Family Meetings

We have been having family meetings every Sunday. Brent and I have also had meetings with each child individually. We weren't sure if we should do them with Mckenna because she is too samll to understand exactly what is happening. We decided to do them with her. Well, her goal each week has been the same, hugs and kisses. Last night, she saw that the meetings were going on and she jumped on to our bed and said, "hugs and kisses!" She gave Brent and I both hugs and kisses on the spot. It was so cute.

A Funny

Tonight, we were having meetings with our kids and my dd reminded me of a funny. A few years ago, Connor, was really into Spiderman. He used to stick tape on his feet and hands and try to climb the walls, LOL!

Children Teaching Children

I've written a couple of times about our family trying to parent using the book, Teaching Self Government. Today my 6 year old was talking to her almost 3 year old sister. She was trying to teach her to say, "okay." It's the key word for accepting "no" answers, accepting consequences, showing that your listening, etc. It was so cute. "Mckenna, say okay." "Put that back, now say okay."

Artwork

I love art. I decided to be an artist when my grandpa hung a picture I did for him on the wall. I'm not quite an artist, but it brings great joy to me. I am trying to instill some sense of joy in my kids with art as well. Three of them recently entered the K12 art competition. Mailaya's picture she calls Summertime Express

Jacobs picture, House in a Snowstorm.

Connor's picture, House by the Pool

Potty Training

I'm just going to say it, "I HATE potty training." I really do. It's that time between diapers and being trained when there are accidents on a daily basis. We've been working on potty training with Kenna for months. She was almost trained when Karlyn was born. Somedays she is dry through the whole day and others she'll have one to three accidents. This morning she said how much she loved her diaper. I asked her about her princess underwear. She let me know that she doesn't love her underwear and doesn't want to potty in the toilet. Sigh...

Goal # 3

This goal is an emotional goal. Out of all the goals, this is the one that I tend to put last. My goal is to do something each week that is just for me. I want to make time to read books for enjoyment. Digital scrapbook at least once per week. Oh, sew and paint. I LOVE to paint and don't make the time for that like I want to. I've got one more goal to write out, my religious goal. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for that one but it's being thought out.

How's it Going?

It's going great! What? My first New Year's resolution. Strengthening my family has been fun. One of the "Teaching Self Government" ideas is to have a once a week activity with the whole family. I actually asked Nicholeen about this because we already have FHE (family home evening). She said that they do FHE on Sunday and the activity on Monday. The reason is the anticipation of a family planned event is really important. It has been especially important in our home right now. One child is making some huge changes and has lost privileges quite a bit. Family time is special and every child gets to participate in all of the planned family stuff, even if they don't have privileges. We've only had two activities so far but I can see it's something the kids are going to relish and become more creative in planning as time goes on. We did puzzles the first night and went sledding last night. We had intended to build a snow man and have a snowball fight but the snow wasn't right for either. We had sledding as our secondary plan. It turned out to be a great lesson in having fun even though plans change.