Kick-Off Weekend at Church

We started attending a new church just before Christmas last year.  We go to Saturday services a lot because of Jimmy's work schedule.  Our previous church didn't offer children's programming during that service and the room for "energetic kids" wasn't cutting it anymore.  We found ourselves having to leave early often. They also ended up removing the Saturday service altogether this summer, which would have forced us to leave anyway.  

We were also hoping to find something a bit smaller and closer to home.  I pretty quickly narrowed in on our new church.  It has a Saturday service (with kids programming), is closer to home, and shares a building with a school for kids on the autism spectrum.  I thought this could be a great opportunity to meet more people in our direct community as well as make connections in the autism community.  There are only two rooms for kids 5 and under, which is much different than our previous church.  The nursery is for birth-36 months and preschool is for 3-5 year-olds.  Parker had just turned 3 when we started, but we thought it would be best to let him try a more relaxed environment since it was a new place.  We took him to the nursery and it took several weeks to adjust.  He started school around the same time, so it was a lot of change for a little guy.  He would even start crying as soon as we made the exit towards church.  By two months in it was like old habit again!

That was kind of a long intro, but it leads us to today.  It was fall kick-off weekend, so we thought it would be the perfect chance to try the pre-school room.  He has been so great at turning left to go to the nursery that we weren't sure what he would think about turning right!  He didn't want to go in the room at first, but once he found the toys and slide he was fine.

 He had so much fun and we are so proud of how he transitioned.  It is so strange to see the "Pre-K" on his name tag.  I guess he really is growing up.

 There was a big carnival after the service as well.  They had a few bounce houses, sno cones, popcorn and face painting.  Parker has loved bounce houses in the past, but mainly likes going in and out.  He did that a lot, but spent much more time inside!  This burned a ton of energy and made nap time a breeze.  

Natedogs was also there!  The owner is married to our church worship leader and was providing delicious dogs for the whole weekend.  I have been itching to try them ever since I saw the truck in the parking lot.  He uses locally sourced meats and even makes his own toppings (no ketchup here!)  They were well worth the wait!

Parker probably thought today was the best day ever because we went to Perkins for dinner (pancakes!) and the park.  He surprised us again by climbing up the big ladder and going down the big slides with minimal encouragement.  This isn't our standard park, but will have to come here more.

He got his Perkins cookie on the way home.  We didn't realize how big of a mess he made until we were almost home.  At least there is no doubt he liked it!  It was a great Sunday for us, how about you?

Up Next: First Day of School