General Conference Ideas or Sacrament mtg

This is an idea posted on our ward blog if you all are interested! Ü


General Conference Idea and others...
I thought I would post this to give some ideas for reverent Conference, Sacrament meeting, and Sunday activities at home. Some of you might want to scrounge up a pile of your old Friend magazines and pull this together for General Conference.

I have found that The Friend usually has two activity pages in each issue. (This does not include the coloring page in each one.) I have been tearing them out and laminating them for my children when we are done reading them. Put the backs together so that you only need one laminating sheet per two activity pages. (There are inexpensive laminators at Wal - Mart that do the job just great!) Use thin, washable dry erase markers for them so they can be used over and over again. However, sometimes the dry erase markers stain if left on too long. So just have your kids wipe them as they go. Then you shouldn't have any problems. Hole punch it and throw in into a "Reverent Activities" notebook.

After you start collecting them, they'll add up quickly and you'll fill your notebook.

... I also like to cut the last page out of the Friend (and Ensign and New Era...) when we are done reading it, back it with pretty card stock, and laminate it. I love all of the children's gospel artwork. Then have a designated spot where it can be displayed until you replace it with the next month's picture. I sit mine on a side table held up by a pretty "plate" stand. Then store the old one and use it for lessons and activities for later.

Early Risers

So, I have a couple early risers and, well, I am not an early riser. My husband leaves for work at 6:30am and my son is usually up around then, or a before, followed by my two daughters.

So, this summer I have tried something new and it has been great. Each night before I go to bed, I leave out homework that they can work on at the kitchen table. Handwriting practice, preschool worksheets, math worksheets, and books from the library for the summer reading program.

The rule is, no television before I wake up or before the school work is done. (They really like to watch a couple morning cartoons so they are really motivated in the morning.)

This system has worked great. It is the first thing, they have calm and quiet, we get it done so we can focus on other things the rest of the day, and it gives me the opportunity to sleep until 7:00. :) We still have homework time during my two-year-old's nap, a.k.a. quiet time, but this gives them a jump start on what I want them thinking about and working on.

My son needs extra handwriting practice so he is doing one journal page a day for me. I got a book with the handwriting lines and he writes a couple sentences and draws a picture. Today he wrote: "I want to go to the gym. I like going down the slide." And drew a picture of him sliding down the slide at the gym we exercise at. I am excited to soon have a whole book of his little journal entries and pictures and it gives him practice with his handwriting and coloring.

Anyway....just a couple fun thoughts.

Joy School

Any of you girlies not planning on using your Joy School stuff that you did during school? I would love to buy it from someone! I need to keep Connor entertained while Macey goes to kindergarten in the fall!

Made me laugh

As I spend far too much time browsing through home decorating magazines and blogs I found this blog called Catalog Living. The writer basically take an overly-styled room in a catalog and imagines what strange conversations must surround each beautiful but not-so-logical scene. It made me laugh!

Here is my favorite...anyone know what catalog this came from?

All the Comforts of Home

We’re so happy you could visit! The room’s all made up for you, and I ripped out some pages of my favorite book and taped them to your wall in case you’re like me and enjoy reading before bed.

Journals

So I just started doing this and maybe you awesome moms already do this, but I really love it and I think it will be a great gift to my kids some day....

I decided I would buy three journals--one for each kid--and I put them by my bed. At night before I go to bed I write in them--well, not every night yet--but I write in them about my kids that day. Things they did, we did, things they said and what I am concerned about or working on improving at the time.

I don't always write long entries, but even a paragraph is something especially if you keep it up over time.

Anyway, I thought I would share this idea because of how much I enjoy doing it. I used to Blog quite a bit of the details about my kids, but I don't really do that as much anymore--I don't want that information on the Internet, for one, and two, I don't want to bore everyone, and three, some of my information just seems too private to share sometimes, but anyway just an idea for you all!

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to some of my favorite Mommies! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
Thanks for being such great examples to me!
love
sheri

Mom's Wheat Bread

Okay I just thought I'd share this yummy and easy as pie recipe with you all. It is my new favorite. Well.....it's been a favorite since my mom made it all the time. I have made it the last two Fridays and my boys love it! Hope you do too!

Whole Wheat Bread
12 C. flour
5 C. hot water
2/3 C. oil
2/3 C. honey
2 T. salt
2 T. yeast (heaping) or 2 pkg

Put water in Bosch and add 7 cups flour. Mix for 1 to 2 min. Add oil, honey, and salt. Mix 1 to 2 min. Mix yeast with remaining flour. Add to mixture in Bosch. Knead for 10 min. Add more flour if not coming away from walls. Too thick add warm water. Turn out on oiled counter. Put in cold oven at 350 for 30 min.. Makes 4 loaves. If bread sounds hollow when tapping the tops—done. Grease the tops.

Yummy!