Archive for June, 2006

VBS

Posted by Lauren · Friday, June 23rd, 2006 · Filed in Family, James

This week was Vacation Bible School at church, and the theme was "Fiesta! Where kids are fired up about Jesus!" I led a group of 3 to 6 kindergarten girls around to different stations. They were so sweet! In fact, most of the kindergarteners (there were about 20 to 25) were very well-behaved and interested in learning more about Jesus. It was so neat to be able to listen to them pray and watch them begin to understand what the Bible is all about. James and Eliza enjoyed their classes, too, but we are all exhausted from the long week.

Just a quick James story…James is becoming interested in superheroes. Our computer had a problem the other day, and Daddy had taken it apart to see if he could fix it. We told James the computer was broken, and that he couldn't touch it. James replied confidently, "I can fix it with my superpowers!" Today he was wearing his bib backwards like a cape and told me he had superpowers. "What are you going to do with them?" I asked. "Fix the computer." Of course!

Preschool finance

Posted by Jay · Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 · Filed in James

James has recently been coming to terms with money, and the implications thereof. Lauren chronicled the other day his ideas about buying some more money so we could eat out more often. This weekend, we were grocery shopping when James spied something on the shelf that he wanted. The conversation went like this:

  • JAMES: Cheetos! I see cheetos! I want to buy some Cheetos!
  • JAY: James… I don't think that we really need…
  • JAMES: I want to buy some Cheetos with my money. Can we buy some Cheetos with my money?
  • JAY: [bemused] Hmm. Do you have money?
  • JAMES: Yes. I have my money.
  • JAY: I see. And where is your money? [expecting a response about a piggy bank]
  • JAMES: [long pause, deep in thought, furrowed brow, staring at Cheetos, then inspiration strikes!] In your pocket! It's in y' pocket, Daddy! Can we buy some Cheetos with my money in y' pocket? [beams]

It happens to be the case that a couple of Cheetos make a good potty training reward, so I bowed to his detailed understanding of our family finances and we grabbed a bag of Cheetos.

Adrienne's wedding

Posted by Lauren · Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 · Filed in Family

Adrienne and Jon are married! Our family played an important part in this wedding: I was the matron of honor and also sang a duet with my brother Joseph; James was the ring bearer; Eliza was the flower girl, pulled down the aisle by my brother Gerald; and Jay had the important job of wedding photographer. We also had printed the invitations, and we printed programs the morning of the wedding. No one worked harder than my mother, however. She decorated and planned and coordinated everything, and also made Adrienne's veil and altered bridesmaid dresses (including mine). Everything went pretty smoothly during the wedding itself, even if there were some mishaps beforehand. For example, Gerald got stung by a wasp on the face the day before, and so his eye was almost swollen shut for the wedding. The colonnade arch fell over on Granny while she was trying to decorate it; Joseph managed to get a large scratch on his face during a playful scuffle with Benjamin; and keys were lost only to be found in Jon's pocket the next morning (and he had no idea how they got there!). I think they stayed at the church decorating until 4:00 in the morning. After we had taken pictures before the ceremony, my mom had to run home and put icing on the groom's cake. She came running in 5 minutes before the wedding was supposed to start, but she had accidently left the cake's decorations at home and had to send someone for them after the wedding. She did manage to get them on the cake before Jon and Adrienne came into the reception. It was an exhausting day, but it all worked out.

James and Eliza did a great job, and they looked very cute! James wore his tux and Eliza wore a white satin flower girl dress that I found on the internet and a headband that I had made the night before. Eliza blabbered all during her ride down the aisle. I had filled the flower girl basket with fruit puff snacks to keep her busy, and I guess it worked! Gerald also wore a tux and pulled the wagon and James walked behind them with the pillow. They were a big hit!

My duet went well except that my microphone was off. I was too afraid to try and turn it on while singing, so I just held it and sang into Joseph's microphone with him. I think we sounded pretty good—enough to make Jay get teary-eyed! :)

The picture-taking went very well. Jay did a great job, and the pictures look great. Hopefully we will be able to put some of them on our website soon!

Adrienne and Jon are driving back to Florida this week, and will leave for a Caribbean cruise next week. We are trying to recuperate from all the excitement! At least we might be a little more prepared for the next family wedding, whenever that may be!

James the star

Posted by Lauren · Monday, June 5th, 2006 · Filed in Family, James

James' musical career has begun! He made his big debut at Parkway Place Baptist Church Sunday morning during the worship service, singing "Amazing Grace" in front of probably 300 people. He did a great job, only pausing once to get a prompt for the next word. The service was the dedication for our new children's building, and James' singing was very appropriate to remind people what the new building is all about—reaching out to kids! They also played a video clip of James singing "When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" immediately after he sang, just because Brother Allan liked it. (We had done the video in case James decided not to sing live, but he had no trouble at all.) We are so proud of James, and it was so much fun to let him show off, so that everyone could see what a ham he is!

Adrienne came into town Saturday night, and so she got to see James sing, too. After church there was a wedding shower for Adrienne, so we stayed at the church most of the day. When we did go back to Mammy and Pappy's house, we were all pretty wiped out from all the excitement. Adrienne and I took Eliza and went shopping for a little while, and had a great time just being together. Adrienne's wedding is this Saturday—how time flies!

James had another reason to make us proud Sunday—he did not wet his Pull-Up all day! He went to the bathroom every time we took him, and he even told us he needed to go once and he made it! (He would only let Benjamin take him to the potty that time, though.) I think he's getting the hang of this potty-training thing.