Family Night!

Family Home Evening is something that was always very important to my family growing up. It was understood that you didn't make plans with friends or anything on Monday evenings. We didn't even play with friends on Monday afternoons so that we had time to do our homework before dinner. Because after dinner it was time for Family Night! Usually I really enjoyed FHE as a kid. We had fun lessons, games, treats. We also read scriptures together as a family. I always assumed I would have a similar tradition of FHE in my own home.

Flash forward 10 years and that is finally becoming a reality. I'm sure we should have been doing regular Family Home Evenings that whole time, but let's me honest. We didn't. Ian and I never much saw the point of doing it with just us and then when we had a baby who didn't speak or anything we still saw little point. Let me clarify. I still felt twinges of guilt for not making more of an effort. For that last couple years I have tried harder, but it still ended up being sporadic. One of my goals for this year is to make Monday night Family Home Evenings a priority. So far we are doing great and having lots of fun.

In the past we used the Nursery manual to help us with lessons, but lately we have been looking for inspiration elsewhere. The first week when it was my turn I used a concept and idea I read about in the Ensign. It was great. Last week Ian did a really fun lesson about listening and obeying using Simon Says. This week the pressure was on to come up with another fun and interesting lesson. I found a bunch of ideas on this new website. I didn't even look at them all. I used the lesson on manners. It was perfect for the boys because each of the manners were a different superhero. Weston wore his cape for the lesson and we talked about how we can all be superheroes in our home by trying to be more like Power Please and Thunder Thank You or Cool Can I Help. Anyway, I just wanted to share this website with you if you are looking for FHE ideas.

We are also working on reading scriptures daily as a family. For Christmas we got the Book of Mormon for Latter Day Saint Families. It is great because it has lots of pictures, definitions of hard words, and applicable quotes from general authorities. I highly recommend it.

I definitely can tell a difference in the spirit of our home as we are implementing these habits. They bring us closer to each other and closer to our Heavenly Father. I am certainly grateful for the example my parents set of bringing our family together each week to learn about the gospel and enjoy each other's company. I hope that my kids end up with as fond memories as I have of Family Night.

Identity Crisis

This weekend was completely empty. Nothing on the calendar. No plans. Nothing I actually wanted to get done around the house. Sure, there's always something that needs to be done, but something I remotely felt motivated to do? No. It made me a twinge depressed. Ian asked, "what do you want to do tomorrow?" on Friday night. I laughed. Seriously, is this even a question in my life. I don't do what I want to do hardly EVER. I don't even hardly know what I would want to do even if I could do whatever I wanted.

It shone the light more fiercely than normal on the part of me that feels hollow and empty. I love my children. This isn't even remotely about that. I have no regrets about having kids. They are fabulous, smart, funny, and seriously adorable. But somehow I still feel like I lost myself in the process of becoming a mother. I go through the motions. I do the same things I have done for the past 4 years. Some of it fun and a little exciting, and some of it so mundane it makes me want to scream. Since being a mom is all I do these days, all I seem to have room for in my life, it leaves me wondering what is left of ME. Who I was before I had kids. I don't even recognize myself anymore. Every once in awhile I get glimpses of the "old" me and it makes me smile and laugh and feel a little more carefree for awhile.

I am going to be 27 this year. Yipes. So I know I'm not alone in the little crisis I was having this weekend, so if you have any advice or insights let me know. For now my plan of action is to figure out something to do (a hobby, if you will) and someone to do it with (a friend. Anyone???). I'm hoping that spending a little more real time being Shannon and not Mommy will help me reconnect with that "old" self and make the current me more happy, more filled rather than hollow, and then, maybe then, I will be able to really figure out how to move forward and be the best person I can be now.

Screaming Deal

I just have to share/gloat . . .

I have mentioned Target in the past, right? Oh yes, I have. Anyway, I went there today with both kids to get some stuff for Weston's Star Wars birthday party that's coming up soon. Last time I was there they had a bunch of toys on sale, so I decided to swing through that aisle again. Totally worth it. Everything was now 75% off. I got Davin's birthday all wrapped up for $16.66. Regular price his presents would have cost $66.98. Go me. He did see them, but he'll forget by the end of March. Weston wasn't even an ounce jealous because he was so excited about his party and the stuff we got for it. One of Davin's birthday presents a Fisher Price Little People ride on toy . . . $9.18

Davin has been a major pill the last few days. He screamed most of the time we were at Target. I was embarrassed. My kids are usually exceptionally well behaved. Sigh. It could be that he never finished his antibiotic when he was throwing up and therefore he still has an ear infection. Possibly. I'm going to just wait it out though since we already have a doctor's appointment scheduled for early next week.

Since Davin has been a little cranky lately he has also been mostly waking up crying. I think. Our baby monitor is completely shot. I took the one in our room out because it mostly just shut off randomly and didn't work anyway. I ordered a new monitor off Amazon a few days ago. I was bummed because it said it wasn't going to be delivered until early February!!! However, it came today! I'm so excited to have a monitor that works. :) It was a really good deal too.

Weston is so excited for his birthday. He, of course, wants it to be today. Instead we are going to order a pizza for dinner and watch some of Dad's new Star Wars movies tonight. Should be fun. I also need to get crackin' on my Christmas thank you's. We don't have anything planned for this weekend though, so hopefully I will make some good progress.

