Camp Mommy

This past week my husband was out of town taking the kids from our church youth group to camp.  My girls LOVE their daddy, and especially love being tucked in bed by him each night.  Occasionally, he gets home late and the bed time routine is done solo by me, but there are usually a few tears shed as the girls miss their daddy.  So you can understand my concern at going solo for 4 nights straight!  The days usually aren't a big deal since I'm a stay-at-home mom and that's something they are already used to.  I decided to get creative.  On the spur of the moment after telling Zion that Daddy would be gone for a few days and seeing her eyes already begin to well up with tears I created "Camp Mommy".  I had no idea what that would mean, but it worked!  She thought this sounded fun and seemed okay at the thought of being without her favorite man for a few days.

I decided to let our normal routine kind of slack and added a few fun surprises.  We camped out in the living room the first evening and watched a couple of movies and stayed up much later than normal.  Several good friends made guest appearances and made the girls feel special by just spending time with them and even bringing a few surprises for the girls.  We did crafts, colored, played, went to a splash park and basically did everything I could to keep our minds occupied and off of the fact that Daddy was out of town.

I think all of us had a lot of fun.  The girls were very well behaved and still speak with excitement about "Camp Mommy".

Here's one of the crafts that was a big hit with the girls:

We decorated a couple of Daddy's old undershirts with miscellaneous items from my craft drawer and some fun things my friend Veronica brought over.  We used markers, Aleene's Tacky Glue, buttons, sequins, lace, ribbon, and anything else we could get our hands on.  After the glue dried, Veronica, Chazaq & I were the audience for a wonderful fashion show.  Zion & Zoan were so proud to show off their creations.  And when Daddy came home, he was quite impressed with the transformation of his old shirts!  I think the next time the girls want new dress up clothes, this will be on the agenda for sure!  Plus it kept them entertained for hours!  Anything that can do that is a hit in my book!