Spiritual Crocodiles FHE, the story of Jacob and Sherem

When I started "getting serious" about FHE'S last year I wanted to pick a theme every year and focus on lessons that somehow incorporated that theme. Last year it seemed to work out pretty well, so this year I thought I would focus on Book of Mormon stories and well it hasn't gone as smoothly as I had hoped :) I have been a little more layed back, with vacations and slacking off at the beginning of the year I feel like I am STILL playing catch up, blah!! Its seriously time to buck up and put some lessons together Nikki.... However lucky for me my amazing friend Tonii has put together a few lessons while we were on vacation and they just happen to be Book of Mormon stories .. :) YAY!!! Thank you times a BIZILLION girl..... go check out her post, she always has free printables!! LOVE LOVE LOVE HER for that:).... (http://ptskjohnson.blogspot.com/2013/04/spiritual-crocodiles-family-home.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FvdltM+%28Blue+Skies+Ahead%29 )

PRAYER: Ryker
SONG: Book of Mormon stories (the boys got a kick out of me singing the song and doing the actions.. Since they didn't know it very well it was pretty much a solo, I seem to do lots of those around here ;)

Today's lesson was on the story of Jacob and Sherem..  We read the story in *Jacob 7. Since the chapter is about 3 pages long I decided to read through it and highlight the most important verses.. After I read a few of the versus I highlighted to the kids, we got out our "My first Book of Mormon stories" book and read the summarized story in there.. It took about 15 min to get through the story, then we talked about all of the sneaky way's Sherem "tricked" people into following him. We talked about how Sherem used "flattery" to lead the people away from Christ. The scriptures said that Sherem was a "well learned" man and that he used his "knowledge of the language" and his "power of speech" to get people to question their beliefs.. When we were talking with the kids about these things we/they came up with the words "tricky", "sneaky" and "nice guy" to describe Sherem :) , I love that they came up with these words on there own, so I went along with it...


Love this book :)

We then talked about and compared,  Crocodiles and Spiritual Crocodiles.. I asked the kids if Croc's are "tricky", "sneaky" and or "nice".. We came to the conclusion that we didn't know if they are "tricky" but we did know that they can be "sneaky" and they can disguise themselves very well.. Much like "spiritual croc's" actual crocs disguise themselves and sneak up on their prey.. They work slow at first but then all of the sudden they are RIGHT THERE and *S-N-A-T-C-H* they take a bite out of our testimony, sometimes before we even saw them coming... :)... (Dugi got a little scared when I yelled snatch and said the croc took a bite out of him.. haha) I then asked the kids if they think "Croc's are nice?", the kids were hesitant to answer that (because they bite) but Ryker came to the conclusion that they are nice as long as they aren't hungry, and I'm good with that answer:) I asked Ryker if the picture of the Crocodiles on our little Croc cards was "nice" or "mean", he said "nice" because the Croc is smiling... By then the kids were starting to get antsy so I quickly explained that sometimes things aren't always what they seem to be at first glance.. Just because something looks "nice" or "good" doesn't mean that it actually is.. I told the kids that we/they need to be careful of Spiritual Croc's, because if we arent, they can "sneak" up on us and take small bites (or big ones) out of our testimonies..... (Ryker later came to me and told me that our testimonies are "Light" like Jesus and when the Croc gets ahold of us and takes a "bite" it turns that part "dark/black" like Satan.. I was a little surprised that he had been thinking so much about the lesson but I told him that he was right.. I asked if there was anyway to turn the "dark" patch back to "light" once the Croc had gotten ahold of it, he thought about it for a while and then said "no", so we quickly had a "mini lesson" on repentance and being able to be "whole, or full of light again" :O)

the kids then got to go around the room and find all of the little crocodiles I had hidden (AKA taped to obvious places in the living room).. we read them all pretty fast and the kids started to put 2 and 2 together on how easy it is to let little Crocs sneak into our lives on a daily basis..

We finished off the night with CUPCAKES and the kids and I couldn't have been happier :)


I intended to take a few pictures but of course i hadn't charged the camera since being home from the cruise, which means, YEP its dead :)

Happy 7th Birthday Ryker.. It's his (and my) very 1st birthday party!! :)

First off I need to say, HOW DO OTHER MOMS DO IT!!! This is my very 1st year throwing a birthday party for one of the kids (I don't like to start them out on this too young:), and WOW can I just say IT AINT EASY! The amount of time and work that go into, even the simplest of things, is OVERWHELMING!! I'm sure it didn't help that Kaj and I are going out of town tomorrow so we literally had to cram in 3 birthday's, a party, packing, and preparing to leave the kids for 8 FULL DAYS!!!

