Kids Say the Darndest Things

This morning I was helping Gabe get ready for school when he asked me to tie his shoes. I told him it was time he learned how to do it for himself. For the past few years we've taken the easy way out and just bought him Velcro time and again. I figured we finally needed to tackle this issue. After all, he's in second grade now.

He told me, "That's impossible. I will never be able to tie my own shoes."

I questioned his statement, "What about when you're a grownup? Are you expecting me to drive to your house every morning to tie your shoes for you??"

He laughed at my suggestion. "Of course not. My wife will do it for me."

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Every time Zechariah gets an "owie" we always must pray to Jesus that it will feel better. If I don't remember, he will remind me, and request it.

As you probably know, awhile back Zechariah broke his arm and had it in a cast for several weeks. Every day we prayed that the cast would come off and he would be healed. So of course, when it really did come off, we were celebrating! In the mornings I spend time with my children writing in our prayer journals, and then we each read our prayers aloud. Zechariah likes to participate in this time also. For several days after the cast came off, Zech would always pray, "Thank you, Jesus, my red arm." This meant, in his own simple language, "Thanks for healing my arm."

After a week of praying this prayer, and thanking Jesus, he turned to me with a surprised expression and said, "Jesus is doctor?"

I thought it was wonderful that he put together this connection.


This year for Easter, we made sure to invite Jesus to the party. As soon as he made his special appearance, Zechariah ran up to him and began showing him all his "owies" hoping that he would be healed.

I love to see the faith of my child.

This morning, Zechariah hurt his arm on something and needed me to pray over him. I prayed our normal prayer to Jesus, and it wasn't enough this time. Zech requested, "Now to the God one." He wanted to make sure all his bases were covered!

If there was ever a child who reminded me more of Jesus' healing power, it's Zechariah. Time and again, God has protected him from harm. What the devil meant for bad, God turned it around for the best.

Just yesterday God showed me again, He has promised a long full life to Zechariah. We spent the last few days with my husband's grandparents who live in Wichita. The kids love going to Grandma & Granddad Power's house. They talk about it all year long, literally.

As we were all sitting down to breakfast, Zechariah thought he spotted a piece of broken candy corn on the table. Before we could react, or even know what he'd done, he popped it into his mouth. As soon as it happened, I remembered seeing a pill in the middle of the table, and I realized he had just eaten it. We couldn't get him to spit it out.

It gave him a horrible taste in his mouth, but he still continued to chew it up and swallow it. He was crying the whole time. It was too late. In just a few seconds he had eaten the 250 milligram prescription vitamin that was intended for Granddad.

Within 5 minutes he had a heat flash. His skin became bright red like a tomato and he had intense itching. He described it like bugs biting him all over his body.

We called the pharmacist to make sure the vitamin wouldn't harm him. During those ten minutes of waiting for the pharmacy to open, I could only describe it as pure torture. I had the feeling of panic and wanted to run my child to the hospital, and then I was reminded that God has promised him a long full life. I knew He was in control and we just needed to wait.

The pharmacist said he would be perfectly fine, the flushing of his skin would pass, and he just needed to make sure to drink plenty of water to keep from dehydration.

It was a scary ten minutes, but he was completely fine. I thank God for the life of my son. Every day that I have with him is a precious gift.

Mater

Yesterday Zechariah got a birthday card in the mail. This wasn't your normal card; it had a check for $10 inside.

He was rich!!

He could not wait to spend his money. He kept talking about all the things he was going to buy with it.

As we were grocery shopping today, we first stopped at the bank to cash his check. He was so excited to have the lady hand him back a real ten dollar bill. He told her about the things he wanted. The new Mario movie, some candy corn, and even some flowers.

We had to pick up a few items, and the suspense was killing him. He wanted to run to the movies and choose his favorite one. When the time finally came for him to make his choice, he found a toy Mater car that talks when you shake it, and the wheels turn sending it flying across the room. To a four year old boy, this was close to heaven. He loved it, and continued to shake it all throughout the rest of Wal-Mart.

When we got to the register, I took out his new ten dollar bill and he very proudly handed it over to the cashier. The man joked with him and asked if Zechariah was buying the toy for him. (As if an old man really needed a Cars toy.) Zech very stingily told him, "NO. It's for me!"

As we made our way outside to our car, Zech requested that he get to hold Mater on the drive home.


We were just pulling out of our parking spot when Zech asked in a very panicked voice, "Where is my money? I lost it."

