Missionary Sharing Time Ideas

For about a year now, I have been doing sporadic sharing time posts. I would love to do them weekly, but to be honest, by the time I have a minute to sit down and think up an idea, it's already Wednesday! Let alone get everything put together. Lately I've been thinking, it's kind of a shame, because a lot of the activities ideas I post up each week could be used for a different week of the same month with a little tweaking. I am going to try something new- posting one blog post a month, on the topic of that months theme with a few ways to make it work for each week. That way, I will have time to post on other, non church related topics. :) I keep wanting to share recipes and crafts, and I get so overwhelmed with sharing time, I never get around to those. I am hoping this system helps me to post them more regularly, and also to manage my time to allow other posts on here.

The month of October is the first month I am going to try this. (See I'm already late! haha) This month's theme is missionary work. The idea is to do one of these activities on your week to do sharing time. If a similar idea was done the week before, or you're not crazy about an idea, you have several other choices! Most of all just to get everyone brainstorming and maybe you'll come up with something even better. :)

I posted this last year, but I love the idea of giving them missionary tags. That is the link to my previous post about where to find printable missionary tags or ones that would work. I like the idea of making them about business card size so they could put them in their wallets/purses/pockets. This way it's not an advertisement that they're members. To me this month is about how we don't need to broadcast it per say, just live our lives the way were supposed to. That in and of itself is missionary work.

Activities:

A.) Acting out scenarios they could be missionaries: I think it would be really fun to let the teachers play the part of the nonmember or less active. This will avoid the primary children being funny by being really difficult or mean and will also allow the children not in class with a certain teacher to become familiar with them. It may be a good idea to ask teachers if you they would mind participating before sharing time starts, just so you don't put them on the spot. But if your teachers are anything like mine, they won't mind at all.

There are several ways to go about doing this. 

I think the easiest way for me to tell you what I'm thinking is to just give you an example, haha.

Have reverent child come up and piece of paper out of bag, numbered 1-however many scenarios you have, with a coordinating teachers name on it (this way the teacher knows ahead of time what part they will play, it may help them). Lets say the child pulls out a piece of paper that reads, " 1 - Sister Smith" You will have that child stay up there and Sister Smith come up. You play the narrator, and read them the scenario, "Your coach wants you to play in the big game Sunday. What can you do?" Sister Smith then can say a few lines, like "Please, we really need you in the game!" You can either A) Allow the child answer the teacher (this may work best for smaller primaries) B) Have the entire primary a chance to answer (this may work better if you have a larger primary). Of course what you want them to say would be something along the lines of, "No, I don't play games on Sunday. It's a special day for my family." At this point have the teacher, Sister Smith, say something like "Oh really, what do you guys do on Sunday?"

I like this idea because it gives them an opportunity to practice answers to questions they will most likely come across throughout their lives. This is a great opportunity to practice our answers. They say the more you practice the better prepared you are if the situation arises.

Situations you could give them could be:

1. Your coach wants you to play in the big game Sunday. What can you do? 

2. Your friends invite you to go to the movies with them. Everyone is going with a date, but you're not 16 yet. What can you do?

3. (Continued from number 2) You decide to go to the movies with everyone, but without a date. While one of your friends is buying a snack, you notice another friend is trying to steal some snacks while the attendant is busy helping your first friend. What can you do?

4. You go the store with a parent. While you're there, you see someone from church that hasn't been there in a while. Your parent doesn't see them, what can you do?

5. A friend invites you to come play/hang out at their house on the night you have Cub Scouts/Activity Days. What can you do?

Try and think up a few more that would allow them to have a missionary opportunity in everyday life. I based these on my own life, and things that actually happened to me.

B.) Make a card for a less active child in primary. We've done this before and then delivered the cards. It's nice for the less active primary children to know we were thinking of them. You never know, maybe they'll ask their parents to take them next week. Sometimes it's simple things that make a difference! If you don't have very many inactive children, you could have them write their testimonies in a BOM and challenge them to give it to someone they think could benefit from it. It doesn't even have to be someone new, it could be someone investigating the church. It doesn't have to be that week necessarily, ask them to be mindful and watch for an opportunity. It will come if they pray for it, maybe not that day, that week or even month, but it will come.

C.) Talk about the story of Ammon and King Lamoni. Ammon was obedient, he was a good example of someone who lives the gospel and was able to have missionary experiences because of it. I found these awesome Ammon coloring activities. This lady has a ton of other really great looking activities you should check out when you have time also. You can print out enough for each child to take home the characters so they can tell the story to their families.

D.) Ask the missionaries to come in and share a couple experiences or stories that involve primary aged children. Empower the kids to help them know that they can make a difference, even at a young age.


Ways to make each activity fit each weeks specific theme:

A.) This activity fits really well already with weeks 1-3. To make it more specific for week 4, tell them that when they share the gospel, they feel the spirit. Personally, this is one of the best ways my testimony grows. Whenever I am able to share the gospel, or explain something to someone gospel related, I feel so sure, so confident that what I'm saying is true, because of the spirit. Heavenly Father wants you to have a testimony of the gospel. When you spread the gospel, your testimony grows. It's one of those things that when you share, you end up with more afterwards then you had before. :)

B.) This activity fits weeks 1-3 the best. To fit week four, tell them that by sharing their testimonies or going out of their way to reach out to someone, they'll feel the spirit and their testimonies will grow, even though it can be scary.

