Fun at home

Monday night is family night at our house. After dinner we have a lesson and treat and when we are really on top of things an activity. For the past 3+ years we have been using the Nursery manual for our lessons.  They are simple and quick. Lately though I have really felt that I wanted to do more and that Jared and Lydia, especially Jared could use a change. So I went online and searched for other FHE activities.  I could have done this the old fashioned way and actually came up with a lesson myself.... but I think that our lessons would be way more last minute if I did.  And I LOVE all the people who  already planned out great activities.  Totally lazier but I would rather have a set resource and know it would be done then neglect Jared and Lydia when I realized I should have planned a lesson and did not.  And I so just did plan a months worth of getting ready for General conference FHE's so I can do it and will when I want to talk about a specific thing. So, there are about a billion amazing lessons out there for kids say 8 and up but we are not there yet. I wanted something different but wasn't ready for all that.  But then I found this SITE and knew I had found our new FHE "manual". We did our first lesson on Monday and it was a blast.  I chose the David and Goliath lesson. We sang The Lord needs Valiant Servants, pulled up the Picture of David and Goliath online,(I so wish I had one of those gospel art kits in the blue boxes they no longer make, yes I know about the spiral bound book. I do not want it I want the box, desperately, anyone have an extra one I can pay you for? shipping and the kit? or one you don't need anymore?) and talked about the story.  Then Mark pretended to be Goliath and Jared and Lydia threw paper rocks at him.  It was so fun.  Simple, sweet and a good message.  We then had muddy buddy's for our treat.  I am so excited to pick our lesson for next week.

Praying for help. 

They were not supposed to cross over the blanket. Such fun! 

We have also played some fun Halloween games and started our Halloween art projects. 

This was an extra impressive pattern Jared made.  We have been diligently doing a Teach My Child to Read Lesson each night and he is really figuring out.  The other night we skyped with my Mom so she could hear him and she exclaimed: "We have a reader!" I am so proud of him. I love how excited he gets and how much fun it is to see/hear him read.  I am happy we took a little break from that book and am really glad it is working so well for him now.  Timing is everything.  When they are ready they are ready.  It's so fun.  I can't wait to watch him become even more confident.  It was weird timing because just this week my friend Laura was asking me if I had a reading program I was using with Jared so we had a good discussion about it.  I am so happy for Jared. Its also funny to me because he really looks forward to the stories which are pretty goofy really. But they work! I am sure it's more the fact that he can read them now. They have some comprehension questions as well which I really like.  Jared does very well which I think is a big part of learning. Something that teachers are always trying to check for.

We made marshmallow mummies and watched Monster Mash.  We also played some ghost games with the foot print ghosts we made which then turned into a Halloween dance party.  Jared knows the Ghostbusters theme song pretty well now.  I am so happy I can stay home with these guys.  I have many days/moments of not such good times but I am happy to do this.  By the way have you seen this article about how having a stay at home parent is a luxury for the working spouse? Some interesting thoughts.  Lately I have been pinning all kinds of things to my "Back to School Board" on Pinterest.  I am down to months. 9.5 months till Jared is in school full day.  Earlier this week Lydia and I dropped him off for preschool and as we got back in the car she looked at me and said sadly, "I miss brother." I know he will be so happy for school and I will be happy for him but I will miss him too. We will live it up the next 9 months and figure out what we can do once he gets done for the day. 

We went out with Laura and her kids twice this week. We love hanging out with them. We finally got a chance to check out Ivy Creek which is an awesome sort of nature preserve near our house, like less then 10 minutes away.  We have been meaning to go for awhile now and finally did it.  It was a perfect fall day and we went on a fun little hike there.  There are tons of nice trails there. 

 Peter ( I love his hand on Jared), Jared, Joseph and Lydia. 

We also went to Riverview park again.  This was sort of a bust.  Jared asked us to turn his bike into a balance bike like Lydia's so Mark took the training wheels and pedals off.  Jared was so excited but then we when got to the park to go for the ride he didn't want to do it.  I think the seat is just a little too high. He had to stay on his tip toes and his bike is way heavier than Lydia's. So I don't really blame him. He had fun running instead.  Lydia rode her bike for about 1/3 of our walk then decided she just wanted to walk.  Laura was super nice and put her balance bike on her stroller for us.  Everybody had a good time it just didn't quite go as planned.  Oh well. We are doing our best to get out and enjoy this weather.