December Morning Devotional

Our devotionals come from  A Christ centered Christmas by Sharon Velluto and Suzanne Meredith
I love this book it is full of lessons, activities and things that you could use for FHE. We mostly just use the Devotionals. The Devotional go like this all have stories and scriptures to use I love that they are easily geared to kids or adults.

Day 1   Lesson: Signs of Christ's Birth                                  Ornament: A Star
Day 2   Lesson: The Gift of Prayer                                        Ornament: Praying Hands
Day 3   Lesson: Inviting Christ in                                          Ornament: Holly
Day 4   Lesson: The worth of souls                                       Ornament: Gold Snowflake
Day 5   Lesson: Brotherhood                                                 Ornament: Bow
Day 6   Lesson: Look to God and Live                                 Ornament: Christmas tree
Day 7   Lesson: Glad tidings                                                 Ornament: Angel
Day 8   Lesson: The Shepherds                                             Ornament: Candy Cane
Day 9   Lesson: Joy to the world                                           Ornament: Book of Carols
Day 10 Lesson:  Lost Sheep/Good Shepherd                        Ornament: Bell
Day 11 Lesson: Lamb of God                                               Ornament: Sheep
Day 12 Lesson: Wise Men                                                    Ornament:Wise men
Day 13 Lesson: Newborn King                                             Ornament: Treasure Chest
Day 14 Lesson: Gifts from God                                            Ornament: Gift Box
Day 15 Lesson: Families are Forever                                   Ornament: Wreath
Day 16 Lesson: Light of the World                                      Ornament:  Candle
Day 17 Lesson: The Least of these                                       Ornament: Manger
Day 18 Lesson: Peace                                                           Ornament: Dove
Day 19 Lesson: Victory over Death                                     Ornament: Poinsettia
Day 20 Lesson: The Bread of Life                                       Ornament: Bread
Day 21 Lesson: Living water                                               Ornament: Well
Day 22 Lesson: Christ is the King                                       Ornament: Crown
Day 23 Lesson: Follow the Prophet                                    Ornament: Christmas Light Bulb
Day 24 Lesson: Jesus Christ is Born!                                 Ornament: Nativity

My girls love it, they each have a bag with their name and an ornament inside for almost every day. I am slowly replacing the paper ornament that came with the book with ones I find during the year or after Christmas on clearance. The dollar store has had lots of them if I go when they are first putting them out :) I have made a few with my Silhouette. Vinyl and the clear balls have been great, or some printed pictures modged podged on to a chipboard has been super easy to make.


I love doing this and hopefully I will get my Easter one done for this year. I want to do Christ's life starting after his birth and ending with the Resurrection, I think it will be a great way to teach the kids the stories of his life and death the same way they are leaning of all the gifts given to us by his birth.

Christmas Traditions

We love Christmas at our house. I love it soo much that by Halloween I have bought or know what the last few items are on my list to get, by Thanksgiving most of the gifts are wrapped and ready to go. I get just a little wrapping happy mid November. My poor husband...I lock him in my room with me while I wrap and show him all the stuff I have been hording through the year.

I am huge on doing traditions with our kids. I love the memories that they bring each year when we do them again. And really they make December a huge party and who doesn't love a party?

So I don't do a lot, well at least to me it is not a lot. We do an advent calender that my mother made for us a few years a ago and a morning devotional that I found in a stack of books my mother in law gave me.

So our Advent calender goes like this:
In November well before I am in the planning of what candy I am making this year for our after Thanksgiving dipping day, I pull it out and pull out the cards in each of the drawers (they have on them activities that we will do throughout the month), along with my calender. I decide when we want to do what and then fill up the empty drawers with a small piece of candy I got the day after Halloween when the candy is all 50% off at Walmart.
Having 3 December Birthdays is rough and I don't like them to get over looked so I have them on the cards to give their days something fun and special too.

