crafts.....every....where...

send....help....

Yeah, so my entire house has been crammed and overflowing with every sort of craft , craftable crafty craft craft thing ever made! I mean to tell you I have double sided sticky tape stuck to the bottoms of my feet, I have 50 milk gallons stinking up the garage, I have toilet paper rolls on every surface of my house and I have pipe cleaners and foam and puff-ball-thing-a-ma-bob-ers and glow-in-the-dark-$10-per-pack-paper and popsicle sticks coming out my ears!! BUT, only one more day of VBS then summer starts!!!!!!!!!!!!YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August is the Merrill Family month. We kick it off on the first celebrating my fab sister-in-laws bday. Then Merkle's is on the 8th. Then...best of all...Merkle has 2 WEEKS OFF!!! Oh, I can not wait. 2 weeks. Yes, we're going out of town. Indianapolis Children's Museum then to Cincinnati for the Creation Museum. Can't wait...

Check that out here:
http://creationmuseum.org/

Note To Self...

No more solo bike rides through Potato Creek bike path at 8:30 p.m.
C
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Little Bitties

OK, it is possible that this feeling will be a distant memory by the time I wake up tomorrow but right now I have to say, I am beginning to wonder if my days of teaching Sunday School are done. Those kids kicked my butt today! Now, I will say it was a really large class, I had no adult helper, and the story was REALLY long. But I just didn't have a handle on them. They were out of control. Boys were beating each other up, new girl screamed a lot at the other kids, had a kid that cried quite a bit when he did not gt his way, had kids up in my face and pulling at my leg and tugging on my shirt and calling out my name and I just don't know how much longer I can take it all. The craziest part was at the end. I had them all, most of them, alright maybe 1/3 of them sitting on the blue rug to answer questions about our story. Here is a small sampling of how it went...

Me: "OK, the name of the prophet in our story today was Elijah and do you remember the mean King Ahab? OK, who can tell me...what was the prophets name?"

Them: "Stone and wood!!"

Me: "What, no...not stone and wood. Remember, the prophets name was Elijah...(pause)...OK, what was the prophets name?"

Them (louder): "STONE AND WOOD!!!"

Me: "OK, no, stone and wood is not someones name. OK, how about the king? Remember the mean King AHAB? Remember King AHAB? Ohhhh, he was so mean...(pause)...OK, what was the kings name?"

Them: simultaneously "King Darian" "Am I going to get in trouble with my mommy?" "oh, he has an elephant" "I never get a turn" "I have a dog"

Me: "Oh dear, OK, everyone who is sitting and not making any sounds gets a cookie!!"

Them: silence

How much longer can I do this? I do love those little bitties. When there aren't so many of them...

Is it possible

to have too much fun? According to Emily the answer is...yes. So all this week she has been at Granger Community Church for Springhill Day Camp. This girl has rock climbed, tie dyed, swam, been flung through the air...she's played paintball, been to the wave pool, crafted stuff, and played some crazy games (skittle skattle battle just to name one). And last night, because it was dollar rides at the 4H fair and she and her sister had projects in, which meant free admission, we decided to go. So, after picking Emily up from 7 hours at camp we grabbed Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Ben (Daddy was in Chicago at a Cubs game) and took off.

So the first thing my girls want to do is the Ferris wheel. Ok. Now, if you don't know me let me first tell you that in my extensive and well organized list of fears my fear numero uno is flying. Followed very closely by #2...heights. I can't even look at a tall building or worse yet a high ceiling without getting vertigo. However, I knew I could not send the girls up with my dad. That's right, my dad. I love him so very much and believe he truly is the best and funnest grandpa on the planet BUT...I remember years of fair rides and elevator rides and boat ride and my dad jumping and shaking and rocking and let me tell you...FREAKED ME OUT!! So I decided I couldn't risk freaking the girlies out too bad so I decided to go up with them. Oh My Goodness, it was terrifying!! When we got to the top and had to stop so they could load people in at the bottom, I was clinging to the center pole and wondering what exactly it will look like when I finally crack. Will I jump? Hurl my backpack over the edge? Stand up and scream in terror? I just didn't know. So I decided to redirect my thoughts. I got out my cell phone and desperately dialed my husband. No answer. So I call Anne. Not home. Oh God help me!! All the while I'm having this inner turmoil, I was cool as a clam on the outside. Telling the girls how beautiful it was from up there...oh look at the pretty trees! Oh look at the little tiny cars...GET ME OFF THIS THING!!!!! And finally it started to come back down. I don't really remember the rest of the ride, just the chest pains that followed. Fun night for mommy...