I told him, "You used it to buy Mater, remember?"

"No. I need my money with the head on it."

He was referring to his $10 in cash. I reminded him again. "Zech, you spent it. You handed it to the man and he gave you back Mater."

My reassurances didn't help him. He started freaking out about it. "No. I need my other money. The paper one."

I tried to tell him we turned his paper money, into real money at the bank. Didn't he remember that nice lady? I told him his money was all gone, and now he gets to play with Mater. He wouldn't be able to leave the store with his toy if he didn't give them money. I asked him, "Aren't you happy you get to keep Mater?"

He was crying now, and getting mad at me because I just didn't understand. He wanted his money back.

When I explained to him that he could give the store back Mater, and then they would give him his money back, I expected him to get upset about the loss of his gift. However, he didn't. In fact, he was overjoyed to find that he could give the toy back and get his money again.

The money was all that mattered to him.

He didn't care about all the wonderful things he could buy with it. He just wanted to feel the money in his hand, or put it in his pocket so he could take it out and look at it whenever he wanted.

What was the point of that?

I can relate to the feeling. So often I just want to hold onto my money. I probably do it for a different reason then Zech, but still at the core it's the same thing. I'm afraid of what might happen if I run out. On way too many occasions I find myself worrying and thinking about money, or a lack of it. What's really sad is that we aren't even close to running out of money, yet, I fear that it could happen.

I'm trusting in the dollar to get me something, rather than God. There has never been a time in my life where I've been without. Yet, so often I see money leaving my hand, and I feel that same panicked feeling as Zechariah. I want my money back. I just want to hold onto it so I know that it's there.

It sounds really funny when I say it, but I'm sure there are times that God is blessing me, and I'm there trying to tell him, "No, God. Not today. You know I have this bill coming up and I'm going to need the money for that instead." As if I would know better than Him.

I'm just like Zechariah. His grandma was trying to give him a gift, a blessing, and he wasn't ready to accept it. He wanted to just hold onto the money, the piece of paper, and not appreciate what the money could actually buy for him. Money is a tool, meant to be used, not collected and stored up.

God has given me SO MUCH. I want to accept His blessings in my life, not hoard them for a later date. I must learn to trust God and depend on Him and His understanding, not my own.

I don't know if this is for anyone else, but God has really been hammering it into my head. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me. This applies to so much more than just money. It took a little, almost 4 year old boy, to bring home the point. God wants to bless me, but do I want to let Him?

"Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in obedience to him.
You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Yes, this will be the blessing
for the man who fears the LORD."
Psalm 128:1-4

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Gabe wasn’t feeling good this morning, so I kept him home from school for a little while to rest. He had an upset stomach. When he finally was ready to head to school, he replied to my question, “I feel much better... except there is a man inside my head and he won't stop kicking my brain."

I've never thought of it that way, but what a great way to describe a headache!

Colorado Springs

September has been a very busy, but very fun month. I'm not sure when things will quiet down; probably after Zech's birthday has passed. I love to stay busy. The only downside is that I don't have time to keep up on my blog. I feel like I keep saying this, but it's so true. Unfortunately, that's always the first thing I let go.

Zechariah's birthday is coming up next week, which means a big party, of course. I love to plan all the details and make sure that it will be a big success. I can't wait to share pictures with you of his Cars party. It's going to be SO much FUN!

Zech shares his birth month with his aunt Stefanie, my little sister. Stefanie has just recently moved to Colorado Springs to be a part of the DLA (Desperation Leadership Academy) for the next year. It's a very intense and challenging school that I am proud of Stefanie for joining. She is in for a long, but I'm certain fulfilling year of growing closer to God. I'm excited to hear all of her stories about what God is doing in and through her.

This past weekend, my mother, myself, and Zechariah all went to Colorado Springs to help Stefanie celebrate her 21st birthday. It's a big day and we didn't want to miss out on spending some of it with her.



Our days were packed with church, site seeing, church, eating, sleeping and driving! I'm really glad we went. It's always nice to be there, and see everything. Now when I talk to Stefanie I can picture what she'll be doing, and know the places she's at.


Our birthday dinner and then dessert later ...

While Stefanie is living in Colorado, she is staying with a host family. They are so wonderful! Gabe also has already taken a trip there when Stefanie first moved in, and came back with great esteem for the family.

If you're wondering about this picture, my sister can NEVER blow out all her candles. She always finds it too funny!



