Reverence FHE

I have a small confession to make, this Monday is the first time I have done Family Home Evening since Grahams been born! My plan for the new year is to do FHE on the lesson Spencer had in Sunbeams the day before! To try and help him understand so he doesn't get OVERLOADED  with too many ideas at once!!! 

But this week I thought I would start out with REVERENCE! Since we have had a few slip ups lately (running to the front and standing at the podium in Sacrament, NOT sitting quietly during Sacrament, running in the halls, and our worst one sitting quietly during prayer time:) A few new friends came over for dinner and our little lesson! Spencer had fun during the lesson since there was someone else to do it with!

I started out by asking the boys what Reverence was

....silence....

I showed the kids a picture of a family sitting in church REVERENTLY 

(from the Behold Your Little Ones Manual)

 and told them; 

"Reverence is being still and quiet to show Heavenly Father that we love Him." 

I had the kids get up and demonstrate things that ARE reverent and AREN'T with their feet, mouths, eyes, ears and hands! We talked about when to be Reverent and when its OK to be loud and goofy! We had a fun little puppet and the boys moved his arms and legs around to show me how to be reverent! Cooper had a little too much fun with our puppet and so had to stop to fix him but once he was all better we got back on track!! :)

We played musical chairs (because its the boys favorite FHE game) and put pictures of ways we can be reverent on each chair so when they sat down they told us how THEY can be reverent! Spencer and Coby loved running around the chairs, even BJ jumped in a few times!

The boys were wearing down so we finished up with this fun craft idea I found on the FHE BLOG! It went with this fun poem: 

I said to my feet, "Keep Still!" I said to my hands "Just Stay!" I said to my all-over-everywhere-self, "I am in charge of you today!" I'm the ruler of my mouth , and I'm the King of ME, so when I tell me its REVERENCE time, I'm as quiet as can be!

So the boys could be proper Kings of themselves we made REVERENCE crowns! The kids decorated them with stickers and drawings! And had fun running around with them! 

We had a great time getting to know our new friends and the boys had SO much fun playing together! Hopefully they got something out of the lesson even though they weren't that REVERENT :) Its a work in progress.....

Thankful FHE

SO.... WOW I think at the end of this FHE I need to remember what I have to be thankful for because it was a little tiresome! We had 2 families over for a total of 5 kids  here for FHE! They were ALL over the place! The last month we have just had quiet FHE's and I think with such a drastic change Spencer kinda had a hard time calming down!! (kinda is a nice way to put it!)

First we talked about being thankful for what we have and what others do for us then I did a little Puppet Show with the story of the 10 lepers! I ended up using these SILLY cartoons because I couldn't find any good drawings or pictures ANYWHERE online! ANYWAY the kids kinda thought my lepers were MONSTERS! It was kinda funny!

Then we colored a picture of some things we can be grateful for! After coloring we made a "Thankful TURKEY!" And added feathers that had things the kids were thankful for! Some of the feathers are things like Backyardigins and Puppet Shows! But it turned out pretty cute! We played a fun round of Musical Chairs! The kids kinda chased each other around and then would get distracted and fall down or run ALL over the house and completely forget about the chairs! 

In the end it was exhausting! But I AM THANKFUL for the promise that if I try to do FHE the Lord will bless my boys! I HOPE that I am helping them to understand Heavenly Fathers Plan even on nights where things DON'T go as planned! :) 

I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus FHE

Yesterday was a super busy day, but somehow I managed to pull an FHE together! I had found a simple idea and just expanded it a little!

First we sang the song "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus," which I really love! I think we are going to have to listen to it a lot more! Then we played a game! The game starts with a set of foot prints and then Spencer JUMPED to each new set of footprints! First I set out a picture of Jesus and asked Spencer what Jesus was doing in the picture? Then I set down a picture of how he could do something JUST LIKE JESUS!

