VBS & Henry's Decision

The kids had a lot of fun at VBS this week.  I was thankful that they all went into their classrooms without getting clingy on Monday morning.  The church we do VBS at is huge-- they had 13 different kindergarten classrooms.  I was worried Caroline wouldn't go in to her classroom, but the excitement of being able to do it for the first time was stronger than her fear of being dropped off.  At pick-up the first day, all three kids said they had a good time.  Henry started right in on his class.  He said he met a boy who spoke only Spanish, Roberto.  Henry told him that he spoke a little Spanish, so they became friends.  Henry said, "Hola."  I'm not sure what other Spanish he threw out there, but apparently the other boy didn't talk at all, so they mostly communicated non-verbally.  Henry said he also met a boy who spoke French, but when Henry said, "Bonjour, mon ami." the kid didn't seem to understand him.  Either Henry's pronunciation was really bad (entirely possible) or the kid didn't speak French (also entirely possible).  Caroline said that she didn't speak in her class at all, but that she still had a good time.  Henry replied that last year he didn't speak in his class either, and he had a good time then as well, but this year he spoke a lot.  I believe it buddy.  That kid talks a mile a minute.

By day 3 of VBS, Henry's teacher told me that he had really taken Roberto under his wing and has come in speaking different Spanish words every day.  They said we should be proud of him.  Awww.  We are.  I asked Henry what Roberto said when he spoke in Spanish.  Roberto just laughed.  So, they had no speech communication for the most part, but they really enjoyed each other.  Henry said Roberto was very funny.  I guess he ditched the French kid.


Henry also made a big decision at VBS.  On the third day, after their "Master Teaching" the teachers gave the kids the opportunity to walk forward to say they wanted to be followers of Jesus.  Henry told us that he walked forward.  He must have been sitting next to Roberto, because he waved him along to walk forward together.  Henry's been talking about getting baptized a lot the past month, so we are elated that he's made this life-changing decision.  As parents, there is basically nothing more important than our kids wanting (on their own) to follow the Lord.

"I love the Lord!"

While they were having fun at VBS, I was having fun ALONE!  I got my hair cut, went to the store without any helpers, and cleaned out a few closets without anyone asking me to save things.  That and a little Miranda Lambert on the radio.  It was good times.  Until next year, VBS.

Every afternoon this week the kids have been busy in the bathroom making popsicle stick boats, putting them in the water, then watching them sink and fall apart.  I suggested glue might make the boats actually float for more than 3 seconds, but they liked that they fell apart.  It gave them the opportunity to make different designs.  They did this for hours this week.  Eventually they added Lego men and clothespins to keep it interesting.  Every afternoon I made them put the sticks outside at our front entrance so they would dry.  The first day they did it, Henry had a major meltdown.  I asked him what he was so worried about and he thought someone would steal the sticks.  "Why would they steal the sticks?" I asked.  "So they can do what we were doing."  I reassured him there were no thieving 7-year olds in the neighborhood looking for popsicle sticks at people's front doors.

This weekend the kids got a package of books from Grandma & Grandpa.  In it there were Mad Libs Junior. The boys have had sooooo much fun doing them.  In the Junior version they don't just say "noun" or "verb," they give a list of nouns/verbs to choose from.  Basically if they could work in "stupid," "million," and some sort of potty humor into the story they were cracking themselves up.  They tried to read the stories to Todd and I but we couldn't understand it over their laughing.  Good times.

Josiah has been on a reading chase this week.  He desperately wanted to get his library reading trophy this weekend, so he was reading 2-3 Encyclopedia Brown books a day.  Previously, he had read a lot, but it was mostly comic book stories which I wouldn't count on his reading log.  He thought he had to finish it before August 1st, so he kicked it in high gear.  Henry had already finished, so they both got their trophies this weekend.

Henry thought his picture should be a reading action shot.

Caroline actually got her trophy a couple of weeks ago, but she wanted to take an action shot like Henry.

The boys were also able to turn in their Half Priced Books logs this weekend, so we're officially done with the summer reading programs.  Josiah went straight for the Garfield comic books.  More illustrating material.  He was able to pick up a Peanuts comic book as well.  Josiah is very much into Garfield.  He reads them constantly, and he reads them to us constantly.  During Caroline's karate class, he was reading them aloud to anyone who would listen.  He had quite a crowd for a while.

Then at church today we had a guest preacher, Jon Davis.  Josiah's eyes got wide.  He thought it was Jim Davis' Jon from the Garfield comic strip.  I'm a big fan.  Can you autograph my book?

The rest of the weekend was spent trimming trees after we got a lovely letter from the HOA.  The trend here seems to be to trim your trees really high.  I've always thought they looked goofy to be cut so high, plus I liked the shade of our trees, so we had just left ours alone.  No bueno with the HOA.  Todd did a good job with them.  They are clearly trimmed, but they still look good.  Plus we probably lost 10 lbs sweating in the July heat.  Win-win.


Next week begins August.  We were supposed to start school August 1st, yet given the current state of the homeschool room, that may not happen.  Todd and I spent this evening putting together a few Ikea bookcases to help with the overwhelming number of books, craft supplies, and completed crafts that take up residence in that room.  So, we shall see.  If we have to wait a week, I don't think I'll hear any complaints around here.