Anyway all that aside I think the party was a HIT!! Ryker loved every minute of his party and it was soo fun to see all of his neighborhood and school friends come celebrate with him. (Ryker was worried no one would come, needless to say THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN). Ryker had decided on a "Policeman" theme party and I thought that would be EASY PEASY, a few badges, some plastic handcuffs, a baton. a poster size picture of a cop.. ya know the usual cheap easy stuff.. :) That couldn't have been farther than the truth.. Do you want to know who sells plastic handcuffs? Well I cant tell you because I called a million and 1 stores and NONE OF THEM carry them. :) Do you want to know who sells little black batons? Yep you guessed it, I cant tell you that either... When all was said and done, dad and I ended up making a lot of things by hand spending hours every night, and wondering if  you were even gonna like what we came up with. Lucky for us you LOVED it!! The smile on your face was truly priceless and I'd put in all the hours we spent "cutting" and "duct taping" pool noodles (to look like batons), all over again! I cant say that I'm excited for future parties and for all of the work that goes into creating them but I can say I get excited to see YOUR EXCITEMENT and the happiness it brings you :) Here are a few of your favorite things:

- you like star wars (you must get that from Rick cause we never watch it here)
- you LOVE playing guns with Bri
- you LOVE wrestling with Bri ( I don't love this so much, you boys are ROUGH)
- you still aren't a very big eater and you almost always come home without even taking a BITE out of your school lunch! :(
- you like to get attention and you tell lots of "stories", the most recent one was you telling your teacher that I leave you home alone at nights and make you watch all of the kids.. :) Lucky for me your teacher knew that was a fib:) I think when you told this story Tallin might have still been on oxygen, haha, and you tell people I leave you home with him:) SILLY BOY!
- you are very brave. Your life has always been a little more chaotic going in between houses but you handle it way better than I probably could.
- you started after school tutoring a few months ago. Grandma picks you up from school and gets a little one on one time with you and then you do a 45 min tutoring session THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE... It is doing wonders, your reading is getting SOO GOOD!
- you don't like to do chores, but you will do them so you can go outside and play
- you LOVE to play the IPHONE and IPAD.
- your favorite color is black or blue
- your favorite show is "wild kratts" you and Bri play "creature power" games ALL DAY LONG!! You are the blue guy and Bri is the green guy and we hear about it 24/7
- you are a WONDERFUL older brother. You hold and feed Tui whenever you are asked and you love to take him into the play room and read him books :)
- you still like to snuggle when you can squeeze in between one of the younger kids.. (and I love that)
- you think that dad is "the hulk" :)
-you want to be  policeman when you grow up.. (i think that's a great idea)
- you have a very sensitive heart, you get your feelings hurt and you worry about things that most kids your age don't even think about. I think it has to do with "your unique situation" but I hope in years to come this will be something that creates a bond between us that is unbreakable.. (a special bond built on Love and Trust)
- you got a bike for your birthday and you are SOOO EXCITED!!


Ryker, I want you to know just how much Dad and I love you!! You are a VERY SPECIAL little boy and Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan for you, I KNOW IT!! I have told you this before (however, your probably to young to remember), but YOU ARE the reason our family is where we are today. You came along at such an important part of my life and the changes that motherhood had on me were indescribable! I knew from the moment I held you in my arms that I was going to do WHATEVER it took to be with you for ETERNITY! This lifetime simply wasn't enough, I wanted/needed more than that. That day FOREVER CHANGED ME and the direction that our family went. I love you with all of my heart and I want you to know that Dad and I will always be here for you.. FOREVER AND ALWAYS AND NO MATTER WHAT:) Happy 7th birthday !!

the treat table.. MMM the kids loved this table

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, to my amazing friend Tonii for making these printables for me!! I couldn't find police things anywhere and she totally threw these together for me!! LOVE HER!!!!

Dugi and Pipa's cakes on the table too :)

Yep Tonii made the cupcake toppers too :) turned out soo cute and fun!

Ryker asked if I could hang these up in his room :) looks like we know what the boys theme is for there room now :)

pin the "badge number" on the "badge".. I couldn't find any kind of poster AT ALL so this is hand made with lots of love :)

RELAY RACE!! Ryker loved this game, the kids had to dress up in there policeman uniform, run to the other side of the room. Do 5 reps with the "weights" and then 5 push ups and then run back. They played in 2 teams and they had a BLAST! !