 Our activities:
*Decorate the Tree (always the 1st drawer)
*Put up Nativity (always the 2nd drawer)
*Make Dad a Birthday Cake
*Christmas movie Night ( a good reason the buy a new movie)
*Christmas caroling (right now we just learn a few new songs and only sing at home someday I'd like to go to a rest home or the older couples in our neighborhood)
*Deliver Neighbor Gifts
*Draw names and Go shopping (best fun at the dollar store we divide into 2 groups and sneak around getting presents picked out)
*Make Birthday Cards for Hannah and Bridger (Bridger's is the day before Hannah's)
*Decorate for Hannah and Bridger's Birthday
*Drive and find Christmas lights
*Read the Forgotten Carols (always the week of Christmas)
*Take the train to see the lights on Temple square (always Christmas Eve)
*Decorate Gingerbread houses (usually and friend Party)
*Make an ornament for the tree ( I don't save very much of the kids stuff but those tacky homemade ornaments made by my kids tug at my heart strings)
*Put together Friend gifts ( I buy all the stuff the day after Christmas so it is just putting the gift bags together super easy and cheap)
*Decorate cookies
* Go on a winter walk (This is a good Saturday Day activity, especially if there is a trail close by)

Nothing to crazy and it is a good way to fit in all the fun stuff at Christmas that could be forgotten about once the month begins.

Our morning devotional is in a book called a Christ Centered Christmas so we read some scriptures and talk about the gifts given to us by Christ. After they each get an ornament to hang on our tree. The book came with paper ornaments, which I'm not a fan of so I have been slowly trading them out for a real ornament. I get one for each of the kids so we have 6 stars, 6 snowflakes and so on. I want to have it so when they get married or move out they can take their bag and I will get them a little tree and the list of the scriptures to do on their own to help them build their own traditions, and remember ours.

 In keeping the Santa Clause and the Christ Child separate I have the house split up in decorations, our Family room has our big tree and all things fun and St Nick, our up stairs living room is our Holy room with all our nativities and our two small trees that we use for our devotional. I feel it keeps the fun but also when you walk into my home there is a different Christmas spirit.

After school snack

I hate that the minuet the kids walk through the door they drop everything where they stand and tell me they are starving..so I have to have this snack thing all planned and ready by 3:30 or I am the meanest mom on the face of this planet for letting them starve! So I am trying to be good by thinking ahead and writing it down so I can have a quick go to list that they all like and with having extras beside my own kids some days it can be hard to have enough and something they all like but I will win and hopefully find a few things they all can like
I try to alternate between sweet and healthy that way they don't get sugared and still like what I have for them.

* Double chocolate chunk cookies
* Cheese stick & gold fish
* Pizza pocket
* Peaches/Pears
* Apples and pb crackers
* Chocolate Monkey Bread (sooo yummy!!), Orange cinnamon and the orginal cinnamon
* Apple slices with PB for Dip
* Buttered popcorn
* Yogurt & crackers
* Whole wheat banana chocolate chip cake
* Cheese Quesadillas
* Veggies and Ranch
* Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
* Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

* Apple Cider Dount holes 

* Fruit and Dip
* Jello popcorn
* Tater tot and chicken nuggets
* Fancy popcorn (the good kind with candy and stuff in it drizzled with chocolate/almond bark)
* Mini corndogs
* French bread Pizza
*Soft Pretzles

Home Lunches

So I found the coolest ideas for lunches and my most favorite ideas were to have bins that the kids can choose from to make their lunches their own. I loved the idea of having your kids help with deciding of the weekly menu. And I loved putting note or jokes in them as well. My girls have loved it and if I have missed an day they have been sure to tell me that they need their jokes.
So I sat my girls down and we scrolled through the all the pictures of lunch ideas on Pinterest (my girls love pinterest) and on a note card made a quick list of what they thought would be fun to eat and they were told that they had to decide together, because mom only has time to make one lunch a day not two so here is what we had the first week of school:

* Grilled cheese & tomato soup ( that's what they wanted so grilled wrapped in a paper towel and then tin foil and away they went with two big smiles)
* Chicken nugget kabobs( chicken nuggets with cheddar cheese cubes)
* Turkey and cheddar pinwheel sandwiches
* Whole wheat Pizza pockets ( homemade..super easy to do. I made a batch and froze the rest for later!)
* Ham, cheese and olive Kabobs

Oh and the Dollar Store became my best friend this year. I get sick of having to buy all those small sandwich bags for everything, so I hit the store and found cupcake holders, snack size containers, sandwich boxes, dip and veggies containers. I was so excited! Now if they would have had a small thermos that would have made my day. ;) And I found those reusable drink cups with the straws that are like 4$ at Walmart. For our before school piano lesson that need as smoothie on the go :) Can I even begin to say how much I love the Dollar Store!

Well hopefully by the end of this year I will be the queen of lunches and by posting my menus I will be ready for next year ha ha

Lunches the kids loved this year

* Ham sandwiches
* Peanut Butter and Jelly
* Turkey Sandwiches
* PB and Banana Sandwiches
* Pitta bread Turkey and Ham sandwiches
* Chicken wraps
* Italian Wraps
* Summer sausage, cheese and crackers
* Crackers and Cheese, Apples and Dip
* Ham cheese and crackers
*Hawaiian kabobs (Pineapple, Ham and Chedder)
* Nachos (chips and leftover Queso dip)
* Salad ( spinach, mandarin oranges, breaded chicken strips, cheese cubes, Chinese noodles, their pick of dressing on the side) With a buttered roll/bread stick (if I have any left from dinner)
* Mini Corn dogs
* Chicken nuggets
* Left over Cheesy Potato soup
* Chicken noodle soup with goldfish
* Leftover Hawaiian Haystacks
* Spaghetti
* Left over baked ziti
* Lasagna with Corn on the cob (in the thermos)
* Tacos
* Stir Fry/Chinese food with egg rolls




*All with their choice of a side drink and dessert although they do not get juice or milk every day When we do our weekly shopping trip the girls get to pick out one treat or drink thing for their lunches so we have a hug supply in storage now ;)

Side dish stuff : veggies with ranch, chips, raisins, craisins, Gogurt, Jello, cheese stick, fruit, crackers
Dessert: cookies, rice crispy treat, candy, pudding, cupcakes.

Updated:

I have decided that it doesn't matter what yummy lunches I can make if I don't have a plan. I do all my prep work dividing up anything that needs to be divided after we get home from shopping it makes it that much faster in the mornings for the kids to grab and go also it keep me organized and our groceries go a lot further. Having the kids help with the planning has helped especially on days when something may have to be cold or maybe the thermos made it soggy so cold is better like the corn dogs. If the kids will eat leftovers that has been a huge help on a week that our budget is a bit tight. But all in all I think home lunches are great healthy and affordable. They are not costing me more than a school lunch would because what the kids eat and school we eat at home and it is all part of our weekly shopping trip, when sales go on and their is an item I know they love I stock up just like anything else I would put in our food storage.

Birthday Party Planning

At our house we only do friend parties for the kids at mile stone years 8, 12,16. It saves me lot of stress. I kind of, sort of go over board on planning parties..but have no fear my kids are not party deprived we do a end of summer cousin sleep over, end of summer friend party, schools out friend party, family Halloween party and a friend Christmas party and maybe a UEA girls night for those of us who are not going any where this year.. we will see I am still processing that one ;)

 So My Hannah is turning 8 in December and yes it is still a few months away But being the crazy planning person I am, I have been pinning away party ideas and thinking way to much about this, because it has to be amazing right?? Probably not but I want it to be one that she will talk with her friends about for the next year and make her dream of her 12 year old party..I know I am crazy!

So my girl want s Monster High themed party..Which is fun and has to be done after I take down my Christmas decoration because I don't think I can do a monster party with baby Jesus all over the place it just seems a little too Nightmare before Christmas to me. Any so her party is getting out of control I still am not quit sure how I am doing this but it has evolved from Monster High related game, to lets do a spa night with fun pictures, to a how about we just do pictures of them as a monster high gal and  let them make a fearbook, to how about a Murder Mystery Dinner that could be way fun...

