Exploring Avocado

She is sure having fun. . .

I am too. Today I tried using avocados to  make healthy chocolate ice cream
(Paleo, dairy free, sweetened only with maple syrup, and I even substituted carob powder instead of cocoa)
It tastes good as us right from the blender as a mousse, but I can't wait until it freezes.  See oatmealwithafork.com/2013/08/19/perfect-chocolate-ice-cream-vegan-paleo/

Perfect family home evening dessert.

Be Inspired,
Janelle Joy

Family Home Evening

Dad's Opening Song: Family History
(Children’s Songbook p 94)

Prayer

Morning Glory's scripture:
"Thou shalt thank the Lord the God in all things." D&C 59:7

Lady  Slipper's  Lesson: Jesus Christ is a good example   (see Primary 4, lesson 36)

Mom's Activity: Phase 10 Masters Edition Cooperation  (Lady Slipper learned the numbers on her cards and the rest of us  helped each other complete as many phases as we can in 4 rounds and--definitely  a different  strategy).

Prayer

Treat: choose between apple cider, a cookie, or apple slices with peanut butter.

Be Inspired,

Janelle Joy 

Simply a Supermom: Rachel with Sun Swing Media

Rachel Leavitt and her husband, Brent, have started an online business with a goal to create and share uplifting children's media.  My daughter and I recently watched the first video: "The Decision."  Their videos are based on stories from the Friend Magazine. 

This particular story is valuable because in a short, simple way it teaches the importance of not only avoiding pornography, but even more importantly teaches children the importance of going to their parents when they come across pornography and giving their parents a chance to share their good decision with them.  Children are much safer this way than if they try to figure out what they just saw by going on an Internet search themselves or by just feeling strange inside and having no one to help them understand why they feel the way they do. 

I am very impressed with this video and the lesson it teaches.  A perfect   teaching moment to share with your children in a very fun, non-confrontational way.  I highly recommend it.

Thanks Rachel for being a supermom and helping all the rest of us teach our children in this fun and creative way.

See http://www.sunswingmedia.com  for more information or too view "The Decision" or any of their other videos.

Be Inspired,

"Good, Better, and Best" New Year's Goals

During our holiday vacation, Dad gave a great talk at church about how we should carefully pray and then evaluate our options when choosing our New Year's Goals. He used Elder Dallin H. Oaks talk from October 2007 "Good, Better and Best" when counselling that not all goals are of the same importance. Some are good, some are better and some are best. He encouraged us to prayerfully choose the best goals for each of us as individuals. He also wisely suggested that sometimes it is easy to know what the best goal is for a particular year; but other years it may take a few months before you know what your goal for that year really should be.

Later we had a similar discussion together for our Family Home Evening. I really appreciated that insight and have been thinking more deeply about my goals:)

Thanks Dad

Fun Christmas Nativity Craft

My daughter planned a very fun Family Home Evening Activity. She got the idea from the December 2008 Friend. Such a cute mini nativity scene made from a laundry detergent scoop.

Great Kids Book: Alice in Bible land Series.

I love the "Alice in Bibleland Series" by Alice Joyce Davidson. My Mom got these books for our family growing up and I loved them so much that I got them for my family too. My daughter LOVES them! They have been a great way to introduce scripture stories. They are about a "little girl named Alice" who goes through a "magic Screen" and sees the Bible stories come to life. The stories are told in poetry form, easy to memorize, and have lots of beautiful pictures. One of our favorites is "The Story Of Baby Jesus"

"Matt and Mandy" helps me teach.

My daughter LOVES to read the "Matt and Mandy" section of the Friend magazine each month. She also loves to watch "Matt and Mandy" episodes online (click on the link above). One day, when she was facing a problem with some friends from school and trying to decide what she should do about it, we decided to create our own "Matt and Mandy" comic page about a similar situation and figure out what she thought Mandy would choose to do. It really helped her in thinking through how she should solve the problem (and helped me refrain from telling her how to solve it so she could learn to do it herself). I am really thankful for the Friend magazine!

Kids General Conference Booklet

I am sooo excited for conference tomorrow! We are finishing up our preparations to have treats and games ready to do while we watch. My daughter usually sets up a tent to stay in while she watches and then she plays conference Bingo or does some other activities related to the conference as she watches.
One of my personal favorites is when we made a "matching game" by having one card be a picture of the Speaker (We just did the First Presidency and Apostles) and the other card be a picture of something He talked about. We got that idea from the Friend magazine and it was really fun to make while listening and then to play later. It helped us remember what each Apostle talked about.
This time I printed out the booklet on the Friend website. Then we can use the information from the activities in that booklet to make our matching game.

Cool Whip Fingerpainting!

