Spreading Kindness

At the end of December Janay asked our laurel class presidency to come up with a theme for our class to focus on in 2011; something they could work on as a class that could also help unify them. They decided they wanted to focus on service, and use the "Pay It Forward" idea. So we have challenged the girls to do some kind of service each week. I made this bucket and filled it with bite size candy bars so that if they have done service that week they get to take from the bucket on Sunday.

We have also been drawing names from our class at the beginning of each month and spend that month doing secret service for whose name we drew. I have made slips with each of their names, addresses, favorite candy, and favorite color on. We are hoping that this will help them get to know each other better as they are serving one another. I made the poster of a garden and as a reminder added the words, "Spread Kindness like Wildflowers. . . and watch it grow." We punched out little flowers to put on for each act of service we do for our secret persons. Once the garden is full of flowers we will do something really fun as a class. Our goal is to have the garden full by the end of the year, but I'm thinking (hoping) they will get it done sooner than that!

eight cows. . .

Every Spring our ward puts on a theme dinner. It is seriously one of the funnest church activities we have ever gone to! People sign up to host tables and as hosts come up with a theme, decor, and food assignments for the other couples assigned to their table. We have three families in our ward with celiac disease so of course we all go together. Last year Mike and Terri were our hosts and did a cowboy theme with dutch oven cooking. This year I signed up to host. J suggested we do an island theme since haystacks are so easy to do gluten free. Someone had told me that an island theme had been done a couple of years ago so J came up with Johnny Lingo and we added cows to our decor. Here we are, Johnny and Mahana.
Janay went with me early to help decorate, and supplied me with tropical bowls and serving dishes, as well as the tableware. Love that lady! Here she and Scott are with Randy and Elizabeth. Doesn't Randy make the best Mr. Harrison? He wasn't even trying, but I thought the hat and beard were a perfect fit for that character. Since I couldn't find cow pictures I ended up drawing my own (I wish I would have thought to have every couple's picture taken in front of them), and J suggested adding a sign above the cows that said, "Every woman is an 8-cow wife," but I thought the thing started at 7 (actually started at 6), so I ran out of time. Oh well.
I came upon these little cow chocolates at TJ Maxx the day before; couldn't believe how perfect they were! Everyone thought they were hilarious. And I got the cow tales at the Dollar store the day of thinking I could pass them around as an ice breaker and have everyone tell their engagement story, but the conversation was fun enough on it's own that I forgot to use them!
Denise brought the yummiest gelato for dessert; a coconut flavor and papaya/mango blend. Mmmm, I'm craving it just thinking about it. She served her mission in Hawaii so she had the flavors down! Anyway there she and her hubby are at the end of the table with Brooke and Scott to the left.
And here we are with Mike. Terri couldn't make it this year because MoTab is in the middle of recording. Missed her!
And you see why Mike is such a great Scout Leader! Always goofing around. Seriously though he is so patient with AP and the rest of those boys, we are really grateful to have him working with them.
There were some great tables there; people get pretty serious about their decor and it's so fun to see how creative people are! I really wish I had gotten pictures of the other tables. There was a Sound of Music table, Happy Days, Nascar, Pirates, Chinese take-out, game night, and 80's prom (complete with reflective disco balls and prom pictures). Hilarious! In fact, I'm already looking forward to next year's dinner. . .

FHE for 2-year-olds

Hmmm. I think the most important thing to having a successful FHE with a two-year-old is to make sure it is very interactive and very quick. Just think nursery. With one child it's a little bit easier because you can really gear it towards him. If you have older kids, it's a good idea to just have something there to keep the little one busy during the lesson like paper, crayons, paper punches, etc. With our family if I'm doing the lesson J is entertaining D and vice versa. Anyway, here are a few sample lessons that might help:

Topic: Love
Sing "we are a happy family"
Show pictures of various family members that your child knows and loves.
"Look! It's grandma. We love her so much don't we? And there's [cousin]. He's so fun to play with. We sure love him don't we?" And so on. Show pictures of Heavenly Father and Jesus and tell who they are. "They love us SO much and we sure love them." Ask child for a hug and tell them how much you love their hugs and kisses and how much you love them (they might say no in which case say, "oh that makes me so sad because I love you so much and your hugs show me that you love me too"). Close with a song and prayer and have a treat you all really love!

Topic: Creation
sing "Two little eyes" (p268 CSB)
Get out some play dough (you can make edible versions, recipes found on line, if you're worried about your little one eating it), or some paper and fingerpaints
Roll the dough into balls or help him paint a picture
"wow! Look at the creation you made! That is so special, just like you. Let's put it in a special place. Did you know Heavenly Father created us? Heavenly Father created us and we are so special!"
You could also just talk about the earth's creation. Have several balls out. Play with them a little bit, talk about how they are round. Then show a globe. "This is earth. It's round like these balls. We live on earth. Let's make our own balls." While making the balls continue talking about earth's creation. "Heavenly Father created the earth so we could live here." Make the play dough ball(s). "Look we created a ball just like the earth."

