Family Night 1/19/15 Fog

 Charades

(The Little Mermaid)

We started our Family Night singing "Nearer My God To Thee"  played by me. :)  I asked Shadrach to take a picture.  So while I was playing he took around 7 pictures.  Trying to play the piano with the flash of a camera going off several times is hard.  It is like a strobe light at German Disco. 

Daddy gave the lesson on Having a Vision ( as in a goal).  He told the story of a women who was trying to be the first women to swim the English Channel.  I forget her name.  I just googled it.  Florence Chadwick .   (You have to love Google.)  We talked about all the obstacles she would face.  Cold water, jelly fish, endurance, sharks, big waves etc...  She stop 1/2 mile away from her goal.  And the reason why she stop was not because any of the reasons above.  She stopped because she couldn't see her goal because it was foggy out.  If she would have seen the land, she would have had enough in her to push through until the end.  We talked about always having a goal with the end in mind so you can have a vision on what you are working so hard for.  Shadrach had just started taking piano lessons that day.  So we talked about what his goal was.  Play for 2 years then quiet?  Play well enough to play at church and serve others?  Practice long and hard enough to do more?

Liam had a little bit of energy.

When he gets tired, he just goes faster. 

He needed a little reminder to sit still.

We played charades as our game.  Disney movies was our theme. 

Ali was acting out Frozen here.

S'more cupcakes was our dessert.

 

UMMMM Ummmm. 

Graham Cracker crust. 

Thick chocolate cup cake with a squirt of marshmallow in the middle.    

Everyone had two :)

Liam

Do you remember Liam being that little energetic boy who got into a lot of mischief and screamed a lot?   That little boy is a faint memory in my mind.  Oh how time changes things.  He is now my big boy who goes to school and loves it and also just became a Sunbeam!   He is always smiling and loves to help.

Letters are hard for Liam.  We are still working on recognizing just the basic letters in his name.  Sometimes we make it fun.  Like with pancakes.

Liam went out on a outing with daddy to stake n' shake.  He got a birthday cake shake.  He liked the cherry that was in it.

He also helped daddy pick up a few things at walmart. ;)

Liam is the BEST big brother.  He LOVES Andrew.  He always plays with him and makes him smile when he is sad.   Believe it or not he is the sibling that I can always count on to get me something for Andrew or to cheer him up if I am busy.

Liam is so excited that we just moved Andrew's crib into his room.  They will now be roommates.

I never thought I would have kids that were closer than Ali and Shadrach are, but I think the love that Liam and Andrew have for each other might give them a run for their money.

Family Night 1/12/15 Dixit at home ( Yes again)

We had hopes in going out to Golden Corral ( our kids favorite place in the world) but the day didn't end up with enough time to do that.  I was just too tired.  So I whipped up a quick dinner, and we had a lesson around the dinner table.  ( not the table in these pictures)

 The lesson was on charity given again by Greg.  We had a lesson on charity at church.  It was a good lesson but I only got to hear 10 min. of it because I was in the mother's lounge with a fussy baby. ( very typical)  I enjoyed Greg's recap of the lesson.  He told the story of Ezra Taft Benson being called to serve a mission and leaving his wife and SEVEN children.  OY!  Remind me not to complain when Greg has to go to church early for meetings, and I have to get all five of mine ready by myself.  

 He read from Moroni chapter 7.

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail— 

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him. 

We talked about all the words and what they meant: suffereth long, envieth not, not puffed up, etc...

 Then we went to the great room and sang I am a Child of God with our NEW PIANO!  It has been a small dream of mine to play the piano for our songs for family night, and now it has come true.  Next time I will get pictures of it.

 Brownies for dessert this time.  Enoch was SO happy is was a dessert he liked.

 Then we played Dixit!  This time to 30 points.  Greg and Liam ended up winning

THEN on Tuesday it worked out that we could go to Golden Corral.  There was much rejoicing.  We don't go out to eat often.  It just cost too much money, and it isn't that relaxing for the parents. :)  The kids are always well behaved though and for that I am thankful.  I think all of the kids had 3 desserts with cotton candy, the chocolate fountain, and ice cream being the favorites.  

Family Night 1/5/2015

Today was the first day back to school after Christmas break.  Everyone had wonderful days, but by the time family night came around, some people were tired.  

We did our lesson during dinner to try to speed things up.  Liam is often in bed by 6:30 now that he doesn't take a nap, and Enoch follows soon after at 7:00.  

Daddy gave the lesson.  It was on Drive.  He is reading a book called Drive and told the kids about how important it is to work hard at something you enjoy.

We sang scripture power for our song, and Shadrach gave the opening prayer.  He was very thoughtful.  We played Dixit for our game.  We love Dixit because you don't need to know how to read to play.  I love Dixit because I can often say things that are over the kids' heads and only Greg knows causing me to get a lot of points.  :)

Since people were tired, we only played to 15 points which made the happy people sad. :)

Liam loved the dessert.  Vanilla pudding mixed with cool whip over an Oreo cookie crust.  But not real oreos of coarse.  Aldi oreos.  I love Aldi. 

 Enoch was very disappointed that it was not his favorite dessert.   He had to leave for a while to cry upstairs.  He came back though to finish the game.

 Mom and Liam teamed up to play and turned out to be the winners.  

 Andrew didn't get any pudding dessert.  I am pretty sure he is allergic to milk but I am not ready yet to really check it out.  We will wait until he is 1 and hope by then that he has out grown it.  He instead got a baby granola bar all over him.