Camp "Mom"

I sent Caroline and Ben to Vacation Bible School this week with our next-door neighbor's children.  My neighbor had been raving about how great this camp was, and we decided to give it a try and split the driving duties.  Wow!  I am so very glad she shared this camp with me.  All four kids loved loved loved it from the very start.  The camp directors struck an amazing balance among crafts, play, games, songs, and some age-appropriate, lessons about God, like "God loves you no matter what."  Fantastically simple but important lessons.  We attended the camp concert last night and you could obviously tell how much fun all the 100's of kids were having.  Many of the 5th and 6th graders talked about how they can't wait to be counselors next year.  In short, we have all caught PandaMania (the camp theme) here, and will definitely be attending again next year.

While Ben and Caroline were at VBS, Abby stayed home with me.  Aside from one sick day last year, she has not been at home alone with me since probably 2005 when Caroline was born.  What a delightful treat for both of us!  We shared a special activity every day -- walking to the library (Monday), biking on the Chester Valley Trail (Tues), a little shopping at King of Prussia mall (Wed), un-rushed browsing at the Girl Scout store (Thursday), and the grand finale, getting Abby's ears pierced today for her practically half-birthday.

Abby has been begging me for over a year to get her ears pierced, and finally I told her the more she asked, the longer it would take (although I was secretly plotting this excursion for a while).  I really, really hate to be nagged.  Don't you? She wisely listened and dropped the subject a few months ago.  On Monday, I told her that we would be doing something "special" today, and I didn't give her any clues all week.  So, when I told her this morning that today was the day, I didn't even get to see the reaction, she just turned away from me and started crying tears of joy.  How precious!

We got her ears pierced at a store for girls called Sweet & Sassy, which came highly recommended from my Brownie Co-Leader who took her own daughter there. Abby was able to get both ears pierced simultaneously by two associates, and they don't use a "piercing gun" anymore -- they use a nifty contraption that pierces with actual earrings she is wearing.  After marking the dots, the piercing took all of 2 seconds.  No blood.  No tears.  Just adorable aquamarine crystal daisies.  Abby was grinning during the whole process.  And, the blue crystals make her eyes sparkle even more. 

So, Camp Mom was a smashing success.  Abby and I got some wonderful time together-- some lovely chats and giggles.  Abby was so excited about the ear piercing, she didn't even mind that I dragged her to Becker's afterwards to pick out a summer math workbook and some multiplication flash cards.  And, Caroline and Ben simultaneously had a great experience at their camp too.  All in all, a wonderful start to the summer.   

(Note to any grandparents that might be reading this -- Abby has to wear this particular pair of earrings for the next 3 months while the holes heal, so please don't rush out and purchase any new earrings just yet.)