FHE Monday: Nursery Lesson #2

We are two lessons in, and so far GB has been more receptive than I thought he would be. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop... but maybe he really is a smartie-pants and he actually likes this stuff.

You'll need to plan a few minutes in advance because you'll need to find some pictures to show as you sing the song. I got all of my pictures from lds.org's image library. There you can find the Gospel Art that the church uses in Primary and such. (I downloaded them to the desktop, and renamed the files 1, 2, 3, etc, so that they showed up in the right order. Then we sat around the computer and I clicked through the images as we went through the song.) I used just five images-- one of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, one of the earth, one of Adam and Eve teaching their children (or you could use a family photo), one of Moses holding the ten commandments, and one of Jesus Christ.

Lesson 2: Heavenly Father Has a Plan for Me

*Prepare pictures to go with each section of the song, so they can be shown as the song is sung.*

Opening Song: I Lived in Heaven

We lived with Heavenly Father before we were born.

Song/Lesson: I Am a Child of God

I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here.

Heavenly Father sent us to earth to live. Shout “Hooray!”

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear.

Heavenly Father gave us our family so we would be happy. Family group hug!

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Heavenly Father gave us commandments so we can be happy and safe.

Following Jesus can help us return to Heavenly Father.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday.

Sing the entire song again, showing the pictures all together as you go.

Conclusion: If we are good, we can return to live with Heavenly Father again.

End with testimonies.

The best part about these toddler FHE lessons is that they're short and sweet. They have to be, otherwise you lose their attention. But the message is still present, and they still learn something, and the spirit is felt! My favorite part was when I showed the picture of Jesus, and GB interrupted me (more than once) to point and exclaim, "Jesus!" I want him to always be excited and happy about his Savior!

FHE Monday: Nursery Lesson #1

I think I am going to stop numbering Family Home Evening posts. It's a little depressing. We've only held 10 FHE's this year. 10.

On the other hand... that's ten more than last year...

I saw an idea somewhere about using the nursery manual for FHE, and I really liked that idea. GB is getting old enough that he is starting to pick up on things, and I want him to love the Gospel. No lesson is more basic than the nursery lessons!

Lesson 1: I Am a Child of God

Begin with opening song and a prayer.

Song: I Am a Child of God

Repeat the first two lines, I am a child of God / And he has sent me here

We sang the first two lines about three times. By the third he had scootched next to us to see what we were doing.

Scripture Story: Moses

From the manual: "Show the illustration of Moses on page 99 (you may want to cover the other illustrations on this page to help the children focus on Moses). Explain that Moses was a great prophet who lived a long time ago. Tell the children that Moses went to a mountain to pray. Invite the children to pretend to climb a mountain; then have them fold their arms as if praying. Open the Pearl of Great Price to Moses 1:4 and say, “God said to Moses, ‘Behold, thou art my son.’ ” Explain that Moses learned that he was a child of God."

I had Husband Man act out the basic story. He was very theatrical; GB appreciated it!

Activity: Bean bag game

This is a game that I picked up while I was teaching sunbeams, and the kids love it. You sit in a circle, and gently toss the beanbag to someone. When they catch it, you say "[Name] is a child of God!" and then they toss it to another child and you say it with their name. GB thought this was great, and played it more than I thought. By the end of the game, he was trying to say "child of God" and that made my heart happy.

With older kids I can switch the phrase around to “I know a child of God named [Name]!" and they say their own name as they catch the beanbag.

Conclusion: Everyone is a child of God

A while ago I made a little photo album with pictures of GB's extended family so he could learn about them. We pulled that out and pointed to each person, stating that they, too, were each children of God.
We made sure to end with testimonies.
And a closing song and prayer, of course.


The best part was that he actually payed attention, at least as much as could be expected from a two-year-old. I know this might not always be the case, but I also know that there was a special spirit in our home after we held FHE. The Lord is mindful of us, and as we try to do what He asks of us we will be blessed!

