VBS

Nadia attended VBS for the first time in 2011. Most years the kids have attended multiple weeks of VBS as they have attended VBS at five different churches that are located within 15 minutes of our house. Last year was the notable exception - no VBS due to COVID. Ian and Oliver could have attended VBS at our church for four mornings in June while Nadia was in Oklahoma, but that particular week I wasn't interested in adding anything more to our calendar. Next week three of the five churches where the kids have attended VBS in the past are all having VBS. I think Nadia would have preferred if I had chosen the Rocky Railway one at FBC because she's in that youth group, but I picked the Go Fish one at the Methodist Church. I picked that one primarily because it's only 1.5 miles from our house. The kids have always enjoyed that VBS, and their program is also for teens. The Alliance Church usually has their VBS in June, but because of COVID they are having it in August this year. I don't believe Nadia will be able to participate in that one. Hopefully Ian isn't also too old. We shall see! At least Oliver should be able to attend two weeks of VBS this summer.

Nadia has attended a theatre camp the past two weeks. The camp has been held at a park 20 minutes from our house which sounds like no big deal, but that translated to Oliver and I spending at least 80 minutes a day in the car every day. On Tuesday I also took the kids swimming after we ate dinner, and on Wednesday night we also took her to youth group. Her performance is tomorrow. She's enjoyed the camp and made a new friend (Helen). I'm very thankful that next week the only things on the calendar are VBS in the evening and a dentist appointment. We'll probably go swimming on whatever days the weather permits that. Nadia has also been preparing this week for her audition for Tuck Everlasting that is taking place on Sunday afternoon. She's memorized a passage from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the monologue portion of the audition, and she's singing a patriotic medley (with me as her accompanist) for the singing portion.

Sometimes I wonder why I haven't made more progress through my summer to do list, and then I stop and think about my day. The kids and I went yard sale  shopping for a couple of hours this morning. I spent $74.50 at the first yard sale. One toy (birthday gift for Oliver) cost $10, but almost all the items were $1 or $1.50, which means I bought a LOT of clothing. That family's yard sale has been my favorite for years because they have one girl who is one year older than Nadia, and one boy who is a few months older than Ian. They had their yard sale in 2019 when we were in Myrtle Beach, and they didn't have one in 2020 due to COVID so it had been a little over three years since I last shopped at their yard sale. We came home and put away some of the new purchases before heading out to the park so the kids could have lunch at Kids' Café before taking Nadia to theatre camp. Milo went yard sale shopping with us. I walked him around the park while the kids ate, and he was in the van when we took Nadia to camp. On our way home from camp we stopped at Weis and the library. After I trimmed Milo's hair, I mowed the lawn. Next Ian and I worked together to make dinner before Oliver, Milo, and I returned to pick Nadia up from camp. I did spend a little bit of time working on learning Spanish before the kids got up and working on lesson plans for a little bit this morning while the kids were listening to an audiobook, but that was about it. This evening we all watched an episode of The Mysterious Benedict Society together.