Special week

Wow, I really need to get back in the habit of writing on my blog. I think I forget about it, because I spend too much time on Facebook. It's fun to see what everybody is up to, but the big disadvantage of that is, that all that information just goes away. My blog will (hopefully) be turned into a journal/photo album. Almost like a family record. So I resolve to do better from now on.

This week is different than most weeks this summer. I am watching great grandma Benac all week. Normally I just watch her every Thursday, but in order to free up my schedule a bit, I decided to work a full week, once a month. In order to keep the kids occupied, and from being bored to death, I tried to schedule some extra stuff for them to do. First off, I signed them up for Vacation Bible School (VBS). My cousin Catherine always signs her kids up for those, and has shared how much her kids enjoy it. Of course the VBS is not through the Mormon church, but I'm all for teaching kids bible stories. I don't care if it's not "my" church who is teaching them. This weeks VBS is at a Lutheran church, and the theme is "High Seas". They are divided into schools of fish (by age group), and the theming is amazing. The kids made pirate hats, had snacks, learned a story from the bible that I'd never heard, and made some new friends. After being a bit apprehensive before the start, my kids' opinion made a quick 180 after just the first day.

The local library also has a lot of fun things planned for this summer. My kids are signed up for the reading program. I try to get them to read at least 30 minutes a day, and when they complete 6 hours, they are eligible for free books etc. But what's way more exciting than the reading program are the special classes. Sterling is signed up for "Partner in Rhyme" where older kids help 1st and 2nd graders to rhyme. Winter is signed up for "Poet's corner", where she'll learn to write poetry. On top of all of this, they also have amazing weekly performances. This week it's a magic show, and then there's an animal show, puppet show, and balloon master in the coming weeks.

With all these fun extras this 60 hour work week will go by much easier, I hope. I think by keeping the kids mentally engaged for the first half of the day, they should be better behaved the rest of the day. Another bonus: we are staying with grandma and grandpa all week. The kids can never get enough of them!