Stockade Campout

This past Friday night and Saturday was our church's annual Stockade campout. Stockade is the Wed night program at our church for boys in 3rd through 5th grades. Last year it was just my hubby and son G, but this year son L got to join them. He was so excited!! Here they are about to leave:


They camped overnight together in a 3 man dome tent, on the ground (no foam pads - my hubby was really sore the next day!), went on a 4 mile hike, and did some fun activities together, one of which was building these wooden bird houses! Aren't they amazing??! We can't wait to hang them in our yard and see which type of bird makes a home there.

While hubby and the older boys were away, the other 3 children and I had our usual pizza and movie night, and we let 5 year old C pick our "free movie" which was a highlight for him. We rent most of our videos at a rental store that has a free section, so we pay for one and get one free.

The next morning we went to the MOPS consignment sale at our church and bought a few clothes that various children needed. It is always a blessing to find things we need at such great prices! And then we went grocery shopping. I turned it into a training time for our oldest, daughter G. I gave her the list and $100, and she did the shopping. She found everything in the store (with a little help from me a couple times), scanned everything herself, and paid. She faithfully kept track of our running total on her little purse calculator to be sure we didn't go over. She did a super job!! And it was easy for me because all I had to do was push the cart and watch the 2 boys!

I'm so thankful that both hubby and I were able to have some focused time with just a few of our children. We need to take advantage of every opportunity, redeeming the time!