Weekly Family Activities (with Lots and LOTS o' Links)

Monday night we sat down as a family and created a new and improved list of activities our family can do together. I was shocked at how many of them involved food (Ironic thing…as I went to write the last sentence, "at" came out as "eat"). One child would give an idea and another would chime in with, "Yah, and we can get ice cream!" or something like that. It was all quite comical. What can I say? We like to eat….Food is good.

Our goal was to come up with 52. Everyone moaned about this. They decided they'd each give two ideas, and we'd sit down again in a few months and do it again. Umm, no. Not going to happen. So, I forced the issue. It really wasn't that hard after we got going. We ended up with 71.


Here are the ideas we came up with:

• movie night at a theater (most likely this one)
• restaurant - this is my favorite at the moment, but who knows, this one's close to home and there's something for everyone--plus, there's pie! I guess it will depend on the night when we do it.
• zoo - this, for our family will require a membership, but it's such a deal compared with regular admission.
• OMSI - again, membership
• -children's museum - for this one, there is a free night once a month. It's surprising how much fun we all have here.
• Portland art museum - they have a free night too.
• picnic
• hot chocolate - in our family's opinion, this is the BEST hot cocoa, especially when prepared with milk.
• swimming - we buy a membership to this one too. It's a GREAT deal for a large family.
• Gilbert House - One of our favorites, and yes, you guessed it…membership. Only, the OMSI and Gilbert House memberships can be used for each other, so you only have to have a membership for one or the other. With the Gilbert House membership, you also have free access to the Children's Museum. Plus, the Gilbert House membership is a bit less expensive.
• park - we particularly like this one.
• water fountain - there are a few around our area, but I think we like this one best.
• basketball at the school
• Krispy Kreme - no explanation required.
• water fight
• temple - you don't have to be LDS to visit the temple grounds. It's a very peaceful place--a good place to go when you need to collect your thoughts. We will visit the visitor's center while we're there. The kids really enjoy the things they have there.
• the Columbia River Gorge - my favorite place in the world!
• pizza movie night
• barbecue
• Ikea - #6's favorite place in the world (and the kid's been to Disneyland?!) It's all because of the meatballs.
• marshmallow construction
• cookies - it'll be these without the M&Ms.
• chubby bunny - not being enormous fans of marshmallows, the hubs and I might just sit this one out and cheer the others on, but who knows.
• Waffle Window - What?! Food?
• Saturday Market 
• hot dog eating contest - I don't know, this might rank right down there with marshmallows. But for the sake of good ol' family fun and competition, I might be able to choke down one or two.
• Goodwill scavenger hunt - something was said also about everyone looking for the most hideous outfit. The winner buys it and the losers take turns wearing it. 
• basketball game - this is the kids' favorite family activity.
• tie dye
• soccer game - we usually buy a pizza, sit of the field and eat, and then go kick the ball around for a bit.
• make pizzas
• make wrapping paper
• make Christmas ornaments
• hike Council Crest
• family pics - this, believe it or not, was one of the kids' ideas.
• hide and seek
• frisbee
• capture the flag
• library cultural passes
• Powell's Books
• candy bar game - we did this last night, and I, very joyfully, ended up with my three favorites. Here's a very brief overview (our friends, the Boswells, taught us this game)….You get a bunch of candy bars (more than the number of people playing), two or more dice, and a small bowl for the dice to be shaken in. Everyone sits in a circle. The candy bars are placed in the center. Various people are given a bowl and a die. Those people roll the die one time. If they roll a six or a one, they get to grab a candy bar from the pile. They pass the bowl to the next person. Any time a six or a one shows up, the person who rolled it gets a candy bar. When all the candy bars are taken, a timer is set (we set ours for five minutes last night), and the play continues, only you grab the candy bars from each other. At the end of the game, some will have quite a few bars, some will have none. In our family, those who have lots share with those who have few. You get to eat what you win….Imagine that…Food.
• drive-in movie - we only have one of these left in our area that I'm aware of.
• game night - this is the new game we got for Christmas. The kids love it.
• Sauvie Island
• Skate World
• Candy Basket
• Voodoo Donuts
• TCBY
• ice skating
• froyo - #1 worked here before her mission. Of the places we've tried, it's our favorite.
• Simon says
• sardines - this is one of our most favorite games. It always surprises me how creative our kids can be.
• coloring night
• heart attack
• fork
• make blankets
• KFC - I wonder whose idea this was…..Hmm…I don't know….
• movie marathon - Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter, Mr. Bean (the series, not the movies), and others have been done in our house, but the BEST by FAR was this marathon which we did one New Year's Eve.
• Donut Day - better than Krispy Kreme, in our opinion. Plus, the owner's kids used to go to the school where my husband was principal, so we like to give them our business….a lot.
• go to a school play
• Pita Pit
• Rocket Fizz
• geocache
• frozen chocolate, die, clothing, fork and knife game - instructions for this game came from my dear Aussie friend Leanne. Her daughter's serving in the same mission with #1. You have a frozen bar or block of chocolate, a dice, gloves and other pieces of clothing, and a knife and fork. You decide which number a person has to roll before they can dive into the chocolate. When you roll that number, you jump up and start putting on the gloves and other clothing items. After all clothing items are on, you grab the knife and fork and attempt to cut into the chocolate. You get to eat any piece that you cut off. When someone else rolls the number, you're done. You put down the knife and fork and remove the clothing. That person puts them on and it starts all over again. (Leanne, I hope I got this right. If not, please correct me. Thanks!)
• Spoons card game
• Uno
• Apples to Apples
• root beer floats
• minute to win it games
• Farmer's Market
• Taffy pull

