Mess, what mess?

Mess, what mess? This is the response you would get from my children when asked about today's happenings.

Let me set the scene. I have been teaching Vacation Bible School since June13. Coupled with a crazy weekend that included participating in a yard sale, 2 birthday parties, Boy Scout Court of Honor as well as washing my older son's clothes because he has a less than a 24 hour pass on the weekend from camp.

Needless to say I was whipped. Today we ran to the base clinic and saw the doc and came home to do some much needed chores. I am a clean freak and I love to have the house in a neat and orderly fashion. So, after cleaning I sat down with my two little buds and was watching the last half of their movie with them. Apparently I was too comfortable and drifted right off to sleep. Now this was a half/awake, half/asleep nap as I do remember talking to the boys (with eyes shut of course) and answering questions. But the pictures posted will tell a 1000 words. I awoke to a tsunami of toys and mess. They had practically pulled all their games out into my foyer floor. The living room was littered with Lincoln logs and back packs and odd toys. The dining room table was a sea of erector set parts and the camera tripod was now a make shift campsite. Guess what we will be doing tomorrow morning?

Yep..My memory is gone

I spoke yesterday briefly about my memory and its fleeting moments. Today was a shining example of the lack of memory I really have. After VBS we needed to quickly make a pit stop at Wal-mart to pick up some essentials. The kids wore me down and we all three purchased a Hershey candy bar. I told the children they would have to quickly eat the chocolate bars in between stops as we had to run also to Lowe's. This plus the fact that it was quite warm in the car and the bars were beginning to melt. (Thank goodness baby wipes were purchased at Wal-mart). By the time I pulled into the Lowe's parking lot they were covered with chocolate. So here we were cleaning up and I swear it took no less than 6 wipes for them just to wash their hands. Anyways we ran inside to the garden section and picked up the bags of mulch we needed and as always we needed to visit the fountain (little man's request) and pitch in a few coins. Then we whizzed around the flowers and paid for our loot. After paying it dawns on me that I no longer have my car keys. Panic mode slips in and I begin to perspire. Did I leave them back at the mulch, lay them down near the fountain.... perhaps over by the flowers. I dig through my purse, pat my pockets down and then glance out towards the car. We walk out in a rather fast pace and low and behold there they were, hanging from the ignition no less. Here I had left the windows down with all my goodies from Wal-mart and had left the keys in the car. I could have just placed a sign in the windshield that read "Steal Me". As I sat down in the driver's seat puzzled I couldn't even think of why, when, or how I could have done such a stunt. I had better hope hubby doesn't find out about today's shenanigans or I will never live it down. He's still picking on me for leaving my house keys in the front door lock overnight. YIKES! Perhaps I shall bribe the kids with additional chocolate to keep them quiet. :-)

Memorization

As I stated in my last post, this VBS deal is really working out to my advantage. The kids are still anxiously cleaning and looking for chores to do to receive sign-offs for daily stickers. But this is the miraculous part... my youngest whom just turned 5 this past March is memorizing bible verses. And I don't mean easy one's either. His verse this week is:

Hebrews 12:1-2
"...Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus...who...endured the cross...and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."


So there I sit in awe as my 5 yr.old rattles this off of his tongue like he rattles off our address. WOW!! Now I know they shortened the verses for them but still that's a lot of words for little guys, especially perseverance. Our middle guy had to memorize a bit more with Joshua 1:7-9.
I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday or if I took my pills this morning much less memory verses. Their brains are soaking all of this in and that is truly awesome. And speaking of awesome I hope you are enjoying the new tunes I plugged into my blog. These songs are some of my favorite praise & worship songs. I hope they become yours too.

I love VBS!!!!

I love this time of year. No not summer...VBS (Vacation Bible School) time. There is no other time in the year that the boys are so eager to tackle chores. These two are like hummingbirds buzzing around this place. They are cleaning up bathrooms, picking up toys, making beds, folding laundry. All for stickers to add in their VBS books. I wish they had this kind of ambition all year long.

This morning was a bit rough getting out of bed on time, but we persevered. The theme this year is "Olympion...The Race for Life". Quite fitting with this years summer Olympics upon us soon. I always volunteer at these events. It's not worth it to me to drive there only to be back within 3 hours. Plus I enjoy all the hoop-lah. We are planning on attending yet another VBS next week at the base. That one is themed "Power Lab" I hope my boys will continue on this path of eagerness and helpfulness. My house may be in top notch in no time. :-)

Family Photos

The photo above shows the boys as we were touring the USS Kearsarge. This was an unexpected treat to the kids. We had no plans on stopping in Norfolk Naval Station but decided to last moment. We ate lunch at the wonderful NEX... (for you civilians the NEX is a mini-mall of sorts for those on base. It includes small boutiques along with a main store and food concessions). From there we asked for directions to the pier so we could sneak a peek at some of the ships. We found the Kearsarge and with connections (thanks Will) were able to tour the ship. The kids had a great time and it was very interesting to see how our sailors and Marines live out at sea.

The pictures below are from our trip to Busch Gardens. We went on Monday which happened to be one of the hottest days ( 1oo+). We had a great time despite the heat. The schools in the area were still in session and with it being a Monday and hotter than the hinges at the gates of Hades we were quite lucky it wasn't crowded. Hubby and the boys were able to ride all the rides. Although after the 3rd roller coaster he was beginning to feel his age. He is no longer able to hang with the teenagers when it comes to the new flippy-dippy coasters. He was however able to hang on just long enough for all of the boys to ride the roller coaster called "The Big Bad Wolf", even our small guy was able to ride.

Here are some pics from our tour of Jamestown/Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown. The boys enjoyed the re-enactments and all of the hands on stuff to do.

This pic is hubby & I aboard the Susan Constant. This replica ship was made to show how the actual ship looked that brought the Virginia Co. from England's settlers over to Jamestown in 1607.

Wow! Six men slept in this tent at one time. And I thought the birthing areas on the USS Kearsarge were tight.

Look it's a General George Washington wanna-be!

Introducing Thing 1 & Thing 2

Ever read the book "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss. I was quickly reminded of the part of the story where the cat invites Thing 1 & Thing 2 in and all hell breaks loose. That's what its like when these two are loose and into no good. Tomorrow is the last day of school and we are already celebrating! The boys had their final baseball games tonight and today's day off of school was an icebreaker of sorts. We are all looking forward to sleeping in, staying up late and swimming at the pool. I think I will have my hands full with these two this summer. Now only if I owned a singing, rhyming cat whom wears a hat to clean up the mess they make.

Happy Birthday!

Today was my mommy's birthday. Since a woman never reveals her age I will hold true to that adage and not reveal hers. We'll just say she's old enough to be my Mom. ;-) This picture was the only "old" pic I could get my hands on tonight. She should have known better than to give birth to a Libra (we are notorious procrastinators). Anyways, this picture was taken while my momma was very much pregnant with me. She will really love me tomorrow for posting this pic. Mom, I hope you had a great birthday with many more to come!