More VBS and Good Friends

Last week we wrapped up VBS at Markham Woods Church and this week the girls are at it again at Florida Hospital Church.  Can't get enough of VBS...or can we?  All went well with the girls the first two days last week and then came Wednesday.  When I went and picked the girls us, Miss Pearl (Aubree's leader) informed me that Aubree had cried.  With the theme being "Athens," they had a guy dressed up as Pual and apparently "Paul" had rushed into a room where the four year olds were waiting and yelled "An angry mob is after me!!" Aubree had interpreted him to say "An angry MOM is after me." which only added to her panic and she started to cry along with a bunch of other kids in the room.  She did calm down and the rest of the morning went fine.

On Thursday she went to VBS as normal but she told me herself when I picked her up that she had cried again for me.  So I wasn't surprised a bit on Friday morning when we got there and she told me she wanted to stay with me (on Thursday and Friday, Miss Pearl wasn't there due to an illness in the family so I'm sure that also added to things).  That was fine and she accompanied Brady and me on our yard sales.  She was so cute because the first thing she said was that she wanted to buy Calleigh something at a yard sale.  We had a good morning and Aubree declared that she was the big sister which of course, she always is Brady's big sister but I guess she meant the BIGGEST one since Calleigh wasn't there.  Since I hadn't been anticipating her being with us, although in hindsight I probably should have guessed, I had only brought a snack for Brady and before long, Aubree declared her hunger.  I didn't want to get out so I went through the drive-through at McDonald's and got some french fries as a special treat.  When Aubree realized what we were getting she told me, "Don't worry.  I'll tell Calleigh we didn't have any." Good, good.  She'll never catch on if that's what you say.  But Aubree ended up being the one with the problem.  When we picked Calleigh up, I made the mistake of asking what the snack was and when she answered "cupcake" and well, that just set Aubree off.  She burst into tears and seriously, cried the entire way home.  Calleigh tried to make it better by saying "Aubree, it didn't taste very good.  Well, it was good but not VERY good." Thanks, that really helped.

Despite her tears and cupcake hysterics, Aubree was still gung-ho on performing in the closing program on Friday night so I was happy about that.  They had made tunics during the week so they were all dressed up to look like Grecians complete with leaf crowns.  Brady was excited for his own reasons.  He was extremely taken with the mascot, aka "character" named Filos which was half cow/half horse.  Apparently it was supposed to be a horse but looked like a cow.  At any rate, all week, this is all he could talk about.  He would constantly say "Go to BVS and see the character." And when we would get there and see it, he would go bonkers with excitement.  The program went very well with the girls singing the theme song with the whole group (the very catchy "Yes, It's True) and Aubree singing "Love Round" with the four and five year olds and Calleigh "Come, Now is the Time to Worship" with the kindergarten group.  Afterwards we had refreshments which the baby and I enjoyed immensely (meaning, I had more than one helping).

Filos.  Cow or horse?

Miss Amy, Calleigh's leader.

The crown kept slipping down on her head.

Evan and Aubree, pals.

Waiting patiently for the program to begin.

Things got a little silly waiting for refreshments.

Sabbath was the last day for the girls in their respective Sabbath School classes since we will be gone the next two Sabbaths and they switch to their new classes in July.  Well, Aubree switches at least.  I was told by Pastor Barb that they don't have anyone to teach the class that Calleigh is going into next (Primary?) so she will be staying in her same class which would now become the class for the 4 - 6 year olds.  That means the girls will be together again so from that perspective it will be nice.  On the down side, Calleigh will not have not have same teacher as Miss Deanna and Mr. John are retiring.  That is definitely sad news as Calleigh adores Miss Deanna.  With Aubree leaving the three-year old class, Brady will also be moving to his normal class of the 0 - 2 year olds.  So everyone is getting a new class.  One thing that I thought was funny was that Aubree's teacher, Miss Patti, whom I help out every other week, commented to me on Sabbath that she saw Aubree at the VBS program the night before when she was there with her sister, Bonnie Shim.  This whole time I had no idea she and Bonnie were sisters...I worked with Bonnie for many years at the hospital and her son, Adam, was the Bible boy in my wedding.  Small world!

Opening a gift from Aunt Wanda at church.

Story time in Sabbath School.  Notice Brady (in the white shirt) facing backwards!  He stayed like that the whole time.

Graduation certificate from Kindergarten.

