Saturday, June 28, 2008

To tired to wiggle

Today we painted a rental house for/with my mom and we are too tired to wiggle. Fortunately it was cloudy for most of the morning so it wasn't uncomfortable to paint. It has been a busy month around here. Not much blogworthy of note though. Je finally is beginning to enjoy softball. And a side benefit, she is improving. Nana came to a game and noticed how weird she was throwing sidearmed rather than overhanded. Je hadn't been too willing to practice with Daddy, so Nana told me to bring the bat and ball down the next time Je visited. So now, Je asks to practice with Nana, and she throws the ball correctly. She had a really good hit at the last game, with aunt, uncle, Nana, and cousins as witnesses. In her league, the girls get 4 pitches from the coach and if they don't hit a pitch, they get to hit off the tee. Usually, Je needs the tee. This time, she whacked it pretty good. She isn't committed to playing another season, but I think she is really having a good time. She could stay with the same coach, and since we really like his approach, we are probably going to give it another year. He is pretty low pressure, very positive, and a lot of fun. At a recent game, he brought a cooler full of water balloons for the girls to throw at him. They had a blast. That is probably the first time they had thrown that hard the whole season. Je played first base for an inning and did a pretty good job of stopping the ball, and going to first base with it. She only got the batter out once but her effort was great. That is one of my fondest memories from growing up. Lots of softball. We all three played for many years, and we had a great time doing it. Hours of catch with Daddy in the back yard, practices, games, sweating in the Kansas heat through a double header in July. Totally fun. Seriously. I want that for Je and Jo. Like my sister said recently I LOVE SUMMER!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Back by Popular Demand

Okay, so only my sister noticed and requested a post but still. I probably talked to most of my audience since my last post. Only one mentioned the lack of post. I had a busy month. As school wound down and we had field trips and play days etc. VBS wound up. It was all VBS all the time for the last couple weeks. But its over now for another year. I take it as a good sign that I am thinking about next year already. I have to write the report on this year before I forget the things I want to do differently, but other than that, I can't get started until July when the companies release their themes for next year. I can't even get the material until November so I have a slight break.
Just enough time to plan for the Christmas program. Funny stuff. Our theme this year for VBS was a beach party. The church looked great decorated. We had kind of a crunch with that since I couldn't do that until Sunday afternoon. Usually, I work Saturday morning, then finish Monday morning. This year, there was a 50th anniversary party on Saturday, so we had decorating with everyone after the fellowship lunch. We ended the week with a taco dinner for all the families and a beach party complete with boardwalk games etc. We had a shooting gallery with water guns and ping pong balls on golf tees, face painting, lasso golf, ring toss, and a soak the surfer. Our answer to the dunking booth. For a special treat, we rented a snow cone machine. The kids loved it. The weather was gorgeous. Just 24 hours before we had been under all kinds of watches and warnings but it all cleared out, the wind died down and the temp fell to a beautiful summer evening. I have one year to rest up to do it all again.