Adventures Out and About

Today was a great day. The sun was shining and it was ALMOST warm out. This past week I had been wanting to go see the elk at the reserve.
So today, since the kids get out early on Fridays, I decided to go. Elyse and Tony had to bug out, but the rest of us went. Although the boys kept asking me, "Why do we have to go?" I told them, "It's because I'm the mean mom."
As soon as we got there, we were able to get our tickets, and get to the trailer pulled by HUGE horses. As soon as Katia saw them, she was ready to go home. I told her we would sit at the back far from the horses, and that helped. They all loved it. The fresh air was great! We were able to get so close to them. There were over 350. So many. I'm glad we were able to go. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if Tony and Elyse had come.







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The First Lost Tooth

Today jayden lost his first tooth. Then he lost it!! Down the drain!! Not good. So we made that bathroom off limits and when Dad got home, he took it apart to try and get the tooth. Well, teeth are lighter than rings, so it went all the way through.
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Cell Phones

Cell Phones are a great tool, but I have felt that they can also be a hindrance to communication.
Picture this: a room full of teenagers. All with their phones out. texting. looking at their phones. no one saying a word. Unless it's on the phone. they might laugh. they might grunt. but they aren't communicating with the people in the same room with them.
Then if their phone dies or is lost, they can't function. There is NO ONE to COMMUNICATE with. But they aren't communicating. (Heaven forbid they talk to someone who lives in the same house as them. Or even invite a friend over to just hang out. You know, like we use to do. Eat pizza, watch a movie, listen to music.)
We have proven this several times. They will be texting someone and trying to coordinate an activity, meeting, something. Then it will turn out that what was being "said" wasn't what was meant, thought, happening....a big mess, to say the least.
Well, here is an article I read this morning that shocked me and also had me nodding my head.
http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2010/02/24/news/news04-02-24-10.txt Pin It

We had fun doing:

I love to find fun ways of teaching that I can enjoy.
This past week we have had a couple of fun things that turned into little play times.
The first started when we got a bunch of Care Bear figurines.
This began when we were just playing with them. I had been doing desk work, so we started lining them up on desk. We then started putting them in columns according to color and ended up with a pictograph. We compared and found which had the most, least, same, and other such stuff. The girls loved it. Then it was turned into chaos as we threw them everywhere.



Tonight there was a light on the floor in the girls' room after we turned out the light. Delta wanted to know what this was. So we looked out the window to see where it was coming from. She saw how light it was in the back yard and decided it was a light shining in the window. Emma looked out the window and saw the moon. So we all four looked out the window at the small moon that was making so much light. We talked about moon beams, and how when there are no clouds, the moon can seem much brighter. They found all the places in the room where the moon was shining. On the bed, desk, pillow, floor. Delta started "eating" the moon beams. So Emma and Katia followed. I asked if it was delicious and Katia said it was. So I asked if it tasted like cheese. She said, "Like cheese...and sausage." The girls had fun looking at, and eating, the moon until I finally convinced them (after MUCH weeping) that it was late and we had to go to bed. Delta wouldn't let me close the curtains, because she wanted to sleep by the moon beam.
These were just silly little things, that can be fun and a tiny bit educational, at the same time. Pin It

FHE Lesson: Life--With all the Trimmings

This is a FHE that we did as a Relief Society several years ago. I've not been able to find the book (Bright Impressions Family Home Evening Vol 3, pg. 43-46) so I thought I would share what I have. I don't have the clip art. It's been lost over the years.
The kids have loved this lesson and pay attention to it better than I thought. they will even remember what each of the hamburger trimmings stand for.

Scripture: We believe in being ^bhonest, true, ^cchaste, ^dbenevolent, virtuous, and in doing ^egood to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul—We believe all things, we ^fhope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to ^gendure all things. If there is anything ^hvirtuous, ⁱlovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

Song: Teach Me to Walk in the Light

Lesson:

The Journey
I started on a journey, not many years ago,
Just where the road would lead me, I really did not know.
I left my Father's house that day; I was anxious and afraid.
I knew that I must leave Him, for the plans had now been made.

