Gratitude Turkey

Song: I am Thankful to be me (Children's Songbook #11)
Prayer: Dylan

Scripture: Tyler Alma 34:38

Lesson: Kerri
Why is it important that we celebrate Thanksgiving?
Who should we be grateful to for giving us so many blessings?
What are some things that we should be thankful for?

Song: I am a Child of God
Prayer: Arthur

Activity: Gratitude Turkey
I found this activity online and thought it was simple enough for my family.

The Story of Jesus

Song: Tell me the Stories of Jesus
Prayer: Dylan

Scripture: Tyler Luke 2:4-7

Lesson: We put together these little books that tell the story of Jesus. After we were done, we reviewed the story and shared how important Jesus is to us.

Song: I am a Child of God
Prayer: Arthur

Treat: Rice Krispy treats

Heavenly Father Loves Me

Song: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Tyler D&C 59:18-20

Lesson: Heavenly Father Loves Me

I found this lesson (under "Creation") that ended up working very well for our kids. I prepared a box filled with a candle, some colorful leaves, and some M&M's. I kept the lid on the box.

Heavenly Father loves us all so much. He created so many things to help us be happy and experience joy.

Can you think of anything that Heavenly Father created? Sun, Moon, Stars, Trees, Pictures, Lights

This box is full of things that will help us remember how much Heavenly Father loves us.

Heavenly Father gave us noses so that we can smell beautiful things. Take out the candle and pass it around so everyone can use their nose to smell.

Heavenly Father gave us eyes so we can see wonderful creations. Sprinkle colorful leaves on the floor.

Heavenly Father gave us mouths and tongues to be able to taste delicious food. Have kids close their eyes and put an M&M inside their mouth.

These are just 3 of the things that Heavenly Father gave us so that we can experience joy and happiness in our lives.

Song: I am a Child of God
Prayer: Tyler

Activity: Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes

Fall Celebration

Tonight we carved and decorated our pumpkins for Halloween.

Book of Mormon

Song: Book of Mormon Stories
Prayer: Dylan
Scripture: Tyler 2 Nephi 4:15
Lesson: Book of Mormon - the coolest gift

I used this idea and told everyone that I had forgotten to do the lesson. Had anyone else prepared a lesson? What are we going to do? I then had Arthur secretly call our home phone and I pretended to have a conversation with an unknown person.

Do you hear that? They are coming? Listen carefully, they are getting off the freeway! I think I hear them driving down the road! They are going to bring us the coolest thing ever! Wait, I hear them pulling into the driveway! Do you see them! Oh, they are walking to our backyard! Hurry, let's see what they are going to bring us!

We ran downstairs and the boys opened the door to find a gift bag on the deck. We then opened it up to find it contained the Book of Mormon.

I then told them how much I love the Book of Mormon and how cool it has been in my life.

I had them sit down to listen to my favorite Book of Mormon story.

3 Nephi 17:19-24
I showed a picture of Jesus with children to illustrate how much Jesus loved little children and how he personally blessed them. I read quite a bit, but I wanted the kids to hear directly from the scriptures.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Arthur

Sharing

Song: I am a Child of God
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Tyler

Lesson: Kerri

Sharing

Kerri and Arthur acted out several scenarios and asked the kids if we were sharing (thumb up) or not sharing (thumbs down).

Do you feel happy or sad inside when you share your toys?
Do you think Heavenly Father wants us to share with others?
The happy feeling that you feel inside is Heavenly Father telling you that he is proud of you.
Heavenly Father wants to share all that he has with us. In order for us to be able to receive those things, we need to be like him and learn to share all that we have with others.

Activity: Sharing Cube Game found in the Nursery Manual

Song: Helping Song
Prayer: Tyler

Testimony

Song: I want to Be a Missionary Now
Prayer: Tyler

Lesson: Kerri

A testimony is a strong belief in something. In church, it is important to have a belief in many things. That belief will allow us to have a testimony which will help us to grow spiritually. When we have trials, our testimony will carry us through and help us overcome any obstacles. Tyler mentioned that it is important to have a testimony of Jesus, the prophet, and temples.

