AWANA awards

AWANA is (has been) over for sometime now. (but I have had no time to blog!)

We started with a meal before. YUM.



This is my friend M. (C was in her wedding almost 2 years ago) She is great with child. She's due June 5th and they are having a little girl. C'mon little girl!

C is done with Sparks. Can you believe it? He will be in T&T next year. He has finished all his books up to this point. He's on the top row on the left.

K is done with Cubbies. She'll be in Sparks. Can you believe that? She's also finished both her books so far.

This year for Cubbies we collected pennies to give to our church missionaries to France. My little Cubbies (3 & 4 year olds) collected over $13 in pennies. Good for them! The 3 kiddos that are moving on presented the pennies to our commander. (K is behind the little boy.)

Mother Daugter banquet

Every year for AWANA, there is a mother daughter banquet. It's a neat way to hopefully get some otherwise "un-churched" mothers in to hear the gospel. This year, the daughter of one of our pastor's was the speaker. She did a good job and was really nice to listen to.

AWANA Olympics

Actually now, they are called the AWANA games. But ya know......


Here is C waiting to get the bean bag from the kid coming around the circle.
And there goes the blur that is C.
Youth pastor's kid. Typical PK.

Daddy and I actually got to coach this team together this year. Not that we volunteered, but more that the director was desperate. But it was fun!

We got 2nd place!


Daddy also coached the boys T&T (formerly Pals/Pioneers) team. They got 2nd too (also?).

It's always a fun but very long day (we had to be at church by 8 am and didn't get back to church til 5 pm) Whew!

AWANA awards 2010

AWANA awards was, well.............. sometime ago. Maybe the 1st Wednesday in May? Yeah pretty sure that was when. I've been so busy lately that I'm so behind in stuff (especially blogging), that I can't remember 'when was what.' I could get up and look at the calendar, but................. Yeah pretty sure it was the 1st Wednesday in May.

This was the best picture of the Cubbies (my group) getting awards. And K girl is on the back row, where you really can't see her. I think we gave out 19 awards that night. K did end up finishing her book. She did so much better than I thought she would.

C and his little friend were having a good time. Not sure what the topic of conversation was but they were having fun. I think the 1st picture is kinda funny. C is all smiles (actually a good smile for him) and his friend looks mad at the world. I don't think that was his intention, but still a funny picture.

Thankfully AWANA is over for the year. Next year I'm thinking of quitting. We are getting 2 sets of twins--not so very obedient twins. But I've been told I'm not alowed to quit. It's nice to feel needed? wanted?

Tea for two?

Tea #1:

Every year in AWANA there is a Father/Son night and a Mother/Daughter night. During the Father/Son night all we have over in Cubbies are girls (duh!). The leaders plan a tea party for these little girls as something special. They had little goodies and "tea" and the girls got to decorate hats. Too cute! It's so funny to see the girls personality come in--just in how they decorate their hats!

Tea #2:

The Mother/Daughter part of AWANA is also a tea, but for all the AWANA girls, all ages. Every year they take pictures of the mommies and daughters. Daddy was the photographer. I did NOT send this picture to the AWANA leader. Any guesses why?

Not crazy where her hand ended up. Otherwise I think it was a cute picture.

AWANA Olympics

Yesterday was such a long day! We left the house before 8 am and didn't get back til almost 8pm. C's Sparky Olympics was in the morning and then Daddy coached the TNT boys in the afternoon. After all was done we went out to eat (horrible, no-good, very bad service). So it was a very long day.

But! C's team won 1st! Yeah! And! Daddy's team won 2nd!

K was the official photographer today. So we have many of these pictures:

*blurry

*the back friend's heads

*other kids books

*feet

*a very blurry Daddy ref-ing (he got pulled into it at the last minute)

*etc

Scooby-doo! Where are you?

The Wednesday before Halloween the Cubbies were to dress up as animals. I put the word out (gotta love facebook) that I needed to borrow an animal costume. I'm thankful for friends! I was able to borrow a Scooby-Doo costume for K girl to wear. Of course she didn't wear it the entire night. It bugged her. Anyway. She was still cute.

Over here! (Can you hear Scooby saying it?)

And this pix is blurry cuz she just can't be still!

AWANA awards

Last night was our last night of AWANA for this year. We had our awards ceremony during church. I work in Cubbies which is kids that have 2 years before they go to kindergarten. Usually they are 3 or 4, but being in Cubbies depends on when their birthday is. K girl will be in Cubbies next year.

