Back to School Feast 2016

Last year we joined the fun tradition of having a Back to School Feast to welcome in the new school!  The kids loved it so much we decided to make it a tradition for sure! It really is a special night and something both kids look forward to!  We designate a night before school starts for this special feast. The kids wear crowns to remind them of their worth and they dress up to also be reminded of what a special day this is!  Jon and I sit down before the feast to choose a family theme for the school year that helps fill the needs of our kid's needs for the coming year. This year we chose:

Phillipians 4:13:

"For I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me."

We chose this theme especially for Mitchell this year as he has a hard time having confidence in things. Going into first grade and there are a few things we feel he has to work on and realize he can do on his own - some as simple as tying his shoe and riding a bike! Shayla can also get frustrated easily with hard things as there are not many things she views as hard in her life and so when she comes across it she has a harder time dealing with! We hope that with this motto both Shayla and Mitchell realize that  when they have to do the hard things in life--be it math or making new friends or getting up early--that they never have to do it without help. We discussed how strong they are on how the Lord is always there to strengthen and prepare a way for each of us to accomplish our difficult tasks.

 For the dinner the kids had to write down three hard things they wanted to work on this year.  Shayla wrote saying daily prayers, being honest and being nice to a particular girl in school she has a hard time with.  Mitchell wrote Reading, Wake boarding and tying his shoes. So we will see how they do!

After dinner, we had our traditional back-to-school Father's Blessings. Jon and I both had father's who held the priesthood and would give us these blessings before school started as well.   As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, worthy fathers who hold the Priesthood and are able to use it to give blessings tho those in their family.  A Father's Blessing is a blessing of guidance and comfort and when school starts is a great time for fathers to bless their children with this comfort and strength.  It's a wonderful way to start  the school year and a reminder that their earthly Father and Heavenly Father are both there for them any day of the year! I am so blessed to have a husband who can give these blessings and two wonderful children who bless my life daily! 

Science Fair Time!

I love how Shayla really took the initiative to plan her own Science project and see it through and do it all herself! She even typed up every section!  She spent days thinking of ideas for a project and she knew she wanted to incorporate dogs into it as she loves her pets!  She did a science experiment at school to see which soap cleans bacteria the best, and this gave her the idea for her science project!  She measured the bacteria levels in three dogs and three humans and found that humans mouths are definitely cleaner than Dogs mouths!

Great job Shayla!

Holiday Fun 2015

The month of November and December are full of lots of holiday fun - many of our activities are family or friend traditions we try to do every year, and others are spur of the moment outings or family activities!  Here are a few of our favorite things we did this holiday season!

I kicked off the holiday season with my moms group - Pre Thanksgiving Feast!  We have been doing this feast for at least 6 years!  We get together a week or so before Thanksgiving to sample out favorite Thanksgiving recipes to share with our friends! Always a fun night we always look forward to!

We had a low key Thanksgiving with Jons family with a nice meal and taking the kids to the movies to see "The Good Dinosaur"

Time to decorate the tree!

Time for Dixie... 

and Herbie to visit... 

Shayla had her holiday party Cotillion so the kids both got dressed up for the evening! They always invite the siblings on to the dance floor too!  

It was a beautiful and fun night for all!

We met up with Brooke and Brayden to help celebrate Braydens birthday at the Four Season holiday adventure!

We got to meet Santa!

Smile Santa!

And do faux ice skating!  It was so hard compared to real ice skating but the kids still enjoyed it!

We decorated Gingerbread houses!  I had put "Decorate Gingerbread houses" in the advent calendar on a Sunday and didn't realize it was there and had not bought a premade kit yet, so guess who made homemade Gingerbread houses from scratch!  It was actually a lot easier than I thought so I think we may have started a new tradition! I always save Halloween candy to decorate with so I had plenty of that laying around!

And we had fun checking out the neighborhood Christmas lights!

We had a fun Girl Scout holiday party and secret Santa exchange!

The kids did a great job at their school holiday performance!

All dressed up for the School performance. 

My holiday cuties!

I went to a holiday part y for one of Jons client - the theme was the Speakeasy so we had fun dressing up a bit!

The did a Magic Mountain date with Amy's family! (Only lost one kid - Mitchell - when after this photo he went behind the Christmas tree while the rest of us went the other direction!) 

We dressed up for our Ward Christmas party "Night in Bethlehem" and it was a beautiful evening! 

Entering Bethlehem and paying our taxes. 

What a wonderful night! 

My bestie Heather had her annual ladies social - this year the theme was Barbies!  

I had fun as workout Barbie!

And Heather was a Ken doll!  It was too fun!

We went to Jon's Christmas work party too! They were celebrating 20 years in business!

It was a great month full of lots of time spent with family and friends!

First Day of Kinder and 3rd!

It's back to school time! 

Both kiddos are officially in school! They started August 24! Hooray!

They both LOVE school and I love the school they attend and the teachers and staff!  They are so lucky to go to SCE where Jon went to school as a child. Here are lots of photos from their first day of school!

Shayla started THIRD grade this year!

Mitchell started KINDERGARTEN this year!

My two cutie pies!

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Back to School Feast

I can remember my excitement for the first day of school every year!  I want my kids to have that same excitement but I also want to instill in them the values that makes them the best they can be in all areas of life! I am proud of how they excel in school, but no grade could ever replace a kind heart or a character based on integrity.  I hope to instill strong values in my children and help them become leaders and people of faith throughout their life.  That's one of the reasons why I love the "Back to School Feast" tradition! This tradition focuses on the strength of character in my children and helps them focus on what is important in life as they prepare to start school and the challenges and relationships associated with a new school year! 

For our Back to School Feast I started earlier in the week by having the kids cut out items or words from a magazine with things that they thought represented them! Then I used those cut outs to glue onto a paper crown with the year of the grade they were starting!  This was their back to school feast crown!  Both kids, who usually do not like dressing up, were so excited to dress up for this special dinner!!!  They ran to get dressed up!

I also talked with Jon to help pick a family theme for the school year.

We decided on

"Have Courage and Be Kind" 

because we want to encourage the children to try new things and be brave, but above all to BE KIND!  We had a few instances where my children had inadvertently hurt another child's feelings, and I knew my kiddos needed to focus more on being sensitive to the needs and concerns of others - and being kind would help them do this!

Shayla's crown had pictures of animals, meat (yes a photo of meat!), prayer, she chose the words fun, friend, family, faith and courage (before knowing the theme!) 

Mitchell's crown had Ninjas, legos, Jesus, fun, pictures of animals too and knights!

I am so glad they love each other so and get to go to school together and share recess together!

Sorry so many photos!  They are too cute!

And they wanted to do some funny face photos so I let them of course!

We ended the night with a special Fathers blessings and a discussion of the coming year!

We are looking forward to a wonderful year!