If you didn't catch the link earlier, here's how and why this all started. I hope this somehow helps your family as well.

Enjoy!

Yaddi Yadda

"By the end of the week it'll be half strength" was what #4 was told when he went in to have his ear re-checked yesterday. It looks great and you really have to look to find the owie. The doctor took out the last remaining stitch (they put the dissolving kind in). The doctor who stitched it up really did a FANTASTIC job.

After the doctor's appointment, I took #4 to Arby's. He commented on how great it was to be "just the two of us." I agreed. He's such a sweet personality. So great to be around.

I got the cash system figured out for the month and went and got the money to fill the envelopes, so we're in business for the month. We usually take our kids out to eat at least once a month, but I found that we didn't use the eating out money last month, so we had a bit extra. Nice deal! I love it when that happens.

Did you know that Monday nights after 4pm, the Outback Steakhouse allows one child to eat free for every paying adult? Well, they do. I love the Outback! I was THRILLED to hear this news. We went there for our Monday night FHE activity. The kids had never been there. Our server was FANTASTIC!

I don't know if anyone else feels this way, and maybe it's just the part of the world I live in, but with the economy being what it is, people seem to be more grumpy these days--even people on the job at certain businesses. I've gotten so I kind of brace myself. Well, this was not the case at Arby's. They were SUPER nice--smiling, saying all the nice things that make you feel like you're welcome there. It was a nice change of pace.  Yay Arby's. I might just go back...soon.

Like I said, we're back up and running with the cash system. Last month was just a little too monetarily crazy with the events of March. Things seem to be ironed out a little bit better now, so it's nice to be back on track. April just felt very insecure. The cash system makes me feel in control, and I love it.

Last year, with American Mothers, we had the opportunity to help with the float decorating for the Portland Rose Festival. Next week it all starts up again. It can't get here fast enough. Seriously, it's SO FUN!  If you're in the Portland area and want to be part of things this year, let me know.

Here's the float we helped with last year....


See that purple and that blue?  Yup. I wore purple coconut and blue coconut home in my hair a few nights in June of 2011.  Good times.  Good times.

It Only Takes One

Someone shared the idea of doing Family Home Evening--the meeting/lesson part--on Sunday evening and then doing a family activity on Monday night. We've decided to give this a shot.

Last night, the Warden shared what he taught for his class at church for our lesson. The lesson was on charity. With it, he shared this...




He asked us to notice where the coach was originally standing. He said that he knows a woman who was at this game. She shared with him that the moment he noticed the girl having problems, he sprinted across to where she was.

Most likely, he didn't even know who she was, but he was not going to let her fail.

It is clear that Coach Cheeks didn't have an excellent singing voice, but he didn't let that get in his way. I'm sure that wasn't even a thought in his mind. It seems that all he wanted at that moment was for that girl to succeed.

As you notice, when the girl starts to mess up, the crowd begins to jeer.  It's kind of like when a kid drops his tray in the school cafeteria. Other kids feel uncomfortable and don't know what to do, but instead of feeling sad for the kid, they clap and laugh. I HATED this in elementary school. What a terrible human reaction!

The thing I love the most about this scenario is that all it took was that one man coming forward and being courageous enough and caring enough to help her out--just give her a tiny push in the right direction--and the crowd joins in too. He set her up for success.

