WFMW - FHE Outline

As I promised last week, here is how we do Family Home Evening...

Opening Song
Opening Prayer
Practice Song - the song they are learning this month in Primary
Family Calendar for the week and highlights coming up
Lesson (usually 5-10 minutes)
Closing Song
Closing Prayer
Treats (You HAVE to have treats every week - isn't that what FHE is all about?)

Generally the opening and closing songs are from the current year's primary program to continue to practice them. But we occassionally will do other favorites (Morgan always asks for Follow the Prophet).

Overall, FHE takes about 30 minutes, including gather the family time.

Now on the 4th week, which is Singing FHE. We replace the lesson with the songs from the primary program and Follow the Prophet.

Treats - this is your excuse to make all those dessert recipes you have in your recipe box.

Now many families will follow treats with an activity. But we haven't gotten that into our regular schedule yet. Maybe when the girls get a little older and FHE isn't followed immediately by family scriptures and prayer and bed.

And this works for our family. Go here for more Works for Me Wednesday!

What do you believe about heaven and hell?

We were recently visiting with our neighbors and it came up that our neighbor had once been told "If you don't believe the same as I do, you're going to hell." I've heard that before, but usually in the phrase "If you don't belong to [this religion], you're going to hell." I immediately wanted to jump in on my husband's conversation to say "We don't believe that." But didn't get the chance. Yes, a missed missionary moment... but I did talk with his wife a few days later and let her know we didn't agree with that statement.

As I pondered that and Princess1 being around kids of the full range of religious thought at school, I wanted to make sure she knows that we don't believe that. And to help her know what our Church teaches about "heaven and hell". So that's my FHE lesson topic for September. Explaining our viewpoint and what the prophets have taught is easy. I'll be doing something similar to this.

Princess1 already understands that not everyone believes Pres. Monson is the Prophet of God. And not everyone follows what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches. If you know Princess1 or Princess2, you've probably heard their comments about "He's a naked kid" when they see someone without their shirt on. They both know that modesty is important in our family but that not everyone follows that. Now, to teach them to not point it out loudly when we're at the park :)

Here's where I need your help. I also want to be able to let Princess1 (and Princess2) know what others they are around may believe. Rather than trying to go off my memory or guess what other religions or non-religious friends believe, I decided I would post it as a question. What do you believe (and/or what does your church teach) about heaven and hell. In your response, please include what religion you are, if any. My intent with this information is to show Princess1 how we believe the same and how we believe different from those around us.

Thanks for your help and for being willing to share your beliefs with us.

WFMW - FHE Schedule

I always come up with great Works for Me Wednesday topics, but not on Wednesday. Wednesday finds my mind blank about what works for me. So when I got my idea today, I decided to go ahead and do my post.

Monday night is Family Home Evening (some people call it Family Night). Next week, I'll post what Family Home Evening means for us as far as what we do. But the main focus is some kind of lesson or discussion. It used to be, though, that I ended up ALWAYS doing the lesson. But when Princess1 got ready to enter Sunbeams in Primary, we knew we needed to change things so she could practice presenting (starting in Sunbeams, the kids take turns giving a short talk to the other kids during Primary - it's assigned for each week). So to help her be more comfortable, we came up with a lesson schedule for the month.

First Monday - Love/Daddy gives the lesson.
Second Monday - Mommy (me)
Third Monday - Princess1
Fourth Monday - Primary Presentation Songs
Fifth Monday (as needed) - special activity

This week was Princess1's turn. And the first time she did it all by herself. In the past, I've helped her select and prepare a lesson. Now before anyone gets all amazed, when she was 4 and 5, I created the lesson and whispered it to her and then she repeated what I said to Love.

So on Monday morning, Princess1 calls to me from the living room. "Mom, who's turn is it for the lesson today?" "It's your turn." "What should I do?" I then gave her the August issue of The Friend magazine and told her to read through it and pick out a story to read to us for her lesson. She did and read it to me that afternoon to practice. Then at FHE time, she read it to everyone. She did awesome! And we praised her for doing it all herself.

The month's schedule really helps us remember who is responsible for preparing the lesson. And that works for me. Now we just need to work on assigning out the other responsibilities too.

Princess1 is really starting to grasp the concepts of the Gospel. I can see her growing and preparing for baptism.... 17 months to go!

For more tips this Wednesday, head over to Works for Me Wednesday!

