5 Finger testimony & Chore chart

Tonight for FHE we did a lesson based on a 5 finger testimony. We talked about how different gloves are worn....because they protect hands from getting dirty, being hurt, or for sports or fashion. Then I showed the girls a beautiful white glove and said we were going to talk about a testimony glove. I asked Faith what that meant and she said 'it's a special talk at church'.

Here's the 5 finger testimony we talked about (each finger representing a different part of a testimony)

1. I know Heavenly Father lives and he loves me
2. I know that Jesus Christ is his son
3. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and he translated the Book of Mormon
4. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church on the earth today
5. I know that Thomas S Monson is the prophet today and he receives revelation from the Lord

Of course there are other things that we can know as part of our testimony, but this is a start.

It was so cute to see Faith stand up and say 'Good evening Brothers and Sisters, I'd like to share my testimony.... As she tried to remember things we'd talked about she counted them off on her fingers. It's hard to describe the feeling of hearing her start to express things she believes to be true. So cool!

And on a side note, I lost my keys at the Warehouse today. I rand Daddy Joe to let him know I might be out longer than I'd anticipated. He couldn't even come and help me look cause I had the carseats with me. Anyways, I just asked them to pray that I'd find them. He said when he got off the phone the girls were quick to pray and I found them not long after. Tonight for our dinner prayer, Ella said 'Dear Heavenly Father thankful for a good day please help Mum find the keys eat dinner good in the name of Jesus Christ amen' She's starting to learn so much and I love it!!!!!

Our 'game' tonight was talking about our new chore chart. If they get ticks for their jobs they'll have some kind of reward at the end of the day (maybe 10 minutes of a DVD after Seth goes to bed at 6:30pm rather than the 5 minutes they get at the moment)

Their jobs are basic things like:
Make Bed
Keep DVDs tidy in the lounge
Keep books tidy on the shelf in the hallway
Make sure clothes stay in drawers
All toys out of lounge at 4pm
Set table
Clear table

Seffy's chart has 3 chorres
1. Sleep in bed all night long
2. Be cute
3. Practise crawling

Faith's so excited about getting ticks tomorrow on her chart so I hope she earns them!

Chapel Clean Up & Soccer

Last saturday we were scheduled to do the chapel clean up with 3 other families. We were blessed with a little concreting job out of the blue that morning for Daddy Joe so I was planning to take up the kids on my own. I figured we'd probably be late and not do a whole lot to help but we'd go and make some kind of contribution.

On Friday evening we got a text from one of the other families saying they couldn't come but the Dad had already been up and done some vacuuming. So he wanted us to pick up his key and be the supervisors for the other families.

That meant not only did I have to be there on time with the kids, but if the other families didn't turn up, I had my work cut out for me (he'd listed in the text that I needed to mop kitchen and all bathroom floors, clean all glass at four main doors, vacuum chapel and wipe down blackboards.

I impressed myself by getting there on time and was pleased that after cleaning on my own for 40 mints, the 2 other families turned up and that meant 2 Mums, 4 YSA girls and 2 primary girls. We did an exceptional job I think. After just over 2 hours we were all done and I was very impressed with how good we did without the help of any husbands!!!!

Lil' Leffy was the only baby and the only boy there that morning and he made the biggest mess!!!!

We got there on time cause the girls went up in their jammies and had their toast while they ran around playing (and I followed them with the vacuum!)

On saturday arvo when Daddy Joe got home we appeased the girl's whinging by going to the park to play soccer. 

She's loving her soccer get up. Hard to teach her the concept of 'soccer is all about kicking-no hands'

After about 20 minutes....

Latest happenings

Most mornings we stay and play at kindy for about 20 minutes so when I get home with Seffy he can go straight to bed.

In my 20 minutes I try and make a little activity for Faith and her friends to do. This morning we made a zoo with blocks and sorted the animals into different enclosures

Tears cause her little sister ruined her zoo and pinched her face :( That was our cue to leave Faith to play and take Ella home for consequences

We stole Mac and brought him back to our place for FHE last week. So fun to have him over. On our way back we had Faith's piano practice to he and Ella played with Lego in the waiting room

 Faith started Soccer 2 weeks ago. I bought boots off trademe for both the girls and they were so excited to go to practise with them last week...even though it was pretty cold and windy

Our FHE game tonight was the memory game. We put 14 things down on the ground and named them all, looked at them and then covered them with a blanket. The girls were really good at using their memory to list them while they were covered. Their faces lit up as they remembered things and we praised them for being so so clever. I'm sure this game will be a keeper!

Faith's just got to be in on everything. Even weedeating. She knows when Daddy Joe starts doing the yard she has to get boots on and safety glasses if she wants to be involved....so she's pretty speedy at that now. Ella on the other hand fluffs around putting clothes on for it and spends the whole time running in and out saying 'it's too louder Mum'

Impromptu Date

Last Saturday I took the kids to Mission Bay to play with the Leone's and Stones. We had a nice afternoon get together....the kiddies played and the sissies talked. Mean!

