PANDAMANIA-Welcome STM parents!

The best part of my job every year is VBS.  I am the VBS director at my church every year and I love it.  It is a great time where the kids learn valuable lessons about being Catholic and have a ton of fun at the same time.  We purchase the program from OSV, they take the GROUP publishing program every year and turn it "Catholic".  I feel like it is one of the best programs around.  Last year the theme was "High Seas Expedition" and this year it is "PANDAMANIA".  The best part of the week is decorating the stage or gathering area. Last year I tried to make the stage look like a ship.  The year before I had a carpenter from our church actually build a "shack" out of my old fence  to add to the swamp feel.  This year I am trying to recreate a bamboo forest right inside the auditorium.  Today was the big kick off registration at church and I spoke after every Mass, trying to encourage parents to sign their kids up.  This year I hope to get 50 kids, k through 8th grade.  This is the first year I have added a junior high group (just a coincidence that my daughter just completed the 6th grade-not!) and we have to see how well that goes.  I will try to update all my projects here with pics as I complete them. I am so worried because I still need three teachers and at least 5-10 more high schoolers.  That's my project for this evening, pray for more volunteers.  Watch as PandaMania comes together in the next three weeks!

Living Simply?

Too nervous to do her own shoes.

...and here's the Monster.

I guess I am going to have to rethink my idea of "living simply". This world is just so busy, lately I have been thinking that I have to put off living simply until my kids leave!  Maybe what I need to concentrate on is "slowing down".  Friday night was Prom Night for my daughter, Ally.  Since she didn't want to necessarily go to Prom (not a big fan of dances or staying up all night) we had issues getting her ready.  She showed absolutely no initiative in getting herself ready for this thing. She never asked me to order a boutonniere, never asked to make a hair appointment, never asked about a purse or what jewelry she was going to wear.  We picked out some shoes to be dyed blue and she never told me they had called her to pick them up.  So why then, agree to go? Not sure. Because her BF is a senior and I guess that makes it kinda required.   Anyway, my day Friday was spent running around all day looking for jewelry and trying to beg someone to make me a boutonniere.  Two florists actually LAUGHED at me when I went in and asked. LAUGHED. So how dumb did I look saying that I needed a boutonniere for the prom, TONIGHT! Some lady finally took pity on me and whipped one up right there. She was an angel.  An angel florist.  They come in all forms, let me tell you.  Eventually I managed to find her three options for jewelry (she picked the set I would have least thought she would) and an updo. No purse (she went without) and no mani-pedi (she didn't seem to notice). Well, Ally finally made it to the Prom and she wound up looking gorgeous, like a princess. ( Even though 2 hours earlier she was standing in our living room, while her sister was buckling her shoes, screaming at me and downing a MONSTER energy drink.) Ahhh to be a teenager again. who wouldn't want to do it?  o-O

Ally and her date.  She had calmed down a bit by then.                                                  










 I sorta felt like she was walking away from me and her childhood, then I went home and saw her room.

Confirmation Collage

Wow, it's been a while since I got to post!  Easter wore me out this year and I needed some time to rest. This past weekend my oldest daughter was confirmed.  She chose St. Patrick as her saint and wore her Easter dress.  She looked beautiful and I am so proud of her.  She was so excited that night, she had really been looking forward to the big event.  I wanted to give Ally a unique gift that would show her own individuality and how much I love and respect her.  I decided to make a collage of some important items and events in her life for the last year or so.  Here is how it came out.  My friends Tricia and Barbara helped me with it.  This frame is just little snippets of Ally's life.  If you look closely you will see: pearls,wire treble clefs, little fleur de lis, lots of antique looking keys, a picture of the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, lots of pictures of her friends and  productions she's been in, an image of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus, a Finch Bird, her initials, a bottle of 'faith', dried flowers and a bottle of 'hope'. It wasn't hard to make, the frame was purchased from Archivers along with a mini pack of paper and coordinating ribbon.  Then I collected little items that I thought meant something to her.  It was kind of like making 12 little scrapbook pages.  My favorite items are the bottles of faith and hope.  I had so much fun making this frame, I think Ally really appreciated it.  I really appreciate Tricia for cutting out all of the little pieces of paper and Barbara for her great ideas and support.