FHE Lesson on Christ Birth

So we had our Family Home Evening lesson on Christ's birth. The other day Taylor seen that I had put out one of my little manger scenes...It is block people that my mom had gotten me awhile back. She asked who they were. I felt HORRIBLE and also thought in my mind of course what the heck child you know that is baby jesus..LOL Well, I came back to reality and explained to her again who it was and that sparked me to do a FHE lesson on Christ's birth. I figure since I don't have our Navitity scene up all year round and she only sees Jesus as a man in pictures that is why she was unsure.



I battled my mind in what I could do to make the story of Christ's birth in the form a 6year old would understand and also be able to remember and have it stick in her mind better. As luck would have it our Ensign and Friend arrived today in the mail. I always go through the Friend and find the CTR ring before Taylor gets ahold of it so I can better help her and give her clues when she is reading it...(if you know my daughter she gets easily upset and frustrated when she is doing something that requires a lot of thinking or looking) So I try to minimize the fits and attitude by knowing where it is first. So I was looking and I came across the story of Christ Birth as well as the First Presidency message...and a cute little activity of Angel Gifts for Jesus.



I cut out Angels and read Christ's Birth and Mark and I shared more in deepth of the story and we shared that celebrating Jesus' birth was like celebrating our birthdays but different in the way we don't buy him anything we give by how we act and what we do. So we could give our gifts in the form of telling him what we would do for him and write it down on the angel. We had a blast, one of mine was working on patience and boy was I tested on that tonight cause toward the middle of it all. Blake had a melt down cause he wanted to eat the crayons, and kept whining and crying. Taylor got upset and attitude cause she wasn't knowing how to spell certain words so she would whine and throw an attitude. BOY WAS I OVER IT by then..lol I told Mark man I really do need to work on my patience. We laughed. So Long story short, while Blake threw his tantrum and Taylor finished her angels I worked on a X-mas tree and presents for us to hang on the wall..with our angels. I think it came out cute.. The story for the angel gifts had them put them on the primary x-mas tree but I thought if I taped them to the wall we would see them better and be reminded of what we wrote.



Besides the meltdowns and my patience reaching the breaking point. My lovely husband came to the rescue and saved the evening w/his PATIENCE (he has A LOT) and put blake to sleep and I had taylor go to bed after our family prayer. We aren't very good w/consistencly (sp) w/FHE and I am trying to work on it. Brother Bednars talk I believe when he spoke about his family and all the issues they had w/kids nit picking and it being so crazy that he could say now as they are older that they would remember FHE was consistant. I am hoping I can give that to my children, so I will continue to try and work on my patience and not want to give up so quickly when they act up or seem uninterested. I think I will go to the book store and find FHE lesson for small children and all in 5 mins or less.. LOL Enjoy our pictures...all in all I had a good time and I'm happy we did it and finished!

Thanksgiving Weekend

These are all backwards but oh well, I'm too tired to fix it...lol This was last night while watching the USC game..the kids we're being silly and playing and I thought this was cute after their baths..

My SILLY husband had to be WIDE eyed when I told him to smile right and open his eyes, cause the picture before this one he had his eyes closed...lol I did NOT know he made this look till after I took it...soo silly..we got to go on a date and see NEW MOON...I was so excited, since we have NOT had a date day or DATE for a very long time. We usually have one or both kids w/us...so my second parents offered to watch both kids while we went to see a movie. It was so sweet and we were excited! We had a good time! This was saturday in San Pedro, this is Taylor with her cousin Neveah..she is Dawns little girl. They were in town visiting Dawn's husband's side of the family and we drove down to see them since it had been several months since we last seen them..it was a great visit and I can't wait to see them again for Christmas..

This was Friday when we got into town (Torrance) we had lunch at our favorite mexican resturant La Capilla w/our family...soo much fun and these are the STUDS...Blake is such a mini me of his dad...

This is THANKSGIVING DAY right after us having dinner w/Mark on the ship....Blake has this new thing of throwing himself backwards, being silly and even when he is mad...so Taylor was holding on tight so he wouldn't hurt himself or his noggin....

