Tackle Football

Our little shy guy decided to play football this year. I think the uniform weighs more than he does.

This mama's boy has surprised me with his emerging toughness. Pops advised him to "hit them first and hit them hard", so that seems to be his goal.  Initially, the team's practices lasted between 2 and 2.5 hours a day, 5 days a week, with heat index over 100 while wearing all that gear. Yet, he hasn't been complaining.  If I make him walk five minutes across a parking lot and through a shopping mall, he may cry bloody murder, however.  It's all about the game, I guess.  His grades haven't suffered too much yet, but after two and half years of reviewing material from our homeschooling years, he will eventually get to new material requiring him to actually study.

 

Except when he travels for work, my husband has been primarily responsible for getting him to practices while I take care of getting our daughter to/from all her field hockey practices and games and each kids to their three music lessons each week and to Bible study. IMACS, our daughter's intensive Bible study, and church youth group activities all kick-off this weekend and next week, so I'm not sure how we will juggle it all.  My husband, the introvert, sits up in the trees away from the other parents but under the shade of the trees during practices, a smart move in all the terrible heat we've been having.

So far, the coaches have been training our boy to play linebacker and wide receiver.

I'm glad my boy talked me into buying him shiny red football cleats because they make it so much easier for me to find him out on the field. Maybe those cleats will help him move like the wind....but hopefully not all the way to the Land of Oz or to Kansas

His team had their first scrimmage day against two very good teams this past weekend. They were supposed to run 40 plays on offense and 40 plays on defense, but one of the boys on our son's team, Aiden, suffered an eye/head injury during a tackle after the first few downs.  EMS was called and he was hauled off in a stretcher. It was a sad way to start the season and brought the scrimmage meet to an end after only a few plays.  Aiden is back home and resting, hopefully with only temporary injuries.

Our Beloved Baby Boy's Baptism

My shy little guy first accepted Christ when he was 4-years-old, and as I've watched the seeds planted take root in his heart and his faith grow, I've been praying for the past five years that he would decide on his own to be baptized. Tonight those prayers were answered in full. To God be the glory!

 

I love the girl's facial expression in the 3rd photo above!

 

 

Nana and Pops came up for the occasion bearing a card and a gift for our brave boy.  My dad had back surgery only two weeks ago, so he broke the doctor's orders to hike across camp, climbing up and down hills, pulling Mom behind him. That's my dad!  He'll risk anything to support his family.  He told us he would not miss it for the world.

The sky was dark and cloudy throughout the service, so dark that I wondered if the praise team would cut out a few songs to make sure we finished baptizing all 40+ people before the rains fell, but they, being of stronger faith than I,  left nothing off the schedule.  I loved watching my boy sing worship songs as he sat on the pier. One of his best friends was supposed to be baptized the same day, but due to a medical emergency in the family, Samuel was not there.  Our boy kept his courage, though.  When the last person was baptized, the rain began to fall. We ran to our van and drove home through the downpour while watching the sky turn all different shades of the rainbow.  A double rainbow appeared after we returned home as the sky changed from orange and gold to blue and purple to pink and purple.  Our entire porch glowed pink for a while.   It was a gorgeous display of God's splendor and seemed to be His way of nodding Hi approval over the public professions of faith.

Each picture taken by friends, neighbors, and community residents shown above seems to reflect different attributes of God. I see in these pics His power and sovereignty, the Prince of Peace who calms our storms and keeps all His wonderful promises, and our merciful, perfectly loving, patient Giver of Grace, our Lord and Savior. 

Parenting through the Middle School Years

I'm enjoying parenting the middle school years more than any other stage before it, and here's why. Instead of constantly setting boundaries because "I said so", I now get to have meaningful conversations with my daughter in which I ask her guided questions to help her figure out the whys for herself. Instead of teaching her about God, I get to cheer her on as she gets to know the Lord for herself. Instead of merely planting seeds, I get to water them and watch them grow. Or, she may water me and help me to grow instead. Yes, there is plenty of girl drama, but I love watching her learn about relationships, forgiveness, and the value of being a true friend who builds others up compared to fake friends who walk over others in pursuit of fleeting, empty popularity. She is learning through tears to guard her heart against hurtful words while replacing those words with God's truth. As middle school girls try to "find themselves" or "exalt themselves", she hopes to exalt Christ instead.

