VBS Week, Part 1

Summer is in full swing, and it's that time of year again--Vacation Bible School!  The kids have been looking forward to going to Mo and Granddad's for the week.  Sunday afternoon we picked up my niece and nephew, and we were on our way.  They were really good on the drive.  Alexee asked "how much longer?" several times, and I glanced back once and realized Crosby had unstrapped and climbed out of his car seat, but other than that it was fine. 

bags packed

car loaded

5 happy grandkids on bean bags

Sunday's veggie dinner, all from Grandmother's garden (plus cornbread-yum)

We started early Monday a.m. in order to have everyone fed and ready to go by 8:15.  Mom made their favorite--biscuits and chocolate gravy--to start the week off right.  This was the traditional first day photo.  Crosby will be old enough next year, but on Monday and Tuesday mornings he had Mo all to himself.  He enjoyed that!

Ages 3, 8, 8, 5, 5

 

It's great to have a cousin your same age to be in your class!

This was the first year I'd helped out with VBS, and I really had fun doing crafts with Karen and Aunt Judy.  Karen's son, Dan, and I are the same age and attended many years of VBS together growing up.  :)  We were talking about the things we remembered from the old church.  I can still picture the way the Kool-Aid bubbled in that machine in the Fellowship Hall.  Fun memories, and I'm glad my kids get to make some similar memories of their own.

Judy had a lot of cute crafts planned for the kids this week.

(Alexee & Jeryn working on the top right and Jaiden & Rhett on the bottom)  

The theme this year was Amazing Wonders Aviation, and the set was so neat!  The motto:  Awesome God!  Amazing Power!  Verse:  Our Lord is great, vast in power; His understanding is infinite.  --Psalm 147:5

We stayed busy in the afternoons, too, even though it was very hot and humid: 

The kids took turns feeding the bottle calf.

We played hopscotch in the shade.

Alexee and Jeryn caught a tiny frog.  

Monday evening we went to the cabin when Dad got home.

Even when it's 100+ degrees, it's pleasant here because you can wade in the COLD water.  Crosby came prepared with a water gun and thought it was funny to catch people off guard and spray them with that cold water.

Mom picked up pizza so we had a pizza picnic at the pavilion.  They'd played hard and worked up an appetite.

I love these girls!

Dad caught a nice trout and let Crosby help reel it in.

sweet brothers.  I think they look alike in the one on the right.

As always, this was C's main source of entertainment.  We went on many many rides.

You can always see deer near by.  Sometimes we'd see the fawns with their mothers--very cute.

Wednesday morning C went to church with me.  He stayed busy making his own crafts, wiping down the tables, and mostly asking for cookies from the ladies working right next to us at the snack station!

Each classroom, recreation area, music room, etc. was a different stop around God's amazing creation.  Crafts took place in the Great Barrier Reef, so some of the projects were sea life related.  Alexee's group made these sweet little handprint fish.  

Alexee with Lily and Adrianne, two of my cousins' little girls

The older kids made prayer journals where they wrote on the covers with white crayons then painted over it with watercolors.  They all seemed to enjoy painting.

Crosby took 2+ hour naps Monday-Wednesday.  He slept the whole trip home yesterday.   He was just worn out.  It's quiet around here today, and he is missing the other kids.  He keeps asking me when we can go back and see Rhett, Alexee, Jaiden and Jeryn.  He cried when I put him in bed last night and he told me he wanted to go back to Mo and Granddad's house.  I felt so sorry for him.  We plan to go back tomorrow, so maybe I can keep him busy until then.  It makes me wonder if he's going to be bored this fall when both R & A are in school 5 days a week.  He's not used to having things calm and quiet, I guess. 

Bogart's Big Day

Last Sunday was Bogart's 9th birthday, so he celebrated with a small bowl of ice cream topped with milk bones!  We got him on Labor Day weekend before Rhett was born, and he has been such a perfect dog for us.

They all wanted to have their picture made with "Bobo".  He's very loved and a very special part of our family.  They even sang to him.  :)

BBQ Chicken & Avalanche Bars

I wanted to share two good recipes that I've tried recently:

BBQ Chicken
(From Stacy, via Heather)
1 T. canola oil
1 c. ketchup
1 (12 oz.) bottle chili sauce
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. chili powder
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 Tabasco sauce
4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
12 Kaiser rolls
Combine first 12 sauce ingredients together in a 4 qt. slow cooker.  Add chicken and stir to coat.  Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 7-8 hours.  Remove chicken and break apart.  Stir back into sauce.  Serve over Kaiser rolls.

