Follow the prophet, FHE

This weeks FHE lesson was a super simple one!

I got the idea and printables from a super AMAZING blog!! Her name is Tonii and I am happy to say she is one of my dear friends and I absolutely adore her:O) She is such a great mom and I love following all of her super fun posts.:) here is the link for her lesson, http://ptskjohnson.blogspot.com/2012/03/follow-prophet-family-home-evening.html, go check it out:)

I thought since conference is coming up it would be a great idea to talk to the kids about the prophet and hopefully get them excited about hearing him speak to us this upcoming weekend. I printed out and laminated the picture of president Monson and then we talked about who the prophet is and what he does. Ryker was stunned when I told him that he actually gets to SEE Heavenly Father, and Jesus.. We talked about how he gets revelation for the church and that its his job to "LEAD" us down the right paths so we can eventually make it back to our Heavenly Father... I love the idea that Tonii used, telling her kids that they should ask Heavenly Father in there prayers if President Monson is the true prophet on the earth today.. I think its sooo good to encourage them to find things out for themselves and to build there own testimony of the gospel...  After we were done talking about the prophet we played follow the "LEADER", and whoever was holding the picture of the prophet got to be the leader.. Of course the boys LOVED when it was dads turn to be the leader;) ALL IN ALL it was a GREAT lesson and I am soo glad we get to hear from the prophet this weekend.. I LOVE conference weekends and I am looking forward to spending time with my boys and hopefully teaching them to love conference as much as I do. ...... (we are having fun foods and building our tent to watch conference in.. the boys CANT WAIT)

Ryker got to be the LEADER first:)

Follow the Leader!! Ryker was a good sport and let Bri and Dugi be the leader A LOT.. Thanks Ryke!!

CHEESE!!

I'm the prophet mom... Yikes not exactly what the lesson was saying:)

and then this is how the lesson ended.. Usually bri is the one beating on ryke, but not tonight....

I have no idea what he was doing in this picture.. haha..

 Dad always ready to play:)

Look at that BEAUTIFUL FACE!!

I dont know why, but I LOVE this picture of her.. you can barely see her little tooth and she is smiling soo candidly:)

and the night ended like this:) HOW SWEET!!!

I LOVE spending time as a family!!

Feeling SOOO Grateful to have such wonderful people in my life!!

                           

I just want to start off by saying THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH to my family/ friends/ and neighbors!!  I dont know what I would do without every single one of you...

I think I mentioned that I would have to be starting bed rest this week,.... and yep it happened. I went in to see the Dr and he told me I was progressing way faster than he thought was ok, and if possible he would like me to start complete bed rest ASAP.... Complete bed rest, how the heck am I gonna do that with 4 (FOUR) kids, and 4 kids that are SOOO YOUNG!!!

 Last pregnancy my wonderful mom was able to take off work for 3 months to take care of the kids and to help after Kynlie was born. Its just not looking like that will be the case this time around and I have been super nervous about how things are going to play out and who would be able to help if anyone...  I know *if anyone* that's a little dramatic, but my pregnancy hormones have COMPLETELY taken over lately!.

 I don't know why I ever doubt the Lord!! I have been completely overwhelmed at how many people have offered to help and how many of my WONDERFUL ward members have made time in there busy schedules to either come to my (messy) house and play with the kids, or take my kids to there own homes. I cant even list all of my family/ friends/ and neighbors that have put there own lives on hold or made sacrifices within there own families to help ME!! It is SOOOOO humbling and just a tad bit overwhelming at the same time.. I mean I have always had a testimony of service and I know that Heavenly Father expects *US to help out where and when we are able, but I never really understood how inconvenient *SERVICE could be, and how much you had to sacrifice, until I became a mother:    (I mean what about carpool, and soccer practice, and piano recitals, and pre school, and dinner, and house cleaning,  and what about the babies that I already have at home that need my undivided attention?!?.... And who has time to make extra meals or take on 4 extra SMALL children!) ......But can I just say NOT 1 of my family, or friends, or neighbors have made me feel the least bit uncomfortable or like my needs were a burden. **I mean there are soo many women that are helping me that I KNOW have trials and struggles of there own, and some that far exceed my PETTY bed rest...  I mean in all honesty they could probably use a *HELPING HAND more so than me....SOO with that I just want to tell all of you that:: I APPRECIATE YOU SOOO MUCH MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW!!. Your acts of kindness and service have truly helped my testimony grow.. and I cant thank you enough for that!

 I know this is only week 2 (haha) of a LONG 6 week process but this past week I have felt such a calm, comforting, and peaceful feeling and somehow I know that everything will work out just fine!