We had a wonderful time, and it went by too quickly. We were very sad to say goodbye again to Stefanie. I'll miss her lots, but at least we know she's only a 9 hour car ride away...
Happy Birthday, Sister! I love you!

She Found Me

I have never been more excited to write a blog post. This past Saturday was an answer to my prayers. God was here!

If you've kept up with my blog, you've probably read over the past two months my different posts Lost and Found.

I was searching for something very precious to me that I had lost. It wasn't your typical treasure you might want to get back; this was a person, who was worth far more to me than any ordinary treasure.

God placed her on my mind and in my heart for these past 6 weeks. I cannot believe it's only been 6 weeks! It feels like so much longer. When your heart hurts, time can pass by so slowly and seem to last forever.

I told you last time, I would never stop searching for Birgit, and I never did. Every day when I left my house, I would check the sidewalks for her bike. I would glance at every person to see if they were the same size and shape as my friend. I would always be prepared to run after her or stop my car to talk with anyone I might think was Birgit.

The last time I wrote, I was deeply saddened by the loss and the fact that she did not seem to want to be found. It seemed like God had oriented another meeting with Birgit, through a friend of a friend. But it didn't work out.

I never want to appear inauthentic on here, so I always strive to write exactly how I feel. I don't think anyone can benefit from lies or acts we put on wishing we were something we're not. I always want to tell the absolute truth, the way it really happens.

From a very young age I have been a painfully honest person. I say painfully because my honesty has gotten me into trouble a time or two. There have been opportunities that I could have hidden things, but I always feel the need to confess. I cannot portray myself as anything but the truth. I must have a clear conscience.

I say all that, to tell you the days following the rejection I felt from not getting a call, I was depressed. I didn't want to do anything, or see anyone. I just laid around my house doing practically nothing. I took care of my family, I made sure my children got to school, but I felt so lost myself.

My heart ached so much that I think I brought sickness upon myself. I never miss church for anything, but I couldn't bring myself to go. I was so upset at God. People kept telling me I should be happy that at least I was given the opportunity to reconnect with her.

That's not how I felt. In fact, it was just the opposite. I complained to God that He never should have brought about the chance. I could handle that it wasn't meant to be, but not that she chose to not see me. That hurt too much.

God brought a friend to share a few words of encouragement, and I was able to move on. I shared a little about that the last time I wrote.

I was moving on, but still felt distant. I want to point out; this was my own feelings, not the truth of the situation. God had not moved, or done me wrong, I was the one who began to hold a grudge.

Last Sunday, my pastor was talking about Experiencing God. His number one point was "Be Open to Supernatural Moments." I actually felt like this was a cruel joke. I love to hear from God in a supernatural moment; however this past time I felt like I had been done wrong. We had Friendship Group that night, and I found I couldn't participate in the discussion. There were still things me and God needed to deal with, and honestly I didn't feel like even trying.

By Wednesday things were getting much better, and I was starting to get back to my normal self. Daily, my children and I have prayer journal time together before school, and often God shares things with me there. He sends me promises and reminds me of all that He's brought me through.

I think sometimes we just have to allow time to pass, and slowly God will mend our broken hearts. I don't think it's a switch that can just be flipped, especially if the hurt goes deep down inside of us.

This girl lies at the very core of my being. I have never felt such a connection to a person before. I don't understand it, but I am connected somehow, and I cannot change that fact.

On Wednesday night, my pastor was talking again about Experiencing God, and he had people share different experiences. I finally could see what God had done, and not factor in my feelings to the equation. It made it from just lip service down to my heart. I was at peace.

It was something my pastor said that really stood out to me and made me realize the truth of the situation. He asked the question, "Have you allowed God to have His agenda for you today, or your own?"

All this time it was my own agenda. I wanted it. I didn't really care if God wanted it, I was certain it was supposed to happen because I wanted it so badly. I figured God wouldn't give me this desire if it wasn't supposed to be. I never really asked Him what He wanted to happen. I think there are lots of times that we get in the way. We think because it's a really good thing that it must be a God thing.

So I finally had peace about the situation. I was going to move on, and just be thankful that I had the opportunity that first time to talk with my friend. It obviously made a huge impact on me; maybe it did something for her too. Sometimes we just never know.

The strangest thing happened to me that night. I had a dream about Birgit. She found me, and came to my house. I knew she was making deliveries now, and in my dream she forgot I didn't buy something from her, and she made a delivery to me anyways.

