FHE Jesus Christ

Yesterday was Steven's turn to do the FHE lesson, and I was all ready for him to give it on being polite, or respecting adults. But... the missionaries called and asked if they could have Family Home Evening with us, so we decide to invite a friend of Steve's from work over as well. Her name is Tika, and she is from Albany. Steve had given her a copy of the Book of Mormon in Albanian, so we wanted to have her over with the missionaries. Since we were going to have company we decided to think of something a little more spiritual to teach about, and Steven said he wanted to teach about Jesus.
{This one is for you Tawna :-) }

To start off we ate dinner of course. We have to feed those poor elders! I made enchiladas from these new packets they just got here in Germany and they were Fab. I also made sweet corn tomalito, and apple crunch salad. I was telling Steve I think this was the first dinner that we had people over and I made everything. I ALWAYS have Steve either help with the main course or do it completely. So, I was relieved that dinner turned out very good.

To start off FHE we sang "I'm trying to be like Jesus" with Jacob as the conductor. He changed clothes shortly before people came over and I chose not to correct his outfit.
Then Steven stood to give his lesson. First he told us that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Then he told us the First Article of Faith: We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. And we all repeated it with him. Next he told us his favorite scripture story which is about Samuel the Lamanite, and told us what that story taught us about Jesus. That He loved the people and wanted them to repent so they could receive His blessings and be prepared for His birth. Then we played a great Sacrament Meeting match game that Nathan's primary teacher made for him. When they boys got a match they had to tell us what the picture taught us about Jesus. It was things like bread, water, singing church songs, listening during the prayer, etc. Nathan and Jacob needed lots of help when they got a match, so the rest of us were able to participate. We then helped Steven bear his testimony of Christ, and of what he believed.
{Tika with my baby}

When Steven was done we asked the elders if they wanted to add anything, and they shared a wonderful scripture with us. 2 Ne. 25: 26 It was a great evening with the Elders and with Tika .

For dessert we had brownies, and Tika brought over some baklava. Yum. Another successful week.

Happy Harry Potter Halloween

Halloween here was fabulous. The past three years we have gone on the American Base with our friends and trick-or-treated. With the base closing and us changing to the Frankfurt ward, we don't have all the trick-or-treating friends we used to have. So, we decided to see what the Germans do. I guess every year trick-or-treating has become more popular here. So, the older 3 and Steve headed out to get some candy, and Brandon and I were the passer-outers. Steve said there were lots of kids outside. And our neighbor made this AWESOME haunted house at his house. Some people also got out some fireworks left over from New Years. I guess it just feels like what you should be doing when the whole town is outside after dark. :-)

The Harry Potter costumes worked out great. The boys were very happy, the looked cute, and I put little to no effort in to getting them ready. Steve did the scar. Not that I don't like to dress kids up for Halloween, but really I don't. I never did much for my costumes either. I do love the holiday though, and am glad the kids got to have a good time. I was telling my friend, even though they got a good amount of candy, they really don't know what they are missing. Steven was 2 1/2 our last Halloween in the states. So, they aren't missing the 300+ pieces of candy that were all the yummy stuff like reeses and tootsie rolls. They don't know any different.

{Brandon on Halloween. Doesn't he look good in blue.}

On another subject...Steve went to a wedding earlier this month and they made some butternut squash soup. He loved it, so of course he came home and tried making some and it is dang good. Especially with a fresh brotchen (roll). So last night (Nov. 1) we had a friend of his from work and his wife over to taste Steve's soup. They are having their first baby in May. It tasted wonderful like always and it was nice to have people over. The Hancocks are probably going to come tonight for Settlers. Good times!

{This picture if for Alicia to see how big the knife is. It really makes cutting the squash much easier.}
I did mean to post the recipe for the soup. :-) Thanks Sarah

INGREDIENTS

• 6 tablespoons chopped onion
• 4 tablespoons margarine
• 6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 3 cups water
• 4 cubes chicken bouillon
• 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
2. Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.

This came from www.allrecipes.com of course. I think Steve added more water than called for until it was the right thickness.