For example, Jesus went to the temple when he was a boy, you can go to the temple and to Church! Or Jesus helped people, you can help Mom and Brother! He had a lot of fun JUMPING, and asked to play it 3 times! He knew all the pictures by the end!Then we played musical chairs, on each chair I put one of the pictures of things HE could do to BE LIKE JESUS! And when the music stopped we said what each of us could do to be more like Him! The kids LOVED musical chairs! Even Cooper got in on the action and chased us around!
We had a coloring page and talked a little bit more about what kind of things Jesus would and WOULDN'T do! Afterwards Spencer asked me to if he could play the "Jesus feet game" again! We had a lot of fun, and it was really simple! HURRAY!!!
AND I made DESSERT! And I NEVER make dessert! But I saw this recipe on Rachel's blog and I couldn't stop thinking about it! Its called Turtle Pumpkin Pie! And it is INCREDIBLE! It was very simple and only took me 15 minutes MAX to make! It chills in the fridge so you don't even have to bake it! I loved it, and ALL the boys loved it! THANKS RACHEL! I am totally making it for Thanksgiving!I love his expression, he is trying to figure out what this is and why its SO YUMMY!

Scriptures FHE

Tonight we had our FHE on the scriptures! We talked about the different books and where they came from! I tried to explain that the scriptures are stories the prophets have written down to help us be more like Jesus!
The we had a puppet show! YEA!!! I did a few little stories! The first one was about how Joseph Smith got the Book of Mormon. Then I told him about Captain Moroni and the Stripling Warriors! He thought it was really neat to see the swords and hear about the young boys we were soldiers! Then we talked about the Bible and how those stories are from Europe and tell about older prophets and Jesus! I told him the story of the Ten Commandments and Jesus walking on the water! We had to explain that walking on the water is different then swimming in the water! And then he was VERY impressed that Jesus could walk on it since he couldn't even swim in the water yet!
Some of the puppets!! I kinda love making these little puppets and the look on Spencer's face when we open the curtains for the show!

I made a little coloring page, because Spencer listens really well while he colors! So we kinda went over what the names of the scripture books are and who wrote them! Cooper really enjoyed coloring and didn't even eat any markers or color on any furniture! A total success!
At bed time Spencer was excited to sit down and read his scriptures and asked me to find the story about the young soldiers and the neat prophet captain! So I think it went well!

Choose the Right FHE

I am going to be quick today, I have had a LONG day! I went into the dentist only to find out I need a root canal! YUCK! SO it was kinda a bum start to the day but we ended with a good FHE so here it goes....

I wanted to FINALLY make a chart that rewards Spencer's good behavior (because he really does do lots of GREAT things!) And I feel like I spend WAY TO MUCH TIME correcting him and telling him NO!

So tonight we did a FHE on Choosing the Right! First we sang a new song "Choose the Right Way" it kinda got us going on the idea of "Choose the right way and BE HAPPY!" Then we played a little game! I had one happy face that represented wise choices or CHOOSING THE RIGHT and a sad face that represented CHOOSING THE WRONG! I had printed out a few examples and we pulled them out of the had and Spencer decided if "sharing," "yelling," "going to nursery class," and "saying prayers" was choosing the right or wrong? He loves to pull things out of a hat! I dunno why but it really keeps his attention and it helped him understand what it means to CHOOSE THE RIGHT!Then we put on another song (there were tons of songs for this theme! YEA) "Quickly I'll Obey" and he colored the CTR logo! As he colored we talked about what the CTR means and how when he chooses the right HE will feel happy, MOM feels happy and HEAVENLY FATHER feels happy!
To finish us off we went over the new board! HURRAY, I love charts! (its kinda lame I know!) I explained that it is our CHOOSE THE RIGHT CHART! We went over each picture and how HE can do each action HIMSELF! Then we talked about how if he chooses the right he can put a CTR (Velcro) "sticker" on the board! Once he gets 3 CTR stickers he can choose a activity to do during the day! (All the Velcro CTR signs are in the pocket on the bottom of the chart, hopefully that will keep them from getting lost!)
I hope it doesn't turn into the idea of whenever I do something I get something! But I want to encourage GOOD behavior instead of highlighting BAD behavior! He was excited to start so..... WE WILL SEE!