Just as I was packing up the car and about to head off Rochelle and Pete said they'd go out for dinner and then come over to babysit the kids so Daddy Joe and I could go out on a date. It was an 'out of the blue' offer so I hesitated. They insisted, so I drove away with a big smile on my face knowing that I could get the kids, fed, bathed and then head out for a bit of time with my boyf!!!!

We ended up walking down and then back up Queen Street....people watching costs nothing and it's fun!
I wasn't hungry so I was after a juice bar and my hungry husband tried Carl's Jnr for the first time.

Was so fun to be childless and just hang out.

This is Seth and his Dad before we went to the park and he went to Conference. A mountain of noodles for lunch

General Conference @ home

This year we stayed at home for conference and it went really well.
We all got dressed in church clothes, and had a de-briefing before it started that went a little like this....

Mum: 'Girls, we're going to stay at home for church today. We're going to watch the prophets speak on the computer and you guys can eat your morning tea, watch the church movie, with no sound, and look at your church books. You're not allowed to play, leave this room, ask for more food or be noisy...ok'

Girls :'Yip, k'

It all went really good considering Seth woke up about 40 minutes in so we had him jiggling around on our knees. I definitely got to listen to it better than I would at the chapel so I'm convinced it's the best thing for us to do at this stage.

Next time I'll be more organised and make a special lunch with conference cinnamon scrolls. Rice pudding yesterday was yum but not as good as I would have liked.

Smorgasboard of activities to choose from

They watched their silent movie without moving until their morning tea bowls ran out. Ella's was sniffed down pretty quick and Faith's apple, crackers and cheese lasted the distance.

When Faith finally ventured off the couch she went to the bookshelf to get the book of Mormon. She lay up on the couch for ages 'reading' it and then she came to us all excited cause she'd found her name all by herself. She'd even found the Faith chapter all on her own!

And as far as the talks go, I got a few gems out of them.....

There may be some among you who feel darkness encroaching upon you. You may feel burdened by worry, fear, or doubt. To you and to all of us, I repeat a wonderful and certain truth: God’s light is real. It is available to all! It gives life to all things.¹ It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound. It can be a healing balm for the loneliness and sickness of our souls. In the furrows of despair, it can plant the seeds of a brighter hope. It can enlighten the deepest valleys of sorrow. It can illuminate the path before us and lead us through the darkest night into the promise of a new dawn.

spiritual light rarely comes to those who merely sit in darkness waiting for someone to flip a switch. It takes an act of faith to open our eyes to the Light of Christ.

To speak to a child’s heart, we must know a child’s needs. If we pray to know those needs, the very words we say may have the power to reach into their hearts. Our efforts are magnified when we seek the direction of the Holy Ghost. The Lord said:

“Speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, …

“For it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.

The answer to our prayer of how to meet our children’s needs may be to more often technologically disconnect. Precious moments of opportunity to interact and converse with our children dissolve when we are occupied with distractions. Why not choose a time each day to disconnect from technology and reconnect with each other? Simply turn everything off. When you do this, your home may seem quiet at first; you may even feel at a loss as to what to do or say. Then, as you give full attention to your children, a conversation will begin, and you can enjoy listening to each other.

 Fifth, love. The happiest marriages I have seen radiate obedience to one of the happiest commandments—that we “live together in love.”⁸ Speaking to husbands, the Lord commanded, “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else.”⁹ A Church handbook teaches: “The word cleave means to be completely devoted and faithful to someone. Married couples cleave to God and one another by serving and loving each other and by keeping covenants in complete fidelity to one another and to God.” Both the husband and wife “leave behind their single life and establish their marriage as [their] first priority. … They allow no other person or interest to have greater priority … than keeping the covenants they have made with God and each other.”¹⁰ Watch and learn: successful couples love each other with complete devotion.

There are rules and laws to help ensure our physical safety. Likewise, the Lord has provided guidelines and commandments to help ensure our spiritual safety so that we might successfully navigate this often-treacherous mortal existence and return eventually to our Heavenly Father.

Said President Gordon B. Hinckley, “The happiness of the Latter-day Saints, the peace of the Latter-day Saints, the progress of the Latter-day Saints, the prosperity of the Latter-day Saints, and the eternal salvation and exaltation of this people lie in walking in obedience to the counsels of … God.”⁹

Tithing

For over a year now (can't remember exactly when I started it), the girls have had $5 automatically go into their bank accounts every week. I'd meant to set it up for a long time and never gotten around to it. Finally I did and ever since, their $5 has left my account on a Monday and gone into theirs. A few times I've jumped on to internet banking and done a little transfer out (when needs must!), but give or take a little bit, their $5 per week is untouched. Seth's is $10 per week but his is also kind of a missionary fund. Need to sort it out properly cause who's to say that the girls won't be missionaries too. Argh.....expensive!

