Rainbow Family Home Evening

I am so excited for this Family Home Evening! This week we are learning about St Patricks day and Rainbows and I was happy to come up with something that would go along with our theme.

We are going to start by talking about leprachauns and how they are always looking for the end of the rainbow so they can get to the pot of gold. We are going to talk about how beautiful rainbows are, and what they represent for our family.

Red= Love
Orange= Service
Yellow= Happiness
Green= Knowledge
Blue= Faith
Purple= Honesty

On the floor we will have tons of squares of papers in all the different colors of the rainbow. One at a time, starting with red, I will ask the kids to pick up all the papers of that color. Then they will tape them all up on the wall and we will talk about what that color represents. For instance, Red=Love, Jesus taught us that we should love one another. We need to love everyone, even if people are mean to us. We will do this for each of the colors. By the end we will have a "rainbow" of squares leading around the corner. Around the corner I will have a pot of Gold (gold chocolate coins). Of course, this represents what we will find if we do all the things represented in our "rainbow", eternal life and being with our family forever!

I am excited for this lesson for several reasons. I love a good visual, and I hope we can make the rainbow a reminder for our family of all the things we need to do to live with our Heavenly Father again.

Noah's Ark Family Home Evening

This one is a little bit thrown together, but I hope its still fun and the kids learn something :)

I've been thinking about our family home evenings, and I've decided I want each week to include a scripture story, and then we can expound on the lesson that story deals with. I want to try and foster a love for the scriptures in my children, and help them see that they truly were written for us, that they are applicable even today!

Today's story is Noah and the Ark. As we talk about the story I have gathered all the stuffed animals we own and will hide them around the house. Then I have a biq plastic bucket that we are going to pretend is the ark. Once we talk about how Noah was obedient and even though everyone teased him he still did what Heavenly Father wanted him too, the kids will climb in the boat. Then we will put all the stuffed animals in with them. Then we will read about how the wind and the rain came down, meanwhile rocking the basket and spraying the kids with my little water-sprayer-fan thing :) (I think this will be their favorite part:)

To close I really want to talk about how obedient Noah was, even in the face of persecution. How we need to strive to have a close relationship with Heavenly Father, so we can find out what he would have us do, and once we DO find that out, let nothing get in the way of us accomplishing our Father's will.

Finally for treats we are having good old-fashioned animal cookies. You know, the yummy pink and white ones? :) Happy Monday!

Choose the Right Family Home Evening

This last Sunday my oldest daughter was moved into the CTR 4 class. She has been SO excited to be a big girl and not be in Sunbeams anymore, so I thought it was a great opportunity to learn more about what CTR means.

I got some great ideas on Sugardoodle.net and tweaked them a little to fit out needs. I started off by reading a story from the March 1999 issue of the friend. Here is the direct link:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=f08a735f764bb010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD"

It talks about a big sister choosing the right and setting a good example for her little brother, perfect for my daughter! After we talked about how important it was to set a good example we sang Do As I'm Doing and let everyone take turns picking the actions. Then I had a list of examples of choosing the right, and not choosing the right (ie. helping mom clean up, making fun of someone at church, yelling in the chapel, and folding your arms during the prayer.) I had printed out a big yellow smiley face and a big red frowny face. I taped these up on the wall and everytime I read an example the kids would run and touch the smiley face if it was choosing the right, or the frowny face if it wasn't. It was a great way to get the wiggles out after reading a story. All in all a pretty good little family home evening! :)

A Christmas FHE with a twist

Last week we did a different kind of Christmas Family Home Evening. My husband wasn't quite sure about it, but I made sure it was very reverant and respectful. When the kids came out from playing I had made a little banner that said Happy Birthday and crepe paper streamers. On the table was a cake that said Happy Birthday with a bunch of lighted candles. We sang Happy Birthday (not to anyone specifically) and then the kids blew out the candles. Then we talked about birthdays and why they are important. We talked about how we celebrate someone's birth, and we do that because we love them. We also talked about how alot of times we give presents on birthdays too.

After that we moved into the living room where I had soft Christmas music playing. I read a scripture about Christ's birth and talked about how we were about to celebrate that wonderful occasion. I had some little boxes and we talked about what we would give Jesus for Christmas this year. I wrote down what kind of things the kids wanted to give him (ie, be nice to sister, help mommy clean, etc) and we put them in the boxes with a bow on top. On Christmas morning we will open them again to remind the kids of the things they are going to give Jesus.

