20 Years of The Family: A Proclamation to the World

20 years ago today, the inspired document, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" was introduced by President Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a gift to the world.  This message came at the perfect time.  It helped me to establish in my mind what a family is and can be, and how I wanted to raise my family.  It's kind of the like the map for family life.  When Dave & I were married, we hung that on our wall (which we still have it on a wall) with our photos of our wedding.  It is a great reminder to have it in front of us constantly.  It helps remind us of who we are, where we are going, to do our duties, gives us direction, and reminds of the blessings that can come from being a good family member. 

My favorite part of the proclamation states:

"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." 

 How needed this is today!  When lived by, these principles will strengthen and prosper our homes, our communities, country and our world. We are all so far from perfect and each family structure is different, but living by this counsel, as much as possible will bless our lives immensely.  I've seen our family blessed by living by these teachings, and every family can be blessed by reading, studying, and living these principles.  

https://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation?lang=eng

Another gone...another not forgotten

Yesterday, we got word that Elder Richard G. Scott from the Quorum of the Twelve passed away.  He's the third to pass in the last six months.  He has left a legacy of wisdom and love for us all.  Though it's sad, it's also exciting he's been reunited with his wife.  And the Church will keep running strong, as new Apostles will be divinely called to complete the quorum again in just a few short weeks.  

Here are a few of my favorite quotes and counsel from Elder Scott...

"In quiet moments when you think about it, you recognize what is critically important in life and what isn't. Be wise and don't let good things crowd out those that are essential."

This and next two photos: Daily Herald

I love this man's optimism, understanding of the scriptures, how well rounded he was, he was so humble, and how in tune to the Spirit he was.  Thank you Elder Scott for the strength you gave to me and the teachings you shared that will always be remembered.  

See ya, summer! Hello, school!

Well, school has finally arrived for our sweet little ones!  It was a long summer...they got out the end of May and now are back the 8th of September.  So it was a nice (most days) summer!  But they are ready to get back to a regular routine and schedule again, as I've been able to tell especially the last few weeks.

The last day of vacation was Labor Day.  We celebrated by going to Saratoga.  We visited the museum, went to the park, and swam at the outdoor pool.  The last hour, we were the only ones there, which was fun to have the pool all to ourselves!  The kids loved the slide, and we all had a blast!  It was also the last day of the season, so we were the last customers this year.  Then, we all went to the grocery store here and gave all of the kids (and ourselves) $5 to pick out whatever they wanted to contribute to dinner.  We had corn dogs, pringles, ice cream, donuts, salad (can you guess who picked that one?), tater babies, strawberry punch, and pizza sticks.  It was a crazy dinner!  They enjoyed that.   We talked about our favorite moments and memories from the summer.  It's been a good one!  We read some back to school themed books, picked out our first day of school outfits and put them out, got our backpacks by the door, and tried [ahem] to go to sleep.

The kids had no problem waking up, they were so excited for the first day!  They requested banana muffins for breakfast the occasion, which was easy.  We chattered about what was going to happen.  They admitted they were both bummed summer was over, but excited to see their friends again.  Cal was being a stink and didn't want me to take his picture, ha ha!  He's too cool for school already.

Emma is in 4th grade this year and got Ms. Goodwine, who is very sweet.  I think she will like her, and she has quite a few good friends in her class.  And was so happy to get back together at recess with the old crew.

Callahan is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Hansen.  She seems like she'll be a really good teacher.  Cal was excited to play with all of his friends at recess and he did a lot of scaring the girls who were chasing him and his buddies away (Emma and I tried to convince him that meant they like the boys, but he didn't believe us).  He wouldn't smile before school, so I made him do a do-over after.  :)

After school, we talked quickly about the first big day, made little graham cracker school busses for a snack, and it was out the door!  We dropped Cal off at football practice.  He was stoked to get started again.  He loves sports!  Then we took Lucy to dance, which she just started the previous week.  She's all over it and enjoys practicing at home and showing and telling everyone about it.  Emma said she looked like the cotton candy girl, with her blue leotard and pink tutu (you can guess who picked that ensemble out).  Emma is going to start up art lessons in a few weeks here, which she is really looking forward to.

Lucy also started Preschool.  We did our neighborhood joy school again, and she's loved it so far.  (Since I'm teaching the first week, she'd better, lol!)  This is her third year of preschool.  We also recently started "How to Read in 100 Easy Lessons".  She's doing well with it so far!

