Sunday December 6, 2009

So this morning we all must have been so tired. We all ended up sleeping in late. I started getting the kids ready for church, but then realized that our street had been plowed down to one lane and had blocked off many driveways, and our an was still covered in snow. We would've been pretty late for church as it was, so we decided not to go today. The kids spent the day playing together, and actually getting along. They played some board games, and painted etc. It was McKenna's turn to open the advent calendar. The slip she chose was "Re-enact the Nativity", so we did it tonight for Family Home Evening. Grant read about the birth of christ, and the kids got to act out the characters. It was quite the little show, haha. Kaitlyn was Mary. Tyson was Joseph (Catcher was supposed to be, until someone mentioned that Joseph and Mary are married...then he refused,haha) McKenna was the angel. Damian was a wise man and Maiya and Catcher were the shepherds. The kids stuffed dogs were the sheep, and the big stuffed pony was the donkey. When it came time for Joseph to lead Mary to the stable with the donkey...Joseph (Tyson) refused, and wanted to ride it himself (as pictured). We just used a bunch of material that Kaitlyn had in her sewing box for the robes and headpieces and the boards from Tyson's bed to make the stable. Maiya's doll was baby Jesus. Maiya was so funny. She was wearing her pjs under her costume, and she kept saying "Mom, I don't want to wear my pjs underneath....everyone will see" and I was like "Who's everyone? It's just our family" haha! Anyways, it was fun!
So I've decided to make up a new little program for my kids. It's going to be a booklet full of goals for them to achieve. I'm calling it "The School of Life". I am putting in sections for different things I want them to learn and achieve. They can choose whichever goal they want to work on, but they must be always working on at least one goal. Some of the things that I have come up with to put in the booklet are things such as Responsibility (which would include things such as doing chores, homework and such without being asked) Spirituality (things such as saying prayers, reading scriptures, listening in church without being asked) Cooking (different levels of achievement) Service (doing different types of service in the home, church and community) Cleaning (learning to do own laundry, cleaning bathrooms, dishes etc) Financial (learning to earn money and learning how to budget it) and there will be other categories, but I just need to work out how I am going to go about it. I am going to be giving them badges when they earn them for the different categories that they complete. I hope it works out once I get it organized. I think it will be very motivating and encouraging for them as long as I can be consistent with it.