I think ideally I'd have $5 per child per and then another 'missionary fund'  that gets $10 per week for all children to get a bit from if they choose to go. I'm certainly not paying for their whole missions but a contribution I can do!

Anyways, I digress. Today was the girl's first day paying tithing. Last week our Primary President shared the Primary's goals at the beginning of our 5th Sunday lesson. They were things like Learn the articles of Faith, help prepare children well for baptism etc. One that stood out to me was 'teach children about the importance of paying tithing'. So that's what we had FHE on last week. It was so cool to talk with Faith about how Daddy goes to work to earn money and we use our money to buy things.

I asked questions like
1. What does Dad do for work?
2. Why does he go to work and not just stay at home with us all the time?
3. What do we do with the money that he earns?
4. Why do we need money?
5. Who gives Dad work?
6. What would we do if Daddy didn't have work for a while?

I think by the time we finished she realised that when Daddy works that's a blessing from Heavenly Father. Our money is given to us and we can use it for ourselves and to help other people too. And we also learnt that we need to be careful with money by the way we spend and save.
They were so excited to put their .50 cents in the tithing envelopes today. I hope it's the beginning of a lifetime of faithful tithe paying.

Ella wears 'pants' to church

At our church girls wear dresses or skirts and boys wear a suit (pants and a shirt + tie). The girls know this and have done it every week for the whole of their short lives.

2 Weeks ago we were running ultra late for church and didn't get there until 9:15 (it had started 15 minutes earlier).

Ella had mucked around prior to leaving, getting out of her skirt and shoes, putting on jeans, shorts, jandals, lots of other things. She got threatened with being left at home as we got into the car which is when she finally put her skirt and church sandals back on. I knew she'd been walking around with her church bag full of other clothes all morning and I let her bring it with her. Mistake!!!!

By the time I picked her up from nursery, this is how she looked. Cool Bobby
I didn't realise she'd kept her little church bag with a change of clothes and shoes in it.
Everyone thought it was pretty funny (as did I) but oh my goodness, I don't support the 'wear pants to church' movement!

BBQ at Uncle Brett's Place

A few weeks ago I totally coincidentally met a cousin....Brett Ormsby. I happened to overhear him spelling his surname to the dance teacher on a saturday morning. ORMSBY!
I couldn't help but say, 'that's my maiden name'. Whenever I tell people I'm an Ormsby, they say 'oh, do you know David, Stewart, Phillip, Andrew.....and I never do, so I thought it was fairly unlikely we'd be related.
But we sat down and chatted for a while. Turns out Brett's Dad is Warren, whose Dad was George (Grandad's brother). So that makes our grandads brothers, our Dad's cousins, and us FAMILY!!!

We've seen him a few times since and the girls are always excited to see Uncle Brett and Cousin Hayley.

During the week he texted to see if we'd like to go over to his place for a BBQ and Easter Egg hunt. Um....YES!

So this afternoon we went down the road, 5 minutes away between our place and the dance studio to have a nice family afternoon. They'd also invited their neighbours with a little 4 year old girl so Faith, Ella, Hayley and Phoenix had a great few hours playing....not to mention the best Easter Egg Hunt I've ever seen. Brett's flatmate works at Countdown Head Office and oversees seasonal items like easter, christmas, valentines, halloween etc. With it being a week after Easter he had an amazingly good cache of treaties to hide around the property. Pre-schoolers should never be seen with bags as full as they ended up with. The girls have been taken away and thinned out for when they get up in the morning.

We had a wonderful afternoon/evening chatting with Brett, his girlfriend, neighbours, work colleagues. I'm so looking forward to spending more time with him and Hayley. He reminds me so much of Luke and he's very loving and welcoming to our children so no doubt we'll have lots of family fun down the track.

Can't go wrong with little hotdogs!

The girls were really really good with Kujo Ormsby (as his nametag reads), but Faith didn't want him this close as she ate her hotdog.

Getting ready to start the Easter Egg Hunt (Uncle Brett in top corner)

Seffy Leffy watched the kids run around him looking for Eggs

Daddy Joe made them share what they got but the people felt bad taking any so they said no. Those are new skirts that I made them both last night....Thanks Geoff's Emporium, $2 per skirt!

Faith and her Cuzzy Hayley who she likes to carry around like a baby even though she's 3.5 (same age as bubba Jordy)

Ella and her new friend Phoenix with their spoils. Ella loved her so much she ran and gave her a massive hug when she left

Is this fun or what!?!?!?!?! I don't even know what to do this is so cool!

No matter how many times I hid the Easter Egg bags, Ella kept finding them and taking them outside to rummage through

And lastly, this is how the girls spent a lot of their night...chilln' out on the grass, eating easter eggs and fejoas, chasing the dog, throwing the ball, playing with playdough, painting pictures. And they never fought once - even better!