Family History for Kids

This week we filled out pedigree charts with the kids. I tried to find some that had large print for the kids to be able to write on instead of trying to write really tiny to fit it on. I was thwarted in my attempts, and Google failed me.

So I had to come up with my own way.

I printed their individual pedigree charts out from the computer and cut them apart to glue on note cards. Then we helped them glue them to their own posterboard.

It was fun to share stories with them about their ancestors while we put them together. I even sang them the crossing the street song my Grandma McDowell used to sing...

Look this way and that way
Before you cross the street.
If you run out before you look
You'll be swept off your feet.

It was a lot of fun, and they paid attention quite well, which doesn't always happen during family home evening...

Spontaneity...

It's not something we see to often around here. I work a lot and Doug's in school so we don't have a lot of free time. I can't just drop everything and take a camping trip or go to the zoo. We have to plan those things out.

However, this week I found myself with a little more free time so we did a few spur of the moment things. It wasn't anything major, but the kids loved it.

We took a trip to a new park and had a picnic dinner Monday night. I decided about 5:00 or so that afternoon when I realized I was all caught up on my work and wouldn't get more until the next day. 

A spontaneous trip to the park doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a fabulous dinner, but the kids enjoyed the turkey sandwiches (peanut butter for Adam of course), Pringles, and dried fruit strips. We also threw in some homemade cookies I had in the freezer.

Today I had a few minutes too and decided I could make a special dessert to commemorate the opening ceremonies for the Olympics. I'm certainly not the kind of mom that has a jillion ideas already saved on pinterest, but a quick google search found some sugar cookies that looked sort of like this. I didn't have time for sugar cookies so we went with cupcakes, cool whip, and M&Ms. Alex could hardly wait to eat them.

They actually turned out quite tasty...

Alex's Birthday

A mere 4 1/2 months late I'm going to blog about Alex's birthday.

Alex had been planning for weeks to have a Star Wars cake. Unfortunately, we couldn't find much stuff at Party City. I suggested Spiderman, but he just couldn't give up on the Darth Vader candle. So, we ended up with Spiderman versus Darth Vader. The men in the store who overheard us planning this cake all thought it was so cool...

This is about the extent of the decorations he got, but he loved them.

We made Darth Vader masks. They looked cool in the package, but they were kind of a pain and the elastic string that should hold it onto your head was way too big. It didn't fit any of the kids at the party. To be honest, it was too big for me, and I have a large head... Oh well, it filled up party time, right?

We also let them play Pin the Bomb on the Starship game. (That's not exactly the title, but I don't remember what it was called. It was in March remember.)

Present opening time is always fun. He got some great stuff. 

Apparently we didn't get a picture of the coolest present he got. It was a Star Wars t-shirt with some Legos Storm Troopers relaxing and said "Chillin' Like a Villain." To say Alex LOVES it would be an understatement. I think he wore it every day after school and to bed for a week before I made him let me wash it. He's wearing it right now too.

3-D glasses for the pin the bomb game. Not that you could wear them during the game because you had to be blindfolded, but it is 3-D if you look at it.

Alex had a great birthday. I think he's on a countdown for his 8th birthday, however. He can't wait to get baptized and go to cub scouts. Here's hoping I'll blog about that birthday on time...