Scriptures & FHE

I need to do a better job at writing on this blog to document things we are doing & learning as a family.

We are constantly working to do a better job at having regular weekly family home evening. Often we have our lesson during dinner when everyone is sitting and busy eating because there is less running around and sheer craziness. I don't know why, but Monday evening always seems to surprise me and I never seem to take enough time to plan a lesson.

We've started focusing on single scripture verses or single articles of faith so that we keep the lesson short and simple... and there isn't any huge prep needed. This week we focused on Mosiah 4:30.

Earlier in the day we made a ghost for an alphabet game, so during FHE we used it as the "good ghost" to help us as we talked about good deeds, thoughts, words, and keeping the commandments.

The kids brainstormed good thoughts, deeds, words, and ways we could keep the commandments... and we wrote them down and fed them to our hungry ghost. It was such a silly & fun lesson. They wanted to feed the ghost again and again. After we fed the ghost, we tossed balls through it's mouth too.

Then we added Mosiah 4:30 to our scripture stash. These are the scriptures we keep in Andrew's room to read at bedtime. He picks one to read every night. I have been amazed at how quickly he has learned the words and memorized a few of the scriptures. We are focusing on the Book of Mormon Scripture Mastery scriptures right now. I love getting to memorize them together.

I still remember when I was learning to read as a kid that we would get a chance to read from the scriptures and I thought it was so cool (and hard) and I really felt like my reading was blessed as I read the scriptures.

When I lived in Spain one of the main ways that I learned new Spanish vocabulary words was through reading the scriptures. Each day I would pick a new Article of Faith to memorize in Spanish and then I would also just read at night. I definitely felt like my language skills were blessed as I studied the scriptures. 

I know that scripture reading is really important and I don't make enough time for it for myself personally or for our family. General Conference this past weekend really reminded me how important it is for me to be more diligent with doing the simple things like reading my scriptures, saying meaningful prayers, and have weekly family home evening. 

Helping Hands FHE, Star Wars, and the Weekend

Andrew and Kevin went and helped out at our stake Helping Hands service project on Saturday morning while Catie & I caught up on chores and crafts and Ryan took a record-long nap. 

Andrew got a donut, played with bugs, picked up pinecones, and helped beautify a local high school... so he thought doing service was pretty rad. 

He asked if we could do another service project right away, so we decided to make that the focus of our FHE this week.

Helping Hands FHE 

(I'm trying to document the FHEs that are actually successful... there are so many that aren't)

Last week a friend told me about how their family does FHE and I loved their idea! She said each child gets a month to be a in charge. One week they do a formal lesson, one week they go out to dinner, one week they do an activity, and one week they do a family service project. The child of the month gets to plan each week and then a new kid is in charge the next month. We decided that this month we were going to start embedding some more service into our family activities and FHE.

Scripture: We started off our lesson reading Mosiah 2:17 and talking about service very briefly and how serving others is a way that we can show love to God.  

For our activity each person got a turn to get their hand traced onto our Buskirk Helping Hands poster and then they got to pick the service project they wanted to spearhead. We brainstormed a few ideas and it was fun to see what everyone came up with as "their" project.

I figure now we have five months of service projects planned if we choose to do one per month. Andrew wants to start tomorrow though... so we might need some more activities.

FHE only works at our house if it is quick and we are moving a lot. We played Freeze Dance after we'd done our service project planning. When the music stopped each time I asked each person a question about service- "How can you serve Catie?" (give her hugs) "How did Nephi serve?" (got us the brass plates) "What is one way that Jesus served others?" (healed them, blessed them) etc. 

The night ended in chaos and kids chucking tinker toys at one another while they tried playing duck duck goose and we skyped with my parents. Shockingly I hadn't planned a good treat... so we'll need to do a better job with that next week! 

Star Wars

Andrew is obsessed. I totally went into the Lego store on our date night on Saturday so that Andrew could get the newest Lego club magazine. The thing is now quite worn... he pores over the pages trying to decide what he wants to earn money for next... and keeps asking to do more chores. :)

I bought him some Star Wars books last week, including the chapter books and some simple phonics book versions. Kevin and Andrew have been reading the chapter book each night and little dude loves it. To help squelch his constant requests for new Legos, we started an Amazon Wish List for him today. Surprisingly, he is just as excited about searching for toys on the Lego website and then adding Lego toys to his Wish list as he was when he actually got to buy something at the Lego store.