Here is a picture of my Cubbies that got awards this year. We had 8 that finished their books and many that got participation awards because they were so faithful. We averaged 27 Cubbies each AWANA night. Our high was 31 I think. Our AWANA commander said that when she first started in AWANA at this church there were 12 kids--total. Shows how we have grown.

C worked so hard this year. He is in Sparks, which is K-2 grade. He finished his book, reviewed his book, and finished a workbook. I am so proud of him. He is one smart cookie.

Baseball/Softball games

I know I haven't blogged in a few days, but honestly I haven't had much to blog about. We had revival last week, so we were very busy every night last week. This week is not much better. Tonight is our only free night. Last night Daddy had a softball game. We went early to watch some of the other teams play. Daddy's game didn't start until 8:45; so needless to say, it was a late night. We had a good time, even though Daddy lost. It was a good game.

To back up a little, C was supposed to have a game last Saturday morning. We had rain almost every day last week, so the fields were very muddy. So they cancelled his game, even though it ended up being a nice day. We did a little shopping in the morning (new sneaks for Daddy and I, a Yoga mat for me, a new golf club for Daddy, new baseball pants for C (which I have to take back cuz he is too skinny!)). Daddy mowed the grass in the afternoon. It was pretty pathetic. So despite a cancelled game, it was a good day.

Now C has a game Thursday night this week and another Saturday morning. As of right now, it's supposed to rain again. I'm really praying he can still get his games in.

To fill in the other nights this week, Wednesday night is our last night of AWANA! YEAH! It's awards night, which is a very busy night for me. Then we are going out to eat Friday night for Mother's day. We never go out the day of. The lines are crazy! Last year, we got take out from Olive Garden. That was a great idea! This year we are going to Red Lobster Friday night and Daddy is going to cook Sunday. It seems like Mother's day came up quick this year .

On a side note, C only has 5 more days of school. He and I are both ready to be done. The quality of his work is going down hill and my "caring" is quickly following. Oh well; there's always next year. I'm hoping to keep him (and his sister) busy with other stuff this summer so I don't hear much of "I'm bored" I don't think I'll succeed.

AWANA Olympics

Our church participated in the Central Indiana AWANA Olympics. For those of you not familiar with AWANA, let me explain. Each church has a team(s) of clubbers that compete with other churches in specific games. This year we had a Sparks team (K-2), a boys team (3-6), and 2 girls teams (3-6). C was on the Sparks team and Daddy was the assistant coach. Daddy was also the head coach of the boys team. We had 3 practices on weeknights prior to Saturday (one of the reasons our last 2 weeks were so busy). I always go to the practices and end up helping. Gets me out of the house, the kids get to run around, and I have fun doing it.

Saturday morning we had to be at the church at 7:45 (remember my kiddies don't usually get up til 8). We were up early and even stopped at McD's for breakfast. C actually got to ride the bus with the rest of the team to the church were the competition was (about 45 min away). We had a friend ride with us--who K really likes. On the way there this friend said, "Does she always talk this much?" Oh dear! Unfortunately, yes. Poor friend.

Competition for the Sparkies was 6 games; some were individual and some were team games. I remember some of these games from when I was in AWANA! Since C is only in kindergarten, he only got participate in the team games. One of the games is called Sparky Crawl. All 4 teams line up on their color (each side of a square). When the horn is blown, the Sparkies crawl to the opposite side. So all the kids end up in the middles trying to get to the other side. It's chaos! My poor C couldn't get his crawler going right. His pants kept sliding, like he was spinning his wheels in the snow. He was the last one over each time. Poor guy! He's also the smallest on the team. But he sure tried hard.

Our team actually ended up getting first place on our circle (there were 2 circles going, with 7 teams on each circle) and second place over all. Daddy's boys got 2nd, which was really good considering he didn't have a full team and had to "borrow" boys from another church. One of our girls got second and the other got 3rd. Not too bad.

After Sparky competition in the morning, I took the kids home and Daddy stayed for the afternoon older kids competition. After he got home, we all went out to eat with friends to Longhorn. Yum! Then it was home, baths, and bed. It was a long day!