Thank you all soo much from the bottom of my heart!!

all our LOVE

LOVE AT HOME, FHE

                                  


I know that we have already had a lesson or 2 on Love but I have a few more that I plan on having this year with the boys. I feel like it is something that is soo important to talk about. Not only do I want them to be nice, kind, and considerate of others, I want them to  actually learn to LOVE others as though they were there own brothers and sisters. I think it is something that gets overlooked these days and I really want my boys to learn to LOVE. Today we focused on Love at Home, it was a good reminder  that we need to be patient with each other and do little things to show each other Love everyday!

opening prayer: Briyler

opening song: If your happy and you know it, and Ryker sang us all a song..... .
Rain Rain go away
come again another day
Little Ryker wants to play..
It hasn't been raining at all so I'm not sure why that was the song he chose to sing to us, but WE LOVED IT ANYWAY! You did a Great Job Ryke!! (ohh and maybe you meant snow, we did get something like 10 inches the other day)

scripture story: We talked about how Jesus was once a baby just like they are now. He was born Joseph and Mary and sometimes he was tempted just like we are. The story talked about how Jesus had to also show love in his home, we listed a few things that Jesus did to show love.

                                                            Mary and Jesus praying

activity: I printed out and laminated the bucket and all of the fruits, then we went through and let the boys pick a piece of fruit out of the bucket and we would read the correlating message for that piece of fruit.. the boys especially loved Whiney Watermelon!! haha I think they love him so much because he is a constant visitor at our house:) .... Here is the link for the full lesson: http://www.scribd.com/wawadehut/d/26561065-Love-at-Home-FHE-Lesson

after we played the game we read a few scenarios and then talked about how we should react to each of them. Ryker really seemed to pay attention and listen to this part of the lesson, I'm hoping he remembers them when he's put in those situations.

closing prayer: Ryker

TREAT!!!- left over green cupcakes from St Patty's Day:)  haha a treat is a treat, right?!?

all about "the preparation"

                            

This week has been all about preparation for us! At my last Dr apt I was already dilated to a 1 1/2-2 so we pretty much know that at my next apt I am going to be put on bed rest :( ... (i'm only 28ish weeks, this is by FAR my least favorite part of pregnancy)..... I have been really worried about the kids and what they are going to do while I am supposed to be down. I decided this week I would try and make them some quiet books and a few lacing cards, just to keep them entertained since I wont be able to play with them a whole lot. I also printed and laminated 3 or 4 FHE lessons, I am still going to have to plan a few more but that will get me started:o)

I have really been dreading the whole bed rest thing. I SOO HATE not being able to pick up my kids or take them out for fun adventures but on the other hand I don't want to put the new baby in any kind of danger (by having him so early)... So I know I really don't have a choice, bed rest it is.. 

I think I might print out 1 or 2 more cards:) the boys thought they were GREAT!

This is the alphabet book that the boys can practice there letters in:)

This is a great sacrament meeting quiet book, I just printed pictures from the friend on lds.org

I read about these dry erase crayons and these things are BRILLIANT!! the boys get to color on the page protectors and then when they are done it just wipes right off!! GENIUS

My new filing box for all of my FHE lessons:o) YAYAYA




Of course we had to have a little fun for St. Patty's day too!! I printed out some bingo cards and a treasure hunt.. all thanks to some really cute bloggers!!
(bingo cards here: thecraftingchicks.com) (scavenger hunt here:jessekatedesigns.blogspot.com) The boys were thrilled when they woke up on Saturday and I told them we were gonna do some games:O)

BINGO, and scavenger hunt!!

YOU FOUND A CLUE!! (Briyler: huh whats a clue.. haha)

who's shoe is this clue hiding in? hmmm

I think Daddy snuck dugi some treats from the treasure box... such a dirty face!!

We found the TREASURE!!

WHOOO HOOOO!!!!

Sticky hands, OUR FAVORITE TOY!!

YES!!

L*O*V*E that smile!!!!!  (come on daddy, don't be camera shy:)

We had a blast with the kids, the older they get the more fun we seem to have!! I think I might have another post for Cousin Alex's 1st birthday party.. Saturday was a busy day for us!!

Obedience FHE

                                      


Yep its that time again!!! Monday night, WOO HOOO!!!.. Tonight's lesson was on Obedience and I think the boys did everything BUT be obedient today, (this lesson will be coming around again in the VERY NEAR future:o) ...... I have decided that I am not going to feel bad for not basing my FHE lessons on the book of Mormon or bible stories for this year, (that can be next years theme) this year we are gonna base our lessons on Behavior and focusing on the kind of person Heavenly Father wants us to ultimately become.. My boys really seem to struggle when it comes to attitude, behavior and pretty much anything else that is even close to one of those categories.