C.) Ammon's story is so perfect for this whole month. You don't have to tweak this too much. Just reinforce the theme for that week. For week one and two, Ammon stood out because he lived the gospel. For week three, Ammon wasn't afraid to share the gospel, he wanted to. He was brave. For week four, Ammon probably had such a strong testimony because of his willingness to share the gospel.

D.) Ask the missionaries to share stories or experiences to fit the weeks theme. Try and keep them involving young children though, to keep it relevant to the age group.

Other ideas:

This is a link to a Friend article from the current issue. It has some good stories from primary aged children of when they shared the gospel. You can use these to make your scenarios above, or you can just read them to the kids.

Also from this month's Friend, "Dare to Stand Alone." Haha, I heard this story from President Monson at General Conference and I thought it was so good, definitely worth sharing.

Challenge each child to invite someone to the Halloween church party. It's a great opportunity that you don't get very often! I'm going to try and get 5 friends total at the church activity (we don't have a very big primary, haha).

Case of the Mondays: Halloween Edition

I can't believe September is over (almost). I think it is officially bon fire & hoodie weather, which means, it's also Halloween time too.

I posted before about what my little guy is going to be but I think we're narrowing in on The Hulk. I found some cute things on Pinterest today that got me thinking both, "Duh!" and "Ooooh Halloween!" 

1. These swords made of paint sticks! This was a "Duh!" moment. Why didn't I think of that?!?

2. How adorable are these pumpkin cookies?  Seriously, they'd be so easy to do too. Another "Duh!" moment over here. :) By the way, I have an amazing sugar cookie recipe I posted around Valentines Day this year. Super yummy!

 

 

3. Okay, this may take the cake. How cool is this punch?? I am now really wanting to throw a Halloween party just to make this punch.

 

4. Rosie the Riveter costume. The thing I love most about this is that it's all pieces you probably already have, or wouldn't mind having to wear again! ;) How many times do you spend so much effort and energy for a costume you wear once? This is effortless, cute, and you can wear it again!

5. These donuts are adorable. You can have each child keep the vampire teeth inside! Bonus party favor!

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!



Assateague Island

Hi!

As you may have read I went to Assateague Island a couple nights ago, it was so neat! For anyone who doesn't know what it is, I'll explain a bit. It's an island on the eastern shore of Maryland that's actually a state park. There are no hotels, stores, etc. It has nice large beaches and wild ponies everywhere. You aren't allowed to touch the ponies or feed them, but they are so used to people and tame. Once you go over "Rainbow Bridge" onto the island, there were immediately ponies to greet you. About six of them! Crossing the road and eating grass on the side. They can be on the beaches, in the bushes, anywhere! We also saw a small buck deer but I wasn't fast enough to get a picture.  Anyways, enjoy my pics! If you ever come to Maryland, this is a must see place.

 

{This is what we see when we first get over Rainbow Bridge}

 

 

{This guy just kept coming for me, I thought he wanted some love,

but I followed the rules and did not touch :) This was the closest I got}

 

 

{The sun was beautiful during our 1/2 mile walk through the woods. This photo has not been edited except to say the name of the blog.}

 

{On the beach with my "baby"}

 

 

{Sun went down over the bay}

 

 

 

 

{Apparently this was a prop in "Jaws" and no, I couldn't help myself, haha}

Modest is Hottest: Comfy and Casual

Yesterday I went to Assateague Island with family for the first time in years. So neat! Look for another post all on that tomorrow. It was so cool and breezy, it was the perfect weather for a Maxi Skirt and sweater. I can't say how comfy this outfit was, I could've slept in it, no lie! I love this shirt I have on, it's so great for layering and making any shirt fit my modesty standards. I have two more colors, pink and blue. I will be putting some more colors on my Christmas list for sure. ;)

These aren't fancy professional pictures by any means, but I thought it was still good inspiration for modest clothing that can be fashionable.

 

{Little Man and I looking at a kite on the beach}

 

{Wild ponies!}

 

{Posing in front of a giant shark. Not technically in Assateague Park, but closeby!}

 

Skirt- Gift

Shirt - I can't remember exactly where I got this,

but you can get a similar one here. - $15.00

Sweater - Gift (I believe it was from Old Navy)

Flip Flops - Target - $2.00

 

 



10 Random Things About Me!

I've been thinking that I haven't really shared too much about myself on this blog yet. I've had this about a year and haven't even introduced myself yet. Yikes!! I figured I'd do 10 random things about me. Hopefully this will help you to get better insight into who I am.

 

 

1. I am married and have one child, a sweet little boy. My husband and I own a business together that I am able to bring my son with me daily as I work. This makes things crazy and hectic, but special. I'm not your typical working mom, but I love being able to be with my little guy every day.