FHE was calm and hopefully he understood it!
TIME WILL TELL!

FHE on Consequences

Tonight I did a really SIMPLE FHE based on consequences! Spencer has been having a hard time being obedient lately. I kinda feel at a loss on how to discipline him! So we made this handy little chart to set up a FEW boundries and lay out CLEAR consequences if he breaks those boundries!
I have really been feeling like I spend all my time saying "NO" and I dont want to be that way! SO I am going to try and say "YES" as much as possible and stick to our boundries chart when discipline has to be kicked in! He helped me pick out the consequences and now when he is about to do something naughty or has done something I am going to try and say "hey what happens when you do that? Go look at the chart!" And hopefully it will be a little less PAINFUL!

I am going to make a chart with GOOD things he can do and their consequences too, so its not all negative! IF you have ANY ideas, PLEASE I am SO SO open to them!

FHE on Feelings

Amber and I thought it would be good to do a FHE on recognizing your feelings and then dealing with them in a good way, instead of FREAKING out, since we have both been getting the latter mostly! :)
We came up with some really fun ideas! We started out with these cute faces and asked the kids what each face was "feeling", and when they felt that same way? It was so cute cause about half way through Spencer was VERY interested in AJ's response and kept asking him "So, when do you feel sad? When do you feel happy AJ" And AJ would think for sec and answer very thoughtfully! It was so funny!
Then we sang this cute song Amber made up! It is Twinkle Twinkle but you insert a feeling in front of star! You make a Twinkle action with your fingers and then act out the feeling as you sing! So... ahmmm "Twinkle Twinkle little "silly" star how I wonder what you are..." The kids really had fun with the silly star, jumping and rolling they REALLY getting into it!

After our song we brought on the main course! OUR PUPPET SHOW! Spencer and I had been working on our puppet stage all day, so he was REALLY excited to see the show! We made up a little story with daily scenarios that included the kids and us, as their parents. Little situations they could relate to where they were feeling something! Then we asked them how they should react! So one was;
"AJ came to play at Spencer's house, Spencer was excited but AJ was shy what should they do when AJ feels shy?"
AND
"Spencer and AJ are playing with a digger, Spencer takes it away and AJ feels sad and mad what should AJ do? Should he yell and hit? Or should he ask for it back and they both take turns?"
Anyway it was super cute! I think the kids really liked it! I loved doing it, so I hope they liked it as much as I did! I am really a DORK! A kid at heart!

We colored a picture, so the kids could relax a little and we could try to suggest new ways to respond to our feelings!
And to close up the whole topic we played another SWEET file folder game! This one was a matching game! We had the kids color them on Sunday and then laminated them and put on the Velcro and the envelope on back to hold all the pieces! I am kinda in love with these file folder ideas! I am going to start bringing them to church for quiet activities! They are just so convenient and easy! All you do is print them off of sugar doodle! YEA!
http://www.sugardoodle.net/mambo/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1944&Itemid=5
Over all the kids were a lot calmer this week and it went really well! Spencer and I are going to start recognizing what he is feeling when he is upset! Hopefully it will help us!????

And of course, I am really excited about using the stage later on, having lots of puppet shows! The kids played and played with it all day and as soon as FHE was over they barley stopped playing long enough to have cake! Hurray, I think its a hit!

Father in Heaven FHE

For this FHE I really wanted to help Spencer understand about his Father who lives in Heaven. I kinda combined lesson 1 and 2 in the primary manual! "I am a child of God" and "Heavenly Father has a body"!

