We tried to slow our pace down a bit the first week of March, with my sprained ankle and having to wear the boot...haha...but with our family of six, slowing down sometimes seems silly in keeping up with life, but we did the best we could to hunker down the fort and take things easy! But, after just keeping up with our housework and taking several drives to go look at housing options for our family to allow us to grow and fit the needs of our family, we were feeling rather exhausted....just like sweet Joshua here who didn't quite make it til his nap. Such a sleepy precious boy :)
Love these smiles! It is a rare occurence for Josh to slow down long enough for me to snag a pic of him smiling these days, he is usually just busy busy, on the go....but I was SOOOOOO thrilled I captured this little gem of a pic!! He is such a handsome little guy, with those sparkling big brown eyes, squishy soft cheeks, and face-filled smile!! He was soo mezmerized by the stacking and then would make exclamatory, "Ooooooooooew!!!!" sounds when they all came tumbling down. HE is sooo expressive with his face and silly sound effects of emotion. Sure love this boy!
THese were some of my treasured spiritual insight finds of the week, which just helped boost my spirits and lift me up! I can always count on conference talks and studying my scriptures with purposeful intent to do that. I was touched by these quotes as I have been studying Motherhood lately, and loved the powerful reminder they are on what matter most. Elder K. Brett Nattress powerfully quoted, "Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels." He went on to affirm, "
I don’t know if anything in this world could bring more happiness and joy than to know that our children know the Savior." I loved that reminder and it rings so true to my feelings as a parent. seeking to help my children develop testimonies of their own and develop a lifelong desire to learn about, grow closer to, serve and try to pattern their lives after our dear Savior. What a spiritual boost this was for me this week. Truly, our children are an inheritance from God and I am so thankful for my sweet husband and them and the opportunity we have to teach them, lead them and guide them on their path back to their heavenly home. What wonderful, encouraging and strengthening actionable truths! I know these words to be true!
For Family Home Evening on Mon, 3-6-17, we talked about Unselfishness and played a game from the Friend Magazine with scenarios to answer with prophet quotes on the back we discussed. My favorite part was that I had the kiddos each prepare something to share, by having them find a picture in the gospel art notebook about someone in the scriptures who demonstrated love and unselfishness. I was so proud of Nathan who chose the story of the 10 Lepers and he talked about how only one of them came back to thank the Savior. We talked about how truly that was very unselfish of him and the Savior, for performing the miracle in the first place, and then for being so mindful and kind to come back and thank Jesus for being healed. I was touched Nathan came up with this all on his own. He closed with his testimony that He likes helping people and that helping others make him feel good inside! :)
Katelyn shared her story on the Good Samaritan. She talked about how regardless of our differences, we can always think of others and care for them no matter how different they may be from us, or how difficult it can be to take the time to look around and think of how we can help others. I was so proud of her for sharing her own chosen scripture for FHE too that she read in her primary class in Doctrine and Covenants. She is getting so enthusiastic about reading and searching her scriptures for herself!! What a sweet joy she is when she lights up with a love for learning spiritual truths!
Gracie happily shared some coloring pages with us and typically likes to sing us the "power to Choose" Song or "As a Child of God," her newest favorite Primary Song, or reciting an article of faith. Love that smile and her willingness to share!!
We ordered little caterpillars this week too to prepare for our Preschool Lesson on Gardening and we are excited to see them grow and turn into butterflies!! I love the life lesson we can learn from this too! Even though we may merely start out at seemingly small, miniscule catterpillars, we can all grown and become the most beautiful and strong butterflies too! Love our homeschooling adventures and these little everyday simple joys of life. :)
Haha...This is what little brothers like to do while their sisters try to share their part during FHE....such a silly little tease.... =P
For our treat, we made the Friend magazine recipe of brownie hearts and they were delicious! Yay for love and unselfishness as our value for the month of March, and special memorable times together. :)
Remembering our wall hangings before our transition to getting our home ready to sell, and all our personal pictures had to come down. :( 
