FHE

I've been trying to keep FHE lately simple, fun and spiritual. Tough requirements but I know how important it is, so I want to make sure I'm covering my bases and teaching the kids something important each week besides the proper way to frost cupcakes, how to do a pull up ( they are fascinated with the pull up bar) and how a purchase from European Country Living can always put a smile on my face. So tonight we talked about being IN the world but not OF the world, and choosing to be on the Lord's side. We divided the room in two, and had a picture of the world on one side and the Lord on the other. Then we read strips of paper and decided which side the things listed belonged on. Such as honesty, modesty, sharing, lying, smoking, etc. Then we talked about some germinals, little guys who show up on tv shows and want you to do different things, such as buy everything advertised, be lazy and watch for hours, or get mad and angry because of all the violence shown. Being over here in Germany is awesome for so many reasons, one of which is tv. We don't have American tv. We got something called SKY satellite, so we have some shows, but they are through Britain. So the kids can watch the Disney channel and Nick Jr, but with British commercials, which are a LOT better than American ones. We don't watch tv at night, once in a while they watch a movie we have, but that's about it. Now currently Jaxon and I have become Jack Bauer fans because I discovered that watching 24 makes the 42 mintues on the treadmill go by a lot faster as I think of myself running from terrorists or evading capture, just as if I was Jack himself. Jaxon has been considering a career in the military lately, especially special forces, so he sees watching 24 as future career training. But I digress.... back to FHE. So here are some pictures of the kids choosing which side different things go on:


And its harder to involve Jaxon in FHE because he is in that 'pre-teen-I'm-too-cool-to participate' stage. He has been reading the Book of Mormon every day and I am SOOOO proud of him and excited for him, so I won't give him too much of a hard time about not wanting to place strips of paper on different sides of the room. But I got him involved by talking about how we need to 'let our light so shine' and be good examples for the world to see. I asked him to light some candles and any time a 12 year old gets to use a lighter, he is excited. So here's Jaxon lighting up the room with his 'spiritual brightness' (and a little help from a Bic):




Did you realize Ella turned 5 1/2 on Sunday? Not that we usually celebrate half birthdays, but I still thought, "Wow, my little girl is growing up so fast!" She has been a sweetheart lately and is really trying to choose the right. Last night she told me, "Remember how I used to do some bad stuff sometimes? Now I just think in my head, hmm, I am going to choose the right!" LOVE that girl!!


And this is what I caught Mason doing before bed. Yup, he's my kid:

(if you can't tell, he has a duster in his hand)