Family Activities - Week One

One of my goals for this year was to make an extra effort to spend some time doing family activities each week. There were a few from this past week that I could have chosen from, but the one that I am choosing to share is a trip that the kids and I took to a large gingerbread house display that was held at the Winter Quarters Visitors Center.

Here are some of the amazing pieces:

And then there was the life of Christ as depicted in gingerbread style:

 

Mary and Joseph travelling to Jerusalem.

The Birth of Christ

Christ as a little child

John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.

Jesus healing the blind man.

Jesus healing the leper.

Jesus calls the children to Him.

 




The Last Supper
The Resurrection

Some other pics from the museum portion of the Visitors Center:

 

It was an absolutely amazing time! I feel incredibly blessed and thankful that we were able to go and visit and learn about this time in history! And a few fun shots of the kids:

 

The kids standing outside a replica of a log cabin home reminiscent of the time. Cephas is all in black, with his arms across his chest. A friend of ours joked around that he looks like a bouncer, which is doubly funny to me, because we don't drink.

 

Koren, Oralee and Jeriah pretending to pull a handcart like many of those who travelled from Illinois all the way to Utah.

 

It was such a  blast and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to go and visit and have fun and learn!

Company Girl Coffee Week 1

Company Girl Coffee...man, it has been awhile since I have participated in this weekly meet up!

There have been so many things lately that I could share with you all, but I am not sure where to even start.

December was an interesting month for my family. We had so many things happening all at once! For starters, the kids and I attended church services all but one Sunday, when a family Christmas coincided with services.

Jeriah, my little six year old Aspie (which is no longer an official diagnosis anymore), has been having a rough run at school since the beginning of November. He has been suspended once, has been in the Alternate Learning Environment room countless times, but December showed marked improvement for him at school.

We are pushing for Jeriah to get an IEP at school. His behavioral psychologist thinks he should have one also. The school has been extremely resistant to putting him on one, opting to exhaust every possible resource that they can. We'll see what happens though. Jeriah was in Special Education from the time he was a year and a half old until he was four and a half.

This year, at one of our meetings for Jeriah, the school recommemded that he be placed in the Differentiated Math class (which I recommended last year as he is able to do his sister's homework with ease and without instruction).

I have a feeling that by the end of this school year, he will be in both Differentiated Education and Special Education. He's just that kind of kid.

Earlier this month , when we were at church, Hubby had the day off of work and I had asked him to join us. He dropped us off at church with plans to come back after services were over to pick us up. I had a feeling, call it intuition, that he should stick around that day, but he really didn't want to and so I didn't press the issue.

Sacrament meeting went well enough. Jeriah kept his shoes (which are likely to be thrown at a moment's notice) to himself and behaved fairly well for the most part. Second hour came and it was time for our Sunday School classes. Jeriah ran off to his class and was ready before I had even gathered my bags from the meeting.

During Sunday School, Jeriah was escorted into my class by his teacher, who was holding Jeriah's hands over his head and steering him in the direction he needed to go. I excused myself from class and went out into the hall, hoping to get Jeriah back on track. It didn't work. As I struggled with him and desperately tried to reach my husband, I was quickly losing patience. It was heart-wrenching to experience. I have never had such a dificult time with any of the kids (him included) as I did that day.

When I finally got ahold of Hubby, I tearfully (partially sad, mostly angry) begged him to come back and get this child. Then I went out into the foyer to sit and wait for Hubby to show up.

The next Sunday was the one we missed for the family Christmas. By the following Sunday, I asked Hubby to please please please come to church with us. That way, I wouldn't have to miss any of my classes if Jeriah acted up. He agreed.

The plan was for Hubby to sit with us during Sacrament meeting and then to hang out in the foyer during second and third hour classes. I told him that he could bring the laptop to play on or surf the web while hewaiting for us, but that it was important that he remain there during that time so that I wouldn't miss my classes.

Jeriah didn't need to be removed that week (or the following week) so I think having Hubby there is having a positive kmpact on Jeriah.

The second week that Hubby was there, I actually did miss my Sunday School class. We sat in the foyer together and talked about a calling at church that we had been asked to consider accepting. We also discussed some activities that my church recommends that families do together each week and we went over the first lesson in the manual. I missed my class, but I felt that it was a very worthwhile cause for which to miss.

Also during the month, we had received some major acts of kindness from a church member that I barely knew by sight. Our hvac system in our home is rated for efficiency for half the square footage of our home. During the summer, our home gets very very hot and during the winter, it gets very very cold. We supplement our hvac system with either fans or space heaters.

