Family Motto

Being inspired by a good book, Darryl and I decided to come up with a family motto. We figure this pretty much sums it all up. I had this printed and framed so we remember! I have been so inspired by these women who wrote this book. It has made me feel so much more confidant and at peace with my role as a mother. I am not a really big reader, and I find it hard to find a book that keeps my interest, but this is my new favorite. You need to read this! Plus, the royalties from the book sales go to help the author's darling daughter's condition. Check out her blog, you will love it!

The book had loads of great tips and suggestions and warmed your heart at the same time, I cried and laughed through the whole thing! Anyways, one of the suggestions was having meetings with your spouse to discuss how your children were doing spiritually, physically, socially, mentally and emotionally. They called it the 5 Facet Review. They also talked about starting traditions, having family meetings, lots of good stuff. It reminded me a lot of another good book that I read about having a parenting plan. These two books are the only ones I've read on parenting, and I am by no means any expert, but I just loved them both and wanted to share!

As I've been reading, I've been sharing all of these great ideas with Darryl and we decided we would go away for a night just us, and talk about our kids, our plan, our motto, and what direction our family is going in. Luckily I have a husband who likes this type of stuff almost as much as I do. We had such an awesome time doing it too! It was actually really fun to think about what we would like our kids to be able to do by the time they were five, and what we felt the most important values were that we wanted to instill in them. I know, I know, they are only babies, but I feel like in every other aspect of my life I'm more productive if there is a plan, so why not put the time and effort into a plan for those that I love the most??

Here's a list of what we came up with, more for my own records so I can remember!

Some tradtions we came up with:(we have lots of awesome traditions with extened family, so we wanted to come up with a few of our own for us to do)
Write a letter to each of our kids on their birthday
On your birthday, do as many random acts of kindness as your age (ie 2 nice things for 2 people on your 2nd birthday, this one is really fun)
World Cup weekend away for mom and dad (we've done this twice, just go to hotel with no kids and watch the soccer, we love it)
Themed breakfasts for holidays
Sushi on New Year's Eve
Cinnamon buns and fun activities for the kids at General Conference time
Picnic at the temple after Stake Conference
Service for a family at Christmas time
Ordinance Day Dinner Dates - Baptism, Patriarchal Blessing, etc.
Casey Garden Christmas Lights Christmas Eve
Raise money as a family for the Perpetual Education Fund every year
Canada Day picnic

As I write this, I realize a lot of this traditions have to do with food, not surprising :)

Some goals we set for the kids:

By Age Three:
Say prayers
Dress themselves
Brush Teeth
Pick up toys
Bring dishes to the sink
Recognize scripture characters and stories

By Age Four:
Make bed
Feed Ollie
Make a sandwich
Clean room
Brush hair
Water plants

By Age Five
Clear and set the table
Vaccum
Get Allowance
Pay tithing
Start playing a sport

By Age Six
Take a shower
dust
unload/load dishwasher
Start piano lessons
make and answer phone calls
memorize phone number and address

By Age Sever
Read with comprehension
Start savings account
Clean toilets
Floss teeth
Begin learning Articles of Faith

By Age Eight
Be Baptized
Complete BOM with family
Know 50 french words
Begin Cubs and Achievement days
Cut fingernails
Wake up with an alarm clock

That's where our little family is at. Thing will be modified and changed along the way, but I think we're off to a good start!