The rest of the night was pretty much the same, me getting completely freaked out watching my dear beloved nephew being locked into a cage and spun in horrendous upside down circles on the Ring of Death...I mean Ring of Fire ride. Then having to go on the Crazy Mouse roller coaster with Emily. Ok, that wasn't as bad as the Ferris wheel but I was sure it too would result in my death.

Funny story here...earlier in the evening my mom was waiting in line with the girls to ride on the Crazy Mouse (CM). She was only supposed to be in line with them while my dad went with Ben to ride the death rides then he was going to come back and take the girls on CM. Well, her line went a little too fast and so by the time I ran over to get my dad and got back my poor mom was being strapped in. Oh dear. My sweet, kind mama being crank crank cranked up that steep hill and then swooshhhh down that steep hill. Oh dear. Well, she did really well. And, it wasn't me (just kidding mom). hee hee.
Ok, I could probably write about the terrifying events that fueled my children's joy last night for another 10 paragraphs but I'm getting a nervous tick so I'm going to sign off...
good times...good. times.

Family

Well, this has been a fabulous Miles family reunion weekend. Miles was the last name of my great grandparents, George and Florence. They had 7 children. Six girls (Virginia, Patty, Donita, Nancy, Eileen and Tina) and one son, Joe. My grandma was Virginia. She had 9 children, the 5th one being my dad, Mark Kensinger. Then Donita had 5, Nancy had 9, Eileen had 3, and Joe had 4. My great grandparents raised their family in Plymouth after moving here from Hugo Colorado in the 1930's. I don't remember my great grandpa. I only remember the day he died. I remember my dad sitting me on his lap in the evening and telling me he had died. I must have been about 5. But I sure remember my great grandma. She was something. She lived alone for 20 some years after my grandpa died. She was as tiny and delicate a person as I've ever seen. I spent the night with her a couple times when I was younger. It used to freak me out. Her house was HUGE and old. I used to sleep upstairs in my Aunt Tina's room and I would lay awake for hours waiting for some ghost to come floating into my room. But in the light hours I loved to be with her.
But mostly I loved my Grandma Kensinger. She died 2 years ago. She would have loved this weekend.
It started out on Friday at the Conservation club house in Plymouth. We had a pizza party/talent show with cousins and aunts and uncles. It was a beautiful afternoon and a perfect evening. My brother brought his catapults and rubber band machine gun, which were a huge hit. The young people had a ball shooting stuff across the field out back. My daughters made me so proud. They are such shy little creatures. But they got up in front of everyone and Emily did the preamble to the Constitution and Grace did the beginning of the Gettysburg's Address.
Then Saturday we all met at Centennial Park for a rainy day picnic in the pavilion. But, the rain really didn't dampen our fun. We had games and crafts and water balloons, which I think the kids had as much fun filling them up as they did throwing them at each other. We had fabulous food and lots of catching up. And finally today we had Mass at my great grandmas church. And then goodbye's.
Some of these people I'm really going to miss.
Oh, and let me tell you the devastation I've been dealing with all weekend...my digital camera broke!! I had to use film!! So, no pictures yet, until my cousins get some posted...

4H

So, I'm a 4H fair judge. Yep. Scrapbooking. Yep. It's fun. Yep. But let me tell you, if I have to look at one more photo of a teenage girl with her tongue hanging out in the direction of her friend I AM GOING TO VOMIT! Seriously girls, act like a lady! And simulating gang signs and the"look at me again and I'll kill you" face is going to drive me nuts. One girls album actually had a picture of some guy flipping the bird. Oh, and her and her friend acting like they are pole dancing. It's the 4H fair people.
But hey, 2 fairs, $100 bucks...it's all good...