VBS

*Note: I did most of this post and then forgot about it. Oops! ;) Anyway, the content is from the week of July 26th-August 1st.*

There's a new consignment shop type store in town and we found this old school desk there. We've been wanting to get a small desk type surface for Benjamin as he works on letters, coloring, etc. Dave and I both thought this was a unique and cool thing to get for him and he agrees! Benjamin really loves it. We haven't even moved it to his room yet, b/c he enjoys playing on it throughout the day so much. Here he is the evening we surprised him with it...


We had a really fun time at VBS at our church this year. The theme was Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Benjamin is a HUGE fan of VBS and really enjoyed himself! We found this pirate hat at Target the second day of VBS and he wore it every night and was so pleased! One of my favorite moments was when we were outside playing games. At the end, the leader had all the teenage helpers line up and the kids got to squirt them with water guns five at a time. Benjamin is very patient when around others and kind of stands back and I usually have to make sure he gets a turn. He did the same thing this time and number-wise it worked out that he was the only doing it on his round. He was so adorable quietly smiling as he took his water gun and squirted each of those teenagers way more than any other kid had!


The last night of the week the kids do a program and get to wear their new shirts (a big highlight for our kids!!!). Since Dave and I were volunteers, we had matching shirts too. I didn't want Collin to feel left out, so he wore red that day too. :)

Benjamin playing in the gym waiting for the program to start. They gave everyone an eye patch and it made Benjamin extra "piratey". "Argh!"

Collin was very intrigued by the eye patches.....

Anna wore (and continues to) wear her eye patch more like a headband. Here she is with some of her fan club....

Watch out!

One evening as we were leaving, Benjamin asked for a tootsie roll. (Our pastor keeps them in a basket in his office for the kids.) When he went to get one, they were all gone. He came and told me and said that it was okay that there weren't any left. I told him we had some at home and I would get him one when we got there since he was being so mature about it. His response, "Momma, even if Pastor Steve didn't have any tootsie rolls in his office AND we didn't have any at home, that would still be alright with me. I would be okay."

Getting ready to sing!

Benjamin loved the music part of VBS and really got into singing the songs and doing the movements each night. So, he was super excited to get to sing his songs on the ship (stage). Anna was not so happy about the music part. She loves to sing songs with me and is really good at it so I thought she'd love singing at VBS. She got so overwhelmed by all the people though and usually just wanted to be held during the music portion each evening. So, here's how we started out the show: Benjamin enthusiastically singing with his friends and Anna sitting still solemnly on the step....

See how happy he is?

After the first song, Anna came and sat with me on the front row. She enjoyed watching for a few songs with me and then I asked her if she wanted to go sing some more. She shocked me when she said yes and went back up. The real shock though, was when she started singing and dancing along. We didn't think she had paid any attention through the week as she hadn't sung a single word or done one movement. It tickled me beyond words to see her get up there and do it all!

I wish you could see Benjamin better, but here they are doing muscles as they sing the theme bible verse, "I can do all things through Christ because He gives me STRENGTH!"

She was so cute up there, this little girl of mine singing and dancing!

Pointing up when they sing "through Christ".

Jesus gives us strength!! :) I love that my kids know that and happily declare it on their own!

Yay!! Good job guys!

Playing on the ship after the program.

Everyone enjoyed cookies and milk after. Here they are with one of our small group sitters, Isabel.

Saturday morning, Dave let me sleep in and he took the kids garage sale shopping. When they got back they were showing me what they found and being silly trapping their Daddy in the garage.

Then we had fun playing and eating outside. Anna really loves watermelon!

Collin got to enjoy his first watermelon that day. He's gotten so good at the pincher grasp and can pick up such small morsels to his mouth. :)

He really enjoyed his watermelon!

We found a Buzz Lightyear water toy on clearance and the kids really enjoyed playing with it.

Ready to launch!

To infinity and beyond! ;)

That evening Dave's parents watched Benjamin and Anna while we took Collin on a little road trip about 45 minutes away to have dinner and shop for furniture for our anniversary. We didn't find anything, but had a fun time together. The next day was our anniversary and Dave requested a chocolate dipping dessert to have together after the kids went to bed since we had dinner at home with them. Unfortunately, kids seem to be able to know when you want them to go to sleep and all three kids fought bedtime with Collin staying up until 11:45! So, I made this yummy dessert while Dave was up doing a bedtime attempt and when it failed, Collin ended up getting to enjoy it with us. Oh, well......that's life with little ones!

Dave also surprised me by making some shelves in a little cut-out we have in our bedroom. I had told him a couple times how I thought it would be so neat to make shelves in it, not thinking it would happen anytime soon. He really surprised me by doing it as my anniversary present!

Earlier in the day, we spent our anniversary at church and then went to Benjamin's good friend, Tyler's, birthday party. We've never taken the kids bowling before and they were really excited that the party was at a bowling alley. I forgot my camera, but my friend Terri was kind enough to email some pictures from her son's party. Here are Collin and I enjoying some yummy birthday cake!

Such a sweet girl, this one is!

Benjamin did great for his first time bowling and had so much fun!

The kids were all so cute cheering for one another!

Some recent tidbits:

-The kids have little wooden rocking chairs. One day, Benjamin was moving Anna's for her. Afterwards, Anna said to him, "Wow, you're strong with your muscles, Bengine!"

-Collin is developing so much. He recognizes the words "clap", "no", "shake", and "bye, bye". He now waves his sweet little hand and says, "bye, bye"!!! It is soooo adorable! He has "the moms" BIG time and always wants me. It's so amazing to be loved so much! When he wants me or something else, he claps his hands together and gives a little fuss to let us know.

-Benjamin had been saying he wanted to be an astronaut for a week or so. One day when he said it, I asked him why. He said so that he could fly in a rocket and go to the moon. I told him that I thought that sounded really cool and he said, "And you know what we should do, Momma? When Collin gets bigger, we should make a really big rocket and our whole family should go to the moon!" He continued to talk about exciting space things and then turns to me and says, "You know what I really want to do though, Momma?" "I want to do the same thing Daddy does." :)

-One night at bedtime, I went in to comfort Benjamin. He was worried and asking questions about if someone could "sword our windows" and get in our house. We talked about it for awhile and I asked him if he worried about anything else and encouraged him to talk to us when he's scared/worried about things. After we talked about a few more fears he was having, I reminded him that it's really important to talk to God when he's scared about things too. This lead into an entire different discussion. I struggle with these talks because I enjoy so much having that time just him and I in his bed talking about things and learning how his sweet mind is developing. But I know that he keeps going and going so that he can stay awake longer. So I have to balance enjoying our talks with making sure he gets his sleep. Anyway, so we start talking about Jesus and end up talking about how it's through Jesus that we get to heaven and how Jesus died on the cross for our sins. As I was explaining this (most of which he's already heard), he tells me, "And you know what, Momma? Jesus died on the cross and He never did anything wrong, not ever!" I was so impressed that he knew and understood that Jesus didn't sin and that it was applicable to what we were talking about. It's such a blessing to be with these sweet little ones as they grow and develop!!!