Consider the Blessings - President Monson

This week we started our General Conference Review.  We began with President Monson's talk entitled "Consider the Blessings"  This talk was a perfect reminder for me to remember not just the big things, but to look around and notice all the small blessings that come into my life every day.
I reviewed the talk last week, and looked for a couple of key points that I could relay to the kids.  Two things stood out to me.
1. We should take an inventory of our life and remember not only the big blessings, but the small ones as well.
2. President Monson keeps a journal.

President Monson shared five examples of blessings from his life, he said,
For the next few minutes allotted to me, I would like to share with you just a tiny sampling of the experiences I have had wherein prayers were heard and answered and which, in retrospect, brought blessings into my life as well as the lives of others. My daily journal, kept over all these years, has helped provide some specifics which I most likely would not otherwise be able to recount.

I know that this might not have been the point of the message, but I was quickly reminded of the importance of keeping a journal, so that you can look back and remember all of the blessings that your life holds.  These were the two points that I wanted the boys to remember. So this is what I came up with.
I started out by having the boys watch this short clip.
I asked the boys to tell me what President Monson asked us all to do.  We had to watch the clip three times, but the boys were able to come up with the right answer- take an inventory and look for the blessings large and small that you have received.
Then I told the boys that President Monson shared five examples from his life.
1. Providing counsel to a district president in Australia
2.Visiting a friend that was in the hospital
3. President and Sister Monson visiting a elderly widow
4. The young man that stopped to help them when their car broke down
5. The cultural celebration of the Kansas City Temple

I told the boys that President Monson was able to remember all these blessing because he kept a journal.  And so I thought that they should write down our blessings in a new notebook.

The boys already have a journal, but these notebooks are for them to write or draw about a blessing each day. Inside the notebook I wrote two quotes from President Monson's talk:
I have found that, rather than dwelling on the negative, if we will take a step back and consider the blessings in our lives, including seemingly small, sometimes overlooked blessings, we can find greater happiness.

And also this quote: (which I think is my favorite from his talk)
The Lord is in the details of our lives.

The boys loved the idea and started working on their notebooks right away.  And even tonight when I reminded them to write a new blessing down, they told me that they had already worked on it, earlier in the day.

I have one as well that I'm writing in each night.

If you are interested I got the idea for the notebooks at Under the Sycamore.
I basically followed the tutorial, but I only put four crayons instead of five.  The notebooks I brought were 3x5.
The longer piece of elastic was 7 inches long.
The shorter one was 4 inches long.
On the longer one the first mark was two inches in and then another mark every 1/2 inch.
On the shorter one the first mark was 1/4 inch in and then another mark every 3/4 inch.

I sewed the elastics together at the marked spots with the shorter one on top.
Then I overlapped the edges of the longer piece 1 inch

I thought the notebooks turned out great, simple but effective.  Wouldn't these also be great to take to church to keep the kids busy.
Then we added our review card to President Monson's picture.  On the card is a drawing of a small notebook- just like the one I gave the boys, but green.  And then we listed four blessings that we have in our family.

Here is the whole talk.

Ghosts of Halloween Past

In preparation for Halloween this year I thought I would provide a look back at the previous costumes I have made.  I can't wait to see the boys in their costumes this year.  I'll post those pics in an upcoming post.

Hunter 2006- Hunter Green Crayon

My first Halloween costume.  I remember sitting outside on the playground and thinking and thinking about what we should dress Hunter up for Halloween.  And it just hit me- a crayon, a Hunter Green crayon.  (I know it's a little cheesy)  I didn't have a pattern for this costume, I just took a baby sleep sack that we had and traced it and used that has my pattern.  

Hunter 2007- A Dog

This was the only year that I didn't make the costume.  I was pregnant with Walter and wasn't really feeling up to sewing a costume

Hunter 2008- A Chef

Hunter loved helping me in the kitchen and would often play with my bowls and spoons so it seemed like a good idea for his costume.   

Walter 2008- Mickey Mouse 

Walter's nursery was a Mickey Mouse theme.  So for his first Halloween he was Mickey Mouse.  I really didn't have to do much for this costume, since we had everything on hand, besides the ears which I got a party store.

(sorry it's so blurry Walter was kicking his legs)

Hunter 09- Airplane 

This was the first year that we asked Hunter what he wanted to be and he said, "An Airplane".  And it was the first year that we used something other than fabric for his costume.  

In case you guys are wondering here is the pattern from Better Homes and Garden that we used.  We just made ours red, since that is Hunter's favorite color.  

