Day 241 ~Ugly Tie Contest

The two contestants 

 Jr NYI, the church youth group, met after church yesterday afternoon. We had an ugly tie contest. Only two kids wore ties. Guess which tie won the ugly tie contest? It was the girl on the left. Even though the girl on the right had an interesting look but the tie on the left was, in my opinion, the wearer of the ugliest tie. She won five dollars!

three ties for the price of one

 Daniel helped out and came dressed for the occasion.

good times!

group shot

 I joined in on the fun, too.

my ugly tie

 I stole the idea for a sock for an ugly tie from my sister, Nancy!

What? I know, I don't have a tie!

 No tie but he still had fun.  We ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips.

impromptu tie

This teen joined in on the fun and, put this tie together at the last minute.

See you tomorrow.

Day 240 ~ Chalk Art from the kids!

Our Jr NYI youth group met and did some chalk art. They drew themselves on the parking lot.  These pics will be sent to their dads as a belated "Father's day gift." At first, I was going to have the kids lie down and let someone else trace them but it was really hot and no one wanted to get burned.

working hard

Daniel thought it would be funny to do a CRIME SCENE outline.

Happy

You looking at me?

See you tomorrow!

Day 227 ~ Water Balloon Day at Church

passing the sponge...

 We played lots of water balloon games at church Sunday afternoon. We had 11 kids show up and I think they enjoyed it!

....Over their heads.

 In this game, the kids pass a soaked sponge over their heads to the kid at the end of the line who squeezes it and fills a bucket. The first team to fill it, wins. Sadly, I have no pics of water balloons. We ran out of them quickly and just started soaking each other with cups of water.

Teens, hard at work

 The teens were a BIG HELP! Not only did they act as "road guards" to keep kids from running into the street, they assisted in all the games.  Plus, the kids love the energy they bring with them.  They make things fun.  Pictured above are five of the seven teens who helped.  They all knew they were coming to a water fight so why only two of them wore bathing suits, I'll never understand...Oh, those crazy teens!

covering his eyes

 A willing victim for a fun photo!

A willing victim

This guy takes his job seriously...

liking it, I think

The kids LOVE the annual water balloon fight and I am glad it was a hot day on Sunday. In July, they will be versing the teens in MESSY GAME DAY!

See you tomorrow.

Day 223 ~ a kid from a summer commerical

a scared kid, about to get his head shaved

We made a commercial with the kids at the church youth group - a commercial to encourage people not to skip church during the summer. The way it went is I had kids state Things I don't want to do this summer and one of the things that this kid didn't want to do this summer was get his head shaved, which is why he looks so upset....I ended with one of the things we don't want to do this summer is skip church....It was a fun video to make and watch..

See you tomorrow.

Day 221 ~ The Jr NYI Board



The Board



Here is a board at church that advertises the children's youth group. The kid's like to see what is going on and what plans are in the works.

 





one of the ads

 You have seen this picture before on my blog. I used it for advertisements for the water balloon fight coming up next week.

another Ad

 Kids love the annual water balloon fight.  I hope it is a nice hot day for the kids.

See you tomorrow.

 

Day 173 ~ A Coat All by itself...:(

A coat, left behind at church.

Last Sunday, at the Jr NYI (that's the kid's youth group I run at church), one of the kids was so anxious to get out of there that he left without his coat. I guess I have to plan better meetings kids don't leave as soon as possible at any cost. :)

Just joking, I think the kids have lots of fun at these events...and I try to include a little "spiritual nugget" for them as well. After all, it is church.

See you tomorrow.

Day 170 ~ Pastor Del with the Kids

3 kids hanging out with Pastor Del

Before church starts on a Sunday morning, Pastor Del will stay in the hallway, praying, no doubt, before the service begins. Many times he will be interrupted by kids coming by to say hello and I know he doesn't mind the interruption. In fact, he cherishes these moments to talk with the kids. When I heard them talking,  I had to stop and take a picture.  What was really great is I heard one of the kids say in the hallway, after they left Pastor Del, "I really like talking to Pastor." and the other two agreed.  It's great we have a pastor whom the kids love.

See you tomorrow.

Day 125 ~ A Boy with a Magic Trick!

Nothing up his sleeve...

