Ten Years and Counting

Here is a far from complete list of reasons why I love this guy--one for each of the years we've been married.

10. He's the hero of our children. When someone says, "Wow--you have five kids?" he says, "Yes--it's great!" He is the highlight of their lives.

9. I know that he will always work hard to provide for our family. Always.

8. He fully supports my desire to stay at home with our children. When people ask him if I work, he says, "Yes--she takes care of our five kids."

7. He makes me giggle. We really enjoy being together and teasing, but it is never, never unkind.

6. He doesn't mid the dirty work--killing spiders, taking out the trash, lifting heavy things, or changing diapers. He never complains when I ask him to help.

5. He really thinks I'm beautiful, even after my body has been stretched by the afore mentioned five kids, or if Iget hairy, or if I wear a ponytail for 6 days in a row.

4. He has fun, and invites everyone around him to join in. He is so friendly and knows all our neighbors. He shares his enthusiasm for life with a long list of friends.

3. He's very handy with his hands. He knows how to fix or make or create just about everything. And when he plays the viola, I swoon.

2. He is sensitive, and it is a strength.

1. He is honest, and worthy, and GOOD.

And a bonus: He loves me, and looks forward to spending eternity with me.

I love you, Ben. (Come home soon--we miss you!)

I wouldn't be a true Mom blogger if I didn't post this...

...Tessa's first pigtails.

She's getting some pretty long curls, and it was time to tame them. She did not enjoy it. But she did enjoy her snack. (I'm a sucker for messy faced babies. I'm amazed at how many pictures I have of each of my children with messy faces.) I also think this is pretty cute...

Such a good little sleeper. All she needs is her blanket and two fingers, and she's good for the night. (Or for the nap, as in the case above.)

Family Proclamation--Part 4

(Again, these Family Proclamation ideas are from "We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ." Each day is linked back to the original idea on that blog.)

Day 17: "Parents have a sacred duty to...teach [their children] to...be law-abiding citizens wherever they live."
Oh, the best-laid plans... We did this discussion and activity for our Family Home Evening. We talked about how we need to follow the laws of God and the laws of our land. I asked if they knew any laws, and a daughter said, "No calling names." We're working on that one this summer. After some more discussion, I pulled out the Pencil Spin game, so we could practice following rules. We had to make a new rule right away--the only person who gets to touch the pencil is the person whose turn it is to spin the pencil! The game itself was fun, but they were so distracted with keeping track of who should be touching the pencil and who shouldn't be, that we had to end before we got through all the cards. Two of the girls requested the next day that we play it again, though, so I guess it went better than my memory of the event.
Day 18: "The family is ordained of God."
We had such a great vacation to Utah this summer. We spent the whole time with family. We really soak up all the limited time we get with them, and our kids are really remembering their cousins, and really enjoying playing with them. This activity was perfect for us. We took the family pictures of as many of our cousins as we have (because yes, I do save the Christmas cards!), and we mounted them on adhesive magnetic sheets, and cut them out. Now we have a fridge full of faces, and my kids love to "play" with their cousins! (Now I have to print off some vacation pictures to get the rest of the cousins. My kids have 47 cousins, 2 step cousins, and 4 more cousins on the way! Good thing I got lots of the adhesive magnetic sheet!)

Day 19: "Marriage between a man and a woman is essential to His eternal plan."

We had more of the recurring discussion that there are others in the world who choose to have different kinds of families. We do not love them less because of their choices. But if we want to follow God's plan for eternal happiness, then we do things the way God has asked us to do them. That means that marriage equals a man and a woman, and that union is essential to the plan. We made little marriage peg dolls today. Caytie had me help paint hers, and the others had me help with some touch-up, but otherwise they painted their own.

Shown below from left to right are Scott's, Emma's, Gracie's and Caytie's dolls. (I was going to put some fabric on for veils. I haven't gotten to it yet...) The girls play with them often, and like to make them kiss. I like that that's what they think married people do. :) Scott enjoyed making them, but hasn't touched his since. (Can't blame the 9-year old boy much for that, I guess.)

Day 20: "Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity."
I asked my kids on this day what it meant for their dad and me to be faithful to each other. They didn't really understand that, so I asked them if it was OK for moms and dads to "love" other men or women. "No way!" I told them that their dad and I were being faithful to each other because we love only each other, and also as a gift for them, so that they could be raised in a strong family. For the activity they traced some doodle characters to make funny cartoons, because let's face it--children are entitled to have fun, too. This was Scott's absolutely favorite activity so far. He kept making more characters all day, and the next day, and the next... The girls all enjoyed it, too, but it only kept their attention for the afternoon.

Family Proclamation--Part 3

(See the new button over there ---> The Family Proclamation is 15 years old this year! Those two bloggers are having a celebration. Click on the button to see what it's all about. I hear there will be giveaways...)