2. I want to have maybe 4-5 kids. My husband wants 2 tops. We'll see who wins. ;) I'll give you a hint...I don't lose. haha

3. I didn't graduate college, but will be going back, hopefully, this January.

4. I love to sew, scrapbook, bake, photograph, and do anything artsy. 

5. I was always better at math and science related subjects than English subjects.

6. I love yoga. I'm practically obsessed. Again, I wouldn't say that I'm very good, but one day I will be. :)

7. I could watch Pride and Prejudice over and over and over and over again. In a row. I wouldn't mind one bit.

8. I can't seem to give up soda. I can go a couple weeks, tops. I just love it. :(

9. I would love to own a boutique one day with only modest clothes in it. I honestly believe that modesty is under-rated.

10. My favorite animal is probably an iguana, I love those little guys. Lizards are my favorite. :)

 

Sunday Before General Conference Sharing Time Ideas

Hello!

This year, the week before General Conference is a fifth Sunday. This means we get to be creative and plan something fun for the kids. Last time we did this, we focused on teaching the children about the general authorities and focusing on being able to draw things out that they may have in common with them. We were hoping this would get them excited to watch conference, and they would pay special attention to when that person was getting up to speak. Our primary president actually got pictures of the people who would likely be speaking and let the kids come up one at a time (whoever was most reverent first) and they would choose one to take home so they could remember what they looked like. She had two of each person.

I thought this was the coolest most clever thing to do so when it was my turn this year, I got a little intimidated. I wanted to do something different, since my kids already had that last time, but I was a little nervous. Well, I came up with something I think is going to be just as neat.

I want to draw a parallel from the ancient prophets to the modern day ones. I want to drill into their little brains, that when Heavenly Father has a message to send to lots of people, He uses prophets. What better time for our prophet to tell us something Heavenly Father needs us to hear then at General Conference? I'm hoping that by the time Sharing Time is done, they are really excited to see what the prophet is going to tell us.

My other hope is that it will help some of them to remember the scripture stories.

I am going to prepare my punch board ahead of time. If you don't know what a punch board is, follow this link here. This is the tutorial I used to make mine. If you don't have enough time, or don't want to create a punch board, just put pieces of paper in a hat/basket/etc. (I actually made paper apples a couple years ago and colored them. I labeled them 1-20 or however many and sent the kids "bobbing for apples." Each number coordinated with a question to answer etc. I liked doing the number, because I can reuse them again in the future.)

In each place I'm going to have one of two things, either "act out ____ story" or "stay up front and help the next person act out their story." I don't think I'll have a ton of time to let them act things out, so I only can have about 3 or 4 stories. Each story will be able to have multiple characters, so if two or three children in a row get a piece of paper asking them to stay up front until the next person gets something to act out, I'm not too worried.

The ones I have thought about doing are:

Noah and the Ark
Jonah and the Whale
Abinadi
Lehi and going into the wilderness
Nephi (you could choose on of many stories for him)

The key to this is when they get their piece of paper, don't let them read it out loud! You can either take it out and whisper in their ear or have them read it to themselves. If they need help they can use the people waiting up front (if there are any) or they can call more people up. They aren't allowed to speak, only use actions. Everyone else has to guess what story they are acting out. After they guess which one it is, discuss the story together. You can have a picture that goes along with each story for the little ones to look at. Your library should have those you can borrow. Ask them what the story teaches us? Why was it important to listen to the prophet? If they are having a hard time remembering the stories, refer back to the scriptures.

Tell them that President Monson may not announce anything drastic, he may not make a huge announcement, but if he were to, that would be the place to do it. This is the opportunity we get twice a year to listen to our prophets directly, to hear what Heavenly Father needs us to hear.

Afterwards pass out General Conference packets and it'll be time to head home! I have a couple word searches I've been working on to add to your General Conference packets, and here is a link to those.

I also did a post last year with some neat, different ideas for General Conference packets I found on the web.


If you want to do the bobbing for apples, I have a black and white apple print out here, or you can get a color copy here.

Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Hey everyone!

Thanks for stopping by! :) Things have been busy around here, little man may not be in school, but it seems like the school year hit us hard anyways. I have been super busy planning our next year of primary and trying to get organized before the holidays hit. Yes, I just mentioned the holidays! September is already half way gone! We have about six weeks until Halloween, and you know how time flies after that. Have you decided what the kids will dress up as? Or what you will for that matter? My little guy keeps changing his mind, anything from Hulk, to Ironman, to Superman, and now to The Little Mermaid. Shhh...don't tell his daddy. ;)

Anyways, I kind of made up a new recipe last night that I wanted to share. Now that it's getting cooler and my house doesn't feel like a sauna when I cook, I felt like making a hot, healthy meal. I've been wanting to try my hand at stuffed peppers again, so I just dove in.

Here is the final product:

What you'll need:

4 Green peppers (or red or yellow, or a variety)
1 yellow onion
2.5 cups brown rice cooked
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained (I didn't have any, so I just left it out and it was still good)
1 lb. ground beef
1/2 cup enchilada sauce
Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning
1.5 cups Medium Cheddar cheese
Olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get a casserole dish and line the bottom with wax paper.

