A Couple of April Celebrations

April 2 was National Burrito Day. We had burritos for dinner and took some to Jr.

It was also Hans Christian Andersen's Birthday, aka International Children's Book Day. We got another Discovery Kit from the library so for a couple of days we read children's books and did alphabet puzzles and activities, since this one was Alphabet themed.

April 3 was Fish Fingers and Custard Day so we had fish sticks and vanilla pudding.

We also continued on with our Holy Week family scripture study discussing Good Friday. 

Bonding Time is Great!

I'm thankful for bonding time with my husband. Things have been so busy with trips and with life that we haven't been able to take much time for just the two of us. So one day my husband made us omelettes, I made us hot chocolate, and we sat down and watched a whole movie together.

I'm thankful for working and chatting in the kitchen together, too. 

There were olives in the fridge and I asked if we should have them in our omelettes. Jeremy said we should. "How many?" I asked. "All of 'em," he replied. So he put "half of 'M'" in my omellete and "the rest of 'M'" in his. He's adorable. 

It was International Men's Day that day on November 19. It was also Have a Bad Day Day. Jeremy, my man, did not have a bad day that day. It's like when I don't feel like screaming on International Moment of Frustration Scream Day. Heh Heh.

 

The next day, November 20 was Universal Children's Day and Absurdity Day. I took my child, Nichole, to a Relief Society dinner with me. I did not get any pictures at the activity. Can you believe it? How absurd.

Some More Holidays

November 17 was National Homemade Bread Day and National Butter Day. 

Easy to combine holidays that day.

 

November 18 was National Apple Cider Day.

I figured after working for hours on Jeremy's book that day and the day before, I earned some nice apple cider in the composition mug.

 

November 19 was Have a Bad Day Day. Some of us took turns being grumpy for a bit. It never lasted too long. I kept commenting that it was just to celebrate the holiday. Both Nichole and Jr. fell that day. Sigh. You don't always have to celebrate, kids. Sigh.

November 20 was National Absurdity Day and World Children's Day. We talked about that in Nursery on Sunday. The adults did. The children were just absurd at times.

November 21 was National Gingerbread Cookie Day. I've been wanting to make gingerbread men again for years. My father-in-law gave me a recipe for gingerbread cookies so we made gingerbread men for the holiday. Hooray. 

Some of them came out in interesting shapes because they stuck so much to the cookie cutters. This is one that looks different depending on the angle you look at it. What do you think it looks like? 

Lucky and Jr. Jr. had fun with the end of the dough adding embellishments to the last cookies. I didn't make icing so we didn't have gingerbread zombies this time.

The day before, Nichole got a gingerbread man from a teacher at church. Sweetheart that she is, she shared with Jet. Then when she didn't have more to share, she made a gingerbread man out of cardboard for him, and we talked about the story of the gingerbread man. Lucky shared a story he made up about the Antarctic gingerbread man.

"Twas the Night Before Christmas"

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house..." people were helping make Christmas Eve dinner, including Duck a l'Orange from Jr.'s French cooking book.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care..." at least by the fake fire and beautiful music by The Piano Guys.

"The children were nestled all snug in their beds..." or wearing their new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and getting their picture taken in front of the balloon Christmas tree they built.

 

"Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night."

Restoration Scavenger Hunt

This year is the 200th anniversary of when Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith in what is known as the First Vision. It started the Restoration of Jesus Christ's church on the Earth again- that same church He established when He was alive and before He died and was resurrected. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is commemorating this bicentennial all year. There are many resources to learn about Joseph Smith's experiences on churchofjesuschrist.org and our April General Conference focused on the First Vision and the Restoration.
In preparation for this, our ward encouraged us to do something fun. Anyone who wanted to was invited to put something on their house (in windows or wherever) or in their yard that represented the Restoration. We let the ward leaders know what we were going to contribute. They put the list together with a map of the ward boundaries then emailed that out to everyone. We were then encouraged to go on a walk between sessions of General Conference to find what people had put up (the map told us what to find at each home that participated), maintaining appropriate social distance of course.

It was a nice activity and good to go for a walk as a family. What was weird was when normally it is considered rude to cross the street when you see someone coming along the same sidewalk as you, currently it is considered safe. So there were greetings from opposite sidewalks and we got some nice sunshine as a family. It was also great to see what others put up from pictures in windows to missionary ties in trees.

