The kids are back in town!

Maybe you noticed or maybe you didn't that I hadn't posted much about what my kids have been up to. Well, that's because on Saturday, July 8th we met my parents about halfway to their house and the kids went to Camp Grandpa and Grandma for 10 days. 

While they were gone they did so many things. Parks. Fishing. Shopping. Hanging out. Just generally all the good stuff grands do with their grandparents. 

The Jolly Green Giant

Minnesota's Largest Candy Store

A Trip to Macy's 

And Chick-Fil-A. (Ours is actually under construction and closed in April until like October so this was genuinely a treat!)

Visited small towns. 

Made friends with the cat. 

Did a science experiment led by M. (It was a VBS experiment.) 

Went to the library for some books to read with a snack. 

Shopping at 5 Below and Bath and Body Works. (So, pretty much an 8-year-old girl's dream shopping spree.) 

Some latch hook action. 

A trip to Outback. (Again, ours closed and this guy loves this bread so much!) 

Running through the sprinkler.

A boy's fishing trip! 

C caught 14 fish! 

Anyway, I picked them up on Tuesday and we've been settling back into routine and fun. So that's what the kids have been up to! 

Do Less, God Bless!

 Last night Husband and I went to see Trey Kennedy! 

I love it when he says Do Less, God Bless. I had to get a Koozie! 

I promise this place was packed when the show started. We are just get there early people. 

We were tickled by the fact the ushers were doing the same thing on both sides of the stage. 

Trey and his opener Jake Triplett didn't allow any photography during their sets. Which I totally get. They did have an opener DJ. Who I really enjoyed. I wish there had been room to really dance! 

These were the people that sat behind us and then talked for the ENTIRE thing. They had a side comment about everything. 

I am honestly not sure they knew how comedy works. Black skirt frilly top kept saying "That's SO true!" or "You do that!" Yep. That's why it's funny lady. 

At this bar we went to after the show they complained loudly that "everyone is ignoring us!" The bartender came over and said, "I was helping someone." They ordered and giggled and then went outside. And the bartender and some of the other patrons talked about them for a while. 

I think they're just really unaware and super self-centered people. Which is too bad. 

Luckily they didn't ruin Trey for me! It was a fun night!

This is Trey. And that is the shirt he wore for his set. 

Other Stuff We've Been Up To

So what other stuff have we been up to? Otherwise titled even though the blog had no updates we still did stuff that wasn't VBS related. 

We went strawberry picking! 

And it was SO much fun. I am so happy we were able to go this year after last year's hiatus. 

We did actually decide that we weren't going to make jam this year so we picked less that typical and actually that was really great.

We went to the Farm and Fleet store and my Goose wanted to take home some geese. We said no.

I got some work done while eating Circus Peanuts. A very divisive candy. But I love them. 

We also did a science experiment to see how long it would take a circus peanut to dissolve and it took almost a whole week!! So that was shocking to me, to be honest. Yay for science. 

We got the special Disney 100 Spot It. And we've played it a lot. 

I mean. Spot It is already a favorite. And add in Disney characters and it's a hit! 

M got her haircut! Very dramatically!! Her shampoo, which is the best part!

Look at all that?!

And even after you'd still say her hair was pretty long! Lol. But a more manageable long. Which was the main goal. 

She got a new dress. Stay tuned for why!! 

My friend hosted some of us for a girl's night in her dreamy backyard. And you can't really tell but there were two doe deer who joined us and we thought that was hilarious... it really was a girl's night. 

M and I went to see Footloose the Musical. 

We went to the Beyond Van Gough experience. And it was so dreamy. 

I am a total sucker for blue. So to have blue swirling around me was the best. 

But seriously. We stayed for 2.5 of the 37-minute loops and I think 3/4 of us would have stayed longer. M had completely reached her threshold however so we had to take off. It was 100% worth it though and I am so glad we didn't miss it. 

We went to the museum with M's friend G. 

How absolutely sweet is this picture? I melt. 

And that pretty much sums up the fun things we've done in the past few weeks. In there has also been plenty of cleaning, tidying, loads of laundry, complaining, mosquito bites, and playing outside. But that's not as photo-worthy however real it is. 

And that's what we've been doing! 

Stellar VBS 2023

 I survived Stellar VBS week! 

We (Mostly I) started set up on Friday the 23. One of the first things I did was set up the galaxy lights. They really did look awesome!

We spent a ton of time setting up over the weekend. Here was our photo booth area. It was a hit. I was really proud of it!

VBS was in full swing. Monday, June 26-June 30

Me and my kiddos. C was a helper this year! And the VBS shirts glow in the dark! 

Thursday night, we had an ice cream social, and watching a segment of the kids singing about Jesus was so good. It honestly made me tear up and was the moment I felt the most pride in all I had accomplished. 

Our moonscape was pretty cool and I enjoyed it!

And by 2:48 pm Friday afternoon the hall was back to normal as we officially rolled out. 

VBS is a large part of my job. This year we had 134 participants and over 80 volunteers in some capacity. It is a huge undertaking and I am glad it went so well. But it is also worth mentioning that I had some really complicated feelings about it this year. For the first time ever I don't know that I enjoyed the VBS with the pressure to keep everything under control. 

There were a lot of plan B's over the week when especially the weather got in the way. (WHY did it need to rain only during drop off or pick up?!) 

But God is good. And the kids had fun. So even if it wasn't my favorite VBS we've done, I am still proud of it. 

So that's where I was for the end of June. Running all of that. From beginning to end.