that is on in the background. I had it on pause when she snuck down from quiet time.) |
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| Some family friends from Maine, Norman and Kristin McGuire, are moving here and were down for the week looking at houses. We had them over for Sabbath lunch. Norman is a professional artist. We are losing a Spanish teacher but may be gaining an art one! |
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| Calleigh saw Kristin on her flip phone and said "Look! She has an old fashioned phone!" Remember when an old fashioned phone used to be a rotary one or one that had to be plugged into a wall? |
Have a great week.