Topic: Word of Wisdom
song, "head, shoulders, knees, and toes"
"Wow aren't our bodies neat?" Run around, play catch, try to lift some heavy things.
"Wow our bodies are strong. Our bodies are strong because we take good care of them."
Have some bite-size fruit and veggies to sample from or a fruit smoothie, yogurt or some other healthy snacks.
"these food make our bodies strong. We need to eat good things to take care of our bodies."

Topic: Saying Prayers
Make a chart with pictures by the words
Dear Heavenly Father. . . picture of Heavenly Father and Jesus
Thank you. . . things he would be grateful for
Please bless. . . you get the idea
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen . . . picture of the savior
Show the chart, explain, and practice. Whisper as you describe kneeling down, folding your arms, bowing your head. If your child is anything like my boys, they might get a little silly, but just quietly tell them you are going to say the prayer and hope that he will join you. Try to get him to kneel with you on your lap. If he just won't then don't give him any more attention and just say the prayer.

Hopefully that helps!

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!

SERIOUSLY simple!

Yup, Valentines dinner really was about as simple to make as it gets!

Gluten-free crepes
1/2 cup egg whites
2 T water
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup tapioca starch (I used my tapioca/rice mix)

Mix it all together and pour onto skillet (or in my case pizelle iron, which made it that much more simple) and cook. I have to admit it took about an hour, but I made 100 crepes (we don't often have bread around because the GF stuff is so expensive and I don't like to make it that much so when I do something "breadish" I make a BUNCH to keep around for snacking or to freeze for later).

Chicken "salad" was just canned chicken mixed with light miracle whip and some Lawrys season salt. The ham spread was just canned ham blended with cream cheese. Took a total of about 5 minutes to put together.

Voile! An easy peasy valentine meal for the whole family to love. Oh, BTW the table was all decorated courtesy of Dollar Tree (which is also where I got the cute heart baskets to put their goodies in).

P.S. For the lemon curd:
1 cup ricotta cheese
3 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1 t lemon juice (or in my case 1/4 t lemon extract)
Put one tablespoon down the middle of each crepe, roll, and put in 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Top with berries and whipped cream.

Love at home

Just thought I would share a little bit of the love we've had around our house this month! At the beginning of the month we made a paper heart chain to count down the days to Valentines' day and hung it on the little shelf I have in our entry. Here it is on day 8:

I also added some paper hearts we made to this bowl I have on the trunk in the front room

And a little love garland to greet those coming in

We did marble painting one Sunday evening early in the month. Put paper in a plastic tub/bin with some different colors of paint and let the kids roll it around. I used rubber bouncy balls and tried to make it a game by putting two in the same tub and having AJ and D hold different ends of the bin and have them try and avoiding their balls touching but it didn't really work. . .

After the papers dried we cut them up to make cards for writing notes to each other. We had made felt envelopes the first FHE of the month using this tutorial from the Crafty Chicks. They turned out super cute but we did iron on their names, so for privacy purposes I'm not showing them.

On Valentine's day my sweetheart brought home flowers. He actually brought me home an arrangement he put together himself on Friday while the florist was taking his order. Then he brought me another on V-day. He wanted to incorporate blue into both since it is my main decor color and probably favorite color over all (although I have so many). Can you guess which one he did and which one he had the florist do? I like the one he came up with better even if it's more patriotic than 'tinesy.

I planned a candlelight dinner for our family to have together. Here D is contemplating the set-up, while I am putting together the food.

Here it is right before everyone got home

I made crepes with my pizelle iron. The iron made them super quick and easy and so pretty!

I made chicken salad and a ham spread for the filling and did a veggie tray to go along. I am all about simple! I have learned that the kids usually enjoy simple better anyway and I am a lot less stressed which make everyone happier!

Of course D was totally fascinated by the candles and had to go around the table and blow them all out

At first AP was mad that D was blowing out all of the candles, but after being told to let it go (a couple of times) he decided to join him

I got red and white sparlking grape juice to go with our meal and the kids loved it!

Well D didn't enjoy the kick so much. . .

but he loved the bubbles!

I found these cute baskets and filled them with a few goodies for each of the kids

Including a webkinz for each of them

Then for dessert we had crepes filled with lemon curd and topped with berries and whipped cream. So yummy! We finished off the night with lesson from the FHE manual on love. I will try and include more on that in a follow up post!

Christmas is (by AP)

Christmas. What does that mean to you? To some, it means giving. To others, it means getting. To most, it's a time to look forward to. It can mean being extra good, no school, and spending more time with family and friends. To me, it's all of these things and more. To me it also means driving through town with my family and looking at all of the lights, having fun and celebrating Christ's Mas (meaning more of Christ).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the reason we celebrate Christmas is because every now and then, everyone needs a little more of Christ, a little more hope, and a little more love. That's what Christmas is all about.

This is my testimony. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Love this man

I am so grateful for your love, encouragement, and all you do for me and our little family. We're so lucky to have you and hope you have an awesome birthday!

tis' the season

. . .of cookie baking and decorating!