Sunday we had to go to Sunday School (isn't that horrible to say?) because I had to bring breakfast. But Sunday night we were bad and stayed home. We all needed to just chill! Since March 8th we had been to church every night or day except the 2 Fridays! So far this week doesn't look to busy, but softball and baseball should start soon. I'm tired just thinking about it! But I love it!
Here they are getting ready for the Rabbit Hunt, or good-old-fashioned dodge ball.This is the mass confusion called the Sparky crawl. And C's "heat" only had 3 teams instead of 4!

Well spoken

Once again, this post is about the funny things that K says. These were told to me by her AWANNA Beez leaders Wednesday night.

#1: K has 2 teachers for Beez: Miss K and Meg. Miss K was talking to K and called her "sweetheart." K politely told her "That's not what I called. I KNW (gave her full name) but my mommy calls me "What am I going to do with you, K?" Poor girl! Does she really think that's her name? and do I really say it that much?

#2: Miss K left the room to go to the bathroom. When K discovered she was gone, she went to Meg and was very concerned. "Where Miss K go?" "To the bathroom." "Who took her?" "She went by herself." "She went by herself?!?! Won't she need help?"

Updates

Three quick updates
#1: Since C ended up finishing his Sparkie book last week, this week they gave him a new workbook. Before AWANA started Wednesday night, Daddy had mentioned to one of the leaders that C had no sections because he had finished his book-again. She said they knew that and were trying to figure out what to give him to work on. On our way home that night, C told us that he had a new book and that "it took them a long time to find it for him." This book does have some "worksheet" type pages along with verses. And these verses are longer and harder. Good. He needs something to challenge him. Now his goal is to finish this book by the end of the year.

#2: The mail lady DID come back to get my mail the other day. I was at least nice enough to put it back in the box with the flag up. The next day I had cards to go out. I stood at the door and watched to make sure that she took them. She saw me and just waved.

#3: This morning we went back to the eye doctor for C to be fitted for his sports glasses. Poor guy. Remember those old fashioned, big, white, chunky sports glasses? These are NOT like that. These are actually very nice looking. They have ordered the lenses and they should be in next week, so he should have them by the time he starts PeeWee baseball (sign ups are today). Unfortunately, insurance does not cover any of these frames or lenses. Thank goodness we just got tax return money back.

My Sparkie

I have done a few posts about K girl lately, so I thought I'd do one about C. This is his first year in Sparks, and I think he has done very well. He has already finished his book and is going thru it for the second time. He only has 4 more sections to say and he will have done it for the second time thru. I'm not sure what they are going to have him do after that. We have at least 8 more nights left. I am very proud of him.

For those of you who were in AWANA a long time ago (me too) and haven't seen the "new" AWANA stuff, here is a picture of his book this year. I have a "pro and a con" with these new books. Pro: they are very nice looking. Con: they have been "dumbed" down. Not to say they are easy, but easier than I remember them being. He still has had to learn passages (i.e. John 3:14-16) and the books of the New Testament. I was impressed when he learned the books of the NT. He picked them right up and weeks later when he reviewed them, he needed very little help in remembering them. He is so smart--when he thinks.

***Update: C finished his book for the second time this past Wednesday night. Good job, bubby! But now I really don't know what he is going to do for the rest of the year***

Start Your Engines!

Today was our AWANA Grand Prix. With Daddy being gone last week, he didn't have time to make a new car for C this year. This year our Grand Prix had a "Classic Car" category. So C entered a car that Daddy had used when he was in AWANA many years ago. This car wasn't the prettiest car out there, but it was pretty fast. C actually came in 4th place for speed and won several of the heats that he was in. It was a fun but very long day. We were at church from 10 am to about 3 pm. And the entire time I had a headache the size of Texas. And of course the cheering didn't help any. Oh well. C had fun. K was a pretty good girl. We got nachos and cheese. I got to help register some cars. Daddy got to take pictures. All in all, it went well. Here are a just a few pictures from our day.

This is C's car already over the finish line--taking 1st for this heat--and the other cars haven't even reached the finish line yet.

Poor beat up ole' car. But you did well today. May you rest in peace tonight. (Maybe we will pull you out of retirement again next year).