WFMW - The one left behind

In a few weeks, Princess1 will be returning to school for 1st grade and Princess2 will be left behind. At the same time, we're hopeful that our period of unemployment will be ending by then too. What to do with Princess2 who is very attached to her sister and her daddy (she has always been a daddy's girl while Princess1 is more a mommy's girl).

So here's my plan:

#1. AT HOME SCHEDULE. It's essential to my sanity and to Princess2's that we have a daily schedule. It lets us both have time apart, time together, time to play and time to work. Last year's schedule worked really well but will have to be tweaked with the absence of naps now.

#2. TREATS. I will be coming up with special activities for us to enjoy those first weeks - a trip to the zoo, a trip to Bass Pro, the park (once it cools down some).

#3. OUTING SCHEDULE. In addition to our time at home and special outings, I want to set up some regular outings - storytime at the Library and the Nature Center, gymnastics class (pending employment), regular playdates.

#4. SPECIAL TIME WITH SISSY. I will be having a talk with Princess1 about dedicating some time to her sister when she gets home from school.

#5. SPECIAL TIME WITH DADDY. Princess2 has gotten into the routine this past week of waking up early so she can crawl in between us in our bed while we're studying the scriptures to snuggle with her daddy. Half the time she falls back asleep but she has some private Daddy (and a little Mommy) time. We need to make sure that she still gets that time with him.

And I'm hoping these Work for me. For more back to school ideas and tips, check out Works for Me Wednesday at We Are THAT Family.

On a second note, we learned to NOT walk home from school last year with Princess1. She would be so tired at the end of the day, that walking home pushed her over the edge and we had GROUCHY girl! By driving home, she would then share her day and be cheerful to be around. Too bad I didn't figure this out until May :(

Puffs at Dillon's

If you need kleenex or Puffs for school, you need to head to Dillon's by Tuesday. Currently, Puffs are on sale for $1.99 for the large box (216 tissues). I normally buy these at Wal Mart in the 3 pack and it comes out to about 1.67 per box. BUT, if you buy 4 qualified items (which these are), you get $4 off your purchase. That makes each box of Puffs $0.99!! These are the only kind of tissues I buy so I stocked up. I may even decide to go back on Monday or Tuesday and buy a few more. Princess1's new school wants us to bring 2 large boxes of tissues so that's where some will be going. I was almost out of tissues in our house so it was great timing!

Enjoy your savings!

UPDATE 8/3 - I failed to mention loading a coupon on to your Dillon's card at P&G eSaver. And then yesterday's paper has a 0.25 off 3 Puffs coupon in the P&G coupon insert. I'll probably use one or two so if you want to come grab my extras, you're welcome to do so.

UPDATE 8/3 - Another great back to school deal. Walgreen's has the Expo markers on sale for 1.99 for a 4 pack. I bought them a few weeks ago when they were on sale too; but I'll probably head back for a pack for home this week.

Contact confession and goal

I heard a story recently about a young woman I know. She questioned how much she was loved by her friends. So she stopped texting, blogging, facebooking, calling, visiting. And waited. Some friends checked on her pretty quickly. But others, it tooks weeks before they contacted her. Sound depressing? Well, more than depressing, it made me feel guilty. Because I had failed to contact her too.

I've been in this lady's place before so I immediately understood the story and how she felt. When Princess2 was born, I struggled. And I was so tired. So I didn't contact others. And no one contacted me, or very few. It definitely felt like no one. After awhile (months), I picked myself up and started making some contacts, generally using my calling as the push.

For me, I don't contact others because I wonder what I would have to share about me that anyone would be interested in. That's just my personality. It's not a lack of self-esteem. I generally like myself but think that others would find me boring or wouldn't be interested in the same thing. I am naturally an introvert and like staying home more than I like going out shopping or to the movies. Add to that how busy people are and it's easy to not make those contacts.

But after hearing the story, I wondered how many others out there that I don't hear from are feeling the same as this young woman or as I did when Princess2 was born. So I will be making an effort to simply contact those in (and out) of my immediate circle. So don't be surprised if I make a call to you for no reason other than to say hello; or I stop by unexpected with treats. If you need this too, you can leave a comment and you'll be on the top of the list. And if you're my friend on facebook, you won't be as surprised to find that a lot of the treats are going to be zucchini bread or brownies :)

So now I've written it down and shared my goal. Your job is to keep me accountable!