VBS 2008
Well, we survived another week of crafts at Zion's Power Lab VBS this year.
And I'm exhausted, but I want to report on it NOW, while the time is right. Susie and Luke are sleeping, Noah is playing the Wii, and the house is quiet. Mom has taken Zack home with her as part of a new tradition she's trying to set down. I think it started with Caleb, who was quoted as having told Anna that he thought Grandma L (Jason's mom) was his grandma, since Grandma Cherie was Isaac and Charissa's grandma. To be fair, Charissa and Isaac are a whole lot more aggressive about demanding attention from my parents than Caleb is, so this impression is probably understandable, though it's not necessarily my Mom's fault. All the same, she decided to take Caleb to her house and make him the center of her attention for 24 hours. The experience was such a success for all involved that she did the same thing with Annie the next month, and this month is Zack's turn.
So he is gone, and Noah is quiet hangdog without him. He is watching cartoons right now, and I think I may see if he wants to try a game or something in a few minutes. I'll miss Zack tonight too, but he and Noah will miss each other more. Zack was already feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole business earlier today, which manifested in something of a tearful meltdown this morning while his group was in crafts. Poor Z. Fortunately, I figured out that part of Zack's angst was stemming from the misimpression that he'd be expected to do VBS, SummerQuest AND go to Grandma's tonight, and once reassured that this was not the case he seemed better. It's good to keep kids busy, but there are limits.
(SummerQuest, BTW, is a summer educational program offered by Clayton School District. Noah and Zack are signed up to attend next week and the week after, and he erroneously thought it started today.)
Anyway...
Power Lab was fun. A Science-Themed VBS, so it was right up my alley. There were splashy science experiments, many of which involved dry ice. Scott and Holly once again came through with a fabulous set for the church front and the entrance, and I once again came through with faboo crafts. ;) Sheryl once again came through with nifty storytelling skits, and Melinda came through with fun games, and Jenny S. came through with a healthy complement of volunteers, Kathy E. came through with gorgeous T-shirts, and on and on and on. I guess when I think about it, the reason why I don't have more to say is that at this point, six years in, success is no longer remarkable. We have a crew who knows their jobs well enough that they can be pointed in a direction and trusted to go there. Jen and Kathy don't even question me anymore; we have a couple of phone discussions on crafts, they give me a budget, and off I go.
So, rather than blather on about the crafts we did, I'll talk about my own kids. :) Susanna, at three, enjoyed her first year of actual VBS this time around. It was sort of amusing to me to note that when Noah was the same age, dropping him off with his group was a nightmare. He used to cling to me and cry piteously, begging me not to leave him. I had to promise him I would meet him RIGHT HERE at the end of the morning, and then I had to really book it to get there for the closing lest I let him down on that. Susie couldn't be more different, though. She doesn't run at this sort of thing full-tilt the way Zack did, but she marches right in and sits herself down, sheds nary a tear and waves cheerfully goodbye to me as I head off to do my thing. When she sees me at the end, she's excited to see me, but not really interested in mowing down her groupmates in her zeal to get to me or hug me. Instead, she's content to wave and bounce up and down, and then go back to singing or whatever until it's time to go. All week, Christine kept telling me, "She is so good."
Yeah, well... sure she is. :) She's the thirdborn in a family that doesn't believe in a ton of coddling to begin with (Noah notwithstanding, I guess...), and she's watched two older brothers go off and do this without fretting, so why should she? She's just happy it's her turn, and she's perfectly willing to do whatever she's supposed to do.
If there's one thing that gets Susie going, though, it's the music. This is typical of a 3-year-old, I guess, but Susie LOVES to sing and dance, and she does it with wild, unassumed abandon. Apparently today during the Music portion of their morning, Tracy O. had them singing 'Blind Man Stood By The Road And He Cried'. For the uninitiated, it goes like this:
Blind Man stood by the road and he cried (clap-clap)
Blind Man stood by the road and he cried (clap-clap)
Blind Man stood by the road and he cried (clap-clap)
He cried, 'Oh-OH-OH,'
'Show me the waaaaaaaaay.'
