She's a beige person

On Sunday morning all the kids from VBS were to get on stage and sing a song. The 2 and 3 year olds had eggs they would shake while the older kids sang.

We practiced shaking the eggs in nursery before going on stage and all the kids were ready.

That is until they actually got on stage. A few of the kids did great. Zoe didn't really like being on stage. She gave Grandma her egg and stood there.

About 3 seconds later, the alligator tears began.

She climbed down the stairs, hugged on Grandma and then got her nerves of steel back. She climbed back up the stairs, took an egg and sat there.

Watching the TV monitor with the words on it.

I think she was waiting for the Wiggles.

We did some wiggling

One of Zoe's favorite morning shows used to be The Wiggles. She loves to sing and dance, so it was a natural fit for her. They are dubbed "your child's first rock band."

Unfortunately they left Disney and signed a deal with Sprout. That's a channel we don't have. The Wiggles have been off our radar for a bit.

Until we found out they were coming to town. I bought Zoe a Wiggles DVD and we haven't stopped watching it since.

She loves Wags the Dog, all the dance moves and Sam, the yellow Wiggle.

Imagine her delight when we went to the Opera House to see Sam, Wags and all the rest of the Wiggles in person.

I think her eyes grew about 2 feet each.

We got third row tickets and this is our pose for most of the show.

She was enthralled. Until Sam came off stage and waved to her personally. She kept yelling "it's Sam. It's Sam!"

All she could do was smile and wave back. She was absolutely speechless. Because she's like her mother, that's a rarity.

The Wiggles show was awesome. It contained humor for the parents (they rib each other constantly) and 90 minutes of pure energy for the kiddos.

About two-thirds of the way through, Wags the Dog came out to dance. Immediately Zoe sat up and made sure all of us knew it was Wags!

In person! Then he sang some song about scratching his fleas. He sure knows how to win our girl's heart.

I loved how much energy they had, how they spoke to kids and interacted with them. It truly was a great time. They even encouraged parents to take pictures. They speak to the blogging/scrapbooking crowd too.

Thank you Wiggles for making Spokane a stop on your tour. It made our whole weekend.

Keep dancing Bill

I've gone to the same church my whole life. It is a place where many of my memories come from. Most of my childhood was spent there in some form of youth program or service function.

I met lifelong friends there. Learned about salvation and was baptized there. I met N at youth group in our old gym. We were married 11 years later in the sanctuary.

Many of the people in our church have watched me grow, celebrated each milestone with me and have mentored me in some way either through their actions and their teaching.

Two people come to mind almost immediately: Bill and Adelin. I can remember many hugs from both of them, but also just the way they were as a couple. You knew their love continued to grow and deepen as they grew older. They were the couple I wanted my marriage to be like.

At my bridal shower, Adelin gave the devotional. She was an Air Force wife and knew all too well the life N and I were about to enter into. I'll never forget her words, "the first year is the hardest." At the time I thought she didn't know what she was talking about. As we entered into our first year of marriage, her words stuck with me.

During our reception we did a couples dance. The DJ would ask couples to leave the dance floor if they hadn't been married longer than 5, 10, 15 years, etc. This went on until Bill, Adelin, Neil and I were the only ones left. It was the longest marriage the newlyweds on the floor together.

It is one of my treasured memories from that day, being able to share that dance with Bill & Adelin.

I learned this morning that Bill is with Jesus. He has been fighting illness for awhile, but this morning the Lord called him home.

I'm so blessed to have had the priviledge to know Bill as part of my church family. He was there with me through most of my life. His spirit, personality, love for his wife and Lord have imprinted on my soul. He was a mentor to me in many spoken and unspoken ways.

Keep the dance floor open Bill. We'll get another dance someday.

We have a virus

Our poor computer is infected with some virus. After days of N trying to exercise the demon virus from our computer, we've got a professional working on it.

I'm going to be silent for a few days while the master computer whiz does his thing.

Vacation Bible Alternative School

This week is VBS at our church. Zoe gets to attend because Grandma works in her class. Typically the 2-3 year old class is only for VBS workers children and grandchildren. Grandma likes to get Zoe involved in things, so she volunteers for VBS in Zoe's class.

At pre-registration on Sunday, Zoe's class was the biggest. There were going to be thirteen 2-3 year olds out of 27 kids total.

My mom was gearing up for a busy day.

I don't think she was prepared for what happened. During the first hour of play time and then snacks Zoe did great.

Then they asked her to sit on the floor and listen to a story. She wanted to play with the blocks. That's when the crying started.

Fortunately for Zoe, another little boy, Gabe had started his meltdown about 15 minutes before her.

They went with Grandma to the nursery for the last 90 minutes of class. She and Gabe were the VBS drop-outs on Monday.

Fortunately for her reputation (and Gabe's) both of them made it through VBS on Tuesday. She came home with a cute giraffe standing in some dirt in a cup with stickers, many stickers on the outside.

We'll see how today goes. Hopefully she makes it through today. If she does then she'll learn the song they are singing at church on Sunday. On the stage.

Then we can put the whole Monday drop-out behind us.

That is until she sees all the strangers staring at her.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree

Awhile ago we were looking through old videos. The kind with no sound and people seem to move/walk a little faster than normal.

My grandpa loved taking home movies. One of the first videos of me once I was mobile is from around 18 months old. I walked over to my mom's purse and began emptying the contents. Apparently this was a favorite pasttime of mine. My mother's purse was never safe.

Sunday evening I saw Zoe doing this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

And this.

Until all the stuff was out of my purse.

Apparently she's a bit like her mother

We did some slippin' and slidin'

For their birthdays, D & E got some money and a Target gift card. We thought we would put the money to good use on Saturday.

We loaded up all three kiddos into the car and took off for the land of cool, summer stuff.

We bought the girls a croquet set that Grammie and Grandpa asked us to get and then we hit the water aisle.

The girls found a Slip-n-Slide.

It's safe to say that they loved it.

Until Sunday morning and their tummies were a little sore for all that sliding.