Summer Bucket List Days 8-14

Our second week of summer included our first trip to the Farmer's Market, more trips to the library, movies with a friend, golf, water balloons, swimming, and a birthday celebration for Josh. Summer was shaping up to be lots of fun! 

Day 8: Bike riding to the farmer's market for some fresh blackberries, jam, and peaches and then seeing Angry Birds with Eli's friend, Hayden, later that afternoon. 

Day 9: Rode our bikes to the library again and while I was browsing for some books for me, this kid finds his books and checks out all on his own. He is getting so independent! 

Day 10: Eli cashed his checks from his lawn mowing business (Eli's Tiger Mowing Service), played Legos and other games, and donated old toys and clothes to the shelter. 

Day 11: Celebrated Cooper's 7th birthday with a swim party at his house and then got a treat from the ice cream truck later that afternoon. 

Day 12: My two favorite boys decided to go play a round of golf together.

Day 13: VBS with Hayden and Stephen, more treats from the ice cream truck, and water balloon games in the backyard. 

Day 14: We celebrated Josh's 37th birthday by baking him a strawberry cake (his favorite) and spending the day with him. 

Vacation Bible School-2015

The second week of our summer vacation was spent at Vacation Bible School (well, in the mornings at least). I signed up to be the VBS photographer so I had the easy and fun job of just walking around taking snapshots of all the kids having fun. It was the perfect job for this girl :) Eli was in the Kindergarten group and had the best time hanging out with Scott, Bryce, Hannah, and more of his friends from church and school. Eli started going to VBS with me years ago when I was the VBS coordinator for our church so he loves this week at church. Our church used the materials from Lifeway and I have to say they were so good this year, especially the music! I loved all the songs! It was a great week and the best part is that every single kid came into contact with the gospel message that Jesus loves them, died on the cross for their sins, and desires to live in their hearts. Several kids asked Jesus into their hearts during their week at VBS and that is the best news of all!

I loved the theme "Journey off the Map"

Eli and Scott

Harley Clare enjoying the nursery

Eli and Hannah

Having fun in crafts

Donating his money to the offering bucket. This year our kids raised money to send to Samaritan's Purse to help people in other countries buy chickens and goats. 

Riley, Hannah, and Eli

Eli and Bryce

Doing the motions to one of the VBS songs

Eli and Taylor

Eli, Hayden, and Scott

Eli and Hannah

Scott and Eli

It was a fun and very busy week, but we enjoyed it very much! I'm so glad Eli is able to participate in these fun activities at church. 

Summer Break 2014-Update #2

Daddy's summer took a turn for the worse one day when he got to work and found out his tire was as flat as a pancake. He called Eli and me to bring the air compressor to his work to see if he could air it up enough to drive it 1/4 mile down the road to the tire shop. It was a great idea but it immediately started leaking air as soon as Josh put it in there. That meant Plan B which was to put the spare on and then drive it to the tire place and have them put a new tire on. This was Eli's first tire change to assist on so he was a great helper to his Daddy.

When we got home from the tire shop later that afternoon, Eli had a package waiting for him by the front door from Uncle Josh, Aunt Andrea, and Tinsley. They sent him a Stretchkin toy and he immediately fell in love with it. It included a dance/exercise DVD so he and Stretchy the Dog put it in and started dancing and exercising. What a fun surprise!

We spent the rest of the afternoon making Daddy a strawberry cake. His birthday was the next day (June 7th) so we wanted him to have a yummy cake to celebrate. Strawberry cake just happens to be one of his favorites. 

The rest of the weekend was spent getting ready for VBS which was going to start June 9th. This would be Eli's first VBS to actually get to participate in the activities so he was very excited (me too!). He and Hannah were in the PreK group and they had a blast all week long. Eli loved the secret spy agent theme. This year I helped in crafts and really enjoyed it. In the past I've always been in charge of VBS so this year I got to help in a different area and had fun seeing all the different groups of kids as they rotated to me. 

Thursday afternoon during VBS week we went to the library to hear their special guest storyteller. Eli really enjoyed her stories and listened so well. This was his goofy face he was making during one of her funny stories. 

After the program was over Eli was able to go meet her and take a picture with her. 

We decided to go ahead and make it a special treat day since we were already out of the house and ran by our local bakery for a yummy cupcake before heading home. Eli chose chocolate :)

When we got home Eli wanted to pull a slip out of our Summer Bucket List jar and he picked "Color a Picture." While I made dinner that night, Eli colored in his Color Wonder Spiderman book. 

Friday afternoon was the last day of VBS and the program for the parents. Eli did great performing and singing all the songs he learned during the week of VBS. Afterwards there was a small reception for the kids, parents, and workers in the gym with some light finger foods. Eli loaded up his plate with all these sandwiches and my mouth literally dropped. Would you believe he ate every single bite (minus the crust because we're going through a phase right now where we hate crust even though I've begged him to not be one of those weird kids who has to have his food prepared a certain way). We helped take down all the decorations from VBS around the church and then we left and went home. We were exhausted! We were ready for a weekend of relaxation!