During this month, our two best space heaters went out. They are meant for part-time, supplementary use, not the nearly full- time primary use we were needing from them. This gentleman was pulled out of his bed at 11pm to dig out two space heaters they had and bring them over with her. I had no clue that she might do that. I had posted on facebook my frustration about our hvac situation and she jumped to action.

When they dropped the heaters off, the husband said he could probably help take a look at our system and maybe come up with a partial, temporary fix. I figured, in all honesty, that it was an empty offer. But it wasn't. Within four days, he had recruited the missionaries from our ward and between the three of them, my husband and two of our boys, the hvac system was greatly improved. As it turned out, there were points in the system where the ductwork wasn't even attached to the vents that the air was supposed to be coming out of. So while the system itself still is too small, we no longer have cold air coming in through the vents.

As a result of that day, I asked the missionaries to stay for dinner, which Hubby was completely fine with. They agreed, even though I ended up stealing them away from my visiting teaching companion, who was supposed to feed them that night.

All that being said, there was a huge change in Hubby this past month. He went from not wanting to have anything to do with anyone from church (not even wanting them to come over) to not only having them over, but hosting them for dinner, attending church with us, accepting a calling at church, working to plan and implement the weekly family lessons that are recommended and being a huge encouragement to the kids and I in spiritual matters. He even attended a dinner and game night that a friend from church hosted, in which he was the only non-member present. The best part was that he really enjoyed himself. No pressure, just good family fun.

Wow. That ended up being quite the post! I have another lengthy topic, but I will save that one for next week. Have a wonderful day, ladies! It's so good to be back!

Not Resolutions, per se...end of January update

Back on December 31st, 2012, I posted about some changes that I have been wanting to make. I didn't call them resolutions because I just didn't think that was quite the right term for them. But I did want to update you on those changes I wanted to make and how they have been going. So here goes:

Personal Scripture Study: F
Same as I said last time...Between doing the reading for Sunday School (which I don't attend because I'm a Nursery leader) and Relief Society (which I also don't attend for the same reason) as well as the reading that relates to my Visiting Teaching message and to my Nursery leader role, I really haven't been doing any personal reading. I do still plan to do it though.

Scripture Study with Bree: B
I had planned to order our Seminary books so that we could start as soon as the kids were back in school on the 7th of January, but time got away from me and I ended up not ordering them until the 9th and as of yet, we haven't received them, they are due here though, on the 22nd, although I anticipate them actually showing up before then.

They actually showed up on the 18th, although we didn't start them until the 20th/21st. I gave her the copy of her book at church that day and we started the next day. I have been pretty faithful (missed one day but had an extra long session the previous day that I felt kind of balanced it out, even though I know that it doesn't really) about doing my Seminary reading.

Tackling a particular area of the house each week: B
I had planned to start with the den. And as far as this goes, I forgot to do a post the next day with pictures of the items and then the finished product. However, I will say that nearly all of the homeless items were either re-homed to someone else's house, discarded or given a proper home here. The one exception to that would be the things that are under my husband's desk. Practical excuse: When I have the time, his legs are usually under his desk. In reality: I have more time than when he is actually using his desk, but when he's not, I push the chair in (out of habit) and the chair essentially hides those few remaining homeless items. Therefore, out of sight, out of mind. I WILL get that done (with pictures to prove it) before this week is over.

For next week's tackle, I plan on attacking laundry in a major major way. It just needs to be done.

I did get that area done but no pics. Sigh. One of these days my posts WILL have pics again. One of these days. I have been working on the laundry in a major way. There is still more to do, but it's a process and I'm plugging away at it. And making great progress, I might add! I think this laundry tackle may be one that I will actually continue doing throughout the month of February.

Meal Planning: A
Week 1 (aka 1-1-13 to 1-6-13) was planned and followed
Week 2 (aka 1-7-13 to 1-13-13) was planned and followed
Week 3 (aka 1-14-13 to 1-20-13) was planned and is being followed but I didn't blog it because I was busy and forgot to do it.

Week 4 (aka 1-21-13 to 1-27-13) was planned and followed
Week 5 (aka 1-28-13 to 2-3-13) was planned and is being followed but I didn't blog it because of illnesses and the fact that it's been kind of a loose plan due to the illnesses.

