VBS 2013

VBS 2013 wrapped up tonight at College Avenue United Methodist Church and it was SO MUCH FUN! I am honestly not sure who had more fun, me or my kids. This year the theme was "Everywhere Fun Fair!" which is set up like a world's fair with different country and neighbor themes each night. (Neighbors are friendly, giving, bold, forgiving, and welcoming!). Our VBS is set up as a rotation where everyone has dinner first, then an opening, and the kids rotate among drama, music/recreation, art, and the best station of all, SCIENCE! I got to lead drama for a few days and it was so much fun that I begged to steal it for tonight, too. :)

First Night of VBS! So much excitement and the kids loved getting to come with the Bunger boys! As a parent, one of the coolest things is that some of the women in the church help with VBS by cooking dinner (and snack!) for all parents and children, which means that no dinner planning or cooking takes place for five days. 

Opening - every night after dinner the kids gathered for music and to hear about the themes for the day. Our fantastic VBS leader dresses up in full costume (a carnival person this year) for both the opening and closing.

Our Kids' Groups! All of the kids there were divided into 4 groups with around 13 or 14 children per group (although not everyone could come on every night). These are all mixed-aged groups which is fabulous since the older kids can help the younger ones (which also gives the older children more of a task to do). The kids got to decorate door hangers with their group photos in art last night.(Edited later to add the church's group photos, which are much higher quality images.)

Good Buddies - it was like a mini-reunion of Daniel's preschool class with these three five-year-olds. :)

DRAMA! I took some pictures tonight. Each night part of drama includes various people acting out the script or serving as the storyteller. Tonight, Will got to tell the story from Acts about Peter and Cornelius (God loves everyone!! God is welcoming!! Love your neighbor as yourself!!) before I did the group activities. One of the ladies in the church makes/coordinates all of the costumes and set decorations that are used each year, which is amazing.

Recreation - the kids enjoying parachute play below (this is combined with music for the rotation). Alas, since I was in the drama room I did not get any pictures of science, but it continues to be just about everybody's favorite part. :)

Performance Tonight - we ended a little early tonight so that we could see the kids' performances of all of the songs that they had learned this week. Daniel, despite having performed and participated in every opening/closing that I had seen, decided to use this opportunity to stand there silently in demonstration of his claim that he doesn't like singing. So much cuteness surrounded him, though. :)

Ice Cream and Popcorn social - celebrating the end of a wonderful week!