This worked for an ENTIRE laundry-folding session!!--
My kids went NUTS!
They folded every single shirt in 6 loads of laundry like they were eating candy!
(Remember, presentation is everything. I basically said, without asking kids to fold laundry, but with all the clean loads sitting out ready to fold, "Look at this video, guys!" Their eyes lit up and they wanted us to show them how to do it. For that moment in time they were not working. They were doing a totally cool 2 second trick. And they even folded other things trying to get to more shirts!)
Monday, April 27, 2009
How to get your kids excited about folding laundry-- (Really!)
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Chasing a Mirage
I'm an artist. I like looking at pretty things. I psychologically like thinking of myself as the "prettier" me, the one when I actually do my hair and/or makeup (which, folks, is not too often).
But why do we look to the barrage of media to tell us what "pretty" is, when their definition is a mirage? I mean, can YOU BELIEVE this video? She's so pretty to start with, and is drop-dead gorgeous by the time she's done with hair and makeup, and yet it's still NOT ENOUGH for their billboard. They lengthen and slim her neck, change her hair, make her eyes bigger, and of course use the good 'ole airbrushing.
So why do I look at a pretty billboard like that and think, "Wow, I'd love to look that pretty."???
I like the tagline of this video: "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted." I think every parent should show this to their fashion-conscious tween and/or teen daughter/s.
I also like the tagline of another Dove video that shows the onslought of sexually objectified women via the media. It ends by saying, "Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does."
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
With Parents Kind of Weird
So, we're making ice cream last night for our FHE* activity to teach our boys how important family teamwork is. (Hint, hint, boys!)
Once we finished up and started eating the reward of our hard, freezing cold labor, Jeffrey started humming a child's hymn from our church called "I am a child of God," which starts:I am a child of God
And He has sent me here.
Has given me an earthly home,
With parents kind and dear....
I was feeling goofy, and sang along to his humming, except I changed the last line, "With parents silly and crazy."
Rob piped up, "No, no, no, no." Then he sang the song from the start, one-upping my word changes about the parents:
"...With parents kind of weird."
The kids laughed so hard I think someone snorted ice cream.
*F.H.E. Family Home Evening, often called family night, that we hold each Monday evening. Usually we have an opening prayer, a song, a short lesson, a closing song and prayer, and on good nights, an activity and/or dessert.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Why does it take...
...two and a half days of intense packing to go on a 4-5 day camping trip to the Sequoias?
Oh yeah. We have three active little boys.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The Birth and Resurrection of the Savior
A friend is preparing an Easter talk that she will give Sunday. Via a Facebook chat, she asked me what The Resurrection* means to me.
Today is a very significant and special day for me personally because April 6th is the day Jesus was born, and the day He was resurrected. It is also the day Jesus's church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (my mormon religion), was officially restored on this earth.
We come down to this earth life to gain a body and prepare to return to live with God (a probationary time to prove our worthiness). Without the atonement, we couldn't return to live with God because we all make mistakes and sin, and no unclean thing can enter the kingdom of heaven. So I am deeply grateful to be able to continually repent and seek to be a better person.
But even with the atonement, where all our sins can be washed away through sincere repentance, we would still be stuck when we died, our bodies eternally separated from our spirits. Because Jesus was resurrected, we can be, too. It's the other half of the equation that we need to return to God.
This is what The Resurrection means to me:
1. Victory over death.
Our life doesn't end by being eaten by bugs in the ground. What would be the point if we just die and it's over? It would be like saying my life wasn't worth anything, like anything I did was for nothing.
I know I'll "be" again after this earthly life.
2. HOPE. Purpose.
Knowing that I will be resurrected gives me a reason to keep growing spiritually and intellectually, to strive to improve who I am. Otherwise I would feel so depressed, and think "Why even try? Might as well 'eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die'."
3. Eternal Families.
Being reunited with loved ones that have passed, and those that will pass after me, means so much to me and is very close to my heart.
4. Our spirits being reunited with our bodies.
Only perfected! No more ADD, no more back pain, no more physical/mental illness among us and those we love.
The very thing that Satan and his followers cannot have is a body, the physical likeness of our Father in Heaven and Elder brother, Jesus Christ. We not only are able to receive and live in a physical body, we will get to live in it again, perfected, in heaven. This is a profound blessing in my eyes.
---If you believe in Jesus Christ and the resurrection, what does it mean to you?
*Resurrection:
1. The rising (or returning to life) of Christ after His death and burial.
2. The rising of the dead on Judgment Day (us).
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