I thought it turned out really well, and using something kids are very excited about and familiar with like birthdays made it more real to them that Christmas is a celebration of our Savior's birth. I also loved focusing on what kind of gifts we can give the Savior, instead of just thinking about all the fun toys that are coming :)

Individual Worth Family Home Evening

Again last night we had a really simple but wonderful family home evening. I was wanting to save up my Christmas fhe's for the next few weeks so I was trying to think of what our family needed. Just a quick side note: I believe very strongly that if we go to our Heavenly Father in sincere prayer he will guide us every step of the way as we prepare our family home evenings. I personally have received a lot of personal revelation regarding the needs of my small family, and I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father that helps me to see the things that will benefit my family the most.

Anyways :) We started off the night by reading my MOST favorite childrens book. If you don't have this book RUN, don't walk, RUN to the nearest book store and get it!! It is so fantastic, and the kids even at age 2 and 4 were mesmerized by it. What book you ask? :)



I couldn't get through reading it without tearing up. It beautifuly teaches us about the love of our Heavenly Father, and how we are special simply because of our existence, and the only love and approval we need is that of our Father in Heaven. I am not doing it justice, it really is wonderful!

After we talked about it we went around the room and everyone said what they thought made everyone else special. It was so cute to hear what the kids said, I especially loved it when my four year old said the reason her sister was special is because she is her best friend :) It was a beautiful moment for our little family, especially considering those two usually fight most of the day! It increased my testimony even more of family home evening and the spirit it brings into our homes, allowing us to become better and recognize the gifts that we have.

Gratitude Family Home Evening

This last Monday we had a really great family home evening. It was one of the simpler ones we have done, and thats ok!!

Wanting to focus on gratitude I told the story of the 10 lepers. I always try to tell the story in my own words so the kids can understand a little better, but I think its really important too to read directly from the scriptures and help the kids understand that too. Skylar was really touched by the story, and couldn't believe only one man went back and said thank you. We talked about how we want to be like the one that told Jesus thank you.

Then I showed them the gratitude jar I had made. I am sure many of you do something similar, I think its a great reminder :) I just took an old formula can, decorated it with scrapbook paper and ribbon, and filled it with strips of paper and a pen. Then we all went around and said something we were grateful for. Now every night at dinner we do the same thing, and so far it really has brought a special spirit of thankfulness and gratitude into our home.

Question:
As I was bearing my testimony to my kids and expressing my love for my family, I got a little emotional :) My daughter asked why I was crying and I told her that is how I feel my Heavenly Father and Jesus talking to my heart. She said she felt like crying too, but she wasn't sad. I explained that she is just like me, that is Heavenly Father and Jesus talking to her heart, telling her the things we learned about were true and expressing his love for her. I believe we can't make our children have spiritual experiences, we can only create the proper environment for them to occur, and when they do help our children recognize them. What are some things you have done to help your children understand feeling the Spirit??

Pumpkin Family Home Evening

Hey everyone! Was October as crazy for you as it was for me? I can't believe we are already working on being halfway through November! We did a REALLY fun fhe that I wanted to share. It was simple, but made the point and my 4 year old is still talking about it. We did this before Halloween, but if you still have some pumpkins laying around...go for it!!

Lately Skylar has been having a little trouble with lying. I think its pretty normal and part of a stage she's in, but still, I felt like it needed to be addressed and I think fhe is the perfect place for that. So for this one I got two big pumpkins. I cut the tops off of both of them and scooped the guts out of one, and left them in the other. Then I made up a silly story about two pumpkins, Patty and Perry. Both cute pumpkins made some mistakes and told some lies, but Patty said she was sorry and tried very hard to not do that any more. Perry didn't say he was sorry and kept telling more and more lies. I then talked about how Perry felt inside when he kept lying, and how Patty felt when she apologized and didn't lie anymore. Then I had the girls stick their hands into the pumpkins, Perry was yucky and dirty, and Patty was nice and clean. I asked Skylar what she wants her insides to be like, you can guess her answer.


It was really, really fun and a good visual for something I am always trying to explain. You could also definitely use this for repentance or a lot of other things.

Then we topped off the night with homemade pizza shaped like a pumpkin and these fun candy corn desserts. They are just butterscotch pudding, banana cream pudding, with some cool whip on top!!

The Creation FHE

For once I am actually a little bit ahead of things, so here is the fhe we are doing next week!

Since our theme for next week is outer space I thought the Creation would be a great fhe to have. Online I found a really fun idea to help the kids learn what different things Heavenly Father and Jesus created on the different days.

