Nursery Friends

Usually in the nursery at church there are 4 kids: Maggie, Cecilia, Joel and John.  Joel is 3.5 years old, Maggie is almost 2.5 years old and Cecilia and John will be 2 years old in a few months.  For the most part they all get along pretty well.   John loves Joel and gets so excited to see him.  From time to time we have other little ones join us and they are usually all so well behaved.  It is fun to think that they will all grow up together in the church!

Joel and John this fall

Cecilia and John this fall

Church Movie Night

The Bible study group that I am a part of had the idea to host two movie nights this fall/winter.  We would have some snacks and a craft and have a free will offering.  We would then use that money toward Vacation Bible School.  The first movie was Robin Hood.  I wanted Joel to enjoy the movie with all the other kids and people there and not throw a fit because he didn’t like the movie.  No one owned the movie so I volunteered to buy it because I wanted Joel to watch it.  We mostly kept the movie in the car and watched it many times, so much that Joel started to really like it.  During the movie Joel was one of the few kids that sat and watched the whole movie.  The movie night went well, I don’t know how many of the kids actually watched the movie.  A lot of them did crafts too.

Kristy, Cecilia and Luke working on making sheep.

Our second movie was The Polar Express.  I never got around to forcing Joel to watch the movie because we didn’t have it on DVD only on Netflix.  I tried putting it on once and he told me to turn it off that he didn't want to watch it.  He managed to pay attention for 2/3 of the movie at church.  The last 1/3 he sort of watched and ran around checking everything out and ate cookies!  Vincent sat so still through the movie, he only got up a couple times and that was to get snacks and to tell me the movie was making him nervous. Once I told him that the ending was good he was fine!  I had never seen the movie before and I thought it was really good.

The movie nights have been a great family time for us and hopefully other families too.  We get to see friends and pretend like we are at a movie theater without the stress (and cost) of bringing three small children to the movie theater!

New Routine at Church

At church during the school year the kids stay in the sanctuary until after Children’s time and then they go downstairs to Sunday School.  The nursery is open all during the service and we generally just take Cecilia and Joel right downstairs and then Vincent sits upstairs in church with us.  This year at the start of Sunday school year we decided that Joel should go to Sunday school.  Long story short he isn’t ready for the Sunday school curriculum, but we do have him convinced that he stays in church until Children’s time is over and then he goes to the nursery.  It is a small step in the right direction.  We will wait on Sunday School for next fall, by then he should be ready!

It has been several weeks since we instituted our new stay in church until the children’s time policy.  Joel is doing so well and sits fairly well until it is time to go up front for children’s time.  He sits down up front with Vincent and stays still, listens, and folds his hands for the prayer.  I have been going up front and sitting in the first pew during that time just in case there is an issue.  The thing Brad and I did not factor into our decision is that Cecilia has to stay up with us in church until children’s time too, otherwise Joel would know she was in the nursery without him.  We also didn’t consider that Cecilia would insist she go up for Children’s time as well!  She sits rather well next to the boys or next to me on the first pew.  We are very proud of all three of the kids for their behavior in church lately!  We have come a long way from Cecilia's baptism train wreck.

Heifer Hay Day

Our church hosts a Heifer Hay Day every year.  It is a fall festival whose purpose is to raise money for Heifer International.  It is a wonderful program that helps provide animals to people in many countries and teaches them to care for the animals.  The idea is to teach them to farm and grow their own food.

Joel and "his" chicken.

Patient chicken

The kids and the goats.

The Hay Day has tons of activities for families.  There was a couple puppet shows, food, hay rides, pony rides, a small petting zoo, a silent auction and raffle baskets, face painting and more!  My grandma Pat, the kids and I all went for several hours to enjoy the fun activities and support Heifer.  The kids had a blast!  Vincent’s friend Austin was there and he had fun running off and exploring everything with him.  Joel LOVED the two hens at the petting zoo.  When we got there he was the only kid in the pen with the 2 goats and 2 chickens.  He sat and talked to the chickens and they just sat there as both he and Cecilia pet them.  At one point Cecilia grabbed one of their combs and they didn’t even do anything!  

Joel was getting upset they were holding one of the chickens.

Cecilia talking to the chicken.

As the afternoon went on there were more kids coming to see the animals.  They were picking up the chickens and being a little rough.  Joel was not happy!  He didn’t want anyone touching the chickens and especially not holding them.  In his mind they were supposed to stay on the ground, by him and that was the end of it.  We had several conversations about how we need to share the chickens.  After he convinced the kids to put the chickens down he would herd them into an area and “protect” them.  It was cute, but we had to drag him out of there several times to let the other kids take a turn.  Cecilia loved the animals too.  She was happy to hug the goats.  She was also happy because her friend Maggie was there!

Cecilia, Maggie and the goats.

Joel having a serious conversation with the chicken.

The other hen came to check things out.

Cecilia tried so hard to lift the chicken.

The hay ride we went on was very long, close to 15-20 minutes.  Uncle Dave was driving and he took us to two different local farms and explained a little bit about farming to everyone.   The kids didn’t seem to care about the talks but loved the hayride!  We all had a lot of fun and our church was able to meet our goal of buying an Ark ($5,000+)!

Uncle Dave

Grandma Pat, Joel, Kelli, Cecilia and Vincent.

Kristine and Grandma.

VBS Athens!

Our theme this year for Vacation Bible School was Athens: Paul’s Dangerous Journey to Share the Truth!  VBS at our church is in the evening because it seems to work better for volunteers and attendees.  It takes a lot of work to put together VBS.  Besides picking a theme, and recruiting volunteers, there is setting up all the decorations, getting t-shirts made and trying to get people to register ahead of time.  It is hard work, but totally worth it!

Opening worship

Adorable snack

Blessed to have talented people at church

Fun crafts!

