VALENTINE'S FHE.

We are a little slow in the Valentine's Day preparations over here. I have very few Valentine's decorations and can't muster the energy to get into our attic so we might not see them this year. Oh well.

Last night for FHE we talked about the people that we love and why we love them. I saw this idea and we replicated it on a much smaller scale. In our focused five minutes of FHE we cut three hearts for each person and thought of one reason that we love them. Hannah's were very descriptive:

I love Kate because she is in our family.
I love Dad because he is so special.
I love Mom because I love her so much. 

She's really getting the drift. We did pretty well until Kate ate a black marker as her refreshment. It was a fun and very typical Family Home Evening in our house. Now our hearts are taped above our kitchen table to remind us of our love for each other, you know, because we love each other!

What about you Mamas, any fun Valentine's traditions that you could pass on to us? I would love to hear your ideas.

BIRTHDAY TRADITIONS.

Today ends birthday season here at our house with the celebration of my 28'th birthday. It was a wonderful day. Hannah, my three year-old made it her personal mission to make a party happen including cupcakes, balloons and games. Luckily, Jimmy's schedule was flexible enough today to accommodate a trip to Party City and some cupcake making. After our little family party, Jimmy and I went out to a late dinner.

With another season of birthdays come and gone, it has me thinking about birthday traditions. My mom went (in my mind) the extra mile to celebrate her kids big days. We always had a big, birthday breakfast in the morning before school. Pancakes were always on the menu, and my mom artfully created our new age out of pancake batter. For a number of years she made homemade crowns of cardboard and tinfoil and there was always a birthday poster. We even did presents before school. I have very fond memories of birthdays at our house.

Now, it's my turn as the mama to make my kids feel extra special on their big day. We have carried on the tradition of a birthday breakfast, only in our house because my husband is not a pancake guy, we have crepes. I am not sure how this tradition will hold through my husbands career of early mornings at the hospital, but so far so good.  And, just this year we had our first friends party with Hannah, but up to this point, it's been all family parties.

What do you seasoned mamas do to make your child's day extra special? Some families have a system down to a "t". Parties on the odd years, no parties on the even years etc; I would love to hear how you celebrate in your home.

SERVICE THIS SEASON.

I taught a lesson last Sunday in Relief Society about service. So, it has been on my mind. I shared some excellent (I thought) quotes, and we had a great discussion. I am always so thankful for those sisters that contribute to the classes and make my job so much easier.

Many of the quotes I shared were from a talk by President Monson entitled, "What Have I Done for Someone Today?"

Part of that talk can be seen in this Mormon Message.



More so than ever, I have felt a desire to incorporate more service into our life. Especially now that we have four little eyes watching and learning. Especially during this Christmas season.

So, this year we decided to make it happen. We have invited friends from our ward to our home this Friday evening for a dessert open house. Along with our open house we asked our guests to bring socks or underwear for a local women's shelter. We're not solving world hunger or curing AIDS but, we are hoping that with the help of our friends we can gather enough items to help a few that might be in need this holiday season.

Monday evening, we'll pack up our girls and deliver the goods. Hopefully, Hannah can catch just a bit of what we are doing. If not, there will be next year, because I am hoping this becomes a tradition.

So, the baking is in full gear. Have you used these before? My regular old chocolate chip cookies have taken on new meaning.

What about you? Have you figured out how to incorporate service into the hustle and bustle of the holidays? I would love for you to share.

THE FIRST NIGHT OF CHRISTMAS.

Slowly but surely we are creating a few Christmas traditions of our very own. Since, we are far from family I have been looking for things that we can do together early in the month before we typically travel to our extended family.

Last night we celebrated our second, annual "First Night of Christmas", and I think it's one that just may stick.

I would call it a Christmas kick-off of sorts. As I unpacked our nativity last weekend I set it aside so that we could put it together as a family for FHE. We read this book,  with words from the Bible and talked about the characters in the nativity. It was very short, and somewhat sweet (until the one-year old tore apart the nativity), but I think we're going to like it.

At the end, the girls each got to open a new set of Christmas jammies. Per tradition I have always received pj's from my grandparents on Christmas Eve. This will continue, but I wanted my kids to have some to wear all month so I thought this was a great night to break them out. Hannah was ecstatic to open a present.

It was a good Family Home Evening. It is amazing how the spirit can be felt in even the most chaotic of environments, when you are trying to do what is right.

I unwrapped our December Ensign and read for a few minutes before bed last night. I loved Elder Uchtdorf's message,  "Can We See the Christ?" He said,

"Sometimes the most difficult things to see are those that have been right in front of us all along...We who have heard the glorious message of the coming of the the Son of God, we who have taken upon us His name and have covenanted to walk in His path as His disciples--we must not fail to open our hearts and minds and truly see Him."

That is my hope this Christmas season--to truly see Him.