**********

Avalanche Bars
(From Cookies & Cups, via Pinterest)

Ingredients
12 oz bag of White Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
3 cups Rice Krispies
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips + 2 Tbsp for garnish.
Lightly grease a 9x9 pan

How to Make

1. In microwave-safe bowl pour in white chips and heat on 50% power for 1 minute. Stir and continue in 30 second increments until chips are melted.
2. Combine the peanut butter with the melted chips and add the krispies.
3. Let cool approx 15 – 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes or so to help cool.
4. Add the marshmallows and the mini chocolate chips and stir to combine.
5. Pour mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly, pressing lightly with the back of your spoon, but do not compact too much, otherwise they will get hard.
6. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the top for garnish.
7. When the bars are completely cooled cut into squares and enjoy!

This Week

Lately...

Alexee had a friend over, and they played dress-up and painted their fingernails pink with blue polka-dots.

Alexee and Crosby went to MDO one day, so Rhett and I had lunch together at Old Mill then I took him swimming for a little while. 

Crosby always asks me to play baseball with him in the back yard.  I sent him upstairs to grab some shoes, and he came back wearing cowboy boots.  :)  

I recently saw an idea on Pinterest that I loved:  A Scripture Scrapbook.  I had an empty binder in the office so I hole-punched a stack of paper, cut out pictures from magazines and let the kids start glueing and Rhett start writing.  He already knew several verses that he could use, and then I helped him look up key words in the back of his Bible to find other verses.  It was a fun project, and one that we can add to.  It was neat to show them how God's Word applies to everything!

I liked this picture of the waves (Outdoor Photographer was a great source of nature photos), and I really loved that Alexee thought of a verse to use all by herself!  She said, "For this one we can write about when it rained and rained for forty days and forty nights."  Perfect!  :)  I drew waves and raindrops and had her color them in.

Here are a few more of the pages:

One morning we rode bikes before it got too hot.

He's so sweet and snuggly!  I hope my kids will always give me hugs--I always make them promise that they will, even when they're big.  :)  Sometimes when I put C in bed at night he says, "Wait, I have one more kiss for you!"

Wednesday evening we went to the Travelers game with some of our Community Group (we missed y'all that couldn't make it).  It was extra fun because of the good company and because two of the guys work for a bank that has a suite which we were able to use!

guys:  Russ, Bob, Lane, Nathan, Whit & Jeremy

girls:  Mitzi, Mel, Emily, me & Jan

Alexee attended morning VBS at the church where she and Crosby go to MDO.  She wanted to go because her friend, Addison, was going to be there.  She was disappointed that they were put in two different groups for part of the time, but I think she still had fun.  This was on the last day.  It was a sea-life theme, so she wore her crab dress.  She and Rhett are really looking forward to VBS at my parents' church next week--they always have such a great time!  

OBU & HS

One more vacation post...

We had breakfast at the lodge's Loose Moose Cottage Thursday morning, then Lane took everyone back to the water park for about an hour while I went to the room to pack up.  We decided to spend the last night of vacation in Hot Springs with Lane's parents.  They kept Bogart for us while we were gone (a BIG thank you to them for that--we appreciated it so much!!) so we needed to pick him up, and we thought it would be fun to go out on the lake Thursday evening.  Lane always enjoys playing golf with his Dad, so they played Friday morning, and I took the kids swimming. We met for lunch, then got Bogart and headed home.  Even though it was a super fun trip, I was ready to be back in my own house/bed.

We needed a restroom break on our way to Hot Springs, so we made a stop at OBU, where I went to college.  Taking the kids to campus was on our summer to-do list anyway, so that worked out nicely.  I hadn't been there in a long time, so it was fun to take a brief walk and show them a few things.  

We went in the student center where I showed them my old mailbox.  I loved getting mail in college (thanks, Mom!).  It's weird to think that we didn't text back then, and I really only had a cell phone for emergencies.  I don't think my parents had a home e-mail account until my sophomore year, so OBU Box #4001 was actually useful!  I wonder if students ever get real mail anymore?  If not, they're missing out!

Standing in front of the Tiger Statue

Crosby asked me to take his picture by this tree.  He's a cutie!

on the chapel steps

Seeing them walk across campus suddenly made college seem like a very LONG time ago.  The building in front of Alexee was where I lived my Freshman year (Flippen-Perrin Hall).

I've always thought it was such a pretty, cozy campus.

:)

Bob picked up pizza for dinner that night, then we went out for a nice, evening boat ride on Lake Hamilton.

ice cream bars at the pool on Friday

Thankful for safe travels and fun family time last week!