FHE Obedience

Last Thursday, Steve and I got a babysitter, and as we were leaving I told Jacob he needed to obey her. I then decided to ask him what it means to obey, and he said, "to be nice to her." WRONG, so Jacob got the family home evening lesson for this week on Obedience. Besides that, he has not been quite up to par with his ability to obey, so this was a good lesson for him.

First he asked everyone what it meant to obey. Steven said it means to listen when someone tells you something. Not quite, that is just listening. Steve helped him out by adding that when you are told to do something, you DO IT! Oh what a valuable lesson for all of us.

So, after we had figured out the definition, Jacob lead the boys in a game of Simon Says. Steven did pretty good, but Nathan still did the action whether Simon said it or not.


{Simon says JUMP}{Simon says Shake your head back and forth}

Then Jacob helped tell this flannel board story of Jonah and the Whale. A wonderful lesson on obedience, and how bad things can get if you choose not to obey. I love these pictures that you can find in the Friend for different stories, but it bugs me that they are so small.

Then each person had a chance to tell us who is someone we should obey, and what they have asked us to do.

Jacob said Heavenly Father who asks us to pray
Steven said Mom who asks us to clear the table.
Nathan said Jesus who asks us to be reverent.
Steve said the Prophet who asks us to do FHE.
Jacob said his Nursery leader who asks him to clean up the toys.
Steven said Dad who asks us to clean the family room.
Nathan said school teachers who ask us to clean up.
Dad said the Bishop who asks us to come to church.

I added that there are laws of the land we must obey too, like not stealing, and stopping on a red light. (Red light, Green light would be a great game to play also)

So, hopefully we will now have very obedient children who do what they are asked when they are asked. :-) Right?? Isn't that what Family Home Evening is all about. HaHa

{Just for fun, here is one of Steve's latest backyard finds. Don't ask me why he always picks this stuff up!}

Halloween Party and Pumpkins

Yay, Halloween is almost here. What a fun time of year. We had our Ward Halloween Party on Friday night, and carved pumpkins on Saturday. And what could be worse for a blogger than forgetting your camera at the party?? Luckily my friends were there for me and I have some pictures to post. I still need to get the pics from Dawnella, but the ones I have will work for now.

We have been really into Harry Potter lately. Steve and I have both been listening to all the books, and a lady from work let Steve borrow the movies. So the boys have heard us talk about it, and have been watching the movies. So, I wasn't surprised when they all wanted to be Harry Potter for Halloween. Luckily I am not too particular, so I let them all be the same thing! Haha Steven is in a quidditch robe.
{Do you love the glare? HaHaHa}

{I don't have a picture of Steven at the Halloween party, but I took one the next day with just the glasses. He lost that front tooth on Thursday. }

Brandon wore this little Halloween outfit that Jacob wore as a baby, and then my dear friend Felicity made him a pumpkin hat just like she had made for her baby boy.

Then last night we had friends (Felicity and her husband and son, who will be referred to as the "Hancocks" from now on) over for dinner and pumpkin carving. I swear Steve and I are addicted to having people over for dinner. We can't seem to go one weekend without doing it. I guess it is a good thing that we both enjoy it. We had a great time carving the pumpkins and now I think we are ready for Halloween. Although we have nothing to do on the actual night of, since they don't really trick-or-treat here. Hopefully we will think of something.
{Do you love the knife safety that is being taught. :) I corrected the problem after the picture was taken.}

{I love the stair steps the boys make when they stand next to each other like this.}{This is what Brandon thought of being outside at night in the cold. Although it wasn't very cold}

FHE Reverence

Monday's Family Home Evening lesson was given by Nathan this week. I just got a new calling in our ward to teach the Valiant girls, and I am thrilled about it. And it has given me the chance to see how Nathan has been acting during Primary. I noticed that he had a little problem with reverence, so as you can guess, that was the topic of his lesson. :)


I took him in the office about an hour before we started FHE and told him this story on reverence. Then when it was time for him to teach he did a marvelous job retelling the story. I was impressed! When the story was over each person got to pick a picture out of a bag, and tell what the part in their picture should be doing when they are suppose to be reverent. This part was straight from the Nursery manual.

