Sunday, December 30, 2018

CFM: Be It unto Me according to Thy Word

Family lesson ideas while studying with little ones
Download blank CFM weekly program HERE.

Opening Song: When Someone Cares

With God Nothing Shall Be Impossible
Going through pictures from the Gospel Art Book, we can search for all the scripture story examples where God made things happen that should have been impossible.


A virgin could not conceive.  Nor could a barren woman who was well past child-bearing years.  But God had a plan for the birth of His Son and of John the Baptist, so both Mary and Elisabeth, against all earthly odds, became mothers.

God's Blessings Come in His Own Time
This lesson really hits home for me because of how we struggled with infertility for years before having our first child.  It'll be a great personal story to remind our son how special he is and how we had to trust in God's timing instead of how we felt the timetable should have played out.


As an object lesson we'll get a new jigsaw puzzle the kids have never seen before.  Without letting them see the cover art, they'll get one or two puzzle pieces handed to them at a time and will slowly get to put it all together.  Sometimes we may feel frustrated not knowing what the ending will be like, but through patience we work with the pieces we've been given and slowly watch our life "pictures" form around us.

Knowing Our Family History Blesses Our Lives
After reading about the lineage of Jesus we can talk about our family history and share stories of our ancestors.  Back in October our family started our own Dia de los Muertos family history tradition that could fit in perfectly for a lesson like this.


Closing Song: God Moves in a Mysterious Way


Sunday, December 23, 2018

CFM: We Are Responsible for Our Own Learning

  Come Follow Me--For individuals and Families
Family lesson ideas while studying with little ones


The Books in the New Testament
For our opening hymn we wanted to review what we'll be learning over the course of the year.  I had all the book names mixed and shuffled around on the floor so we could work together to organize the New Testament in order.  I would sing through the song a couple of times because if I learned anything in primary, it's that repetition is magic.


The hymn from the primary songbook can be found HERE.
Download names/lyrics printable PDF HERE.

You're Invited... 

Print and fold a "party invitation" enveloped to the family.  It is an invitation from Jesus to "Come follow me."  It can be a great opportunity to share the scripture story from Matthew 19 of the rich young man who asked Christ what he needed to do to have eternal life.  Explain how we are ALL invited to follow the Savior's example.



Download Come Follow Me Invitation PDF HERE.

What do you feel inspired to do to be more active in learning the gospel?
On New Year's Eve one of our family traditions has been to take pictures with our personal resolutions.  We decided to twist it a bit to fit into our Sunday lesson.  Each family member took the opportunity to reflect and decide what they wanted to work on to grow spiritually or to be more Christlike in 2019.


Parable of the Sower
This idea comes straight from the Come Follow Me manual:
One great way to help your family prepare to learn from the New Testament this year is to review the parable of the sower. Your family might enjoy looking at different kinds of ground near your home to visualize the types of ground described in the parable. What can we do to cultivate “good ground” in our home? (Matthew 13:8).
  My toddler loOoOoOoVes the dirt, so I think we were finally speaking his language.  After looking around the yard at the different ground types, it was a great opportunity to plant a family seed for in the home.  Together we promised to love and nurture it, and watch it grow into a family flower.

"Simon Says" Hearts
What kid doesn't love a good game of Simon Says?  After we played, we referred back to how Christ invited us to follow His example.  We reviewed all the wonderful things Jesus did when He was on the Earth and discussed how we can follow His righteous choices in the same way.


Download Hearts PDF HERE.  Each heart mentions something Christ did during his life that we can follow.  I also left some blank hearts for personal ideas.

Obviously, Come Follow Me had to be the closing hymn, right?
  

Last one!  Can you tell I'm SUPER excited for this new curriculum?  I made a blank program for each week if anyone out there is like me and loves writing things down to keep my thoughts organized.  

Download blank CFM weekly program HERE.


Happy churching!  What a fun, inspired adventure we all get to adjust to.  I'm excited to work through the bugs and see what works and what doesn't as we strive more to teach the gospel within the wall of our home.

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Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Love At Home

My amazing mom did it again!  As a gift to each of her grand babies, she writes or arranges a special lullaby just for them.  For my sweet Skylee she used the hymn Love at Home.

This song is so appropriate for my girl.  She seals the joy into the walls of our home.  Her smiling eyes, little giggles, and precious cuddles have melted all of our hearts.  She has bewitched us.  I am so, so eternally grateful for this perfect soul that has nestled into our family.


Click HERE for the sheet music and my mom's full post about the arrangement.  

Toddler Sticker Chart

Trekker recently had his third birthday.  The boy is growing into a man.  So it's about time we slam down some responsibilities.  Just kidding.  I've been wanting to make him a sticker chart for a while now and finally sat down to do it.


T's chores and rewards goes as follows:
Clean up all toys before bed for five days = piece of candy
Brush teeth without throwing a tantrum = Day at grandma's house
Potty training = Happy meal
Sleep in bed all night without climbing in to bed with Mommy and Daddy = New toy

My husband was mad at me for adding the last one.  😂  He loves it when Trex climbs in bed and cuddles us at night.  Easy to say when your side of the bed isn't the one being bombarded and you're not being pushed into the corner and sleeping in the fetal position.  Psh!  So over it.  

Download sticker chart HERE.

I'm including a blank chart as well for filling in custom chores/rewards too.  Enjoy, friends!
Download plain sticker chart HERE.


Thursday, October 25, 2018

Family History Singing Time

🎶Family history!  I am doing it!  My family history🎶
This week we'll be making a singing family tree for primary.  Each ancestor can be printed on a full-page of card stock paper then pinned up on the chalkboard like on the FamilySearch website.