 I am a crazy planning person. All could be great if I can figure a way to do them in a budget and with out stressing my self in to a monster. The worst part is I so love planning out these silly parties and they get bigger in my head each year ;)


"M-O-N-S-T-E-R monsters, monsters, yes we are!"
 and that is the tune that plays in my head over and over as I click away for over the top ideas :)

Our fire pit

My kids favorite thing to do in the summer is having a fire with our without hot dogs and marshmallows in the winter the kids beg to go out and have a fire, so I thought we needed a designated spot to do a fire, especially after I found a bunch of cute ones on Pinterest. so I have dug up one of my flower beds and made a stop for our family fire nights :) My original plan was to have it done last summer but thanks to baby Bridger I was to sick all summer to get much done. So I spent the summer feeling awful and looking at my trashy destroy garden bed dreaming of the finished look. Well here it is:

              One Saturday afternoon and it is amazing! My kids beg for a fire all most every day now :)

                                                 Now I need to build some benches

** So I am slow posting it. We did this in April, really I need to add a picture with my flowers all blooming around it so it looks better.**

What makes you happy?

Life is hard. Happiness can be hard to find. But what makes you happy? When your kids are gone and the work is done, what makes you happy? I know that there are many days a years that we are just surviving making it day to day with all the crazy things that go on around us.

At one point in my life a list that consisted of more than my family would have been hard to do. I was just making it day to day my older three girls were little and being so close in age, made the days and night long. I felt so out of touch with the world, I let my self go. I was lonely and sad. It took a while for me to realize that I just was not happy. I started going to a yoga class and I found something I had joy in again, I loved it I did not miss a week if I could help it. I slowly put myself back together. I found my self, my happiness. I did not wonder any more about what all my old friends were doing in college, I did not wonder if I was missing out on the fun of life by staying home with my kids. I was happy. Truly happy and not just the I am happy to be a wife and mother that we all say on good or bad days. But the happy that lasts the joy that each day is new. The joy in I know who I am and what I want out of life for me and my family.

Sometimes we need to take a deep breath pull back and ask our self what makes us happy? Can we make our list? Long or short can we make one? Can we add on to one or just make it to the first number? Where can we find our happiness?

I can make my list:

1-My Husband I love him and He loves me. We have had 7 1/2 amazing years with more ups than downs we communicate well and rarely  fight. not to say he or I are perfect but we try everyday to do things for each other and help We are a team and do well as a team as long as our game plan is laid out every morning before we get the kids up.

2-My kids. They are my living, breathing, joy, frustration. They are full of daily surprises that keep me on my toes.

3- My Religion. Following the counsel of our prophet doing those small things reading my scriptures praying serving others, FHE , teaching my children those basic gospel doctrines. Going to the temple Fasting and attending church each week no matter where we are.

4-Exercise. I love to run, there was a time when I hated it and would do anything to get out of it now I need it, need to to clear my mind push my self to go hard longer fast. I love to go to the gym and go in the classes and learn new ways to keep my body strong and healthy. Maybe I am crazy but those early hours are mine before the world really wakes, and I love breaking a sweat.

5- My garden. It has become a place to see all the world has, the life all around us, a learning center for my kids. I place to thank God daily for his gifts.

6- Sewing. I love to make dresses, skirts, doll clothes, quilts. It is all fun to me. I love how I feel connected to my Grandmother when I pull out my fabric and piece together a quilt. I love the memories that are associated with the quilts my Grandmother has made me and hope for those same memories for the thing I make for my kids.

7- I love to read. I am never done with a book until I have read the last page. Sometimes I have been secretly happy when my kids are so sick all they do is lay on the couch and watch movies for a day and I can actually read a book with out to many interruptions.. I know I am a horrible person. It is just good my kids don't get sick to often.