I am hoping it is just boys in general but my boys seem to have a really hard time being kind to each other and others. They are really rough and saying sorry or acknowledging when they are wrong doesn't come very easy to them. I think while they are still really young I really need to REINFORCE those topics so they grow up to be the Men I know they are capable of becoming. Strong, nurturing, caring, priesthood holding, service oriented, OBEDIENT.... ya know just GOOD MEN!

Ryker was really upset this weekend that he wasn't able to spend anytime with grandma and grandpa so we decided to have our lesson at grandmas house so EVERYONE could participate! :O) ***Maybe that is why the boys had a harder time listening tonight, who wants to talk about obedience at grandmas and grandpas:)

Opening prayer: Briyler

Opening song: I am a child of God, and Scripture Power

scripture story: Grandpa- Jonah and the whale (always a good story)
 ** flannel board story

 *** There was also a fun activity using the "HAPPY" and "SAD" faces. I would say come up with a scenario and the boys would have to use there happy and sad faces to tell me if the scenario was a good one or bad one. They like to do the whole Good and Bad thing:) the game didn't last very long but I think they enjoyed it.

activity: I printed out this already prepared FHE lesson. The story that came in the lesson was about a Beacon of light and how boats relied on the lighthouse to help them find there way. I printed out a couple pictures of boats and then taped them to popsicle sticks, he boys got to run around "driving there boats" for a while. Since we couldn't find a dark enough room we decided to just have the boys close there eyes, and then try to drive there boats without "crashing" your boats into each other or any objects. When I told them they could open there eyes Kaj had the lighthouse along with a flashlight that was supposed to send out light to guide the boaters.
We then talked about how Jesus can also be a light in our life, and how if we follow his light he wont lead us astray. This lesson had a lot of activities and games that went along with it so I think we will just pick a few activities next time instead of trying to do them all:) ........... here is the link for the full printable lesson.. I LOVE THIS SITE!!
http://thegoldenseven.blogspot.com/2010/09/blessings-of-obedience-fhe-lesson.html

Story: We also read this story... Really good for the kids to sit and listen too, and Ryker was actually pretty interested! :) It talked about how a young girl ended up having to Light the Beacon to help her father find his way. She was really scared and she prayed and asked Heavenly Father to give her the courage to do it. After she lit the Beacon her dad was able to make it home safely and was very proud of her for being obedient.

Treat: Thank you PINTEREST!! Yummy Oreo pie, turned out a little runny but that's because i didn't have beaters :) STILL SUPER GOOD THOUGH..

**I am happy that Kaj and I were determined to have a lesson this week. I didn't prepare a lesson in advance because last week was soooo crazy and Sunday night I REALLY didn't want to stay up late working on it.... So Kaj stayed up Sunday night helping me cut out and laminate all of the pieces for this lesson,  and I am sooo THANKFUL HE DID!!!  (although I don't feel like the kids got as much as I would have liked for them to get out of the lesson).. I know being consistent can almost be more important than the actual lesson sometimes so I'm so grateful that we pulled it out this week. ;)

 Daddy and Pipa during the lesson.. at least she's happy right;)

yep this was the ongoing silly behavior that wouldn't stop for lesson time.

I had to crop out bri's bum cause he's only wearing boxers and the picture looked a little risky.. ha

No not even Dugi sat and listened to the lesson, I don't know how we caught this photo..

believe it or not this is a FAKE smile!! He was not happy that we had to leave grandmas to come home and do homework...

"HUH MOM", Yep Dugi, I said it!!!  Its time for NIGH NIGH..

Eventful WEEK, to say the least:)

This week and weekend were quite eventful! Kaj left to go out of town on Monday night and as soon as he left things started to fall apart. Kynlie was diagnosed with Bronchiolitis. Not that uncommon and normally its not a huge concern. Kynlie however decided to get it pretty bad, we did a suction treatment as well as a breathing treatment at the Dr office on Tues when I took her in. They told me that if she needed anymore suction or breathing treatments that I'd have to take her to an out patient facility at the hospital. (no biggy) I think it was wed that I noticed she was starting to get a really high fever along with vomiting and loss of appetite. Wed night was a NIGHTMARE, poor Pipa couldn't sleep because of the congestion and congestion that come along with this virus and she was having a really hard time breathing. To top it off Dugas was starting to come down with a cough and fever as well so he was up the majority of the nigh also, all of that together= very little sleep for MOM.  By Thurs night I was pretty much in a panic, Kynlie's fever had been hovering in the 104 area and she hadn't had hardly any fluids. I called my mom at 2 am and told her that I really thought I needed to take Kynlie in, being the amazing mom that she is she came right over. I called the outpatient facility and they told me that since she had a fever that was so high and she  hadn't been eating I couldn't bring her to there facility, I had to take her straight to the ER!! :( So off we went. (daddy still gone, and mom totally out of it from not sleeping in days) 