I'm feeling this is what this world needs. Instead of "throwing someone under the bus," why don't we give them a hand up a step? I'm grateful for this little reminder.

Celestial Living

I need to write.  I just need to.  It's a compulsion. Funny, but the last couple posts I've written have started out being about topics other than what they became. I had a completely different direction I wanted those posts to go, but they kind of took their own way, and after all is said and done, I feel satisfied with that.

So, for today, I'm just going to throw it out there....Whatever's on my mind.

You know that post I wrote about Family Home Evening?  And you know how I frequently comment about lessons in my life and how they seem to be pieces of puzzles that quickly follow one another and each piece comes from a different, and frequently unexpected, place?  Well, that's happening again.

Last night, I went to ward council.  Ward council is a meeting held a couple times a month with the leadership of the ward. We had a new bishop put in on Sunday.  I've never been at a ward council with a brand new bishop.

First of all, though, I need to interject something.  This new bishop called my house yesterday and asked for #1's email address.  He shared why he needed it--that he was going to write to her and thank her for the good job she did the other night at a meeting.  I hung up the phone and cried (True story. I cry at certain commercials and episodes of "Little House on the Prairie, so whatev). I was touched that someone would go out  of his way to make such a gesture to a teenage girl when things could so easily just be noticed and let go.

For last night's meeting, we were sent instructions to read this.  This is one of those articles that you read and know there's so much to it...so much more than you're really understanding on a quick one time through. We would be discussing this article during the meeting.

And so we did.  Fascinating!  We talked about the need to be strong spiritually (not just "strong" but "powerful."  We discussed ways to do this, but then the bishop turned to this scripture (take yourself down to the highlighted portion). Does that sound familiar? This is the same principle I referred to as I talked about this to my kids on Monday night.  Seems that this must be important right now, but it dredged up so many questions.  Questions I'm not sure I know how to answer. Questions that have answers but will require a desire for change once I find them.  They will require some searching on my part and some humility to alter how I live.  Am I really ready for this?  I figure I must be being taught this because Someone who knows me better than I do thinks I'm ready for this. It's now up to me to do it.

The challenge is to live a celestial law now. What exactly does that translate to?

The bishop shared that we are to strive, seek, repent, (lather, rinse, repeat) until we eventually eventually succeed.

Near the end of the article, Ballard quotes Spencer W. Kimball when he says:

“We have paused on some plateaus long enough. Let us resume our journey forward and upward. Let us quietly put an end to our reluctance to reach out to others—whether in our own families, wards, or neighborhoods. We have been diverted, at times, from fundamentals on which we must now focus in order to move forward as a person or as a people” (“Let Us Move Forward and Upward,” Ensign, May 1979, p. 82).

Wow! If this doesn't define me! But, I don't think I'm alone in this I'm finding that one of the biggest problems we human beings have is the inability to believe that each day is a new day--a day with promise--a day to start something new, and you don't even have to wait for a new day to move to a better course. It's okay to start something better at any moment.

Why do I allow myself to get comfortable?  Why, when I feel impressed to do something I might not normally do, do I not get myself up out of that rut and start on a new path?

So the question should come...who should I reach out to today? tomorrow? next week?

The bishop asked the question:  What is celestial home teaching?

As he said that, immediately, my brain (heart?) followed with it's own question: What is celestial mothering?

Along these lines, here's what grabbed me today....A friend posted a link to this video (Thanks, Ceana!). I think this has a lot to do with being a celestial, not only mother but, person:




What was shared next was so profound....The bishop said that every time we come in contact with anyone, our main job is to "help that person feel Heavenly Father's love." In order to do this, I know that I must feel it too.  Not only feel it, but powerfully feel it! What would this world be like if everyone you ever met made you feel this way?  I kind of get the feeling that "self-esteem" wouldn't be much of a societal issue any  more.

To close the discussion, and the meeting, the bishop shared (now you have to understand that as I'm sitting in this meeting, I'm sitting with fifteen to twenty of the most amazing people I know. I'm kind of the class clown in the group--you know the song..."One of these things is not like the others....") this...we all have major struggles. He said that we're not bad because we have weaknesses. The bishop challenged us to be honest with ourselves, face our weaknesses, repent, change our current course and move on.

Wow!  Where does one begin?

Thirty Years from Now

I have a child who (do you just cringe when you see me start a blog post like this?) conveys the feeling that mom and dad are evil and out to get said child. Where does this come from?

