the sweet freedom of spring break

We are a week into spring break and have tried to fill our days with lots of doing nothing and watching television.  Mission accomplished.  We also filled our days with fun activities and projects.  The next half of spring break contains trips to Grammy Linda and Grandpa Jerry's and a trip to Tennessee.  Not to mention, the Pinewood Derby is coming up next weekend, too. But, for now, here is a photo review of what's been going on.

Leadership Training for Christ was the first Friday and Saturday of spring break,  A fun way to kick off the break, for sure.  They had an egg hunt for the smaller kids on Saturday morning.  We made sure to make it down to the hotel for that fun.

We got to see some puppet skits and Marcus and Cale were in. Marcus's group did a Gilligan's Island skit.

I can't remember the skit Cale's group did.  But, I did upload a video in a previous post.  As Andy pointed out, "most of these skits don't make any sense." 

Ewan displayed his 3D art:  a lego diorama of the battle of Jericho

We watched some skits performed by youth from different churches.

Then, it was Easter.  The bunny keeps it simple here.  Candy, candy and a little game for each of the boys and play-doh for the girls.

The bunny didn't try very hard (or at all) to hide the eggs.

Of course, we have to have sickness on a break from school.  This time, it was Kinley who felt icky with a respiratory virus.

Feelin' better!

Volunteered the boys to weed the preschool playground.  It counts as some service hours for Scouts and makes the playground pretty and makes the boys work.  A triple win.

My project:  artwork for the girls room.  I've almost got all the frames I need for this project.  And, the room is almost done being painted.  You know, since it's been a month since I started that project.  So close.

Finally, the cats are enjoying some cats-only time since Andy and the kids and Ponyo are all in Illinois.  They are living the life relaxing on the warm bed.  They have the run of the house for the next couple days while everyone is gone and I am in and out with work.  

And, that's it for now.  Hoping for a smooth couple work nights and good days of sleep.  And, a safe trip for the fam coming back on Monday.  Then, on to our next adventure.

So, this is what we did on Saturday...

This past weekend was Leadership Training for Christ for Marcus and Cale.  The convention is in Indy so we can go down each day for the events the boys are in.  Cale did puppets on Friday night.  Andy said it went well and the audience liked it.  The boys got a silver for their performance.  I took Marcus and Cale down on Saturday morning for Bible bowl and Bible reading.  Turns out, Marcus and Cale were on the same Bible bowl team.

The team:  Autumn, Marcus, Cale and Dylan

You would think that, since the bowl was over the book of Luke, it would be easy.  Not so!  I think each of the team members pulled off a solid bronze for the event.  I was proctoring another group and knew most of the answers, but some of the questions were quite obscure.  

Then, it was time to get ready for Bible reading.  Shame on us for not practicing sooner.  The boys had to make some changes to their selections in order to make them fit into the 1-2 minute time limit (they were too short at first). 

Hard at work.

Bible reading went well.  There were probably 15 boys in the group and the went in order by age.  Cale was in the middle and Marcus went last.  I think the boys did very well and I'm glad they are agreeable to doing this event.

While I was with the boys, Andy got to take the other 4 kids to a musical production of the Three Little Pigs at the high school.  Ewan had wanted to go and if you got their early enough, you could sit in the "wolf pit" (they did) where you were guaranteed interaction with the Big, Bad Wolf (they threw confetti "water" on him).  Ewan, Liam and Kella enjoyed the performance and Andy walked about following Kinley in the halls and back of the auditorium.  

There was a place to make a wolf or pig nose.  Kella wore hers like this because then she "looked like a unicorn".

The weather was great that afternoon, and the kids played outside and jumped on the trampoline.  Then we ended the evening playing Ticket to Ride.  

Midwest LTC 2014

We had Midwest Leadership Training for Christ over Easter weekend.  It's like 4-H for the youth of the church.  Our church helps coordinate the event that takes place at a hotel in Indy.  This year, Marcus and Cale both participated in puppets, Bible quiz, Bible bowl and Bible reading.  There are plenty more events and projects that kids can do that fit everyone's tastes.  It was crazy driving back and forth both days.  (maybe next year we will stay at the hotel...probably not)  Andy was a good sport with driving and getting the kids there on time, especially on Saturday morning for the 8am Bible bowl start. 

 I love this event.  I love that the kids are surrounded by their church family and other church families.  I love that I got to see friends from a church we used to go to when we just had Marcus.  (I recommend finding the LTC near you if you are google-ing the phrase and landed on this post.)

hanging out before the puppet shows

Marcus and Cale's puppet team.  Marcus is the old man puppet up top, Cale is bottom right.  They did great!  They really only had 3 practices because of spring break stuff.  You could hear all their lines and could see all the puppets.

