Family Home Evening - Week #2

We have stayed on schedule for the second week of the year! This week's lesson was on Jesus and his many names. We had a rocky start as I found I cannot play the piano/sing/AND proactively encourage everyone to sing. So, after a little "Mommy Time Out" where I did some brainstorming, I found that lds.org has the entire children's songbook in mp3 format. Problem solved! We had a great song to open our lesson and moved on the the short lesson. We talked about nicknames - Robert said his nickname was "Bob" (who calls him Bob???) and Joshua learned that his nickname was Josh, Benjamin's nickname is Ben, Genevieve's nickname is Ginny and Dad says his nickname is "stud." Definitely a must-blog moment.

The kids wanted to color again for the activity, but this week was a puzzle which we glued to another sheet of paper and added to our FHE wall.

Before FHE, the kids decided to go for a spin ... literally. I think Josh started it by spinning like a top, but Ben and Ginny soon followed (although Ginny's idea of spinning is to run around in a circle with her arms out rather than spinning in place). Ben was the first to fall - and he fell HARD. He jumped right back up and staggered around saying, "I'm alright!" Ginny ran around her circle crying "I'm bizzy!"

Note: It is really hard to get pictures of three spinning kids!

I'm Too Young to have a Teenager!!!!!

Today it is official - Robert has turned 13 years old. "Old" ... ewww the word just sounds ancient. Robert decided this year that he wanted a slumber part - again. I would have vetoed the idea, but Robert bypassed me and went straight for Dad who said "sure, sounds great!" So, we celebrated Robert's birthday last Friday (because this coming Friday Mommy and Daddy have a get-away trip planned for Daddy's birthday).

Friday started with a long overdue trip to Costco. I took the boys out of school as well because there was no way I was going to get back in time to pick them up (after I volunteered in Josh's class ... we painted - enough said) and also because the boys were in deperate need of hair cuts. For the hair cuts, I sent the boys in one at a time and left the rest with Robert, which didn't turn out as well as I had expected because (1) I decided to get my hair cut too, and (2) the ladies were way to efficient. So, at one point Ben, Josh, and myself were all in seperate chairs while Robert was outside with Ginny (I was really wishing he already had his cell phone). Anyway, Josh and Ben both got balloons which they promptly teased Ginny with so I was not at all upset when we got to Costco and Josh, opening the door too soon so as to make sure he was the first one out, let his balloon go. Josh was very very upset. Ben, thought this was hilarious and started teasing Josh, until Mommy quietly went to the other door and let Ben's balloon go too. Then no-one was happy (see the picture?) It was probably littering since they had to come back down sometime, but a great object lesson in the consequences of teasing (I hope).

We got home just in time to unload the car and set out to pick up pizza before the party. Everyone snarffed their way through 4 pizzas and two cases of soda - pretty good for 4 teenage boys and three toddlers. Then the teens wanted to start their video-game bonanza (the entertainment for the evening). I made them pick up the living room first. I loved this picture because it looks like they are actually playing with the toys, possibly photographic evidence of actual work? Nah ... they're definitely playing.

The teens were very good - as usual, and very loud - as usual. They only needed one warning from Byron, however, to put a lid on things. They put themselves to bed sometime between 2 and 3 am. And, as usual, the babies had everybody up by 7am. For his birthday, Robert got a couple of Wii games, a "wrist rocket" sling shot (oh joy), cash, and a cell phone. Yikes! I set up the parent controls, however, and he has enjoyed having this new "responsibility" (aka "toy"). In fact, he has called me every afternoon when the bus drops him off - a whole 1/4 mile up the hill - just to tell me he has arrived safely in the neighborhood. I'm sure that is just the thoughtful kind of kid he is and has nothing whatsoever to do with playing with the phone. ;-)

The sling shot made its first (and probably its last) debut as well today. Robert found out that it was way too powerful for the back yard. Thankfully, no windows, small animals, or children got in his way. We're gonna save this toy for the range instead ... he had fun with it though!

