Youth Group Survivor Lock In

I survived! It really wasn't so bad being up all night. The other chaperon, K, and I took some 300 minute energy (disgusting) around 2ish. We never felt an energy boost, but we didn't crash, until after 7. Then both of us kind of went blah. Anyway, we had 17 kids, which was awesome, especially considering we only have about that many in our church total. We had 7 member kids and 10 of their friends, grades 8-12.

We did a Survivor themed lock-in. I divided the kids up into 4 teams. I wasn't sure how to divide them up, so I let them pick partners and then the partners picked another pair. It worked out that we had 8 boys and 9 girls and the girl that was the odd girl out is one with special needs. I let her pick which group she wanted to be a part of. She really preferred to watch than participate which worked out really well.

We started the night out by explaining the rules and how the whole thing was going to work. We gave them the off limits areas and explained that they were expected to be up for every activity, which was held every 2 hours. We did a get-to-know you type game first. We did Behind Your Back which involved the kids writing their name on a blank sheet of paper (we used cardstock). Then we taped the sheet to their back, facing inward. Then they went around and wrote something nice or funny about that person on their card. After everyone was done, they had to find the card which was theirs. They seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

After the intro we sent the kids on a scavenger hunt. Each clue was a Bible verse that they had to look up for the next clue. We did 7 clues per team. It worked out pretty well except I think our custodian came in after I hid the clues and threw away a few that were a little more obvious. It worked out ok though. I'll do a separate post with the Bible verses later.

At 11 PM we did Bible Trivia. I didn't have a box game so I had to come up with the clues on my own. Thank you internet! I'll post those separately too.

At 1 AM we did a relay. The first person had to shave a balloon. The second person had to hula hoop 10 times, or 30 seconds, which ever was shortest. The third person had to volley a ball 10 times and the 4th person had to skip up and down the main church aisle. I think there was a little confusion on this one. The kids were still hyped up on caffeine at this point and had a hard time following directions. We got a lot of "they cheated!" comments, but I don't think anyone cheated intentionally.

At 3AM I had the teams put together a 150 piece puzzle I picked up at the dollar store. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. One option would be to do a simpler puzzle but have them do it brown side up. The kids were about shot at this point, so we needed to keep them moving. After this they played hide and seek in the dark church. That really weirded some of them out, so we left on the kitchen lights and stairway lights. By the time they were finished with that it was 5 AM.

At 5 we played marshmallow dodge ball, which did not count toward team points for the overall Survivor game. They had fun and at the end just ended up chucking marshmallows at each other. After this almost all of them crashed.

At 7 AM we did our final relay. The first person had to run to the table and drink a glass of juice. They then had to run back and tag the second person who had to dress up in our Christmas program costumes. The third person was blindfolded and had to toss 10 marshmallows into a basket held by the second player. The fourth player handed marshmallows and gave direction. After 10 marshmallows, the fourth person then had to lick clean a pie plate or whipped cream.

We awarded points for the 5 survivor activities, 5,4,3, and 2 points as placed. We ended up with 2 teams tied for first and 2 teams tied for 3rd. We could have done a tie-breaker, like the human pretzel or something, but our prize was just candy, so I split up the bags and all 8 players got something. The kids then voted on the ultimate survivor, or the person that was the most encouraging, etc. to everyone. That prize was a $15 itunes card. We honestly could have done without that part. By that time all the kids were exhausted and didn't really care. We had 3 of the 17 kids receive votes, which means they put some thought into it, but they were all just ready to vote for anyone or everyone or Bob the Builder, who also received one vote.

After the voting we had the kids pack up and some parents came in to make pancakes and bacon. Most of the kids left after breakfast. Next time I think we need to make church required for participation. It's a little embarrassing when only 3 kids stayed for church and only 1 of them was a member of our congregation.

During the down time we had games, movies, and Wii for the kids to do. They honestly had the most fun kicking the $1 balls I had picked up and played capture the flag and some other games I think they invented.

The whole night worked out very well. I was really nervous going into it, but the kids all seemed to have a really good time. One of the parents reported that their kid thought it was better than the lock-in at the local Y because we had activities for them to do. They weren't just given free time and told to go play. There was a point to the whole night. I would do it again, but not for another year!

I really just wanted to do this post since I searched and searched the internet for these ideas. So feel free to use any or parts of this if you are here searching. I'm not a professional, just a member of our congregation who saw a need and opportunity. K and I did this just for the fun of it!

I will post some video, the clues, and Bible trivia separately and try to remember to link them here.

Bottle Babies

I was totally flattered yesterday. Let me start by saying, I did not grow up on a farm. I grew up in a community that considered itself a farming community, but it was really a bedroom community for the nearby Mayo Clinic and IBM employees. The extent of my animal knowledge was learned from our pets. My first pet was a 3 legged turtle named Stumpy. He died when I was 5. I very clearly remember asking my dad why Stumpy had ants all over him. Needless to say, I probably didn't visit him daily. My oldest sister had a pet bird, Chirpy. We were very creative with names. We did have a cat and a dog also. The only experience I had with cattle was walking through the barns at the county fair. Somehow, I apparently became an expert.

