Pop-Up School Year

I got this general idea from this amazing lady. I think good parenting is all about stealing great ideas from other parents. Although I could never do it as beautifully and creatively as her, we did decide to have a theme for the school year: Be Your Best. We managed to have a fun dinner: We made mini-pizzas (from delicious homemade pizza crust) but the kids got to choose cookie cutters and decorate their pizzas. It was a ton of fun. Although the pictures show the kids as very serious and concentrating on their "Food Art," let me assure you that there was plenty of giggling, sharing of ideas, and excitement. So much so that half of the people involved got a little over-excited and burned themselves on the pizza stone (myself included). Dinner=Huge Success

During dinner, while the kids ate (it is amazing how much better they eat when they have a part in creating the meal), I read some excerpts from "Standing for Something" by Gordon B. Hinckley. There is an entire chapter on Learning. Then, we discussed our theme for the year with the use of some famous quotes. I tried really hard to emphasize that the theme was "Be Your Best" NOT "Be Perfect." Even though sometimes they may face difficulties and challenges, we are all (our entire family) going to focus on Being our Best Selves and Doing Our Best Job.

The evening ended with the yummiest dessert and Greg gave each of our children a Father's Blessing. I am amazed at how the gospel blesses our home. Greg had a particularly difficult day and was just feeling heavy-burdened by some work situations. He came home to chaos (making your own pizzas is not an orderly activity for children), but when it came time to give the blessings, I think it may have blessed his life as much (and maybe more) than our children. He was able to express his love to each of them, point out some of their amazing talents/abilities, and bless them individually. Since my children don't generally sit still for 5 seconds, it is amazing to me how intently they listen to these blessings. It was a beautiful evening.

When I hear about other families having these types of evenings, I somehow picture gracious, well-mannered children, hanging on every word of wisdom spoken from the mouths of their parents. We really did have a beautiful evening, but it wasn't without the occasional, "Don't touch her again!" or "You are welcome to come out of your room when you're done crying." or "Please wait your turn" and several reminders about politeness and proper manners. In the end, I hope that our children were able to gather something from this evening. I hope they remember doing fun things as a family (like making silly, creative pizzas). I hope they remember feeling the Spirit in our home. And I hope they remember that Greg and I love them and are here to help them along their journey.