What I've Learned About Cleaning

A while back I shared a cleaning schedule I made to help me keep my house tidy and under some semblance of control. I wasn't perfect at following it, but when I did it was great. I knew when the towels and sheets had been washed, when I had dusted, that things were getting taken care of. It helped Husband Man, because when Saturday rolled around he could see what I had or hadn't done. Our small apartment was kept clean! (Or as clean as you can get with a toddler...)

Then it came time for our (yearly) move. We found a cheaper place with a larger living space; it was perfect for our growing family. We could have our kitchen table back, which meant less food was consumed in the living room (and therefore there was less mess). But for some reason the cleaning schedule wasn't working for me anymore. Laundry was taking longer and longer to finish. More floorspace meant more pep-talking myself into vacuuming. And being pregnant means I have even less of a desire to do those things that I already didn't like...

A couple of weeks ago someone suggested a website called Habitica to us. At first glance it looks silly and stupid... but for us, it worked. I could put daily things to do, like exercise and drink water, but I could also include habits (like housecleaning) and to-do lists, for those chores and tasks that popped up outside of any cleaning regimen. As we've been using this site, we find motivation to complete tasks instead of ending our day in a guilty stupor in front of a computer screen. And as things get done, I've learned some things...

Effort breeds effort.
Husband Man took to Habi like a fish to water. It was pretty much exactly what he needed to motivate himself to have less computer time and more productive time. And I think it's better for him, too-- he can accomplish things that have been bothering him, in a more timely manner, and he feels more immediately accomplished (than his job allows right now). This makes him feel in control, and much better. And when he does those tasks, it makes me want to complete mine so we can both feel proud of what we have done.

Cleaning by example helps.
The dailies list helps me to remember to do little tasks every day, things that shouldn't be difficult and take too much time and effort, but are constantly overlooked. I have things like checking my email, reading scriptures, and tidying the bedroom(s). Husband Man started making the bed every day, but we both have a bad habit of just throwing our clothes on the floor. I would always put off cleaning it up, until it consumed the floor. I added the bedrooms to my dailies list, which meant that the bedroom was always clean AND when I went to put my clothes away at night, I would take the extra two seconds to put them either back in the drawer or in the dirty clothes. Less to clean up in the morning means a free pass on the 'tidying bedroom(s)' task! After about a week of this, I noticed that I was picking up less of Husband Man's clothes, too. As I took better care of the room, he wanted to take better care of it too.

Daily tidying up makes a HUGE difference.
Tidying the bedroom, loading the dishwasher every day, and making a round to just pick up clutter-- if you are ever on pinterest, you've surely come across that ten-minute clean-up tip or the two minute rule I shared in my previous cleaning post. There's a reason it's out there: it works. Picking up clutter helps toward a clean house. It just makes you feel better. And doing it every day keeps it from piling up, so it's easier to accomplish. Couple this with the previous thought, and now you have at least two people possibly working to keep the house tidy. I call that a win-win!

If a task as-written doesn't help you accomplish it, then change how you do it.
Let's talk laundry. On my previous schedule I did it every two weeks. We all had enough clothes, so it worked... mostly. If you counted the fact that after two weeks I had at least four large loads to do, and it took me at least half the week to actually complete it. But I stuck to it. It didn't make sense to me to do a load every day, and weekly laundry seemed even more tedious.
But since we moved to the new place, over the last three weeks I've just done laundry every week. I mean, I kind of have to--I only have about a week's worth of maternity shirts that currently fit. But I find that I actually like it better. Doing a week's worth of laundry means that I have less to wash; less to wash means I have fewer and smaller loads. For the first time in forever I did the laundry in one day. ONE DAY, people. Washed, dried, and folded. The end. And when I crawled into bed that night? It felt really good. (On a side note, we apparently need more hangers.)