As we were discussing our identity in Christ, she gave me a copy of an article entitled "Women, Trade Self-Worth for Awe and Wonder" which her Bible study group examined. It's so on point that I searched for it online and shared the link below with the hope that it might help other women who are either searching for significance themselves or helping other women find it. I never imagined that my challenging, strong-willed child would become my favorite Bible study partner before her 13th birthday!

 

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the article by Jen Wilkin:

"Our primary problem as Christian women is not that we lack self-worth, not that we lack a sense of significance or purpose. It’s that we lack awe."

"Don’t tell me who I am until you have caused me to gaze in awe at “I Am.”

"Awe helps us worry less about self-worth by turning our eyes first toward God, then toward others. It also helps establish our self-worth in the best possible way: we understand both our insignificance within creation and our significance to our Creator. But just like a child on an iPad at the foot of an 800-year-old redwood, we can miss majesty when it is right in front of us."

"The fear of the Lord is linked to contentment (Proverbs 15:16; 19:23), to confidence (Proverbs 14:26), to blessing (Proverbs 28:14), to spiritual safety (Proverbs 29:25), and to praise and adoration (Psalm 22:23). It is no wonder, then, that the much-referenced Proverbs 31 woman is called praiseworthy because she fears the Lord."

Back to School Again

Summer officially ended on August 3 when we spent most of the day at school for orientation.  The kids and I rotated between classes listening to talks from each of their teachers.  Our son still has just one primary teacher and assistant teacher with different teachers for art, Latin(?), P.E., and band. Our daughter has a different teacher for every subject this year plus two electives, creative writing and art.  Both kids seem pleased with their teachers and expect to have another great year.

I left orientation feeling better about our school than ever before.  The new science teacher who will be taking over the STEM program I started and hopefully expanding it as well is gifted, enthusiastic, and on board with the STEM methodologies I value so much.  I am very excited about working with her and am thankful for the skills she is bringing to our school after teaching AP classes at one of our public school district's best high schools for math/science.

There is still much room for improvement in other aspects of the middle school, however, so I have already begun advocating for more changes, while hoping and praying my voice does not cause my children to be treated unfairly by teachers who disagree with any change or additional work whatsoever regardless of how much it could improve the educational experience, love for learning and passion for God for our students.  It's hard to be the voice, crying out in the wilderness so to speak, speaking on behalf of the parents and the administrators as I share what a select few do not want to hear, even if what I'm saying is motivated out of sincere love for the school and students.

I will say that given our political/cultural situation in which the nanny state and in many ways the global state have replaced god in almost every aspect of society, it's worth every penny just to be around people who share a Biblical worldview and understand the source of my concerns for our nation.  I don't know how much longer our school will have the freedom to teach from a Biblical worldview or to incorporate classical and complete history that presents a big picture view of life and culture instead of the revised texts that indoctrinate students to accept a socialistic, progressive mindset.  I don't know who much longer it will be until great classical literature texts that challenge students to think critically and stand for truth and justice will be banned by the government, but I'm thankful for a school that equips students to stand as bright lights in a dark and dying world as long as they are able.  When the government exceeds it's clearly defined limits under the Constitution to the point of demanding that our school to compromise it's values, the school will shut down before it will submit to what is wrong.

This video explains in better detail the concerns I'm alluding to with respect to the progressive educational system's attack on morality and efforts to produce a unified, submissive, Marxist generation. Conversations I've tried to have with recent college graduates who are not rooted in God's word support every last accusation in this video. They cannot think on their own, reason logically, or even recognize rational thought if it hits them over the head.  I'm glad our students are learning the art of rhetoric, but I doubt they'll either be allowed to use those skills or find someone who is intellectually capable of engaging in a thoughtful exchange of ideas without calling them unjustified ugly names. At least our students will not have fear because there is power in being able to support your position with truth.


In fourth grade, students get to choose between chorus and band.Our son's voice is lovely like his dad's, but he wanted to play drums in the band. So now he is taking both piano and drum lessons each week.  Weekly lessons are required to be in the band, but given how much I respect his drum teacher (who is also a bi-vocational pastor who has taught theology and now teaches apologetics and rhetoric at our school), just having this man influence my boy is worth the time and cost of drum lessons.

Ready for the 1st day of 7th and 4th grades

Our school celebrated it's 20th anniversary last weekend with a family carnival night followed by slide show presentations and various speakers. Our son's teacher and my favorite high school math teacher bravely volunteered to sit in the dunking booth.  Here are pics of our son's sweet teacher going down.

Here is a picture of son's 4th grade glass with teacher, Mrs. Gardner, and assistant teacher, Mrs. Boyd.