 Last night at church, this kid was really excited to show me a magic trick...He showed me a knot and with just one flick of the wrist,.....

It's Magic!

....  the knot is gone!

Gosh, magic is fun.

Here's the Video Version!

See you tomorrow.

Day 90 ~ It's Freezing! So It's time to remember the Summer!

teens helping out at the Summer Water Fight for the kids

Man, it's cold outside!According to the radio, with the windchill it feels like 4 degrees! Yikes! If that is not a good reason to remember hot, summer days, I don't know what is.  Back in June I started the summer off right for the kids by having a water balloon fight. Even though the youth group is for kids ages 7-12, I usually invite a couple of teens to help out and that's why these teens are at a kid's event.

Filling up the buckets for battle!

So why is the kid with the hose wearing pajamas to a water fight? It was part of a devotion we had. I had him stand next to a kid who was wearing a bathing suit. Then I read some statements aloud and the other kids had to splash the one to whom it applied. 
*Which kid is appropriately dressed for a day at the beach? (Splash)
*Which kid is appropriately dressed for watching cartoons on a Saturday morning. (Splash)
*Ect, Ect.
Then after both kids were drenched, I read the Scripture from Ephesians "Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony." and I made the point Christ wants us to show love at all times. And even though you aren't supposed to wear pajamas to a water fight, you are ALWAYS supposed to "clothe yourself in Love."I don't know if the kids got the point but I hope so. And even if it didn't, kids had fun throwing water at them.

See you tomorrow. 

Day 72~ A Picture of the Four Kids!

Justin, Sara, Daniel and Matthew

 This is rare! What, with work schedules, college and busy lives, my wife was able to get all four of our kids to sit down for a picture. Karen took a picture with her camera which, of course, is of much better quality than my phone but the poses is about the same!

waiting for the next pic

Here they are, in between staged shots!

what are they looking at?

Ah, the side angle!

I am not sure the last time we had a shot of all the kids together but it is good to see again.

See you tomorrow!

Day 58 ~ The Kids deliver Christmas Gifts to the Neighbors

The Kids who delivered the Gifts

The Senior's group in our church like to make little gifts for the neighbors; a gesture of good will to the houses around our parish and just a nice way to say Merry Christmas. They asked me to get a group of kids together to deliver the gifts. That is what we did this Saturday morning.

holding a gift; reading a prayer!

There were 22 gifts that needed to be delivered.  Since it was 9am, I figured an other really good Christmas gift for our neighbors is to NOT ring their doorbell so early. We decided to just leave the gift by their front door. 

Reading a prayer

Because as a church we really do love our neighbors, we thought it would be a good idea to say a pray for each neighbor  before we left the gift so I printed out three short prayers that the kids could chose from to ask God's Blessing on our neighbors. 

three prayers to choose from

Nice short prayers are the best; don't you think?

managing, despite the wind

It was pretty windy and a little cold but we made it through somehow.

I guess you can smile and pray at the same time

We made sure we prayed out loud so we could all pray along with them.

Striking a pose

 I must say, the kids weren't camera shy.

running to deliver a gift

 We only sent one kid at a time to the door so that people wouldn't feel overwhelmed if they happened to come to the door. As it is, two people did come to the door even though we didn't ring any door bells.

returning to the group, ninja style!

Some kids really like to ham it up!

Almost done!

 The kids enjoyed delivering the gifts.Before we actually went out to make the deliveries, we read from the book of Proverbs, chapter 18, verse 16~ "A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before the great."  We talked a little about gifts and how Jesus was the greatest Gift of all.

See you tomorrow.

Day 57 ~ Making Christmas Cookies!

Christmas Bells Before

 Karen was asked to make sugar cookies for the children's party at church. It turns out it isn't that easy to make because the cookie dough sticks easily and is hard to work with.  But Karen soldiered through!

Christmas Bells after

The cookies weren't decorated at home. Instead, they were transported to church where the kids would spread icing and sprinkles on them!

Sprinkles for the cookies!

 Sara helped out at the actual party so she sent these pics to me to show the progression of Christmas cookie fun.

a kid spreading the icing!

Yum, ready to eat!

The kids had a blast, I know!

Merry Christmas!

See you tomorrow.