Savings Goal of $1200: A+
I have saved up an additional $300 already this month, on top of the $300 that I already had. In reality, Hubby's check is going to be short this next pay period so most likely the extra $200 that I have saved will be re-routed to make up the shortage on his check. However, it will not affect the amount that I have saved this far and it also won't drive me off track with my goal either. Hubby did see something this one idea on Facebook though and while it does seem interesting, I'm not sure that it is entirely practical for our family.

Someone had commented that they were doing it backwards so that it would get progressively easier as opposed to progressively harder. Plus, if you put away the most amount of money early on, and you have it in a bank or someplace where you are earning interest on it, you're making more interest earlier on. Not to mention, you are more likely to save more money at the beginning of the year when your resolve to save is at it's freshest. I hope that makes sense.

Hubby's work missed a paycheck that is still unaccounted for and he had a less than usual paycheck as well, so we are back to just the $100 (+ $300=$400) saved. We might need to dig into that, though, to make up for the missed paycheck. That's what it is there for though, right?

Chores: B
Our chore system is still going strong. I have tweaked it and will post about it (and some of the previous tweaks that I have done to it). Who knows? Maybe this current system (or one of the previous tweaks) will work for you as well. Or maybe give you something to start off from.

The chore system is going better than ever! Loving it! My older boys are continuously going above and beyond their expected chores nearly every day. Cannot complain about that!

Use our gym membership at least once per week: D-
Week 1 - 0
Week 2 - 0
Week 3 - 0

However, I did just sign the kids up today for swim lessons (Oralee and Jeriah) and swim team (Cephas and Koren) as well as for Recreational Soccer (Cephas), Flag Football (Koren), Micro Volleyball (Oralee) and Micro Soccer (Jeriah). So, that kind of used our membership...kinda. Once we are already at the gym for those lessons, it's so much easier to just go ahead and work out. Funny how things work out like that.

Week 4 - 3 times
Week 5 - 0 times so far due to illnesses. Blech!

Losing 2% of my weight per month: C-
At this point, I'd have to go weigh myself, but I don't believe that I have currently lost any weight at all.

I weighed myself on 1/26/13 and at that point, I had lost 1%. Not all that I'd hoped for, but it's a start.

Eating more meals prepared at home: C
We have definitely done better in this department. There is still room for improvement though. Ideally, we would be eating out once per month, twice in a birthday or anniversary month.

Still doing better, still lots of room for improvement. Our biggest downfall is those unexpected trips that come up that ends up preventing us from being home in time to start the meal at a time that would make sense. I just need to do a better job of planning ahead and making sure that I am home in time to make the meal.

Cutting out soda: D
Complete fail at this point in time. My plan was to trade soda in for decaf tea, but I haven't gotten there just yet. If I were to just make some and have it ready to go in the fridge, I'd set myself up for success right there. However, I haven't as of yet. There's nothing like the present to get started on that one though!

Still a fail, but mostly because I haven't yet bought the tea. I thought I had decaf tea, but I didn't. So instead of giving up the soda, I have been drinking non-caffeinated soda or diet soda. I wish it was both, but it's generally one or the other. I don't really like the diet versions of the caffeine free sodas. But this last week of January, I have actually been doing really well with it. I did have one diet soda when we ate at Hubby's work this week, but that was only because the server knows us and that's what I always order and she never even asked me what I wanted to drink - she just brought it out.

Happy Birthday Cephas!

Today is Cephas' twelfth birthday, which I wrote about here but I have something special planned to surprise him with today. While he is gone this morning, I plan to work in his and Koren's room and get it 100% clean and spotless. This accomplishes two things. One, he doesn't have to do it on his birthday. Two, it gets done the way that I have been wanting to have it get done for a long time now.

There was a second plan that I made for his birthday today. It was a last minute plan, but since I found out that Cephas and his group will be back in town tomorrow by noon, I decided that I would put together a quick party for him. Poor Cephas has only had a few birthday parties in all of his twelve years. And most of those were when he was too young to remember them. But since this is such an important day for him, I really wanted to do something extra special for it and for him. So, while he was at school yesterday, I called around to some of his friend's parents and asked them all if a party today would work for them and explained that I did realize that since it was last minute, that it might not work out. However, it (surprisingly!) worked out for every family that I talked to, which I was super excited about!

I went to one of our YMCAs here and reserved a party room and so the kids will be able to swim and use the gym both. I'm thinking we will spend the first little bit of time getting everyone ready and then we'll either do the pool or the gym for the first hour, followed by the opposite activity for the second hour and then the third hour, we'll use the party room for cake and ice cream and snacks and presents.