Last Summer Hurrah

The kids were invited on a last minute trip to the mountains with some close friends of ours.  We don't typically allow sleepovers of any kid, but we know this family well and felt comfortable letting them go. They stayed at a gorgeous golf course home in a rural part of the mountains.  They hiked, slide down water falls, and soaked in the God's marvelous beauty.  I'm thankful for all the ways this family has poured so much of their hearts and time into our kids.  They adopted both of their children via an open adoption with regular contact with the kids' biological parents, so I have also enjoyed observing from a parent's perspective the many ways they unconditionally love and support their children as stewards of God's gifts and not as possessors. 

Appreciating Cows, Water, Words, Cupcakes, Critters, and Selfies

Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day has become an annual tradition for us.  Usually I dress like a cow and take the kids, but this year, my husband took them so I could catch up on work back home.  The things we will do for free chicken.  We almost always see church friends when we go to Cow Appreciation Day.  This year, friends saw our family, but our family didn't recognize them.  They must have had some really elaborate costumes.

Orwell was hoping to get in on the free chicken offer as well, but his cow costume made him look more like a Holland Lop bunny, specifically our late pet Cody, than a cow, and I'm assuming that the only pets allowed in public restaurants are trained service animals.

We joined a pool/fitness center this summer, but we haven't had too many opportunities to go with so many summer activities.  Plus, I'm not a big fan of the pool now that my vein disease has gotten so bad I don't want to gross out strangers in public with the sight of my spidery legs. Our nanny took the kids a few time while I worked.  But who really needs a pool when you have a water spigot, balloons, buckets, and an imagination?  Water balloons and paint buckets have been favorite recreational toys this summer.

During the few moments of free time our daughter could find this summer, she wrote another "book". I am thrilled that she is actually writing out some of the wild and imaginative stories in her head. I'm also reminded of a promise I made myself many years ago to write and publish a true story that shows God's sovereignty when things seem out of control. It is a story of redemption, hope, and grace that should inspire others in their faith journey and possibly serve as a ministry resource for women in crisis. But I have a feeling my little tween who charges through life without seeing any of the obstacles in her way will get her fiction stories published before her mama writes the first chapter of the only story she knows.

The kids' interest in culinary arts continues.  Our daughter is still cooking most of her meals and preparing dinner for all of us a few nights a week.  

She's also teaching her brother to cook.  He mastered eggs and cupcakes last week.  Their culinary skills are derailing any summer nutrition goals I may have considered setting for myself. These blueberry cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting were delicious!

 We finally found a temporary solution to Orwell's destructive tendencies.  Each month, my husband and daughter trim his claws and cover them with fake nails called "soft claws".  These fake cat claws come in all colors. I'm tempted to get him glow-in-the-dark neon green claws next, but he's wearing the clear version now. They are working as long as he doesn't pull them off.

Orwell continues to amuse me by his sleeping positions. He must have been having a really good dream the other day because he looked like he was clapping. "If you're happy and you know it, clap your [paws]".

Orwell certainly leads a luxurious lifestyle, though you would never know it from the discontented expression he always wears on his face.

Muffin has been collaborating with me on the development of a STEM lesson on pendulum motion.   I think my students will appreciate all her demonstrations.

When I don't see the Roomba on the charger/docking station, it's sometimes because Muffin has been taking it for joy rides around the house.  She still loves hopping onto the center, activating the start button, and going for solo rides.

I don't get to see the Mighty Moms (my workout group) when school is out of session, so Muffin has been filling in as my workout buddy and coach.  She watches and critiques me very closely.

To increase my workout intensity, she'll hop on my back while I'm doing push-ups to add more weight or tickle my arms and push me up higher when I do starfish push-ups or side balances.

Sometimes she'll demonstrate various HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout routines, but she gives out after about 24 seconds.  She's definitely better at speed and agility than endurance.  I haven't perfected the wheelie as well as she has, but my binkies are improving. :-)

When Muffin isn't pushing me hard in our home gym, I like to go biking on the greenway.  Recent flash flooding destroyed the large section of bike trail that connects the section behind our neighborhood to the lake, so it will be a long time before I see the sun set over the lake.  This picture, taken on July 9, is the last one I'll get to take from my bike for a few months.

When I first attempted to bike to the lake after the big storm and before I realized that entire section of greenway was closed due to damages, I learned a value lesson. After flash flooding, take the sharp turns slowly if you bike the greenway, or you could end up like Absalom. Had my tires been fully inflated and my frame a tad bigger, I'm not sure I could have ducked low enough.

