Family Home Evening Funnies

So tonight Kelsey was in charge of our lesson for Family Home Evening. Generally she will select a picture from the Gospel Art Picture Kit and read the caption on the back that talks about what's going on in the picture (i.e. a family praying, Jesus with the children, etc.)

Tonight she said she wasn't going to use a picture from the kit. She said she just wanted to talk about how Jesus loves us. So I grabbed a framed picture of Jesus to use for a visual aid and was willing to let her wing it for her lesson. She is 5 1/2, after all, and I was curious to know what she was going to say.

Kelsey's lesson consisted of a family discussion about Jesus and how we know he loves us. The kids talked about their blessings (family, home, food, etc.) and listed those as ways we know. But then I asked whether Jesus still loved us, even if we didn't have food, home, family or any of those things. Does Jesus love people who don't have those blessings? The girls responded, "Yes, he still loves us then." So I asked how we knew? Because he made us - that's a blessing he has given everyone, right?

To this Kelsey responded, "Yes. Even when we die he loves us."

Olivia's response? "He's happy when we die."

That's when I lost my composure and couldn't stop laughing. Of course, the rest of Olivia's comment was something about how then we could be with Him after we die, but I just couldn't get over the first part.

I love my children. What a lucky Mommy I am!

Day #2

Ben is grateful for... his job.
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Anita is grateful for... our new doctor that is less than a mile away. We biked there this afternoon for Olivia's follow-up visit.

Olivia is grateful that... she has a family.

Kelsey is grateful that... Jesus loves us.

Connor is grateful for... our nice, fenced-in back yard where he can safely play with his dog for hours and hours on such a nice day!

Pumpkins

So I'm a bit late in blogging about our Halloween festivities. Aren't we all? It seemed like Halloween went on all week long around here. It all started on Monday, when we decided to have Pumpkin Night for Family Home Evening.

We have had a big pumpkin sitting by our front door for about a month now, and it was time to carve that baby up for Halloween! So first we had the girls draw out what they wanted the jack-o-lantern to look like.

Kelsey really got into it.

Olivia, on the other hand, has figured out that less is more in pumpkin carving.

Once they agreed on a face, Mommy and the girls started scooping out the inner muck of the pumpkin. Then, while Daddy carved, the girls decorated pumpkin cookies. And if you want to check out the fabulous recipe for these babies (I invented the recipe myself), click here.


The girls enjoyed eating them, too!

Alas, Daddy couldn't quite get the eyes on the jack-o-lantern the way the girls wanted them, so he did his own scary version instead. Once Daddy was done carving the pumpkin, the girls had to pose with their own scary faces! (Yeah. I'm really scared.)

Spooky, huh?

Attitude of Gratitude

This year the Swervin' Ervins have decided to have a month of Thanksgiving. Ben has always felt that Thanksgiving is the one holiday that we skim over way too fast. I think it's Easter, but we're probably both right. To try to focus our family's attention on gratitude this year, we have decided to do a daily post with the things we are grateful for.

BUT... we forgot to do it the first day. In our defense, it's probably because we had some friends over for dinner last night and got so busy laughing and having fun that by the time they left it was bedtime and we were all worn out. That is why I'm cheating and pre-dating this blog post so it'll show up as if I posted on Sunday, November 1st.

So what are we grateful for at the beginning of this month??

Ben is grateful for... good friends (Hmm... I wonder what made him think of that?)

Anita is grateful for... this:

This is our share from the produce co-op that we get every other Wednesday. It's only half a share, really, but it's plenty for us! This particular basket has grapefruit, apples, red bell peppers, spinach, grapes, green beans, bananas, potatoes, onions, lettuce, and squash - just to name a few! And it only cost me 3 hours of my time, gas for my van, and a little effort on my part.

Olivia is grateful for... the Inglehart family (our friends that came over for dinner last night)

Kelsey is grateful for... the church "which loves us, too"

Connor is grateful for... big sisters that play with him. Currently their favorite game is one called "poison baby" where the girls pretend that Connor is poisonous and if he touches them they'll die. So they run away screaming while he chases them. Also screaming, of course.