Soooooo tired......

I am so tired today. We have had an incredibly busy month and it really hit me today how much I need to sleep. If I could only get into bed before 11 each night....that would help. We have been so busy preparing for Vacation Bible School. I am helping in the crafts room and I had no idea the amount of preparation that went into it. We have all of our supplies and are working on getting them ready to be assembled, cut, glued, etc. I am really excited about it, but I'm also ready for the prep to be done so we can get to the fun part!

Mark has built an amazing train out of mostly scrap wood found around our church building. It is going to be an amazing set piece for the week. We still have to do a little paint touch up on it, move it into the church and then attach the wheels and screw the boiler to the front piece. (I keep forgetting to take my camera to take a picture of it.) We worked on it together one night this week and it made me feel nostalgic for our JMU days when we would build and paint sets together. I actually got to use some power tools this week, not just my usual paint brush. Peyton and Liam have been incredibly patient this week too. We've had them up late and at the church at crazy hours and they haven't complained. They've been a bit more mouthy than normal, but I think it's mostly because of the disruptions of the week.

"Let's Hear it For the Boys" Challenge

This week's theme - "Let's Hear it for the Boys"

I know I posted this picture of Liam in the last post, but I LOVE it and wanted to include it in the I Heart Faces weekly challenge. I took this at the Tea, Lace & Roses tea room and it's straight out of the camera. I love my 50mm lens. The pictures I take with that lens are always great ones! Go over to I Heart Faces to add your entry and to see more pictures of little boys!

Tea, Lace & Roses

Children's tea offerings: chicken nuggets, smile fries, mini pizzas, jello jigglers, and brownie bites

Peyton models just one of many outfits

One of Liam's first choices was a top hat, but he also wore several sun hats and a beaded tiara!

Peyton and Liam's Granna and Grandad invited us to attend a formal tea at Tea, Lace & Roses in Culpeper, VA. The tea house is located in an old brick building and is very Victorian, lace, frills, and flowers everywhere. I would have to say that the highlight for the 4 grandchildren attending was the dress up room. They spent a lot of time choosing hats, gloves, neclaces, crowns, etc. to wear while they were eating. Periodically one or more of them would leave their table and come back with a new accessory! Liam wore quite a few hats and Peyton, well, let's just say she has a flair for the dramatic! It was really fun to spend an afternoon with some of our family. I really love Culpeper. I want to get a babysitter and go spend an afternoon there, shopping and eating. My mother-in-law and I were window shopping, but it's tough to go into many stores carting two active kids and a stroller. I also worry that they'll break something.

Summer without the benefit of preschool has been interesting. The kids fight a LOT! They adore each other and can't stand to be separated, but they also argue and fight over everything. We've been so busy with activities and with running around town doing errands, so today we're staying home. I'm sure at some point we'll call the neighbor to see if she wants to play, but I'm not planning anything. I am really grateful to have them home and to be enjoying a great summer, but I think I'm going to be ready for kindergarten and preschool to begin!

Swimming with Peyton

We signed Peyton up for swimming lessons at Bridgewater College and she just finished 6 private lessons. I'm amazed at how much she has learned. She is starting to float on her back and has learned some foundation strokes. Her teacher, Jordan, was incredibly patient and a great teacher. I signed her up for 6 more lessons with him in July. We're really lucky to be surrounded by colleges and universities. We get to take advantage of children's theatre at JMU, free concerts at JMU, and swimming lessons at Bridgewater. Liam really wants to take lessons, but until he's fully potty trained, they'll only do parent/ toddler. They do offer winter lessons so we'll hopefully be able to work those in to Liam's schedule in February or March.

Speaking of Liam...his pull-up was dry yesterday from 11am until he went to bed and this morning it was dry too! He's been dry so far all day, but I have to take him to the potty. He's still not telling me that he has to go and he won't poop in it yet either. So we have a ways to go, but we're getting there!

Busy June

We are going through a crazy busy June. Peyton started swimming lessons this week and she is loving it. I have her doing private lessons at Bridgewater College and her instructor is a young man names Jordan. He is wonderfully patient and is doing a great job teaching her. The only problem is that Liam wants desperately to get in the water too! We have a bunch of events coming up, tea with Granna, a cousin's wedding, vacation Bible school, Sunday school picnic, etc. I feel pretty stressed. Things aren't getting done around the house either because the kids are underfoot constantly or we're running out the door. So I'm trying to be at one with the dog hair dust balls!

We took both kids to the Children's Theatre at JMU to see Penny and the Magic Medallion and they loved it. We're hoping to get to another show before the end of summer.

The Graduate

Peyton "graduated" from Kid's Harbor last Thursday. The preschool has a program at the end of the school year and each group of kids performs a song and recites a Bible verse. Then the 4 year olds walk across the stage to receive a certificate. We made this a really big deal for her. She chose the restaurant for dinner that night (IHOP) and she got cards and money from her family. I think she felt really special and it was a great way to close out her time at Kid's Harbor. It was a bittersweet time for me. I loved her teachers and the sweet environment there. It will be a big adjustment for kindergarten, but she is ready!