PUSH UPS, GO buddy GO!!

weights, 5 reps:)

the game was neck and neck, sooo close!!!

after the relay we handcuffed the kids and made them eat a donut off of a hanging string.. What kid doesn't like donuts? so yep this game was a hit too!! (super messy though, just FYI)

Jake WON by a LONG SHOT!!!

He was the only one to actually get the donut off the string and eat the whole thing before there time was up.. No one else was even close... Way to go JAKE, your daddy would be proud!!

Briyler finally decided he wanted to try (but was not having anything to do with being handcuffed :)

 

Dugi wanted to lift weights "like dad".. lookin good little man!!

PRESENT TIME!! you cant see in the picture but I told ryker he could invite 5 friends.. :) That 5 turned into almost 15.... CRAZY BOYS!!

Love you buddy, hope you had fun at your VERY 1st FRIENDS PARTY!!!

Kynlie turns 2!!

I'm SOOOOO not ready for THIS!!! First my baby boy turns 1, now my only girl turns 2 :( I may or may not have shed a few tears this week.. I LOVE watching the kids grow and seeing their personalities develop but it makes me sad that they are becoming more independent and don't need me all of the time.. I especially miss rocking them to sleep as there cute little hands rest on my chest.. I remember ROCKING with this sweet girl for HOURS!! You were such a content little baby, you were never demanding and whenever  I got around to feeding you (IF I did, sometimes:) you were perfectly fine with it. I felt from the moment the Dr's put you in my arms that there as something special about you and that your spirit was alot quieter and more gently than the boys.. As you've gotten older you have "grown out" of being content and you can keep up with the BEST of the boys. You have quite the little SASS about you, but you are still WAY more sensitive and when the sweet side of your personality comes out (which it DOES) it INSTANTLY rubs off on everyone else, there is something about that sweet smile that is SOO CONTAGIOUS!!!
Things you love right now are:

- you love your DADDY, as do all of your other siblings!!
- you can make a mean scowl face :)
- you LOVE TO EAT. You will eat anything and everything I put in front of you..
- you love your BLANKEY
- you like to wear flip flops
- Grandma and Grandpa are your favorite
- you asked to play "Lexi's phone" the other day when we were out to dinner, YOUR 2 NO IPHONE:)
- you love reading books
- Dugi and you are BEST FRIENDS. I hope this is something you guys never grow out of! I LOVE SEEING YOU TWO TOGETHER!!
- you love to snuggle your baby dolls
- you got your first pair of dress up shoes today and you liked them but didn't quite know how to walk in them:)
- you have been talking up a storm since before I can remember and I LOVE IT!
- you (like most kids) love to be outside!
- you will sit in a room by yourself and play for hours if the boys will leave you alone
- you fold your arms and say your prayers pretty much by yourself already.. you always tell me ( I DO IT!!, whenever I try to help you) that is better than most of the boys right now:)
- you cry if mom or dad even come close to yelling at you for something

Dad and I feel SOOO LUCKY to have you as a part of our family. You bring a feeling to our home that couldn't be duplicated by anyone else. I know for sure Heavenly Father sent you to us to make sure that we all stay or become a little bit more of "a softy", (I think especially for your dad, shhh don't tell:).. You hold such a special place in his heart and I know that the love you two have for each other isn't found everyday. Love you sweet baby girl. Enjoy the dress up shoes and the Minnie mouse suitcase :)

grandma's helping there babies open their gifts :)

this is the only picture I got of the actual gift opening. They loved it!

Love that sweet little face

she didn't know what to do when we started singing happy birthday:)

but she soon figured out that she was supposed to eat the cake:) MMMM

Tallin is 1

Today is the day my sweet baby boy turns ONE, I don't know how I feel about this just yet..:( but what I do know is what an adventure it has been with this sweet little guy.. From being born at 32 weeks and weighing in at a wopping 2lbs, to jumping from NICU to PICU and literally watching him fight for his life. When I look back at the almost 3- 3 1/2 months we spent in different hospitals, I remember just how heart wrenching it was to see my sweet baby boy struggle so much.. Today I am feeling an overwhelming amount of gratitude that he is here and healthy and that we are able to celebrate his life:) Here are a few things that Tui loves at age 1:

-LOVES TO SNUGGLE (thank goodness this is the case or mom would be an emotional wreck)
-You still like for mom and dad to swaddle you in your blanket before bed
-you have 4 teeth. (2 on top and 2 on bottom)
-you crawl and just started trying to pull yourself up
-you DON'T WALK and I am really happy about that for now:)
-you love to smile and laugh
-you are an eating MACHINE! and you love to feed yourself
-you weigh 27lbs (which is big even for a full term baby) the Dr's thought it would take you until age 2 to catch up with your growth but they were wrong:)
-you sleep through the night, which dad really appreciates:)
-you say DADA and even though I don't like to admit it he is clearly your favorite.
-Ryker and you are pals
-you love to be HELD (24/7, i think its because your trying to make up for lost time. We weren't always allowed to hold you while you were in the hospitals)

I am grateful EVERYDAY that Heavenly Father has given us such an amazing little spirit. I cant wait to watch you grow and see your personality develop. Mom and Dad LOVE YOU SOOO MUCH!!! Happy 1st Birthday BABY!

this was how he started out

but it didn't last long, once he found out he was going to have to have a combined birthday party for pretty much his whole life, he was upset:)

it never lasts to long though, he is such a happy little guy :)

 

 

Present time!!! (to bad I didn't get any pictures of him actually opening any of those presents :)

Conference weekend = Our very 1st "CONFERENCE STORE"

ITS FINALLY HERE!! The weekend we've been talking about all week!!:) I thought I was fully prepared for this years conference sessions, but after the Saturday morning session I new I needed to make some changes before the Sunday sessions. The kids weren't necessarily bad during the first session but they didn't really listen either. My goal was to help find ways to motivate the kids to listen to the speakers not just to be quiet.

Last year we came up with a few words we wanted to listen for during the talks.. Whenever you heard one of the word we chose you got to eat the correlating treat.. (we used starbursts, M&M's, skittles, and tootsie rolls... .BAD IDEA).. As you can imagine feeding the kids a CRAZY amount of sugar and then asking them to sit still for 2 hours just didn't go over very well. So this year I decided to use fruit in our baskets instead of candy and it went ok but the kids still weren't overly excited about it.. I knew I needed to do SOMETHING to get them PUMPED for the Sunday sessions:)

Since Kaj had to go to the store to pick up a few items for Sunday nights dinner, I had him stop off and pick up a few things to create our very 1st "CONFERENCE STORE" ;) I didn't know if this would work but thanks to the WONDERFUL Tonii Johnson, I thought it would be worth a try! and YEP.... IT WAS A TOTAL HIT!!! We set up 3 baskets (i felt like if I did any more than that the kids get to overwhelmed),  each filled with "tickets" and then we thought of 3 new words we wanted to listen for during the morning session... Briyler chose Family, Dad chose Missionaries, and Ryker chose Jesus. The words were perfect for the morning session and the kids heard them quite a bit! It took Bri a little while to warm up to the "ticket, idea" but once he did, him and Ryker would get SOO EXCITED when they heard their words and they couldn't wait to get there tickets and put them in their baskets. At the end of the 1st session the kids got to buy some items out of the "conference store" and they couldn't have been MORE EXCITED!! It was soo nice to be able to listen to conference and to see the boys get excited about listening to the speakers (even if it was so they could earn there tickets) .. :)

The afternoon session was EVEN BETTER since all 3 younger kids were down for nap, we got to sit and snuggle with the older boys. I asked the boys if they wanted to pick new words for the afternoon session but they wanted to stick with the same words (probably cause they were such a big hit during the 1st session.. To add a little more excitement we played conference bingo (and because its a little easier to play those games without the babies stealing the "game pieces, aka M&M's)... For the most part the boys did really well. By the second half of the afternoon session the boys were getting a little tired, Ryker asked if he could take a nap and I told him if he did he would miss out on more tickets and he'd have to pay me 5 tickets of the ones he had already earned as a consequence, poor kid hung on as long as he could and ended up falling asleep only for the last few talks.. I was tempted to not take away any tickets since he tried so hard but I wanted to stick to my guns and when all was said and done he actually was able to buy the 2 toys he wanted anyway:) 

With the kids being so good Kaj and I were actually able to listen to most of the talks (more so during the afternoon sessions) but we caught bits and pieces of the morning sessions too... I feel like I have so many favorite talks right now!! There was something in almost every talk that was "meant" for me or at least for someone in our home.. I am soo grateful for a Modern day Prophet and for the restored gospel on the earth. I feel so lucky to know who I am, where I'm going, and what my purpose is on this earth. I cant imagine going through life and not KNOWING the answers to those questions...... Yay for having my spiritual cup filled today:)

our Ticket baskets

this is how the boys started off the morning.. (we thought for sure it wasn't going to work)

Ryker wasn't to happy about it either

But after they started listening.....

it quickly changed into excitement every time they got to go get a ticket

Ryker helping Dugi get his tickets

YAY I got one!