Fun Videos of Eli

Eli's Week at VBS

What a difference a year makes! Here is a picture of me and Eli at Vacation Bible School last year in June when he was only 7 months old. He was so little then!


Here is our picture this year. Look at how big he looks at 19 months old. What a handsome little cowboy!


This year I helped co-direct VBS with my friend from church, Mrs. Brenda. We use Lifeway's material every year and this year the theme was super cute and fun! We celebrated Saddle Ridge Ranch all week at our church. It was so much fun to see all the little girls and boys dressing like cowboys and cowgirls during that week. The best part was seeing the kids learn the message that if they need answers they can always turn to God and his truths. What a fabulous week of learning and growing!

Eli was SO GOOD the entire week at VBS. He's not old enough to attend yet (our youngest class is for 4 year olds), but he did get to sit with them every morning during our Worship Rally. "B", the 4 year old teacher, came and got him from me every morning and Eli got to sit with her class and participate and have lots of fun.

As you can tell from all the pictures below, all the kids had TONS of fun the entire week. I'm so glad Eli and I were able to participate again this year.

The cutest cowboy at Saddle Ridge Ranch this year!

Eli looks like a deer in the headlights and the little girl next to him is very unimpressed with what is going on around her. Fun times at VBS!

Notice the stuffed animals in Eli's hands? Mo the monkey and the pony he got from Grammy and Pop his 1st Christmas came to VBS everyday with Eli. They were his friends all week :)

Another day with Mo and the horse
(we need a name for the horse, so any suggestions are welcome!)

Every afternoon I helped with our dismissal which meant I wasn't able to get Eli out of the nursery immediately, so Kassi usually went and got him for me. It didn't take Eli long to become pretty smitten with her. He wouldn't even come to me some afternoons after playing with her. He wanted to go home with her. It was so cute to see him flirting :) And, yes, he eventually HAD to go home with Momma instead of the pretty college girl!

Eli with his VBS girlfriend, Kassi

Watching the opening worship rally with B

The next picture cracks me up! Holden, the teenage boy on the right, was one of our youth helpers this week. Our youth group came through in a HUGE WAY this week. We had over 75 workers everyday and the majority of them were youth workers. Holden helped out in recreation the entire week. Once he figured out I was his ticket to being in the picture slideshow at the end of the week, he did everything he could to become the most photographed youth at VBS that week. I don't have enough blog space to post all the pictures that he managed to get in, but he usually did a pose similar to this one. What a goofball! The kids had so much fun being around him though and we couldn't have done VBS without great workers like him!


VBS creates lasting friendships for lots of our kids. What a fun week to spend with your friends!

Ms. Essie and Ms. Annie, our wonderful 5 year old teachers

Showing off my hula hooping skills to the kids in recreation.

Partaking of the delicious cookies at the Big Sky Grill
(or Big Sky Bakery as one of our kids called it)

Every year during VBS we pick a ministry to collect our mission's offering for all week. To make things a little more exciting for the kids we usually let our pastors pick sides and the winning side gets to put a pie in the loser's face. This year we collected money for our church's Single Mom's Ministry. Dusty, our youth pastor, and Stephen, our music minister, picked sides and the entire week we reminded the kids about one of them getting a pie in the face. The kids were doing so well that we raised the bar for them. If they raised over $500, then both of our pastors would get a pie in the face. The kids were up to the challenge and came through at the very end!

Dusty and Stephen-BEFORE

Dusty and Stephen-AFTER

The last day of the week, our kids put on a show for their parents to show them everything they learned during the week of VBS. They love getting to show their parents all the fun they had at VBS.

Claire and Katie during the horse racing contest

Milah helped me out SO MUCH by taking care of Eli for me during the first part of the performance. Because of all she did for me, I was able to take lots of pictures and help Dusty and Stephen when they needed it.

My co-director, Brenda, and her sweet little girl, Rachel.
Rachel and Eli are exactly one year apart. I love being able to get a preview of what Eli is going to be doing when he is her age.

Look at all those kids!
They did a wonderful job singing all the songs they learned during their week at VBS.

Towards the end of their performance, Eli was sitting with B and she asked him if he wanted to go sing and dance with the kids on stage. He said, "Uh huh!" They went to the front row and B put Eli down to see what he would do...

He decided he'd join them on stage and sing, too!

He turned around and grabbed B's hand to go up there with him.

B went but only because she was scared he was going to fall down the stairs. It was so funny to watch all this happen. I have a short video of this to post, so be watching for it.

All in all, VBS was extremely tiring (Eli took a 3 hour nap every day when we got home), but it was extremely fun. I loved being able to see the kids having fun, making new friends, and most importantly, learning more about Jesus. I can't wait until my little buckaroo gets to participate in this life changing week one day!