Never Off Duty Teachers

This week's paragraph is:

Mothers Who Know Are Teachers
Mothers who know are always teachers. Since they are not babysitters, they are never off duty. A well-taught friend told me that he did not learn anything at church that he had not already learned at home. His parents used family scripture study, prayer, family home evening, mealtimes, and other gatherings to teach. Think of the power of our future missionary force if mothers considered their homes as a pre–missionary training center. Then the doctrines of the gospel taught in the MTC would be a review and not a revelation. That is influence; that is power.

Canning and The Goodest in the World

That's what Collin thought of the bread we made tonight. Allie thought it was scrumptious and delicious, Kevin thought it was fun to make bread (he watched). It was my first attempt to make wheat bread on my own, from freshly ground wheat -- ground with my mother in law's wheat grinder that she kindly let me use along with a lesson on breadmaking one Sunday afternoon (now that I am thinking about it, I really just invited myself over for that - lucky she's a good sport). Anyway, I was amazed at how fast it went and it was pretty easy to do. Now I know what my pro-breadmaker friends mean when they say, "it's not hard at all, you just kinda have to get the feel for it." I was pretty pleased with the results. The kids were great helpers, including Maddie.

While the bread was rising, we did our FHE and introduced the kids to their new allowance and job chart. They each get their allowance equal to their age at the beginning of the month. They are expected to pay tithing and save some. I am also getting them little notebooks to write down what they spent their money on. The allowance is not tied to chores, they are expected however to do every one of their daily, weekend, and "training" jobs. There are some special chores they could do for some extra money (big jobs), but they are expected to take care of their own room, their schoolwork, and also help out the family without getting paid - it's just a part of life in our home. If they don't do their work and I or Kevin end up doing them, then they pay us back for our services.

So for example, both Allie and Collin are expected to make their beds, pick up after themselves, practice piano, do homework/read a book (Collin). and take care of their bedtime routines on time. Then they also get to do 3 jobs on the weekends/as needed. They chose their specialties - e.g. Collin volunteered to be our vacuum/mop boy and glass door cleaner, Allie is our mirror girl and duster). Then they also get to learn new skills every so often - right now Allie is getting trained to how to load a dishwasher and handwashing dishes so she can wash dishes without help, and Collin is training to be in charge of putting away and sorting silverware. All the information I used is from the book called "Parenting Breakthrough" by Merillee Boyack. I love that book!

Today I also canned some pinto beans with Mindy, a really good friend of mine. It was fun as always, and makes the time go fast!

Recently...

I need to get a bunch of pictures uploaded. That has precluded me from updating this blog. Again. This week I've been painting. A nice, talented interior decorator who happens to be my sister-in-law Megan's mom, came to my house last week and gave me some fresh new ideas. After she left, I had a re-done living room and a boost to my creative side. I truly needed that! After not decorating anything for 5 years, you know, you just get in this rut and you can't think creatively like you did before (maybe that's just me!). So this week, thanks to Liz, I decided I need to finish the entryway.

So I went to Lowe's on Monday to get paint. I'm over there at 8 a.m. then went home and painted til noon, then decided I needed to get more paint. So back to Lowe's I went. I got Maddie out of her car seat and noticed my keys had fallen in her car seat. In my haste (like half a split second), I somehow shut the car doors BEFORE grabbing the keys. As soon as I heard the door shut, I looked in the car window and realized I had locked my keys in the car!

Surprisingly, I wasn't a wreck, or thought this was a bad situation. Seriously. I went right in to Lowe's and ordered my paint. Did I mention my cell phone was also dead from not charging the batteries for a few days? I called Kevin to ask him if there were any spare keys in the house, then called Lorraine, who thankfully was very close by. She came and picked us up (thank you!) and then I went back to the house and painted some more until Kevin came home from work.

He was so nice to take care of my locked car issue, without any peep about how that happened or why I didn't charge my cell phone, etc, etc. But that's just the way he is. He does a lot of things for me, and doesn't criticize (I am critical sometimes, so he balances me out). He got a new key from the dealership, and then we went to pick up the car in time before "24" (the TV show). A happy ending to a not-so-perfect day.

Mothers Who Know Are Leaders

I took a week's break since the last week and a half, I've been busy with Easter activities, parents in town, canning, learning how to make bread, reading "Parenting Breakthrough" by Merrilee Boyack, etc., etc. -- which I will blog about later (I have been researching how to do kids' allowance without tying it to chores. A friend of mine recommended this book, and I highly recommend it!).

