Why VBS Matters

I went every year. We did VBS every single summer. I was there in the weeks before VBS, the week of VBS, and the weeks after VBS. My mom was always heavily involved and on the leadership team each year, so I had a front row seat in watching the whole thing come together.

I remember going up to the church foyer and watching my mom paint the backdrop each year. There were four big canvases that would line up right next to each other to make the backdrop of the set for the skits. She'd paint a white primer on top of last year's backdrop and then use the overhead projector to trace the pencil lines onto the canvasses. This was a yearly ritual. I remember over the years the canvasses became so thick with paint after all the layers of paint from each year's backdrop. 

Sonseeker Safari. Son Country Farm. Every year had a theme. And it always had the word "Son". The writers of the VBS curriculum really got a kick out of that same play on words every year. 

Mom was in the skits and also did the puppet show (Rosie and Rusty) (Mom was Rosie) (Jonathan's mom was Rusty) (We got to watch them practice) and Lindsee's mom usually did Opening Assembly. 

It really was just the most fun week of the whole summer. We would be up at the church at the crack of dawn while all the moms set up. And we'd stay late and eat lunch together while they took everything down. 

We had craft time and music time and snack time and I still remember some of the songs to this very day. And maybe even some of the hand motions. And I remember some of the t-shirt designs too. It was all about the t-shirt, y'all. 

One year, on the last day of VBS, we stayed quite late as our parents took everything down and somehow about 20 of us kids got into a giant water fight outside. It involved a hose and about 100 plastic cups and pouring water over each other's heads. We were soaked through our clothes and I remember thinking we were going to get in so much trouble. But we were outside, we were staying out of the way, and our parents just let us go for it. And it was pretty much one of the highlights of my childhood. 

What I am trying to say is, I have SO MANY MEMORIES of VBS. This week, as I've been serving at VBS at my church, all those memories have been coming back to the surface. And no, I'm not nearly as involved or in charge as my mom was... I just am one of the teachers in a classroom of about 18 amazing 4 and 5 year olds. 

They are absolutely precious kids. Each one has a story. Each one has a personality and a future.  And they are learning the songs. Learning the stories. Learning their memory verse. Making awesome crafts. Captivated by the stories of missionaries living across the world. Bringing their little handful of quarters for the Sudanese mission. Making friends. 

Every morning this week I have had to wake up my sweet Ellie girl. Get her dressed. Rush out the door. She eats breakfast in the car. I drop her off in her own little VBS room where she has her own music time and story time and craft time.

This is me and my Ellie in her very first VBS shirt.

She comes up to my classroom with me at the end of the day while we clean up and say goodbye to all our kiddos. And then we drive home. 

And she sits in that backseat and sings the songs. Sings them loud. Songs I haven't taught her. Songs she's learning at VBS. 

"I'm gonna CLAP CLAP CLAP my hands cause God is so good! STOMP STOMP STOMP my feet cause God is so good!"

She claps and she stomps and she sings and it fills me to the brim with the greatest joy. 

Cause we are making memories. And maybe, just maybe, when she's about to be 30... maybe she'll bring her own little girl to VBS at their church. And maybe she'll drive and think about all the songs and the verses and the memories she made when her mommy took her to VBS every year. 

This Week Is Not the Boss of Me

Let me tell you what's about to happen here.

I am going to make a plan, Buster. This week is trying to intimidate me with all of the items on the to-do lists and the meetings and the empty refrigerator and the errands that need to be run. But I refuse to be intimidated.

Groceries need to be acquired.

Gifts need to be purchased for birthday people.

VBS supplies need to collect themselves and get sorted by the days they are needed.

Meetings need to be attended.

Meals need to be cooked.

Running needs to happen.

Our Bible study group needs to meet here.

A toddler needs to be fed, bathed, clothed, played with and read to. On a daily basis.

I'll say it again: I refuse to be intimidated.

Sure, on other weeks you might find me panicking and pulling the covers over my head. And probably stress eating some carbohydrates like it was my job.

But I've got a plan of attack:

Step 1: Unpack suitcases from this weekend and start laundry immediately. I'm not gonna let those bags sit on my bedroom floor and stare at me all week. (Task complete)

Step 2: Unload dishwasher (Task complete)

Step 3: Clean kitchen, living room, and bathroom (Task complete)

Step 4: Sit down with laptop, calendar, notepad, and VBS Supply list

Step 5: Meal plan for the week and make grocery list

And that's just for tonight.