Activity: We cut out the pictures from this lesson from the Friend magazine. We taped them onto our fingers. As we taped them on, we talked about what each picture stood for and why we needed to have a testimony of it. As members of the Lord's church, it is crucial to have a testimony of these things.

Song: I Love to See the Temple
Prayer: Dylan

Prayers of Gratitude

Song:
Prayer: Arthur

Lesson: Kerri

I read the story, Pirates, from the Friend Magazine. We talked about how a simple prayer from a little girl helped save all the people on the boat. It is important to Thank Heavenly Father for all of our blessings in our prayers. We then talked about some of the things that we are grateful for in our live.

Activity: I used the activity from this page in the Friend. We listed all of the things that we should thank Heavenly Father for in our prayers.

Prayer: Tyler

Noah's Ark

Tyler has been very interested in the story of Noah's Ark, so I asked him to give the lesson this week.

Song: I have a Family Tree
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Kerri
Genesis 7:1 And the Lord said unto ^aNoah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation

Lesson: Kerri and Tyler

Picture 1: Ark on dry land with animals walking inside

The people on the Earth were very wicked. Every one except for Noah and his family were wicked. God decided to flood the Earth but wanted to preserve the faithful. So, He asked Noah to build an ark for his family the animals on the Earth

Picture 2: Ark floating on water

The rains began and the Earth flooded. The ark held up perfectly through the storm

Picture 3: Animals inside the Ark

Even though there was a terrible storm, the animals were all safe and comfortable inside the Ark.

Picture 4: The skies are clear, a dove retrieves an olive branch

Noah sent out the dove to see if there was any dry land. The olive branch was a sign that there was dry land and they could get off the Ark.

Picture 5: Ark on dry land with animals departing. Rainbow in the sky

Noah and his family and the animals were kept safe through the flood. The rainbow is a sign from God telling us that he will not flood the Earth again.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Dylan

Father's Blessing

It has been a month of illness, vacation, and out-of-town conferences. We are back in full-swing with FHE and will post regularly again.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Dylan

Lesson: Priesthood Blessings

This was a pretty basic lesson to introduce blessings.

1. What are blessings? A special prayer given by a member of the Priesthood to someone who is sick or in need of counsel, comfort or healing.
2. Can Mom give blessings? Can Tyler give blessings? Can Dylan give blessings? No, only Daddy can give blessings in our family because he holds the Melchizedek Priesthood.
3. Have you ever seen a blessing? Baby Blessings
4. Father's Blessings are special blessings that a father can offer to any member of the family at any time.

Tonight Arthur gave Tyler a father's blessing to prepare him for his upcoming school year.

Activity: Water Balloon Fight

As a side note to this lesson, I wanted to mention that the blessing was a great thing to witness. Tyler was very quiet and stayed still the entire time. He felt very special to be able to receive such a blessing. Immediately after the blessing concluded, he jumped off the chair and exclaimed, "I have to go pee!" and ran to the bathroom. When he finished, he came out and said, "Mommy, that was a REALLY long prayer!"

Learning about Baptism

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Dylan

Scripture: Arthur Alma 15:12 - this is an example of someone (Zeezrom) being baptized in the scriptures. There are many other times when the scriptures have mentioned people getting baptized, too.

Lesson: Kerri and Tyler
Learning about Baptism
I used various parts from the August 2008 Friend

We are going to learn a little about baptism tonight.
Can anyone think of someone very special and important that got baptized? (Jesus Christ)

Show a picture of Jesus getting baptized.

Jesus got baptized to show us how important it is for all of us to be baptized.

How old do you have to be to get baptized? (8 years old or older)
Where do you get baptized? (in the water)
What color do you wear when you are baptized? (white)
Who in our family could baptize you? (Dad)

Tyler used the pictures from the activity "When I am Eight Years Old" (Friend, Aug 2008 pg. 33)
to tell us what order things happen when he will be baptized.

1. He will turn 8 years old and will have a birthday party
2. He will talk to the bishop about baptism.
3. He will get baptized.
4. He will receive the Holy Ghost.

