VBS day 1: done

So we have one day of vacation Bible school under our belts. Alex is in the kindergarten class, and has our dear friend Ms. Patti as a teacher (yahoo!) and I have the preschool class. I’d forgotten how fun a big ol’ group of preschooler can be. Granted we had some criers (I think 4 of the 7 cried at some point in the night) and frankly I have no patience for criers. Fortunately my co-teacher Julie was ready to jump in to comfort those less than satisfied munchkins. So the first day, which is always hectic because we don’t really know the schedule or kids yet, is done. Whew. And Julie is leading tonight, which means that I have minimal prep work to do. Double whew. (Which means I can finally get to that sticky mess of dishes sitting next to the sink – yuck.)

The blessing of spontaneity

I usually am not a very spontaneous person. But yesterday I took the kids on a rather spontaneous road trip to Cleveland. I finally was able to meet up with my college pal, Jeremy, and met his wife and boys for the first time. Despite the obvious language barrier (their English was shaky, and my Thai is well, non existant), we managed to have a nice (slightly goofy) little chat. We got all caught up and all that. It was good. So glad they squished us in before they go back on Sunday.

Oh and of course a picture. The only one I took yesterday (be impressed by my restraint).
Slightly blurry - pole in the way - but priceless pic. That’s Jeremy, Music, (the goof ball) Khio (pronounced Key-o) and Leo.
We also met up with our friends the Gillilands. They’re the family with 7 kids. What a big, happy family. All of my kids had someone to play with. The older kids volunteered to play with my kids so I could chat with the Mama. It was such a great time. I almost managed to sneak away with Hannah (the oldest) but wasn’t quite successful. Someday I will manage to kidnap a few (or all!!) of those kids and bring them home with me. So my lesson for the day. Spontaneous = good. Very good. Totally worth trying to plan at 10:15 the night before, and not having a map to Canton. Oh, and I managed to score big time on a little shopping trip to Gabriel Brothers.

Whew.

The last few days have been crazy busy around here. And unfortunately I feel like this is the calm before the storm (aka VBS). So I thought it might be fun to put out my to-do list, just so I can remember exactly why I felt so stressed.
So the priorities for today:
Chores (washing breakfast dishes, getting kids dressed, making beds, shower/baths, vacuum) - sadly my chore list in itself looks like a hefty to do list.
Pick blackberries – shouldn’t be a priority, but if I don’t go get them, I’ll be mad at myself when I have no berries to make cobblers with.
Baby-sit at the church – oh and put together a project and story, gather necessary supplies.
Put together a project for my grandmother’s birthday party (Saturday)
Get together with Julie to plan our week of VBS (next week!)
Plan a get together with my friend Jeremy (and possibly a get-together with my friends the Gillilands) BEFORE Jeremy goes back to THAILAND.
School stuff (another to – do list in itself) finalize my structure for the day and curriculum (for Alex) start thinking about how to structure the girls pre- k, finalize paperwork.
FINISH PAINTING MY PORCH. I started this project 2 weeks ago, and still am not finished.
Start preparing for my vacation in August with the kids and my parents. – Since next week is VBS, I’ll be consumed with that, and we leave right after VBS is done.
Oh, and my I-wish-I-had-time-for-this list: I haven’t scrapbooked in so long that it physically hurts to think about. (Some people might call that withdrawal) and I’d really like to take better 5 year pics of Alex, plus some nice portrait style pics of the girls while I still have the summer light. (And it’s warm enough to be outside)
Yuck.

The good news (pfth) is that I had a great meeting with my children’s minister at church. Talking about our vision for a pre-school ministry at our church. Which I am SUPER excited about. But that’s another post for another day.

A barrel of Monkeys

This was an exciting weekend in the Peterson house. It started out on Friday, with a birthday party for Alex. Cathy came out from Illinois, and my mom, grandmother, and brother all made an appearance for our celebration. We had dinner at Alex’s restaurant of preference, then home for cake and presents. Good times.
Cathy stayed around for most of the weekend. Saturday she took us to Put-In-Bay (an island in Lake Erie). Even though it was clearly party central (at 3:30 in the afternoon, thank you very much!) we had a good time exploring the Perry Monument (which is not a lighthouse thank you very much).

