Jastef

The kids wanted to write down their top 5 favorite movies... and they'd love to know yours!

1. Cars
2. Ratatouille 
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Veggie Tales
5. Wall-E

1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Enchanted
3. Peter Pan
4. Barbie Princess movies
5. Cinderella

Stef had a Mary Kay party last night, so she suggested the kids and I go run off to Chuck  E. Cheese for a bit - we did so and had a great time.  The 1-token-per-game policy is nice, makes a small amount of cash go quite a way, and the kids mostly like the same stuff.  I learned a couple of things:

• Kids have short attention spans
  
• Rachel isn't quite ready for skee-ball (but Ethan really likes it)
• They both like the game where you shoot water into a hole.  That's probably because of recent potty training.
• Always bring a backup diaper and wipes, even if you're just going out for a bit.
• Even the dumb little 10 ticket prizes can be fun to kids of the right age.
• Don't get a prize for your 2 year old that could even remotely break into pieces that are swallowable

We had a nice time, a couple pix are attached.

VBS is back and we're getting to that time where it will be ready to register! The theme this year is Amazon Expedition! The curriculem looks awesome this year, very good study for the kids. It takes them through the entire Bible, focusing on the 7 C's -

* Day 1: Creation—Destination Creation

* Day 2: Corruption—The Fall of All

* Day 3: Catastrophe—Water, Water Everywhere

* Day 4: Confusion—The Babel Rabble

* Day 5: Christ, Cross, Consummation—Sad Turns to Glad

VBS dates are June 23rd-27th, 9am-12pm -- with the final come together on Friday evening, with parents, siblings and friends. Please email me if you have any questions or if you would like registration info. Our congregation is in the process of raising money so that we can offer this to everyone, free of charge. Please be in prayer for all the prep work and stuff that needs to come together by the time it starts.

We had a great time last year and can't wait to see what God does this year! 

So, when my company brought our new CTO on board earlier this year, we all noticed that he wears pretty much the exact same blue suit and blue shirt combo every.  single.   day.  And then I noticed that I have a blue suit that's almost exactly the same.  So this year, I showed up to work today (yes, it's Halloween and I can get away with dressing up for work in costume) as Tony.  Gray hair coloring, blue suit, and snazzy (if ridiculously uncomfortable) shoes to match.  Everyone thought it was hilarious (fortunately, including Tony), and really enjoyed it.  Pix forthcoming as soon as I get them from the people carrying cameras today ;)

So Stef saw a commercial for Brain Age 2 (for the Nintendo DS) on TV , and since I'm always one to encourage a gaming habit in her, we quickly picked up a copy on Amazon fairly cheap.  It's an interesting concept -- basically it allows you to hold a daily regimen of "brain exercise" to keep your brain young and sharp.  I don't generally like school tests that masquerade as games, but this game has a nice spin on some fun little tests to keep one's brain sharp.  So far, the biggest complaints we have are with getting the microphone and touch screen to understand our voices and handwriting, but we're getting it down reasonably well.  The game does a good job of making use of the unique interaction features that the DS has.

Oh, and so far it says my brain age is 43.  Apparently 20 is optimal, so I've got a ways to go...  Oh, and I showed it to Scott at work today -- he completely embarrassed me on the serial subtraction puzzle.  Looks like I need to go back and revisit 2nd grade math again!