Song: Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree
Prayer: Kerri

Sons of Mosiah

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Dylan
Scripture: Arthur Mosiah 28:6-7

Lesson: Missionary Work

Have you ever seen a missionary? Where? (church, riding bikes on the street)

How do you know they are missionaries?(their name tags, what they are wearing)

What do missionaries do? (preach the gospel, serve others, be good examples)

Can we be missionaries? How? (be good examples of the church, invite friends to primary, help others, teach our friends)

Activity: Tyler and Kerri taught the family this activity from the Friend Magazine. It illustrates the story of Mosiah's sons and how they became successful missionaries who baptized many.

Song: Called to Serve
Prayer: Tyler

Treat: Fresh pineapple

Title of Liberty

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Kerri

Lesson: Kerri
I bought some white fabric and made a Title of Liberty. I attached it to a pole.

Show American Flag - what does this mean to you? (Freedom, America, Liberty, Opportunity, Peace)

Flags have been used for many years to symbolize different things for people. They unify groups of people and help to remind them of what is most important.

The Nephites were being threatened by the Lamanites. The Lamanites wanted to take their land and enslave them. If this happened, the Nephites would have lost their ability to worship freely. Captain Moroni created the Title of Liberty to remind his people about what was most important to them.

What were the most important things that Moroni valued? God, Religion, Freedom, Peace, Wives, and Children

The flag rallied his people together in a common goal and they were able to defeat the Lamanites and protect their livelihood.

Song: Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree
Prayer: Arthur

Activity: We went to a local ice cream shop for dessert

Understanding the Sacrament

I just found this great site for flannel board stories. I admit, I don't have a flannel board, but the pictures are cute and perfect for our young family.

Song: Before I Take the Sacrament (Children's Songbook #73)
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Tyler D&C 27:2

Lesson: Kerri

I used this lesson to teach about the Sacrament. We printed off the pictures and used them to tell the story of the Last Supper (Matthew 26:26-28). Then we related that to how we take the Sacrament each Sunday in church

Activity: Prepare Homemade ice cream
Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Tyler

Miniature Golf

It has been a busy month for us, so we decided to spend some quality time as a family playing miniature golf again.

Joseph Smith and the Golden Plates

Song: The Golden Plates
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Arthur

Lesson: Tyler and Kerri

We used this story from the May 2008 issue of the Friend. I cut out these figures and colored them. Tyler and I then told the story by acting it out with the characters.

At the end, Tyler made the point that the Golden Plates that Joseph Smith had found would one day become our scriptures.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Dylan

Activity: We played a Thomas the Tank Engine card game
Treat: Otter Pops

I Can Be a Friend

Song: Give Said the Little Stream
Prayer: Tyler
Scripture: Arthur

Lesson: I Can be a Friend

1. Who are your friends?
Use 3 hand puppets (1 sad, 1 mad, 1 happy)

Let me introduce you to a special friend of mine. Pull out sad friend
Is she mad, sad, or happy?
what do we do when our friends are sad? ask her what is wrong? offer to help

Pull out mad friend
Is she mad, sad, or happy?
what do we do when our friends are mad? ask her why she is mad. offer to help.

Pull out happy friend
this is how our friends feel when we help them or make them feel better.

I have a picture of another very special friend. Do you know who this is? (Show a picture of Jesus)

How do you know that Jesus is your friend?

Explain that Jesus loves us and would do anything to help us. He teaches us good things and wants us to return to him and Heavenly Father. Good friends want us to do good things and be good boys and girls.



Activity:

Have the children stand and sing “Fun to Do” (Children’s Songbook, p. 253), using the phrase “Sharing my (toys, book, or whatever else the children suggest) is fun to do.” Have the children make up actions to go along with the words.

Sharing my toys is fun to do,
Fun to do, to do, to do!
Sharing my toys is fun to do,
To do, to do, to do!

Prayer: Arthur

This lesson was adapted from Primary 1:Lesson 33

Family Tree

Song: Families Can Be Together Forever
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Tyler

Lesson: Family Tree

Read all of or a short part of the The Family: A Proclamation to the World
Summarize that Heavenly Fathers wants us to have families that love each other.
What is a family? Grandmas and Grandpas, Moms and Dad, Brothers and Sisters, Sons and Daughters

Activity: Put together a family tree. I printed out small pictures of our family to glue to the apples and stick on the tree.

