Mommy Horsey

This is what happens when Mommy tries to wipe up a spill on the kitchen floor.  These boys will seize any opportunity they can to use me as a jungle gym.

Caden the Kayaker

Trying to escape the heat we took an afternoon family outing to Highland Glen Park.  Highland Glen is this amazing little treasure in the middle of the city.  Its a man made pond with pavilions, hiking trails, and a park. We did a little swimming, but the highlight of the trip by far was Ryan's kayak that he made as a scout.  We were a little surprised at how adept Caden is as maneuvering it.  He took a solo trip, then gave each of his brothers a ride.  Tonight at dinner as we were sharing our happy things from the day, all three boys mentioned the outing to the pond.  Its so great to spend time together as a family.

Swimming Lessons

Today was the last day of Caden's swimming lessons.  He's the one in the picture floating on his back like a star.  He loved it and passed his class with flying colors.  In fact, the teacher recommends him skipping the next level.  Her comments read: "Caden was a good swimmer!  He was good at his glides and he loved volunteering to show everyone.  Practice with his flutter kicking by keeping his legs straight.  Good job!"  I laughed a little at her comments on his volunteering, because he loves to be the center of attention.  He made great strides this session and can now float and accomplish forward motion all on his own (for short distances).  He begs to go swimming constantly.  I wish I could take him more, but Eric dreads the water (he refused to do swim lessons this year) and Kyle is too young to be safe without some pretty one on one supervision.

Hand

Kyle has a thing right now where he likes to hold people's hands.  He uses it as a way to make sure you are following him and to make sure he doesn't get left behind.  Once a week we try to meet friends at the park for a little play date.  Kyle has developed a cute friendship with the little boy his age.  Today as we were at the park he took his friend's hand and took him for a walk to show him all the interesting things he was seeing.

Back at Trafalga

Summer is definitely here, and Trafalga is open again.  Kyle is finally tall enough to ride a few of the rides.  The airplane ride is a true favorite.  I love Eric in this picture.  This is the same trip where Caden finally made it to the top of the rock climbing wall.  Until now he'd get about halfway up and come down, but with Ryan cheering him on he found the courage to keep going.

Ideas on Play Fighting

On our recent vacation my older boys both picked a bow and arrow set as their souvenir.  This year we have also introduced the concept of superheroes, foam swords, and plastic knives into our toy chest.  With all this interest in fighting I decided it was time to lay down some ground rules by doing an FHE on fighting and play fighting.  When I got done with planning it I thought a few others might benefit from the outline as well, so I decided to post it here (also, so I can find it when we need to review this concept in the future).  I should also give credit to a great blogpost on boys and weapons that was the inspiration for my lesson. 

FHE Lesson on Fighting

Opening song: Army of Helaman

The scriptures teach us that there is righteous fighting and unrighteous fighting.

Unrighteous Fighting

·         One of the Ten Commandments is “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13).  When Jesus came to Earth, he gave a deeper meaning to this commandment.  He said it is as bad to be angry with someone as it is to kill them.  (3 Nephi 12:21-22 and Matthew 5:21-22)

 Righteous Fighting

·         The Nephites and the Lamanites spent a lot of time at war with each other.  Even though they were fighting the same war, the Lord was unhappy with the Lamanites but blessed the Nephites.  This is because the Nephites were fighting for a righteous cause – defending their homes, liberties, families, and their right to go to church.  (Alma 43:45-47)

Captain Moroni is a wonderful example of someone who fought righteously.

“If Latter-day Saints are called upon to go into battle, they can look to the example of Captain Moroni, the great military leader in the Book of Mormon. Although he was a mighty warrior, he “did not delight in bloodshed” (Alma 48:11). He was “firm in the faith of Christ,” and his only reason for fighting was to “defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion” (Alma 48:13). If Latter-day Saints must go to war, they should go in a spirit of truth and righteousness, with a desire to do good. They should go with love in their hearts for all God’s children, including those on the opposing side. Then, if they are required to shed another’s blood, their action will not be counted as a sin.” ( True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference) (Picture 312 from GAPK)

Jesus taught that even if it would be righteous fighting, there are still times when choosing not to fight is better.

When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, Peter tried to defend him and used his sword to cut off the ear of one of the soldiers.  Jesus told him to put his sword away and he healed the ear of the man who had been hurt. (Matt 26:51-52; John 18:10-11; Luke 22:51)

Sometimes, the way to repent of unrighteous fighting is to not fight at all. 