So I took myself a body and started on my way,
Down the road of Eternity and hoped I would not stray.
At first the road was very clear, I walked along with ease.
It wasn't going to be so hard. My Father would be pleased.

Then I saw the path of pleasure, it looked so nice and gay.
It wouldn't hurt to stop awhile, because I need not stay.
There were paths in all directions, It was very hard to choose.
"Why not try them all?" I thought, "I surely could not lose."

I saw the path of evil that's laid out for the weak.
I simply couldn't pass it by without a little peek.
And then the path of worldly gain, it looked like such high style,
I simply had to linger on for just a little while.

By now I was so weary I surely needed rest,
So I took the path of discouragement, to see if it was best.
I rested there for a while, but found no peace of mind,
And so I started on again to see what I could find.

And as I walked along one day, I was weary as I could be.
I wondered why it was so hard, I simply could not see.
I thought of all the steps I took and all the paths I'd tried,
I wondered why it was so hard to find the path to God.

Then suddenly I realized that the road was straight and fine,
And all those little side trips were just a waste of time.

-Author Unknown

Sometimes we make life hard for ourselves by the paths we choose. We usually get as much out of life as we put into it. Have you seen people that seem happy and satisfied with life?
(Use either pictures, toys, or a real hamburger with all the trimmings as you are talking.)



(Display a hamburger bun. We used a toy hamburger and then some condiments out of the fridge.) The bun represents your life. There really isn't much to it by itself. It's what you do with it that livens it up and makes it palatable.
Spirituality is the meat of life. (show hamburger and place it on the bun) Spirituality brings much flavor to our lives. Without spirituality we tend to wonder down wrong paths. We may find ourselves doing things that are unkind, dishonest or self defeating. But sometimes we can come across as being so spiritual that we appear to make life dry and boring. There are things we can add to our spiritual life to help us grow and make life more meaningful.
Let's garnish our life with motivation. (add a slice of cheese) There's nothing like motivation to add that much needed flavor.
Add a few onions for individuality. (put onions on) This is an important item. It adds zest to the hamburger just like remembering, enjoying, and appreciating each other as unique individuals brings zest to our lives.
(Add tomato) Add a slice of tomato for kindness. Heavenly Father has asked us to love one another. How better to show our love that by being kind?
Add a leaf of lettuce to remember to be clean and well-kept. (put on lettuce)
Next, add a few sliced pickles to represent a sense of humor. If you have a sense of humor you can laugh at things that might otherwise get you down. (place sliced pickles on)
Put mayonnaise on it for a positive attitude. (add mayo) You can't accomplish worth while goals with out a positive attitude.
Add a bit of mustard for self-control. (add mustard) Having self control keeps us on the right track and keeps what is really important in front.
Finish off with a dab of catsup for humility. (add catsup) If we are humble and willing to receive inspiration and acknowledge our Father in Heaven in all things we will enrich our lives a hundred fold.
(Show the hamburger all put together) We can have a well-rounded life just by adding all the garnishes to life that we have added to the hamburger.
(show another plain bun and pace it beside the other) What kid of life can we have without spirituality and all the garnishes that make life enjoyable and worth while? We need to apply ourselves to gain a complete and happy life so that we will be able to receive our ultimate goal of Eternal Life.

Refreshments:
Serve hamburger cookies for dessert.

Hamburger Cookies
small amount of butter cream frosting (canned worked well for us)
color part of the frosting yellow for mustard.
vanilla wafers
green tinted coconut (I just colored it with food coloring)
round chocolate-covered mint patties (like York Peppermint Patties)
Warm honey-opt (we skipped this)
Sesame seeds-opt (we skipped this too)
(We also cut out pickles and tomatoes from fruit roll-ups)

To make each cookie, spread yellow icing on flat side of one vanilla wafer. Add chocolate patty. Spread white icing on other vanilla wafer. Sprinkle coconut on icing. Place on top of chocolate patty. Brush top of "bun" with honey and sprinkle seeds. (Like I said, we skipped the honey. Added the "tomatoes" and "pickles" or "Leaf-lettuce".)

You can also do this during the summer and have a barbecue. That would be so fun. We usually do these more "intense" lessons during the summer when we can't go outside to do much.

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