Sweet's

The word sweet has so many different meanings these day. It is the equivalent of "awesome" or "cool." It also can describe a kind person or the way a food tastes. It can also be a noun. As in let's eat some sweets! Today the kids and I visited the Sweet's Gourmet Candies factory. The do free tours Mon-Thurs. It was so fun. I couldn't bring my purse or camera with me inside the tour, so no pictures, but let's just say it was a big hit with Weston. He kept saying "This is just too cool for me." :)

We got to sample the candies we saw being made. Like an unfinished jelly bean, a fresh orange stick, and some fresh taffy. After the tour they let you loose in the factory store. Well we had to try a few other things, of course. We got some caramel nut patties and Boston baked beans. The kids got free bags of their Valentine candy assortment.

All in all definitely a successful outing. When we were back in the car Weston said "It would be so fun to have a pass to there. Then we could go whenever we wanted." Sigh. I explained that we could go back sometime because it was free. Anyway, if you live nearby I highly recommend a tour of the Sweet's candy factory.

Life's a Dance Party

Good news! Davin hasn't thrown up since Saturday night. Today he seems all the way better, with the exception that he thinks he should still be allowed to watch movies non-stop. Oops.

I don't know that Ian is feeling much better from his cold and he had to go to work today regardless, so hopefully he will be back to normal soon too.

I am feeling pretty productive today. I finally got all the laundry done and put away. I tidied and vacuumed the house. Did the dishes. Cleaned the stove. Disinfected all the door handles and light switches. Swept the kitchen. Gathered up all the toys from under the couch and swept under there.

After all that I picked up Weston from school and we all went to the library to pick out some new books. I got us all fed lunch and then took my much deserved computer break while the kids "napped." I finally started working on my blog books! I have never done one, so I am going to do 2. One of all my blog posts from 2007 and 2008 and a separate book for 2009. The plan will be to do each year from now on. I am pretty excited, but am having a little bit of a hard time with the stupid software lagging. Sigh.

During my computer break I also updated my goodreads lists and joined paperbackswap.com. It's pretty cool. I went through my bookshelves and listed about 14 books that I had that I didn't particularly want to read again. Once you post 10 books you get 2 credits to start out with. I used both my credits and ordered a hardback copy of The Lovely Bones. I hope it's good. I also ordered a paperback of The Giver. It's one of my all-time faves.

I still wanted to get some more cleaning done, but alas my kiddos seem to think it's my job to entertain them this afternoon. Sometimes they drive me nuts and sometimes when that happens I do a little something to get all our minds off of being bored.

We have a dance party!
And sometimes we wear hats.

Our favorite dance party songs are:
"Single Ladies in Mayberry," (by Party Ben) "Buddy Holly," (by Weezer) "Jai Ho," (from Slumdog Millionaire) and "Great DJ" (by The Ting Tings).

Bonus! Having a dance party is about the
equivalent of a 20 minute Denise Austin workout video!

Our other fun indoor boredom buster is the new Playhut fire truck. The kids really like it, especially Weston. He always tries to get Davin to go in there with him. Last night he begged us to take this picture of him.

So, that's what we have been doing around here. I sure hope your weekend was more fun and involved less puking than ours did.

****Since so many of you are asking . . . I am using blurb.com to do my blog books. I can't say if it's the best option yet since I haven't actually done them, but so far my first book of posts are all uploaded. Membership and the book-making software are both free. The books range in price depending on how long they are. The first one I am doing is 284 pages so far, but that has each post on it's own page and they aren't that long, so I am going to try to consolidate it. I'm hoping that in the end the book will be closer to 200 pages and then it will cost about $35 in hardcover. There are other sites that will upload your blog posts to a book, so feel free to look around. I chose blurb.com based on my friend, Sharlyn's recommendation.

Sickies

I know it's been a few days since my last post, but Davin has been sick and now Ian is too. It was throw-up sick too. The worst kind. Poor Davin just couldn't hold ANYthing down. He's better today. No puking at all today. Hooray!

Ian just has an icky cold. Which actually worked out ok because he stayed home from church with Davin today. I had a lovely time at church without having to deal with Dav. :) Weston is so well behaved and easy. I even had time to snuggle my friend's 6 week old baby during Sacrament meeting. Sigh. So cute.

I am hoping that Weston and I stay healthy. We shall see.

Ode to Target

Why do I love Target?

It is the best store. It has everything (especially if you have a SuperTarget).
Cute clothes.
Tons of baby stuff.
Cute and not-lame-looking greeting cards for 99 cents.
The dollar spot. Need I say more?
The $1.50 popcorn/drink combo is a must. It keeps Davin busy and happy so I can browse to my heart's content. I go to Target pretty much every week while Weston is in school. Shall we say it's my guilty pleasure?

Since it is post-Christmas they have tons of stuff on Clearance.
As much as I love Target. I love their Clearance even better.
In the past I got a pair of all time favorite jeans on Target clearance for $7.00.
This week I got this adorable plum sweater for $6.25.
I also got a kelly green hoodie for $7.50.
You all know I love a good deal.
And because of that, I love Target.

THE END