We sat at Family Home Evening this evening, and I just knew it had to be addressed. We were nearly done with the lesson, and I asked if I could have a few moments to bring up a point.  I was granted that time, and dove in.

My question..."What do you picture for our family? I mean really off in the distant future."

One child responded: "Together in heaven."

I shared that I felt that was great, but I wanted something a bit more reachable.  Something that would happen before that time arrived.

I asked them to look forward thirty years.  It took a few moments to regain quiet as everyone had to share how old he/she would be to everyone else, but once composure was regained, I asked, "Okay. It's thirty years from now. You receive an invitation to come to Thanksgiving in this very house. Let me tell you what it looks like. You enter this very room, and there's a table that runs the length of the room. Who will be at that table?"

Each replied with "I will."

I interjected: "Only you?"

It was quickly shared that they would bring their wives/husbands and their children.  That picture alone brought my heart near to bursting. I could practically see them. How exciting that will be!

I asked each child individually, will you be there?  Will you bring your family to my house?

They each assured me that they would.

I shared with them that the time to prepare for that Thanksgiving thirty years away begins now. That Thanksgiving will prepare us for living together forever.

Earlier in the meeting, #1 had been called upon to share a scripture. She shared Moses 1:39--"For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man."

I shared with our children that in this scripture lies our motive as their parents.  Our job, as their parents, is to help with what that scripture is saying. My purpose as a mother is to guide them, teach them, and direct them toward eternal life. The reason I breathe, the reason I get up every morning and make the decisions I do is to help them attain eternal life. I assured them that I'm not perfect. Even though I have many years on them, that advancement in age in no way makes me infallible. I have a long way to go just like they do. I told them that I would quickly forgive them for their mistakes if they'd also forgive me.

Then I lowered the boom. I asked them what we would be like when we died. Were we suddenly going to be perfect and happy with everybody? Were our personalities going to change in the blink of an eye? I assured them that they would not. The feelings we have when we die are those we will have when we cross over to the other side. Our bitterness or our happiness will remain the same.

That being the case, shouldn't we strive everyday to do better than we did the day before? Shouldn't we try to be a little more patient, a little more loving, a little more forgiving? We discussed this for a little while.

That Thanksgiving thirty years from now can be heavenly if we learn to have heaven here now. It's now our challenge to make our home a heavenly place. A place that if we were suddenly to find ourselves there, we wouldn't know the difference. We wouldn't know we'd even left.

#4's Dinner

#4 has a thing for making homemade pizza.  His dinner night is Monday, which perfectly coincides with Family Home Evening.

Last night, the Warden got home all fired up to watch the NCAA final game, so we had Family Home Evening early.

#4 had made one batch of dough in the bread machine in the morning before he left for school and had to throw the other in when he returned home.  The dough finished in perfect time.  #4 and I sprayed four pans and divided the dough into nine pieces.  We stretched them into circles and laid them on the trays.  #4 went around and spread sauce on each, and we sprinkled each with mozzarella cheese.

We called everyone in and had them decorate their pizzas however they wanted to.  For toppings, we had:

• pepperoni
• sausage
• pineapple
• mushrooms
• olives

We couldn't possibly fit all four pans in the oven at the same time, so we cooked the larger pizzas first for 15 minutes and then threw the smaller ones in for 12 minutes. 

While they baked, we had Family Home Evening.

Dinner was FANTASTIC!

Here's the dough recipe we used.  Like I said, we used the bread machine, so we put all of the ingredients in in the exact order listed.

1 C. water
3 C. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
1 pkg. yeast

We put it on the French bread dough setting.  I took about an hour and 38 minutes to finish the setting.

There's just some amount of satisfaction that what's being served is fresh and not filled with all kinds of additives and preservatives.  There's also a wonderful feeling knowing that the kids finish their night feeling capable.

Upward Spiral FHE

Last week we discussed this concept as a family.  Tonight we continued the conversation. 

We talked about the fact that when Adam and Eve were in the garden there was no progression or digression.  They just were.  After they were cast from it, there was only digression. 

We discussed the fact that without a Savior, we would be destined for a downward spiral.  We then talked about the need to have Him in our home and how we were going to do that.

The challenge has been laid out....Everyday, every member of this family needs to serve every other member of the family in at least one way.

We will sit down and discuss it as a family each night at dinner.

I've probably got it the easiest--dishes, laundry, meals, etc.  Yep, I've got it made in the shade.  We'll see how this goes.  Could be interesting to see the results.