Today, being the actual day of his birth, we let him plan dinner (hamburgers) and have an hour of video game time (normally a weekend kind of thing). Overall, Robert said his birthday has been "good." Expressive.

In other news, Byron and I have been making a greater effort to pray individually with the younger children. This has led to many inadvertent funny moments. Tonight, for example, Byron was helping Ben to say his prayers and Ben was so excited (did I mention we had a very small bit of ice cream tonight too?) he was literally bouncing up and down on the bed. In the same voice used in directing the prayer, Byron interjects "stop it Ben" and Ben, while still bouncing repeats "and stop it Ben" and continues with the prayer. We are going to have to work on content I think. Ginny, on the other hand, repeats everything I say until I get to the part "please bless me" and she says, "please bless you." Utterly adorable - now if they would just go to sleep!

It's a New Year - and I'll never "Catch Up!"

I have decided two things: (1) I will try to blog more frequently this coming year. I love reading friends' blogs where they have just jotten down a few fun things that have happened - even if there were no pictures to be had; and (2) I will never catch up and I am not going to try. I am in the process of preparing past postings for publication and I will add such notable events as Josh's birthday, my "new" kitchen floor, and Christmas to that ...

That said, a little note about Christmas. The kids have absolutely loved their new playground - and I have absolutely loved having them spend so much time outside!

Also, the kids have really gotten into their new puzzles. Ben and Ginny totally trashed their little puzzles within 3 days, but Josh's puzzle is going strong. They sit down as a group and put it together over and over and over .... Another puzzle we got was a group of 26 alphabet mini-puzzles. The backs of each little puzzle is identical, because you are supposed to be learning your letters as you put together the picture side. Not Ginny, she goes for the advanced set-up where you put the puzzle together by only looking at the back! When I got this picture, she had two of the little puzzles already together and was just giving up on the third ... today she decided to try matching pictures instead.

Another "new" tradition we are working on is a more focused family home evening. I decided to go with the Primary theme for this year "I Know My Savior Lives." I got dog-tag chains for the younger boys that has the theme printed on it (Robert's dog-tag has the youth theme on it and Ginny's necklace is different too). Robert is enjoying his, the boys put their on as soon as they get up each morning. On Sunday, we were running late and so they didn't get to put them on before we headed out the door. When we got to the church, Joshua realized that he didn't have the chain. I told him I was sorry and that he could have it when we got home. He tearfully said, "But Mom, if I don't have the chain I won't know my Savior lives!"

Going back to the family home evening lesson. I picked up a FHE help book that came with a cd for printing out activities and challenges. There is a new challenge every week and an activity for younger kids as well as an activity for older kids. Perfect! This week the challenge is to pray more sincerely and focusing on Gratitude. The lesson (they are all really really short - just perfect for the attention spans in this house) was on being children of God. For the activity, the younger kids drew pictures of themselves (with help from Daddy) and Robert got a puzzle. Dad told him to head to the scripture the puzzle was about and copy it (or cheat) which totally backfired when they both realized that the puzzle was a paraphrase of the scripture rather than verbatim. Ha ha ha! Both Byron and I were tired going into the activity, so it was only by sheer determination to try at least once that I even got the crayons out of the closet. I am so glad I did. By the time we were finished drawing (the younger kids are never actually finished drawing, by the way), everyone was having a good time. As an impulse (and to check the tantrums caused by putting the crayons away), I taped each picture at the head of each child's bed. There is nothing on the wall right now, so it really stands out. The kids were so impressed. It was the first thing they looked for this morning when they woke up and anyone who has come to the house today has been taken back to show these pictures. I have therefore decided that every week's activity will go up on the wall - so at the end of the year, we should have the wall pretty well covered up with FHE activities that we have done together. It will also show just how well our family is doing with the whole focused FHE idea. Then I will clean the wall off and start again with the new year ... so, 1 week down and 51 to go!