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I do hope it doesn't sound like I'm whining about this VBS busyness stuff! Really I'm not! I totally enjoy VBS -- even the hectic week before. But I have GOT to share some stuff about WHAT I get myself INTO! It's crazy! Really. I can NOT do things "simple". I just can't do it! Shawn came back from visiting another church who just finished up Gadget's Garage, and she said "oh Melli, they made these cute little robots out of toilet paper rolls wrapped in tinfoil..." Mmmhmmm... Pipe cleaner arms and legs - a few little nuts and bolts.. simple! And darling, no doubt! And here sits Melli trying to get wiffle balls glued to water bottle tops. Here's Dennis drilling holes through tops and bottoms of water bottles for the YES, pipe cleaners to go through -- the pipe cleaners that will hold hair curlers, or springs, or rubber pencil grips for arms, and bendy straws or rubber tubing or who knows for legs! Here sits Melli punching holes in 4" pie pans so they can have Breast Plates... and who knows what else I'll be doing for these robots - cuz I'm really not TO that part yet! LOL! The past 24 hours has been spent still trying to get the day 1 craft together! LOL! We are making MOBILES. Okay? Someone else might have cut pieces out of construction paper and saved themselves tons of time and money. No? Okay... for starters the main idea of the day is "God made the WORLD for you & me", K? So, first I need a world. Right? After looking at little globe beach balls, paper globes, and wooden world circles, I finally found some foam circles with the world stamped on them... perfect. I punch six holes in all 120 of them. Then I cut 9 strings each for all 120 of them. So now I have my world... what's going to hang from those strings? Well, what did God PUT in our world for us? Right... I have "under the sea" beads, and safari animal beads, and star beads.... and thats all the beads I could find. Now what? So I spent HOURS searching the internet and finally came up with some fruit erasers. Dennis drilled holes through all 120 of them! Then I found these darling little hamburger, hot dog, and sandwich erasers. But when they arrived, first, they each came individually wrapped - which would not be a problem for each kid to unwrap their own - but the one I unwrapped fell apart into 4 pieces in my hand! Bun, lettuce, hamburger, bun.... THAT won't work! The sandwiches and the hot dogs were the same -- oh and I found french fries too - the fries come OUT of the red container! WHY??? So, I've been gluing erasers together and then Dennis has been drilling holes in the french fries. And the hotdogs. The burgers and sandwiches can be worked without holes. So, I get my prototype, and I add a burger and a fruit... and suddenly I'm left with an extra hole. Why? Because I never bought the PEOPLE! Yes, God did give us each other now didn't he... The reason I never bought the people was because I thought I would simply go buy a bag or two of army guys... but apparently children do not PLAY with army guys anymore. Not even cowboys and indians either. So TODAY I spent several hours on line trying to find some... and couldn't. So then I looked for any kind of little people. HO train people are verrrrrry expensive. No, I did not buy them! Doll house people are too big. LEGO people would be just right -- but you can't buy just the people - and if ya could they'd be too expensive. So then I thought novelty candles? Novelty cupcake picks? Novelty key chains? ANYTHING!!! I need PEOPLE people! FINALLY, I found mini parachuters for a very reasonable price! I ordered them quickly and paid extra for 3 day delivery! And when they come, all I have to do is unwrap each individual one and snip the string off the guy! Then add them to the 120 bags and my DAY 1 project will finally be ready to go!!!

Day 2 is ready... providing we don't sign up more than 6 more 4 year olds, or 11 more K-5th graders! Riiiiiiiight! I have 80 kits put together for masks. I'll wait until I find out what our total numbers are on Monday and then put the rest together for the next day.

Just do me a favor... NEXT year when I start talking about VBS... remind me to "keep it simple!" K?

I know you all wanted to meet the new beau! Jeff is 25 and is a canine police officer. He also rides ambulance crew part time for the same ambulance company Krysti works for. That's where they met. They have actually been "dating" for about 2 months. She met Jeff right before she went to Europe. US meeting him this weekend was great! He was a bit reserved, but I think that's natural the first time you meet a girls parents. He seems very nice... sweet. Almost TOO sweet for Krysti who is the QUEEN of sarcasm! However, when he gets to know us better, he might loosen up and we may find he can hold his own with her! LOL!

I am trying sO hard to work on these kits ... and things are not getting DONE! Well "things" are getting done -- but not the kits! I had to take Mom to the doctors today to get her meds renewed, and then while I was out I ran up to Bowie to Home Depot to get some stuff that I have not been able to get on-line. And then while I was up there, stopped at Michaels ONE MORE TIME to pick up a few more pipe cleaners and shape bits! (you can never have too many...) So, mostly my day was shot! But when I got home I had a BIG HEAVY box delivered and THAT was a major relief because IT has the final items I needed for my DAY ONE activity! I was starting to get nervous! Those kits are put together -- I just have to go add this stuff to them! Then I will breath a little easier because I will know that at least Day 1 is taken care of, and Day 2 is coming along! Sooooooooo.... I will try to get something posted in the morning tomorrow. I was up waaaaaay late last night putting kits together... I hope to not do that tonight!

WHEW! This morning the "other" in-laws are on their way - heading down to Florida for 5 days of fun in Disney! (well, I am in-laws too!) Amanda & Hector are HOPEFULLY sleeping in a bit and relaxing today! And I thought today was going to be church and a relaxing day of trying to clean off my kitchen table ...

.... but my darling Krysti, who has been suffering homesickness and boredom during the first 3 days of all this chaos, showed up Friday night to join us on Saturday - and her new LOVE arrived last night - first time I've met him -- and today we are going to spend the day getting "to know" each other a bit! She wants to go down to Solomon's Island for lunch and fun. I have a feeling I'm going to be pulling all-nighters this week to be ready for VBS next week! LOL! Anybody wanna come help put kits together???

I do truly feel like I'm living in a whirlwind right now! Yesterday I was out the door by 9:00 and did not get home until 1:45 AM! (Yes, Mom was WITH me!) Today we are leaving soon to go up to Baltimore and I suspect it will be another semi late one. Mario (Amanda's FIL) arrives this evening and then tomorrow we will be touring DC. So another looooong day! But we all get along and meeting them has been a blast -- it only took us 12 years to meet! Crazy! Irma & I are like two peas in a pod -- and Luz is LOVING having Francesca here with her! They are "tight"!

Okay! I really do want to come visit a few blogs, so I'm outta here again! Oh! The "relaxation" part of my day yesterday was spent teaching Irma how to play canasta! I had call Dr. John to get instructions for playing with only 2 people... but it worked well! Thanks Dr. John!!!