earsfeeteyes
arms (colored by Nathan)

mouth (I had the mouth, but looked AWFUL, so you will just have to imagine the mouth. haha)

Then the boys were given one of these situations where they could tell us what they should do to be more reverent:

• You want to tell your Primary teacher something during the lesson. How can you do this reverently? (whisper)

• You don’t know the song your class is singing. What can you do to show reverence? (sit quietly and listen so you can learn the song)

• Your little brother talks to you during the sacrament. What can you do to help him be reverent? (ask him to wait until after the sacrament to talk to you)

• You walk into a room while people are praying. How can you show reverence? (stop and fold your arms until the prayer is over, then go to your seat)

It was wonderful, and we are really enjoying FHE. I am glad we have committed to this, and I plan on sticking with it forever. :-)



(Baby Brandon)
(A rainbow between the multiple power lines directly over our home. )

Pumpkin Festival

{If you enlarge this you can some of the squash animals}

We were fortunate enough to get another nice weekend, although I thought we were done. Last year we discovered this great pumpkin festival about 1.5 hours away, and we loved it, so we went again this year on Saturday. The theme this year was Noah's Ark. They take different squash and make them look like animals, it is really cool. The camera ran out of batteries shortly after we got there, but Steve got some OK pictures. We went with the Carleys and the Hancocks. They are both great friends to us, and have became our Settler buddies. We have gotten together almost every weekend since the Hancocks moved in a month ago to play Settlers. It's been awesome.
{This is a bunch of hay bales they had for the kids to play in. They had a great time, but boy did they itch when they were done. }

{Jacob with the giraffe's }{This is Felicity Hancock with her son William. She knitted that pumpkin hat which I just LOVE. Then she put him in with the pumpkins. haha Jacob wanted to try on the hat as well. }


{And there is little Brandon pulling his minkee blanket up to his chin. }

In an attmept to Teach

As mentioned in an earlier post, one of my new goals is to take more advantage of teaching moments for my children. Here are 3 stories for this week.

1. Nathan has been riding his walking bike for over a year now, and the Germans say that these bikes are supposed to help kids learn to ride real bikes faster because they know how to balance. (If you don't know what I am talking about, they have bikes in Germany for kids as little as 2 that have no pedals and the kids just sit on the seat and run with the bike. Emily it sounds like Ren would love these bikes.) So, Nathan is 4.5 years old, and I kept thinking I wonder if he could learn to ride a pedal bike, but I just never went out and taught him because I figured 5 was the magical age of learning to ride a bike so I will wait until then. Well, since I have changed my ways and don't want to be lazy anymore, I went out to teach Nathan and he was riding like a champ within 10 minutes of us going outside. Including starting on his own which can be tricky. Now I just need to get out and buy him a bike, since Steven would like to use his bike still.

2. The next attempt at teaching was with Steven the other day. He was grounded from screens(no TV, or Xbox) for the day and so I invited him to come in the kitchen and help me cook dinner. We were making manicotti and he was cooking the spinach. So I had him put it in a saucepan that was sitting on the counter. Then when I was ready for him to bring it to the stove I told him to "put it there", and pointed to the burner. He proceeded to pour the spinach out of the saucepan directly on to the burner. Luckily I have a flat stovetop and I was standing right there to catch it before too much came out. But it made me laugh to think about what is so obvious to me could be so misunderstood by him. :-)

3. We had FHE again tonight and it went great! I taught a lesson on Family Responsibilities. We put a house puzzle together and I said we need all the pieces to make the house complete just like we need everyones help to make our home run smoothly. Then I put different chores that we do on rocks and put them all in a bucket and asked the boys to carry the bucket across the room. It was heavy to carry all the rocks. Then I seperated the rocks and we each took one and put them in to a paper sack. That was much easier to carry across the room. So, if we all pitch in, no one has to carry the load by themselves.
{Ginger is still with us}


Our new arrangement with the boys is:
They all have to pick up the family room every night. (Ashley Hawkins taught me this one. When she was here 2 years ago she picked up my family room every night before she went to bed and it was so nice to have a clean room in the morning. I had never thought about doing that before believe it or not.)
Jacob sets the table for dinner.
Steven and Nathan clear the table.
On Saturday they have to clean and vacuum their room and Brandon's room including under the beds
And do one extra chore of my choosing around the house.