Paris Ice Caves

8- Vacations. I love to plan out vacations. I have them planned out a few years in advance just waiting for my kids to be a little bit older so I can do more with them. I don't care if we are camping or staying in a condo or have to take a long drive, even with my poor kids who get car sick. I love the break from life that chance to do something new, meet new people, those long hours in the car full of conversation, those times where our family has a chance to reconnect and discover new things about each other.

9- I love to put together my kids photo book full of silly stories and memories for them it is so fun to scroll through the photos and remember different thing that had happened at that age. My kids love it when their book come in the mail. They will spend hours pouring over them showing them to each other and talking about how cute, silly, or messy they were.

10- I love to do crafts and projects just ask Bryce, there is always something in the works. Sometimes I am slow with them and others are done to fast but I love how each one makes our home more ours, my yard more mine and holidays more fun.

These are just ten things that make me happy, keep me going and keep the dark clouds out of my life. Not a hard list to make but one that I think is important. Being happy keeps me sane when things get busy and crazy. When the day doesn't go like I have planned. When life get rocky and hard, Happiness keeps me where I need to be. I have my own place I can run to when I am upset with whatever. I have  things I can turn to relive my stress, anger and frustration. Happiness doesn't cost a dime, but I honestly thinks it helps me mentally, spiritually and emotionally each and every day.


Happiness, Your Heritage By President Dieter F. Uchdorf

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/10/happiness-your-heritage?lang=eng&query=happiness#watch=video

Summer gone and School is here

Summer flew by way to fast for me. I have a love hate relationship with school love the hour or two that I get to myself hate homework..and that's with a first and second grader, heaven help me when they get into the older grades and the homework is more than reading spelling words and a worksheet every night.

This year we have a second grade who think she is oh so grown up, a first grader ready to take lunch and all three recesses by storm and my little sassy preschooler who thinks life is amazing because she has her very own school and she only has to get up in the morning with the big girls two times a week.

This year I have made the goal of better home lunches. I have spent all summer searching pinterest and people blogs for cute and easy lunch ideas. I have to out do the school. Hannah had a taste for school lunch last year after we had Bridger and now mine lunch must better or she may "accidentally" forget to bring home her lunch box, which of course as all wise people know that means she must have school lunch the next day. She informed me of this very wise counsel the first day of school, when she did that very thing of leaving her lunch box at school. poor girls was sad to find out that meant you get the brown paper sack with out all the yummy things her sister got because things that need to be cold don't do as well in brown paper sacks ;)

We are still trying to make our schedules work around babysitting a few amazing kids after school, moving piano lessons to before school. Our highly anticipated Disney land trip is coming up in a few short weeks along with birthdays Halloween parties Christmas parties and Hannah's baptism. This year is looking up to being a crazy busy fun year!

Scripture Power

On Sunday we watched a restoration video in our class that got me thinking about the scriptures a lot when Joseph says:

 "While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

  Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible." 

The more I thought about what he said, the more I wanted to have my kids be like him to understand that the scriptures have power. That they can at any age feel the power of the scriptures  just as Joseph did when he read that verse. 

So for Family night I showed them the video and talked to them about why we read the scriptures. And how sometimes the stories or teachings help us to feel the Holy Ghost, make us happy and at times we will keep thinking about them the next day; and when that happens it is important that we can share those feelings we have. 

 We are going to hang up a scripture power board when we can post the scripture or in my kids case draw a picture of the story or of how we feel so we can share with each other how the scriptures are important to us and what we are learning from them.

I want them to know the scriptures have the power to make us better people and to guide us each day, they can be that rock to lean on when life gets rough; but most of all I want them to be better than their mother when it comes to bearing testimony to others. I want it to come natural to them and not be as hard as it is for me to do. 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2008-06-01-the-restoration


Up Dated

This has been so great I love seeing how much the girls really know their stories and which ones they like and why. They draw the best pictures to go along with it, they have fun retelling the scripture stories and it is fun to hear how they remember them even if they are not 100% right every time. It has made family home evening more fun and gets the girls involved more than when we just give a lesson and ask questions.