 

The tween hijacked my phone again and changed my screen background to this photo. She either forgot my promise to share all the pics she posts to my phone background or she thinks this picture needs to be immortalized.

Instead of selfies, I'll close with mini-me pics instead. Here is a side-by-side of my husband in his geeky 6th grade phase vs. our son in 3rd grade.

Little boys with glasses and smarts
Become handsome men who melt girls' hearts.

As long as he lives, the one on the left is mine.
And I'm treasuring my time with the one who is nine.

Celebrating Our Independence

Independence Day grows more somber every year as we see the freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution ignored or overridden by executive orders and justices legislating from the bench.  The gross overreach of each branch of government is unbelievable, yet no one seems to be stopping it.  The corruption is so deep that a life long criminal and proven felon is now on the the Democratic party's choice for POTUS.

But far too many brave men and women fought, suffered, and/or died to set us free, so I will celebrate the spirit of their sacrifice and the hope America offers to suffering people around the world for as long as any remnant of freedom remains, and I will continue voicing my concerns and campaigning against systematic government tyranny until the day I die.

Each year, our neighborhood hosts an Independence Day celebration on our cul-de-sac with grills, potluck, games and movies for the kids, small sparklers and whatever is allowed in our strictly regulated town, and a show the kids put on for the adults.  We live in a very diverse neighborhood in which Americans are the minority, but you would not know it from my pictures.   Most of our neighbors are Hindi, but we also have Arab Muslims, Chinese, and South African neighbors living next to us, but I guess they were note as interested or available to celebrate our American holiday with us.

We hosted two families for a cookout at our house on July 4.  My college roommate and long time friend (we were bridesmaids in each others' weddings) drove over an hour to join us. Their oldest daughter just graduated an will be living a few steps from where we shared an apartment at the same university this fall. She is an exceptional student, home-schooled all through middle and high school, with over 45 college credits obtained through our local community college. She was one of 12 admitted to the design school this year and received the top award across all colleges at the summer enrichment program offered for prospective students.  I wanted to congratulate her in person.

This couple has been fostering two kids (half-siblings who had never met each other and never even knew about each other until they came to live with my friends). These children came with a number of physical, mental, and emotional needs as  children of drug addicts, but their progress has been remarkable, and my friends (who have known suffering more intimately than anyone else on earth in ways that few can possibly comprehend and who will continue to experience suffering as my friend battles her latest diagnosis, MS) are in the process of adopting them permanently.  The work God is doing in their little lives and in my friends' hearts are amazing.  They are very young children, and m my friend is older than I am with MS, but they are persevering.

Her husband just got his first assignment as a Guardian Ad Litem, which is a volunteer role I hope to assume one day when I can find the time to complete the 30 hours of initial training.  He answered questions I had and further confirmed that I God has uniquely gifted me for that type of ministry to orphans, but I'm praying for the right time to begin as my kids are my primary ministry right now, and I keep getting pulled in so many directions with all my many interests and passions.

We invited another family who have two adopted children via open adoptions.  The son's birth mother was recently born again and is on fire for the Lord.  She flew out to meet her biological son for the first time a few weeks prior, so I was eager to hear how that went. These parents are amazing to me in their openness with the adoption. They are not the least bit possessive over their children, seeing themselves as stewards over God's children for a time and then will let them fly wherever they wish to go when they are grown. Their daughter wants to move out west where her birth mother lives, and they are supportive of any dream she has. That astounds me, as I know I would be so jealous, but their love is unconditional, Christlike love - the purest form.

My husband thought a flag cake was disrespectful, so he went with a fireworks theme instead.  I loved the freedom this year of watching someone else shuck the corn in my place.  The kids have been very interested in cooking this summer.  Our daughter preparing most of our meals all summer long!

The two families had much to talk about and exchanged useful resources.  It was a nice pairing, and I'm so glad it worked out with our guests not knowing each other at all at first. We talked for four hours straight, losing track of time, so we arrived at the fireworks display just in time for the finale, having missed most of the show. Oh well....I'll take edifying conversation over the most elaborate fireworks display any day.

Cheese burgers, hotdogs, veggie burgers, chicken, corn, baked beans, vegetables, fruit, cookie cake, and S'mores!