Yesterday we had a customer appreciation dinner at our local animal health store. For those of you city folk, it's basically a drug store for farm animals. During the meal, grilled steak, beans, and chips, one of the vets came and sat next to me. Two of the 5 vets have kids about the same ages as Cole and Tate, this was one of them. We talked about kids and preschool for a little bit before she shyly said "I have a question for you." Ok. She proceeded to ask how much she could feed a bottle calf without upsetting his stomach. Legitimate question since if you overfeed a human baby they'll throw it back up on you. I was just flattered since, well, she's a vet! I'm the kid who had a pet turtle that died! She's a very good vet, but has way more experience with small animals and sheep. I guess feeding baby calves for 5 years does make me an expert.

The Long Bob

No, I'm not talking about the @nzyte commercial. I'm incredibly anxious for June when I no longer have a 3 year old. I am so incredibly tired of the incessant questions. Why? What's that for? What's that called? I know, he's 3, it comes with the territory, but it's the same question over and over and over and over and over and over again. The kid has a phenomenal memory, but only when it has to do with useless information. For example, he can remember that my Uncle R~ was wearing a hat at my sister's wedding in June, without looking at pictures. But he can't remember at bed time where he put his jammies that very same morning even though he's been putting his jammies in the very same spot every morning since we've lived in this house. He's driving me bonkers. We get so tired of the questions that we start to make up answers. The most common answer is boogers. I have no idea why. At least he recognizes that answer as silly. However, it's the other answers that he doesn't quite pick up on. For instance, back before Christmas, I had bought a package of long johns. We have a mom and pop type bakery near by and occasionally our local grocery store has their long johns. Donuts are expensive, so I don't by them often, but I picked up a package since they looked really good. So I get home and Cole asks "what's that?" I tell him it's a long john. Pat convinces him it's a long bob. A few days later he's at Grandma's house for coffee and guess what she has? Long bobs! I think they were pretty confused, but just let it go. I bought some yesterday and once again, they are long bobs. Why can't he forget the useless crap and remember something important, like where his stinking jammies are?!?

My Funny Valentines

Duplo Tate

Cole had his friendship party at school today. Valentines must be offensive or maybe it's love, I don't know, but at any rate it's a friendship party. I decided to be creative and make heart crayons instead of giving out candy. It would have been fine if I hadn't waited until last night to do it. At any rate, they turned out nice. I spent the morning at school with him, and affirmed my decision to teach high school over preschool. He did fine, but everything is more tragic when mom is there and it's sooooo annoying.

At any rate, the boys are doing fine. They love pushing each other's buttons and in turn push mine. I used to get a break in the middle of the day 3 times a week. I still get a break 3 times a week, but now it's during chores time which is normally my daily break anyway. It's starting to show. My nerves are fried by about 9 AM. I need a get away. Pat and I were supposed to get that Sunday-Tuesday, but the lovely snow ruined that. We are going to try again this Sunday, but this time we're taking the kids. I'm not sure if that will be nice or not!

Cole is finally getting the potty training down. Tate loves to be in or on anything he can. They are fun. I just have to remind myself to enjoy them once in a while!

Suberbowl Prediction

There you have it. It's safe to place your bets now!

Youth Group Lock In

So our church kids want to do a lock-in. This month. I'm glad they are taking the initiative and coming up with ideas, but I'm so nervous of the work that I am going to have to put in. Has anyone had experience with this? Any good ideas for me? I've seen this website with a survivor theme. We are gearing the lock-in to 8th grade and up and I have no idea how many kids will come. Any advice, let me know!

Baby #3

No, we aren't expecting. Freaked you out there for a minute though, didn't I?

Anywho, I think Pat is suffering from baby fever. We know a lot of people who have recently had babies or who are expecting babies. Surprisingly, it's not me with the baby fever. Pat, who always claimed we would stop at 2 has been randomly throwing out baby names and saying things like, "when are we going to start trying for a girl?" I've been giving him an awful lot of the I don't know who you are kind of looks. As a matter of fact, he always claimed the only way he would possibly consider a third child was if we had one of each. Heaven forbid we end up with 3 boys or 3 girls. Yet every name he has thrown out has been a boy's name. It's just bizarre.

I'm not anti-baby #3, I'm just not ready yet. I have one more year of school and my last semester will be student-teaching full time. I don't want a newborn at home or to be expecting and have to make up the time I'd miss for having a baby. I'm also hoping a break between pregnancies will give me a better chance of having a full term baby. I'm also hoping that having a bigger gap between kids will be a little bit easier. It's nice to have the boys close in age now, but it wasn't fun a year and a half ago. I'm also afraid we'll end up with another Tate and I don't think my ears can handle that. The kid has one heck of an ear piercing scream.