Sunday, June 19, 2011

Vacation Bible School

Lolli signed up for Vacation Bible School at Zion Lutheran Church this week. She went Mon-Fri from 9am til noon. At first Poppy was sad she couldn't go (ages 3 and up), but ended up taking it in stride! Lauren was a little nervous that Lolli wouldn't end up wanting to stay on the first day since it was a new environment with all new people, but Lolli was a champ! The theme was Pandamania and the atrium and church were all decked out in Chinese rainforest decor and pandas galore. The girls' favorite part was a vine-covered bridge they built in the entrance.

Lolli woke up excited for bible school every single day and was always eager to get in the car before it was actually time to go. She even went on Thursday when Molly was at her house! She learned several new songs, ate yummy fun snacks, played outside, made crafts, read books and learned about God. On Wednesday Poppy played at Gma and Gpa Bowen's while Lo was at VBS, then they picked her up and all went to Mozzi's, so Poppy totally felt included in the fun week!

On Sunday the VBS kids were invited to sing a couple of their songs at the 10:30 service. Lolli wanted to do it, so Zach, Lauren, Lolli, Poppy and Papaw Lucky all attended. There's a child care room available for kids under 3, so Poppy stayed in there. Lauren was a little worried she'd be scared because again, new environment and new people, but nope - Poppy's fearless! She had fun and won the hearts of the girls baby-sitting. Lolli was really good at being quiet during the service; she just drew and wrote on her little note pad. She went up for the Children's Message like a pro and when it was time to sing the songs, she took her spot in the front row! At first she looked a little nervous and seemed to forget she was up there to sing and dance, but after a while she got her groove going and did such a great job! So grown up :)

What a fun week!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

I love Von Maur!

We were shopping the Greenwood Park mall with the girls tonight. We'd been to a couple stores and the girls were getting antsy. When we got to the shoe section of Von Maur, I wanted to look around so DH took the girls up the escalator (they get a big thrill out of this ;). I was over in the clearance room when I heard Zach yell my name and heard Lolli screaming.
I took off in their direction, and saw Zach coming down the escalator holding Poppy, but I didn't see Lolli. Thankfully Zach had an embarassed smile on his face which let me know nothing life-threatening was going on, 'cause my mind had been flashing images of Lolli somehow getting sucked into the escalator even though her shoes don't have strings and the dress she was wearing didn't even reach below her knees.
I saw Zach run around the piano and get on the up escalator, so I followed suit. It seemed a long ride up even though I was hustling up the steps to get there faster! Finally I saw Lolli, standing at the top of the down escalator, crying her little heart out. A Von Maur employee had walked over to stay with her and try to figure out what was going on. Apparently when Zach and the girls were ready to come back downstairs, Lolli had stepped one foot onto the escalator, got nervous and back-pedaled. Zach and Pop were already on, and he wasn't sure he could run back up the down excalator while holding Poppy, so that was why he ended up riding down then going back up. Pretty funny, actually, except for the part about Lolli being traumatized ;)
Zach and Poppy got to Lolli before I did, so I didn't catch up to them until we were all back downstairs. We sat on the couches while Lolli calmed down.
While Lolli was telling me her teary tale of terror, a very kind Von Maur employee came over and asked me if it would be okay if she gave Lolli a present. Of course! So she let Lolli choose between 2 colorful heart-shaped jewelry tins, and then the employee gave the other one to Poppy. SO SWEET!
This gesture of kindness meant so much to Lolli and she carried that heart all around the rest of the mall, holding it to her chest and telling me how whenever she's scared again she'll just hold onto her heart.