Wednesday night AWANA

Wednesday night around 5 pm I got a phone call from a mom in our neighborhood. I sometimes watch her 2 youngest after school if no one is home. Her youngest is same age as C and they like to play together. Many, many weeks ago I had asked if her son could come with us to AWANA one night. C has one section in his book that he needs to bring a friend to AWANA to pass the section. So anyway, she called and asked if her son could come with us that night. Of course he can. That put our evening in fast forward, but if he wanted to come, I wasn't going to turn him down. It was actually a Father/Son night at AWANA. They had dinner, a devotional and were able to do "manly crafts." The little boy was so excited that he got to bring his craft (modeling clay) home with him. C made a paper airplane for his craft and actually won a prize for the airplanes.

Once we got home, C wanted his picture take with his airplane and his prize--a huge chocolate bar! So then K wanted her picture taken with her picture from that night. So here are their pictures. Silly kids.

By the way, that little boy said that he had fun and would like to come back. What a neat opportunity!

AWANA

My mother has asked me for pictures of the kids in their AWANA uniforms. So I thought I'd post the pictures. Yes Mom, I will send them to you too. :)

C just got his vest last night. K's uniform is actually just a T-shirt. I took a close up picture of the logo so that you could see it. Isn't it cute?

A day in the life of.....

A friend had a cute post the other day on her blog. I thought it was such a cute idea, that I thought I would try it too. So here is “A day in the life of….”

Daddy’s alarm clock goes off around 7:30 and he hits snooze at least twice. That has bothered me since we’ve been married, but I choose my battles and that is a losing one. Once he gets out of the shower, I get up to get mine--usually around 10 til 8. The kids are not allowed to get out of bed until it is an 8—on any day.

If the kids are awake and can get up when Daddy leaves, we all stand at the back door and wave as he leaves. The kids usually watch Curious George until 8:30 and then we eat breakfast, usually pop tarts, granola bars, cereal, cinnamon rolls, or chocolate chip muffins. After breakfast, C goes upstairs to start school and K usually watches a little more TV. I clean up breakfast, check what is for dinner, maybe empty the dishwasher, check e-mails and blogs, balance the check book, do laundry, clean, maybe read a little (my Bible or a good Karen Kingsbury book or a new book to read to the kids at night), and lately I have been sorting thru winter clothes for the kids.

We eat lunch around noonish, depending on where C is in his school subjects. We wait til he is at a break between subjects. Lunch is usually hotdogs, popcorn chicken, grilled cheese or leftovers--if there are any. After lunch, C goes to finish school and K and I play or read or do puzzles. K goes to her nap around 2:30 and usually (hopefully) C is done with school by then. He usually watches a movie during her nap time. He doesn’t know it, but he is actually doing “quite time.” I usually go upstairs and exercise and get ready for school the next day. Lately, after all that is done, I have been Scrapbooking—finally!

K gets up from her nap a little before 5 and we sometimes we will have a snack. Dinner is around 6:15 or once Daddy gets home from the gym. After dinner is all cleaned up, we usually sit and watch TV and/or play with the kids. We start our bedtime routine around 8:45 with the kids picking up toys. Then it’s jammies, teeth, and Daddy reads a chapter out of our book (we just finished Charlotte’s Web and I cried when Charlotte died). Then prayers and kisses and off they go! I then sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” as I come down the stairs. Daddy and I watch TV until 11 and then it’s our turn for jammies, teeth and bed.

Mondays are different cuz we go to Wal-Mart and that takes up most of the morning. Tuesdays I used to have my babysitting kids, but that has stopped somewhat. Thursdays I do laundry and Fridays I clean. Monday nights Daddy had softball games, although the last ones were last night (YEAH). Wednesdays we have AWANA which makes for a rushed and late night. Otherwise, I am pretty much a stay-at-home mom all week. Last week I went out Monday morning (Wal-Mart), Wednesday night (AWANA) and Friday night (dinner at Texas Roadhouse) and that was it.

All of this is subject to change depending on our schedule. Right now, potty trips are too numerous to count and that makes for a different day. (By the way, it is still on-going with a little set-back due to the weekend). It will be interesting to look back at this in a year and see what has changed.

Here are some pix from the kids at breakfast this morning. C is eating a college football poptart. He is about to "gobble-up" the yucky Gators. Go FSU!

PS: I must set the record straight. (See comment on this post) My brother informed me that C is not eating a Gator poptart but a Georgia one. I was wrong. I called Daddy and he confirmed the info. Good job brother! (I was told to give him all the credit) But we can still say "Yucky Gators" and "Go FSU!"