Third Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday to the Sweet Bee!

"The important thing about being Three is being ME.

Who is it that can open their eyes and see? ME!
Who knows the difference between a pig and a tree? ME!
Who runs around as busy as a bee? ME!
Who is funny and not a bunny? ME!

But the important thing about being Three is being ME."

Taken from Another Important Book, by Margaret Wise Brown.

FHE: Follow the Prophet

Scripture of the Week
"What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same."
D&C 1:38

Lesson Plan
(adapted from Lesson 37: Following the Prophet Helps Us Come Unto Christ from this packet on Sugardoodle.net.)

Tell the children that we have a special leader to follow, our prophet. Explain that a prophet is a man who speaks with God—God tells the prophet what we should do. Tell the children that if we follow the prophet, we will be happy and Heavenly Father will bless us. Explain that to follow the prophet means to do the things he tells us to do.

Display the picture of the living prophet. Have the children stand and say, “(Name of the living prophet) is a prophet of God.”

Why do we need a living prophet? (So we can know what Heavenly Father and Jesus want us to do.)

Explain that the prophet teaches us by speaking at conferences. Conferences are big meetings attended by a lot of people. We might be able to listen to the prophet on television, radio, or recordings. His words are also written in Church magazines that our parents or others can read to us.

Activity
Watch President Monson's most recent General Conference address, The Divine Gift of Gratitude. The children can color a picture of President Monson while watching the video clip.

Follow the Prophet is one of our new family habits to go along with Pray Always, Hands are for Hugging, not Hurting, and Quickly Obey.

"Let all children know who they are, what they are to do, and who they can become."

"Are we teaching our children to know, feel, and rejoice in the beauty, power, and miracles of the gospel of Jesus Christ? President Gordon B. Hinckley has counseled: "Let us nurture our children concerning Him whom we call the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us teach our children the grand saving principles of the gospel." Children need to know that having faith in the Savior and following Him will help them receive peace in this troubled world.

"How do we teach our children? We can follow the example of the Savior. In the Book of Mormon we read of the resurrected Savior's appearance to those in the Western Hemisphere. While teaching the people, He gathered the children to Him. He knelt and prayed with the children and for them. He blessed the children one by one. He felt the joy of their presence and opened the heavens that the children might be taught from on high.

"As you include children at your family dinner table, as you involve them in daily family prayer and scripture study and in family home evening, you are following the example of the Savior by loving and teaching them. As you do this, let them know that together your family is striving to keep the commandments and to be worthy to be an eternal family. It may be during the informal one-on-one times that the Spirit will prompt us to ask just the right questions or to say just the right thing to help our children know and feel the light of the Lord. If we make the opportunities, the Spirit will guide us.

"We have wonderful, capable children in our midst. We can help them find peace in this life and in the life to come.

"Children need to be filled with the light of the gospel so when temptation comes they can say: "I know who I am. I am a child of God. I know what I am to do. I am to be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and keep the commandments." Then children can say: "I know who I can become. I can become a righteous young woman," or, "I can become a righteous young man and receive the priesthood of God." Children filled with this knowledge and light can make the decision to reject darkness and turn to the light and peace of the gospel.

"It will take time and effort to teach children, but we must not become distracted or give up. Our children so need the fulfillment of the promise "and great shall be the peace of thy children." Let no child wonder if he or she is loved by Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Let all children know who they are, what they are to do, and who they can become."

Coleen K. Menlove, “All Thy Children Shall Be Taught,” Ensign, May 2005, 13

Glowing Faces in a Jar (and other Halloween Fun)

Last year, my Halloween Project To-Do List included making glowing jacks from Not So Idle Hands. It didn't happen last year, but the girls and I had fun making them last week.
Supplies
glass jars
tissue paper
mod podge
black spray paint
Halloween face template (found here)

You can find the detailed tutorial here, but it's pretty simple. Cut your tissue paper into strips, apply mod podge to the jar, attach the strips, then attach the faces.