First you print out these letters 1-7. Then I backed them with cardstock and cut them out. Then as you talk about each day you have the kids glue on things that represent that. For instance cotton balls for clouds, pictures of animals, stars and a moon, etc. My kids are really hands-on, so I hope this will help them to remember and understand the beautiful world we live in :)



After we do that I want to quickly talk about how Man was created, and to teach that I will simply get out the playdoh and have the kids use a cookie cutter in the shape of a person. We will talk about how even though we are using the same type of cookie cutter, everyone's person will be different, and that no matter what color, or size we are all children of Heavenly Father!

4th of July Familly Home Evening

Sorry this is a little late, but I thought it would still be good to post for the future or if you want to do a little lesson with your fam later this week. I found the MOST fantastic website that had a really great FHE plan. Here is the direct link:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16391109/Star-Spangled-Banner-FHE
I really liked how easy it was to take this lesson and make it applicable for a 4 year old. Also the kids loved stirring the spoons in the water and seeing it turn the different colors that are on our flag. After we spoke about America being the promised land and how blessed we are we focused on the flag and talked about some fun things we do on the 4th. Of course, Fireworks!! So this is what we did for a little craft

All you do is get some acrylic paint, water it down A LOT (I think that was my downfall, not quite enough water :) and then put some drops on a piece of paper. Then you give the kiddos straws and when the blow on the paint it makes these cute little fireworks. Pretty fun!!
And what is FHE without a fun, themed dessert?

Mine didn't look quite that professional, but you get the idea :) All I did was make a yellow cake, top it with cool whip and then use blueberries and strawberries to decorate! Happy 4th everyone!!

Fishers of Men FHE

This week we are learning a lot about Ocean life and such so I thought this would be a fun FHE to go along with it! First we start off with the scripture in Matthew 4:19, "And Jesus saith unto them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Then we will have a short lesson on how because we have been blessed with the gospel we have the responsibility to be a good example and share what we know with everyone.
You could make this as long or as short as you want depending on the ages of your children (ours will be short!)
Then I found some cute little coloring pages of fish. Here is the direct link:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://jodyspets.com/site/images/kids/fish1.gif&imgrefurl=http://jodyspets.com/site/kids.html&h=957&w=718&sz=15&tbnid=TI6ufr3YnTPDGM::&tbnh=148&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfish%2Bcoloring%2Bpages&hl=en&usg=__dca7RzcYmVI-8cU_0qLl7UfuvgI=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1
I printed them off and colored them, and then wrote different things on them like, Start learning the stories in the scriptures, say hello to people, had a chance to invite a friend to primary but didnt, etc, etc. Then I put paper clips on each fish and get out our little magnetic fishing pole I made. Basically a stick with a string and magnet attached :) The kids will go fishing and then decide if that fish is doing something that will make us fishers of men or not.

For the treat I am going to make blue jello and when it has started to set put little swedish fish in it. Hope you have a wonderful Family Home Evening!!

Dinosaur Family Home Evening

Hey everyone, hope you are all having a fabulous year so far :) This week we are doing fun little things about dinosaurs, so of course, got to have a dinosaur themed fhe! I searched and searched for this little lesson because I remember when my mom did it for us when I was about 5 or 6. It struck me how odd that I would still remember a specific fhe we had years ago, and reminded me how important it is to keep doing them for my kids, even when at times they are super unsuccessful! Anyway, I finally found the same story my mom used on the website www.executivehomaker.com. Here is the direct link: http://www.executivehomemaker.com/content.asp?pid=87&id=551

You can print out the pictures of the dinos, which I did. This is a great lesson for all ages I think, I sure know my kids can't hear too much about manners. To do this lesson, I taped the different dinosaurs on the walls in different rooms in our house. Then we went on a dinosaur hunt where we walked through each room as I told the story and found the dinosaurs. The final dinosaur (the polite one :) was in the fridge, taped to a bowl of chocolate pudding. In the pudding I hid little dino fruit snacks that Skylar LOVED digging for! It is a really great fhe that I love having in my files. Enjoy!!

New Year's Family Home Evening

I am really excited about this family home evening, I think it will be great for our whole family. We are going to open with a short lesson on goals, and working toward things that are important to us as a family. Then I have printed off a bunch of my favorite pictures throughtout the last year. I have also gone through tons of magazines and found pictures that represent things we have done this year, good and hard, all memorable. Some examples are a toilet because Skylar learned to use the potty, anything Disney related since we took a wonderful trip to Disneyland, school items since Skylar started preschool this year, babies crawling since Kendall is STILL crawling!! :) But you get the idea. Then we are going to make a fun, glittery collage with all of them that we can hang up and remind us of all the wonderful things we accomplished and did this year. After that we are going to take some time as a family to set some goals for the upcoming year, not only for us parents but for the kids too. For the treat I am making confetti cake cookies, my sister in law Becky makes them and says they are fabulous!! I think it is just the recipe that is off the box, but I will have to call her tomorrow and check! What says New Years more than confetti?!