** Ohh and in the middle of Kynlies worst day/night Kaj missed his flight!! Kaj started talking to a young returning missionary (who also ended up missing the flight) at the airport and by the time they realised that no one weren't boarding at the gate they was waiting at the plane had already departed from a different gate. They told Kaj he wouldn't be able to get another flight until SATURDAY AFTERNOON (I pretty much LOST IT) .. luckily they found him a flight that put him in Friday afternoon at 4. *better than Saturday but I was still CRAZY OUT OF MY MIND UPSET!!  **ok now back to kynlie......:)

When we got to the hospital, they immediately hooked Kynlie girl up to the monitors and noticed her oxygen level was REALLY LOW and she was pretty dehydrated. So they put on an IV for fluids and then did another suction and breathing treatment that was far more intense than the one we did at the dr office on Tues. They gave her some antibiotics to help her keep food down,  help her fever, and break up some of the mucus that was causing all of the issues. After 6 or 7 hours in the hospital the Dr told me I could either take Kynlie home and monitor her VERY CLOSELY (to make sure her fever didn't spike and she didn't throw up any of the fluids or meds they had given her) or I could take her straight to primary children's hospital and have her admitted since they couldn't do much more for her there(since she's so young.) Oddly I decided to go home, I think because I was SOOO TIRED, and my mom offered to watch the kids for a couple hours so I could sleep:)  Lucky for me she started to make improvements almost immediately.. By the time we picked dad up at the airport at 4pm she was doing MUCH BETTER... (just my luck:) Although nights are still kind of hard she is doing great with her eating and fever and that makes me SOO happy!!

Now on to the less dramatic part of our week!!

DADDY'S HOME!!!!!!

The kids and I couldn't have been happier to see Daddy Friday afternoon!! None of them have left his side since he got here. (which is really kind of nice for me:).... Friday we spent the night hanging out and trying to get the kid feeling better. Then Saturday after naps we decided to get he kids OUT of our germ infested house:) We took the kids to a Fundraiser/carnival that was being held at the clubhouse.

Together Strong Fundraiser

for Tim!! :O) 

**This Fundraiser is actually very dear to my heart since it was for a family in our ward whom I absolutely LOVE!! The Grist Family, (Tim's mom Tracy is one of the sweetest most giving women I know, she has been there for our family to many times to count and I will always LOVE HER for her generosity) Tracy's son Tim son was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 17. The cancer had actually progressed by the time they found it and moved into other parts of his body (stomach, pelvis, and lungs) and things were looking pretty serious.  My heart hurt for the Grist family ALMOST ALWAYS! Tracy has been so strong during everything, she has made it a priority to talk about testicular cancer, to encourage young men to check themselves and to talk to there parents about there bodies. I know that I am for sure going to be talking to my boys about this during there teenage years, no matter how uncomfortable it may be!!!.....

So we ended up taking the kids to go show our support and it was a BLAST! The kids loved the carnival!! They played bean bag toss, spin the wheel, fishing... Bri even got his face painted...I think by far the best part of the day for the boys was seeing the firetrucks and police cars! They LOVE hearing the sirens and seeing the lights!! (With all of the sick kids and stress this weekend I forgot to take my camera:( .. I am bummed because the look on Briylers face after he saw his spider man face painting was PRICELESS..!!  The fundraiser was a HUGE success, they ended up raising 11,250.00 in all... We seriously live in the best neighborhood!!

***The latest update is: Tim finished his last round of chemo and is now waiting to have surgery to remove the large masses that are left. He will probably have to go through another round of chemo after this surgery but he is doing and feeling really great... considering!*****

AND.......... the best part of my weekend was my hubby letting me sleep in until 1pm on Sunday!! (The kids are all still struggling with the nasty cough so we decided we'd rather not send that around the nursery, your welcome to all of our friends:).. Kaj watched church movies with the boys and played church matching games all morning... that makes me SMILE!!!

THANKS HONEY!!!

