I cannot believe in 2 short months she'll be 1. Time is absolutely fleeting.
Evalynn has 3 teeth and another breaking through any day. She stands and has taken a step to daddy. She can even stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything.
Evie is a bright light to our family. Kind of like a sweet package of dynamite. With beautiful blue eyes.
Cheesers!
Evalynn has started climbing things and can *almost* get on the couch. {send help}
Yesterday, I watched her climb over a laundry basket just for the sheer joy of falling off the other side.
Her hair *is* growing, but not very generously.
This peaches eats like a teenager who lifts weights twice a day. Somedays I feel like all she does between morning and afternoon nap is eat....nurse, eat lunch, take a bottle, have snacks. She is a foodie!
We love you Evalynn. We are so thankful for your ornery self.
We spent the day resting and recovering after a hard day at Betty's funeral the day before.
It was Father's Day and I admittedly did not remember Sunday morning and Mike let me sleep in instead of waking me up. Talk about feeling guilty. I did treat him to supper later that night!
Movies and lounging...
New Legos from Kea and Miguel for his birthday!
I tried to get ahead for the week with a double batch of healthy protein balls and a quadruple batch of muffins. Getting ahead is hard with this little taste tester around. Between the 4 kids they emptied half that container - oh well, just a little less for the freezer.
Monday, June 22nd
After a pretty laid back day at home, we kicked off our VBS Monday evening. The kids were so excited each night.
Thursday, June 25th
Happy 15th anniversary to Mike and me! Not a picture of us to prove it, but we look tired, with a little more wisdom in our eyes, than 15 years ago.
Zayden has been inviting me to play games during Evie's nap times. Three rounds of Trouble!
Mike treated us to supper and we all enjoyed it before night 3 of VBS!
Friday June 26th
Xavier got a birthday present in the mail. KC Chiefs gear! He's ready for some football. Thanks Lance and Lauren (but Xavier would say mostly Uncle Lance on this one).
Zayden and I played Bed Bugs and Flip Flop Faces while the other three kids played farm for hours.
This beautiful girl is so ornery.
When you need fun mixed with a little bit of trouble, find Zayden - he's your guy. She crawled right under that upside puppy - only mom can see that if he topples it he'll smoosh her.
Friday brought a pretty laid back easy night of VBS.
Saturday, June 27th
The kids slept in and then watched their Saturday cartoons before having some brunch.
Mike and I worked on pruning some trees in the backyard, and then re-hung the big kids' hammocks.
And then I ordered two more hammocks. Because....
The air was thick and warm, so they older 4 got into the pool and Evie played on her water mat after she woke up from morning nap. Mike caught this picture of her drink from one of the fountains. Ha.
Grammy and Papa came up for a visit and brought Xavier a birthday present.
If there's anything the pandemic has taught us, it's to appreciate the beauty of visiting in the backyard with the people you love.
Xavier got a fun camera - kind of like a GoPro is the best way I can describe it, that mounts to his bike, helmet, etc, and takes videos and pictures. We have some learning to do but he played with it a lot and really enjoys it. Thanks Aunt Kea, for sending the SD mini card for it, too!
I made pizza for lupper, and then we had our last night of VBS.
We got all the big kids to bed, but Evie was a maniac and stayed up too late being too cute.
BUT
she also took her first tiny step. I've been watching, anticipating she was ready, and I caught it...
She acted like a goon until I finally told Mike to just pop her in bed because she'd surely fall asleep, and she did, not a peep.
This week was a growing week for our hearts as we soaked in our VBS lessons. Some moments during the day were "boring" for me, because I don't have school to teach and the kids play so well for the most part. I finally ordered myself some new books and am anxiously awaiting their arrival to hopefully help me pass some time. One can only do so much laundry, right?
I'm a little nutty and I love my kids a whole lot, so after summer camps were canceled for the oldest two and I realized summer was going to stretch on forreeevvvvver, I planned a week of VBS to do at home. I searched and found parts of an old VBS free online, including the worship songs, and went from there. All credit to the inspiration for our at home VBS goes to Cokesbury, who published the original G-Force VBS in 2015.
I ordered VBS tie dye shirts from Groovy Naturals. This was totally unnecessary, but a huge treat and helped us transition from "at home" mode to "VBS" mode each night.
NIGHT 1:
Night 1's theme word was MOVE!
Our story was about Moses and how God called him at the burning bush to MOVE and get the Israelites out of Egypt. We talked about how, even when he was uncomfortable and unsure of himself, Moses followed God's word anyways.
VBS can be light Bible stories, or, in our case, when we intimately know our audience, it can be deep in depth discussions, especially with our older children.
VBS should also be FUN!
Micrography was our craft for night 1. We made burning bush pictures using the word MOVE.
After craft we went outside for games! Night 1's game was to get us MOVING. We did water bucket sponge races. This game was a huge hit!
Then we headed back inside to make snack. Did we need snack? No. Isn't there always a fun snack at VBS? YES!
We made burning bushes! A graham cracker with frosting as ground, pretzel sticks as "wood", and mini goldfish for fire.