Sometimes, you've just got to force yourself to create a habit.
I have always struggled to read my scriptures. That's the chink in my spiritual armor. When we first moved away from college, I begged Husband Man to let us have cable so I could amuse myself while staying home with a baby. The problem was, I would catch myself turning the tv on first thing in the morning... so I told myself I couldn't watch tv until I had done my scripture study. At face value that sounds awful. As a child of God, who is trying to do what is right, I shouldn't need to force myself to read the word of God on a daily basis, right?? But I had to force myself to do it. As I did, I found myself wanting to read, and watching less tv. It built that desire.
The same thing has come with other habits. Placing them on Habi has helped me to just do them. Lately I find myself decluttering as I go--I made GB a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and instead of leaving everything out on the counter, jars open, I caught myself putting them away after using them. (Which is a two-fold blessing... the house is cleaner on a more regular basis, which means Husband Man isn't slightly aggravated when he comes home and cleans up all my messes.)

I'm super happy that this is working for us now. In just a couple of weeks Husband Man and I have accomplished so much. And what makes me even happier is that we are setting an example for Gummy Bear. It doesn't do anything to ask him to put his toys and books away when the kitchen is covered in dishes and the bedrooms in clothes-- that's counterproductive. I'm super excited that we finally have a new schedule under our belts, and that we can continue to progress as a family.
Make a list, find your motivation, and then, as the scriptures say, "Go and do!"

Gummy Bear: 2 Years!

Holy moly, time flies. Especially when you're pregnant and feel yucky. Now that that's passed, I remembered the birthday questionnaire I had. So it's two months late, but at least I remembered!

How old: 2!

Favorite foods: fruit snacks, raisins, cheese

Favorite dessert: chocolate (m&m's, chocolate chips), marshmallows

Favorite color: green (at least, this is the one color he recognizes by name)

Favorite book: ABC and numbers books (at the time of his b-day--now it's Train Man and Digger Man)

Favorite tv show: Paw Patrol, Thomas the Tank Engine

Favorite game: ???

Favorite Song: Follow the Prophet, Itsy Bitsy Spider

Favorite animal: kitty cat

Favorite toy: wooden train set

What do you want to be when you grow up: ???

What do you do really well: scream (ohhh he is SO loud...)

What do you like to do with your family: roughhouse with Daddy!!

Gummy Bear is a VERY busy boy. He keeps me on my toes, like any good two-year-old boy. He's as tall as an average three-year-old (which confuses the other kids, they have trouble remembering he's younger than they are), and still in the top percentiles. Funny story: His normal pediatrician is out on maternity leave, so we saw another ped for his 2yr appointment. She obviously didn't know he has always been in the 95% for weight, because when she saw that she gave me the childhood obesity lecture! "No juice, no 2% milk, lots of veggies, lots of playtime..." Yeah, ok, whatever. Have you seen my child?? He is not fat! Not even close. Thank goodness I was in a great mood that day, or I would have panicked. Just smile and wave, just smile and wave.

I love this picture because it sums him up nicely. Gotta have that binky (but only at bedtime...). Love that kitty. Fuzzy blankets are essential. Bruises, scrapes, and bandaids on his knees, and often on his arms and head. I feel like he's maybe accident-prone like his mama, but I suppose it's still too early to tell what's genetics and what is plain ol' little boy!

This block table showed up at our library and he enjoys playing with it. The first half a dozen times he insisted on sorting the blocks as best he could, and if the other kids came and tried to build on the wrong color, he got very upset. He's doing better about actually playing with the blocks for fun, but this still cracks me up. I have found his own mega blocks laying on the floor, stacked together by size and color. He eats his fruit snacks by color too, if he can see them all.

"Hewo!" (Oh, how I am going to miss that gap-toothed grin!) His speech is finally catching up as well. He says some things goofy, like "nilk", "nore", and "peesh" (milk, more, and sheep) but we're working on it. I can hear him singing songs, and he's steadily getting better at asking for things. I hope the crazy tantrums slow down after we reach a certain point, I think he gets frustrated that he can't communicate everything to me. He'll run up to me and garble a bunch of stuff and end it with a word he knows-- "Mama, aslekaf;skldfjjsdf snack?" Sometimes he sounds like he's oriental or something, when he garbles really quickly!

