Whittle Kids Night Out

Have you ever had a frugal disaster? Well, this was one of ours. I got a Facebook invite to a Kids Night Out that a store downtown was having. It is a train/puzzle store that I had heard lots about, but never actually been to. The invite promised lots of fun. So, I thought it sounded like a great night of free fun...

I told the girls about it and then I received a message from the store letting me know the cost was $5 per child. Since I had already told the kids I thought that $10 sounded like a pretty cheap night out for all that was promised cookie decorating, face painting, train table, and train/puzzle painting.

Well.....then we got there and discovered that the $5 didn't include the train/puzzle painting. That was more money (quite a bit more). Oh, well. We choose to participate in the free events and skip the painting. I was thankful my kids were understanding when we explained we wouldn't be paying to do that activity. Overall it turned out okay, but I don't think we will be going back. $10 is a lot for 15 minutes of playing with trains, 2 cookies, and a rainbow painted on Grace's hand.

The girls did enjoy the train table so I think we will try and go back this winter during the day when its open. (and free!)

I'm sure this won't be our last frugal mishap! (at least Titus was still free)

Personality in a Picture

I wanted to take a picture of each of the kids to help capture their personality. I thought it might be fun to do every once in awhile.

Titus was the most difficult since he is the youngest. Titus is an explorer. Much like Grace was as a baby he loves to check out everything. He will ignore a huge pile of fancy toys and crawl off behind the couch, under the table, or even down the hall. He puts anything he can find in his mouth. Like this marker he found under our dishwasher. His favorite snack stop is our shoe basket where he loves a good flip flopcicle. One of our scarier moments was recently when I was driving down the road. I heard him making a gagging noise. I pulled over and upon investigation fished a huge piece of cardboard out of his mouth. I am guessing he found it on the floor before we left home. He had probably been chewing on it for 20 minutes! Oh, the fun of a little boy who loves to explore.

Grace is my organizer. Here she has sorted her Poly Pocket accessories. When she plays she is often planning something like a pretend birthday party or organizing something like her doll house. Recently we totally reorganized the playroom into bins. She loved this project and was a very enthusiastic helper. Each day she would beg me to go sort stuff! She is definitely like me. She also loves to organize people. (I think some people called that being bossy when I was growing up) If you are willing to go along with her plans you will most likely be her new best friend. Which her sister is often willing to do so they have a lot of fun together.

Faith is my quite collector. Its not uncommon for me to find her quietly playing, content to entertain herself. (often with her pink right next to her) When she plays she often gets attached to an object or set of objects. She carries them around everywhere. To the dinner table, the bathroom, her bed, etc. She will cart them around sometimes even for a few days. She is perfectly happy unless someone else decides they would like to play with, touch, or even look at said toys. Then you will hear the most horrible screeching!

If there is a meltdown at our house it is probably one of three things:

1. Titus is eating something that belongs to the girls (puzzle pieces beware!)

2. Faith had decided she is tired of her sister making the plan.

3. Grace has decided she wants to play with one of her sister's current favorite objects.

Oh, how I am loving watching their personalities develop and I am excited to see how God will use their uniqueness for His kingdom.

Grandpa's Birthday

In September we had a great time celebrating Grandpa Rick's birthday with him. We spent the entire Saturday doing fun things. During the morning Grandma Leeanne, me, & the kiddos went to do a little garage sale shopping. We found a few bargains and enjoyed being outside. While we were bargain hunting the boys went to shoot guns. Doesn't sound all that exciting to me, but they had fun.

After lunch the girls enjoyed playing in the sand along the creek. The flooding earlier in the summer had left a great sandy spot. Grace found some more geodes and Grandpa opened one for her to see. The weather was perfect for spending time outdoors swinging, eating, and playing in the yard.

Fun in the Sand
Swinging on the Porch Swing

Sand Pie, yum!


Birthday pecan pie, with relighting candles!

Our brave explorer.

Geode fun.
Happy Birthday Grandpa Rick!