Samuel the Lamanite FHE

This year I want to really teach Skylar the Christmas Story, and I think you have to include the story of Samuel the Lamanite with that! This next Monday will be our FHE on Samuel the Lamanite and the Monday after that we will talk about the Nativity story to reinforce it all. I found a cute idea on the internet (sorry, I can't remember where so I don't know who to give the credit too :) where they built a wall out of rice crispy treats and had a little lamanite action figure (the kind you get at Deseret Book) on the wall. Then they got all their little toy figures and set them up to be the people mocking Samuel down below. Then you have your kids throw mini marshmallows at Samuel, pretending to mock him. I think Skylar will really get into this :) Then we will share the rest of the story, ending with the signs of Christ's birth.

I like the idea of helping Skylar begin to understand that the Bible and Book of Mormon are contemporaries, and show her what was going on in both places of the world at the time of Christ's birth. Plus, because of the rice crispy treat wall your treats are already handled! Wahoo, sounds like a great FHE at our house!

(Just FYI, I have been talking to a lot of people about how hard it is to have FHE. I hear ya! I hope these posts don't make ours sound in any way amazing, because they usually last about 15 minutes, and sometimes they are great, and sometimes they are a total flop. But I do find peace in knowing that we are trying, and I love that once a week Paul and I get the chance to bear our testimony to our children. Skylar gets very excited for FHE because we try really hard to make it fun and spiritual at the same time. I also understand that, like going to church sometimes, when you have young children you don't always get much out of this stuff, but I believe it shows obedience, and sets an important example for the kids. Anyway, enough of my rambling! Hope someone finds this helpful! :)

Christmas Symbols FHE

Hi all! I thought I would post this FHE in advance, in case anyone else wanted to do it :) I have a little 2-foot tree from our newlywed apartment days. Last year I got several ornaments to represent the symbols of Christmas. I believe I have an angel, star, candy cane, red ornament, green ornament, wreath, bell, tree and lastly a gift. I plan to wrap all of these up and put them in a big Christmas box. We are going to read the Christmas story and talk about the reason for the season. Then I will let Skylar unwrap 3 ornaments and place them on the tree. As she does I will read what that symbol represents. Then on Tuesday night we will open 3 more, and finally Christmas eve we will review the Christmas story again and open the last 3, making sure that the gift ornament is the last one we open. This is the 2nd year we will have done this, and I am really hoping it will be a lasting tradition that can put our hearts in the right place in the days leading up to Christmas. Here is an awesome website I found last year that has explanations for each symbol.
http://llerrah.com/truemeaningofchristmas.htm

Mitten Family Home Evening

I try to have our family home evening go along with our theme for the week, and sometimes its a stretch, but I am excited about this week! At lds.org I found this great story about mittens and service, giving to others, from an old issue of The Friend. The link to the story is http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=8a239633afcab010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1.

I thought we would read this story and then talk about how blessed we are and how there are so many people/kids out there that have so little. I think it will be a great tie-in to our upcoming Christmas fhe's. Then to go along with our mitten theme I have cut out matching pairs of mittens. On the back of the mittens I have pictures of different ways we can serve ie, pictures of doing chores, sharing toys with siblings, etc. Then I laminated them and I will tape them all over the house and Skylar will have to find the matches.

To round out the night we are decorating sugar cookies shaped like- what else?? Mittens!! A little over the top, maybe, but so fun!!

I think this could be really adaptable for all ages, so if you happen to try it and your family enjoys it, let me know!!

Tom the Turkey FHE

I found this great little story, and thought it made a wonderful family home evening. I found clipart for a turkey and then colored one brown,one red, one blue, one purple, one yellow and one green. Then I laminated them, and glued them to popsicle sticks to use as puppets while I told the story. I also cut out feather shapes in each color that can be velcroed onto the brown turkey, so by the end of the story you have a brown turkey with all different colors of feathers. Then I read the following story:

Once there was a little brown turkey who had a terrible temper. He often flew into rages and ranted around until he was a nuisance in the farm yard. One day he lost his temper about some little thing and got so angry he flew into a rage and went RED as a beet. The other turkeys laughed at him and said:


You're RED, RED
RED as a beet:
Red from your head
To the tip of your feet.