Kynlie didn't care one bit about the tickets :)

If you cant tell Bri's favorite color is still GREEN :)

Ryker being silly and enjoying his little snack.

Little does she know its almost time for NAP :)

YAYAY FOR THE CONFERENCE STORE

the boys loved the CTR rings and bracelets

                                    
                                      one of my favorite talks and LOVE this printable
get this printable here: http://www.mormonmommyblogs.com/2013/04/saturday-morning-general-conference.html

                 
                       Love that these amazing women share there talents with everyone else ;)
get these printables here: http://mycomputerismycanvas.blogspot.com/2013/04/lds-conference-printables-saturday.html

Conference prep FHE, and an answer to my prayers! :)

                                     

Is anyone else as EXCITED as I am about conference this weekend. :) I remember complaining about conference weekends when I was a kid and now it is my FAVORITE TIME OF YEAR!! How lucky are we to have a modern day Prophet to help lead and guide us along our journey?!?! This week I have been trying to get the kids excited about conference, we've been having special treats and talking about it all week! Ryker is genuinely excited and it feels like maybe all of (our hard work, with FHE's, church lessons and just trying to teach them the gospel in general) is starting to pay off. There is no better feeling IN THE WORLD than seeing your child "choose the right" or "seek whats good" all on there own!! Tonight's FHE was FUN FUN FUN!!!

opening song- Follow the prophet

Lesson- The kids and dad built the annual tent (facing East, like they did in Jesus' time) and dad told the story of King Benjamin. I love hearing Kaj tell the scripture stories to the kids. I think I end up learning just as much as they do by the end of the night:)

Activity- After the lesson we played "follow the prophet", pretty much follow the leader and the line leader gets to hold a picture of the prophet and everyone has to follow them.. The kids LOVE THIS GAME (Dugi especially)

Dessert- cookies. During dessert time I had each of the kids think of a question they wanted to be answered during conference. Ryker was really excited about this and I LOVED that he came up with soo many questions!!

This week was a little bitter sweet for me.. I was trying to get the kids super excited about conference and hearing from the prophet and IT WAS WORKING!! Ryker has never seemed so interested and everyday he would tell me he "couldn't wait, to listen to conference" I was SOOO EXCITED but the thought kept lingering, its Rykers dads weekend to have him:( :( I have been feeling sooo sad knowing in the back of my mind that Ryker isn't going to be able to participate in conference with us this year. Recently (probably after a VERY LONG rant from me about how worried I get when Ryker goes with his dad) my mom told me that I need to just pray for Ryker. Pray that he will be safe, pray that he will be able to handle the things that he sees and hears while he's with his dad, and just pray that Heavenly Father will watch over him. Since I knew I couldn't change the fact that its his dads weekend, all I could do was pray that Ryker will keep the "desire to know and listen to the words of the Prophet". SO that's what I did, I have been praying and praying and last night (right before FHE) Rick text Kaj and said he isn't sure if he is going to make it to pick up Ryker this weekend and this morning he confirmed that he wont be picking Ryker up this weekend!!!  WHAAATTT,  SOMEBODY PINCH ME!! Is this for REAL?!?!?! It may not seem like a big deal to anyone else but this is HUGE FOR ME!! I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers, no matter how big or small the desires of our heart our he listens to them ALL!! This small little wish of mine was just as important to Heavenly Father as it was to me. It is so nice to know that if something is important to me it is important to Him, no matter what it is... I'm sure there will be years that Ryker will miss conference weekends with us but I am soo grateful that he will be here this year. :) I couldn't be more excited for the fun family weekend we have planned!!

Tent built! :)

Love this happy baby!

who would have guessed, more silly faces:)

those 2 jokesters

I could seriously just EAT HIM UP!!

This little girl was ALL SMILES during FHE

couldn't be any cuter!!

Dugi reading while everyone else is discussing the questions we want to be answered during conference

 

 

Listening to dad tell the King Benjamin story.. At least Kynlie and Dugi are being quiet!

Ryker wondered how loud Jesus had to talk so EVERYONE could hear him:)

Follow the prophet game!

Happy little bunch!

Except for when Dugi tries to take Tui's turn to hold the prophet picture.. Tui didnt like that:)

DESSERT TIME!!! YUMMM cookies in the tent!