I woke up broken again. I cried with my husband, and told him it just wasn't fair. During the day I would think about her once or twice, I would look on the sidewalks while I drove around, but I wasn't going to go out of my way anymore. If God wanted something to happen, He was going to have to do it Himself.

I would go to bed each night thinking about something totally different, and I would dream about Birgit. She would come to my house. She would find me in the dream. I woke up so distraught, but I would deal with it. I was not going to make myself crazy anymore. My agenda was done.

For three nights in a row, I kept having the same dream. She would find me.

On Saturday afternoon, I was sewing some bean bags for Zechariah's 3rd birthday that is coming up in a couple of weeks. My daughter yelled to me that Grandma was here with her new car. I told her, "Well, open the door then." I wasn't going to get up if it was my mom. She could just let herself in.

The next words she said about made my heart stop. "Mom! It's not Grandma. It's Birgit!"

I ran to the door! I thought surely, she must be wrong. But it was! It was Birgit at my house! She found me, just like in my dreams. It was God's agenda this time. It was not me.

She said she was in the neighborhood making deliveries and she remembered that I wanted her to call me. I could have hugged her I was so happy, and I'm not the hugging type. I have not been able to stop smiling since. I got to spend an hour talking with her. I got her email address and I even got my picture taken with her. It was exactly as I wanted it to be.

God is so WOW! This was such a supernatural moment and I experienced God in a way I never have before. When we pray, He really does hear us. Don't ever doubt that.


"My steps have stayed on your path;
I have not wavered from following you.
I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God.
Bend down and listen as I pray.
Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways." Psalm 17:5-7
Birgit Remikull

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Tonight our church had our annual Baptismal picnic at Shawnee Lake. The food there is always fantastic!

As soon as we got home, all three kids were complaining about how hungry they were. I didn't feel the least bit sorry for them, as they had plenty of opportunity to fill their bellies. They preferred playing to eating.

Gabe corrected me when I said all he ate was a couple of desserts. He had in fact had "some turkey and a patty." I thought this was kinda funny since it was actually chicken and hamburgers that were served. I have never referred to a hamburger as a patty before, but apparently someone around my child has. I'm just glad he's graduated from calling them "circle meat thingy's". In the past year we've tried to feed our children "normal" food so they don't miss out on the good things in life.

A little bit later we were still discussing Gabe's choice of food, and Titus assured me that he saw the plate that Gabe took, and he joked to a friend that it was a very well rounded meal, a piece of chicken and a hamburger. He was eating the good stuff!

Ariel heard this conversation, and told me in her know it all voice, "yeah, I agree with Dad. It was a very well rounded meal." She then proceeded to describe the shape of the chicken as being very circular, and the hamburger was also round.

I thought this was especially hilarious since we had just been having a conversation on the drive home from the lake about how much she had to learn in life, and how Titus and I have finally reached the point where we realize we will never know enough. That's not somewhere you get to easily. I remember being her age and feeling like I knew everything there was to know in the world...

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

I feel like I've taken a huge break from the blogging world and I'm very happy to say that I'm back. Life is slowing down, and I'm getting much more free time to do the things that I love.

A couple weeks ago, my daughter celebrated her 10th birthday. We felt it was a pretty big deal, and wanted to have a huge birthday bash. We're talking; I've been planning and getting ready for it for over 6 months!

She was especially pleased to finally be able to say that she is now a decade old! I can remember that feeling of accomplishment when I was her age. It really was something to say that you made it into the double digits.



If you're not familiar with Kit Kittredge, she is the American Girl from the Great Depression. She also celebrates her 10th birthday, so this seemed to be the perfect choice for my daughter to pick. Last year during her gifted classes, they spent several weeks learning about this time period. She was very fascinated by it, and read all the Kit books.

I found a new love for her too, as I was researching for my daughter's party. I actually checked out every Kit book from the public library and took thorough notes so our party could be very accurate. I wanted to gather as much information as possible, and put it into action.

Kit has a love for writing, and enjoys making her own family newspaper. Each day she would write articles about what went on in the home that day, and printed it special for her father to read when he walked in the front door.

I thought it would be fun to have my daughter's birthday invitation in the form of a newspaper. I tried to copy as much from Kit as I could. I even considered making the same mistakes that Kit's typewriter made, but figured nobody else would even understand. They would probably just figure I was bad at typing.

Something I always enjoy doing is working on a costume for the birthday kid to wear. Since we don't celebrate Halloween, I have to use all other opportunities to dress up my kids. There is so much fun in pretending to be something different.


