I got to go and help Danielle Lila's class made Gingerbread Houses this week. It's always fun to help with these activities and I'm grateful that I'm able to do so! Thanks to Jody's work schedule he can watch the two little ones while I go help out at school once, sometimes twice a week. Thanks babe!
Before
After
Notice the stash of candy
This house was hit by a tornado, the poor little marshmallows were the civilians!
For our first family home evening of the month we went to Bethlehem! I heard about this from my neighbors. Crazy that we actually ran into those families and others from our ward who showed up at the same time as we did! This is put on by a family and a whole bunch of volunteers. It is a free event but donations are accepted and given to the Huntsman Cancer Institute. (More info here http://livenativityinalpine.blogspot.com/) It turned out to be a great night, although it took us well over an hour in line to get to Bethlehem. At one point the kids wanted to go home and one family that was in front of us actually did leave after about 40 minutes of waiting. But we stuck it out and the kids loved it! We got to see Shepherds, Roman Soldiers, a Wise man, animals, a Bethlehem city scene and most importantly Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus! We entered in to a stable and it was very quiet, were able to just stand and watch the baby. What a great moment! I'm glad that I was able to take my kids. They know why we celebrate Christmas but we can all get caught up with the "hustle and bustle" and sometimes forget the true meaning. I want them to always remember and I think was a great to remember! Next it will be Temple Square to see the lights. 
Wow! I can't believe it's that time of year again! The kids are so full of the Christmas Spirit and wanted to decorate the Day after Thanksgiving but we made them wait until Monday, Jody's day off. We had a great time! The kids just wanted to start grabbing and get to work but I made them get in a line, I would hand them an ornament and then Daddy would help them put it on. It was also Jonas' turn to put the angel on top and he loved it! 
We changed our tree this year, we got some great stuff from Sam's Club last year. I love the colors and the big ornaments! The wooden stars are from back in the day when my Daddy was doing his wood work, he is amazing at it (it's pretty sad that those few things are all I have of the many pieces he's done!) and I love them!
I also put this cute countdown calendar, that I made at a craft night with my family on our trip to AZ, so FuN! I put it all up to make sure that I would have enough ribbon and that everything would fit. Then I was going to take it down so the kids could put one on each day, but I liked it too much and I didn't want to take it all down. So I found our old calendar and put that one up for them instead and they love it!
The kids also just love the way every thing looks all lit up. They HAVE to take turns plugging the lights in too. So far Jonas hasn't been to bad at messing with the tree, but we still have the whole rest of the month don't we! I'm excited for all the lights also, it' been a long time since we have taken the kids to see the temple lights and we're definitely going this year. I can't wait!
As a mother I have been trying to instill good habits in my kids. Trying to do family prayer and scripture study. I have to admit that I’ve slacked on the scripture study, with Jody’s work schedule it’s been pretty scarce. I do make sure we have the night time family prayer and I’ve also been having my kids say their personal prayers before they go to bed. Sometimes I don’t have to even mention it and they will say their prayers on their own. And it’s so cute the things they say!
A couple of weeks ago Danielle Lila came home from Activity Days with a vinyl sticker that says “Don’t go to bed without your PJS”. It came along with a story and in the story a girl was going through some hard times. A young women leader of hers had told her “The solution to your problem is: “Don’t go to bed without your PJS.” Which means, Prayers, Journal and Scriptures. So Danielle Lila has decided to do the PJS thing and every night she says her prayers. Most nights she writes in her journal and reads her scriptures, it’s short but the habit is started. Of course the boys are too little to write in journals but they do say their prayers and I’m going to work harder on the scripture reading.
I tell you they are still a lot better at this stuff than I am. I just have never been good at setting this habit for myself, I don’t know why. I need to kick it up a notch though. If my kids can do it I should be able to! And I want to try to get going on the journal as well, once upon time I was good at that. I think I have two full journals somewhere. Anyways, we’ll just see how it goes!
So I had a really good day yesterday. After getting the kids ready for school, it was picture day, and sending them off. After cleaning the house and getting the other two kids and myself ready, my most wonderful husband took over and I went to my cousin Tina’s to do some crafting. I was so excited, especially because I’ve had to cancel and reschedule a few times. We had a good time!
Now Tina and I have started a few projects and not finished or haven’t started because of the time needed. It’s funny because she pulled out one that we thought would take awhile and it only took about five minutes to finish! And although all my time was devoted to the Halloween banner that I started last year, I still did not get it done. It is still a work in progress. Tina did get two projects done so that is good.
Later that night I was able to go to Relief Society where we had a lesson on breakfast foods, more crafting and then the actual “soul food”. It was great, you know the stuff “you” always need to hear. So I thought that I would share a few things that stuck out to me. We learned that when a person has a grateful heart, another person is able to actually able to feel of it as far as twelve feet away. Now once that heart is felt it is then synchronized and how much good is felt by that, and what an impact we can have on each other! A great scripture that was shared was Alma 41:14-15 “For that which ye do send out shall return unto you again….” I really liked this scripture and I do think that it is important that we do send out “Good Stuff”. Being a mother, I know that the things that I send out WILL have an impact on my family! Right now I am trying very hard to overcome some of my faults that I think will help with what I do send out. I am trying to be a more positive person, to speak a little kinder, and working on my housekeeping skills. Let’s just say some days are better than others.
It was a great night. And to top it all off I came home to a clean house (the smell of freshly moped kitchen floor), the kids in bed and laundry done! My husband is the best! Is it strange that these type of things can oddly put me in “the mood”? Well it does, he knows it and it works out for both of us! (will I get in trouble for this part on my blog?)
Oh and here is the “finished” product of the craft that I started at church. We learned how to make rolled flowers. I made two of the flowers at church and turned them into this great necklace with stuff that I had from home. It was a lot of fun and I love it!
August 23rd was Tytus and Danielle Lila's first day of school this year. It was also their first day at Freedom Elementary. They are actually excited to be going back to school and to be there with the kids in their neighborhood and church.
Tytus is now in First grade, all day yay! There are a few things that a First grader has to get used to, like the long hours. He came home that day and said "it was kind of different from Kindergarten, we didn't get a snack when we went out for recess and we stayed longer". There is also school lunch. This will be a fun one to see because Tytus is a very picky eater. We told him that this will be the time when he has to start eating new things, and if you don't YOU WILL BE HUNGRY for the rest of the day! I think he's done pretty good so far, there's only been one day when he's said he only had a cookie and some milk. I don't know what he's thinking, I used to love school lunch. (Maybe I should go to lunch one day!) 
Handsome Boy 
Danielle Lila is now in the Third Grade, such a big girl! Of course she's used to the whole school schedule, that includes violin before school also. She didn't have anyone she already knew in her class but she's already making new friends and loving it and she abolutley loves her teacher, that's a plus! 
Beautiful Girl
My sweet "Sweet Pea" celebrated her 8th birthday on June 12th and we were lucky to have some family in town. Her cousins Daesha, Elijah, Dominic, and Ammron. We had a lot of fun and I just wanted to write this blog to tell her how much I lover her. She is a sweet and fun loving girl, she is always happy and excited and fun to be around. She loves playing with her brothers and friends. She has been playing the violin and is doing very good at it.
Daesha and Danielle Lila's butterfly pizza
