The Wants

Last night I had a bad case of "the wants".

If you ever have "the wants" don't combine it will blog hopping.

It just makes it worse.

I grabbed an Ensign to distract me.

I found this article about gratitude.

I need to work on being more grateful for all the many things I have been blessed with, instead of what I don't have.

Sorry, no picture.

Smoother Transition

In the LDS church when kids turn 18 months they go to Nursery (a room full of toys, lesson, and snack) during the last two hours of church. When kids are 3 on the New Year they go to Primary (for kids 3-11). My son, Tanner, started Primary this past Sunday. I figured that this would be a hard transition. You know, one week you go to a room full of toys the next you are expected to sit quietly and participate (Don't get me wrong Primary is fun).

To help him get excited we told him how now he is a big boy and got him his own scripture case and hardback Book of Mormon. Tanner was so proud of his new scriptures and I think it helped make him feel like he belonged in Primary.

Disclaimer: I know this is a simple thing but I wanted to share our little family tradition here.

Family Home Evening

We are on a wacky schedule today, so we had Family Home Evening this morning. When I told the kids we were having Family Home Evening Lily ran and grabbed a pillow from the couch, threw it on the floor and sat on it. I was so impressed she did this all on her own. During FHE we have the kiddies sit on pillows. It helps with the wiggles and wandering. I have been thinking about making them each FHE sitting pillows.Every Monday night our family tries to have Family Home Evening. Family home evening is a time where we have some gospel instruction and an activity, mainly we just spend time as a family. We usually pick a topic and prepare a lesson in two minutes with the help of the Nursery Manual. The new nursery manuel has great lessons perfect for kiddies from ages 18 months to 3 years old.

Last Sunday I was reading this article from April's General Conference. Even though we have been having FHE, I felt that we needed to maybe prepare a little more and give the kiddies responsibilities. With the help from the nursery manual and the Family Home Evening Resource Book I picked topics for our lessons for the next couple of months. I also made a chart assigning responsibilities. So long story short here is the our family's FHE schedule for the next 7 months. Feel free to use it if you would like. The lessons come from the Nursery Manual (NM) and the Family Home Evening Resource Book (FHE), so it will work for all ages. Every 3rd Sunday I do sharing time in our primary, so sometimes the lessons are the sharing time lessons (the links for the sharing time ones are not working right now, I will load them later).

September

7 Priesthood blessings (NM p.116, FHE p.84)

14 The Commandments (FHE p.7)

21 I am a Child of God (NM p. 8, FHE p. 20)

28 Prophets/ General Conference (NM p.100)

October

5 Jesus Christ created the World (NM p. 32, FHE p. 23)

12 Scriptures (NM p.96, FHE p. 17)

19 The Proclamation to the World (Sharing Time)

26 Prayer (NM 16, FHE p. 27)

November

2 Service (Sharing Time)

9 We can choose (FHE p. 31)

16 Heavenly Father provided a Savior (NM p.20, FHE p.36)

23 Thanksgiving

30 Faith (FHE p.43)

December

7 Repentance (NM p.68, FHE p. 39)

14 Baptism (NM p.108, FHE p.52)

21 Christmas (NM p. 128, FHE p. 156)

28 Sacrament (NM p. 116, FHE p. 56)

January

4 Recognizing the Spirit (NM p.28, FHE p. 64)

11 Families are Forever (NM p. 56)

18 The Godhead (Sharing Time)

25 A House of Order (FHE p. 92)

February

1 Loving our Neighbors (FHE p.98)

8 Family unity and love (NM p.48, FHE p.92)

15 Atonement of Jesus Christ (Sharing Time)

22 Sharing our blessings (NM p.92, FHE p.109)

March

1 The Sabbath Day (NM p. 36, FHE p.218)

8 Journals (FHE p. 199)

15 Reverence (NM p.84, FHE p.216)

22 Safety in following the prophet (Sharing Time)

29 Being a Missionary (FHE p.208)

If you have questions about what I believe in check out http://www.mormon.org/.

Articles of Faith

In our ward (church congregation) when the primary children memorize all 13 of the Articles of Faith they get a certificate presented to them in our sacrament meeting (Sunday service). On Sunday I was impressed with a little boy in our ward who received his certificate. He seemed so young. Then I got to thinking, if Tanner (3 years old) can memorize the Pledge of Allegiance, and all of his books then he could learn his Articles of Faith. So I made a goal that as a family we would memorize our Articles of Faith. One a month, until they get too long then we might take two months. I hung this in our entry to remind us to go over it every day. I thought having pictures would help Tanner, because he can't read.