'Show me the waaaaaaaaay.'
'Show me the waaaaaaaaay,'
'The way to go Hoooooome.'
There are other verses. But apparently as Susie sang it today, she had her arms up and her eyes closed and was swaying. Christine and Tracy watched her do this and had to laugh, because she apparently looked like she was having a religious experience above and beyond what the song would normally be expected to inspire. I said, "I bet she was trying to BE the blind man." "Oh.." Christine said, "You know, I bet you're right." Duh. ;)
But yeah... that's my daughter, the Lutheran Assemblies of God girl. :)
Zack and Noah are just regular joes at this now, although I heard from Aaron H. today that Zack was wearing his leaders out. Exactly what he was doing, I have no idea... I mean, even maternal rose-colored glasses aside, I doubt he was being naughty. Aaron made it sound more like he was just all wound up and probably talking a mile a minute. He does that.
Where DOES he get that from?
Still, it struck me this week just how much of a loner Zack ends up being, even though he doesn't mean to. Like me, he tends to focus more on the adult leader of his group than on his contemporaries. He ran around all week with at least eight other boys, and he can only tell me the name of one of them, for example, but he knows the names of all three of his leaders, no problem. I guess that's a good thing, really, and a natural thing too. I can take the helm when I need to, but given the choice I am ALWAYS happier playing second fiddle. It would not surprise me if Zack were the same way, especially since Andy is not a man who tends to be eager for controlling stock in leadership situations either. However, neither Zack nor I want to be LESS than second fiddle, eithe, which is why we put our eyes on who is in charge and plant ourselves right next to that person. We want to be someone's right-hand man, indispensable, providing all of the great ideas, but not responsible for carrying them out. ;) Thus, Zack follows his leader absolutely, to the point where he may ignore the other kids around him.
Noah, on the other hand, has so utterly outgrown his initial reluctance to be divided from me in any way that it's hard to even remember those days now. He quite calmly and confidently took his place with his group, and participated well. He made friends, had fun, and came running to hug me whenever he saw me. He loved the fact that I was the Crafts person, and that made seeing him in Crafts a lot of fun for me. Noah's going to turn out okay, I have a feeling.
Did I mention that Noah is READING already? I kid you not. Zack has been reading me books in the evenings to fill in his Library Book Club sheet for the Summer Reading Program, and the other night Noah wanted to read a book to me too. He picked a book called, "It's Hard to Be Five", that is not at all written for his level, and yet he was able to figure out about 70% of the words ON HIS OWN. Go NOAH!
Luke weathered his week of mornings in the nursery with good grace too. He didn't like it when I left him, but he didn't fuss much about it. At one point, Dad stopped by the nursery to see his grandsons (Isaac was in there too), and happened to arrive during snack. Isaac waved and called out, "Hi, Papa! Papa! Hi!" which drew Luke's attention. Luke didn't say anything, but I guess he got up, picked up a Cheez-It, walked over to my Dad and gave it to him. Then he went back and sat down. Dad said, "It was like he figured as long as I was there for snack time, I'd better have something to eat." Heh!
Luke has started waving goodbye to people. And I'm not talking about the 'Say bye-bye! Come on! Say bye-bye to Miss Pam!' sort of wave goodbye, either. He's been doing that since he was about eight months old. No, what I mean is that when we left the nursery this week, he would take his blankie (his crib quilt, to which he has recently become very attached) and toddle on out the door, go about ten feet, then turn around and wave and say something in Luke-ese, then turn and toddle off. It's just hilarious to watch.
Anyway, it was a good week, and I'm GLAD IT'S OVER! Next year is Crocodile Cove, and I'm tempted to get it all done now so I don't have to worry about it. ;)
'Course, I haven't the foggiest notion what to do with it.