Song: The Helping SonPublish Post
Prayer: Tyler

The Anti-Nephi Lehies

Song: Dylan conduct - Book of Mormon Stories
Prayer: Arthur
Scripture: Tyler

Lesson: Anti-Nephi Lehies

A group of Lamanites had been converted to the gospel of Christ by the sons of King Mosiah. Before learning about Christ they were very wicked people who lived a life of violence.

Give children safe "swords" and have them fight one another. Does Heavenly Father want us to hurt each other?

Once they learned about Christ, they understood that they had not been good. They wanted to say sorry for hurting their brothers.

Have the children say sorry to each other.

They prayed to the Lord and said that they would never pick up their weapons of war again. They buried their weapons deep into the earth and vowed to never hurt anyone again.

Have the children bury their "weapons" under a blanket".

They changed their name to the "Anti-Nephi Lehies" to signify that they were no longer part of the violent Lamanites. The Lamanites came to battle with them and many were killed. But, they lived up to their covenant and did not fight back.

Have a parent come and pretend to fight with them, but instruct the children not to fight back.

Heavenly Father blessed the Anti-Nephi Lehies by softening the hearts of the Nephites so that they would give them a land of their own.

Have the children move to another room to show that they were able to live peacefully in their own land.

The Anti-Nephi Lehies were able to live peacefully and lived up to their promise to God by never picking up weapons of war again.

Song: Dylan conduct - The Helping Song
Prayer: Tyler

Activity: Decorate cupcakes

Helping our Neighbors

Song: I'm Trying to Be like Jesus (Children's Songbook #78)
Prayer: Tyler
Scripture: Arthur

Lesson: Helping our Neighbors

We love our neighbors. They love us and help us in so many ways. Can you think of any way that our neighbors have helped us?

1. Babysitting
2. Love us
3. Let us borrow stuff

Serving others means to help them.

Heavenly Father has asked us to love and serve our neighbors. When we serve them, it makes Heavenly Father happy. How can we help our neighbors?

1. Offer to help
2. Give love in return
3. Be good examples

Song: The Helping Son
Prayer: Arthur

Activity: We received several Family Emergency Prep Guides from a Stake Relief Society that reference the Provident Living website. I can't find a copy online, so I am not sure if it was put together by a local church group (as it has local telephone numbers and addresses). For our activity, we served our neighbors by delivering these guides to them.

Gospel Bingo

Song: I love to see the Temple
Prayer: Tyler
Scripture: Kerri 3 Nephi 27:21

Lesson: Arthur

We played LDS Bingo. Arthur found these cards online and as each principle was chosen, he would review how it was part of the gospel.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Kerri

Treat: M&M's that were used in the Bingo game to cover our cards

Miniature Golf

We didn't get our act together to plan a spiritual lesson this week. So, we stole an idea from one of our friend's blogs and went Miniature Golfing at a small local golf course. Stay tuned on the family blog for pictures from the night.

Oahu Sightseeing

Since we are in Hawaii, FHE was spent sightseeing the island. We hiked up Diamond Head, visited the Byodi-In Temple, and took a scenic tour around the southeastern shores of the Island. Heavenly Father's creations are spectacular!

Learn about Hawaii

Since we are leaving for Hawaii this week, FHE was spent learning about Hawaii. Arthur planned the lesson by printing out a map of Hawaii as well as beautiful pictures of Hawaii beaches, pineapples and hula dancers. The boys loved the map and would stare at the pictures in excitement. When we got to Hawaii, the map was a favorite for the boys to review when we were driving.

FHE - Lexi's Bad Day

Song: Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam
Prayer: Arthur

Lesson: Kerri

Sometimes we have good days and sometimes we have bad days. Here is a story about a little girl named Lexi. She was having a bad day.

Lexi's Bad Day (Friend April 2008)

Why was Lexi having a bad day?
What did she do to turn her bad day into a good day?

Mommy, Daddy, Tyler and Dylan have good days and we have bad days. When we have a bad day, sometimes just singing fun songs can make us feel better.