This project started out to be fun, and ended up frustrating me to no end. I found an old 1940's dress pattern on EBay. I intended to alter it a little to make it just like Kit's feed sack birthday dress. This was much easier said than done. I spent hours and hours with my mother pouring over that pattern. In the 40's the sizes were very different than now, and they didn't explain things as well either. We had to guess and do some trial and error several times. The end result was fabulous I thought, and gave me that nice sense of accomplishment.

You would think after I spent the hours going over my daughters's dress, it would be simple to duplicate it in a doll size. Maybe it would, but I didn't even give it a second thought to try. I was running out of time, and I wanted the doll dress to be a surprise for her. When she came home from school on her party day, the doll was dressed waiting for her. I figured as long as they were made out of the same fabric, and a little similar, it would be great. I was right, she didn't care and it saved me a lot of time.


My favorite part of the party was coming up with a craft for the girls to do. I needed to find something that Kit might have been able to make. I know during the Depression things were limited and they would have to be very crafty to make their toys to play with. I love to be creative, and I couldn't resist when I saw this idea in a Family Fun magazine. In fact, I actually saw the idea first in the magazine and then tried to come up with when I would be able to make it.

I researched egg cartons and found they were invented in 1911, so technically Kit could have made this doll house furniture. In one of the books her family gets some chickens to raise so they can sell the eggs to make a little extra money. Kit and her friend, Stirling, sell them door to door. However, Kit packaged her eggs in half dozen amounts wrapped in newspaper.


We made doll houses with egg carton furniture. I had to purchase 50 boxes and cut them up, hot glue them, paint them, and carpet them, all before the party began. Originally I was going to have the girls make everything themselves, but after a trial run that took me an entire day, I figured I had a lot of prep work ahead of me.

Fortunately, I am blessed with a wonderful mother who is always willing to lend a hand. We spent an entire afternoon building houses for the girls! I thought building houses was difficult and painting them was very time consuming, however I was very wrong. Compared to cutting egg cartons, the houses were a cinch.

I worked for days cutting out furniture. My daughter was allowed to have 10 friends since she was turning 10, and that meant 10 sets of furniture. I believe I had 20 different pieces of furniture, so 200 items total. It was an adventure for sure! I was completely wiped out by the time the party came around.


I never could have done it without the help of my family and friends. I needed 50 egg cartons saved! I am so grateful to everyone for all the help I was given. In fact, I was overwhelmed with egg cartons and touched that I had such good participation collecting them. I asked one question, and my friends came through for me. Thank you all!!!

Our furniture included: Beds!


Chairs! Each girl received 4 chairs for her dining room table, and 1 computer chair


Toilets! I loved designing the bathroom. They were given a toilet and bathtub.


Kitchen sink complete with stove and burners!


A couch! And they got a footstool!


Lamps! Each girl was given two lamps, one for the bedroom and one for the living room.


My daughter chose a tie-dyed blue carpet for everyone's house.

Here's their almost complete set of furniture. The computer and footstool is not pictured.


I know there was no rationing going on during the Depression, but it still would have gone on during Kit's lifetime. She would have been almost 20 during World War II.

I thought it would be fun to give the girls their own ration cards. I had great difficulty deciding what I wanted to ration out for them to help them really understand what it was like. I ended up deciding to ration out candy. I know sugar was a big thing that was rationed, so I thought we would have a candy store, and I would give them some ration stamps.

Each girl was given 18 birthday ration stamps. All of the candy was 4 stamps, and then gum was only 2 stamps. So each girl got 4 pieces of candy and 1 piece of gum by the end of the party. Once the stamps were gone, the candy was no longer available. I told them it must be saved for other people. This was difficult to understand for some, as there was TONS of candy leftover. It appeared to them they could continue to eat and eat.


I also made sure to only have candy that Kit could have eaten in her lifetime. This was so much fun to research for me, and I was a little disappointed that the girls weren't more interested.

I found out so many fun facts about each candy bar. The most interesting to me was the Kit Kat. I thought already it seemed appropriate that we would have Kit Kats since this was a Kit Kittredge party. But even more interesting, the Kit Kat bar came out when Kit was 11 years old, and it was introduced to the public on August 29th, my daughter's birthday.

So... enough talking about the party. It's party time!!!


The girls were all encouraged to bring their own American girl dolls. Only one of my daughter's friends had a doll. The rest belong to my family. As you all know, I bought Felicity when I was young, and what you may not know, I bought Molly for my sister as a Christmas gift one year. The dolls are very special to me. They are a thing of my past which makes me love them all the more.