I am about to take this week by the horns and show it who's boss.

BOOM.

Exercise Plans

Last night, I set my alarm to go running this morning.

Yes, I do that from time to time. You know why? Because I am a super athletic runner-type who rises at the break of dawn every morning to feel the wind in my hair and hit the pavement and feel the burn and tighten my glutes and things like that. It's just who I am.

Except none of those things.

I am trying to be more disciplined about the exercising but the only way that can happen is to wake up before Ellie and Grant and get a little jog in before they awaken from their sweet slumber. Cause you know what happens when they wake up? They need things from me. They need so many things. SO MANY THINGS. Anyways, I wake up early but I lay out my clothes and running shoes the night before. This way I am not making a ton of noise as I dig through my drawer for my sports bras. Plural. I wear a few of them.

You can only run as fast as your body parts allow you to. You've gotta strap some things down.

I am quiet as a mouse. I'm like a ninja. A little athletic ninja. I am out the door silently, and then I return before they ever realize that I am gone. Sometimes I get back and quietly sit at my breakfast table and drink coffee and make a plan for the day. This, of course, is after I collapse in my entry way and try not to have an asthma attack from my 20 minute jog. (This actually happens. I walk in the house and immediately lay down on my dining room floor and wheeze and try to cool down. It's just like those skiers do at the Olympics when they cross the finish line.)

My thighs are super muscular just like that.

This morning my alarm went off and I realized that Ellie was already awake. This is very unlike her. I laid there for awhile, trying to see if she would put herself back to sleep.

She never did.

So I never went for a run.

And I'd like to thank her for that.

Another bonus of this situation? She woke up so early that at 11:00am she asked to take a nap. Begged me for a nap. And I normally would've made her power through till her actual nap time but we have a late lunch planned today with some girlfriends and she won't get to take a nap till around 2:30 and I am going to let her sleep now so that she won't be an ever-loving terror at the restaurant.

So I didn't run today but I do get to eat Mexican food with some girlfriends in a few hours and I'm all about that.

Today is awesome.

Summer KickOff

Well, I haven't popped in here in awhile. We went on a fabulous beach vacation in Vero Beach, Florida, and ever since then I've been recovering and putting our lives back together. This mainly involves 700 loads of laundry and trying to get Ellie back on some kind of sleep schedule. 

She had an absolutely fabulous time. 

And so did we!

While we were there we celebrated Grant's 30th birthday. I met him when he was 20 so this is just pure craziness. 

We have a lot more pictures to share but this is it for now. Like, I said, I'm still trying to get my life back together.

This summer has a lot of fun on the horizon! We are taking a couple weekend trips, I'm helping in a VBS room at church for kids going into Kindergarten, we're helping with Houston Project again, Ellie's 2nd birthday next month (Stop it. I know. I can't even really talk about it), and we'll top it all off with my parents 40th Anniversary celebration (combined with Cousin Camp) in Galveston in August. 

In between all that, I'll be melting because it is already 1432 degrees Fahrenheit here. And drinking lots of Diet Coke because I can't quit. 

Happy Summer to You!

Conversations with my Sister

Her: "I'm about to be at Panera, cause I'm stressed. Should I get a bagel or macaroni and cheese?"

Me: "You should definitely get both."

Her: "I know. I do this when I'm overwhelmed."

Me: "Me too. Yesterday, when Ellie wouldn't stop crying, I went into my kitchen and boiled some noodles and then melted some butter on top of it."

Her: "Oh my gosh. With parmesan? Did you have parmesan?"

Me: "Yes."

Her: "Oh my gosh."

Paper Plates Are Becoming A Viable Option

As our marriage has progressed, so have my cooking abilities. I'm still not great, but I have become much more adventurous and confident. I try new things and I even add my own twist onto things as I go along. If awards were given out to everyday adults (and I'm pretty sure that should be a thing) I would definitely be nominated for "Most Improved in the Kitchen."

Because, let's face it, I pretty much knew how to make spaghetti when we first got married. Without the meat. And, of course, I've always been an expert at Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. I WOULD BE A GOLD MEDALIST IN KRAFT MACARONI AND CHEESE MAKING. Let's just make that crystal clear.

