FHE

We have recently put a strong focus on having Family Home Evenings the last month and I have found a wonderful blog that has been a life saver; http://fhein5.webs.com/lessonseries.htm This gal takes songs from the children's songbook and uses one verse per week with a song that has multiple verses.  This way, you have many weeks planned in advance, plus they are aimed to be 5 minutes long.  I chose to do her "Follow the Prophet" series and last night we learned about Noah.  We watched a short movie then built our ark and filled it with animals and Noah and his family.  Then we made it rain (squirt bottle) while Maci held her trusty umbrella.  Then we ate the infamous animal cookies.  She just loves having FHE.  She even asks what we are going to learn about the next couple of night.  She wants it more than once a week.  Phew, we are off to a great start with FHE and our toddler! Hooray! 

 

 Then comes the destroyer, I mean Mr. Curious.

Glad it was easy to rebuild.  This little guy's sister wasn't happy that he tore it down.

Good thing he is cute!

Christmas crafts

I wanted to Maci to do a craft every day for the 12 days of Christmas.  I don't think we made the everyday part, but each time she simply LOVED it. Besides, I love to watch her creativity develop. So this is a log of what she made for our home.

 

 This picture makes me laugh!!!  Sprinkles stuck to her nose! (How did it get there you ask?  Who knows, but I bet she was test tasting the buttons.)

 This was the countdown until Christmas.  Everyday she would ask if she could cut her chain.

 She helped me put up these window clings.  I love that snowman.  Not quite together but perfect for the toddler.

 David loves trains and we try to have one around the Christmas tree every year.  This is one of her favorite things to do.  This train poofs smoke when it goes around.

 This is her gumdrop snowflake.

 Have to throw this in here... She just loves cheese, that is all I can say...

 Grandma Held sent this to Maci. It is a book about the nativity story but also the scenery to put together yourself.  She loved this so much! (and now that Christmas is over, she constantly asks to get it out so she can play with it)

 This is my favorite.  I let her paint and voila!

 You can't have a Christmas without decorating cookies.  I guess she loved the chocolate sprinkles.

 And these were New Year's balls that the girls decorated to drop for New Year's Eve.

 Aleck got to wear Hailey's for a couple seconds.  That is how long he would let it be on his head.  Crafts are sure fun for little peeps.  I know Maci enjoys it.

Kansas trip (Halloween, Birthday and 1st hair cut)

And now to show you our wonderful trip to Kansas...

  Here we are at the pumpkin patch with cousins Acacia and Carly. Maci's favorite thing was riding on the train, Carly's favorite thing was shooting pumpkins from the canon and Acacia's favorite thing was the zip line.  Aleck's favorite was the slide.  He even went down a few times with his daddy.

 

 Maci with cousins Carly and Kirra at the zoo. 

This is our goofy girl.  The main reason for coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house was so that we could help them do some landscaping in their front yard.  Maci was quite the little helper.

  She picked out her pumpkin at the patch and was SO excited to paint it.  I simply LOVE this picture of her!

Here is our cowgirl, Jesse (from Toy Story 2.) She loved having red hair.  It was fun, however, it was supposed to wash out the next day.  I think the temples of her head were red for a month.  She didn't mind. 

Off to go trick-or-treating.  They were good little troopers, well mannered and made it thru 2 blocks.

  And then there was this little guy who almost slept through his first Halloween.  I believe he woke up around 8:00 pm.  Just enough time to get him in his outfit and snap away.  My folks had a pretty sweet set up this year.  They set out the awning of their camper and we set some chairs around the fire pit and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows while mom handed out the candy. 

 Here we have the momentous occasion of the First Hair Cut.  I had prepped Maci by telling her that Grandma would cut her hair while we were in Kansas.  She also thought that cutting her hair would get rid of all her tangles. (Boy I wish!) She did wonderful!  She was excited and proud. 

 And for the biggest hype of the entire trip was her birthday.  She's been talking up her birthday for months now.  When we shop at Kmart, she always has to go past the balls and hula-hoops, always asking if she could have one.  So, I told her at the end of summer that maybe she could get one for her birthday.  She sure didn't let David or I forget that was what she wanted.

 So the day before her birthday, I didn't have any major plans for her cake, we go to the store.  I ask Maci what kind of cake she wants me to make and she said she wanted a minion cake.  So I googled one and voila!  It turned out SO CUTE!  And of course she ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!

Poor girl was tormented because she had to wait to open presents. 

 Aleck and Grandma watching the birthday girl open presents.

  This was what she was really after. Her wish came true.

What topped off the day was talking to Chelsea!  What a special birthday treat that was!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our Sweet Princess Maci! What a joy and blessing it is to have you in our lives.