Starlight Alpaca Farm

This week for play group we visited an alpaca ranch. It was such an educational and fun trip! The kids were able to go in the pens and get up close feeding them and feeling their coat.
This baby was born on Sunday! It was born 10 days early so we were lucky to get to see such a little baby. Their fall heard should start being born soon.
I love this picture of both our hands.
Faith & Wyatt work together to feed an alpaca.
Faith was timid at first but warmed right up.
When Grace ran out of feed she simply took some hay from the trough and made her own snack.
This is one of the male alpaca's that isn't used for breeding. They are "pets" and only worth about $500 compared to a breeding male which can be up to $40,000 with a good blood line.

Checking out the store full of products made from Alpaca hair.

We purchased this little Alpaca finger puppet from Peru as a keepsake from our field trip.
We finished up with a picnic at a pavilion near their pond. Even though it was a bit cold and damp it was a great way to end our trip.

Labor Day Crafting

On Labor Day Nana came for a visit and brought her Cricut with her. The girls had fun helping make paper dolls, a castle, animals, and all sorts of fun paper cut outs.
Titus was wanting to get in on the action. Grab & destroy...
Faith liked to help push buttons...not always the right buttons.
Grace patiently glued together a castle & princess with lots of tiny pieces.
Faith's artistic creation.

It was a fun day- we love a good craft project at our house. We even made a few cowgirl hats to use for Faith's cowgirl themed birthday party in October. (And who can forget the pizza stone splitting and our homemade pizza going all over the bottom of the oven, more funny now that it was then!)

Nana,

We love when you come to visit. We can count on you bringing a fun surprise & something for us to make. We can't wait to go to the zoo with you for our play date. We ask Mama about it constantly (yep,they do!)

Love,

Grace & Faith

Family Camp

Due to Jeremy having a new job he hasn't had any vacation time. So, we wanted to do something special for Labor Day since he got Monday off. We went to Family Camp at High Hill Christian Camp (near St. Louis, MO). My family had a tradition of going to Family Camp for many years at Lamoine so I was super excited. The kids were also very excited. Titus actually slept in the Friday we left, but Grace came in and woke me up dragging me out of bed with anticipation. She refused to eat breakfast until her suitcase was packed.

It was a really great weekend. One of the fun things we got to do was reconnect with some very dear friends of ours. The Chesnut family manages the camp and it had been a year since we had seen them. Their kids are all getting so grown up! We worked with them back before we were dating at Lamoine Christian Camp. We also got to see the Spikereit family. Damien married us and we hadn't seen them for six years! The last time we saw them Josie was a newborn and she is now in first grade, and we had never met their youngest, Hudson. And of course they were surprised to meet all 3 of our kids as well.

The weekend was a great time to spend some fun quality time as a family. The weather was gorgeous and even almost cold at times. It definitely felt like fall. We love spending time outdoors and don't get to do it enough. We also had a chance to reflect on the season of parenting we are in. While we currently had our hads and laps full it won't be long before our kids are big enough to venture out and play with friends, entertaining themselves. I'm really enjoying this stage and trying to love every minute!

I think the most surprising aspect of the weekend was how seeing old friends caused us to reflect on where we've been and what God is currently doing in our lives. Sometimes it is a bit (yeah, just a bit) crazy around our house and that makes meaningful conversation a challenge. After the kids were in bed Jeremy and I sat on the porch and chatted, it was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. It makes me wonder what we will be doing next year for Labor Day weekend. We are really searching yet uncertain where God will have lead us even a year from now. But, I'm excited (and a little hesitant) to find out!

Paddle Boat Fun
Damien blobs Lilly- She flew!
Grace & Josie wait for a paddle boat.
Finding acorns and playing in the dirt. (Favorite activity of the weekend)
Paddle boat with Daddy, Grace, & Josie.
Hudson checks out Titus.Jeremy give AnnaLeah a hard time.
Faith having fun in the bounce house.
Humiston clan matching bandanas.
The girls loved climbing on the bunk beds in our room, although I wasn't brave enough to let one of them actually sleep on the top bunk.
Making smores.
Love this picture-I hope her life is always this centered on the cross.
Us & The Spikereits
The train- this was so cute and the kids loved it!
Faith had fun playing in the dirt.
Titus enjoyed lots of time in the backpack.
Grace driving her train car.

Great food, friends, fireworks, swimming, paddle boats, bounce house, playground, train, games, preaching, music, getting dirty, gorgeous weather, and family time wrapped into one weekend = amazing memories.

If you have a camp that does family camp near you you should totally give it a try- I guarantee you'll want to make it your new family tradition.