VBS and Basketball Camp

The past 2 weeks have been very busy for us. First, we had Vacation Bible School. This year, instead of viewing the week as a chance for me to have some "me time" while the kids were away, I decided to volunteer to help with VBS. This was a first for me, but had a blast. It was so neat to watch the kids learn through the week and get to be involved in everything. I will certainly continue helping in the future, and would recommend it to anyone who is able to help!

Then, last week, I put on a basketball camp (with the help of another mom) for the elementary kids at Aaron's school. We did a boys' camp (for boys entering 3rd-6th grade) in the morning, and a girls' camp (same ages) in the afternoon. Although we didn't have a lot of kids, it was still lots of fun, and most definitely a learning experience. I never realized just how different boys and girls are in elementary, but let me tell you...they are WAY different. Most of all, it was great watching the kids improve over the week, and great to get to watch Aaron playing my favorite sport! Hopefully, he will continue to play, and get better.

Here are a few pictures from b-ball camp. I took 100's of pictures, but the lighting (and the speed of the kids) made for some not-so-stellar photos. But I did get a few of Aaron that turned out decent enough...

This one is first thing, while we waited for the rest of the boys to get there...

Aaron going in for a lay-up...this is probably one of his most improved skills. He can now use the correct hand and foot!

Here's one of Sadie. I ordered her a b-ball camp shirt, too, because I knew that she'd spend some time up there with us (when Toby was gone)

Dribbling laps, right handed...

And left handed. Notice he keeps his eyes on the ball more with his left hand...



And finally, here's Sadie's version of the defensive stance...needs some work, but at least it's a starting point.

So, overall, it was a great 2 weeks. Now we have the 4th to get ready for, and then just a little over a month of summer left before school starts back. Can you believe it?

Sweet Sadie

I really should write down all the silly, crazy, funny, weird stuff that Sadie says. That was part of the reason Toby wanted me to start blogging in the first place...for a permanent record of our kids because even when you're certain you will never forget that hilarious thing your kid said, eventually, I always do forget it. So, here is a conversation I had with Sadie today...

We were at the pool and Sadie wanted to go to the deep end. I told her that was fine, but she needed to come check in with me about every 10 minutes. I knew that she wouldn't know when it had been 10 minutes, but figured she'd be able to approximate. Wrong. She never came and checked in. The next time she wanted to go to the deep end, I again said yes, but emphatically reminded her that she needed to check in every 10 minutes or next time, I wouldn't let her go to the deep end. At this, she puts her hands up in the air and says, "But MOM, I don't know when it's 10 minutes!" Picture her with her eyes rolling and her head bobbing. So I told her to play for a little while in the deep end, but to come check in after she played for a little bit. She said okay and walked off to the deep end. Again, she never came and checked in. When she asked the next time to go swim in the deep end, I told her no because she never came and checked in. This time she PROMISED to come check in, so I let her go. She walked half-way down to the deep end, got in and started playing. Less than 2 minutes later, I see her walking back to me. I was thinking that although her estimation of 10 minutes is way off, at least she finally got the point, right? When she gets to me, she says, "Mom, what does 'check in' mean?"

Catching Up

Well, it's been awhile since I lost posted anything. Seems like I always get so busy those last few weeks of school. So, in a nut shell, here's what been happening around here.

First was field day at school. The kids love field day, and always have a blast. This year, it was tougher getting pictures of Aaron. He was "big enough" to not have to be supervised by an adult this year, so he ran off with his friends and was often difficult to find. I did get a few of him, but most are with his classmates, so I don't have any I feel I can put up on the net. But, here are a few of Sadie...

Next, we had the awards assembly for the elementary kids. Aaron received 2 awards: Presidential Physical Fitness Award, and an award for running/walking 50+ miles in the mileage club this year. He did a great job, but one kid ran over 100 miles. Sets a pretty high goal for Aaron for the future... Aaron also had perfect attendance this year, but the school decided in the fall that they weren't going to do awards for perfect attendance this year because of how many kids got the flu this year. They didn't want kids to try to keep their perfect attendance and come to school when they were sick, so they just cancelled that award. Bummer. Oh well. Stinkin' flu...

Then, came the last day of school. On the next-to-last day of school, one of the kindergartner moms gave me a bunch of her daughters uniforms for Sadie for next year. Yes, Sadie will be in kindergarten next year. That's a whole other post waiting to happen there. Anyways, Sadie was so incredibly excited about getting uniforms, she insisted that I wash them that night so that she could wear a uniform for the last day of school. She was so stinking cute...

And here are pictures of Aaron and Sadie with their teachers at dismissal on Friday. I really don't know who is more relieved that school is out...my kids or their teachers...

Then, on Saturday, as Toby was taking some tree limbs to the "dump" across Georgia, he found this...

Nice, right? Less than 2 miles from our house. Not to mention that our neighbors (2 houses down) found a baby rattle snake in their front yard the week before. Gotta love all the construction and rain...

The kids have been enjoying being out of school. They spend most of their time with neighbor kids, either playing outside, or in our house, or in one of the neighbor's houses. It's nice to have someone close by that the kids like. It will help keep them entertained this summer.

So, that's it for us for now. Lots of stuff to do this summer, and I'm sure it will fly by. I'll try to keep this updated more often...