So we had a great Thanksgiving weekend...it was filled with lots of laughs, stories and just great new memories to share. I love the holidays and being with family. I am looking forward to Christmas to see the rest of the family in Arizona. It will be so much fun and I can't wait!!

BABY MUG SHOT!

I had to share this with everyone....and especially for my family who don't have facebook but get on this page to see what we're up too....So a month ago Taylor's school was doing IDENT A KID it's a ID for children that parents, babysitters, grandparents etc have with the child's picture, and their info as well as who the parents are and home address in the event they are lost or kidnapped you have current info on your child including a finger print or toe print...Well I was excited when they said siblings could join in on this as well. So I took Blake early before school started to have his done. Taylor did hers when her class went.

Well I knew he didn't smile when she took his picture but I didn't think anything of it. Till I got the cards back and Mark and I BUSTED up laughing sooo HARD!!! It looks like a BABY MUG SHOT!!! It is sooo funny!!! I had to share w/everyone...Soo darn cute..I told Mark all it needs is a sign w/numbers and letters under his face then it would be a MUG shot....ha ha ha ha ha Well thought I would share...

49er Fever

Okay, since my husband hardly ever, ever visits this site...I thought I would post pics of the kids that I plan on using for one of his Christmas presents. I ended up taking like 60+ pics and about a dozen of them came out with good smiles, both or individually looking right at me. These are just a few of the ones I took. Mark is a HUGE 49ers fan so I thought this would be a cute way to showcase his love for the niners and for the little ones. I only got a few pics of them together which was REALLY HARD, cause Blake kept wanting to run around and play w/the ball instead of sit still and smile for me..lol

I had to include the stool cause that was the only way Blake would pay attention and sit still long enough for me to take his pic w/his sister. I told Taylor just stand there and smile at me ALL the time till I get a good one..LOL Poor girl, but she did a GREAT job!

Blake just loved the football and would throw it and run around with it. When it was Taylor turn to have the ball he would throw a fit cause he wanted it. It was funny but also really hard.

He is such a peel, and such a BOY!

She looks like a pro! I asked her if she wanted to be a cheerleader and she said "yes" so I said I'll look into it for you. Then she walked away and after a few minutes comes back and says "mom I can't be a cheerleader!" I said "why not" and she said "cause I'm already wanting to be a teacher and a cop, I won't have enough time to be a cheerleader too!" I laughed so hard! I had to tell her I would look into being a cheerleader NOW and she seemed so confused and said "what about school, mom I need to go to school" It was cute, and after explaining it would fit it like when she played soccer then she got it and said "oh, I'm so silly mom" YES SHE IS!

Watch it be my luck that Mark strolls onto this site and takes a look and sees that these pics have to do w/a christmas present for him. LOL Even though he NEVER looks at this at all any other time.. ha ha ha This would be my luck! Well by chance he does HONEY you read too much and you better ACT surprised come Christmas..but I just remembered even if he did see this now, by the time Christmas comes around he will have forgotten..So no sweat! I was showing him things I wanted for Christmas (jewerely) and I seen this ugly one and I said I better not joke about wanting anything that is ugly cause you will totally remember that and Not remember what I really want..and he laughed and said Yeah your probably right! lol My simple husband makes me laugh but I love him.. ;-)

Enjoy the pics, and if anyone has cute gift ideas please pass my way or know of cute websites..crafty etc would be great!

November Pics and Thanks...

So here are some pics from the last week or so....The below is Blake eating apples for the first time and liking them..and he was being silly by showing me them in his mouth...I swear he is such a silly boy! He loves to tease, and be funny!

Last night Mark built a fire and it was Blake's first time seeing one and being near one so he was SOOO SUPER EXCITED when Mark was finished...that he kept watching it and wanting to be near it..

Mark and Blake laying in front of the fireplace relaxing just watching it...Blake just loved watching it and laying by his dad...