2. Slice the peppers so you can stuff them. I just sliced off the top, but you could cut them length wise as well. Rinse them out and coat them lightly with olive oil. I just used a spray. Place these on the prepared dish and pop them in the oven for maybe ten minutes or so.

3. Brown the ground beef with the chopped yellow onion. Rinse and place in a large bowl. Combine the black beans, corn, rice, and beef and onion mixture together. Stir well.

4. Add in the enchilada sauce slowly, tasting often. You may find you don't need as much or maybe you'd like more. Sprinkle Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle Seasoning throughout in the same way you added the enchilada sauce. You want to do this to taste, I probably used between 1-1.5 Tablespoons. But I'm also a wimp, and you may like it more spicy than this.

5. Add about 1/2-3/4 C of cheese. I added this last so it didn't get too melted.

6. Stuff the peppers and top with the remaining cheese. Place them back on the casserole dish and bake another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted on top.

Voila! Now all you have to do is enjoy!

**Note, I made these and ended up with extra mixture. I threw the rest in a zip lock baggie and froze it. If you need more then 4 servings, you will probably be able to get more out of this if you just get more cheese to top it off with.**

I love stuffed peppers because they're so easy, taste good, and are good for you. They're also so versatile. Switch out ground turkey for ground beef, or even shredded chicken would be yummy. Paleo diet? Knock out the rice and corn add different varieties of beans and more onion. You can do so many things with it, and it can be changed to fit practically any diet.

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Snack Ideas for Nursery

I posted last week about Nursery Helps, and I wanted to follow up with this. Nursery is a hard calling. I honestly think that the Lord puts special people in Nursery, and that's how it should be. The children need so much love, attention, and creativity.

Snack time is important for Nursery aged children, not only does it eat up some time (yeah I said it), but it keeps them from getting hungry, aka cranky. But you have to be careful what you feed them. If you stuff them full of sugar and cookies, prepare yourself for another hour of meltdowns, screaming, and chaos. And since I'm sure you are going to have awesome things planned for that hour that do not include any of those things, it's probably better to avoid that whenever possible. So I wanted to post a few ideas on what to bring for snacks, that kids will eat. Every child is different, but maybe this will help you brainstorm.

PLEASE remember to ask parents/guardians about allergies before feeding their child anything!! Write this down in a "Nusery Binder/Folder" so when your not there, whoever is filling in will know.

1. Pretzels. I have met few children that don't like pretzels. Even my son, who has parents that don't really care for them, likes pretzels.

2. Fruits/veggies. Children love fruit. My son would rather have a tomato or strawberry over a cookie. Yes, it's true. Fruit does have sugar in it, but it's not going to get them wound up like frosting on a cupcake would.

3. Graham Crackers with peanut butter. The peanut butter has protein in it that will help keep them full and kids love graham crackers!

4. Yogurt covered raisins. My son would eat these all day if I let him. Seriously, he doesn't like raisins, but when they're yogurt covered, game on.

5. String cheese. Store in the fridge until snack time and have your assistant go grab it.

6. Applesauce. They make them in the pouches they can just slurp up now, no spoon feeding, perfect for nursery! They also have smoothies and other things in those same pouches, so you can mix it up.

7. Roaring waters Capri Sun. I believe it only have 7g of sugar, so it's a good drink option.


So what do you guys love using in Nursery for snack? Any go-to items?

5 Random Things to Help a Case of the Mondays

Monday's are not my favorite. Like a lot of people, I am just so sad to see the weekend go. I come into work, get some things done, but end up getting way to distracted with things. I figured I'd post a couple of the neat things I've found today, share my randomness. :)


1.  This adorable outfit! I'm wondering how hard it can be to make a cardigan like this. I love that shade of blue skirt. **Please note, I tried to link this up to where my pinterest said it came from, but it looks like the page was taken down. If anyone knows who this is, or knows where I can give it proper credit, let me know and I will!**

 

 

 

 

2. 12 Hunger-fighting Salads! I wonder how they are, because that is totally my issue with salads. I never feel full afterwards!

 

 

 

3. This blog has an adorable "Artist's Tote." The directions are all in another language, but it inspired me. :)

 

4.This blogger did an Elf on the Shelf breakfast the day the Elf came for the season! I know it's early in the season, I just can't wait. I am so excited to my little guys' Elf!

 

5. This post is 30 unique Date Night things for couples. There were actually some good ones on there! It gets you thinking, you got to mix it up sometimes!

 

 

What did you guys find while surfing the web today? I know I can't be the only one who gets distracted on Mondays!

 

Please note, the pictures in this post are not mine. They are from the respective blogs I linked up to.

General Conference Activity Sheets

I've been wanting to make some pages for everyone for General Conference for about a year now. I actually did make some last spring, but couldn't figure out how to upload them. Well, I have finally figured out a way to do it that I think will work!