All the ancestors have their "favorite primary song" on their card for everyone to sing.  I thought it could be fun to hide the relatives under the kids' chairs.  When someone comes up to the front of the room with their card they can make up a funny story about their family member.

"Great-Grandma Harriet loved baking and was known for her famous holiday pumpkin rolls.  She played the Chinese fiddle, trained wild horses, and kept a secret collection of dried-out butterfly wings."
Download Family History PDF HERE.

Download PDF without favorite songs HERE.

Happy singing!!


Thursday, August 23, 2018

Summer Singing Time

Summer is coming to a heartbreaking end and the school year is just around the corner.  We've had sooooooo much fun this summer, especially welcoming Little Sissy to the family.


Now that I'm trying to get back into the swing of singing time 
 and bringing a new baby to church in general

 SIDE NOTE : 
Don't wear a white skirt with a newborn because they're destined to poo all over you

... I wanted to start things out super simple.  


I was kind of going for a game similar to "Ten Fingers" to highlight all of the fun activities the kids did over the summer.  

Everyone starts out with five beach ball sticks in their hand.  I'll have the kids take turns coming up and drawing a slip of paper with a summer activity.  If someone draws "went to the beach" all of the children who went to the beach this summer lose one of their beach balls.  It's nice because if they lose the game they can't get too upset because they are winning at life !


It's easy.  It's mind numbing.  It technically doesn't have anything to do with singing, but it can keep the kids entertained between songs.  

Most of the activity ideas came from my Summer Bucket List post from last year... Here's some slips of paper that can be printed and cut out or you can totally come up with your own ideas!

After cutting out the beach balls, I just hot glued them to the back of some skewer sticks and BOOM! You've got yourself a primary activity.


Click HERE to download the PDF printable

Saturday, July 21, 2018

Life as a Family of Four


World, meet Skylee, the newest member of our family.  The transition going from one child to two has been quite an adventure.  It still feels a little surreal, but it's becoming more and more natural as the days go by.  I feel a new freshness and energy for life (well, as energetic as you can be recovering from childbirth) and I am so excited for this new chapter.

Here's some happy memories of our first week and a half as a family of four!

July 9th: Let's head to the hospital and get this baby outta here!
"A hairnet?!  Really though?" - Mitchell

First picture of Mommy and Sissy

The hospital stay

I have a cool roommate....

Trekker's first time meeting Sister.  He was so shy when he first walked in the room.  But after receiving a "gift" from her with Lightning McQueen car toys, he totally approved.


For those who don't know the story behind this... This cow slept with me in bed every single night from seven years old to college.

Sweetest Daddy in the world

Summer babies are the best.  I love how they don't have to wear a billion layers to keep warm like a winter baby.



Having my mom help out this week has been AMAZING.  
To all the grandmas out there: You are seriously the best!

Love this guy

Can't get over this kid's smile!




Trekker likes to crawl into Skylee's bed with her now and play.  It just tugs at my heartstrings.





So grateful for my blessings!  I love this family so much.  Here's to more memories and adventures!

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Thursday, June 7, 2018

Happy Father's Day

Father's Day is coming up SUPER soon!  And the primary was put in charge of handouts to pass out after sacrament meeting for all the fathers/father-figures.

We are keeping it simple.  Hershey's kisses attached to this Father's Day print-out.  So grateful for the Supermen in my life: My dad, husband, father-in-law, grandparents, uncles, bishops, teachers, friends... The list is endless!
Find the free printable HERE.  

To go along with the "kisses" theme, the primary kids are singing DADDY'S HOMECOMING for our special music number.  We're asking all the kids to wear their dads' ties to church to show off when they go up to sing.  Luckily, Mitch has a million dress ties so we'll be sure and have back ups for kids without access to any.

At the end of the song when everyone sings "A GREAT BIG KISS" the kids will have a little laminated lips picture hiding in their palms.  They can blow kisses out to show the congregation.
  
I've uploaded a bunch of different colors to Dropbox for easy printing.  Enjoy your kisses.  And spoil your fathers this upcoming special day!

Links:

Friday, May 4, 2018

Hiking Trail Singing Time

I don't know if it's the primary songs we've been focusing on or the PERFECT spring weather we've started having this week, but I have fallen in love with the outdoors lately and have just been basking in its breathtaking beauty.  It seemed only right to incorporate this amazing feeling into my next singing time lesson.  


I found a huge roll of brown paper in our garage today and used it to draw out a hiking trail map.  It definitely brought me back to my son's Dora the Explorer television days.  On the trail I marked different unique locations that match up with one of our primary songs we're working on.  


Blossom Meadow - I Often Go Walking
Singing Bird Forest - My Heavenly Father Loves Me (first verse)
Creature Summit - All Creatures of our God and King
Butterfly Wings Pass - My Heavenly Father Loves Me (second verse)
End of the Rainbow - When I am Baptized


I plan to stick it to the chalkboard and throw a magnet on the back of our little Hiker Lego.  That way he can move across the map board as we practice each song.


The great thing about this activity is that you can totally customize your map to the songs YOUR PRIMARY is currently working on.  I just lucked out that all our songs right now have to do with nature.  Fist bumps for matching themes!


Also, I have just the thing if you're looking for an awesome, unique arrangement of My Heavenly Father Loves Me.  This is the reason we're also learning All Creatures of our God and King this month.  Hop over to my mom's blog for the free sheet music HERE.  It has a cello solo option and everything.  I can't wait to teach it to the kids!



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