In case you haven't noticed, my Flashback Friday entries usually center around what is going on in my life at the present.  Well, this week was VBS at our church, and basically it was all-consuming, so I dug out the oldest pictures I could find in the VBS genre.

This was Annaleigh's first VBS...

She's the little over-dressed red head there on the front row.  She was two years-old and probably too young to even know why she was there.  The reason why she was there, in case you're wondering, was to give me a chance to go sip a cup of coffee at the Shoney's down the street....but don't tell anyone that, ok?

In the above shot, it's hard to tell if she's putting the offering in or taking it out.  I'd prefer to think she's putting it in, since we were trying hard not to raise a thief.

Boy, the years sure do fly!  Now she's too old to actually be an attendee at our VBS, but she's a helper.

You may think VBS stands for Vacation Bible School, but at our church it actually stands for Verging on the Borders of inSanity.  You see our church is small....very small.  We don't have enough children in our congregation to constitute a VBS.  Nor do we have enough workers to competently run one.  However, our church is located very near a government subsidised neighborhood that is swarming with children, so that's why we host one year after year.  It is cuh-razy!  Yet every year when I look at the photos of the smiling, happy faces while I soak my sore feet in Epsom salts, I realize it's worth it...every chaotic second.

I no longer go down the street to sip coffee (but believe me...it's tempting because our present church is near a Starbuck's...not a Shoney's).  I am the craft person, and it's just about the looniest room in the building. (Big D asked me to give him photo credits for the following...)

Those pictures may look all nice and sweet and tame, but trust me, being the craft person can bring on a headache the size of Montana.

Yet, I still do it because it's not really the crafts that are important.  It's not about the crick in your back.  It's not about the paint on your favorite maternity shirt.  And it's not about the room that you left in a massive upheaval earlier tonight because you were too tired to think about it.  It's the opportunity to share the love of Christ with children through spending time with them and showing them a brief moment of love and peace..

However I still suspect that some are just there for the food...

But then again, maybe not...

Please join me with a flashback of your own!  Then come back here and post the link so we can all come share in it....

Brief Synopsis (with no spoilers...I promise!):  The setting is the distant future, and Earth has been abandoned by all human life due to the overabundance of trash build-up over the years.  It hints that the Buy-N-Large (think Wal-mart on steroids) corporation is to blame.  Wall-E, a garbage collecting robot and the last of his kind, and his pet cockroach are all the personality left on our desolate planet.  Wall-E continues to do what he is programed to do, with occasional sidetracks as he's fascinated with all of our left-over trinkets and gadgets and has built up quite a collection of odds and ends.  He has everything from an old VCR player and homemade tapes to silverware to a strapless bra (which he has no idea of the function, by the way).  Life for Wall-E seems fairly lonely and mundane until the arrival of Eve, a recon robot sent from the massive space ship (think cruise ship in space) where all the overweight, lazy humans have been for hundreds of years.  She's sent to see if life is sustainable once again on Earth.  In the meantime she meets Wall-E before she indeed does find a sign of life.  Her attraction to the quirky little robot doesn't stop her from her mission however, and she is soon heading back to the mother ship with her info....but lonely Wall-E hitches a ride, and that's where all the fun begins!

Why We Went to See It:  It's a Pixar movie.  Period.

Why You Might  Want to See It:  It's a Pixar movie.  Period.  And it's better than Ratatouille, which I didn't like near as well as most Pixars.  Pixar has the best writers on the planet.  They are simply amazing.

Why You Might Not Want to See It:  If you have very small children they might be bored at the beginning because there's little dialogue, and the plot is built through Wall-E's actions and quirky personality only.  That is absolutely the only reason I can think of.  Of course you don't have to see it in the theater.

Will You Die if You Don't See It?:  Eventually, yes.  If you boycot this film, I'd say you have approximately one year to live....so plenty of time for the dvd.

A Good Substitute:  Well, if you haven't seen other Pixar movies, go rent them all.  Other than that, there isn't one.  Go see this.

A couple of posts ago, I declared that I was five months pregnant, which caused many gasps.  As it turns out, that's not quite right.  I always get confused with the weeks/months thing.  I'm actually not quite five months pregnant, but I'm not sure if that will surprise you all any less.  It definitely seems that long to those of us who are living it.  I will say that this has seemed to be my most rapid pregnancy of the three, which I attribute to Annaleigh and Harrison distracting me with their lives so much.  I'm much busier these days than with either of the other two, which makes it seem to go by faster....but not fast enough.

We are neck-deep in our room-shifting projects.  We are moving Harrison into our current schoolroom, and his room is going to be the nursery.  And where are we going to do school?  Good question.  I think mostly in the loft, and then both kids will have desks in their rooms.  We can also make use of the kitchen table if need be.  And as busy as we always are, I find the car a good place for some school.  So basically the answer is anywhere we see fit.  Right now I'm busy boxing up books and scrapbook paraphernalia and cleaning out closets.  The kids are going to the grandparents' next week, and we want to paint the schoolroom to be more suitable for him while he's gone.  He wants this too, since it's currently lavender.  I'll post some pictures when all of it finished.

Pregnancy-wise all is well.  I had my ultrasound last week, and the doc declared all to look like it's supposed to, and the measurements were all on target.  Here's a black and white peek at little Peanut....

Above is the profile, with the spine up top.  I was glad to see that the nose looks on the smallish side.  I had a grandmother with a rather large nose, which so far, hasn't shown up in any offspring.

Here's a face-front view...

I was startled to find that Peanut looks like the crystal skull from the latest Indiana Jones movie.  Thankfully we have 17-18 more weeks to get that cleared up.

Here I am of late...

Sorry about the extra bright lights streaming in from my dining room windows.  I guess  I give pregnancy glow a whole new meaning.  Again, my measurements seem to be right where they are supposed to be.  I've only gained a total of 6 pounds, which was thrilling to me since usually by this point I've gained about 100.  Well, not quite that much, but way more than 6, I can assure you.  I was shocked because this was the month that we were on vacation, and I developed a hearty craving for all kinds of pasta.  Next month may not be so encouraging.

Thanks to all who rang in their opinions on the name.  We have locked in on Madelynn Rose, I believe.  For a boy, we've gone a totally different direction and have chosen William Albert.  I've always loved the name William, and both Big D and I had grandfathers named Albert, so it just works.  Now we just wait to see which one we use....

Now I must leave you, because I just became incredibly hungry all of a sudden, and I may be tempted soon to start eating my keyboard.  That would be hard to explain to Big D.