I have two word searches, one for older kids up to adults, and one for younger kids.


HERE is the link for the easier word search.

HERE is a link for the more advanced one.

I have a couple other things that I want to get on here, but I figured I'll post this up and update it when I have more.

Last year I posted a few links for neat General Conference packets that I'd seen, so don't forget to check that out. I found some neat ones that were a bit different then the normal ones you've all seen I'm sure.

Please let me know if you have any issues printing them out as I am trying something new with this. I don't know there is a problem unless you guys tell me. :)

Also, I should have the whole month of October Sharing Time helps up this week, so be sure to check in for that!

5 Tips for Teaching Nursery

Before I was in the Primary Presidency I was in Nursery. For years. Before I got married, I was unofficially in Nursery, for years. I would skip Relief Society and help my mom in the Nursery before I met my husband and started attending the Singles Ward in the area.

I have a strong testimony of Nursery leaders. In many cases, a Nursery Leader is a child's first interaction with church as an individual. The only time this is not the case is when a child does not attend Nursery for whatever reason. Before they are 18 months, they hang out with Mom or Dad wherever they are during the second and third hours. Nursery has a special place in my heart, because it's the first opportunity we have as leaders and teachers to touch the lives of children and make church an enjoyable experience.

I realize that for many children, Nursery is not enjoyable at all. It's frustrating and sad because Mom left them and they're with complete strangers and they don't like it. I don't think it has to be like that! I believe there is a period of time where they don't want anything do with anyone other than their parents, but I do believe that period of time can be shortened (depending on the circumstances of course!).

So what works?

1. Strategic planning
2. Being prepared
3. Creativity
4. Flexible structure
5. Talk to the Primary Presidency

Those would be the four major tips I would give anyone who asked me. 

You want to plan the schedule for your Nursery based on what makes sense to you. There are tons of schedule samples out there to give you ideas, but pick something that works for you. Look at the children in your Nursery, their temperaments and needs, and figure out what you think will work best. Try to stick to it, and remember that if it doesn't work you can always mix it up.

Be prepared for snack times, lessons, singing times, etc. I know that it's easy to say, oh they're two, they don't need a lesson. But I strongly believe that a lesson in Nursery is so important. Even from a nonreligious stand point, they need to learn to sit still, and they need to learn that during a lesson that is what you have to do. The lessons don't have to be long and detail oriented, but they should happen. The manual, Behold Your Little Ones, is so great. It has so many helps and activities and ideas in it. I would make sure that before Saturday night (I'm totally guilty of it too!) the lesson gets read for Sunday and the activity is thought about. That way, if there is anything it calls for that you don't have at home, you can grab it while your out and about. I can't tell you how many times I have had to teach on the spur of the moment and I wish I had known so that I could have done one of the activities in there. Some of them only require bringing in brown paper bags, or yarn, but they're all really great and geared towards the age group. There are also plenty of blogs and websites that have created extra helps for you if want to use them. Make sure they go along with our gospel doctrine but use them! I promise you, the weeks you prepare a lesson, activity, handouts etc, the class will go more smoothly. The more prepared and excited you are about your lesson, the more they'll be into it. Again, you don't have to make it long, just make it good. :)

Creativity. This goes along with the point mentioned above, but sometimes you have to think outside the box to drive a lesson home, especially to two year olds. The more props you get them to hold, games you can get them to play, etc, the better off you all will be. They don't have long attention spans, so you have to mix it up. You have to aware of when they're getting bored of one thing so you can switch to the next.

By flexible structure, I mean that it's good for the kids to have expectations coming to class each week. They should know when they get in there they get to play for a little bit, then it's snack time. After snack we have lesson, etc. What I mean by it being flexible is that it's important to remember that the needs of your class are going to vary week by week. It's important to be sensitive to the needs as they change. If you have a new child, whether they've just turned 18 months or are an investigator or visitor, this is a new maybe scary experience. They may be okay for 10 minutes playing and not 20 minutes. You may want to cut play time short and offer snack early in order to keep them happy. Or you may want to allow them to skip snack and color while the other children eat. I believe that being sensitive to the needs of the child that needs it the most will benefit everyone in the long run. If you can prevent that child from having a tantrum, your more likely to not have other children throw fits as well.
Please keep in mind that sometimes it may be best to take the child to their mother, if none of this is working. This may not work all the time, when it gets to that point, getting the child to their parent is probably best for everyone. They can join everyone when they're feeling up to it.

It is so important to talk to your Primary Presidency. Let them know what your doing that works, if you need help, if you are struggling with something, keep the communication open. That is the best way for them to help you. They'll feel more involved in the Nursery, making it a high priority on their list (out of sight, out of mind sort of thing), they'll make sure you have what you need etc.

As I've mentioned before there are tons of websites and blogs that have posted things to help with Nursery and that age group. I have been pinning a lot of things on my pinterest account and want to weed through the good ideas and not so good ideas in the next few days. So look for that also! I've also been doing some research on how to post fullsize attachments to the blog so I can continue making handouts. So hopefully next week I'll be able to make a couple things for Nursery specifically. If you follow me on Bloglovin you can get my posts directly to your email, so you won't miss a thing. :) There should be a direct link on the right hand side.

