Super-Sized Sunday: VBS

The girls and I just finished a week of vacation bible school. The theme was 'Beach Party- Surfin' through the Scriptures.' We had a lot of fun, but what a whirlwind! Although Ashlyn has participated in the "mini-program" during VBS (which is a scaled down version of the week's activities for the smaller kids) this was her first experience of VBS in full force now that she is a big 4 year old. She loved every minute of it which is typical for any activity in which she participates.

I volunteered to help out all week and was placed as a 'guide' for the 4 year olds, although I was not placed in Ashlyn's group. Avery was not yet old enough to participate in the mini-program activities so she was in the church nursery everyday. Since Avery has a limited vocabulary right now she was unable to let us know if she was enjoying her time in the nursery. However, she dropped a huge hint when we drove up in the church parking lot after the second day; she took a quick look out the window and realized where we were, and then let out a loud, ear piercing, "NOOOO!" She always does very well when we drop her off on Sunday mornings while we go to church service and Sunday school. I guess spending 3 1/2 hours in the nursery day after day this week just pushed her over the edge.

Ashlyn and I, on the other hand, looked forward to everyday. Ashlyn asked several times, "How many days do we have left of VBS?" As the count down of days dwindled, she would say, "I don't want it to be over!" in her sad little voice. Ashlyn said her favorite part of the week was drama- watching plays about stories in the bible. I was surprised she didn't say the crafts. My favorite was the music class. We learned some fun songs which even had dance moves to go along with the words. At the end of the week, the 4 and 5 year olds (Ashlyn included) performed these songs in the final assembly for all the parents and older VBS kids.

I will admit that being responsible for 13 four year olds (with the help of 1 other adult) was quite challenging! I was ready to fall on my face after I got home on that first day and I'm still recovering from the week. I was not prepared for the amount of energy and constant attention required to keep up with these fast-paced, talkative, all over the place kiddos! We did have the aide of a rope (no, not to tie them up) for the kids to hold on to as we changed classrooms and buildings to get to the next activity. What a difference a simple rope can make when trying to keep up with these small kids in a crowd. I definitely have a new appreciation for the preschool teachers that do this for an entire school year. I barely made it through one week!