Sunday after church we said good bye to Cathy, and took our mandatory Sunday afternoon naps (well the two oldest members of the household did anyway). My friend, Leigh Ann, from college stopped by as she was on her way from Chicago to Cleveland and was driving right past our house anyway. It was good to catch up with her (even though Alex dominated the conversation) and meet her husband and mother in law. Hopefully we’ll be able to get together again soon.

Public Service Announcement.

This is just a PSA to remind you not to leave your children unsupervised. More specifically, don’t leave MY children unsupervised. This afternoon Louisa discovered my secret stash of paint, and very kindly introduced it to my carpet. This is after she covered her legs in black marker (this morning) and walked through the paint where I’d been touching up the porch (the day before yesterday). What am I supposed to do with that kid? I know, I know, don’t leave her unsupervised. (She says as she’s typing away, without the slightest clue what the girls are up to.) PS. The paint was washable.
Praise God for Crayola.

5 years old

So yesterday Alex turned into a mighty five year old. We started out by going to church and taking my special chocolate chip cookies for a snack for his Sunday school class. After church, he chose Cici’s Pizza for lunch. The manager gave him a free lunch because it was his birthday (score!), and Jory and I got free drinks because we had our church bulletins with us. (Double score!)
After lunch we decided to take an adventure, so we took the kids to the Fallen Timbers battlefield monument. (A battle in the war of 1812) Even though it was historically significant, it wasn’t that exciting. But the kids did super. The kids all had a good time climbing on Chief Turkeyfoot’s rock and pretending they were Indians, and just being goofballs. After a brief stroll on the bike trail, we headed over to Levis Commons in search of ice cream. (Since I was a slacker mom and didn’t make a birthday cake, Alex graciously opted for ice cream sundaes instead)
When we’d had our fill of ice cream, we headed home to open gifts. The kid totally made out like a bandit this year. I think his favorites were the hot wheels track (from his Peterson grandparents), the Lincoln logs (from me), and the Lightning McQueen lego’s (from Jory)All in all, it was a good day.

Nice weather + a little free time = new pics

So since my plans for today sorta fell through, I did what I normally do when I have nothing critical planned. Plus I need to get some good ones for Alex's 5 year old pics.

Home Again, Home Again.

Jory and the girls have safely returned home. They got home around 10 pm last night. It was so nice to hear from the girls how their trip was. It was nice to get lots and lots of hugs and kisses. But now reality has set in. I can’t believe how LOUD my children are. So anyway. My vacation with Alex is over. We spent our last two days at the lake. He was a great vacation buddy. Not as good as Jory, but still pretty good. Back to life. Back to craziness. Trying to remember all the things that I normally do, but haven’t done in over a week.

the zoo

Yesterday we ended up going to the zoo, because it’s free for Lucas County residents on Monday mornings. And free is a good thing. Which meant that the zoo was slightly crowded, but that’s ok. Alex did super, even when he had to wait to see the hippos. It was so cool being able to treat Alex as an equal, instead of a kid. Getting his input, letting him make decisions instead of telling him what to do. He makes a pretty good buddy.

So of course we have pictures.

Jory took the girls to New Mexico for a week. Which basically means that I’m on vacation. Alex and I are having a ball without them. We’ve been hanging out with my parents and playing scrapty things and just being irresponsible. Grin. Yesterday we went to a church picnic at the Lee’s house. Alex had a ball in the pond while I chatted it up with some friends. Today’s agenda: either the zoo or the lake. I have another hour to decide. A vacation at home. What a novel concept. So here are a few pics from the picnic. I promised Joanna that I wouldn’t post the one of her with my son, so here’s one of a different Alex instead. Yes, juggling fire. Over dead grass. Nice. Oh and one of the youth minister Ryan with his baby.