2016 Summer Camps

The kids were very busy with various summer camps this summer.  They did not get to experience a cousin camp in Oklahoma however, since we were just out there in May for a wedding, and I think the grandparents are worn out from all the wedding planning and with a new grandchild to add to their weekly childcare duties.  I don't think my husband's parents ever got a break from having kids in the house between having their last child leave and their first grandchild born, but at least now the kids in the house are grandchildren, and they can spoil them if they want to! :)

Our son's first camp was a full week of all day basketball camp located close to his dad's work.  They went to/from work/camp together each day and went out to lunch together a time or two.  After the frustrating Upward season of not really getting a chance to learn new skills or play competitively, this camp was a good way to provide some of what we had hoped he could have gotten in Upward. He played hard all week and got into better shape, which he will need for football which starts next week with two hours of practice very day. Since my husband always took him to camp, I have no pictures to share.

That same week our daughter went to a 3-day science camp three hours/day in downtown.  Since it was closer to drive to my office than back home and traffic is terrible in our capital city, I should have worked at my office while she was at camp everyday.  I did that for the last day or two, though. She doesn't get as excited over hands-on science as her brother does, but she loves being around lots of people, so she had a fun time.  The older kids don't give demonstrations for parents, so I have no photos.

The following week was her brother's turn to attend science camp.  He was bored at first because the teacher was new and slow to get in the groove. Plus, he already knew plenty about electricity and magnetism (the themes), but it got better for him as the week went along.

One of our daughter's favorite camps of the summer was Kid's Rock Camp at an exclusive private school.  She used birthday money from her grandparents to help pay for it since it was so beyond our budget for her that summer. It was comprised of a small group for girls who formed a band.  They got to learn different instruments, recorded several songs in which the girls rotated between different instruments and vocals, and composed a song.  My daughter suggested they write a song about our home state, and that song was one of my favorites from their performance for parents and family.  She fell in love with bass guitar that week, so she started taking guitar lessons this past month from the same instructor who led this camp.  She's using my Ibanez acoustic guitar for now, but if she makes good progress and practices diligently, we may consider buying her an electric guitar.

Speaking of new instruments, our son is still taking piano lessons, but he just started taking drum lessons from our theology, apologetics and effective next week, rhetoric teacher at our school.  Lessons are required to participate in the school band which starts in 3rd grade, and piano is not a band instrument, so he chose drums.  How I wish we had sprung for a basement with this house where the sound doesn't carry as much.  Now we have to fit three music lessons into our kids' schedules along with field hockey practices & games every day for 1-3 hours for our daughter and football for two hours every weekday for our son.  Throw in Bible study two nights a week, monthly mother/daughter discipleship meetings, church youth group, and IMACS one night a week for two hours, and there is no room for STEM or even homework this semester.  I hope our kids can wing it again without studying. The moms of my STEM students gave me grief about taking a semester off, so I'll try to at least squeeze in some lesson planning this semester so I can teach a program that I can be proud of in the spring.

In July, our daughter traveled to Liberty University for camp with her church youth group.  She loved staying in the dorms and feeling like a college study for a week.  It was a great time of growing closer to the Lord and getting to know the other girls from our church better.  They all go to different schools, so it's almost an entirely different group of friends.  She's gotten to know some of them during weekly Bible study this summer.  She was the youngest participant at camp and in summer Bible study, but she is a lot like I was at that age, tiny but mature for her age, preferring to hang out with older girls, but only the girls who are positive influences so as not to grow up too fast in the wrong ways.  I wish I had pictures to share from her week, but phones were not allowed and she didn't think to take a camera.

Last week, our son experienced overnight camp for the first time ever.  This camp is a very special place for many people. My college roommate met her husband there while they both served as camp counselors during our years as roommates.  They got married at that camp, and our son will be baptized there next month.  All of us bridesmaids spent the night in a cabin together the night before the wedding.  It is such a peaceful, rustic place.

My college roommate and I taught classes there last fall. She still teaches her art classes there, but the distance was too great for me to continue with my STEM classes, so I had to back out for the spring semester.  I have too many jobs in too many different venues, and continue to find myself overextended. It's hard to say no and to give up great things, but this camp is truly a wonderful place and I miss teaching in that cabin in the woods where deer would greet me at the door each morning.

To get a top bunk, campers need to get there two hours early to get a low number as selection of bunks is on a first-come, first-pick basis.  Our boy didn't care where he slept, so we arrived only about 15 minutes before check-in began.  Praise God for giving us an easy-going second child as we had so much to do that afternoon. Here he is beside his bunk after we put sheets on the sagging mattress and duct taped a fan to his bed frame.