This week, I will be focusing on the following paragraph:

Mothers Who Know Are Leaders

Mothers who know are leaders. In equal partnership with their husbands, they lead a great and eternal organization. These mothers plan for the future of their organization. They plan for missions, temple marriages, and education. They plan for prayer, scripture study, and family home evening. Mothers who know build children into future leaders and are the primary examples of what leaders look like. They do not abandon their plan by succumbing to social pressure and worldly models of parenting. These wise mothers who know are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most.

Meaty paragraph! What a challenge to be a PRIMARY example of what leaders look like! So what should leaders look like? Food for thought. I do love the last sentence - I have learned to be selective about activities and involvement, but don't think I have the "limited strength" part down yet since I tend to take on a lot at a time. I will remind myself that the purpose in being selective about activities/involvement is so that I don't spread myself too thin. I should maximize my influence at home, with my family/kids.

BTW, Collin just came in here to tell me I should be getting to bed so I don't get sleepy at preschool tomorrow and showed me his finished Mr. Mack art work (looks like a robot). That's my cute boy.

Ashlyn's Blessing

Asleep again! I guess that is what almost 3-week old babies do!

Easter Week - LONG post!

Easter week flew by! At FHE the week before Easter, we planned our daily Easter activities. I bought the book "A Christ Centered Easter" by Joe and Janet Hales, and decided on an activity each day. In previous years, the kids got to hang up Easter egg ornaments on a tree, each egg ornament containing a brief scripture and symbols about Christ and his last moments on earth.

The tradition is alive and well! The kids wanted to still do the same exact thing, only with a twist this year. We opened two eggs each day starting on Monday - instead of 1 egg per day starting 12 days before Easter, but it ended up perfect because the last ones we opened were about the morning of the Resurrection. I will have to work on the egg ornaments for next year - so that the events in America at the time of Christ's death are also included in the "Easter Advent Tree" tradition.

I am happy with how our Easter week went, even though it was alot of work and preparation. The kids looked forward every day to sit down and learn about Christ, how He spent his last week here on earth, and why we are so grateful and indebted to Him. We still did all the fun spring activities - coloring easter eggs and egg hunts and candy, but the main emphasis was on celebrating Christ and His resurrection.

So here is a brief summary of our Easter Week: - each day we would get together in our living room and do a mini-lesson and/or activity. (Easter FHE as Collin likes to call them).

Sunday - We read and discussed the triumphal entry of Jesus in Jerusalem and enjoyed singing the hymn we picked to learn this week - How Great the Wisdom and the Love (#195). We sang this hymn at the beginning and/or end of our devotionals. My parents got to do our evening devotional with us (they were here for a week). I placed the corresponding picture on an easel next to the egg tree.

Monday - We learned about the cleansing of the temple. I was amazed at the comments made by the kids about that. Allie really got into singing #195. The kids hang eggs #1, #2. The picture goes on the display easel.

Tuesday - My parents left to go to Anna's. Since the kids were tired after the long trip from Anna's, we didn't get to do the devotional. I placed the picture of Jesus teaching Mary and Martha (to remind us that he taught using parables) up. I guess we can only do so much!

Wednesday - We doubled up - we learned about how Jesus taught using parables, discussed the parable of the 10 virgins, and made oil lamps out of Sculpey. Our first lamps were so thin they melted in the oven, our next attempts turned out great! Eggs #3 and #4 are on the tree.

Thursday - I prepared a simple Passover/Jerusalem dinner: grape juice (for wine), unleavened bread (matzah), green salad (to stand for bitter herbs) and yogurt. The kids were so excited to dine on the floor with just the oil lamps for light. We talked about the Last Supper and other events on Thursday 2000+ years ago. Collin was our salad man - he cut up the green onions, tossed the salad, and served it at dinner too. Allie made our grape juice. Then later, we did the devotional and discussed the events leading up to Gethsemane. Eggs #5 and #6 are up.

Friday - We colored eggs at Kristie's house. We were going to watch the Easter Pageant at the temple, but decided at the last minute to not go -- it was the last day the pageant was going to be on, so battling the huge crowd made it more of a pain than uplifting. We enjoyed a quiet night at home discussing Good Friday events -- the crucifixion, etc. Eggs #7 and #8 are up.

