The Puddles

VBS starts tomorrow.  VBS has always been our family’s favorite church activity of the year.  It is always awesome.  Chris loves playing his guitar and jammin’ with the kids.  It is always fast-paced and exciting.  And then after the last day there is a definite slide into exhaustion.  Usually Chris or I or the children get sick after the week is over.  We can maintain that energy for a week, but then we are done.  Now that we have children, we are not staying at church until 2am every night getting things ready for the next day.  Thank goodness.  Chris and I have done VBS together for 14 years.  I can honestly say that when we both had jobs with the same church that VBS was the one week we didn’t argue with each other (Law and Gospel. You have to have both in ministry.  I’ll let you guess which one of us was which.)  The kids are excited.  We are excited.  I can’t wait until in starts, and I will certainly be glad when it is over because I am sure that I will be exhausted!!!

This almost didn’t happen.  The girls were moments from massive meltdowns due to . . . . Does it really matter?  No.  The end results were awesome.  My Madie and my brother’s daugher Kamryn belted out Taylor Swift like nobody’s business at Camp Jellystone last weekend.  It didn’t matter that we heard that Taylor Swift song five times already.  It was brand new when they got up there.  You should have seen the smiles on their faces when they came down from the stage.  Priceless.

Ainsley has this bizarre rash on her neck, back, and front.  At first it looks like a heat rash, but it only got worse.  I made her an appointment two days ago thinking that she has had this rash for almost a week so I am sure that it will still be there when we arrive on Friday to the doctor.  Wrong.  It started looking better yesterday and although you could still see it today it was well on the way to getting better.  So we went to the doctor anyway (because I will still get charged if I cancel) and officially she has staff folliculitis.  For my puddles who have had every weird rash known to mankind, this is a new one.  We don’t have to do anything for it today, but now we know what to do the next time it shows up.  Because potentially it could show up again.  I swear my children are trying out every disease, virus, infection, etc. so that I can become a walking rash detector for my friends. “No. That’s not chicken pox.  We had that last year and it looked completely different.  Chicken pox looks like a dew drop on a rose.”  “Yes. That looks like Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.  Madie had that when she was little and it looked just like that.  You should really see a doctor.”  Madie even caught a viral rash one year in Nebraska that none of the doctor’s could figure out. They finally took a sharpie and started marking it.  I remember them saying that if the rash got past a certain point we would do something else(not sure what that meant). But luckily it stopped spreading before it go to that point. Thank goodness for our local pediatrician office and their patience with my children and their diseases.  They never overreact and can always come up with a name for what they have.

So we have name for Ainsley’s rash and another medicine for Ben to take (for a cough he just can’t shake).  All in time for VBS on Sunday.  Hopefully they won’t pick up another weird disease next week!

I lost my camera. Then I found my camera. Then I lost my camera again.  It has been a tough battle hanging on to my camera in the last two months.  So sorry for the massive picture update, but I figured I better do it while the camera was in my possession again.  It at least explains why we haven’t had many pictures lately on my blog.  Hopefully I made up for it today.

We have a bountiful harvest.

Look how pretty our fruit is.

We have two plum trees in the backyard.  I was this close to chopping them down last year, but once I figured out that they could contribute to our family they were saved.  We went out tonight after dinner and right before bed and picked plums.  We only picked ones that had fallen to the ground.  And we came in with a bucket full.  It was wonderful.  There are still hundreds more plums in the trees.  Only Ainsley was apprehensive about picking up any of the fruit.  So picked up one for her.  He gave her one with a stem so she wouldn’t have to touch it.  All so she could have her picture taken while holding a plum in her hand.  It was truly a riot!  I love those kids.  We had a lot of fun finding all of the fruit hidden the tall grass.  There was probably a hundred more plums that we had already rotted on the ground.  I figured I would let Chris mow them under.  Chris came home and ate five of them while standing by the sink.  If he is still alive in the morning, I’ll let the kids eat one too.

Ben actually brought his goggles today so he could put his face in the water.  I am shocked that he is even willing to do this.  All three kids have come so far!!!!  We have one more week of swim lessons after VBS.

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Even my little princess got in the water with the fishes.

Good end to a good day on the water.

I texted my parents to tell them that we were out on the lake boating and my mother’s text back to me was . . . “U R disowned.”  I don’t know what disturbed me more.  My mother texting me using shorthand or that she and dad were so jealous!  Either way it was an awesome day.

Daddy and Madie on the tube.

That is my little man helping to drive the boat. I think that Mr. Cederburg is a very brave man to let him!

Yes. That is Madie by herself on the water, and that is a very large smile on her face.