Here we all on the front stoop of his cabin ready to say good-bye.  Each cabin has a name, and cabin teams compete all week long. He stayed in the Conquerors' cabin.

My shy little boy is getting bolder and more outgoing. He was proud of himself for jumping off the high dive without a moment's hesitation.  He also rode the zip-line and jumped high up off the water blob.  Archery was another fun activity for him.

The camp posted hundreds of photos online to give parents a peak into their week.  Our son must be camera shy because we only saw him in a few of the photos. Staff pics are shown in the following collage.

We dropped him off on Sunday afternoon and picked him up Friday evening.  I sent him a care package with a card, candy, toys to share with his cabin mates, and letters from his sister who wrote him a letter to open each day of camp.  Then she wrote him a letter every day he was at camp, telling him what we did each day and including funny photos to let him know he was missed while he was gone and to keep him updated on all the happenings back home.  She's such a great sister.  These pics below show him at the assembly (he looked SO handsome when we picked him up - freshly showered, hair neatly combed, a sight for sore eyes!) with a church friend and pics of him in the van on the way home opening letters from his sister.  Nana sent him a card while he was at camp, too.

The camp sent us home with the schedule shown above so we would know what he was doing at any given hour while away. Just reading the schedule makes me tired. After teaching kids this age only a few hours a week, I am amazed at what these counselors do all day long all week long for these campers. They also gave us a summary of Bible lessons covered each day and a family devotion to do back home that corresponded with his lesson that day, so we could all study the same passages at the same time.   He was very tired when he got home with a bit of a cold, but he had fun and wants to return next year.

This week his sister is running around in record heat for our area (110-115 degree heat index at times) for three hours every morning for field hockey camp. She worked hard, hydrated often, and received lots of prizes and gift certificate to Omega Sports for being awarded "Most Aggressive Player".  Based on this video a former student (now in college) sent me while helping out with the camp this week, she has also been providing musical entertainment during the water breaks.  This girl....she may be new to the team after playing volleyball last year, but she doesn't have a shy bone in her body.

After I drop her off, I've been taking our son 45 minutes through rush hour traffic to the opposite end of a neighboring city for Digi Camp.  This camp is held at another exclusive private school which sits on 135 acres of beautiful land in a prime location.  (We're surrounded by private schools that cost between $22-$26K per year for K-12...so given that parents are willing to spend that much for schooling, I guess it's no surprise that goods and services in our area are priced well above the cost for the same items in neighboring cities.)  At this camp, he's been working with Mindstorm Legos and Minecraft game figures to produce a stop-motion movie. He said the hardest part was trying to fake real life physics for real characters when they were using paper figures with very different masses.

It's been a fun summer, but it's gone much too quickly.  Orientation is next Wednesday, and school starts back next Thursday. So long summer!

The Great American Race Birthday Party

Shortly after school let out, our son attended a really fun birthday party for Parker at a local park.  ("Parker's party at the park" - say that 5 times fast.)  I am blogging about it here because it was such a really fun party theme idea, and it's one our daughter would like to replicate.  She and I helped with some of the games and challenge events. Parker's mom went over the top planning ten activities that took much longer than she expected.  She even provided matching shirts to identity which boys were pairs, with a different color shirt for each team. That particular detail was specially ironic to me because we were late arriving to the party because my could not find any shirts and shorts that matched, and he had tried on a dozen items by the time we gave up, and I drove him to the party is mismatched clothing, only to have him change shirts as soon as he arrived.  Ha!

Each team has to complete each event successfully in the order specified by the moderator who sat in the middle of the park.  Each team would receive a slip of paper providing the instructions and location of their next challenge event.  When that event was successfully completed, then the team would run back to the moderator and get their next assignment.  That way, each team was working on a different challenge at different times so as not to get bottle-necked at one activity.  Whichever team finished all ten activities first won. Out of the ten activities, some were hard and some were really hard for each team, but none were easy, and each team would consider different activities to be the hardest.

One of the neatest activities involved writing 15 words of affirmation on a poster designated for each kid.  Some kids were cheaters about it, writing things like nice 15 times or you are very, very, very, (12 total "very"s).....cool on each kid's poster.  But other kids wrote some really thoughtful comments, and those touched my son far more than I expected them too. He wanted me to read all the nice things people had said about him again that night before bedtime. Words of affirmation are my number one love language, so I totally get his desire to read them over and over.