He knows his ABC's, and numbers 1-12. He knows a few shapes (circle for sure), the color green, and is absolutely in love with trains. We watch a decent amount of Thomas the Tank Engine, and he plays with his wooden train set diligently every day. A step behind trains are diggers and other construction vehicles--there's a bank being built by Husband Man's work and every day when we pick him up we have to drive by so GB can see the diggers. I've been getting him some basic nonfiction books about diggers and trains and they're the first ones to come off the shelf each day. He's definitely a smartie pants!

I love this kid and what he's taught me. I know he's going to be a great big brother!

"A car!"

I think the funniest thing about raising a kid is that you're busy, but not always in a running-around-going-here-and-there-things-to-do kind of way... Instead you're always watching him to make sure he stays out of trouble, trying to remember to teach him words while you are loading the dishwasher ("A boh!" "No, that's a cup." "A kuh!" "Good job!"), and pushing certain chores and activities aside because let's face it--folding laundry while your kid jumps on it and throws it around just isn't very fun. (Well, not for you anyways.)

It also means I forget how long it's been since I posted on here. Not that terribly many people read it, I don't think, but it's still writing practice and typing is much easier than hand writing so I get at least a little journaling in...

I've been hearing a lot about cars over the last couple of days. Every time we go outside he points and says, "A car!" If we're in a parking lot he'll point everywhere and say it over and over again, "A car! A car! A car!" Sometimes he'll stand at our window, and if he sees one go down the street he'll announce it, "A car!" Because of this, I went through his toys and found all his little matchbox cars, and so far he's done a pretty good job of keeping track of them. They usually stay in a pack, mostly, and he'll pick one up, set it on the arm of the couch, and say "Wee!" as he drives them down and parks them next to each other on the cushion.

"A ball!" is the other phrase I hear. He's got quite a few balls in various makes and types, and he'll bring them to me, just like the cars, and announce, "A ball!" Sometimes if I'm not paying attention, he'll repeat himself over and over again until it reaches my radar, and then I'll respond and he'll move on. "A bowl!" is the newest, less used and often confused with a cup (as stated at the beginning of the post).

It's kind of nice to hear him saying words besides animal noises. Cat, puppy, sheep, horse, goat, bear, duck, chicks, tiger, lion, dinosaur, cow-- he knows them all! While visiting my parents at the end of April, I was trying to get him to go ask his Grandpa for help with something, and I said, "Say Grandpa, Grandpa!" and he responded "Appa appa!" We had such a laugh over it, because it sounds like he's calling Grandpa "Appa" like the bison from Avatar: TLA! We joke that maybe we should come up with a corresponding name for Gramma, and then they can match. Momo, maybe? :)

I feel like I have to be careful, sometimes. If I try to get him to say a word and he doesn't get it, I'll repeat it so he can hear it again. Half the time his face says "Ugh..." and he won't respond to me after that. I have to remember to congratulate him no matter how close (or not) he got, and it seems to make him try harder to say words.

The funniest part of all this is that he will still come up to me and babble nonsense, and we'll have conversations like this. Sometimes I'll babble back, and sometimes I'll just try to keep him going with phrases like "Oh really? And then what happened?". Other times he'll just repeat the same sound over and over again. Case in point: As I type this he's standing behind me on my chair and growling "BA BA! BA BA!" over and over again. (Oh, sorry, now it's changed to "DA DA! AH DA!")

I feel like there's so much to remember, so many things he can do now. It's simultaneously amazing, and annoying (case in point: I'm clearly taking too long writing this, and now he's throwing things and yelling). Our apartment is much too small for his busy body, and rainy days don't help. Good thing he's so darn cute, with his disheveled hair, a bruise on his forehead, and his gap-toothed cheeseball grin... 

Easter Fun -- He Lives!