I didn't have to do any prep work on this part of the party, and it actually turned out to be my daughter's favorite thing we did. American Girl sells mystery games for a few of the girls, so I found the Kit Kittredge mystery on EBay.

The girls were all assigned different characters and played along as we all solved the mystery. Kit's mother's necklace ends up missing and it's up to Kit and her friends to find out what happened to it, and who took it.

I loved how much the girls got into the game. You can't see it in a photo, but they each took on the different rolls and even gave them accents. It was so much fun! If you're doing a Kit party, I would highly recommend this game!


The game suggested we feed everyone oatmeal cookies, carrot sticks, and cream cheese with jam sandwiches. All of these foods were something that Kit might have eaten.




My daughter did not want to have the cake that Kit had on her birthday, a chocolate roll cake, so I let her choose something else. She requested a watermelon cake that my sister was kind enough to help out and make for me. It was delicious! The cake even looks like a watermelon on the inside, chocolate chip seeds and all.


When the girls all arrived and set their presents down on the table, I tried to slyly insert my daughter's "Kit doll". She immediately found it, and ran excitedly to me yelling, "Mom! There is a box that looks just like the size of an American girl doll."

I tried to talk her out of it, and said, "What friend do you think could afford to buy you a doll??? I mean, come on, they cost over a hundred dollars!" It never worked. She was convinced!


It was so much fun to see her open the doll. It brought back good memories of my little sister opening hers years ago.


We had to get another group picture now that Kit was out of her box and unwrapped.


The girls enjoyed using their ration stamps. The button candy seemed to be the biggest hit of all.


The time finally came... after hours of labor. It was painting time! The girls enjoyed putting their own special touches on each piece of furniture. You could definitely tell by the end of the night who the artists were in the crowd.



My daughter had one friend that I was simply amazed by her creativity. She did a phenomenal job and put such touches on her furniture. I never would have thought to accent things the way she did.


I was a little disappointed that my daughter didn't get into the painting a little more. She probably only stuck around for the first 45 minutes of painting. She quickly gave up and had her own playtime with a few other girls who quit early. The die hards of the group painted for over 2 hours until about 12:30am!

Here's a photo of my daughter's dolls together before getting into bed. Annette is on the right in her party pajamas I sewed for her. Kit is wearing Felicity's nightgown.


Once all the paint was put away, and we all had a last opportunity to shop at the candy store before bed, the girls got cozy in their sleeping bags to watch the movie Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. We thought it was only appropriate to end the night with that movie.

The dolls were tucked in for their own sleepover upstairs. I wonder how late they stayed up??? I think most of the girls lasted until about 4am. After Kit Kittredge was over, they put on Soul Surfer, a special request by one of my daughter's friends.


My mom was kind enough to stay the night with me, and we corralled all the girls together. They awoke to a delicious breakfast cooking on the stove. This was something I read about in one of Kit's mystery books, fried apples with buttermilk biscuits dripping in sorghum molasses. It was a little heavy for me. I don't think I would eat it very often, or even again. My daughter on the other hand, loved it!


Our last activity before the girls went home was our clothing swap. In one of the Kit books, she gives her winter coat to a homeless girl, after she has outgrown it. I thought it would be fun for the girls to bring old clothes of theirs to donate. But first, we made sure to have a clothing swap amongst the girls. Almost all of them went home with at least one item, my daughter chose several. The rest of the clothing was donated to Goodwill.

For fun, we had the girls put on a Fashion show for us grownups. You could tell those who were a little uncomfortable from those who think they're born to be models. My daughter thinks she's in the model category.



During clothing changes, we had a couple of the girls put on candy commercials for us. It was a lot of fun!



My last activity we didn't end up having time for. If you remember awhile back we made a shadow puppet theater. I thought it would be fun at nighttime to let the girls put on some American girl skits.

Sometime, my daughter and her brother's will have to use the new shadow puppets! I thought I would include the coloring book pages I made on the computer to use to draw my shadow puppets.

All in all, I think it was a very memorable party. We didn't get much sleep that night, but we had lots of fun to make up for it. I hope it was a perfect day for my daughter. She deserves it! I love her so much!


Happy 10th Birthday!

“Pack uP your TroubLes in your old Kit bag and smiLe, Boys, sMile …”

*UPDATE*  I recently made a coloring page for just Kit. You can click here to visit the original post and download the full copy of it.