Baby goldfish muncher...
After snack we went back and closed our night with prayer, review, and worship songs. No one came to pick up the monkeys we'd hosted, though, so we had to keep them. HA.
NIGHT 2:
Night two's theme word was ACT!
Our devotion was about Solomon who was called to very specific action in his task of building the Temple. We also related the story to another man who was given very specific instructions about his action for the Lord - Noah.
We worked together and followed very specific instructions for building a temple replica for our craft activity.
2 longs walls, 16 sticks wide
1 short wall, 9 sticks wide
4 "golden" doors/curtains made from paper
2 columns, made from 4 sticks each
Everyone had a job to do to complete our task.
My plan for games was for each child to use newspaper/scrap paper and masking tape to build a structure. However, I had some kids who needed to RUN, so we did freeze tag instead.
Then the kids came together to build one structure. I had not taken into account the fine motor ability and age of some of my little students with this "game" activity, so I probably wouldn't do it again if I were repeating the week, especially since we'd already "built" a temple from sticks.
Back inside for snack! We made ark of the covenants since that's what the temple housed.
A wafer cookie broken in half, and stacked double high (stuck together with frosting). More frosting to adhere some pretzel rods on the sides and 2 gummy bear "cherubim." This snack was a hit (mom tip - Voortman wafer cookies are dye free).
We closed out with review, worship, and prayer before getting the kiddos through the shower and to bed.
Night 3's theme word was CARE! Our devotion was about the 4 friends who helped their friend get to Jesus by lowering him through the roof. Our activities were all based around CARING for others.
We painted iCare flower pots to later give to people to show our love.
Painting was a fun activity that we don't do enough!
Our game was "minefield." Each child was either blindfolded or walked backwards, and had a guide to CARE for them and get them through the minefield unscathed.
After games we headed in to make caring cookies. Happy faces show care and love.
I had showered the kids after they got out of the pool, before VBS, so after snack we had them brush teeth and slip into PJs before closing worship.
NIGHT 4:
FOLLOW was the theme for night 4!
We reviewed the story of Bartimaeus, a blind begger who sought Jesus from the side of the road. Jesus healed his blindness and then Bartimaeus followed him. We talked a lot about what following Jesus looks like, even here at home.
Our craft was making stop lights. STOP
and listen to God SLOW
make time for God GO
God's way everyday
At the top of the stop light we wrote, "Come, follow me." Matthew 4:12a.
It's a bit challenging to find a craft that both upper elementary and preschool can do and enjoy, but we've had pretty good success with this week's activities.
The game was Red Light, Green Light. Sometimes it's fun to play an oldie that everyone enjoys.
Some of our kids had showered for the night, so that's why they are in PJ pants/shorts with their tie dye.
Snack was supposed to be Jericho Journey pops (popsicles) because Jesus and his disciples traveled to Jericho when they found Bartimaeus by the roadside, but the freezer opened and ice cream sandwiches were chosen instead.
Mike was having his snack and Ev gave him the stink eye until he shared. Look at that stare down.
Tonight's VBS was pretty simple and ran very easily. We closed out with some favorite worship songs.
NIGHT 5:
Our final VBS night theme was SHARE!
In lieu of a "program" like a VBS usually has, we did a review.
Our lesson was about Mary, Joanna, and Mary Magdelene who went to the tomb to prepare Jesus' body and found, through the message of the angels, that He had risen from the dead. They didn't keep this Good News to themselves - they SHARED it with the apostles. We discussed what sharing the Good News looks like to us, especially during a pandemic, and brainstormed ways we can spread God's message.
Our craft was coloring in a world map to remind us to share the Good News in all the world. We colored all the continents different oil colors, and then watercolored blue for the ocean water.
Beautiful art!
I used chocolate kisses to show the kids an example of how big of an impact just one person can make.
Then fun Dad took the kids outside for a game!
The kids really enjoyed it - it was like freeze tag with a code word. Mike said, "I just made this up a few minutes ago." I told him those were the famous words of every youth group leader everywhere. Ha.
Snack was a "share a snack." In theory every child would have chosen an item to bring to the table to "share" and we could combine them to make a trail mix type of snack. However, mom laid out all the ingredients and I shared them with the kids to choose what they wanted in their mix.
We had white, chocolate, and peanut butter chips, pretzels, goldfish, bugles, peanuts, cinnamon chex, honey nut cheerios, gummy bears, and mini marshmallows.
Xavier shared his snack with Dad and Evie (she ate the chex).
We did showers and jammies before closing worship and then had a family chat about what our favorite parts of VBS were.
Mia loved the Bible stories and has asked to be more diligent at family Bible stories/devotions every night (that's not convicting at all, sweet girl).
Zayden loved snacks.
Natalee loved the share a snack.
and Xavier loved games every night.
Mom loved planning it, and watching my kids enjoy something so much and have something to look forward to on this longest summer ever. I enjoyed spending specific time together every night - learning and growing.
Dad loved getting to do it all with us - these are things he would have missed out on previously.
