25 words

I've spent the past two days listening and learning at the feet of great and inspired men and women. By no means are they perfect, but their words were perfect for me at this time - they said exactly what I needed to hear right now. One speaker, Rosemary M. Wixom, related an experience a father had during a time of war. Having been away from his family for over two years, and not knowing if he'd ever see them again, he was suddenly given the chance to send a message home. The catch? He had to limit his letter to twenty five words. 

25 WORDS! 

Imagine with me for a moment now that you're in that situation - what would you write? Would you be concerned with instructing your children and making it known that this note truly was from you, as this man had been? Would your despair over the meager allowance of communication be enough to throw in the towel all together? What would you say? As I sat thinking about this situation  I truly thought over what I would say. Here are the things I would really want my kiddos and Hottie Husband to hear, after two years of not seeing them, and no promise I would ever see them again:

I LOVE YOU to the moon and back! 

Smile, Laugh, Love ALWAYS. 

Our family is FOREVER. 

Never give up; but always forgive.  

MOMMY LOVE'S YOU!!!

Think about it - what would you say? And now that you have it figured out, make that your motto for today. Don't wait until tragedy divides you from your kiddos to tell them how amazing they are, and how much they are loved. Make it your everyday mission.

Photo Book

Monday night I compiled, completed, submitted, and ordered a quiet book for my boys. Yeah, it's as awesomely simple and fabulous as that! My boys are very visual little men, and are happily occupied for long car rides simply by Handsome Hubby and I telling them to find specific things out the window. We use a similar method during church to keep our kiddos listening to what is being taught and not making a huge ruckus for everyone around us [and truth be told, they are not perfect at keeping still/being quiet, but they do pretty well for their two and five years.] While listening to speakers, the boys will be given a word to listen for, and each time they hear the word they can collect 'points.' Points can be redeemed for candies some days, or for a show later, or sometimes they're simply collected - it doesn't seem to matter too much what the points are going towards, as long at they get 'points.' My boys are wonderful that way :) 
  Back to the book: So, to make their points system more enjoyable and efficient during sacrament, I made a quiet book with pictures I collected through a google image search. These images include temples, Prophets, Jesus Christ, and a few others. I then uploaded these images to Shutterfly and made a quiet book of wonderful pictures [that my boys can choose their points collecting word from] to help my boys find enjoyment in stillness, quiet, and learning. The best thing about Shutterfly is if you order books from them they will send you promotional codes every now and then to redeem a FREE 8x8 hard cover book - which is what I did with my quiet book! So, with a total cost of $6.99USD, it doesn't get much better than this! The code I was sent is MYBOOK. Give the code a try, and if it doesn't work for you simply call the company and I'm betting they'll honor it for you. 
Just in case the link [found at the bottom of this post] to the book doesn't work for you, here is a sampling of the photos found in my boys book to give you an idea of what to put in yours:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Kids and Conference

I have two small boys, something that most returning readers are more than aware of. Because of this fact I have been asked by a few people how I actually watch - and enjoy - four two hour sessions of General Conference in a two day span. Are you curious too? Well, here's my not so secret secret: candy. Yup, this health conscience - lead by example - berries are an awesome dessert Mama uses CANDY to illicit compliant behaviour on occasion. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I set out bowls of candy and say "only those watching can partake!" Instead I make a game of it, and every time a key word is heard then Darius gets 1 jellybean/skittle/m&m or whatever treat he picked out. Not only does this make it into a game for him, but he listens intently so he can receive a treat. I have done this for two conferences [this weekend will be Darius' third full weekend of conference] now and it works like a charm! Last conference his key word was "Jesus Christ" or any of the synonyms used in the scriptures. After two full days of conditioning it took a while for his candy reflex to relax, and it was common place for him to shout out during sacrament meeting "I heard Jesus Christ!!!" I'm not sure what the rest of the congregation thought by these exclamations ha ha!

Pinterest being the excellent source for all things that it is, I have compiled other Mama's favourite ways to help there kids enjoy and look forward to conference [as opposed to the opposite...no one wants a scheduled semi-annual power struggle with their kids] and thought I would share them with you.

To download yours for free, check out this link! It contains all sorts of colouring and attention activities - perfect for your primary star!

This printable puts crayons to good use!

another colouring page - because we all know busy hands keep sweet ones happy!

What about building your own Reverence Tent? For the story behind it, and a good way to present the idea to your kids, look here.

Another great idea is to do a "Conference Wall" to organise pictures of the speakers by the topics on which they speak. Great idea for visual learners! For the details on it, check out this blog.

As for us, we'll be expanding our 'keywords' to nine, having a treat or snack attached to each, and I am going to try to build a reverence tent tonight to surprise the boys with in the morning. There's nothing like a tent to make conference a special gathering!

This Weekend

Twice a year the church I belong to, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, hold a General Conference. I look forward to conference, and every time it rolls around I have questions ready to be answered as the boys and I tune in. A friend posted this graphic on facebook, and I think it is perfect in its simplicity, and awesome in its design so I needed to share as well. Here's a glimpse at how I'll be spending my Saturday and Sunday this week - being uplifted and edified!

[for a larger image, click on the image and it will take you to the original source.]