2014 Theme for Primary Announced!

For anyone who has missed this, the theme of the 2014 year for Primary has been announced! It is "Families Are Forever."

I don't know about you, but I see a big temple in my Primary's bulletin  boards future!

I am so excited about this theme, temple work holds a special place in my heart, and it seems that temples would have to be a focus throughout the whole year. Along with the plan of salvation and missionary work I would think.

If you'd like to look it over it is on lds.org available for download. The church should mail each unit new copies for the 2014 year.

Really exciting!

How I Weaned my 2.5 Year Old...

Okay, I know this sounds kind of TMI to a lot of people out there, so if you are one of them, I apologize, but I feel like this needs to be posted. I had such a difficult time with this, and I wasn't able to find a lot of helpful resources, I felt like I needed to post this. Even if it only helps one person, it'll be worthwhile. I recently weaned my 2.5 year old son. It was the most difficult part of parenting thus far and took me a long time to do it. But it wasn't as bad as I had originally made it out to be. I know I wrote a lot, I just wanted to be as detailed as possible so I could offer help. If you have any questions please comment, if I can help, I will! If I can't, maybe someone else passing by can. :)

I guess a back story is in order. ;) I am the middle of seven children, all of us nursed some, and some of us nursed past one. My mom was working and young and was not able to nurse us all as long as she wanted to. I witnessed my mother nursing my three younger siblings and honestly, it seemed natural to me. I never imagined myself not nursing, so when I became pregnant and doctors began asking me, I automatically said, yes I am nursing. When my son was born he had a webbed tongue (I believe it is called). Basically that webbing underneath your tongue, the part that connects your tongue to the bottom of your mouth, well it's normally not connected very far, which means you can stick your tongue out. Well, my babies was connected all the way to the tip of his tongue, so he couldn't stick his tongue out. This made the first few days of his life not only very painful, but next to impossible to nurse him. I pumped and he received some formula. After he got his tongue clipped (very painless procedure, he didn't even cry), I had to wear a nipple shield to get him to latch on. This continued for two months of his life. Long story short, I had a difficult time getting him to eat without it, but I was dedicated and was successful in getting him to nurse without it. This created such a special feeling for me in nursing. It was something I fought for. I loved nursing my baby. It was good for him, it gave me special time with him, and it was convenient.

Even with these feelings, I only wanted to nurse him for a year. It's not that I had prejudice against nursing a toddler per say, I just thought a year seemed like a good age to stop. Well when a year came, he was still a baby to me, and it didn't seem right to wean him. When 18 months came, I tried. I failed. He cried and threw a fit. He didn't understand. I felt so terrible, I just gave in.

This is where I will complain a bit. When I began nursing I had so much support. I had so many people giving me tips and calling to check in on me. I called the Le Leche League and they would tell me how to be successful, and I was thankful. They told me to nurse him when he was sad, nurse him to sleep, nurse him...nurse him...nurse him. I was grateful for their help, but it made it really difficult to wean him. I was facing an 18 month old child who didn't know how to go to sleep without nursing. I had an 18 month old child that would get sad and automatically want to nurse. No one told me how to get him to cope other ways, or when to stop this. I felt like I had been a successful nursing case, I'd nursed a child for 18 months! I had no idea what I was doing. I felt like no one had good answers either. I went to breastfeeding forums for support, nothing. I felt like all they cared about was getting me to breastfeed and didn't care about after. Anyways I don't want to rant. Long story short, I was very unsuccessful.

At this point he was only nursing to sleep and if he hurt himself and wanted to be soothed. By the time he was two he was only nursing to sleep for one nap and at night. When he would hurt himself I would just love him and offer him to hold a toy he liked or even give him a lollipop (don't judge me!).

Now the massive hurdle of night time. I tried putting him in his room when he was almost asleep, it made me feel evil. After all, we got into this together, we will get out of this together. My husband works a sporadic schedule, so I was on my own. I didn't have a partner I could pass him to for night time, even though I have heard that works wonders for some people. I read somewhere that it is less traumatic, although more difficult, to do it this way. I tried nursing him until he was almost asleep and popping him off and rocking him to sleep. This worked sometimes, but not consistently. All kids are different, and this may work well for someone else. What did work involved tears, on both our parts, but not as many as some of the methods I tried.

I sat in my glider, and would nurse him for a few minutes. I would tell him before hand that I would only nurse while I sang whatever song, it would come out to maybe 3 or 4 minutes each side. I then popped him off and he was done. He was not asleep. I didn't feel mean, because I wasn't say absolutely not, I was just saying he wasn't going to fall asleep that way anymore. I had a lot easier time eliminating feedings that weren't related to his sleep. So I thought, if I could separate nursing and sleeping in his mind, then I could eliminate nursing all together easier.