I invited family and friends and a number of youth from our church and from my son's school as well as a few from our neighborhood. I just spent a week's grocery budget on party food and that didn't even include the cake or ice cream! I'm hoping it will be enough and that the kids will enjoy their time and the food and everything else. I'm just beyond excited to have this time for him to spend with his friends and our family and to be able to do something that he enjoys so much as well.

I was trying to make it a surprise party, but the fact that he is going to be with a number of his friends tomorrow morning for about five hours will be the deciding factor of whether or not it is an actual surprise. I am assuming that the parents I spoke to today have told their children about the party and I just don't know if they all passed on the message that it is supposed to be a surprise or if the kids will be able to contain it either. I may just go ahead and tell him about the party before he leaves this morning before his friends have the chance to spill the beans about it.

Then, for the evening we might just have Bree and her kids over to watch a movie and eat more of the junk that's possibly left over. Or we might end up going back over to my inlaw's house to just hang out. The evening is very much up in the air and we are completely open to ideas. But I'm thinking that something low-key to follow the major excitements from today is in order. That and the fact that Cephas has to be up around 6 am on a Saturday, so he may be tired (and Mom most certainly will be!).

I'm also super excited about a gift that I got for him. I wanted to get him a suit jacket but the places that I had looked for one wanted $45 and up for just a jacket! Hubby told me that I might just have to do what his cousin did and just buy one at Goodwill for Cephas. I had planned to go look but have been so busy lately that I just never got around to it. Well, tonight I just happened to be looking around at a consignment group in my area on Facebook and came across someone selling a full suit for only $20. I know Cephas' measurements for pants but since he has never been fitted for a jacket, I wasn't sure of his size for that. So I did the next best thing. I asked the seller what size shirt the person (most likely her husband - but I didn't want to assume it was) wore with it. Turns out that the shirt the person wore with it is only one size up from what Cephas wears and the pants are one size larger as well, which works out really well for us because Cephas' current slacks are just a smidge tighter than I'd prefer for him to wear. I was ecstatic to find that available for the price!

Now, I just need to get him some more ties. I think I'd like for him to have something like 5-10 ties, but I'll be buying them as I can afford them and as I find them here and there. I just love seeing him (and all of my kids really!) dressed up. They just look so nice and they seem to feel better and more mature when they are all dressed up.

More fun will be had later today and I promise to post some about it later on this evening. Until then...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CEPHAS!!!

(in orange because it is often his favorite color)

Not Resolutions, per se...mid-January update

Back on December 31st, 2012, I posted about some changes that I have been wanting to make. I didn't call them resolutions because I just didn't think that was quite the right term for them. But I did want to update you on those changes I wanted to make and how they have been going. So here goes:

Personal Scripture Study: F
Between doing the reading for Sunday School (which I don't attend because I'm a Nursery leader) and Relief Society (which I also don't attend for the same reason) as well as the reading that relates to my Visiting Teaching message and to my Nursery leader role, I really haven't been doing any personal reading. I do still plan to do it though.

Scripture Study with Bree: F
I had planned to order our Seminary books so that we could start as soon as the kids were back in school on the 7th of January, but time got away from me and I ended up not ordering them until the 9th and as of yet, we haven't received them, they are due here though, on the 22nd, although I anticipate them actually showing up before then.

Tackling a particular area of the house each week: C
I had planned to start with the den. And as far as this goes, I forgot to do a post the next day with pictures of the items and then the finished product. However, I will say that nearly all of the homeless items were either re-homed to someone else's house, discarded or given a proper home here. The one exception to that would be the things that are under my husband's desk. Practical excuse: When I have the time, his legs are usually under his desk. In reality: I have more time than when he is actually using his desk, but when he's not, I push the chair in (out of habit) and the chair essentially hides those few remaining homeless items. Therefore, out of sight, out of mind. I WILL get that done (with pictures to prove it) before this week is over.

For next week's tackle, I plan on attacking laundry in a major major way. It just needs to be done.

Meal Planning: A
Week 1 (aka 1-1-13 to 1-6-13) was planned and followed
Week 2 (aka 1-7-13 to 1-13-13) was planned and followed
Week 3 (aka 1-14-13 to 1-20-13) was planned and is being followed but I didn't blog it because I was busy and forgot to do it.