The Anti-Nephi-Lehites were Lamanites who fought unrighteously for many years.  Then they became converted to the Gospel.  They felt so bad about the unrighteous fighting they had been doing they buried their weapons of war so they wouldn’t be tempted to use them again.  Years later, when the Lamanites attacked them it would have been righteous fighting for them to defend their homes and families, but they still chose not to fight because they felt so bad about all the fighting they had done before.  (Alma 23-24, specifically Alma 24:17-18) (Picture 311 from GAPK)

Our Family Rules for Play Fighting:

1. ·         Play fighting where we are pretending to be bad, angry, or mean is not okay.  Play fighting where we are pretending to keep someone safe is okay.  No one should ever pretend to be the bad guy. 
2. ·         Soldiers train by practicing fighting each other.  Its okay to ‘spar’ with each other if we are pretending we are training.
3. ·         All life is precious.  We never pretend to kill someone or say we want to kill someone.
4. ·         If we don’t use our weapons appropriately, we will have to put them away for a little while.

Closing Song: I’m Trying to Be Like Jesus

Hiking

On our last day in Cloudcroft we decided to go hiking.  There were some relatively easy trails that led to old fallen down railroad trellises.  The kids thought the giant beams were pretty cool.  I love this cousin picture.  The kids naturally lined up from oldest to youngest; Eric is trying to help William stay in line; and the size of Caden's walking stick is very apparent.

Toy Train Museum

After spending the morning in the heat of the sand dunes we went to a Toy Train Museum in town to cool off.  We all enjoyed the tour of the museum and the amazing model train displays.  The volunteers were fantastic and had some funny lines and stunts for the kids.

The highlight was the train ride at the end.  The kids all got to give the conductor their tickets to be punched, then we took off on a 2 mile train ride through a city park.

The final showpiece of the museum was an old caboose the kids climbed up on.  Eric is just sure he's driving with his hands on that wheel.

Annual Grandkid Picture

My mom likes to get a picture with all the grandkids once a year when we get together.  This year's photo shoot went better than any ever have.  I'm guessing it has something to do with the kids getting older and the photographers (us) getting more experience.

White Sands National Monument

The big event of the family vacation was an excursion to White Sands National Monument.  White Sands is the largest white sand dune area in the world.  Apparently the tourists enjoy the dunes by sledding on them, so we gave it a try.  It took a little experimenting to get it right, but we finally got in a rhythm that everyone enjoyed. Its was lots of fun, but the hike back up each time was torture.
 (check back later for videos).
When they weren't sledding, the kids were digging and playing in the sand.

The older kids completed workbooks, watched in informational video, and were sworn in as Jr. Rangers.  Caden and Caitlyn proudly wore their Jr. Ranger badges for the remainder of the trip.  Madisen selected the more sophisticated looking Jr. Ranger patch.

Kyle's Birthday Party

Kyle's birthday this year happened to fall on the day before we left for family vacation with my family, so we decided to wait a couple days and celebrate with the cousins.  For our family vacation this year we rented a nice condo in Cloudcroft, New Mexico.  It was the halfway point between Houston and Salt Lake so we decided to give it a try.  Thursday was a low key day as we all recovered from our day of driving.  For the party we played with balloons and party blowers, then opened presents.  We topped it all off with a watermelon cake and two candles.  It was the perfect way to celebrate.

Gnome Homes (aka Fairy Houses)

We love our local library!  They have great children's programs and this summer is even better than in the past.  Caden and his friend are signed up for Art Smart Jr (a class where they learn about artists then get to do a craft in that artist's style) and Eric and Kyle are signed up for story time.  The theme this summer is Dig Into Reading, so when we signed up the kids got kits to make Gnome Homes.  My boys didn't know what a gnome was, but they'd seen Tinkerbell and instantly decided they were making fairy houses instead.  Their homes will be on display in the Children's Section on the library all summer.  We had lots of fun doing this craft and I loved seeing the creativity of each boy come out.  We did most of the project while Kyle was napping, but he woke up in time for pictures and couldn't resist getting in line.

Utah Lake Festival

Once again on an early Saturday in June we found ourselves at the Utah Lake Festival.  Unfortunately, we got there a little late so all we were able to do was the boat tour, the kids games, and the craft.  The kids were sad about missing the fishing, but I think they were okay about not getting to see the educational booths.  They loved the boat ride.  A big thanks to Ryan who got us on one even though all the tickets had been passed out hours before we got there.

Ryan's Work Conference

Ryan went to a conference this week for work.  The poor guy had to stay in a 5 star hotel on a little island right off the Florida coast.  Rough times.  While he was away he made sure to send home pictures of his adventures - on the beach, touring St. Augustine, and eating Blue Bell ice cream.  He stayed an extra day so he could go deep sea fishing as an early Father's Day present.  He had a great time, and we survived at home, but we are all happy to have him back.