It was another eventful week for us, and all I can say is: I'm ready to start a NEW WEEK!! :O)  

FHE, preparing for the temple

                              

Today was PACKED with super fun activities for the kids.. (Hopefully that means they all sleep like little ANGELS tonight, ha who am I kidding:).. I have been really excited for this activity because all of the kids and myself have been really dreading having to say goodbye to daddy for a couple days
:( I thought it would be fun to "take a little trip" with dad before he had to leave us for his 3 day long business trip.
I spent a lot of time trying to find a lesson already made but nothing fit exactly the way I wanted it to so I combined a few different ideas I found online and came up with this... :o)

I printed out Boarding passes for each of the kids as well as packed them a "suit case"  and told them we were going on a trip to a secret destination for FHE.. :O) after they woke up from nap, Kaj and I got them all dressed and ready: Long sleeve shirts and sweaters, pants, hats even shoes and socks!! (if you know me then you know that's a BIG DEAL, it doesn't happen very often!)..... Before we got in the car we read our "boarding pass" info..

We were set to fly the "FHE express",

leaving march05 

Our destination: a non stop flight TEMPLE SQUARE!! :O) yay!!

The boys each handed me their boarding pass' as they got in the car and then I immediately introduced myself as the flight attendant.. I stored the boy's luggage bags to keep them safe during the flight and then I explained that my job was to"take care of them during the flight". (they thought that was pretty funny!) so after a prayer by Ryker

and an opening song: I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE

it was time for SNACKS!!!

(peanut butter cookies and chips) they must have been sitting FIRST CLASS:O)

THIS WAS A HIT!!

After we got to temple square I wanted to make sure that we didn't loose sight of what the lesson was actually about.. The TEMPLE, and what we need to do to prepare to get there. So we immediately went up to the statue of Christ. The boys have only been here a few times and they were soo young that I knew they didn't remember. So I thought this would be a great way to set the "mood"!! The boys were in AWE!! They LOVED seeing the huge statue and the sky painting. I loved seeing there little faces and how happy they looked!

After we left that room we walked around looking at the pictures and talking about what they all meant...  I then found a nice quiet spot to sit the boys down.. They were shocked when I pulled out there "luggage" (that they didn't see me take out of the car/"plane") and explained that inside their bags were pictures of things that they needed to do if they wanted to be able to someday go inside the temple.. These are things we should always have"packed" in our own "personal luggage bags"

I found these plastic containers for 1.00 at walmart.. worked perfect for there pretend luggage

(Please don't look at how dirty the floor is!! If only I knew how to photoshop!!:O)

I put these pictures inside each set of luggage, I also wrote a description of what each picture symbolised, as we talked about each picture we discussed what "THEY"
could do to prepare now to go to the temple.. (say your prayers, read your scriptures, get baptised, follow the prophet....... just to name a few) After we went over what we needed to do to be worthy to go to the temple I thought I would share with them a few things that we get to participate in when we go to the temple...

The boys really loved seeing these pictures. They didn't quite understand how the couple that just got married were showing reverence and I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that that is what they noticed from the pictures:O)

 I am sooo grateful for temples and what a blessing it is to have them on the earth today. I LOVE that it is a little piece of Heaven here on earth and I cant wait for my children to someday be able to partake of the blessings that come from temple ordinances.

 Here are of course a couple more pictures from our evening!! (I wish I would have taken a picture of the present we had waiting on our car when we were done walking the grounds, A PARKING TICKET.. haha the kids were WAY TO GOOD so I should have known something else was coming our way)

ISNT IT BREATH TAKING!!! The weather was so perfect and look how blue the sky is!!

Ryker the little gangsta!! :O) he was posing for people that were passing by..

 Briyler has to be just like his big brother!!

Briyler was trying to make a "funny" face! and Ryker was loving that he got to help push Pipa's stroller the whole time.

Is this not the best picture EVER!!<<<<<<< PERFECTION >>>>>>I'm such a lucky WOMEN!

Mom and her sweet baby girl!!! I love you Kynlie baby:O)

the reflections pool! The boys couldn't keep there hands out... this was a super quick stop!!

back to the car we go!! (little do the kids know we are taking dad to the "REAL" airport now:(

We tried to soak up every bit of daddy time we could. I made dad sit in the park and wait lot for a good 30 min.. haha we needed all the daddy loves we could get!

She sure does love him!

 Who doesn't LOVE that dirty little face!! Daddy let him drive.. (well sit in the drivers seat that is)

This was the last of the happy faces... :(They thought it was all part of the pretend "TRIP", when Dad actually left for the plane they were NOT HAPPY CAMPERS!!!

Sooo glad we got to take the kids out for a memorable FHE, I cant wait till this lesson rolls back around!! It sure was A FUN ONE for us!!