This year through the course of the week we had 34 kids, including kids in the nursery.  On any given day we had between 26-29 kids.  We also had around 24 volunteers throughout the week!  I am so thankful to all the volunteers for their hard work and dedication to VBS!

Joel enjoying dancing

Kristy and Luke there to pick up Brett

My favorite mascot

Each night the kids started with singing songs and dancing.  Then they would go have some discussion in their small groups.  Followed by crafts, snack and games.  The kids had a blast making crafts and playing games!  They also loved eating.  We also had story time with Paul and he would tell us about some of his adventures and sharing God’s word with others.  The night would then end with more small group time and more singing and dancing.  By the end of the week the kids were all exhausted and so was I!  VBS is a lot of fun but it wears me out.  Sunday the worship service was all based on what we learned at VBS and the kids sang songs for everyone.  I wasn’t able to attend but I heard it all went well.

Armor relay race

Story time with Paul

Fun dancing!

This year Joel was old enough to attend VBS.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from it but Grandma Diane went with Joel’s group so he could have a helper.   I was thinking that the first day would be rough but by the end of the week he would have the routine down and really like it.  I was completely wrong!  So often that is the case when I try to predict how Joel will react.  At the beginning of the week Joel was so excited and happy to be at Bible School.  He sang songs and danced around, played games and made crafts.  He loved it!  As the week went on and we had more late nights because of VBS and he got less sleep he enjoyed participating less and less in all the activities.  Although crafts and snacks seemed to remain exciting to him all week.  By Friday Joel was exhausted and couldn’t handle VBS anymore so he joined Cecilia in the nursery for half of the night.

Grandma helping Joel with his craft

Fun with friends

Singing and dancing

Each kid put a hand on the cross

Vincent had a blast at VBS!  He had so much fun learning and spending time with his friends.  On Friday night Vincent stayed late with me and several other adults to set up for the service on Sunday.  He was so helpful and when he wasn't helping he was telling people how helpful he was.  The kid makes me laugh!

Joel playing by the tree

An obstacle course

Group timed event

It was a great week of fellowship and fun!

Father's Day

Our father’s day was a mix full of emotions, which will happen when your nieces get confirmed, you get to spend time with your grandparents and you attend a funeral all in the same day!

We started our day with my nieces Kristine and Karoline being confirmed!  I am very proud of them for becoming members of our church. I was in the nursery with both Joel and Cecilia that day.  We were the only one with small children at church that day.  I was sad I wasn’t going to get to watch, but Brad was announcing all the kids being confirmed, so he had to be in church.  Half way through the confirmation Brad ran downstairs and switched with me.  I was able to go join Vincent in church and see the end of the confirmation.  Good thing we sit in back so we didn’t disturb too many people. Then for the evening events we went to a party to celebrate Kristine and Karoline’s confirmation.  There was delicious food, family, friends, some fireworks (thanks to the neighbors) and fun.  We play also spent some time running around the yard throwing a giant ball at each other.  It was just the kids doing that until Brad and I joined in!

 

Papa,, Vincent and Brad

After confirmation we had Lee’s funeral.  While Vincent, Brad and I went there Grandma Pat and Papa came over to watch the two little kids.  Then when we came home we were able to spend several hours with my grandparents.  They had never really had a tour of our main farm, so we drove them around and showed them a few things.  Including where the house is that we are moving to next and also where we might move.  The weather was gorgeous and it was fun spending time with them.  They brought the boys a dinosaur robot toy.  We have yet to really figure out how it works, but it keeps turning itself on and walking around.  It is a little creepy, but it is funny to watch!

Somehow during the course of the day I forgot to take any pictures.  My grandma was kind enough to share this picture with me!

Coins for Kenya

At our church the Sunday School kids are collecting money for the kids in Kenya.  It is something thru the Presbyterian Church.  I really don’t know all the details, but the kids are encouraged to bring spare change to Sunday School to give towards the project.  Last Saturday while I was at work Vincent told Brad all about how the kids in Kenya didn’t have anything and he wanted to give them all of his money.  Together they emptied his piggy bank where he had collected spare change for four years and put it into a bag to bring to church the next day.  

When I got home Vincent was really proud of himself and told me what he had done.  Then he told me that the kids in Kenya don’t have any toys or anything!  Vincent’s plan was that we should sell our house, live in our motorhome, and wait to build a new house so we can give all our money to the kids in Kenya.  I like his enthusiasm and giving spirit however, I am not sure I am ready to live in my motorhome on a full time basis indefinitely.  Instead I offered to fill a bag with our spare change and donate it to the kids in Kenya as well.

A nice Sunday of driving

Vincent’s preschool class was singing at Cross last Sunday at the same time as our church’s service, so Brad and I took a divide and conquer sort of approach.  Brad was teaching Sunday School at our church so he couldn’t come to watch Vincent’s class sing.  Cecilia and I took Vincent to sing and as soon as he was done (it was the first 5 minutes of church that he sang) we bee lined it out of there and drove 5 minutes to our normal church to join Brad and Joel.  After church Vincent had practice at our church for puppeteers.  They had invited him and a few other of the young kids in the church to participate and be aliens in the performance.  They performed yesterday and did a great job!

After church the craziness continued.  We stopped at my in-laws for an hour for lunch and then continued on to my grandparents’ house for dinner with my parents, grandparents, Kasi and Kennidy.  It was a fun evening with lot of food, laughs and big news!  My grandparents are going to be moving back to Arizona.  I am excited for them because Papa does so much better in the Arizona weather than he does in Illinois, and we want him to be happy.  I am sad for us because we will miss them; however, we already have plans to visit around Christmas time!

By the end of the night I felt like I was on a whirlwind tour of Northern Illinois and all the running around was too much for me!  I was ready for bed!