Walter 2009- Road.
 Walter loved playing with cars (still does) so we made him a road.  We just put him in black sweats and then added electrical tape and white reflective duck tape and then put Velcro on the back of some of his cars.  He loved it.  We got the idea from Family Fun

Hunter-2010 Robot

Hunter knew that he wanted to be a robot, months before Halloween.  We used a tupperware, dryer vents, duct tape, silver spray paint and a colander.  

Walter 2010- An Artist
Walter loved art time at school so we decided that he would make a pretty cute artist.  I sewed the whole costume and I must say I think it turned out pretty cute..
If you want to read more about either the robot or artist you can read that year's Halloween post.

Hunter 2011- Firefighter

Hunter had decided that he wanted to be a firefighter when he grew up so he wanted to dress up as one for Halloween.  I found a pattern and bought the material and went to work.  I will say, I was so happy when this costume was done.  Sewing on the plastic like material was the pits.  If I made a mistake and had to unpick you could still see the holes from the previous stitches.  I made the jacket and boot like shoe covers.  Luckily Grandma had the helmet.     

Walter 2011- Cowboy

This was the first year that Walter told us what he wanted to dress up as.  I was able to find the cowboy hat at a party store and pattern for the chaps and vest at JoAnns.  I used eyelets for accents on both the chaps and vest and he had the star pin from a birthday party that he had attended.  

Making the kids costumes has become a tradition in our house.  And I plan on making them for as long as the boys let me.  I am a little ahead of schedule for this year's costume, which just means that hopefully I won't be sewing frantically on Halloween to get it finished.  How are your Halloween costumes coming along this year?

A Little Bit of October Fun

Quincy has learned how to crawl!!!
I tried to take a video of him crawling last week, but I was when it came time to perform, he was a little reluctant.  So I will try to get a better one soon.  But just in-case you need proof, I'll share this short video with you.

Here are a couple of cute pictures of Quincy as well.

He drools a ton.  I think he might be teething, but he has yet to have a tooth pop put.  

Black-Out Game
Weston and Walter went to the BYU Black-Out Game on Saturday.  I'm still not sure about the reason behind a black-out game, besides maybe making all the fans buy another shirt.  Because that is exactly what we did.  I was able to find a shirt for Weston at the grocery store, but they didn't have any kid sizes.  So I went to Michael's and got a kids small black shirt.  Then I came home and used my silhouette to cut out a Y.  Luckily I had some blue heat transfer.  And within a couple of minutes Walter had a BYU Black-out shirt.

Here they are super excited for the game.  I only wish BYU had won.  Weston told me that Walter started crying when he realized that his team wasn't going to win.

Halloween Treats and Activities

For Family Home Evening we made some Halloween Cookies and then delivered them to two of our neighbors.  Since we made two batches each of the boys had a bowl.  They like helping in the kitchen, especially if it means that they get a treat as well.

 I put the cookies in bags, not so sure it that was a smart idea, since the cookies started to slide a bit.  We actually Booed the two families.  The boys really enjoy doing this simple, but fun holiday tradition.

We also made Name Skeletons.  I made Quincy's first and showed the boys what we were going to do. I should have realized that this activity was more suited for older children, because Walter needed me to cut almost all of his.  And  this is actually Hunter's second attempt.  But it was a good practice for fine motor skills, and they look pretty cool.  

I found this idea at My Mix of Six 

Then in my spare time I have been busy making a couple of Halloween crafts as well.
I made these two decorations also using my silhouette.  They are currently on my mantle and they add a bit more color to all the white, black and orange that the rest of my Halloween decorations consist of.

I also have been super busy sewing Halloween costumes.  Walter's is all done, Hunter's is about 1/3 of the way done and I haven't started on Quincy.  Only 15 more days I better get busy.

A Wonderful Weekend

General Conference Weekend

General Conference weekend was absolutely wonderful.  The boys loved the Conference Center board.  On Saturday morning I made Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.  The boys loved them, and I enjoyed more then my fair share as well.
After breakfast we set everything up for Conference.  For Saturday morning we had "special word" treats.  So everything the speaker said: Scripture, Temple, Family, or Prophet, the boys got to have one of the pre-assigned treat.

President Monson made some very special announcements during the Saturday morning session.  His first announcement was that two new temples would be built one in Arizona and the other in PERU!!!!

 The boys started dancing and singing, "That's where Grandma Emma and Grandpa Walter live."

(For the record my parents live in Urubamba- which is a small town by Cusco, but this new temple in Arequipa will be a whole lot closer to them.)  I'm so excited for my family and all the people of Peru.  

