My little loves

I am really grateful for my little family. We are definitely not perfect and there is plenty of arguing, fighting, and sometimes all out war that breaks out around our house. But we're always trying to do better and I am a firm believer that following the prophet leads to deeper love and peace in the home. I am grateful for counsel to read scriptures together, pray together and have regular Family Home evenings. I am also grateful for each one of my little loves and for the things they do and say that make our family and home a good place to be.

Our Family Night lesson on Valentines was based on the one from the FHE manual called "Love at Home." As usual it was a bit of a challenge getting everyone gathered. I finally did only to have AP run to the bathroom. We waited a little while until everyone was getting restless and then started without him. We sang the opening song and had the prayer and still no AP. So I pulled out my paper punches and scrap paper and got D busy doing that. Still no AP (too much candy and junk got the better of him I guess). Since the lesson was primarily for him and AJ I decided to (impromptu style of course) start an activity. I had gotten each of the kids a pad of sticky notes (a different color for each child) and a pen (in the matching color) so they could start leaving love notes for family members around the house. So J and I helped AJ and D customize their sticky notes with punches. AJ made a cute one with the big and little cat punches to represent a mother cat with 3 kittens and then wrote me a sweet note thanking me for all that I do for them. At that poing AP joined us and we went on to the lesson.

The lesson started with the question, "Do you think Jesus would be comfortable if he came to visit us in our home?" Their quick and honest answer was, "Well it depends. . ." They further explained that on the days they were nice to each other he would, but when they were fighting a lot and being mean he definitely wouldn't. Perfect answer. I went on with the story in the lesson and we talked about how little things we do and say make a big difference in letting our family members know how much we love them and creating the kinds of feelings in our home that make us and Jesus want to be here. Then we ended with the challenge to use our sticky notes (as well as kind words and deeds) to help us create that atmosphere of love and kindness in our home. We then played a game where we each took a turn telling something nice that someone else in the family did for us that day without using names and everyone else had to guess who it was. It was really fun. Then we had a closing song, closing prayer, and we were done. It went pretty well!

And now for each of my little loves:

AP~full of imagination, spunk, and determination!

AJ ~ sweet and encouraging, and always creative!

D ~so bright and so fun, he lights up the whole room!