And I'm exhausted, but I want to report on it NOW, while the time is right. Susie and Luke are sleeping, Noah is playing the Wii, and the house is quiet. Mom has taken Zack home with her as part of a new tradition she's trying to set down. I think it started with Caleb, who was quoted as having told Anna that he thought Grandma L (Jason's mom) was his grandma, since Grandma Cherie was Isaac and Charissa's grandma. To be fair, Charissa and Isaac are a whole lot more aggressive about demanding attention from my parents than Caleb is, so this impression is probably understandable, though it's not necessarily my Mom's fault. All the same, she decided to take Caleb to her house and make him the center of her attention for 24 hours. The experience was such a success for all involved that she did the same thing with Annie the next month, and this month is Zack's turn.
So he is gone, and Noah is quiet hangdog without him. He is watching cartoons right now, and I think I may see if he wants to try a game or something in a few minutes. I'll miss Zack tonight too, but he and Noah will miss each other more. Zack was already feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole business earlier today, which manifested in something of a tearful meltdown this morning while his group was in crafts. Poor Z. Fortunately, I figured out that part of Zack's angst was stemming from the misimpression that he'd be expected to do VBS, SummerQuest AND go to Grandma's tonight, and once reassured that this was not the case he seemed better. It's good to keep kids busy, but there are limits.
(SummerQuest, BTW, is a summer educational program offered by Clayton School District. Noah and Zack are signed up to attend next week and the week after, and he erroneously thought it started today.)
Anyway...
Power Lab was fun. A Science-Themed VBS, so it was right up my alley. There were splashy science experiments, many of which involved dry ice. Scott and Holly once again came through with a fabulous set for the church front and the entrance, and I once again came through with faboo crafts. ;) Sheryl once again came through with nifty storytelling skits, and Melinda came through with fun games, and Jenny S. came through with a healthy complement of volunteers, Kathy E. came through with gorgeous T-shirts, and on and on and on. I guess when I think about it, the reason why I don't have more to say is that at this point, six years in, success is no longer remarkable. We have a crew who knows their jobs well enough that they can be pointed in a direction and trusted to go there. Jen and Kathy don't even question me anymore; we have a couple of phone discussions on crafts, they give me a budget, and off I go.
So, rather than blather on about the crafts we did, I'll talk about my own kids. :) Susanna, at three, enjoyed her first year of actual VBS this time around. It was sort of amusing to me to note that when Noah was the same age, dropping him off with his group was a nightmare. He used to cling to me and cry piteously, begging me not to leave him. I had to promise him I would meet him RIGHT HERE at the end of the morning, and then I had to really book it to get there for the closing lest I let him down on that. Susie couldn't be more different, though. She doesn't run at this sort of thing full-tilt the way Zack did, but she marches right in and sits herself down, sheds nary a tear and waves cheerfully goodbye to me as I head off to do my thing. When she sees me at the end, she's excited to see me, but not really interested in mowing down her groupmates in her zeal to get to me or hug me. Instead, she's content to wave and bounce up and down, and then go back to singing or whatever until it's time to go. All week, Christine kept telling me, "She is so good."
Yeah, well... sure she is. :) She's the thirdborn in a family that doesn't believe in a ton of coddling to begin with (Noah notwithstanding, I guess...), and she's watched two older brothers go off and do this without fretting, so why should she? She's just happy it's her turn, and she's perfectly willing to do whatever she's supposed to do.
If there's one thing that gets Susie going, though, it's the music. This is typical of a 3-year-old, I guess, but Susie LOVES to sing and dance, and she does it with wild, unassumed abandon. Apparently today during the Music portion of their morning, Tracy O. had them singing 'Blind Man Stood By The Road And He Cried'. For the uninitiated, it goes like this:
Blind Man stood by the road and he cried (clap-clap)
Blind Man stood by the road and he cried (clap-clap)
Blind Man stood by the road and he cried (clap-clap)
He cried, 'Oh-OH-OH,'
'Show me the waaaaaaaaay.'