I just saw this post on my sister's blog. She used a great idea for a craft that is fun and only takes two supplies: construction paper and cool whip. It is fine if they eat the paint too! :)

New Scripture Stories Podcasts

The Mormon Channel has two new kids scripture Podcasts out! My daughter was so excited since we have been checking every day.

How to Make a Tissue-Paper Doll

Here is a craft idea created by my daughter. Here is how she describes how to make it:

"First you get one tissue. This will be the body of the tissue-paper doll. Then you take one rubber band (the thin little black ones) and then take one and put it in the middle of the tissue. Then you take another one and put it on the bottom.

Then you take the last one and put it on top.

Then you take one square of toilet paper and make it into a loop. You have to make two of them--these will be the arms of the tissue paper doll. Then you either tape or attach them somehow to the middle of the doll.

Then you color the shirt and pants of the doll with markers. Then you color the mouth and the eyes of it. The mouth and the eyes will form a face when you are finished. Then you color the hair and color the tissue part with the rubber-band and any part you want to be the hair. (Just be sure not to color the face yellow) Then you add like a ring or like a butterfly ring or CTR ring or any ring and attach it to the middle of the shirt. Forming another layer of rubber band, take the one that the ring is attached to and attach it to the center and then you have your toilet paper doll."

So cute! I have a little blogger.

Teach Small Children to Read

I am including an email message from one of my friends with information about my FAVORITE resource for teaching reading. My daughter started with these level books just before she started kindergarten and although she was already a beginning reader, she very quickly went through these books with me. The beginning levels tell simplified scripture stories from the Book of Mormon. (Which is on Lliam's list of Most Influential Books) The last level includes actual scripture passages and after that she was ready to read the Book of Mormon herself! She is now starting second Grade and reads at a third-fourth grade level. She also LOVES Scripture Stories! The bonus is that they make Great coloring books for church too. :) Thanks Doris!!

"Below is an email from my mother-in-law who has written leveled books called "Book of Mormon Little Books." My mother in law has been a teacher for over 20 years and the past several years has been a reading specialist for the state of AZ. If you have children or grandchildren who are learning to read, these books are great and she even has made a lesson plan book to go with them.Another neat thing she has put together is when her kids were young, for her scripture study most days she would compile Book of Mormon Picture Pages. Basically she has gone through the entire Book of Mormon and has written out the scriptures on individual pages (most pages contain several versus of scripture) but she has organized them in such a manner so that her children could take a page and draw a picture relating to the scriptures, then they would each share their picture and learn the scriptures in a more hands on way. To this day the kids still talk about and remember a lot of the pictures they drew and my mother in law has notebooks filled with these picture pages her kids created. She has compiled all of these onto a DVD, they are blank pages for you to print out for your children to draw the pictures.Anyhow, she is discounting the prices right now so I wanted to just let you all know this. There is more information below along with websites if you would like to visit them.

Michelle."

"Dear Friends,Recently I've been part of the UHEA (Utah Home Education Association) Convention. I had the pleasure of presenting 2 workshops as well as having a booth where we sold my 32 Book of Mormon Little Books, Scripted Lesson Plans, and Book of Mormon Picture Pages (family scripture study for all ages). I'm offering everyone free economy shipping and UHEA Convention discount prices that are listed below through June 30, 2009!Please share this with all your friends.Thanks!Doris Johnson Please visit both websites:http://www.mormonlittlebooks.com/ UHEA Discount until June 30th!http://iceitnice.blogspot.com/ Family Home Evening & Other Occasions--Cake Decorating Fun for Everyone!
UHEA CONVENTION DISCOUNT PRICING
Until June 30, 2009"

Preparing for Baptism

My daughter has made her decision to be baptised into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She must wait a few more months until she turns eight. So we were talking about how excited she is and her plans for her big day. She decided to have a special jar to start saving some of her spending money to help buy a special white dress to wear. I am glad she is so excited to save her own money and that she is so happy about this important and special decision even though it is still a few months away.

Scripture Kids Podcast

Another great scripture study find! There is a new great online radio station (also available in other ways too) called the mormon channel and I love subscribing to their podcasts. Scripture Kids is a favorite! It has kids taking turns talking and answering questions about the scripture story that they read together. It was so much fun that my daughter was sad to go do anything else when we had to leave during one of the times it was being broadcast. It took a little while for the new ones to show up on the podcast but now we have them downloaded to listen to whenever we want.

Family Values Children's Website

While reading a bedtime story from the Children's magazine, "The Friend," We noticed a page about a new website for kids. It has games, printable coloring pages, music, scripture stories, coloring online . . . and more. My daughter stayed up a little later than normal because we were having so much fun together.