Our family contributed two missionary balloon sculptures. By the end of Conference Weekend, they were a little worn out. Poor missionaries.

We also celebrated the holidays for April 4- Walk Around Things Day, Love Our Children Day, and Vitamin C Day. That last one was celebrated as we had our traditional General Conference nachos. Mmmmm, bell peppers.
General Conference was wonderful. I was even able to take some notes.

Again, things are different right now. All the music at Conference was taken from previous recordings- no live choir. The First Presidency and speakers were not in the Conference Center but in an auditorium with a small amount of people. There is so much for us to look back on when this is all over. My children will be able to tell others, "I remember when..." just like I tell them, "I remember when I had to get dressed up and go to the church building to watch General Conference. I couldn't just watch it in my living room until I was a teenager."
We all did get dressed up for the Sunday morning session, where there was a solemn assembly and our prophet, President Nelson, presented a new proclamation to the world about Joseph Smith's First Vision. The proclamation can be read on churchofjesuschrist.org and there is also a video of President Nelson reading it from the Sacred Grove, where the First Vision took place. This is another thing our children will be able to say. "I remember when President Nelson presented the Bicentennial Proclamation on the First Vision."

Catching Up- Supporting Family and Friends

Wow.  It's been five months.  I guess it's about time I started catching up.  That and it's Summertime and there's so much going on, I don't want to be soooooo far behind again. So here is a blog post I started back in February.  Let's see what was happening then:

Wow.  We've had a busy few days.  Lots going on.  Here's some of it:
I helped Jeremy build and deliver Booster the Rocket, the mascot of Imagine Learning in Provo.  Lucky helped as well. While Lucky and I were bringing things into the building, my phone rang.  It was one of my boys at school worried about something and wondering if I could check on him at school.

While I was on the phone I heard someone call my name.  It was a friend who worked there. I always look for her when we go there and I was glad to see her there this time. She ran up and gave me a quick hug while I had the phone up to my ear in one hand and the other arm was full of balloons and gear. I appreciated the hug even if I couldn't hug her back very well or even talk to her.
My poor boy on the phone was worried about something and wanted me to come and see if I thought he needed to be picked up or if he could handle staying at school for the rest of the school day.  The wonderful lady in the office was able to explain things on the phone and help me to know that he should be able to make it through the rest of the school day (by the time I was able to check on him, it would have been almost the end of the school day anyway and Jeremy would be stuck until I could come back to get him since he couldn't leave until Booster was completely set up).
My son was fine the rest of the school day and when I checked him after he got home from school he was fine, too.  It's a good thing because after setting up Booster, we went straight to Nichole's school, and made it just on time to watch her and another student play a duet. I'm so glad we didn't miss it.  It was lovely.

The next day, in keeping with busyness and supporting family and friends, I got a chance to have some quiet time at the Provo Library.  I had some books to pick up so I spent a couple hours writing while I was there.  Thank you, Jeremy and Lucky.  I needed that.
After school the boys had parent-teacher conferences. Awesome kids. Their teachers agree.
Then Jeremy and I had a little date.  We headed down to BYU to support our friend, Nathan Williams. He had a reception for his thesis art show that night. Wow. It was nice to talk with him about his work.  And he certainly put a lot of work into this.

On the way back from the reception, Jeremy dropped me off at our church building where there was a Relief Society activity about food and food preparation and food storage and all sorts of food related things.  And there was food to eat.  Yumm.

There.  I did it. Done. Now to write new posts about what's been going on the last five months.

Pack Meeting

"Jesus saw potential in others and so can you."  We got to go to pack meeting for cub scouts this evening where Jr. received a belt loop for his Bear.  He was able to share some of the things he had done in order to earn it.  Way to go, Jr.
The kids got to make graham cracker houses for the activity.  The leaders were so patient with those kids.  Way to go, leaders.