Here is the next installment. As always, thanks to Jocelyn at "We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ" for the wonderful ideas. (And again, all days are linked to her posts.)



Day 13: "We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan."
We talked again this day about how we have spiritual bodies as well as physical bodies. Our physical bodies are important, and we need to take care of them, and we need to not harm other people's bodies, since they are important in God's plan. We made "stained glass hearts" on this day, with crayon shavings in waxed paper. I hadn't done this since I was a kid, and it was a lot of fun for us all. (I did all the ironing, though--I was a little controlling that day.)




Day 14: "Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children."
After we talked about what this means, I told the kids they had to help me with a secret mission: to give their Dad a "heart attack". We cut out a bunch of hearts, and wrote love notes on them for him, and decorated his side of the bed with them. They were able to help me let my husband know how much I love him. They were so excited for him to come home that they could hardly stand it. And Ben was just as excited to see it as they were to show him. (Thanks for the support on this one, Ben!) Sorry, no pictures. (Jocelyn did a different activity--but I couldn't find the heart-shaped pans in the middle of the summer.)



Day 15: "'Children are an heritage of the Lord' (Psalm 127:3) Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs..."
As part of providing for physical needs, I made these "Favorite Child" t-shirts for each of my children--because they are all my favorite children. (It was a good thing that these were very easy to make, because some had to be bribed to put them on to take the picture--and one wouldn't even do that. But the two oldest really liked them--maybe because they understood what the shirt meant...)
Day 16: "Parents have a sacred duty...to teach [their children] to love and serve one another."
I liked this discussion, because we got to talk about why I try to get these sweet children to STOP FIGHTING with each other! It's not just my idea--we've been commanded by the Lord to teach our children to be charitable, the real "pure love of Christ" kind of attitude. I know they can do it. They have such great potentials! This activity today helped me see that they do care about each other. We drew names to see who they would make a bead necklace for, and they all got so excited about making them for their sibling. (Scott was kind to thank Caytie for her "creation," and Caytie was kind to not mind that Scott rearranged the whole thing!) They put plastic Easter eggs on some of them, so that they could put special things in them.
They made Daddy a bracelet...

...and a necklace for me, which I have worn around town a couple times--not quite by accident.

All these kids really are my favorites.

Family Proclamation--Part 2

I know you've been waiting patiently for the next installment of our "Summer of the Family Proclamation." Well, this is your lucky day, because here's the second post about what we've been up to! Again, all days are linked back to the blog "We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ," where I got almost all of the ideas.



Day 9: "Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."
We had a discussion about how Ben and I got married in a temple for a good reason--so that it would last for eternity. I told them about what the phrase "until death do us part" means, and how it wasn't part of our marriage ceremony--ours said, "for time and all eternity." They understood the difference well. The kids loved the activity that we did for the day--making temples out of sugar cubes. I thought of gluing them together, but they had so much fun, I decided not to, and we've done the activity again a couple times since then.

Day 10: "The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife."
We talked this day about how the very first commandment that God gave to the first people on Earth was about how they should be parents as husband and wife. It must be pretty important, if that was the first thing on the list. Jocelyn did a cute felt garland activity, but I forgot to get felt, so we colored some wooden picture frames I had, and the kids drew pictures of themselves getting married to their future spouse to put in them. They were pretty cute--but their pictures were in the sun during our vacation, and have faded! So, sorry, no pictures here of them.

Day 11: "We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force."

Why do we have lots of kids in our family? Heavenly Father asked us to do our part to "multiply and replenish." This discussion didn't go very deep--it was a hot, summer day, and they were ready to play instead of have a doctrinal discussion. But I think they are all pleased to be part of a large family. It's been one of the best summers we've had, in regards to how well they all play together. (And we've had some worst moments, as well, but we're not focusing on those here...) This day we made paper doll chains. Here are Gracie's:

Day 12: "We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife."

I was a little nervous to bring up this topic, as our kids are such varied ages, but I thought I'd let them guide it. I asked, "Do you know how babies are made?" And they all said, "In your tummy!" They then explained how they start out as tiny "seeds" and grow bigger and bigger until the doctor takes them out. (Scott was born by C-section, and they've seen the video--that is their first thought when talking about babies being born!) I did bring up that moms need dads help to start the babies growing, and that Mommies and Daddies should be married when they want to have their children. We also talked about how there are other people in the world who don't start their families this way, but if we want to do things the Lord's way, then we need to follow what the Proclamation teaches us.

The activity for today was making rag letters, to spell "Family." I had enough fabric to make the whole alphabet, and they turned out really nice. The kids love to spell their names. Now I need to make some doubles (and triples) so they can spell more things. (Click on the link for a link to a tutorial. They were easy enough for me to make, but I liked to watch how to do it first.)