FHE lessons from the Friend Magazine

Have you ever scoured the internet for something that has been right under your nose the whole time?  I feel that way with Family Home Evening lessons.  I always felt overwhelmed by the idea of putting together FHE, especially for younger children.  Recently, I made a huge discovery! FHE lessons have been coming to my mailbox every month for a few years now.

In the Friend magazine, they have a section called "Bringing Primary Home", and guess what?  They have a little story, scripture, song, and activity on each one.  And if that's not enough, some months they have a section called "Family Fun Time" with more ideas for Family Home Evening!  Here is a list of all the ones I could find:

1. The Scriptures Are the Word of God- January 2011
2. The Scriptures Teach of Heavenly Father’s Plan- February 2011
3. Heavenly Father Speaks to Us through His Prophets- March 2011
4. Jesus Christ Is My Savior and Redeemer- April 2011
5. The Church of Jesus Christ Has Been Restored- May 2011
6. The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel Make It Possible for Me to Live with God Again- June 2011
7. The Temple Is a House of God- July 2011
8. My Body Is a Temple of God- August 2011
9. The Gospel Will Be Preached in All the World- September 2011
10. Prayer Is Reverent Communication between God and Me- October 2011
11. Reverence Is Love and Respect for God- November 2011
12. The Scriptures Teach Me about the Savior’s Birth and Second Coming- December 2011
13. Agency Is the Gift to Choose for Ourselves- January 2012
14. When We Choose the Right, We Are Blessed- February 2012
15. Living Prophets Teach Me to Choose the Right- March 2012
16. Jesus Christ Teaches Me to Choose the Right- April 2012
17. I Choose the Right When I Am Baptized and Confirmed a Member of the Church- May 2012
18. I Choose the Right by Living Gospel Principles- June 2012
19. I Choose the Right by Living Gospel Principles- July 2012
20. I Choose to Fill My Life with Things That Invite the Spirit- August 2012
21. The Ten Commandments Teach Me to Love God and His Children- September 2012
22. Blessings of the Priesthood Are Available to All- October 2012
23. I Can Choose to Be a Missionary NOW- November 2012
24. Jesus Christ is the Son of God- December 2012
25. Heavenly Father Loves Me and Has a Plan For Me- Jan 2013
26. The Earth Was Created for Heavenly Father’s Children- Feb 2013
27. Jesus Christ is My Savior- March 2013
28. Jesus Christ Restored His Church in the Latter Days- April 2013
29. Prophets Teach Us to Live the Restored Gospel- May 2013
30. I Will Follow Heavenly Father’s Plan by Being Baptized and Confirmed- June 2013
31. Families Are Part of Heavenly Father’s Plan- July 2013
32. Heavenly Father Hears and Answers My Prayers- August 2013
33. I Will Serve God with All My Heart, Might, Mind, and Strength- September 2013
34. I Will Share the Gospel with All of God’s Children- October 2013
35. We are to Thank God in All Things- November 2013
36. I Know That Jesus Christ Will Come Again- December 2013
37. Heavenly Father Prepared a Way for Me to Return to Him- January 2014
38. Heavenly Father Has a Plan for His Children- February 2014

Cute Pregnancy Announcement

I saw this idea on Pinterest and had to recreate it.  I didn't even have to pinch the little guy to get him to cry.  He did it as soon as I put him in his crib.

Anger Family Home Evening (FHE)

My little guy is a typical toddler boy. He lashes out whenever he gets angry. So, we are going to have Family Home Evening about anger. I created this packet from a lot of different resources I found online.

Anger FHE Outline

Jesus is Our Savior FHE Packet

I really have loved having Family Home Evening recently.  We have been trying to do it every week for the past few months and our son is a completely different child!  I've been using a lot of FHE packets that I've found online and they have been so awesome!  But, this Sunday as I was teaching Sharing Time, I realized that all this time I have had FHE packets at my fingertips with the Sharing Time lessons.  So, I made a packet based on the lesson I did this past week.  It is about Jesus Christ being our Savior.  Hope it helps you and your family as much as it has helped ours!

Jesus Christ is Our Savior

Another Reverence FHE

So, if you couldn't tell from this post and the previous post, I am really concerned about my son's reverence in church.  So, I made another FHE packet to use.  Enjoy.

Click here for the reverence FHE lesson

FHE Packet- Reverence

I have to admit something, I have a 3-year-old and I know that we should do Family Home Evening.  But...we rarely do.  It's just so hard to think of things that will interest him and prepare.  I know it shouldn't be that difficult, I mean, I teach Sharing Time all the time, but for some reason I just can't seem to do it at home.

Then I discovered this novel idea of an FHE packet.  I'm sure this isn't a new idea to most of you, but I love the idea of putting everything together in a gallon ziploc bag or file folder and just pulling it out on FHE night.

I have another confession, my toddler is kinda awful in Primary.  He is the youngest child in there and sometimes he just doesn't know how to act.  I really wanted to do an FHE about reverence because we REALLY need it.

Anyway, enough rambling.  So, I made an FHE packet all about reverence.  It's obviously geared toward a 2-5 year old.  Hope you can use it in your family also!

Follow this link to download it for yourself:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxhibRQVbe_baTJodG1pbWFyV0k/edit?usp=sharing

A New Take on the Freezer Meal Group

For over a year now, my friends and I have been talking about starting a freezer meal group/swap, but I just couldn't figure out how to do it.  I read in many places how others do it.  I read on this blog http://freezermealsforus.blogspot.com/ about ways she suggested doing a group.  They included
1. Having each person make meals at home and then bring them to swap already assembled or
2. Having 1 person shop for everything needed to assemble a specific meal and everyone gets together to assemble.
I had issues with each of these for different reasons.
1. I didn't like the idea of sitting at home by myself making meals for everyone.  It seemed so boring!  Also, what if someone didn't like mushrooms and would prefer I didn't put them in?  What if I had a friend who had a very small family and wanted to split the meals into 2 smaller meals?
2. This is just way too daunting.  1 person shopping for 25+ meals is just way too much work.  Also, what if I like generic brands but the person shopping buys name brands?  What if I already have half the ingredients at home so shopping for them is just spending unneeded money?

So, my friends and I brainstormed and came up with a better idea.  This is how we do our swap.

We try to have 6 participants every month.  Every month each person is asked to come up with 1 meal they would like to share.  We then ask each person to bring ingredients to make 6 of their meal.  They do any serious prep at home (anything that needs to be cooked ahead, etc) but most prep can be done at the swap. Then, we get together and each person stakes a piece of countertop.  We each do any chopping or other prep.  This is great because we can chat while we're working.

Each person brings their own pans or bags that suit the size of their family.  When all the prep is done, we all go to one space and assemble that meal for our family.  This way, people can tailor them to their family's tastes.  Each meal has a copy of the recipe and cooking instructions for people to take home.  In the end, each person leaves with 6 different meals.  It usually takes us about 1 1/2 hours total.

I love this idea because each person has control over buying the ingredients for their meal but also over how their other meals are put together.

Many people suggested not letting kids be around during the swap because it's too crazy.  We have found that the opposite is true.  The kids love getting together and they stay out of our hair while we go about our business.  The only suggestion I have is to bring snacks for the kids.  With all the food around, they will decide they are hungry.  We make sure to pick a house where the kids can have lots of room to play.

So far, we've loved doing the swap this way!  We love having time together as friends and leaving with 6 new freezer meals.  Please let me know if you have any questions about how to do this kind of group successfully.  Here is our welcome sheet that I send to everyone who wants to join.

This is what I took home today!