Kella enjoyed the show.

The next morning was Bible bowl and Bible reading.  The bowl came first, but here is Cale doing his Bible reading.  All they had to do was pick a passage of the Bible from the portion that was used in the Bible quiz.  Since this year's theme was "Called Out" and dealt with the life of Moses, there were lots of choices.  The total reading time had to be between 1-2 minutes, which isn't a lot.  Cale read from Deuteronomy 31:1-8 ( I think)-the transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua.  Marcus read from Exodus 3:1-10, the burning bush and calling of Moses. I have to say, I signed up both the boys for this event, they did not sign up on their own.  I just thought this was a nice intro into reading the Bible in front of people, to read it in front of total strangers. :-)

The Bible bowl team.  I think our church had 4-5 teams total.

The little kids mostly just ran around the convention area while their siblings did their events.  There were usually eyes on them since a good portion of our church family was there working behind the scenes.  Here are Sage, Gabby and Kella:  the triple threat of trouble.  They were pretty cute to watch tear up and down the hallways.  They brought smiles to peoples' faces with their energy.

Sometimes, you just have to take a break.  I think Penny had brought out the M&Ms at this time.

Liam, chilling with his snack.  I really liked these chairs.  I was wondering if the hotel would notice if a few were missing?  Just kidding.  Kind of. 

Till next year, LTC!

Midwest LTC

Over Easter weekend every year, our church helps coordinate a convention called Leadership Training for Christ.  I like to think of it as 4-H for church.  It's a convention where kids, ages 3rd grade and up through high school and participate in different events likes puppets, drama, singing, bulletin boards, arts, speaking, etc.  There are events kids can do ahead of time like Bible quiz, teaching, volunteer work.  Every year has a theme and they alternate between the Old and New Testament.  This year's theme was "the Extra Mile" and was based on the book of Matthew.  I love that it's a way to engage the kids and get them excited to learn about Jesus and the Bible.  This year, Marcus did puppets, Bible quiz and Bible bowl.


waiting for puppets to start

 

Marcus's puppet has the red hat.  The groups each write their own script based on whatever passage they want to choose from the book in the Bible that is being covered.  It gives them a lot of creative license. Marcus's group did a skit about not letting video games be the most important thing in your life.

 

Marcus also did Bible bowl.  He was on a team with 3 other kids from church and they did a good job!  I think Marcus got something like 70 of 100 points and some of those questions were tough!  I can say he had a fun time just being with the other kids.  I know he will be excited to participate next year.  And, next year, Cale gets to go, too. 

last Friday night...

Cale had been begging to go to Chuck E Cheese for  a while now, so last Friday, we made his dreams come true :-).  It was a good chance to get out of the house and do something together.  Plus, I had some good coupons for tokens and we has to go to Indy anyway, so might as well make good use of the opportunity.  I really think that CEC is a Vegas-in-training for kids, with all the lights, games and tokens.  But, they love the over-stimulation, including Kella, who is in none of these pictures.

so happy!

wins the award for "hardest to keep track of"

I watched Marcus play the shooting baskets game.  I have to say, that boy has some skills with the ball.  Andy's not too sure where he got this talent from.  I would like to point out that I did letter in basketball the year I played in high school (ok, we weren't any good).

on one of the roller coaster sim rides

Then, we went to the hotel where our church was hosting Leadership Training for Christ.  It's kind of like 4H for church.  Marcus was signed up to do Bible Bowl on Saturday and we just needed to check him in.  I can say, it's nice having your church host the event, because the place was full of people that we knew with many eager arms to hold Kella.  While she was being watched, we took the kids to the praise assembly.  They did okay, even though they were getting super-tired.

The kids were so tired when we got home.  They had played outside all day before we went to CEC and LTC (maybe you can see that their faces are a little redder than usual). But even then, they really didn't melt down getting ready for bed. 

And that is how you wear children out.

A post for Andy

We've been searching for the Chief Illiniwek symbol to use as our wallpaper on our computer. Last night, we found videos (lots) of the Chief dancing. So, I told Andy we could post one, just for him on the blog.

Also, I was so proud of the boys last night. I took them to the Leadership Training for Christ (I also call it 4H for church) convention. It's where kids have done projects based around a passage in the Bible. Anyway, we went to watch the puppet shows and the boys were terrific! They sat still, and did not talk during any of the shows-and I think we watched at least 6. So, I just wanted to brag about them a little bit. After the puppets, they were a bit wound up, so they had a harder time sitting still during the group assembly. Luckily, it was mostly singing, we sat in the very back, and there were probably 300 people there to mask the sound of my three boys. I would say that they all had a good time.