Messes

Our house is a disaster lately. This is one corner of our living space. We basically live all day in the family room... it also serves as a changing room for me and bedroom for Ryan... and playroom. We aren't home much, so the space also doesn't get cleaned up nearly enough! When we are home and the workers are there Catie gets nervous if I leave her in part of the house by herself... so instead of trucking everyone to my room, I change in the family room. Going to the bathroom also poses a problem because if I leave everyone in the family room, there is no guarantee that I won't have a visitor... who then leaves the door open for the workers to see in... and if I take everyone in with me... then I still have the same problem... because kids will just randomly leave the bathroom. Keeps me on my toes.

Cabinets arrived today for our linen closet and our bedroom closets... so now the front room is a disaster too. Trying to keep Catie from climbing all over and inside these cabinets was quite a feat.

And here's the mess that came in from just being in the car today. You never know when the weather will change... so we had to prepare for all situations with loads of snacks, treats, and wardrobe changes.

Weekend

This weekend my fabulous friend Molly came into town. We made the trek across the Bay to go visit with her and some other friends. Kevin managed to snap a few photos of the crazies.
 

We also went to a preschool auction this weekend and won two of the items we bid on- hurray! One was two passes to Gilroy Gardens... so I'm already counting down the days till we get to use that one.

The guys ended the weekend with a Father/Son trip to Mt. Diablo to see a meteor shower... while I stayed home and ate ice cream. The meteor shower was a bust because the Moon was too bright... but the guys still had fun stargazing and hanging out together.  

 All in all... good weekend and the week is looking great too.

Bouncing off the Walls & Prayer Train FHE Lesson

Yesterday they were cutting wood to frame our new bathtub starting at 7:30am... so by 8:30am the kiddos were done with the loud sounds and we hurried out and headed to the park. We were the only ones there at 9am since it was so cold (other than the elderly men playing bocce and drinking wine). Andrew made several friends and they taught him some bocce tricks while Ryan napped in the stroller and Catie and I played and hunted acorns. 

(acorn hunting)

Then we went to ANOTHER park around 11 and then another park after Andrew was done with school. 

(my super helper hanging out with Ryan while I put Catie on the swings)

Despite all the running around all day... my kids were still bouncing off the walls when we started our Family Home Evening lesson.

I made it vehicle themed since Catie is obsessed with cars and trains. We did this same lesson with Andrew about two years ago and it was a hit... so I thought we'd try it again. Last time we actually built the train with paper, but I had 3 minutes to prep this lesson, so this was all I had time for.

The kids talked with us about the different parts of a prayer (we kept it super simple), then they got to help put the different parts in order somewhat on the train.

Then they got to add wheels every time they shared something that they could thank Heavenly Father for or that they could ask him for. We didn't write their ideas down on the wheels... but they were things like, "ask him to bless Grandma and Grandpa," "thank him for making my cut feel better," etc.

Every time they shared an idea they got to yell "choo choo" and then chug around the kitchen island... since they were struggling to not jump all over the couch while we were talking.

The lesson lasted maybe 5 minutes (if even) and then we got to eat snickerdoodles and play Kinect Sports!

I had forgotten that we had Kinect and now will need to whip it out more often. Catie and Andrew loved playing it together and it was excellent for getting their energy out!

While they played, I ate way too many snickerdoodles!

What a great way to start out the week! Despite how crazy they were acting, the kids said the sweetest things during our lesson and Andrew's prayers have been even more sincere today and less repetitive. Hooray for FHE!

Love this quote... and I am trying to remember it each week so that we actually make sure to have FHE. We can use any and all blessings we can get!!

“We advise and urge the inauguration of a Home Evening throughout the Church, at which time fathers and mothers may gather their boys and girls about them in the home, and teach them the words of God … If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase, faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influences and temptations which beset them.” The First Presidency (Joseph F. Smith, 1915)