Today I told taylor that I wanted to get pics of us so I could our Christmas card this year. So this is my beautiful little girl posing. I can't believe how grown up she is becoming and looking. Getting so big and seems like yesterday she was Blake's age...

Mark and I before church..

Both the kids being super cute!

Another one of them being cute, but it was quick getting their picture..cause Blake was having nothing to do with it all..he just wanted to play with his truck and run around..

This is him after the last pic was takin, he got up and ran away laughing..so daddy had to pick him up so I could get a picture of him by himself...He is such a peel!

Then he decided to play with the rag strips I made last night for Taylor's hair...I think he played with them the longest and had soo much fun..

He wanted his sister in on the fun..

Well Thanksgiving is coming up in 4 days and we will be spending it with Mark aboard his ship since he has duty. We are excited and will be taking lots of pictures. I am happy the joy my kids and husband bring to me and my life. Seeing each one of my children's personalities shine through everyday is so neat to see and lots of joy to my heart. I love watching them interact with one another and I love laughing at how silly they are. My husband is a great joy to my life as well, he keeps me on my toes, always making sure I am takin care of. Eases my worries and fears and just a great support to me. He is handsome, and loving and always has a joke or silly thing to say to make me laugh or smile. I appreciate the hard work he does to provide for our family and the sacrifice he makes everyday to serve our country for our safety and freedom. I want to always remember the joys I have in my life that begin at home, though I'm human and don't always have great days. I hope I can always remember the small things and the many reasons why I'm so blessed. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving this year and I'm grateful to you as my friend and what you mean to me and my life.

Christmas and Decorating?

Okay been awhile since I last blogged. The last 3 weeks we have been so sick, the kids and I each got the H1N1 virus and we're just miserable. Taylor and I got it first, then last week Blake got it. Mark was out to sea when Blake was tested positive for it so he escaped it all and only had a runny nose and cough. So I feel out of the loop of things, and now just barely getting back to a normal schedule we had before.

So Thanksgiving is right around the corner, this month has flown by so quickly. I swear it feels like last weekend was Halloween. (I still have bowls and bowls of candy, not even sure what to do with it all) So Mark has his overnight duty on Thanksgiving and his ship is putting on a fest for the guys and their families. The kids and I will go aboard and have dinner w/him and visit. Which will be nice. The next day we will be going to my in-laws (my ex's parents but I still call them mom and dad) house for the weekend. Mark and them get along so well, and they say he is there adpotive son. :-) It's a great relationship we all have.

Then we will be heading to Arizona for Christmas to spend it with my family. I'm so excited, and will be going up to Mesa to see old friends and take the kids to the temple to see the lights. So much fun and I can't wait.

So tonight as we we're coming back from an errand we seen a few houses that already had some christmas decorations up, and a guy who was starting to hang his on his garage. I asked Mark when does one start to decorate for Christmas? or course he spoke it like a true guy, Steph it's not even Thanksgiving yet?! lol We laughed and I said OKAY well when does one start to decorate. It was followed by a shrugged reply from my lovely husband. So that brings me to my question again in blog world. When does one start to decorate for Christmas? You are probably wondering what the heck, where has this girl been and what has she done the past years?! LOL Okay so my answers to these would be, I have only been married for 2 years to Mark and this is our first time living in a house. We just came from an apartment and I the last two years we we're at families houses celebrating so I was never home to decorate. The previous years, when I was married to my ex we we're always seperated around the holidays so Taylor and I we're at families houses and when I was single taylor and I were at families houses!! LOL So as you can see the pattern is "FAMILIES HOUSES" ha ha ha

This year we will be at my family's house BUT we are going to celebrate with our kids here when we get back and we're not leaving to Arizona till the middle of the month. So I want to decorate and make our house feel like Christmas for our kids..When is too early to decorate and when is too late?

I know I know a VERY LONG DRAWN OUT posting...sorry! I promise pictures in my next posting...So if anyone can help me w/my dilema I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you live in Arizona and want to get together, let me know...I would love to get together and catch up..