Mind Your Manners

My family (children) desperately needed a lesson in manners. Any bodily function at the table is a-go, complaining about a gross dinner is fine, screaming at each other is a normal way to communicate, and if screaming doesn't work then hitting should get the message across.

I finally decided that a FHE lesson on manners was overdue. We spent a wonderful weekend at my parent's cabin and when my kids complained about Grandma's chicken noodle soup, I was very embarrased.

The next Monday night I prepared a lesson on manners. It went very well and the kids were enthusiastic about participating. We have a jar on the table, and when someone is caught showing good manners we put some glass rocks into the jar. We hope to fill it by the end of the week and then do something fun as a family. It's only been two days and the jar is half full. It's fun to watch the kids be so kind to each other, say please and thank you, and then run to put some rocks into the jar. They are very proud of themselves and I am proud of them, too.

Tractor Time

What an amazing day yesterday was. It was a ward service day. Many people - mostly men and boys -spent the morning helping neighbors with any work that was needed. Even Kyle was working. He has always begged us to let him help paint. Well, yesterday he got to help paint a widow's trailer and found out that it really isn't that fun.

Around lunch time the service day was finished and we were about to head over to the park for a ward picnic. But, there was a lady raking rock in her front yard across the street. She was trying to scrape an entire yard clear of rock. She really had no where to put it anyway. So, Steve, the bishop, Orson Wilkins (driving the tractor), another neighbor and his wife, and many children went to help her. Brother Wilkins scraped the rock and everyone else shoveled it into the tractor. Then they would drive the rock over to a dumpster in the church parking lot.

For two hours they worked in the yard. The kids had a blast riding in the tractor. They got to ride the entire time and they never got tired of it. They got to help drive the tractor and Brother Wilkins would dump them out of the lift when they got to where they were going. Kyle and some other boys would hang onto the shovel as Brother Wilkins lifted it off the ground. They would drop off when the couldn't hang on any longer. They had such a fun time.

When everyone finally finished the work, the picnic was over. The extra food was brought to our front yard and we all sat down on the sidewalk and had lunch together. I was touched to see so many neighbors coming together to help someone else. I feel blessed to live around such good people.

Bike Ride

Paige, Taryn and I went for a little bike ride to Sprout's this morning. This was Taryn's first time in the trailer. She was happy the whole time. It was good that she had her big sister to snuggle into and keep her from bouncing around too much. Thankfully all of our groceries fit into the back of the trailer on the way home. I almost went a little overboard.

Ultimate Multi-tasking

Paige was cracking us up! She was talking to her friend from school for the 3rd time that afternoon. Do I have a 5 year old or a 15 year old? I think I'm in trouble when she actually is a teenager.