We've had a busy week. We went to Mom's in Yankton on Wednesday because she wanted me to help paint faces at the hospital's ice cream social. There were fun games for the kids and lots of food and entertainment (a couple of bands and a dance studio provided some acts as well).

Xander got to be Batman this year (he was Spiderman last year). It's fun to paint his face, then send him out to play the games and see how many other little boys want to be Batman. I think I did about 5 or so.


Grandpa Jim was our ticket taker, and we thought that a 3rd eye on his forehead would be a fun addition to his already sparkling personality. Actually, things were quite slow when we first opened because everyone was visiting the food booths, but right when I started painting the eye on his head, things really picked up, and it was left unfinished for much of the evening, prompting a lot of "What's that supposed to be?" type questions. He says he had to finish painting it himself, so I don't exactly take credit for the artistry shown here!

We went over to Yankton early and played in the hot tub at Mom's for a while. Maia's very comfortable in the water there- her favorite activity that day was to sneak up behind Xander & dump water on his head- but get her in the big wading pool at the park with all the other kids, and she just wants to sit on my lap. We wanted to go swimming yesterday, but both kids were suffering some gastrointestinal distress, so I decided we'd better hold off for a while.

I'm having a Pampered Chef party here at my house on Monday night, so I started cleaning the house yesterday. Probably a big mistake. I'm sure that everything will be completely messed up again by Monday, but it was a nice thought.

On the job front: Matt's got an interview with a church in Nebraska sometime in July. They actually haven't given us an exact date yet, but it looks like it will be either the 2nd or 3rd weekend. It was supposed to be the first weekend, but then they discovered that, it being a holiday weekend and all, not all the staff would be there.

He also found out about a couple of possibilities here in Sioux Falls, probably both part time, both at different churches than the one we currently attend (obviously), but at least he has something else he could do with the other part of his time.

I also have a job opportunity. I read in our newspaper last week, that the music department of one of our local universities is suddenly needing help for the fall, because one of the profs quit rather suddenly. He was the choir guy and did some voice as well. The band director submitted his resignation in a more civilized manner, and they've had time to do a nationwide search to fill his position. I sent a letter and resume to the remaining full-time faculty member and dropped as many names as I could. I asked if she wanted my help in teaching voice in the fall, and she got back to me yesterday and said she would be interested in the possibility. So I might be helping out there in the Fall.

Of course, that would most certainly mean that Xander would have to go to public school in the fall, and Maia would have to go to daycare some days. I think it will be good for both of them.

Xander's doing good in the library's Summer Reading program. They have to log every day that they read for 20 minutes or more. I don't count computer time as reading, even though he reads a lot while on the computer, he's really playing games. They started the first of June, and he's got 19 days so far. They get lots of cool prizes when they complete 30 days.