VBS 2011

Last week was VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church. I helped out as co-director and as crafts leader. It was a lot of work to get it all put together as a new co-director, but fun! It's a great outreach opportunity in our church neighborhood.

Maggie had a great time this year, too. James was undecided in the nursery. each day he took a really good nap, but one of the days he drank his entire bottle and got angry because he wanted more (whereas the day prior he wouldn't finish the same amount).

Here are some pictures from the crazy days:
Crazy Hair Day: multiple ponytails, peacock feathers and hair bows.
Crazy Hat Day: her gorilla strapped to her bicycle helmet
Tacky Day: This was the hardest day to put together- I tend to buy most of her clothes in a complimentary color palette so she can pick anything out of her drawers and wear them. We had to pull out some winter stuff for this to work. It was 90 degrees that day, thankfully the church runs their A/C somewhere between January and Antarctica so she didn't smother in her clothe

Maggie's Dance Recital

I can I just say - SO CUTE!!! Saturday was Maggie's recital. She did great. Her class (4s & 5s Tap/Ballet/Tumbling) did two separate numbers with a Hawaiian theme: a tap routine to "Little Grass Shack" and a ballet routine to "Over the Rainbow". Synchronicity was not their strongest suit, but none of them were scared, no one burst out in tears. And they all had to wait backstage in their outfits for about an HOUR before it was their turn for their first number. I will call that a success.

Here's the grass skirt outfit for her tap routine. This was taken a couple weeks ago on picture day. The girls were instructed to wear a little light make-up. My child is just FIVE, so we went with a little translucent powder, blush, mascara and sheer lip gloss. It was enough that I can tell just how beautiful she will be in high school. It was also enough to open up a whole new can of worms. "Mommy, can I keep that pink lop gloss?" Mommy, when can I wear make-up everyday?" "Mommy, WHY do I have to wait until I'm older to wear make-up?" "But that's so far away!" Mommy, can I have more lip gloss?" And on and on...
And here she is in her ballet costume. Each girl got a "trophy" in their dance bag. Maggie was SO excited about that trophy! Daddy got her some lovely flowers, but they were sadly overlooked as soon as she realized there was a trophy in her bag. (She fell asleep in the car on the way home holding her trophy)
Here's Maggie and the neighbor girl Emily who is also in her class. They both did so well with both routines. I helped backstage to get the girls in the right skirts and shoes, fix hair, and apply multiple layers of lipgloss to many little lips.
Posing with Daddy.
Poor Tyler. He sat in the auditorium, with James and the video camera to record Maggie. There were 24 routines. Maggie's group was 12th & 19th. I was helping in the back and got to watch them from the side of the stage so I didn't even get to sit with him or keep James entertained while he filmed the 5 whole minutes Maggie was on stage (the program was nearly 2 hours). But he was a trooper, and I am so thankful for him!

We are about ready to go home, here she is sitting with James.

Melissa's Memorial Day Weekend...

... was spent in Dallas visiting some friends. Niki (Stevens) Spangler, husband Greg, and adorable kids Addie and Scott. Thank you Tyler for letting me abandon you with Maggie on Memorial Day weekend to go visit her. It was a real treat!

I've known Niki since I was 15. She was the maid of honor in my wedding. And I love her to death. She went to The Master's College in California and never moved back to Seattle, and then Tyler and I up and moved to Nashville, so we've lived far, far apart for a long time. So I was VERY excited when Southwest lowered their summer ticket prices. I rebooked tickets I had already purchased and ended up with enough travel credits for another ticket. And since James is "little", and so far a good traveler, I thought why not? I haven't had to chance to go visit her in such a long time, and this seemed perfect.

I was greeted in Dallas with a big hug from Niki and this:
That's right. Someone's boxers on the baggage carousel. Joy!

Friday night we stayed up until 1:30. Greg had to tell us to go to bed. Because really, even though we could've stayed up and talked all night, children don't know that and they'd be up around 7 am. And also, a HUGE thank-you again to Greg for putting up with two crazy-chatty women AND taking care of his own two munchkins so I could crash in their house with James and have some Niki time.

Niki and Scotty at Chick-Fil-A. We went after a visit to this huge outdoor flea market. We needed some SERIOUS A/C after that - it was in the 90's with a hot wind.
I educated them on the kids' stick-on placemats, crayons and cheerios cups. They introduced me to Chick-Fil-A sauce. I didn't know about that sauce. It was delicious!!! (and I can't believe I didn't know about that sauce!)

Here's Greg. He too has been afflicted with "my-wife-takes-too-many-pictures"-itis, Symptoms include the inability to smile nicely for any camera pointed in his direction. Even if it isn't his wife taking the picture. Sorry Greg!
Here's Addie. She's about the same age as Maggie. and such a hoot! Maggie would've loved her.
Then for some walking around with the kids we went to a big mall. They had an ice-skating rink inside. How cool was that?! This girl worked there, I think. She skated beautifully and I got this great picture of her spinning.
Sunday night we went to Hard 8 BBQ. Here we are, thick as thieves.
The dinner. We split this big tray of brisket, ribs, smoked sausage, corn and poppers (Chicken chunks stuffed with cheese and roasted jalapenos). It was some really good Texas BBQ!
And here's Scotty enjoying his first corn on the cob. It was so cute - he just loved it!!!
It was a great trip with a great friend. And it was so much fun to spend time with her children and get to know Greg better, too!