Great Family Home Evening resources!

     For those that don't know, I am a member of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints:-)  We have a wonderful program that our church has had for many years called Family home evening.  We set a side a night every week free of schedules and and spend it together as a  family (Monday night works best for us).  We have a short lesson that has a gospel message and then we have a treat and do a fun activity together.
     I have discovered a couple of really great resources lately that have been working great for our F.H.E. lessons.

 First is the new Gospel Principles manual put out by our church this year.  It is a perfect resource to teach our families the basics of the Gospel. I feel like our lessons have been more meaningful since we started using this manual as a resource.  If you want one of these and don't have one you can order one here.

http://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10151&productId=14701&langId=-1&cg1=13710&cg2=13711&cg3=&cg4=&cg5=&sortId=3&sortOr=1&retURLtext=Back%20to%20'Books%20and%20Manuals'&retURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ldscatalog.com%2Fwebapp%2Fwcs%2Fstores%2Fservlet%2FCategoryDisplay%3FcatalogId%3D10151%26amp%3BstoreId%3D10151%26amp%3BcategoryId%3D13711%26amp%3BlangId%3D-1%26amp%3Bcg1%3D13710%26amp%3Bcg2%3D%26amp%3Bcg3%3D%26amp%3Bcg4%3D%26amp%3Bcg5%3D%26pageId%3D1%26pageCt%3D15%26sortId%3D3%26sortOr%3D1  Wow! that is a big link!

Second there is a great resource on Sugardoodle.net.  A lady named Angie put a lot of hard work into making Family Home Evening lessons that go along with the monthly Primary themes this year ( Primary is what we call the Childrens Sunday School  time at my church). Here is the link to get those lessons.

http://www.sugardoodle.info/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5512%3A2010-family-home-evening-lessons&catid=4492&Itemid=200001

Don't eat Pete!

Hey all this is Michelle!  
I had some fun over the weekend making a couple of "Don't eat Pete" game boards with my digital scrapbooking program. I had lost my old game board and never thought it was cute enough anyway.  And have wanted to make a new one for a long time.

 My kids thought this first one was weird because there are girl pictures on it and Pete is not a girl name, but I could not find enough cute clip art of  boys  faces so thus there are girls too, but I thought it would be fun for a class room setting that has girls and boys:-)

This second one was a last minute one after the kids made a stink about how impossible it was to have girls be named Pete.  So this is was the result.  I think it turned out cute!

For anyone who does not know what "Don't eat Pete" is it is a game where one kid/person goes out of the room and the rest of the group decides which picture is going to be Pete.  You lay a piece of candy (generally m&m's or skittles). on each picture.  You call the person singled out to come back into the room.  They start picking up candies one at a time (usually eating them as they go) then when they start to pick up the candy on the picture that was previously chosen by the group everyone yells to the top of their lungs "DON'T EAT PETE!"  The person picking up the candy usually jumps about 10 feet in the air and everyone has a laugh and a new person is chosen to go outside the room.  It is a simple game yet kids love it and would play it all day if you let them!  I am sure the candy has nothing to do with it :-)

I would suggest you print this out on card stock or as a photo and then laminate it.  I love my Scotch brand Laminator.  You can get one at Sams Club for $25.00!
I have to admit I have not printed one out yet so I don't know how they will print out especially as a photo so make sure you preview it in case part of it gets cut off.

Updated picture

I'm realizing that I haven't been very good about sharing updated photos of my little family with you, Michelle, because all of the pictures showing up on here are several years old. Even though I love them and they bring back some wonderful memories, I thought I would post a more updated picture of me and mine. I'm happy to say I no longer have anyone in diapers after 12 long years of changing diapers every day! I loved having my babies, but I'm really enjoying them a little older as well. It's just a new phase for our family that I'm liking. This picture was taken this past fall in the Smokey Mountains.

 

Happy Sunday!

HELLO!

Wow, I feel honored that Michelle would want me to be a part of her blog!! I feel like I get most of my craft ideas from her and sooo wish we lived closer together so we could craft in person, but I guess this is the next best thing!