He cried. He tried to fight my shirt open, he yelled, he even hit me. He didn't understand. I kept my calm, I never yelled, never spanked, nothing like that. I just told him that I loved him so much, but I needed him to cuddle with me night night. I told him I was happy to hold him and love him, but he was not going to nurse. Sometimes (okay a lot of times, haha) I would set him on the ground while I was in the glider, cause he got himself really worked up, he wasn't listening to me. He always wanted me to hold him again. I picked him up, and I hugged him and rocked him. He would stop crying when I picked him up.

I know this sounds mean, I am sure there are people who will read this and feel so bad for my son, I get it. But PLEASE keep in mind, I nursed him until he was 2.5. At this point he was about a month shy of 2.5. He was able to understand some of it if he would calm down enough to listen. At this point I was beyond done. Not because I didn't love him, but because I wanted to be able to have my body back. He had teeth, it hurt a lot of times, I knew he was able to get his food and drink elsewhere. I just felt like I needed to stop. Everyone is different, I know some people couldn't imagine weaning a 2.5 year old, but please keep in mind, I nursed him far longer then the norm. I celebrate what I was able to accomplish because it's not often you see someone nurse past one year.

Back to the story -At this point, he would still nurse in the middle of the night. I was so terrible with this. I would be so tired, I would forget to tell him no. 

Within maybe three nights, when I was trying to get him to sleep, he wouldn't even try to nurse after I asked him to "pop off," as I would say. It took me maybe three nights of tears, and I had gotten him to differentiate between nursing and sleeping. I kept this up for a few weeks because I was okay with just maybe a 5-10 minute nursing session. At this point I was still nursing at night when he woke up. Once I was ready to move on, I made the nursing session even shorter. Then after a few days, I just eliminated them all together. There was some crying here or there for him, but it was really short lived. What the first two nights taught me is that he can do it. And the next morning, he would wake up, and guess what, he didn't hate me! It was like it never happened! He still loved his mama! What I found was that once he stopped nursing to sleep, he started waking less frequently to nurse. Now, he never wakes up. When he did wake up, I just told him no, I'd hold him. I would give him a drink of water (I filled an empty Capri Sun up with water after rinsing it out a few times. This way he didn't have to sit up, and was more inclined to go right back to sleep) and tell him to go back to sleep.

I realize it sounds silly, but I think that was part of my reluctance to wean, I thought it would change our relationship. But I can say, my little guy hasn't nursed at all in probably two or three weeks, and maybe twice total in the past six weeks, and I think he is more cuddly now then he was before. That has been the only change. He loves to give me "giant kisses" and "big hugs!" I am so relieved that this process is not only over, but that it left my relationship with my son better then it was before, as crazy as that sounds.

So to anyone out there weaning a toddler, or any child for that matter, I feel your pain. I was there. I do not envy you! Haha, but it does get better. It gets easier. The first 2-3 nights are the worst. In fact, expect to get hardly any sleep. Plan it on a weekend or whenever you feel comfortable being a zombie. Once you make progress, DON'T let them regress. I did that several times when he was younger, he would get sick, or I would and I would just let him nurse again. This was just confusing to him, I think it taught him that I would give in if he made it miserable enough. So don't start weaning until you know your ready, but don't wait until you need to do it NOW. This method may not work, and maybe something else will. Give yourself time, maybe a few months. Do what feels right. For me, I wanted to hold him when he was sad.

M&M's Can Teach Us Something...

M&M's are delicious. We have awesome teachers/choristers/piantist etc. in Primary. Can these two things be combined? Absolutely!

 

I'm sure you've seen this poem on Pinterest,if not here it is:

Green is for the inspiration you give to me each day.

Blue is for your patience in showing me the way.

Orange is for your warmth and caring style.

Yellow is for the way you can always make me smile.

Red is for my life that you have touched this year. You’re a very special teacher just like this jar, that’s clear!

You place knowledge in your children’s hands and

melt into their hearts and lives forever.

You’re a “Magnificent” and “Marvelous” teacher!

Thank you for being my M&M!

This doesn't really work for Primary though. So I thought of a different idea, along the same lines. The colors represent characteristics that make up an awesome teacher.

Red is for the love they show their children each week. We know lessons are taught best when taught with love.
Blue is a calming color and can represent patience that is so necessary certain weeks. ;)
Yellow is for a cheerful attitude that makes the children love to come and learn each week.
Orange is for creativity, as sometimes we need to be creative to get lessons across.
Green is for righteousness. (Think green behind the CTR shield.)
Brown is the same inside and out, therefore it is genuine or sincere.

I wanted to make a thank you note using this, but have not gotten around to it yet. So I just read this aloud while holding up each color M&M. I am hoping to have one made in the next week or so. So check back!

For the thank you gift I got hot & cold cups that had m&m faces on them, and put four fun size packs of m&ms in each one. That way they got a variety of flavors. :)

 

I got these cups at WalMart, they are being discounted down, so if you happen to miss them, I'm sure you can get them online. Or use solid colored ones. If you want to do a thank you for a teacher at school, use the first poem, for church, use the other version of colors. :)

Sharing Time: Jesus Christ Taught me How to Serve Others

Hey all!