Then with the second announcement that young men can go on their mission at the age of 18. And young women can go on their mission at the age of 19.  The boys soon realized that this meant that they could go on their mission one year sooner.  And I am excited to see what the young women will say about this at church next Sunday.  And Weston and I were reminded several times throughout conference about the important role that parents have in preparing their children for missions.  

The boys loved setting the board up and switching the speaker and topics.  They would go back and forth from the board to the treat table.  

Saturday Conference was wonderful!!!

Here's a cute picture of Walter drawing a picture for President Monson.

In between the two sessions of Saturday Conference we went on a family bike ride which seemed like the prefect thing to do after listening to President Uchtdorf's talk  

http://281fourthstreet.blogspot.com/2012/10/not-race-printable.html

Sunday morning we started again.   I was a little worried that they might not be as interested in the Conference Board the second day,but I was wrong.  The boys picked up right where they left off.  

For our treats on Sunday we did "Apostle" treats.  Each of the remaining apostles who had not spoken yet were assigned a treat.  When they spoke the boys could enjoy the treat.

They were pretty excited when President Monson spoke since he was the KitKat bars.
Another fun moment was when Walter F. Gonzalez spoke.  Walter got a real kick out of it.  He thought that it was so cool that they shared the same first name.  He even started saying, "I wonder if Grandpa Walter is listening to Walter."  It's cute to see the little things that amuse him.

Towards the end of the Sunday Afternoon session, Hunter turned to me and said, " Thanks for making Our Conference Center."  These boys sure know how to make their mom smile.  

Overall the Conference Center board was a huge success.  It helps keep the boys focused.   They loved it.

You may be wondering where Quincy was during all of this, well he was mostly napping.  On both Saturday and Sunday he went down for a nap at the beginning of each session and he slept for about 1.5 hours each time, so he was awake for the last speaker of each session.  He was an angel and allowed his mother to sit and listen and just enjoy the speakers.

The End of September

Soccer season came to an end in September.  Walter had his last game on Saturday. He really enjoyed soccer, and he loved having his dad as his coach.  He scored at least one goal every game.  We did have to remind him every game that this was soccer not football, so there was no tackling.  Here are a couple pictures from some previous games.  I was going to take more of his last game, but it started raining, so I just focused on keeping Quincy and me warm.

And then here is the one photo that I took at his last game.  

He loved soccer, and he had such a good coach.  Walter also had a really good team.  All the boys tried their best, and it was fun for Walter to have some of the boys from his primary class on his soccer team.  

Rise and Shout

Weston and I got season tickets to the BYU football games.  Last Saturday it was BYU vs. Hawaii.  And it was a true blue victory.  

 
(Do you like my caught in the headlights look?  So often in pictures I have my eyes closed, so I was focusing on keeping my eyes open.  But after looking at this picture I think I should focus not looking like a deer caught in the headlights.)



On your tickets it told you if you were suppose to wear white or blue.  So each section had a color and that way we you looked out at the crowd you would a pattern of blue and white.  I tried to get a photo of it, but it didn't turn out as well.

And here is the team setting up for the extra point.

 Hopefully BYU will have another victory this weekend.

One Year Older and Wiser Too

On Sunday we went over to Weston's parents house to help celebrate Sharman's 62nd birthday.  The kids had a blast playing with their cousins. And hopefully Sharman felt loved and is looking forward to many more to come.

The Great Outdoors

Weston also had the opportunity to hike Four Peaks in Provo with one of his friends (He is standing on peak two (above) and you can see peaks 3 and 4 off to the right in the background).  It took them from six in the morning until two thirty in the afternoon.  (8.5 hours) But it was well worth it.  He came back home a little scraped up, but already looking forward to his next adventure.

General Conference Prep 2
I finally finished "Our Conference Center" board.  From the moment I saw this on Jennifer Lund's blog, I knew I wanted to make it.  It is just such an awesome idea.  (like so many ideas that Jennifer shares on her blog)  It took me a little longer then I thought it would, but I'm so excited, and more importantly the boys are super excited to use it this coming weekend.

I can't help but smile when I see how excited the boys are.  At the end of FHE on Monday I explained to the boys how the board works, and then on Tuesday morning I found the boys playing with it.  I asked them what they were doing and they told me they were practicing for General Conference.

Jennifer has written a blog post on how to make the board if you are interested.  Right before I started working on mine, I saw on pinterest that Tiff Keetch had also made one.  Both Jennifer and Tiff have printable files.  So I printed and used parts of Jennifer's files and parts of Tiff's files.  
Here are the links:
Jennifer's Conference Center
Tiff's Conference Center  

Just one more day until General Conference I'm so excited!!!

And since no blog post is complete without a picture of Quincy, here's a cute one:

OK maybe two, he is just so cute.