FHE

We had a lovely family night.....I'm exhausted though! 
we started when we got home from school with a snack and an episode of 'veggie tales' from youtube.  Then we iced Belgium bun that i had previously baked:

We got all sticky!  the kids loved it. 
We then had a lesson on 'what we look after'. 
After dinner we fed the chicken a special FHE 'mixture'.  (Joseph is very into making mixtures,collections and potions).  And then we went to the Duck Pond to feed the ducks and collect conkers. 
Then it was home for a bath.  We put food colouring in the bath to make it more fun.  Then we went into our normal bed time routine.  A great night!





 

Family Home Evening

I have always known that our prophets have been inspired to direct us to set aside one night a week as family night (usually Monday nights as no church meetings are held on this day).  About a year ago I made the mistake of booking my sons swimming lessons on Mondays.  I rationalised it, thinking that because it was only half an hour long it wouldn't effect family night.  But it has.  SO....A family night revolution is about to happen in this house!!  I've booked the swimming lessons for another night now.
I'm really excited about doing proper family nights from now on.  My mind has loads of ideas floating around just waiting to be put to into action!  I'm really determined that the whole evening will be family night, from the minute we get through the door, including dinner and bath time all the way up to bedtime. 
I know I could be setting myself up for a disaster!  High expectations are often the first step to disappointment, but I'm not discouraged....just hopeful!
So watch this space!  I'll blog on Monday night after the kids are asleep.  Will it be great, or disastrous?!!



Food storage

we had been using our food storage without replenishing it....until today!  It feels so good to be getting back on track! 

Still short on a few things but we are getting there! we've certainly got enough beans though!!

Consequences

My little man nearly hung himself yesterday morning!  I  acted quickly (as any mummy would) to free him.  We held each other tight as he cried.  At this point the circumstances of this accident ran through my mind and I realised just how close this had been and just how blessed we had been. 
It is so true that our smallest actions sometimes have the largest consequences.
The night before this happened I was so tired, so so tired! but I had a nagging feeling that I needed to clean the house.  It was already late and I sat on the sofa wrestling with myself, trying to get the energy to get up and clean....no I just couldn't do it, it would have to wait until tomorrow.  So I went up to bed.  Lying in bed I realised I hadn't read my scriptures yet, so I grabbed the bible and read a few passages from the psalms.  The passages I read happened to be about keeping the sabbath day holy!  "okay" I thought "I get the message"! So I prayed for the energy I would need to clean the kitchen so that I wouldn't have to do that work on the sabbath.  I trudged back down stairs but once I got to work I forgot all my tiredness and kept cleaning right up until midnight!  downstairs sparkled!
This may not seem to have anything to do with the accident but here's the link:  Usually on a Sunday morning I am running around frantically trying to get everything together.  Kids dressed and fed, snacks and bags to keep them occupied during church, lesson books and resources.....  On a Sunday morning I rush about only really paying attention to the little ones if they are crying or arguing! If they are quiet I assume they are playing nicely (dangerous assumption)!  I usually run a brush through Little Princesses hair as we are on the run (or even once we pull up in the car park at church).  Yesterday was different, it was peaceful, clean and calm (the way a Sunday morning should be)!  I was able to take time with the children, no rushing, no stress.  Everything was prepared.  I sat in Little Princesses room on her bed casually brushing her hair as she chose which hair band she would like.  Little man was in my peripheral vision on the window sill (we have very low window sills).  I became aware that he had stepped off the window sill but had not reached the floor!  I turned to look directly at him only to find his face bright red (it had only been 1-2 seconds)!  Before stepping off the window sill Little man had put the roller blind cord around his neck! There he hung, unable to make a sound because the cord was so tight!  Had I not been in the room there would have been nothing to alert me about what was happening!
I am so grateful for that verse of scripture the night before that motivated me enough to clean.  I'm so thankful for the energy the Lord gave me to clean so thoroughly so that I would not be too busy the next morning.  I am so Grateful to know the Lord watches over our little ones and that I was in the right place at the right time yesterday morning.
Needless to say, the roller blond cord has been cut! 

The power of music

I’ve been thinking about writing a blog about the powerful effects of music for a while now.

I haven’t really listened to much music since I was a teenager. I don’t know why but it hasn’t interested me much since then, until now.

Five years ago I was suffering with postnatal depression. I received a priesthood blessing which specifically told me to seek good music and hymns. Foolishly I didn’t. The Lord is so wise and I now believe that seeking such music may have helped shorten or ease my depression.

Reading in 1st Samuel 16 (in the Old testament) King Saul is troubled by an evil spirit (not sent from the Lord). His servants suggest he uses music to help him. King Saul seeks the best musician and his music helps to sooth his soul.

It turns out that when King George of England was having memory trouble he also read this passage of scripture. As a result he Commissioned Handel to write music specifically to help him with his memory. This is why George Frideric Handel wrote his water music

From what I’ve been reading
on music and the brain, if students use this sort of music as background music whilst they are studying for exams they can improve their grade by as much as 8%. Music used in one of the experiments I read was Mozart's SONATA for TWO PIANOS It's really beautiful!

It’s not that the music makes students learn any better but that the music stimulates both hemispheres of the brain. So if a student is studying maths this stimulates the left hemisphere of the brain. If they are simultaneously listening to Handels water music the right hemisphere is also stimulated (the artistic imaginative side). So the student will make connections between the two - maybe an equation will become associated with a melody or image. This means when they need to recall a piece of information there are more and stronger connections and associations for them to draw on which makes the required information more accessible.

I also found out that Thomas Jefferson used music to help him write the declaration of independence and Albert Einstein played the violin to help him think through problems!
Besides all this the scriptures tell us that:

“For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.” D&C 25:12

I’ve included a few links in this blog to beautiful and inspiring music. If you know any particularly beautiful or inspiring pieces of music please leave a link in the comments box. Thank you. xxx


My favorite violinist is Andre Rieu he is soooo amazing.

I also really enjoy this particular rendition of Rhapsody in Blue.

Pizza with Grandma!

Grandma got creative over the summer and made homemade pizza with the children.

This is an activity that brings joy (and mess) every time!
It's also a fab way of getting the little ones to eat their dinner. That makes mummy very happy!

Footprints

1 Peter 2:21

"...That ye should follow His steps"

I had some left over tiles that have been sitting in the garden for months, so we decided to put them to creative use!

The best part of this activity was brushing the paint brush on little legend No. 1, I didnt realise how ticklish he is!! 
I tried loads of different paint and practiced with each one on paper first, but none of them seemed very vibrant.  Can anyone recommend a good paint for this activity? (I tried wall paint, poster paint and toll painting acrylics). thank you.