CULTIVATING AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE.

While most of the trees around us have lost their leaves, the painted tree in our kitchen is filling more and more each day--with leaves of gratitude.

During a painting expedition with my daughter last week, I harnessed my creativity, and with a bit of brown paint and some posterboard we now have our thankful tree. Each night since then we have each shared something to be thankful for. Amongst our many blessings sit long naps, jogging strollers, the Scouts and the gospel. I have been amazed at just how much our little daughter gets what it means to be thankful.

With just a bit over a week to go until the big day, we've got to get counting those blessings so that our tree stands tall and full come Thanksgiving. We'll ask the Elders, who are joining us for dinner tonight, what some of their greatest blessings are.

Any more fun Thanksgiving ideas out there?

P.S. The quote comes from an excellent talk by President Monson entitled, An Attitude of Gratitude, given in 1992.

THANKFUL TRADITIONS.

 

Photo via Missy Heid. Project Thankful printout from martawrites.com.

With Thanksgiving almost a week away, I thought it was time to share a few Thanksgiving traditions. You all know how much I love traditions. 

I asked Missy, a blogging friend, to share some of her family's thanksgiving traditions with Mamas Who Know. Missy and her husband, Devin, live in Southern California where they are parents to two young girls. 

Thanks for sharing your ideas Missy!

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So happy to be a "guest" on Mamas Who Know. November is a favorite month at our home as we decorate with pumpkins and experiment with new turkey art projects.

Last year we started a tradition called our Thankful Jar. On November 1st I gathered my little family together and announced we would be filling the jar with things we are thankful for. Each day, we would each write something on a slip of paper (of course I helped my little girls) and stick it in the jar. It was fairly easy to figure out what my 1 year old was thankful for each day and my 3 year old caught onto it quick!

By Thanksgiving day we had just over 100 slips of paper. The results were even better than what I hoped for! Once we started writing things, more kept coming and we didn't limit ourselves to just one a day. It ended up being 2 or something 3 things a day. Small and big things alike, as we read them before eating our turkey dinner my eyes filled with tears. After a particularly tough October last year, the feelings overwhelmed me.

And so we started it again this year. My (now) four year old remembered it. My two year old understands and loves coming up with things. My husband is traveling more this year for work, but still drops in slips of paper when he is home. When he is out of town, my daughter Avery asks him what he is thankful for so we can add it to the jar. It makes me happy that she wants to hear what we as parents are grateful for each day! Again we are finding out that once we begin writing things down, the number multiplies and I find myself jotting 2, 3, or 4 things each day.

I look forward to going through them again before eating Thanksgiving dinner.

Some other things we like to do around our home...

* I got this book and my four year old loves it! We read it together and she is fascinated by the facts it provides (what do pilgrim children wear? did they take baths on the Mayflower, what was the pilgrims first winter like?) and I love that it teaches the history behind Thanksgiving day and why we celebrate it.

* I picked up a pack of multi-colored feathers at Michael's and plan on hiding them around the backyard for a turkey-hunt (think: egg hunt at Easter, but with turkey feathers!)

* Both my girls love to help me in the kitchen. So, we have been baking lots of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies! We always end up taking some to our neighbors with a hand print turkey card made by my girls which they love (they always get shy at the door dropping it off though;)

I would love to hear what traditions other families do! I think it is my favorite holiday as it kicks off the season with what it really is all about.

Me too mamas, what things are you doing with your family to get the spirit of gratitude in your home?

HALLOWEEN IS IN THE AIR.

Are you getting geared up for Halloween over at your place?

We've got a little orange and black around here and the excitement is brewing. Everyday, Hannah keeps asking me when her butterfly wings will be arriving. Somehow she agreed to one costume idea and hasn't wavered. I was almost certain that her costume choices would change with each day. But a butterfly she will be. That means that our Kate bug will be an accompanying Ladybug. Luckily, Kate doesn't voice her costume opinions yet, so we're good to go.

Do you have any fun Halloween traditions?

We've had the same Halloween dinner of tortilla soup with a few families at our house for the last two years, but I'm not sure that qualifies it as a tradition. I'd love to start the tradition of homemade donuts and cider after trick-or-treating, but honestly, I'm not sure what we'll be doing since the big day falls on a Sunday.

I love that Halloween decorating is so easy. Pick up a few pumpkins at your local grocer and you're in the spirit. Add a bag of candy corn to a glass jar and you're that much more festive! You can really go all out, but we try and keep things simple around here.

Hannah keeps talking to me about when she was a sheep (last years costume), so I decided to add a little Halloween throw-back to our decor. I had some photos printed from the last few Halloweens, got a teeny bit scrap-booky and ta-da, we have a few more decorations. It's fun to remember our happy memories and have something to talk about around the dinner table.

So mamas, what are you doing to get in the Halloween spirit?