Feb. 16, 2015

My Mom would always record the big events of each person's week as part of FHE, and I'm excited to have started that tradition tonight.
 

Samuel: “We played cheetah attack today.” :) They love to pretend. The kids were both SO excited about Valentine's Day as it meant candy, surprises, and SWIMMING LESSONS! He got really into decorating for Valentine’s Day and wrapped "presents" (things he found around the house) for everyone.  He got a new swimming suit and swim shirt, just in time for his first of this session of swimming lessons. He also started gymnastics last week which he loved. We also started the sonlight preschool curriculum this week and it's really great. He went to Rose and Ram's house (Indian neighbors) a few times this week too and loves playing the Wii over there.

He gets SO excited when I say it's time to clean the bathroom!

Eliza: “Serve. When it was oatmeal time I served everyone. That’s called ‘stick to you!’” Lol We've been memorizing "Stick to a task til it sticks to you, for beginners are many but finishers are few." That's where that came from! Eliza had her first swimming lesson on Saturday too (with me in the water) and loved it! She got a cute new swimming suit for Valentine’s Day and a new stuffed animal (she carries around several stuffed animals everywhere she goes!). She threw up several times in the night Saturday night and we're glad she's feeling better. No idea where she picked up that bug but glad nobody else has gotten it. Her ballet outfit came in the mail this weekend and she can't wait for ballet class on Thursday! Wish I would've put her in something a long time ago. She walks out of class so confident, trying not to smile, with a look on her face like she's just so proud of herself. :) It's SO SO good for her.

After our first swimming lesson

Zoe: Almost crawling! She can go from laying down to sitting up on her own now and can get to just about anything she wants. Her physical therapy has helped SO much with her muscle imbalance and the left side of her face is looking so much better. just got rid of thrush... AGAIN! Hoping it stays gone. She loves the exercauser that my friend Nicole let us borrow and just jumps and jumps. I'm weaning her in prep for our Europe trip and she's doing well with it, although it breaks my heart!  She's still the most precious, sweet thing ever.

The nystatin didn't clear up the thrush so we tried gentian violet again. She had a purple mouth for a couple days!

Zoe is obviously shocked that we are moving to Cambodia! ;)

Dad: Got super excited about saving 1.3 million at work and could hardly sleep Thursday night. Then he went to work Friday and it turned out it wouldn't be the easy savings he thought it’d be. :)

Aren't Saturdays with Daddy just the best!

Mom: Loved working out on Saturday (I got a Planet Fitness membership at the new year, $10/month baby!), finished listening to "Dumbing Us Down" while I was there. Enjoyed a double date with Kosi and Tori Stewart Saturday night, Shaleena babysat. Stake Conference and Cinnamon Indian Restaurant. MMMMMM we LOVE Indian food!

Made a bunch of breakfast burritos on Wed with Tori and Shaleena to freeze! Laura and Kerri inspired.

My goal will be to post our recordings each Monday night, then hopefully add a few pics/details from our week. I think having a set time when I at least write down a few things is my only hope for being consistent at this blogging thing! I want to blog consistently so that I can print off books that we will treasure forever and that will unite our family when we look back at them. But it always slips through the cracks. Here's to a late new year's resolution.

In the most recent General Conference Richard G. Scott said, "Be cautious not to make your family home evening just an afterthought of a busy day. Decide that on Monday night your family will be together at home for the evening. Do not let employment demands, sports, extracurricular activities, homework, or anything else become more important than that time you spend together at home with your family.

The structure of your evening is not as important as the time invested. The gospel should be taught both formally and informally. Make it a meaningful experience for each member of the family. Family home evening is a precious time to bear testimony in a safe environment; to learn teaching, planning, and organizational skills; to strengthen family bonds; to develop family traditions; to talk to each other; and more important, to have a marvelous time together!"

When I heard this I realized FHE was usually an afterthought of a busy day for me. So I've made more of an effort to make FHE the focus of my Monday and it has been so great. The blessings of Family Home Evening are very obvious and I'm just so grateful we have leaders who remind us of its importance. The kids take turns teaching the lessons now which they love and I really enjoy helping them prepare during the day and see that the things they teach really stick in their minds the most. Our FHE always includes talents, which is the kids' favorite part. They basically just take turns running around jumping off furniture, doing crazy spins and summer saults, etc. And thanks to our trusty cricut we even FINALLY got names put up on our FHE board (a gift from Josh and Stephanie about 4 years ago!)!