You can be pretty creative with these. I didn't have any orange paper for the traditional pumpkin look, so we used green, white and yellow for a more monster/ghost/creature theme. I just printed the faces off on regular white paper and regular black printer ink, but once the mod podge was applied they looked pretty good. I chose to spray paint the lids black for the finishing touch, but you could do green for pumpkins, or add some ribbon or tulle.

Don't forget the candles for the finishing touch! (Actually, I bought a cheap pack of the little tea-lights that you can turn on and off, so I don't have to worry about flames and little people).
Here are a few other seasonal Halloween activities I plan to try this year:

Monsters! Monster shapes from Little Page Turners
Bottle Cap Spiders from Silly Eagle Books
Building a Skeleton from Chasing Cheerios
Marshmallow Ghost from No Time for Flashcards
Festive Silhouettes from Serving Pink Lemonade

Here is a link to the fun Halloween projects we did last year.

As is our habit, we're reading books!

Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White

10 Trick-or-Treaters by Janet Schulman

What Halloween fun do you have planned?

FHE: Pray Always

Scripture of the Week
"...ye must pray always, and not faint."
2 Nephi 32:9

Lesson Plan
Follow the lesson plan Prayer from A Year of FHE. This lesson covered exactly what I wanted to cover and teach my children about prayer, so I didn't have to make any adaptations. The Sweet Bee colored the 4 Parts of Prayer poster, and the Ant Bug did the maze and colored the pictures.

Pray Always is one of our new family habits, to go along with Hands are for Hugging, not Hurting and Quickly Obey.

(I promise I'll talk more about these family habits soon! I'm just giving you a little teaser now, but let it be known that I am very excited about our family habits plan and the direction they are giving to our family.)

Bring your children to know the Savior

"We have the account in 3 Nephi of a people who actually saw the face of the Savior in this life. And while we may not see Him now, perhaps we can learn from their experience. After the Savior’s death, He appeared to these people, taught them, and blessed them. And then “it came to pass that he commanded that their little children should be brought” (3 Nephi 17:11).

"It is our sacred responsibility as parents and leaders of this rising generation of children to bring them to the Savior so that they might see His face and the face of our Father in Heaven as well. As we do so, we also bring ourselves.

"Now, I would ask you to look around you at those you love. This is what matters most—our families. I am sure that more than anything, you want this family to be yours eternally. The account in 3 Nephi can help us bring our children to Him because it gives us a pattern to follow. First, we must love the Lord with all our hearts, and we must love our children. Second, we must become a worthy example to them by continually seeking the Lord and striving to live the gospel. Third, we must teach our children the gospel and how to live its teachings.

"Brothers and sisters, we are the angels that Heavenly Father has sent today to bless the children, and we can help them to one day see the face of the Savior as we teach the principles of the gospel and fill our homes with the joy of living them. Together we can come to know Him. We can feel of His love and His blessings. And through Him we can return to the presence of the Father. We do this as we are willing to be obedient, faithful, and diligent in following His teachings.

Cheryl C. Lant, “That Our Children Might See the Face of the Savior,” Ensign, May 2010, 81–83

Princess Hyacinth: A floating book review

At the library a few weeks ago, this book caught my eye.Princess Hyacinth: The surprising tale of a girl who floated by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Lane Smith

Since my girls love everything princess-like (and fancy and fairies and cats and...) I picked it up for a closer look. The inside cover reads

"Poor Princess Hyacinth! If only she could run and play with the other children on the Palace Grounds. Why can't she, you wonder? Well, because Princess Hyachinth has a problem...She floats!"

A floating princess? I was hooked, and my girls have been hooked too! And I don't think this is a book just for girls, but I don't have a boy old enough to try it out on.

This is a delightful story about a not-so-typical princess, a mis-adventure with balloons, a boy name Boy, and of course-floating. There is also a kite, and royal underwear, and fabulously expressive illustrations. It's definitely a keeper on our list.