Savings Goal of $1200: A+
I have saved up an additional $300 already this month, on top of the $300 that I already had. In reality, Hubby's check is going to be short this next pay period so most likely the extra $200 that I have saved will be re-routed to make up the shortage on his check. However, it will not affect the amount that I have saved this far and it also won't drive me off track with my goal either. Hubby did see something this one idea on Facebook though and while it does seem interesting, I'm not sure that it is entirely practical for our family.

Someone had commented that they were doing it backwards so that it would get progressively easier as opposed to progressively harder. Plus, if you put away the most amount of money early on, and you have it in a bank or someplace where you are earning interest on it, you're making more interest earlier on. Not to mention, you are more likely to save more money at the beginning of the year when your resolve to save is at it's freshest. I hope that makes sense.

Chores: B
Our chore system is still going strong. I have tweaked it and will post about it (and some of the previous tweaks that I have done to it). Who knows? Maybe this current system (or one of the previous tweaks) will work for you as well. Or maybe give you something to start off from.

Use our gym membership at least once per week: F
Week 1 - 0
Week 2 - 0
Week 3 - 0 so far and likely 0 for the remainder of the week

However, I did just sign the kids up today for swim lessons (Oralee and Jeriah) and swim team (Cephas and Koren) as well as for Recreational Soccer (Cephas), Flag Football (Koren), Micro Volleyball (Oralee) and Micro Soccer (Jeriah). So, that kind of used our membership...kinda. Once we are already at the gym for those lessons, it's so much easier to just go ahead and work out. Funny how things work out like that.

Losing 2% of my weight per month: F
At this point, I'd have to go weigh myself, but I don't believe that I have currently lost any weight at all.

Eating more meals prepared at home: D
We have definitely done better in this department. There is still room for improvement though. Ideally, we would be eating out once per month, twice in a birthday or anniversary month.

Cutting out soda: F
Complete fail at this point in time. My plan was to trade soda in for decaf tea, but I haven't gotten there just yet. If I were to just make some and have it ready to go in the fridge, I'd set myself up for success right there. However, I haven't as of yet. There's nothing like the present to get started on that one though!

Cephas and his 12th Birthday

There is subject matter in this post that I have not revealed before, not because I was hiding it, but because it wasn't relevant to my topics. However, for this topic, it is indeed VERY relevant and I appreciate your kind words. 

On Saturday, my oldest son, Cephas, will turn twelve. We are members of the LDS church, which means that this is a monumental birthday for him. When a young man turns twelve, he is ordained with the Aaronic Priesthood and is able to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. It's an incredible gift that he will receive. However, usually boys will turn twelve, have their interview with the Bishop (the head of our group, kind of like a pastor in other religions) and will then be sustained by the congregation as a member of the Aaronic Priesthood, after which he will be ordained and will receive the Priesthood. At that point, they are free to go to the temple and participate in ordinances there. Well, Cephas just so happens to be turning twelve on the exact day of our ward's youth temple trip. He had his interview last Sunday with the Bishop and then in Sacrament Meeting, he was sustained by our ward and so this Saturday, he will be ordained as a Deacon and actually receive the Aaronic Priesthood at that time. Five minutes later, he will leave and be on his way to the temple. It is such a cool way to spend his twelfth birthday and I am so excited for him!

A great friend of mine, who also happens to be my co-teacher in our Nursery class as well as one of the women that I visit teach each month, offered to stay back from the trip and babysit the other kids so that I could go and be with Cephas for his first experience at the temple. As much as I would love to go and be a part of all that, it's not going to happen, because I don't have my temple recommend.

A temple recommend is something that you need in order to be able to enter temple. For youth 12-17, that happens after a meeting with the Bishop. When you are an adult (age 18), you need to have an adult recommend, which I believe happens after an interview with first your ward Bishop, then the Stake President. There isn't time for me to get a temple recommend for myself, so I will sit this one out. But I will be taking those steps towards receiving my temple recommend so that maybe on the next trip, I can be there as well.

I do have a meeting set up with the Bishop for later today about getting my recommend as well as receiving my Patriarchal Blessing, which is an inspired prayer given by your Stake Patriarch. I don't really know a whole lot about it, but I am anxious to receive mine. Quite nervous, but excited nonetheless.

I kind of went off on a tangent there and I apologize for that. That's just the way my mind works.

So on Saturday, Cephas will have to be up super early in the morning so that he can get ready to go and be at the church by 6:45, so that he can be ordained by the time that they are planning to leave, which is 7:00. Reality is that they probably won't leave until closer to 7:30, but 7:00 is the planned time for departure so we will be there at 6:45.