Saturday - We had two family gatherings on the West side. We met with the Powers family at Todd and Jody's in Buckeye. The kids had fun hunting for eggs -- Allie and Collin had more fun running around with their cousins than filling their baskets with eggs. Jody had 400 eggs hidden, Allie found about 15 and Collin had about 10! After the egg hunt, the kids and Kevin got to ride quads, a small dirt bike and the Merrill's rhino. Lots of space and dirt roads to ride those toys around over there. I mainly took pictures (big surprise there) and talked my head off (just about). We enjoyed a yummy barbecue lunch too - they smoked 150 pounds of pig, we got to take home some. It was a lot of fun and good company. Then we took off to go to the Dickerson's for Ashlyn's blessing. We barely got there on time! We enjoyed good Filipino barbecue over there, courtesy of my parents. The kids played some more, then we took my parents to the airport for their midnight flight to the Bahamas.

Easter Sunday - The kids woke up pretty early and found their Easter baskets - this year they got each a little flipbook to read at Sacrament meeting (that I put together way late), missionary bears and CTR stuff, and scripture stickers. They didn't get a whole bunch of candy (didn't hear them complaining though). Then we were off to church before 8 a.m. The ward put on a wonderful Easter program. After Church, we opened the last 4 eggs - #9 - #12. We sang a hymn about the resurrection and Kevin gave a mini-lesson and testimony about Christ. Later in the day we went to Chad and Megan's for Easter dinner. I brought au gratin potatoes -- it was quite a nice change to not have to worry about getting Easter dinner put together all by myself. Good food and good company, once again. I did a quick shoot of the kids in their Easter best, but totally didn't remember to take one of our whole family. I will have to take one next week.

There were some things we didn't get to do (watch Easter pageant, Easter breakfast rolls - our Church meetings are at 8 a.m. I simply ran out of time!, etc.), but I am happy with how our week went. On to next year's Easter week...while I still remember what I want to accomplish then!

Outnumbered 7-2

Good-looking set of kids here huh? The girls are totally outnumbered! This shoot took a few minutes, this is my favorite shot of all of the Harris grandkids -- the Merrill boys, Parker, and my own three rugrats.

Conference Report

This weekend's Conference talks were so uplifting. The kids for the most part stayed in our bedroom and worked on the conference packets I put together for them. Allie did pretty well with taking "summary" notes during the first session (short lines to describe the talk), and then kept getting "bored". Collin spent the time coloring pictures and drawing a variety of trucks and cars. They didn't do a bunch of tally marks this year - I think the 3 pages were too cumbersome to mark the boxes in time -- I will be reworking the sheet again to make it all fit in one page but have the boxes just a little larger. (ahh, just when I think I made things easier and better, my kids prove me wrong!)

As for me: I especially want to re-read and study Elder Holland's talk on the Atonement, Elder Hales message on saving and living within our means, Elder Pearson's talk on faith, Pres. Monson's message of counting the blessings we have of the gospel, and Elder Stevenson's talk on homes and temples.

Elder Stevenson's talk is a very fitting talk to study along with the Mothers Who Know paragrah from last week (nurturers). Specifically, the phrase: Growth happens best in a "house of order," and women should pattern their homes after the Lord's house.

We can make our homes a house of the Lord. He invites us to take a "virtual tour" of our home using spiritual eyes.

1. Walking inside your home, What do you see? How do you feel? Is it a place of love and refuge from the world?

2. Is it clean and orderly?

3. As you walk thru, do you see uplifting images which include appropriate picturesthe Savior and temple?

4. Is your bedroom a place for personal prayer?

5. Is your gathering area (kitchen and dining) a place where food is prepared and enjoyed together allowing uplifting conversation and family time?

6. Are the scriptures found in the room where the family can study, pray and learn together?

7. Can you find a personal gospel study place?

8. Is the music or entertainment you see offend the spirit?

9. Is the conversation uplifting, without contention?

What a great way to take stock/inventory of our homes! I am grateful for the messages we heard this weekend. We are so blessed to have a living prophet and apostles today.

Megan and Family

Maddie is 16 Months!

Miss Maddie turned 16 months a few days ago. She is full of personality and loves to talk, play hide and seek, and play chase. She has 6 teeth, and loves to eat lots of fruit. She will try just about anything (hasn't gotten picky yet!) She is such a fun (and funny) little girl and sticks to a good schedule. We love this little one!