Grateful Hearts

For the past few years I've noticed a bunch of the blogs that I stalk look at have been choosing a family theme for the new year.  They do a big fancy dinner with decorations and talk all about it.

So I wanted to hop on that band wagon and do one for us.  Last year.  It didn't happen.

This year, I decided, is the year.  2012.  What a spectacular year to start this fun tradition.  So I had a bunch of stuff printed up to do on January 2nd (not the first since that is Mr. Wyatt's birthday).  I was going to cook a fancy-schmancy dinner with an awesome dessert for it.  And then I didn't do it.  I told myself that on OP's next day off we would.

And we didn't.

Adi had noticed the photo envelope and had tried to peek into it several times and I would tell her that it was something special that we were going to do soon.  Luckily she kept bugging me about it or else it probably never would have gotten done.

We didn't have anything fancy to eat- just plain old tinfoil dinners.  And for dessert?  Some wafer cookies that have been in the pantry for about six months now.  I figured that if I didn't just do it with what was going on that day, it probably wouldn't have gotten done.

OP and I had talked about trying to focus on gratitude.  Mostly because we watched this Jimmy Kimmel video before Christmas and were pretty much horrified at how the kids reacted to their parents giving them horrible gifts.  I mean, to be honest, I did laugh a heck of a lot watching it.  It made us start wondering how our kiddos would react to the same prank.  We thought that everyone in this little family of ours could use a bit more gratitude in our hearts.  So the Merrill Family Theme 2012 was chosen (it looks so official when I capitalize all of the words, doesn't it?).

Based off of this discourse by President Monson.


I scrambled around trying to make everything look pretty and like I had put a lot of time and effort into this thing.  I did hurry and throw together a banner ('cause it's my new favorite thing to do, that's why).

Then I made everyone their own awesome little quote about gratitude to share with everyone and then they can keep it.  All I did was do a search on Pinterest of "gratitude" and I found these lovely things (they're all pinned here with links back to the original designers).

I then taped them to toothpicks and stuck them in some clementines.  Why oranges?  Because that was the first thing I saw when I was making them.

Wyatt's plate was the one with cheese on it.  That kid loves him some cheese.

While we ate, we took turns reading our quote and then explaining or figuring out what it meant.

I kind of cheated on mine, since it wasn't exactly right on the subject of "attitude of gratitude", but I fell in love with it when I saw it.

I haven't been able to find the artist for this one, but I would love to because I want a big ole poster size of this print hanging up in my room.

Anywho, after we ate the kids ran off to bathe while I did a quick search of YouTube, trying to find just the right MormonMessage to help the kiddos understand gratitude.

Score!

Have I mentioned that the Xbox now has a YouTube channel?  So we got to site our behinds on our comfortable couch and watch it.  Sweet!

The kiddos were getting sick of the picture taking and started acting like goofs.

And Wyatt ran around and refused to stop for a picture.

After the video we talked to the kiddos about being grateful for this abundant life that we live.  How so many people in the world have so very little and we have so many blessings that we can't even count them all.  We told them how we need to be sure to thank Heavenly Father every time we pray for at least some of our blessings so that He'll know how much we appreciate them.

Adi then made my Momma-heart nearly burst when she exclaimed, "It's like the 10 lepers that Jesus healed and only one came back to thank Christ!"  YES!  I am not failing!

We then sat around the table, eating our somewhat-stale cookies,

writing something that we are thankful for on a Popsicle stick,

Shared what we wrote,

"Christmas Presents"

And then put them in a jar (with plans to do so daily so we can see just how abundantly blessed we are).

Piper caught herself wishing that she could have more cookies, but then quickly realized that she already forgot to be grateful for what she had already eaten.

Everyone got their own little "Attitude of Gratitude" sign to hang somewhere in their room where they will see it all the time.

Look at the look of deep concentration on my face.  I was trying to not get myself in the picture.  Fail!

