Halloween Twenty Fifteen

Carved Pumpkin Pancakes.. for when traditional pumpkin carving seems too daunting  :)

Gretel or Heidi,  Your Worst Nightmare and Cowgirl or Jessie?

 We headed to the church for a chili cookoff and trunk or treat.  Halloween candy doesn't hold much appeal for Becca now that she's gone 9 months without it as part of her personal progress goal to me more healthy.  Her willpower amazes me!  She definitely takes after her dad in this arena.  But she did have fun heading to a dance party with friends for Halloween night.

 Josh got a lot of attention for his cute skunk costume at Alyssa's school party, so he was excited to stay a skunk for the trunk or treat too.

Our Lil' Stinker says "Snort snort, I'm a skunk!"

What does the skunk say?   According to Josh the skunk goes SNORT!

 I know its hard to tell, but Dan is a basketball player!  I'm not much of a fan of buying fancy Halloween costumes that are only worn 1 day a year.  The kids just pick something from the Halloween bucket that is mostly handmedowns.  Jacob put some black mascara under his eye to be "a guy who got in a fight" while he and Dan raced around gathering a year's supply of candy with Jared as their chauffeur.  I'm happy to be moving on to better holidays.

Homeschool Highlights

Emily loves the hands on learning projects we do for homeschool (Sculpting Landforms).  I love their sweet expressions in this pic.

I couldn't find colored pipe cleaners so Emily was happy to use Halloween candy instead for her Model of a Neuron.

A new family with girls her age moved into our ward so we planned a fun day  full of music and science homeschool fun. After playing Music Jenga, grand staff Uno and composer old maid they did some solution science experiments and marker chromatography.

But my favorite parts this week have been curling up in a blanket to read Sarah Plain and Tall and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
One of our latest fun discoveries is the Ted-Ed youtube videos.  We definitely couldn't miss watching the benefits of playing a musical instrument :).  But I also find the science topics especially intriguing

A few other favorites

Goodbye Party

 Rebecca hosted a going away party for her friend Mercedes who is moving.  Honestly I'm not much of a party host, but it was really fun seeing them have a good time playing crazy games like Werewolf, The Animal Game, The M&M game and Ghost in the Graveyard.  It brought back the fun memories of my own teenage years when we had so much fun playing silly games at huge friend parties.  I was fortunate to have a great group of friends who knew how to have good clean fun.  Its crazy to have kids old enough to be entering that stage of life.

Carving Thanks

 We haven't carved pumpkins for the last couple of years but Emily was insistent that we do it this year.  I bought the pumpkins the week before Halloween, but our schedule was swamped, and many chores were left undone so they still sat uncarved on our porch Halloween night.  We decided to transform them into a "Thankful" Snowman for November.

Ponderizing with Music

One of my favorite messages from Conference was Elder Devin Durrant's suggestion to ponderize the scriptures.  To help my family better "ponderize"this scripture in 1 Timothy, I tried to pair the words to the tune of a familiar hymn.  The theme of our church President, Thomas S. Monson's message this week was "Be an Example and a Light." Music definitely expedites memorization, and I love how scriptures that are put to song come back into my mind during mundane activities like driving, washing dishes or folding laundry to uplift my thoughts and spirit.
Finding a matching meter that emphasized the important words was challenging but I chose the opening verse of "Did You Think to Pray."
So instead of singing...                 We sing this...
Ere you left your room this morning                    Let no man despise thy youth, but
Did you think to pray?                                          Be thou an example of the believers (quickly)
In the name of Christ our Saviour                         In word, in conversation
Did you sue for loving favour?                             In charity in spirit
As a shield today.                                                  In faith, in purity
As a shield today.                                                  4:12        First Timothy
(lyrics by Mary A. Pepper Kidder)
I designed the pocket size image above so they can refer to their cards at school and "ponderize" throughout the day.

I appreciate the positive mental power that stashing these scripture songs in my mind brings.  I find the tunes popping up in my mind when I lay in bed at night, when I'm doing dishes or driving and the message of the words has definitely helped me to rise above feelings of negativity or discouragement.
Last week for Emily's "Vocabulary Choice" lesson she learned 2 Nephi 2:27 with a song (click the link to hear it).
The words "they are free to choose liberty and eternal life... or to choose captivity" stood out to me as I reflected on the idea that I am the one who ultimately decides if I want the happiness that comes from focusing on freeing positive thoughts rather than being stuck in the captivity of victim mode by blaming my mood on the actions of others around me.

President Dan

After really enjoying on the student council as treasurer last year, Dan decided to run for President.
He changed up the lyrics of the popular song "Cheerleader" as the dramatic entrance to his speech and had Emily and Alyssa help out as his backup "cheerleaders."  I missed his entrance as he waltzed out with the cheerleader costume because his youngest fan (Josh) wasn't too excited about sitting down while I did the video.  Dan is excited to have the chance to serve again, this year with two of his best friends who won as VP and Secretary.

Oh, I think that we found our school president, he is always right there when you need him.

Enjoying Peace and Perspective

Mesa Falls

Johhny Sack Cabin

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to join my husband as he traveled to a training meeting in Island Park.  I loved enjoying being together with him as we hiked to nearby tourist attractions and enjoyed many meals together (that I didn't have to prepare!). While he attended training during the day I pursued my addictions passions... family history and piano.  My daughter marvels that I could love something so boring as finding names and attaching source documents for hours on end, but each time I find more links in the chain of my family tree, I am filled with immense gratitude for the life I have been blessed with.
This week I found the families of the cousins of my great-grandmother Kristina Jonsson who emigrated from Sweden.  As I reviewed the records I contemplated the grief and often harsh conditions that some of my relatives endured.  So many dealt with the untimely death of their children and spouses.  One mother only saw 2 of 6 of children live to adulthood. I feel so blessed to live in an age where modern medicine prolongs so many children's lives.
I also spent some time adding to my personal history and enjoying reflecting on my happy childhood filled with so many positive influences.  As a teenager I spent much of my Sunday's enjoying music-making.  Often I was just trying to catch up on violin practice to keep an "A" grade in orchestra, so I practiced hymns for sometimes up to 3 hours.  Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with all the responsibilities that come from being a grown up I yearn to go back for a day of peaceful contemplation like I enjoyed in my teens.  Jared's mom gave me that opportunity this week as she watched over our kids so I could join Jared.
Today I accompanied the Young Women as they sang I Walk By Faith.  Practicing reminded me of one of my favorite Janice Kapp Perry songs "Song of Testimony" which I played and contemplated on those peaceful Sabbath afternoons of yesteryear.  I love it because it so perfectly articulates my beliefs then and now.
"I know God lives
I know He loves me
I know He hears me and
He answers when I pray
I know His son is my Redeemer
And that He died for me
That I might live eternally one day

I daily drink of living waters
For He has promised those who drink
Shall thirst no more
I daily feast upon His teachings
In perfect faith I grow because
I know His promises are sure"

Back then I could dream of my future spouse and children and the idealistic life I hoped to carve out.  As I am now living that dream I recognize that because life is often less than ideal,  I need even more to rely on what I knew even then.  

I ended my weekend with an inspiring Stake Women's Conference.  As the speakers related how their faith had helped them cope with the tragedy's of letting go of family members for a time to early death.  I want to recommit to "feasting" more on the Saviour's teachings in the scriptures, because I expect that life is going to keep on having HARD moments that may test my faith, but I can draw strength from examples of stalwart scripture heroes who also endured disappointments, grieve and despair through challenging life circumstances, but they held fast because of their faith and chose to believe that God knew better than they did what they needed to learn through experience in this life.