Tom Turkey didn't like anyone or anything so he ran away and hid. He sat and sulked for a long time. When he calmed down and came out of his hiding place he was really RED all over. His head was RED and his neck was RED- he was RED from his head to his feet.

He hurried to the edge of the farm to visit Dr. Owl who was wise and knew all the answers to everything. "You have to learn to control that temper of yours!" hooted Dr. Owl. "if you don't remember in time you will end up being a very sorry turkey."

The next day Tom Turkey was brown again except that he had a red feather in his tail. He was very glad to be brown again, but he still thought it was everybody else's fault that he gotten so angry the day before.

Tom's mother called to him to help with the Monday wash. But Tom got the BLUES as soon as he started working. he moaned and groaned until his mother said he was acting like a baby. You can guess what happened next- he lost his temper again. This time he went BLUE all over! As he was running, the other turkeys yelled:

You're BLUE, BLUE
From your head to your toe,
BLUE all over
wherever you go.

This time Tom Turkey sat and sulked and blamed his mother for losing his temper . By morning he was BROWN again but now he had a blue feather next to the red one in his tail.

You can guess what happened the rest of the week. On Tuesday Tom didn't want to clean up the yard. He said he hated cleaning up with a PURPLE passion. Just as soon as he said that, he was in a rage he turned PURPLE all over. the turkeys shouted:

You're PURPLE, PURPLE
That's all we can see,
You'd better go hide
Under your favorite tree.

Of course Tom Turkey sat and sulked and blamed everything onto everyone else.

On Wednesday morning he was BROWN again but he had a purple tail feather added to his RED and BLUE one. He was beginning to feel ashamed that he couldn't control himself like he wanted to.

He went out for a walk when he saw a big ear of corn that his turkey friend was eating. Tom was GREEN with envy. He thought the farmer had no right to give someone else the cob of corn. And before he knew it, he had turned GREEN all over, and was in another terrible temper tantrum. The turkeys all turned to him and yelled:

You're GREEN, GREEN
GREEN as the grass
Why don't you get wise
And stop all the sass

And of course again, Tom Turkey went to his hiding place to sulk and feel sorry for himself.

On Thursday morning he was BROWN again but now he had a green feather amongst the other brightly colored tail feathers. But something was happening to Tom Turkey. He was really beginning to change. He wanted to keep his temper. He didn't feel like being ashamed of himself. He was determined to try hard and do just that.

Of course all the turkeys like to tease Tom and while they were playing a game of Gobble and Waddle someone called Tom a coward. Before Tom stared to think he had flown into another tantrum. this time his face turned YELLOW and his neck was YELLOW and the turkeys were saying he had a YELLOW streak down his back. They yelled:

You're YELLOW turkey
Just like we said
Why don't you go home
and hide under the bed?

Tom Turkey had turned YELLOW all over because he had forgotten to control his temper. But this time he sat under the tree and thought a long time about everything. He had only himself to blame for his mistakes. He was beginning to realize that he was the only one who could make things better.

When he awoke in the morning he was brown again with a new yellow feather in his tail. He didn't say a word to anyone, he just went about his business and said to himself, "I can do it, if I try hard enough!"

Mother Turkey asked Tom to keep an on the little turkeys while she went to the store on Friday. While she was gone all the baby turkeys ran through the house with muddy feet. When Tom saw what they had done, Tom almost lost his temper. But this time he just held his breath as long as he could. He turned as pale as a ghost, but didn't lose his temper. The turkeys yelled:
You're WHITE, WHITE
But your temper didn't show
Maybe you're changing
We really hope so.

all Saturday and Sunday he kept calm and was tickled pink to think he had gone two days without a terrible temper tantrum. He was still a little brown turkey, and a very happy one too.

He reported back to Dr. Owl on Monday and Tom Turkey thanked him for his help. Dr. Owl told Tom he earned the wright to wear the brightly colored tail and that he should show it off proudly from now on.

So when you go to the farm and see the turkey with his fan shaped tail all unfolded, remember this story about the turkey with the terrible temper.

After that we talked for a while about how we can always choose how we react to situations, and that we are the ones who decide how we will feel. Afterwards we made these cute little cupcakes from (again:) www.familyfun.com. Great family home evening, Skylar has made reference to it several times since, so I know she was kind of listening :) Sorry for the cheesy pic!


Here's the link for the cupcake recipe:
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50291