On Sunday nights or Monday mornings, I sit down with my laptop and a pen and paper and I make my grocery list. The first thing I do is search for recipes (some new, some old favorites) to plan our meals for the week. I usually cook 3-4 times per week and I try to vary it up. I also try to make enough on Mondays to give us leftovers to last us through the week. Also, Monday nights we host small group and I like to make extra food since we usually have some people coming straight from work and they haven't eaten dinner yet.

This week's meals:

Monday: Southwestern Chicken and Vegetables
Tuesday: Steak and baked potatoes
Wednesday: BBQ Chicken Lettuce Wraps (made for today's lunch instead due to last minute dinner plans)
Thursday: Crock Pot Pork Ribs, Mashed Potatoes (from scratch, y'all) and fresh green beans

To be honest, I really do get great joy from making mashed potatoes from scratch. Over time, I've perfected my own little recipe. Although I could never write it down because I just eye ball everything. I've never been one to pay attention to detail.

Unfortunately, after 3 people in this household ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner in this household today... the dishes are abundant. Overflowing, if you will.

I have been loading this dishwasher for what feels like hours.

I just had to walk away for a minute and take a break. And I still have all those mixing bowls. And the crockpot. WITH THE PORK RIB GREASE. And the BURNED SAUCE CAKED ON TO THE SIDE OF THE CROCKPOT. 

SEND IN REINFORCEMENTS.

And also let it be known that we have zero clean knives in the silverware drawer. Every knife we own is in that dishwasher. And this is just from today.....

I think back to when we first bought this house at the end of 2009. It was just me and Grant. We were never home for breakfast, we were never home for lunch, and we were maybe home at a decent dinner hour once or twice a week. I probably cooked once a week. Which means I ran my dishwasher about twice a week. Seriously.

And now he works from home and I'm a stay at home mom and we have a toddler who requires many different beverages and snack cups in her busy life and I run my dishwasher every single dad-gum-live-long day. Sometimes twice a day.

And I need to go back and finish loading.

But I just want to sit on my couch and watch "The West Wing" because I am very hip and now and with it by watching a show that started in 1999.

It also needs to be said that nothing infuriates me more than when I can not fit all my dirty dishes in the dishwasher and some have to wait and sit in the sink until the next load. DRIVES ME CRAZY.

I already have enough crazy to go around. We don't need to add to it.

Maybe when I can't fit anymore dishes in there I'll just throw the remainder away. Sounds likes a plan to me. 

Dream Baby

Since her newborn days, Ellie has been a dream when it comes to sleeping. She LOVES to sleep. In her infancy, she would wake up long enough to eat and then she would immediately fall back to sleep. People always talk about sleepless nights for parents of a newborn, but for us, it just really wasn't all that bad.

We often would say to each other "I'm waiting for the day when she flips a switch and becomes a terror that refuses to fall asleep." The thing is... it has never happened. 

Ellie loves to sleep. She asks to go to sleep. She never, ever cries when I lay her in her crib. She just lays there quietly until she falls asleep. Sometimes she'll play and talk and sing, but eventually she falls asleep. She doesn't cry.

On the RARE occasion that she does not sleep through the night, it is always for a reason. She's teething or she's sick. But in the grand scheme of things, she's just easy easy easy when it comes to naps and bedtime.

Example: Last night I put her in bed at 7:00pm on the dot. She woke up this morning at 8:45am. NOT JOKING. And that is pretty standard, to be honest. 

So why am I telling you all of this? Am I just here to gloat and brag? No. I'm here to share something with you. I'm here to tell you a deep, dark fear.

THERE ARE DAYS I SERIOUSLY CONSIDER NOT HAVING A SECOND BABY.

Why? 

BECAUSE THE CHANCES THAT WE WIN THIS LOTTERY TWICE ARE SLIM TO NONE. 

I seriously don't know what we would do. We high five one another all the time like "we got this parenting thing down!" but we never did the cry it out business. She just asks to go to bed and we put her in bed. And she goes to sleep eventually after she sings and talks for awhile. 

WHAT WILL WE DO IF WE HAVE ANOTHER BABY WHO HATES SLEEPING?!?? 

It is a legitimate fear and one that paralyzes me all the time. 

I'm working on overcoming and being brave and all that jazz, but some days I just have to admit that I am a chicken about having another baby.

So clearly I need to be added to some prayer lists.