Song: Give Said the Little Stream
Prayer: Tyler

The Courage of Abinidi

Song: The Temple Song (conducted by Dylan)
Prayer: Arthur

Lesson: Arthur
We used hand puppets to reenact the story of Abinidi. Since Tyler and Dylan are still very young, we substituted out the part where Abinidi and King Noah are burned to death. Instead, we said that they were spanked.

Song: The Helping Song (conducted by Dylan)
Prayer: Tyler

Food Storage

My mom has been urging our family to get better prepared with our Food Storage. Tonight, the family went to Costco to purchase rice and canned chicken. It is our goal to purchase at least one food storage item on each Costco trip.

Our stake has also come up with a handy list of important Emergency Preparedness items. We have a long way to go, but if we continue to work at it, we will be prepared.

Easter

We held our FHE on Sunday night this week because it was Easter. We used this lesson to illustrate the story of the Atonement.

Moroni hides the Plates

Song: He Sent his Son (Children's Songbook #34)
Prayer: Tyler

Lesson: Arthur
Arthur explains that the Gold plates are hidden by Moroni so that Joseph Smith can find them in the future. The Golden Plates become the Book of Mormon. For a reference, use: GAK 320

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Kerri

Treat: Green Jello (in honor of St. Patrick's Day)

Jesus Can Heal Us

Song: Tell me the Stories of Jesus (Children's Songbook #57)
Prayer: Mom

Scripture: 3 Nephi 17:110

Lesson: Tyler and Mom
Show picture of Jesus Healing the Nephites (GAK 317)
When Jesus came to visit the Nephites, he taught them many things. They could not understand a lot of them, so he told them to go home and rest and come back later.

The people wanted to stay with Jesus and he knew that they did not want to leave. So, he asked them to bring those who were sick and afflicted to him. He healed each of them.

If we have faith in Jesus, he can heal us.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Dad

Activitiy:

1st Presidency

Song: I love to see the Temple
Prayer: Mom

Lesson: Dad

We reviewed what the 1st Presidency is in the church. We had a print-out of their pictures and names. After reviewing who they are, we had the boys cut the pictures and names and play a matching game.

Song: The Helping Song
Prayer: Tyler

Activity: Chutes and Ladders

Treat: Ice Cream

FHE - Nephi tied to Ship

Song: Tell me the Stories of Jesus (Children's Songbook #57)
Prayer: Tyler

Scripture: Arthur

Lesson: Nephi and his family are on the ship sailing to the promised land. Nephi's brothers begin to sing, dance wildly and not say nice things. They are not nice to Nephi. Nephi tried to remind them to be good, but they get mad and tie him to the mast of the ship. There is a great storm and the ship begins to rock. They get lost and don't know where they are. 4 days later, Nephi's brothers realize that they need to say they are sorry. The storm is calm and they are able to figure out how to find the promised land.

If we obey and listen to Heavenly Father, he will tell us where we need to go and what we should do.

Song: Choose the Right (Children's Songbook #160)
Prayer: Arthur

Activity: Chutes and Ladders

Our New Prophet - President Monson

President Hinckley passed away last week and President Monson was recently called to be the new prophet of the world. We reviewed pictures of him and read about his life.

FHE - I have a Body

Family Home Evening
I have a Body

Song: I am a Child of God
Prayer: Tyler

Lesson: Kerri

I have a Body

What is a body?
Point out various parts of our bodies (eyes, ears, fingers, feet, etc.)

Do Heavenly Father and Jesus have bodies?

Show GAK 216

Ask children to find Jesus' hands. Now have them point to their own hands.
Ask children to find Jesus' feet. Now have them point to their own feet.
Continue as needed

We have bodies just like Jesus and Heavenly Father.

Song: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
Prayer: Arthur

Activity: Hokey Pokey, Wheel Barrow or Dance

FHE - Noah's Ark

Family Home Evening
Noah's Ark

Song: I am a Child of God
Prayer: Tyler

Lesson: Arthur
Noah's Ark

Tell story of Noah's Ark using animal cutouts and a boat

Matching Game - find matching pairs of animals and attach them to the boat

Song: Helping Song
Prayer: Kerri