Year: 2009

Ethan’s 6th birthday part 1

Today is Ethan’s 6th birthday, and he is just so excited. At school he got a birthday crown to wear for the day, and his class sang ‘Happy birthday’ to him dinosaur style: Happy birthday to you ROAAAAR!……. I came just a little bit before school was out to bring the birthday treat he selected, which was cookies with “pretty m&m’s in them”. I remember when I was in elementary school we got to make and bring cupcakes. Times have changed a lot since I was a kid. Now-a-days you can’t bring cupcakes to school for the birthday treat because the teachers say cupcakes make too much of a mess, and you can’t bring anything homemade. I remember when I was in the fifth grade I personally made my cupcakes to take to my class, and now you just can’t do that. Anyway here is a picture of the birthday boy:

CIMG1573

FHE #1

House of Order Family Home Evening Manual, Lesson 20 (pg 89)

Opening Song: Hymn 215 ‘Today while the Sun Shines’

Opening Prayer: Tyra

Game: Come to Order-Dad tells the family to line up in different orders, such as by age, size, birthday….. after playing the game point out that somebody had to be giving the directions in order for everyone to know how to line up.

Scripture: Doctrine & Covenants 132:8 “Behold, mine house is a house of order, saith the Lord God, and not a house of confusion.”

  • We want our house to be the same, we want to establish order and end the confusion that we are experiencing.
  • Heavenly Father gives us directions (such as these) because He loves us, and He wants us to be happy and to be like Him.

Parent’s Responsibilities:

  • Preside (to give direction or to take charge)
  • Teach the Gospel-As parents it’s our responsibility to teach the gospel to our children. FHE helps us accomplish this goal.
  • Be an example-One of the best ways to teach is by example.

Mommy dress up-Here I left the lesson to go dress up as a maid, with an apron. On the apron I pinned a piece of paper that I had written “Maid” on. I came back to the living room picking things up as I came. Then we proceeded to point out to the children that I am NOT a maid and that what I was currently doing in picking everything up was not one of the jobs we had just established as being mine.

Children’s Responsibilities

  • Obey-Ephesians 6:1 “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Here play a game to teach obedience. Have Dad with some m&m’s in his pocket stand up and ask individual members of the family to do something. Start simple with things like ‘Come here’ and move on to things like ‘Pick up 5 books’ and when the individual completes the task Dad gives them an m&m. Then he asks someone else to do something. The children will quickly learn obedience when candy is involved. 😉
  • Honor Parents-Ephesians 6:2-3 “Honour thy father and thy mother; (Which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.
  • Contribute-Each family member is responsible to help make the family happy and strong. Discuss with the children ways they can contribute to the family and household.

Closing Song: Children’s Songbook pg 198 “When We’re Helping”

Closing Prayer: Jeremy

FHE Treat: Peanut & Chocolate Chex Bars

  • 4 c Chocolate Chex cereal
  • 1/2 c light corn syrup
  • 1/4 c sugar
  • 1/2 c peanut butter
  • 1/2 c peanut butter chips
  • 1/4 c candy-coated chocolates
  1. Butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray the bottom and sides of an 8×8 pan. Put the chocolate chex in the pan.
  2. Over medium heat, heat the corn syrup and sugar, stirring constantly, just to boiling. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter until smooth.
  3. Pour over cereal in the pan, stirring until even coated. Stir in the peanut butter chips and candies, and press firmly in the pan. Cool 1 hour.

Jeremy is in Primary!!!

Well today is Jeremy’s first day as a Sunbeam. He was so excited to go to church (having no idea that he would be in a different class today) so he could take his scriptures to church. But when we took him to the gym to sort out the Primary classes (and not his nursery class) he started to look worried. We took him to his new teacher and she was really nice, and greeted him by name. But Jeremy was not convinced. So when the other leaders came around to say that they could go to the primary room now, I stayed with Jeremy’s class and helped him get on a chair in his row. And I pointed out that Ethan was already in the room in his row, and that Tyra’s class came in and sat right behind Jeremy’s row. He seemed to be doing just fine (aside from his scriptures constantly falling off his chair because they are too heavy for him to really hold them), so I slipped out to go to my class.

When I went to pick Jeremy up from his class, his new teacher said that he was just fine and very reverent, and he did an excelent job of coloring (not scribbling) his picture. 🙂 So he has officially moved out of nursery and into primary, and it’s actually really wierd not having any kids in the nursery. Dinah won’t be old enough to go to nursery until March, and ever since Ethan was old enough for nursery we have had at least one and sometimes two kids in the nursery.