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I Want S’MORE Fun Family Time!

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Over The Fourth of July weekend my brother and his family came to visit.  We always have a great time seeing him, his wife Bekah, and two adorable sons Nick and Chase.  Sunday evening when they were here, my whole family came over to our house.  My parents and two sisters were also there.  Phil’s Dad Craig showed up as well.  We built a fire and had our own “fireside.”  We sang a hymn and then all drew questions from our family journal jar.  Last year I created a family journal jar with tons of questions inside.  The questions cover a wide array of topics such as childhood memories, goals, and favorite things.

Whenever we get together as a family, we answer questions from the journal jar.  It has been a lot of fun learning about each other and sharing so much.  We have enjoyed learning about my dad’s favorite childhood toy, my mom’s biggest bargain, Phil’s most frustrating experience with his car (which happened to be when he purposely got his car stuck in my parents driveway during a snow storm when we were dating and he had to spend the night—he totally embellished the story!), my thoughts on what I believe the key to a successful marriage is, my Brother Brad’s future goals, my sister in law Bekah’s most important friends, My sister Mallory’s views on each family member, and my sister Miranda’s weirdest dream.

After our “fireside” we roasted hot dogs, marshmallows, and made s’mores.  We had a great time and I am so thankful for my wonderful family.

Make a Wish…

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I let Ella and Preston have the wishbone from the chicken I cooked.  We had fun as they each made a wish and pulled for dear life.  Preston won and Ella threw a fit because, “Preston always gets what he wants!”  Ahhhh the fun only lasted a moment but I’ll take what I can get.

I wish for some peace and quiet.
I wish for an uninterrupted nights sleep.
I wish for a ten pound weight loss without dieting.
I wish for all my laundry to be washed, folded, and put away.

Family Home Evening Swaps

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One of my favorite time savers are fully prepared Family Home Evening kits.  I have participated in several swaps where everyone prepares multiple copies of the same Family Home Evening and then we exchange them.  We go home with several different fully prepared Family Home Evenings.  The kits we exchange are complete lessons with visual aids, stories, games and activities.  They are great because when Monday rolls around, all I have to do is grab a kit and read over it quickly.  The above photo is a Family Home Evening I received in the last swap I participated in.  It’s nice because I have so many great lessons now.  It’s a lot easier to come up with one creative lesson and swap with others, than to come up with several on my own.  Since I have started swapping kits we have had Family Home Evening almost every Monday night.  Because the lessons are so creative my kids love them.  I have hosted several swaps as Relief Society activities.  I’ve also joined a few online swaps where we have mailed them.

Here is a copy of my swap rules and a sample lesson that you can download:

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Anniversary, Kids, and Golf

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Phil and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this year.  With three kids including a nursing baby, busy grandparents, and my two sisters going to college, it’s getting hard to find a babysitter!  So, for our anniversary we took the kids with us to dinner.  We went to Snow Hill Country Club and had a great meal.  The kids were actually very well behaved!  After we ate, we went out and let the kids practice on the putting green and the driving range.  They both love playing golf.  It is a wonderful thing to see my husband share such a passion of his with our children.  So, even though we had the kids with us on our anniversary, it was a great time.

What I am Grateful For Today…

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-Ella picking me wild flowers from the side of the road today (and not from our neighbors flower beds this time!)
-My wonderful husband Phil who works hard to support our family
-Preston telling me “Not today mommy,” when I asked him to take a nap (I would much rather him take a nap but it was so cute!)
-Brennen’s laughter when I kiss his neck
-The beautiful summer weather
-My clean house
The gospel of Jesus Christ
-My mom and sisters who baby sit for me whenever I need it
-Spending time tonight with the women at church learning to bake bread at a Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment Meeting
-My love of organizing, cooking, and photography
-Being able to take my kids to the library and their love for books

Landscaping

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When we moved into our house almost five years ago there were flowers planted everywhere.  By the next year, (under our care) weeds were everywhere!  Last year we had all the flowers and bushes and weeds taken out and we started over with clean flower beds.  We replaced all the perennial flowers with small bushes and annuals.  This year the upkeep was much easier.  Phil spent all day Friday in the ninety degree weather mulching our landscaping.  He also planted petunias in our front flower bed.  He finally came in after dark with the job unfinished.  I got up the next morning (while he was golfing!) and finished up.  It looks nice.  I love the look of freshly mulched landscaping (void of any weeds).

Bloopers!

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I have really enjoyed learning more about photography.  I enjoy showing off photos I’ve taken of my children.  It started with Ella.  I would spend hours sticking her in buckets, baskets, and bows to take her picture.  What an enjoyment.  Then we added Preston.  I found out that taking pictures of two children was a little more difficult, but I always got at least one perfect photo at the end of each session.  Now, we’ve added Brennen and I’ve discovered that taking pictures of three is impossible!  Phil helped me get them all dressed and into my studio space and away we went.  Brennen cried, Preston threw a fit, Ella made faces.  At the end of this session all I had was what looked like a blooper roll!  Taking photos of my children isn’t quite as enjoyable as it used to be, but I still love it!

A Boy and His Cars

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Preston is all boy!  He loves to play with his toy cars.  He takes them everywhere with him-to dinner, bed, church etc.  He will sit and play with them all day long.  He names them and knows when one of his many cars is missing.  Although I am constantly stepping on cars and picking them up several times a day, I am grateful for the happiness they bring him!

A Girl and Her Hair

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Ella goes to preschool three days a week.  She loves school but doesn’t like getting ready to go.  She is always too distracted by toys, books, tv, her brothers, etc. to get dressed and ready to go.  I am constantly yelling, prodding, and poking at her to get ready so we can leave!  Today, Ella went upstairs to her room without me saying a word, got dressed and did her hair for school.  She quietly walked down the stairs and announced she was ready to go.  Phil happened to be home for lunch and was the first one to see her.  He started to tell her she couldn’t go to school looking like she did.  When I turned around I noticed she had several barrettes of varying colors all throughout her hair.  As silly as she looked I was just glad she got ready for school all on her own.  So, I told Phil she looked just fine and off we went to school.  I know someday she will look back at this picture and say, “Mom, why did you let me leave the house looking like that?”  I know she will say that because I have said that many times to my own mother about my short curly, permed hair from the 80’s and my big pink glasses that I fought her to get!

Date Night and Food Storage

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My mom has been wonderful since I had Brennen.  She has kept Ella and Preston over night about once a week since Brennen was born.  I’ve had a day to catch a nap, clean the house, and get a few things done.  Last night she invited them over on a Friday night.  I was on my way out the door to go to the grocery.  Yes, I know it’s sad that I spend my Friday nights at the grocery.  It works out for me because Phil is home to keep the kids and I don’t have to take them with me.  It works out even better for Phil because I go after the kids are in bed and he has a few hours to himself.  Anyway, since mom kept the kids, Phil (and Brennen) was able to go to the grocery with me.  It was nice to spend some time with Phil even if it was at the grocery.  I know it’s even more depressing that I would spend a Friday date night at the grocery with my husband but we take what we can get!  It was a good thing he went too because I stocked up on some food storage items and needed him to push a second cart.  I was able to seal the food Saturday morning when the kids were still with my mom.