This week at VBS has been really fun. Every morning Fuller wants to go (unlike last year) and has really enjoyed himself so far. He is even able to tell Damon what he did at VBS that morning, in great detail. His dinner often gets cold before he is able to finish telling Damon about all the fun stuff he did.

Today it rained, making the day a bit more challenging than usual. Our church is under construction, reducing the amount of indoor space to just the Sunday School rooms and sanctuary. Just those conditions made it a doable challenge. Add in the rain, and suddenly the sanctuary became the game room and one of the empty Sunday School rooms was Snack HQ. Traffic jams between sessions were lively and loud, but we made it through the morning with smiles on our faces and readiness to go home.

As promised, I’ve been taking pictures. Organizing them has been a bit of a challenge. I have been editing pictures with name tags to blur them out, and taking the time between dealing with Tebow and other things has been challenging. Add to that the sleep deprivation and total disdain for sitting down lest I fall asleep, well… I haven’t been as on the ball as I would like. But the pictures are there. Enjoy! And feel free to ask any questions about what the kids are doing. It’s a Fine Arts focus with art, drama, and music.

Today begins our church’s vacation Bible school week. It has a fine arts theme so last night at 10 p.m. I was making playdough in the mixer. (I only had to make 2 batches, other families are also making some.)

Since it looks like we will have 75 kids, our church was really trying to rally the troops for volunteers. I knew I would need to help out, but since the only predictable thing about Tebow is how he is unpredictable, I was limited. Fortunately our fearless coordinator, Amy, found the perfect spot for me- Snack Lady.

I didn’t even have to organize the snacks, someone else did that for me. Instead, I get to pass out the goodies and then spend the rest of the time taking pictures (my favorite thing to do!).

I’m excited for VBS this week because Fuller is excited. Even though he keeps hearing “PBS” instead of “VBS” (time to clean his ears again?), he is thinking this week is going to be fun! So, off we go! Pictures later.

You know that book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie? It’s a book about giving a mouse a cookie and then how emotionally and physically invested you become in the life cycle of the mouse- helping it eat, drink, nap, and then doing it all over again.

I keep thinking about that book in relation to Fuller and his obsession with cardboard boxes. Fuller has quite the imagination and loves to put it to work making things. And for Fuller, making things always starts with a cardboard box.

A while back, he wanted to make a robot. He found an empty box in the recycling and kept insisting it would be perfect for a robot. So, I gave him the box. Then he wanted paper. And tape. And scissors. And eventually, help.

After putting him off for a few days I had a eureka moment and decided to put together the cardboard box and his plastic screws, nuts, and bolts to make a robot. I cut cardboard, poked holes, and assisted him in “righty tighty, lefty loosey” to put together the robot.

Then a while later he wanted to make an airplane. This too started with a cardboard box. And paper. And tape. And scissors. We didn’t get to involved in that project, because soon Fuller became obsessed with making a TV (this stemmed from an episode of Arthur). Damon had a box that resembled a flat screen, so Fuller became owner of that box. The tape and paper were applied and when Fuller’s hands finished drawing the “show” we were all instructed to check out the weather channel.

His most recent cardboard box endeavor was making a car. I originally handed over a smallish box that allowed Fuller to sit down, but not much else. He poked some holes in it, taped on some paper as doors, and declared he had a car. Then Damon got involved.

The gigantic cardboard box on our front porch was needing to go, so Damon turned a paper craft project to a large scale cardboard craft project. He cut and primed the parts. Fuller painted, Damon glued, and eventually added some seatbelt suspenders (not pictured), and Fuller had a car.

I wonder what he’s going to want to make next? I’ll have to restock the recycling.

We’ve been home for just over a week, recovering from our annual Lake Martin vacation. We were without internet access, so I wasn’t able to post pictures for day by day updates. Soon after we got home I was able to post the pictures. As you can see, we had a good time.

Beyond the standard good time activities (boat rides, swimming, ice cream, and chilling), we had the kids (Fuller, Vivian, and Nick) participate in a four day “fairy tale adventure.” The kids got to dress up and complete tasks each day, while learning character lessons. It was a treat they asked for each morning.

Now that we have recovered from our vacation (because everyone needs a vacation after a vacation, right?), we are looking toward normalcy. Vacations are good and can make it easier to look forward to the routine of home. Damon is getting back to the laundry room renovation, I’m getting focused on homeschooling goals, and Fuller is trying to squeeze as much play time into every day as he can.

Yup, this is home, sweet home. And I’m looking forward to blogging about it.