So back to the crazy routine...I admit I miss the slower pace of summer as well, but glad for better structure again.  It's gonna be a great year!  Cov and Lucy already miss Cal and Emma.  "I love Emma!"  "Where's Cal?" they keep asking.  They'll get adjusted though. I miss them, too, but it's for the best!

A Meow-velous 9th birthday for Emma!

Emma turned 9 yesterday!  From sun up to sun down, we had an eventful, fun day!

Em had some friends over for a pajama breakfast party.  She wanted to do a kitty theme, of course.  It was awesome, because she pretty much made all of the invitations, came up with most of the game and food ideas herself, helped create the decorations. She helped get ready for it a lot, so it was really nice!

Emma's guests included: Liberty, Emily, Morgan, Erika, Christine, Abby, and Beckie.  These girls are all so cute and well behaved.  Emma's lucky to have such great friends.  We had purple/bright pink/mint green colors for the party, and decorated with stuffed cats, and yarn pom pom balls.

As the girls came, they made their own kitty ear headbands, which they loved.  Then we had breakfast.  It was "Cat Cakes" pancakes, where they had to make their own cat face pancakes with "kitty fixin's".  We also had "kitty whisker" hash browns, "birds egg" scrambled eggs, and paw lickin' good milk and juice.  Lucy had fun helping me cook before the party.  We put a candle in her pancake and sang to her.  The girls talked and giggled as they ate, they're so funny and cute at this age.

The first game was where we wrapped prizes in the yarn.  Then the girls sat in a circle, and unwrapped the prizes.  The one who unwrapped it when it landed in their lap was the one who got the prize.  They got a kick out of it and were excited about the prizes Em picked out - nail polishes, gum, scarves, socks, candy, coin purses, hair accessories, etc.

Then the girls played kitty tag in the back yard.  We had sticky felt cat tails we cut out the girls put on their backs.  The one who was it had to get a tail from one of the other girls, and then the next girl was it, until they all had a turn.  They laughed a ton for this one!

Then we did Musical Cats.  Just like musical chairs, only we set up cats in a circle and the girls had to go by the cat in the circle until the song stopped.  Cal was our DJ, he loved doing that!

Next, we did presents.  The girls were so thoughtful and gave Emma some stuff she really loved!  Then the girls wrapped themselves in yarn and chased each other, it was funny.  Next, we did some crazy cat videos on YouTube, and there was lots of laughing all around.

That afternoon, Emma's friend Liberty stayed and hung out, which was fun for Emma.  They played so many fun things.  We went to the animal shelter to see if there were any cats worth adopting.  All of the cats they had were males, and we are looking for a female, so it won't spray.  Emma wanted the black kitten, or the maine coon they had.  But we told her it's best not to just jump in and get the first cat we see, to wait to get one we really want.  We will keep checking back to see what we can find.  We promised her we'd get one and I think she is ready (thought I don't know about the rest of the kids, or me!).

For dinner, Emma picked Buck's, so we went there.  She was excited when the employees at Buck's came to sing to her.  She wasn't embarrased, though I thought she might be.   We also opened up her presents from us.  She recently saved up $40 to buy a tablet (and she has $45 in the bank which is pretty good for a girl her age I think), we helped out with the rest of the cost and got her a blue case for it.  She also got some Monster High dolls from the kids and some clothes from us, which she loved.

We looked through her baby book, and then we did cake and ice-cream.  She liked the kitty cake I made for her.  My cakes are all thrown together pretty quick and by no means professional, but at least my kids like them.

What a cute girl Emma is!  I love her so much! She's a sweetheart and it's hard to imagine what life for anyone who knows her would be like!  Happy birthday to our Emma girl!

Emma @ 9

In her spare time: Writing stories and in her journal and drawing pictures.
Best friend: Beckie, Emily, Christine, Liberty, Dalaney
Favorite color: Mint green
Favorite book: Diary of a Wimpy kid books
Favorite food: Shepard's Pie
Favorite thing to play with: Monster High Dolls, Kitties
Favorite subject at school: Science
Favorite TV show: Jessie, Monster High
Favorite movie: Night at the Museum
Favorite song: "Happy"
Favorite game; Minecraft, UNO attack
Favorite season: Winter
Favorite animal: Cats - big and little
Favorite sport: Football
Thing she's best at: Helping others
Wants to be when she grows up: Veterinarian and artist