I got to watch a friend's child today.  Lucky was asleep when he got here and the other kids were at school so we had a bit of one on one time, playing Hungry Hungry Hippos together part of the time and part of the time I worked on a project I needed to work on while he played Hungry Hungry Hippos or with other toys.  While he played, though, it was fun to praise his hippos or the animals he was making make their sounds.  It's these little things I need to work on with my own kids, too.  Taking that one on one time to be involved in what they're doing and praising their efforts.  I've got really good kids and I'm blessed to see how they're growing in so many areas.
Nichole's teaching kids from school how to juggle for a science project.  Nichole, who a year ago couldn't really juggle herself.  Nor could she sew and now she helps me sew juggling balls.

As I mentioned, Jr. is doing well with cub scouts. 
Jr. Jr. has a wonderful imagination and the things he comes up with are terrific.
Lucky just wants to be like all the big people.  He volunteers to help with things when someone asks for help.  Sometimes it's things he's too little to do, but he wants to anyway.
These are really good kids and I love to see how they LIGHTtheWORLD.

Humility

"Jesus showed humility and so can you."  I asked Jeremy this morning, how are we supposed to be humble in our service and then use the hashtag #LIGHTtheWORLD?
Heh Heh.  You know?  We don't have to broadcast every little piece of service we do to the world.
I am sharing some of the things we are doing with our family for this to spread the word about following Jesus because that's what it is about- following Jesus.  That's the most important thing- being like Jesus Christ.  I'm also looking forward to years down the line (or maybe even next year) looking back at these posts and remembering some of the things we learned this December and what we did to strengthen our family through service.
This morning, Jeremy and I had a really nice discussion with Nichole as she got up earlier than the boys.  There were so many thoughts going through my mind this morning and throughout the day.  I can't write them all down.  I'll just give you a glimpse.
Humility.  We talked about it being pretty much the opposite of pride.  It's being teachable.  Instead of being defensive about something, we can learn from a situation.

However, humility is not being self-degrading, either.  You don't think that you're the absolute best but you don't think you're the absolute worst either.  

In Matthew 18:3-4, Jesus said, "Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."  

This makes me think of a little child who draws a picture for their mom.  "Look, Mommy.  I made this for you."  The child honestly doesn't think they're all that because of their amazing talent.  They also don't think their ability is a failure.  They draw that picture as a service because they love Mommy.

Jesus didn't serve to get praise.  He didn't serve because He felt like He wasn't worthy of anything but serving.  He served because He loved.  He did what no one else could do because He loved.  That is the example He set for us.  Jesus was humble, He was willing to do what His Father asked of Him, even though it was hard- because He loved, because He loves.

I read a talk today that was suggested on mormon.org for LIGHTtheWORLD for today.  Sister Jean Simmons of the then Primary General Presidency gave it in General Conference in April 2011.  "Become as a Little Child."  In the talk, she shared examples of children who were being Christlike and what we can learn from them.  It's a beautiful talk.

Something I saw from our family today was people trying extra hard to be kind to one another- to not be as defensive, to be patient, to say Please and Thank You more, and to say nice things to each other.  That in itself is service.

Then we had cocoa with dinner since December 13 is Cocoa Day.

The Little Ones

Sometimes finding a way to serve is easier than other times. Today was one of those times. The theme for today with LIGHTtheWORLD was: "Jesus Ministered to Children and So Can You." Jeremy and I happen to teach children (4-5 year olds) at our church. Today, though, we had a special meeting and didn't hold our regular classes. So we didn't see those kids today. We wanted them to know we were thinking of them and in preparation had asked them what kind of balloon animals they liked.

As a family we were able to deliver quite a few of them today and hope to get the rest out soon. Christ taught by example- not everyone followed his example, but he never wavered. The best way to teach children (ours or others) is through example. A kind word, a talent shared, comfort given. Not all children will choose to follow that example, but like Christ, try to keep from wavering... or they will latch on to that bad example quicker than the olives disappear on Thanksgiving!

From Apples to Absurdity

Friday, the kids made dinner.  They all helped in one way or another.  Since November 18 is William Tell Day, we listened to the William Tell Overture as they made dinner, including apples.

 

Yesterday was Have a Bad Day Day.  We didn't.  However with breakfast, several of the children made mad faces with their food.  I think that's a better way of celebrating the holiday.

Today, November 20, is Absurdity Day.  It is also Universal Children's Day.  Today is the Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting.  How appropriate.  Wish us luck.