'Show me the waaaaaaaaay.'
'Show me the waaaaaaaaay,'
'The way to go Hoooooome.'
There are other verses. But apparently as Susie sang it today, she had her arms up and her eyes closed and was swaying. Christine and Tracy watched her do this and had to laugh, because she apparently looked like she was having a religious experience above and beyond what the song would normally be expected to inspire. I said, "I bet she was trying to BE the blind man." "Oh.." Christine said, "You know, I bet you're right." Duh. ;)
But yeah... that's my daughter, the Lutheran Assemblies of God girl. :)
Zack and Noah are just regular joes at this now, although I heard from Aaron H. today that Zack was wearing his leaders out. Exactly what he was doing, I have no idea... I mean, even maternal rose-colored glasses aside, I doubt he was being naughty. Aaron made it sound more like he was just all wound up and probably talking a mile a minute. He does that.
Where DOES he get that from?
Still, it struck me this week just how much of a loner Zack ends up being, even though he doesn't mean to. Like me, he tends to focus more on the adult leader of his group than on his contemporaries. He ran around all week with at least eight other boys, and he can only tell me the name of one of them, for example, but he knows the names of all three of his leaders, no problem. I guess that's a good thing, really, and a natural thing too. I can take the helm when I need to, but given the choice I am ALWAYS happier playing second fiddle. It would not surprise me if Zack were the same way, especially since Andy is not a man who tends to be eager for controlling stock in leadership situations either. However, neither Zack nor I want to be LESS than second fiddle, eithe, which is why we put our eyes on who is in charge and plant ourselves right next to that person. We want to be someone's right-hand man, indispensable, providing all of the great ideas, but not responsible for carrying them out. ;) Thus, Zack follows his leader absolutely, to the point where he may ignore the other kids around him.
Noah, on the other hand, has so utterly outgrown his initial reluctance to be divided from me in any way that it's hard to even remember those days now. He quite calmly and confidently took his place with his group, and participated well. He made friends, had fun, and came running to hug me whenever he saw me. He loved the fact that I was the Crafts person, and that made seeing him in Crafts a lot of fun for me. Noah's going to turn out okay, I have a feeling.
Did I mention that Noah is READING already? I kid you not. Zack has been reading me books in the evenings to fill in his Library Book Club sheet for the Summer Reading Program, and the other night Noah wanted to read a book to me too. He picked a book called, "It's Hard to Be Five", that is not at all written for his level, and yet he was able to figure out about 70% of the words ON HIS OWN. Go NOAH!
Luke weathered his week of mornings in the nursery with good grace too. He didn't like it when I left him, but he didn't fuss much about it. At one point, Dad stopped by the nursery to see his grandsons (Isaac was in there too), and happened to arrive during snack. Isaac waved and called out, "Hi, Papa! Papa! Hi!" which drew Luke's attention. Luke didn't say anything, but I guess he got up, picked up a Cheez-It, walked over to my Dad and gave it to him. Then he went back and sat down. Dad said, "It was like he figured as long as I was there for snack time, I'd better have something to eat." Heh!
Luke has started waving goodbye to people. And I'm not talking about the 'Say bye-bye! Come on! Say bye-bye to Miss Pam!' sort of wave goodbye, either. He's been doing that since he was about eight months old. No, what I mean is that when we left the nursery this week, he would take his blankie (his crib quilt, to which he has recently become very attached) and toddle on out the door, go about ten feet, then turn around and wave and say something in Luke-ese, then turn and toddle off. It's just hilarious to watch.
Anyway, it was a good week, and I'm GLAD IT'S OVER! Next year is Crocodile Cove, and I'm tempted to get it all done now so I don't have to worry about it. ;)
'Course, I haven't the foggiest notion what to do with it.