We had friends over for dinner with their little boy AJ for FHE. We started out singing "I Am A Child of God" I love listening to the kids try and keep up to the melody of the song! They try so hard! Then we talked about living in Heaven before we came to earth and how we have a Father who lives in Heaven and a father who lives with us here on earth! (that was the MAIN point I tried to get across! So I asked the boys throughout the lesson, who is your daddy on earth? They would both jump up and down and say their daddy's name then I would say who is your Daddy who lives in Heaven? Spencer would either look at me blankly, or say "Jesus"! It's a work in progress!So we talked about how we grow up to become like our parents. And because Heavenly Father is our Dad we will grow to be like him! We put together this puzzle that has pictures of baby birds and full grown birds, little boys and fathers, etc! http://library.lds.org/nxt/gateway.dll/Magazines/Friend/1984.htm/friend%20april%201984.htm/sharing%20time%20we%20grow%20to%20be%20like%20our%20parents%20.htm?fn=document-frame.htm$f=templates$3.0
Spencer and Cooper colored it earlier that day!

Then we talked about how our Father in Heaven has a body. And how our bodies look just like his! We sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!" And colored a picture of Heavenly Father and Jesus!
http://www.mormonshare.com/images/media/SunbeamLesson2.pdf
(I found that on Sugar Doodle too! When you use a lesson out of the sunbeam manual then they have TONS of ideas and handouts on Sugar Doodle! Its AWESOME!) Then to end the lesson we talked about how because Heavenly Father is our Father who lives in Heaven (that's a lot to get out) we are his children and how EVERYONE on earth is his children! I found this GREAT game on... you guessed it Sugar Doodle that they have for every sunbeam lesson called the "file folder games!" It was so fun! It kinda took a lot of work but I think it was worth it! I am going to make one of these games for each FHE, if I can! All the instructions are all here!
http://downloads.sugardoodle.net/FFGame.pdf

The thought behind the game is that we are all children of God and you put the children of God in the pockets! They also have the words that you can add velcro to so the kids can match the words to their outlines! I added our family pictures instead of the illustrations and then added more folders for pictures of the grandparents and cousins, Jesus, and the prophet! To help him understand we are ALL Gods children!











Front and Back of the file folder!

The kids were a little rowdy, and I don't really think that this one lesson is going to mean he understands who Heavenly Father is, surprise surprise, but I think it was a good start! I am excited for next week!

Personal Prayer FHE

I love Family Home Evenings, but today when I was talking to Spencer about getting ready for FHE he said "Mom Family Home Evening isn't fun!" I was crushed! I thought I did a good job at making them entertaining and short enough that he still enjoyed it!!! SO I was suddenly on a mission to make this FHE even better!
We have had a few lessons on prayer, and he is really good at repeating what we say during prayer. And relatively good at sitting still and being reverent! But latley I've been trying to help him understand what prayer is and what HE can say in HIS prayers to Heavenly Father! So that was my objective, give him the basic template for what to include in HIS PERSONAL prayers!
Our lesson started out with this cute little guy that reminded him how we act during prayer! He thought the guy was super funny to move around!


















Then we talked about the 4 steps to praying
1. Dear Heavenly Father....
2. I am Thankful for....
3. Please Help me or Bless me....
4. In the Name of Jesus Christ Amen

So I got out 2 pieces of paper one said "I Thank Thee" the other said "Please Bless" and a hat with a bunch of pictures of things HE would be thankful for or ask for during a prayer! There is something so EXCITING to him about pulling things out of a hat! It really keeps his attention! So we went through the pictures and talked about saying it all by himself! I told him we could bring these to bed to help him remember what HE could say! He thought that was great!
Then the BIG finale that I was hoping would CLENCH the FUN review! We had gone out in the day earlier and found some flat rocks to PAINT! One for him and one for Coop! So we painted our "Prayer Rocks" and finished up!
Cooper really tried! He wants to be just as big as Spenc! He kept trying to eat the brush or his painted fingers! SO in the end Mom and Dad had to finish up his rock (which I am sure will be confiscated tomorrow because of frequent THROWING!)
We used our pictures to help us at bedtime, and of course this will be a work in progress! But I think it went well and when I asked him as we said goodnight if he had fun he says "yea mom it was ok!" So I am going to RUN WITH THAT!