While decorating cookies, AP poured sprinkles in his hand then dumped them in his mouth. AJ exclaimed, "[AP]! That is wasting them!" He said, "No it's not. There going straight to my belly where they would end up anyway."

Motherhood is like that sometimes

Today I thought my son was sleeping. He was tired. I put him in his room for a nap. It got very quiet for about 30 minutes. And then he hollered for me. When I opened the door, I got quite the sensory experience. I have heard horror stories about little ones finger painting with the goods in their diapers. I was grateful to never have had this experience. Especially because it is one of the things I was sure I couldn't handle should it ever happen to me. Well I handled it. I spent this afternoon scrubbing the walls and doors, steaming the carpet and rocker, and washing bedding (I have to say I have never been more grateful for my steamer and the box of medical gloves I keep on hand). I think the smell is finally gone and everything is thoroughly disinfected. It wasn't pleasant, but on the upside his room was long past due for a good deep clean. Oh, and I am now fully motivated to potty train.

all about hair

D (while running his hands through my hair): Oh mommy, you hair is so pretty. It looks really great. I'n glad you fixed it so nice.

Proper trash disposal

On Wednesday AP took out the trash, but instead of putting it in the bin he left it sitting beside the garage door. Well the cats tore into it and scattered it everywhere.This has happened before so this time J had him write a paper about proper trash removal. Here it is:

There's a right way and a wrong way to take out the trash. The right way is to put the trash in the trash can. By this I mean the big green trash can by the side of the house. If its not there, look for it. It's probably by the curb waiting for the trash guy to come pick it up.

There are also many wrong ways to take out the trash. I'll give you four.
1. If the cans not there, leave it to the cats.
2. Don't do it at all
3. Throw it in the neighbor's yard (not saying I do this; I never have, this is just an example I am giving).
4. Eat it (yuk! Who would do this? Again, just an example).
[insert something here that was so small we couldn't read it]Oh, is my writing shrinking? Sorry. Here! Too big for you?! Oops, looks like I forgot to put the trash in the can. . . which is why I'm writing this paper.

Here are some reasons, not, not, NOT to forget to put the trash in the big green can:
1. So you won't get punished
2. So you don't end up with an extra big mess to clean up
3. So you don't have to write a page-long paper about proper trash disposal (like this one; and if you are copying this, shame on you! You should now have to write 3 (yes I said THREE) papers.

The end

In my spare time. . .

As you may be able to tell from my lack of posts recently, it has been very busy around here! In my spare moments I have been working on these:
They are Christmas gifts for our Young Women. Each leader (we have 13) contributed their favorite Christmas stories to be made into books for each of our girls (we have close to 50). Sweet Jill copied and bound them and I have been embellishing them. I am glad to say they are now finished! Now I can use my spare time to get ready for Christmas. . .

Dressing up is fun to do

This was D's dress rehearsal beginning of the month. Our church carnival was the first Tuesday in October so we had to come up with costumes right away. D has been thoroughly obsessed with Larryboy (superhero from VeggieTales), and pretends to be him all the time. So that was the obvious choice for his Halloween attire. I just wasn't sure how I was going to pull off the plunger ears until I came upon these canning funnels. He LOVED it! As soon as he saw himself in the mirror he had to test out his super-suction action. I had to use good old paper and tape for the eyes, etc., since I bought the hat and funnels the morning of the carnival and ended up only having about 10 minutes to throw it all together. Later I sewed on felt eyes/nose.

And here he is Hallow's eve minus the nose. . . I couldn't get the hat off long enough to attach it until AP and AJ had already left with their friends to get candy.

AP wanted to be a vampire banana. He went around telling everyone, "I want to drink your fruit juice." I don't know where he comes up with this stuff.
AJ wore one of my old ballet costumes and was a snow princess. We did have snow a couple of days before Halloween, but only rain while they were trick or treating.

This picture of them all together was taken the night of the carnival.

And D never actually made it out trick-or-treating. He had a great time helping J and I hand out candy. Especially when Mario and Luigi came to the door. It was cute to hear him telling all of the trick-or-treaters things like, "Oh, wow," "Dat's a cool cosume," "Happy Halloween," "here's you candy," and "Have fun guys!"
and really, who needs candy when you have such a nice cat?
AP snapped this shot of us at the end of the night. Pretty funny for the kid who is always complaining about our demonstrations of affection.Hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

Football!

J took the two older kids to the BYU game on Saturday. They had a good time, but at some point during the game AP said he needed to use the bathroom and disappeared. After he had been gone a while, J decided to go check on him. He saw his shoes under a stall and asked,
"Hey bud, are you ok in there"
"Yah."
"You've been in there kind of a long time."
"I know. I just like it in here."
In his defense, AP told me the game was really loud and the guy right behind him kept yelling in his ear, "you shall not pass" whenever the opposing team got close to the goal line. On the other hand the bathroom was very quiet. . .