So about a month ago we had a combined RS/Priesthood meeting were we talked about preparation. That's a pretty broad topic but each person was given an index card sized paper and a pencil to write down any thoughts you had while listening (not just writing down what was said.)
Since I'm still pretty new to this being at home mom stuff, there is a lot of areas I've been wanting to improve on and also a lot of projects I want to do. So here is a few things I wrote on my paper and started the following day.
1. Read scriptures to the boys during breakfast- It seems like this is the only meal that they always sit still for and are pretty quiet since it is morning. This has been Awesome to say the least! I make whatever we have for breakfast then they sit down and we pray over the food/day and then I get the Book of Mormon (that's what we are starting with). Just last week Everett sat down and politely told me to fold my arms. He knew it was time to pray and that made me happy. Whenever I get the Book of Mormon out Vinson always shouts out "Read"! We typically read a chapter everyday and sometimes we read more or less and they are very quiet. It starts the day off great and allows me to get my scripture reading in everyday. I would not have this opportunity if I didn't get to stay home with the boys. Now we just need to work on making sure we read Saturday and Sunday mornings since I normally get to sleep in and it throws the routine off a little. 5 out of 7 days of reading though is great improvement.
2. We say family prayers before bed and do ring around the rosy twice then give the boys a ride on our back to their room- So the first time we prayed and held hands is when Everett told us about ring around the rosy. We had no idea that he knew about that. We don't hold hands while we kneel anymore but we make a circle. We used to pray second but now we tell the boys if they don't come and sit to pray then they may have to sit out of ring around the rosy. Vin is very reverent while we pray which I'm pretty impressed by and Everett is off and on. I wish that everyone else could see and hear Everett as he belts out the song while we go in a circle. Vinson hasn't figured out the falling down part yet but smiles and giggles while the rest of us fall down and always asks to do it again. After we do this we normally have the boys climb on our backs while we take them to their room crawling on all fours. They think that is fun and then we dump them off the side of us onto their bed.
3. De-junk- I have also started to try and De-junk and sell some time online: clothes, movies, and etc. I haven't really sold much which is disappointing but I haven't tried KSL yet. I try not to buy anything else from people unless I have sold the same amount of money.
4. Food storage- I have been working on this and made progress in a few areas. I love how my friend Aracely is always so encouraging and helpful when it comes to this. I hope to work up to having a year supply. So I purchased a 72 hour kit for 4 people on Groupon. I haven't opened it but all you have to add is water. It is suppose to last for 20 years. I also bought 5 gallon buckets for Flour and Sugar. I got some green chilis, evaporated milk and flour on a good sale at Smith's a couple weeks ago. I get excited when I start to meet some of these goals I've wanted to work on for so long. I try to use money I save on groceries to spend on this stuff. (Smith's always says on your receipt how much you saved) and then often I earn little gift cards here and there from Target for buying products. I will be working on this more once we actually move into the house we are buying.
