Ezra Taft Benson -

As a watchman on the tower, I feel to warn you that one of the chief means of misleading our youth and destroying the family unit is our educational institutions. President Joseph F. Smith referred to false educational ideas as one of the three threatening dangers among our Church members.

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Notebooking Pages

I have a great website for you if you like Notebooking. Notebooking is a way to get your kids to write and have fun.

http://www.notebookingpages.com

This site has so many things to choose from. Some things are free to print off while others have a fee. Usually the fee is under $5.

My kids love these pages.

Monday, December 28, 2009

It's the most wonderful time of the year!


Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. I love the excitement in the air. I love the music. I love hiding presents. (Although everyone in the house knows where I hide stuff). This year I took the girls shopping with me. It was so nice to see them so interested in finding gifts for each other. Taylor had a gift in mind for me but didn't have enough money. Well dear Shelby didn't want her to not be able to get it so she gave her some of her babysitting money to buy it. When I found out I almost cried. Love.

Rick got a kit for the kids to make a ginger bread house this year. Ricky and Taylor decided they were going to do it all on their own. It turned out awesome. Ricky also got to make one at scouts so he figured he knew what he was doing.

It snowed just after Thanksgiving and the kids couldn't wait to go out and play. Snow angels and forts are their favorite things to make. The snow didn't last long though. And we weren't lucky enough to have fresh snow for Christmas. Last year we had over a foot.

Christmas Eve came and the kids asked all day if they could open a present. Grandma Susie usually calls to tell us to let them open one of her presents. But this year they had to wait until after dinner. We opened presents from my side of the family and from each other on Christmas Eve this year.

We played our new favorite game "Qwirkle". Rick asks everyday if we can play. I have to admit it is a lot of fun.
We also played new games we got. Shelby and Taylor got dad Mario Kart for Wii.

There is always one person who seems to get all the presents they were hoping for. We say "it's so and so's year". We this year it was Rick's year! (it is always the kids year). We said we weren't getting each other big presents this year. We put a porch on the house and got new cell phones. Well I knew he wanted a new leather jacket, sooo...
He got me a very nice pair of earrings.

Christmas morning came and everyone wanted to see what 'Santa' had left them.
We had so much fun together just us this year. We played games together, watched movies, laughed and hugged. Rick played a joke on Ricky and kept his Santa present in the garage. After the girls opened their gift, we waited to see what Ricky's expressions would be with no gift for him. He was so wonderful. He didn't say a thing, and was excited for Taylor to finally get the phone she had been asking for. Rick then asked Ricky to help him get something in the garage, and took him out to see his gift. He was pleasantly surprised to see a Trampoline.
Christmas morning we had the kids pack up their favorite toys and we headed over to Rick's parents house for the day. Al had made a big breakfast, and we watched a movie and played games. Around 2 the other family members started showing up and we had dinner with everyone.Thanks to everyone who gave us treats and sent us their family Christmas Cards. You helped make us feel special and loved this Christmas Season!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

That's not fair

How many times a day do we hear from our kids "that's not fair", or "sister/brother got to do it, why can't I"? At our house...more times than I'd like.

My response every time is life isn't fair. You wouldn't want to live your brother's life and he wouldn't want to live yours. (They love that response.)

One of the benefits of homeschooling is we get to teach our children that life isn't fair, and they shouldn't expect it to be. Along with learning styles being different in each child, they have different talents and interests. One child is great at story telling, another is great at cooking, and another is a great athlete. They'll all probably chase after different interests in their lives. They'll have different friends, different types of spouses, different income levels, etc. So getting the same thing all the time wouldn't be satisfying at all.

I'm glad we get to discuss this frequently and often at our house. No one will be getting the same gifts for Christmas this year. They are different people with different interests and wants. I didn't spend the same amount of money. A teenager often needs and wants more expensive things than a 9 year old. But they won't care, because we don't keep score.

Unwrapping gifts is an event at our house. We unwrap one at a time. We want to see what the other person got. We want to see their excitement. It is loud and there are a lot of 'uhhh's and Ahhs and Cool!'s". We hope the other person really got what they hoped for. We really love to see the smiles and hear the laughter.

May this year we understand that things aren't and shouldn't be fair, and we Bloom where we are planted and love the garden we are in.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Whistle while we work


http://thetaleofourquest.blogspot.com/2009/10/teaching-kids-to-work-part-1-why.html

This is a great article that goes along with this months ensign talks about the value of work.

Finding a good tool to teach children to work is always hard. We have daily chores and we expect the kids to help out when we ask, without fussing. I like the idea of "kid of the week". Maybe you'll see a post of who made it.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Tis the season

I love Christmas. I love shopping, I love decorating, I love wrapping, I love the music, I love the stories, I love it all.

I was blessed this year to get tickets to see the Christmas Devotional in Salt Lake City this year. I have tried for 3 years with no luck. I know you can see it televised. But I have always wanted to go. It was so worth it. The kids really took everything in. And after we walked on Temple Square and enjoyed the nativity scene and the beautiful lights.

The words spoken by the kids is what was priceless to me. I have seen the lights. I have been in the Conference Center. But to hear Shelby say.."I'm gonna pay more attention to Conference now that I have been here. It will seem more real and meaningful". Or have Taylor and Ricky so excited to get their picture taken in front of the SLC temple and the lights. Priceless. Or having Ricky ask me why the Shepherds are important in the Christmas story and seeing this wonderful scene and telling him on Temple Square..Priceless.

Christmas is the same way. I know who santa is. I have read the story of the Savior's birth many times. I get you a gift...you get me one. But to see the excitement in a child's eye is Priceless.

Some say Christmas is to commercial and don't want to participate. Bah Hum Bug! But I know the effort you put into getting a present for that special someone makes them feel loved. That you took the time to make, buy, or share something with them, makes them feel loved and cared about.

The Christmas spirit is sharing Christ's love with others. A dozen cookies to your neighbor you generally just wave to, a Christmas card to cousins and uncles you rarely see, taking the time to find exactly what you daughter and mother wanted this year, doing you visiting teaching for the first time this year, all show people around you that you love them. That the world would be empty without them. I know how special I feel when someone goes out of their way and does any of these things. I feel special. I feel Christ's love.

Merry Christmas

Monday, December 7, 2009

Much Ado About Nothing


Friday I took the kids to Utah Valley University (UVU) to see Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing". I knew my 13 yr old would enjoy it. But wasn't sure about the other two. My 11 year old went down to Cedar City for the Shakespeare festival and came back wanting to take a Shakespeare class next year. So this would be a good time to see if she was still interested. HeHe.

The actors/actresses did a wonderful job. We laughed so hard at Benedict and Beatrice. All three kids had their favorite parts. There was a study guide given out at Intermission. My 9 year old loved the page with Shakespearean insults. Later that weekend he and his sister sat in the back seat of the van and showed dad how it is done. LOL.

From now on I'm not going to be afraid to do things, or wonder if they will enjoy it. Life is learning, and you learn from all the experiences you have.

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