To introduce myself a little, I am the happy and contented wife to one really amazing guy! He makes my heart sing (most of the time :)) and I'm so glad we found each other 15 years ago! I'm also the proud mama if 4 really great kids (one of which just got a part in his first play. Yea!!). I love being a stay at home mom and even though I struggle with accomplishing everything I'd like to in a day, I enjoy the time I get to spend with my family. I also love to craft and am happy to say that my daughter has been bitten by the bug as well. We have a lot of fun doing things together. I enjoy creating things and saving money while I do it. My husband AND I spent 13 1/2 years of our marriage in school (he finally got a real job last summer, thank goodness!) and I had to get creative when it came to home decor and gifts. And, even though our money isn't as tight as it used to be, I still can't bring myself to buy things that I know I can make. It's just way too fun to make it myself and be able to say, "Yes, I made that." I enjoy browsing my favorite blogs and finding all the great ideas out there so I can make them, too!

Anyway, enough about me. I thought I would post a little something I have made recently, especially since Michelle hasn't seen it yet. I made this at Christmas time, but didn't finish it in time to use this year. I'm excited to be able to use it next year, however.





The idea is that you will read a scripture a day about Christ's life, starting with his sacrifice and going backward through his life until, on the last day, you read about his birth. After you read the scripture for the day, you flip the ornament over and most of them show a picture or say a word that has to do with that scripture. By Christmas day you will have a beautifully decorated tree and feel a little closer to the Savior. I'm always looking for ways to bring Christ front and center during the Christmas season and I love advent calendars. This was the perfect blend!

The pattern can be found athttp://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/featured-products/CHRISTmas-Tree-Advent-Calendar.htm 

I used scrapbook paper instead of the cardstock it asks for in the pattern, however. I thought it would make it a little more decorative. I was happy with the way it turned out!

My sister Paula

I have been inspired by other blogs that have other sisters and friends contribute to a blog together. 
And so I asked my sister Paula (who I love to craft with) if she would like to join in on Bug a boo corner with me!
I am so excited to have her on board soon to share some of her creative crafty ideas with you!
And I think it will be fun to stay more connected with her since she is far away  in Tennessee and I am in Utah. It will be the next best thing to crafting with her personally!

Us in High School :-)

Paula and her beautiful family!

So keep your eye out for future posts from her!

Shannon Hale book signing

My girls and I had fun on Saturday at a local book store called "The Purple Cow". They were having a book signing with the Shannon Hale  (One of our favorite authors).  Her Husband Dean Hale and Nathan Hale ( The illustrator) were there also. They were introducing their new Book "Calamity Jack" Which is a sequal to "Rapunzels Revenge" (Graphic Novels for kids).  It was so nice meeting her!   She was so nice and seems so down to earth.  Shannon and Dean were about an hour late because they were mixed up on the time,  but we were able to be entertained in the mean time by Nathan Hale the Illustrator of the book.  He drew a couple crazy monsters on a big poster board and let the audience help him decide what the features should be.  He is an incredible artist! It took him two years to do all the illustrations for "Calmity Jack". Here is a little comic strip I noticed On his blog this morning of his trip out to Tooele for the book signing.  So funny! http://spacestationnathan.blogspot.com/2010/01/calamity-jack-2.html

Shannon was kind to let me take a picture of her with my girls.  Check out her Rapunzel wig made of yarn !
If you have not read any of Shannon Hales books yet you will love them!   My favorites are "Goose Girl", "Book Of A Thousand Days", "Princess Academy" and these graphic novels "Rapunzles Revenge" and "Calamity Jack".  Here is a link to Shannons website http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html
By the way Paula your signed book is all ready to be sent out in the mail tomorrow!

PBS Masterpiece Classics

I am in love with the Cassics like Jane Austin, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell etc.  It seems like British Authors have some of the most interesting stories to share.

For part of the year PBS shows movies of these wonderful Masterpiece Classics  on Sunday nights at 7:00 pm or is it 8:00 pm I forget because I have my DVR set to record automatically. Tonight they are showing the 2nd half of "Return to Cranford" which is a sequal to  "Crandford" A book written by Elizabeth Gaskull which I just love!  Then next week will be a new version of "Emma"  I already love the Gwyneth Paltrow and the A&E versions so it will be interesting to see a new one.   Here is a link to the PBS site http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/