VBS! - Day 1 & 2

 We had an extra fun year of VBS because cousins S and B were here! They got to come to VBS every day and Auntie N worked as a 5th/6th leader! The girls loved having their cousins there!

 

 

Boo and R were wonderful emcees once again! These two have got it down pat! They had prairie dresses to fit the western town theme. :) 

 

 

They led the singing and both the opening and closing which got extra time this year thanks to some schedule finagling by Noni. 

 

 

Peanut had fun working with her friends too. These two were 3rd/4th helpers. 

 

 

And B was in Peaches class because she just came out of 3rd! 

 

 

There were some really cute skits this year! Boo was Josefina.

 

 

They set things up. 

 

 

And then there were drama people who came in with bigger skits. Peanut was the Marshall. 

 

 

Here is Peaches in Memory Verse. 

 

 

I had extra help this year so we were able to do some more complicated snacks. We served these "straw bales" on Monday while I had multiple helpers in the other kitchen working on Tuesday's snack. 

 

 These were simple but turned out cute. :)

 

 

 

Tuesday we served these adorable cactus cupcakes while making brownies in this kitchen and the other ladies worked on Wednesday's snack in the new kitchen. 

 

 I loved how these turned out!

 

 

 

We raised money this year to send teens to church camp with the G family! 

 

 

Song time! 

 

 

I was headed to fill up waters and caught Lou hitchin' a ride. 

 

 

Craft time! 

 

 

The second day of VBS was also Auntie N's birthday! We sang to her at VBS and then we went out to dinner that night. 

 

 

More tomorrow!  

 

VBS Decorating!

 I think we spent about twenty hours up at church decorating for VBS and I'm pretty sure Noni did triple or quadruple that! Every time we would go up for a couple hours she would have been there all day! Everything turned out amazing and she pulled together another incredible VBS! 

We did a western theme this year and Noni borrowed some painted panels from another VBS to create an entire town in the front of the sanctuary! We had the train station, ranch, barber shop, post office, Sheriff's office, trading post, bank, theater, barn, and school! It turned out so cute!! 

 

 

I also loved this wall...a covered wagon, complete with clothes on the line and an old trunk with pictures of my great grandparents! 

I think this was my favorite though...railroad tracks leading into an old mine which we lit up with the twinkle lights from Bug's wedding.

 

 

It was all glittery and sparkling and the kids loved it!

 

 

 

The girls spent hours playing and having fun at church while we worked.  

 

 

We had many meals up there before plugging on. This was pizza for Cousin Ty's birthday. We always like to remember him and talk about him on his birthday. 

 

 

We kept the hallway more simple this year but it was still cute! Peaches cut out all the fence rails and Lou helped me put them up.

 

 

I had to get this picture of Mama painting one of the train cars. She is an inspiration! I hope I am as active and helpful as she is at 94!

 

 

We brought the O girls with us several times. They helped decorate and also played with the girls. 

 

 

Peanut and S made these adorable "chicken coops". 

 

 

So cute!! 

 

 

The younger girls helped a lot with the cardboard train that was in the preschool room. The kids could go into each car and find buttons to push.

 

 

 

The girls also helped Noni paint all the chickens. So cute! 

 

 

Ok...get ready for a slew of VBS pictures, starting tomorrow! 

 

Funny Friday

 

 

 

Happy Friday! :) 

Haircuts!

 Peanut has been begging me to re-dye her hair for months and I kept telling her she had to wait until the play was over so literally the day after she used her money to order the hair dye and as soon as it came we started dyeing. It was a different product than we used last year and is definitely brighter. 

 

 But still very subtle. 

 

 

Unless you lift up the top part. :) 

 

 

 

They've also all been begging for haircuts and I finally got them scheduled. We were all due for a good trim.

 

 

Lou only wanted a little trim. She asked for four inches off. 

 

 

Peaches decided on a good healthy cut and asked for ten inches off! 

 

 

She looks so cute! 

 

 

Peanut got a few inches off and then asked for curtain bangs. 

 

 

So pretty! 

 

 

Boo and I only got a few inches off and you can't really tell. :)

 

But here is the before...  

 

 

And after... 

 

 

This was the last day of school for Peaches and Lou so we met Daddy after the haircuts for pizza and ice cream.  

 

 

 

NOW we're really ready for summer! 

 

School's Out!

 Whew! What a school year! This was probably our hardest year of homeschooling to date because of the big overhaul they did to all the school's systems. It took A LOT of getting used to by parents, students, and teachers alike. I felt most sorry for the teachers since the new system tripled their workload in addition to all the help they had to give to us parents as we all learned how everything worked. But we eventually got the hang of it and school days got easier, although I still don't like the new system. It now takes six clicks to get a lesson open as opposed to the previous two. "Progress" isn't always better when it comes to technology. :P

Here is one of the silly "improvements". The kids get these "brain breaks". It says, "It's time for a brain break! Get a drink of water, stretch your legs, or do something of your choice and then come back." which really does nothing but get them off track. Normally they are halfway through a lesson, or at least after it's been ten minutes or so but in the Phonics lessons they literally give one within the first minute! How can you need a "brain break" 32 seconds into the lesson?!? :P  

 

 

One of Lou's last ELA assignments was an opinion piece. She chose to write about her favorite snack: fruit. Here is her graphic organizer...

 

 

 And her opinion paragraph.

 

 

 

Peanut brought home some of her artwork at the end of the year. I was super impressed with this! She was given one half and had to make the other! 

 

 

A landscape painting. 

 

 

And this cute pencil cactus. She's so talented! 

 

 

Speaking of art...Lou had a class on making donuts. 

 

 

And ancient vases. 

 

 

And ancient headdresses. 

 

 

Peaches got to watch a movie "in class" one day with her friends.  

 

 

All done with 1st grade! 

 

 

All done with 4th!  

 

 

On to summer!!