Father's Day was Sunday and we didn't do anything all that special per Duncan's request.  I was willing to give him a day to himself but he told me that it was the opposite for him.  Since he is away from the family a lot, he would rather spend it together.  Having said that, he spent the morning at our townhouse preparing it for the new tenants (moving the washing machine out, steaming the carpets, changing light bulbs, etc).  This was really the last chance to do it.  During Brady's nap, I did some errands and then when Brady woke up he decided to take Brady with him to Home Depot and Lowe's and I was going to take the girls with me while I got a haircut (seeing as it had been seven months since my last one).  Well, when Calleigh saw that Brady was going with Daddy in his truck, she flipped out.  She loves going places in the truck, I think partly because she likes to sit in her booster seat (we still have her in a car seat in the van because it's safer than a booster, a fact that irks her when she sees other kids in boosters).  To compensate, I decided we could get a treat and I stopped and got two little cups of ice cream for them, figuring they could eat it while I got my haircut or while we waited.  As we pulled in to the haircut place, I noticed a truck that looked a lot like Duncan's and indeed, it was.  It turns out he had brought Brady in for a haircut and as we walked in with the girls eating their ice cream, I was thinking "Uh oh.  This may not turn out very well." Alas, Brady was sitting on Duncan's lap calmly eating a lolli-pop and didn't bat an eye when he saw the girls eating their ice cream and in fact, it was Calleigh who then declared "NO FAIR.  I want a lolli-pop." Geepers.  There is no keeping these kids happy.



Monday morning it was back to VBS, same time, different place.  This one had told me that you had to be six to leave your kid there alone and I knew I wasn't about to stay there with Brady for three hours so I was afraid it wasn't going to work out but in the end, they said Aubree could be there since she would be with an older sibling.  I also had a bit of low expectations on this one.  Markham Woods is the caviar of VBS programs (150 kids attend and if you don't sign up in the first day and a half, you have no chance of getting in).  They really have their act together.  Considering that we signed up just last week for this one, I thought maybe it wouldn't be all that.  But I was pretty impressed with their decorations and the parts of the program that I saw.  Brady was, of course, eager to see "the character" but I kept telling him there may not be one at this one and there wasn't.  But they do have puppets so that has partially made up for it.  Aubree had put last weeks issues behind her and voiced no complaints when I left them yesterday.  Braelyn is coming to this one so she accompanies us and the three girls are in the same group.

Brady and I went to JCPenney to pick up our pictures and he loved the mannequins.

He also loved the playground that we haven't been to in ages.  When I said it was time to go he said "Two minutes" and then he went around to all the stuff and kissed it good-bye.

When I picked them up yesterday, I heard good reports on the way home but later on, Calleigh informed me that she didn't want to go back.  "Why?" I asked.  "My leader doesn't pay attention to me." she said.  I don't know if she had really high expectations after her leader, Miss Amy, last week or what.  I did notice today that the leaders are high school age kids and they seem to be on their phones a lot so Calleigh may have a valid point.  Anyway, I told her that we were still going to go today because we were going to take Braelyn and it would be up to her if she wanted to stay or not.  As I suspected, she did opt to stay.  Aubree, on the other hand, said she wanted me to stay with her.  I told her I couldn't and that got her upset so I told her she was just going to have to come with me and Brady which she did but again, here came the tears.  They eventually stopped and she ended up having fun going to a story time and a consignment store but then as we neared the church to pick up the girls, she started telling me that she wasn't happy that she missed the movie and the snack.  So I said, "Aubs, you could have stayed if you wanted." And she says "Well, I DID want to stay and I was trying to tell you that but you didn't give me enough time." Likely story.  I told her she could stay tomorrow so we'll see how it all goes down.

This evening we had Cory, Amanda, Noah, and Jake Reeves and the Isidros over for a hot dog supper and some fellowship.  They are in town from Georgia for a conference and we were thrilled to get to spend some time with them.  We had seen Cory and Amanda a few months ago but this time they had the kids with them. Calleigh and Noah are only a few weeks apart in age and Jake is almost four.  The kids had a great time outside in the kiddie pool and then they came in to play upstairs.  Noah and Calleigh did quite a bit of wrestling despite our insistence they take it easy.  Calleigh told me "I wish Noah was my brother." So there you go.  I will remind her of that in like 15 - 20 years if they some how hook up.






Jaime has finished painting and we are really happy with the results.  We had to take him over to the townhouse last week to do a little painting over there so he wasn't able to finish over here until yesterday (he had another job on Thursday & Friday last week).  It took a whole day to do the stripes on Brady's new room but we are thrilled with how it came out.  This officially completes all the painting to be done in the house so that is nice to have done!  It was funny though because when he finished yesterday I took Calleigh up to see it and while we were walking out of the room (while he was still there) this she whispered this to me:

Calleigh:"Are you going to give him some money?"
Me: "Yes."
Calleigh:"How much?"
Me: I tell her the amount which is very reasonable.
Calleigh:"WHAT ON EARTH?"
Apparently it sounded like a lot to her but obviously she doesn't understand the going rate for this kind of thing.

School room.  Clearly we have a lot to do in the next two months!

Brady's new room (in two months)

Brady's current room/Baby new room.  Best picture I could get with Brady sleeping in there.

We got some rockers for the front porch...finally.