So I have sharing time this week and it's on how Jesus taught us to serve others. I really love the idea of showing them the pictures of Christ serving others and trying to act it out. To make it extra fun, you can bring some robes and scarfs in and they could dress up as the character. **Update** As mentioned by commenters below, please remember that children are not to dress up as Christ. This is why I love when people comment, we help each other out!!

One of the ideas I thought of immediately when I thought of this subject is the "secret service" activity I've seen float around Pinterest some. The whole idea is to give the kids some kind of "sign" and have them preform an act of service secretly and leave the little sign by the act of service they did. For example, you see your mom has a ton of dishes in the sink, secretly (we don't want to get caught!) do the dishes. After they are done, leave the sign by the sink.

Ideas on what they can do...
1. Clean the litter box
2. Take out the trash
3. Make a siblings bed
4. Weed the garden.
5. Clean up a siblings toys.

Now that they're mom, sibling, friend or whoever has the sign, they have to do a random act of service....secretly. It's fun to keep it going. You can give each child a couple of them so that if one person doesn't keep it going, someone else might. They can come back the next week and share their stories on how sneaky they were, and what they were able to do.

I cannot for the life of me figure out how to attach a full size document to this post. If anyone knows how to do this using blogger, I would SOOO appreciate a quick walk through. I've been using Photobucket in the past to create a link, but now they don't save it full size. Again, any help would be awesome! (to be honest, I've been so frustrated with this it's kind of zapped my desire to post :()So I didn't make a hand out, but I posted a link to a picture that is kind of what I'm talking about. If someone helps me out, I will totally make a handout for it!!

I like the idea of using a heart, writing "secret service" and putting underneath that something along the lines of "Now it's your turn to serve someone....secretly! Don't let it stop with you!" I think it's neat for the children to see how one good deed can multiply. 

http://ldsmobileapps.com/activities/secret-service,1/  Here is a picture of what I was envisioning, unfortunately I don't see a link to print out. It looks like they just used a crayon to write secret service on it.


If you're looking for an awesome FHE to do along this same idea, check out THIS blog post. I thought it was a neat idea!

It's Official...

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When I repent, I can be forgiven

Repentance. Such a great thing to teach children. It's such a beautiful apect of the gospel.

 

I like the idea of starting with the words cut out individually and piecing them together in to make the sentence "When I repent, I can be forgiven." (This is in the outline provided by the church.) If you didn't want to place them in envelopes you could stick them under random chairs and have them check. This is an immediate attention-getter, and I like it for that reason.

 

I like the story of the Prodigal Son. I think this is a good way to go, but I also really like the story of Alma the Younger. This came to my mind almost immediately when I was thinking this week over. I found an old friend article that tells the story for anyone who doesn't like summarizing themselves, you can find that HERE. I found a page on Sugardoodle (seriously, I love that site!) that is dedicated to this story. It has way too much to list but in short, it has links to clipart, lesson helps and a lot more that involve this story.  You can find all of that good stuff HERE.
 

This is the part I was really excited about. For this week I want to do a object lesson. Show everyone a penny that is clean and new looking. Tell them that this is them when they are born. Throughout their lives they make mistakes, they sin. If we don't repent we can't stay clean. Show them an old penny that is dirty. Pour some lemon juice into a clear glass and put the penny in. According to THIS site (I wanted to try this out before posting but haven't had the chance. It may be a good idea to that beforehand, haha), it will just wipe clean (You may have to soak it). Tell them that sin is like the dirt on the coin, and the repentance process is like the lemon juice. If we repent after we sin, we can be clean and pure like when we're babies (or after baptism). I thought the example of babies would be more universal because there are lots of kids in my primary who aren't 8 yet and therefore haven't been baptized.

Give each child a clean penny to take home to remind them of how they can repent and stay clean.

**Variations** Because I haven't tried this experiment yet, I am not sure how long it takes to soak the penny in the lemon juice to get it clean. If you do this at home first and it takes longer then 30 seconds or so, you may want to drop some dirty pennies in there before you do sharing time so they have time to soak and get clean. You can always drop a dirty one in and just pull a clean one out. I am going to have to test this to see if it works.

Sappy Time....

I, like most people, have a tendency to get overwhelmed with life. Sometimes this leads to me having thoughts of "what in the world have I done to deserve this??" I guess you could say in a "karma" sense of things. I consider myself to be a good person. I let people in front of me in check out lines, I try to do nice things for people I know that are going through a rough time, I respect my elders, I turn the other cheek, so where's all this bad karma coming from?

 

Then this morning, I was cuddling with my two year old, and I realized something. Despite whatever is going on in my life, I still have him. I was still given him by my Heavenly Father to watch over and teach. My Heavenly Father must love me A LOT to give me such a precious awesome little boy. Regardless of your religious beliefs, I think it's safe to say that children sometimes help parents see purpose in their own lives. And it just really hit me today that despite everything else going on in my sometimes crazy life I need to do everything I can to give my son the kind of life he deserves. I guess this post is more for me, to remind me of this when I forget.

 

Rant over.