It's that time of year when bunnies and chicks run rampant alongside kids with multi-colored fingers searching for eggs full of oodles of junk food. For those who are religious, it's also the time for Easter dresses and ties and a church service to honor our Savior. For those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, it was also a time to hear our prophet and church leaders speak to us during General Conference.

I love love LOVE conference, and look forward to it every April and October. I'm always excited to hear words of peace, counsel, advice, warning, and comfort. I love the reassurance I get that my Heavenly Father is aware of me and all His children, and that He has placed a prophet on the earth to lead and guide us in these days!

If you want to listen to these talks (or read them!) you can find them at lds.org --you won't regret it!

This year we sent GB on his very first Easter egg hunt.

Which is to say, we set the brightly-colored plastic eggs in the rocks so he couldn't miss them.

I put a few mini marshmallows in each egg and set them out, and he ran down the sidewalk. I pointed out the first one, and he was all over it! Somehow he already knew to open the plastic egg, and once the marshmallows fell out he was in heaven. He stuffed all of them in his mouth and ran for the next one. This kid will do anything for marshmallows!

A few of the eggs I stuffed with jelly beans and a little love note for Husband Man. GB helped to pick up those eggs, but precedence told him that there would be marshmallows inside and next thing we knew he was stuffing jelly beans in his mouth as quickly as his fingers could get a hold of them. All evening he begged us for more every time we tried to sneak a jelly bean!

I love this little guy so much. And I love my Husband Man, who was totally willing to help out with the hunt! It was fun to go outside for a few minutes.

I am so grateful for my family, and that I can be sealed to my family for eternity. I am grateful for the prophet and church leaders who guide us today. I am grateful for my Savior, who rose again on the third day and overcame death and my weaknesses and shortcomings! He Lives!

FHE Monday #9

Yesterday I made rice and meatballs for dinner. It was going to be on time, and it was going to be delicious. I set the gravy on the stove and turned the burner on so it could get warm, and went to sit with Husband Man for a few minutes while I waited.

Then the smell hit me--something was burning. I dashed into the kitchen to see a plastic mixing spoon and a plastic scraper melting on the back burner of the stove. I had turned on the wrong burner and now there was a pool of white, smoking plastic on our rental deposit.

Dinner was not on time. As a result, FHE was late and haphazardly planned. GB was running around like a maniac, so I decided we could have some family time (roughhousing) and talk about families. It's interesting, however, that even though I felt terrible for the burned spoon and even though the apartment smelled absolutely awful and even though FHE was a spur-of-the-moment thing last night... I still felt the spirit and I still learned something.

We sang "Give Said the Little Stream" and said an opening prayer. Then I opened to Genesis 18:17-19.

This verse made me stop and think. The Lord knows my husband and I, that we will command our children and our households to keep the way of the Lord... that the Lord may bring upon us the blessings which He has promised unto us. Isn't that so awesome? I love these promises towards the family. The family is truly a central unit to God's plan.

Husband Man grabbed the Book of Mormon as I read to him, and he turned to Alma 56:47-48.

This is one of the reasons that the story of the Stripling Warriors is one of my favorites. We must teach our children that God is vital to their lives. I've always thought it would be such a blessing to hear my children say that phrase, We do not doubt our mothers knew it. Then I would know with certainty that I had done what the Lord has called me to do. I am so grateful for my family, and that we are able to be together even beyond the grave!

After we read those scriptures we sang a myriad of fun Primary songs with GB, including "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and "Popcorn Popping". When I asked GB if he wanted to sing "Popcorn" he tried to say it and waved his hands. I love watching him do the actions for that song, it is so stinking cute!
"It wasn't really so..." (he points and waves with one finger) "but it seemed to me..." (he points to himself repeatedly with aforementioned finger) "popcorn popping on the apricot tree!" (he flaps his hands in the air)
I love my little boy!

We finished by singing "Families Can Be Together Forever", and said a closing prayer. Even though it wasn't planned very well, I still felt the spirit as we got GB ready to go to bed. I am glad that I remembered to do FHE, because the Lord always blesses us!