If these all get done they get one Euro a week. 10% will go to tithing and 10% will be put in savings. I am excited to implement this as long as I can stay organized with it and keep it going. We will see.

Catchy Tune

Jacob was playing on one of the computers yesterday and I was on the other one. He started playing this song over and over and now it is totally stuck in my head! The boys love to play computer, and I just get them to either nickjr.com or pbskids. org and they navigate the site and find all sorts of fun stuff. I thought this "Super Why!" character was cute and now you can have the song stuck in your head.

Super Why! at pbskids.org

Just click the girl with the red hat on the left side, then push watch.

Family Home Evening

One of my new goals after Conference is to commit to doing FHE. Since the boys were born my attitude towards it has been "if it gets done great, if not oh well." Bad attitude huh? And, actually we have done it for two weeks now, so I was a little ahead of the Conference talks.

Last week Steven gave a great lesson on Prayer and told the story of Enos praying all day and night. This week was Steve's turn and he wanted to help the boys understand the value of money. He really does a great job of teaching kids. Whenever he helps in the primary I am impressed and I was equally as impressed with his lesson last night. If he puts some time in to it, it turns out great!

So, what he did was first ask where money comes from. Then he told each boy what their job was and he gave them a little bag of pennies as payment for their job. Then we discussed what we have that we have to pay for. Steve had clipart for each thing that we have to pay for and he told the boys to give him a certain amount of money for each thing. For example a house cost 15, so they had to count out 15 pennies and put it on the picture of the house.
{Do you see Brandon at the edge of this picture? He was just watching what was going on.}

He incorporated tithing in to this as well, and said the first thing we do when we get money is to give some to Heavenly Father. He also wanted to teach the boys about conserving energy so he told them that we have to pay for electricity, gas and water, and then we discussed what we could each do to save money in those areas. At the end the boys had like 10 pennies left so he said they could buy toys or candy with that money if they wanted to since everything else was paid for. Then he said "oh, someone left the light on in your room so everyone give me a penny to pay more for electricity." It really hit home when they only had 4 pennies left and he said that candy cost 5 so they couldn't buy it because they had to pay more for electricity. I guess if he had real candy to give we could have even got some tears going. :-)
Anyway, great lesson and I am excited to have this be a part or our week now. I am following up next week with a chore list that will pay an allowance: Another one of my Conference goals in teaching the boys and keeping the house cleaner.

{Brandon and I were just taking pictures and making faces at each other during the lesson. Although I gave my two cents when I thought it was necessary.}

Ready for a new post?

OK, you know it has been too long when you get tired of looking at your own blog!! haha. I have just been bad at grabbing the camera lately, and I can be a little lazy. :)

So things here have been great! I loved Conference and even really enjoy that they come on so late here. We listen from 6-8 then put the boys to bed and then listen from 10-12. And since we stay up til 12 everynight, it is no problem. My two goals after this weeks Conference are to 1. Make better use of my time by finishing projects, emailing people, cleaning a little more, and studying more. And 2. doing more for my children by reading, doing fun projects, hugging, teaching, etc. I am excited to make myself better in these two areas. I love the wisdom and the love that the leaders of this church have.

So, my pictures for now are these.

{I was feeding Brandon and told Nathan to roll his pants because they were just a little big. He went a little overboard don't you think. :-) }

Brandon is doing wonderful! He is not necessarily an easy baby, but he does sleep a lot so that is nice. He is either sleeping, crying or laughing. There is very little time of him just looking around and observing. He does find his brothers entertaining though. I am really enjoying him and love him more every day.
Steve and I have decided that he is not our cutest baby, but I am sure he will come around. He's got some good looking brothers to compete with. :) He just has such a long face. He does have a lovely smile though.

I will put more on tonight after FHE. We are doing it tonight, because we were at a friends birthday last night. We ate dinner and played Settlers. Oh, what a life!