I know that I need to work on gratitude for what I have.  There are so many times that I catch myself thinking, "If I had my own home I could totally do this", or "I wish we had a bigger house!".  Or, if you look at the above picture, you'll see the awesome gold shower stall thingy in my bathroom.  *Shudder*  Hate that stuff.  But I am thankful for the awesome water pressure that comes from the shower head, so hey, there are worse things to live with :)

Candy Apples

Fall is slowly setting in here in Utah, which means changing leaves, cooler weather and lots and lots of fruit.

Like shiny, mouth-watering apples.

And where ever they sell apples, there are always caramels close by.

So for F.H.E. treats last night, we decided to venture into the making some caramel apples.


We used caramels, melted chocolate, pecans, toffee bits and sprinkles.

Doesn't it just sound like a toothache?

The kiddos were counting down the minutes until they could bite into them...



Yup, even Porter ate one... well, he ate the toppings off while being extremely careful not to to actually bite the apple.






Adi had a bit of a hard time since she has a loose tooth right in the bottom front. But she managed.



Piper, being ever the odd-one, soon threw hers out and settled on a plain old apple.



Doesn't Porter wear his goodies well?



I also captured a few compromising pictures of Orrin eating his apple, but he threatened to hide my camera from me if I posted them.

So I won't... yet.

Pumpkin Heads

Last night, while the snow fell down outside, we carved our Jack-o-Lanterns for Halloween.

Guess who belongs to which one:



Give up? I knew you would.

OP "helped" Adi carve hers (meaning he did it. I mean, we may at times be a bit irresponsible parents, but even we wouldn't give our accident-prone 6 year old a knife).

Pipes wanted a crown on hers. I gave it heart lips instead.

It's about compromise, people.

P.G. loved his. He carried it around all night giggling.

This picture was taken courtesy of Miss Pipes.

I do believe that Orrin's is my favorite this year.

I had to include this last pic for all my amigas and familia in Arizona. Can you believe it? Snowflakes!

We had chocolate cake for dessert then played a little old-school Donkey Kong on the Super Nintendo.

Good night.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, To the Pumpkin Patch we go

For Family Home Evening last night, we visited our local pumpkin patch to pick our very own future jack-o-lanterns (we're crossing our fingers that the pumpkins last until Halloween).

Here's my oh-so-perfect Cinderella pumpkin. Sorry, but I had to share it's beauty...

It took us about an hour- yes I said an hour. The kiddos had great times running in the mud,

searching through all the pumpkins,

to find just the right one.

And some people spent an hour looking for the ugliest one possible.

Yes, that is exactly what OP did.

These lil' ones were 3 for a dollar. Yes- 3 for $1!

So of course we had to get some.

And here is what happens when I try to get the kiddos to pose for a pic:

We had so much fun- plus we got a ton of apples and bell peppers (they were 3 for $1 too!).

And then we had pumpkin cookies for dessert.

Of course!

This Little Piggie...

Last night for Family Home Evening, we learned about saving our money, and what's a better way to teach that than painting your very own piggie bank? OK, maybe there are better ways, but we hadn't done a craft in a while and I thought it would be fun...

Anyway, the kiddos started off with drawing a picture of what they wanted to save their money for. Adi wanted to save her money for tithing (OP had to explain that we only pay 10% and the rest of the money could be a donation)- notice the green temple she drew. Piper, always practical, is aving hers for her own car so she doesn't have to drive with Mom and Dad anymore.

And Porter, well, it's supposed to be a dog. Can't you tell?

Oh, and clothing is not usually optional at our FHE, but since we were getting creative we let Porter strip down!

Then the kids started painting. I was actually quite impressed with Porter's skills. He was calm and patient and tried to cover all of the pig. Really. He had OP turn it for him so he could get the whole thing painted.

Adi and Piper took an hour to paint theirs. Really.

Piggie #1 is Pipe's. Piggie #3 is Adi's.

And Piggie #3 is Porter's.

And what did Mom and Dad learn? OP learned that it's better to just hose a painted two-year-old off in the shower and I learned a bit of patience while waiting that long hour for the girls to finish.

Also, I should have bought OP and I some piggies to help us save money.