Rick has Monday's off work which leaves the whole day usually for playtime with Daddy. It is so much fun. This past Monday Rick took the kids in the morning so I could clean house. It had been awhile since I had gotten the nitty gritty and I was so grateful.

Anyway, since 1970, our church has asked families to set aside Monday evenings for a "Family Home Evening" (FHE). It is a time to have fun together as well as an opportunity to teach the children about gospel principles and other important topics (like manners). Our family did it while we were growing up, and as we got older it became a time to actually ALL be together as well as coordinate schedules as everybody seemed to have so much going on. I always looked forward to FHE.

Honestly, we have been a little slow on starting it with our children because A) we already were spending the day together and B) I really was unfamiliar with how to teach young toddlers. But we both knew it was important that the gospel be taught in the home and not just in church. Obviously, it is something we do on a day to day basis in normal speaking, playing and correcting our children, but this little time set aside is still crucial. So for a while now we have been trying to actually plan a lesson and activity together and have been doing some fun things. I have also realized teaching toddlers about spiritual things really isn't that difficult and that I really enjoy it.  I love to see Cole and Lyla learning new things.  We do it in fun ways and they get excited.  Their favorite is catching fish and then learning about what is on the fish.  (i.e. sharing, helping, hitting, yelling, prayers, singing, etc.)

This weekend is general conference for the LDS church. It is a time when we are blessed to hear from the prophet, Thomas Monson, and the twelve apostles. So in preparation we brought out pictures of them so we could talk about who they are and why we would want to listen to what they say to us about living Christlike lives. They loved it and kept wanting to look at the pictures. Cole and Lyla really enjoy looking at pictures. They always ask me "Who is that?" whenever they see any pictures of anyone. Sometimes it is a random picture at the store and so I say "I don't know" or make up a name. This has been great since we have so much family living far away.

We then played "Follow the Leader" and sang the chorus to "Follow the Prophet" as we marched around the house. Cole and Lyla giggled the entire time and of course Daddy then turned it into a chase which made it even more fun.  For those that don't know the song, I found it on youtube (anything is there now).

Afterwards we had a birthday kickoff party.  Three of our birthdays are in October (Rick, me and then Cole) so we decided to start early.  We made funfetti cupcakes (Rick's favorite) and put candles on them so Lyla and Cole could practice blowing them out.  Cole was SUPER excited. As you can tell. Lyla caught on to the whole festivity pretty quickly and very much enjoyed her cupcake too.
 

So now mommy is very, VERY excited for birthdays.  Guess I should decide what kind of festivity we will have for Cole.  A friend of ours asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said "Green and Yellow" and has been saying it since. Hmm...Pistachio cake?  I doubt he would like that.  He actually doesn't usually eat the cake anyway, just the icing.  So I'll be sure to pile on lots of green and yellow icing.  Maybe he is wanting a Percy Cake?  He is green and yellow!  Or maybe I should make it easy and just do something like below.  Cole is already excited for Christmas AND Easter and keeps adding things to his wishlist.  I just have to remember to add them whenever he tells me something else he likes.  (Wishlist links are kept permanently at the bottom of the blog page.)  Oh yes, and the reason he is excited for Easter is because last Easter he got a little Percy train in an egg and is hoping for another since he lost it.  He also got a Thomas the same way but hasn't lost that one.  This boy is a train and cars lover! Just like any other little three year old I suppose!