Baptism Photos

 This is a big deal for our family. Gwen is our first to be making this sacred covenant of baptism. The dress was a bridal train I found at a thrift store (talk about a financial SCORE!!!) and cut the diy pattern out. She helped with the design, just a bit. There was some pattern-fitting trauma bc she grew so much between drafting the pattern and finishing the dress. But I took a deep breath, wielded my seam ripper, and reworked it. I am glad I did. Fits her perfectly now! My favorite part is that the sleeves are jersey knit. TOTALLY a comfortable dress!

I took her out for a photo shoot (okay, 2 shoots) and she LOVED the special time with Mommy!

 This awesome rock staircase is a hidden gem! 

 She calls this the "Cinderella picture" even though technically Cinderella ran DOWN stairs rather than up. 

 This is probably the best pic I have showing the back of the dress. 

So proud of Gwen for wanting to follow Jesus Christ! I can't believe this time is here. But I know Gwen is ready to take this step. She has a fervent testimony and wants to be good. She loves the Savior. She loves others. She is growing up. 

Scripture Study for Kids-- Developing Independent Habits While Keeping it Fun

I love the word of God because it guides me closer to the WORD of God, my Savior Jesus Christ. Want to know something amazing? My little 6 1/2 year old girl LOVES her Savior too! She tries so hard to follow Him-- her relationship with her sister being her thorn in the flesh, I'd say-- and is eagerly anticipating her baptism in a year and a half (in our faith, children are not baptized until they turn 8-- an age of accountability and conscious choice). I wanted to do something for her to strengthen her developing relationship with Christ. Knowing how pivotal the scriptures have been in my continuing conversion, I thought it appropriate to encourage her in the same direction.

Our plan is to give her a nice, leather-bound copy of the scriptures when she turns 8 as a baptism present. And I thought, 'wouldn't it be wonderful if she already knows how to mark verses properly and is familiar with where each 'book' can be located and maybe even knows where her favorite scripture stories can be found?'...and then I stumbled upon Latter-Day Homeschooling and Dana's post about a scripture study plan for young children... and I was so very inspired and excited to do something like this, tailored just for Gwen!

(image from Latter-Day Homeschooling blog)

I hit the jackpot with Prepared LDS Family and Valerie's post with accompanying printable study guide (she was coincidentally ALSO inspired by Latter-Day Homeschooling!). Don't you love it when someone has already done the work for you? But I wanted to find a scripture study guide that utilized BOTH the illustrated scripture stories AND the actual scriptures, so I knew I'd need to tweak her program to Gwen's needs. Valerie kindly provided me with an Exell version of her study chart (and updated her site with the editable version--- go check it out following the link above if you want to customize one of your own!) so I could edit out the videos (which we don't have) and add in more scripture mastery verses (I only did ones I thought my almost 7-yr-old could understand and I added a page number to help her find it), and omitted a Sunday assigned reading for each week. I figured she can 'browse' once a week. I added lots of thought-provoking questions and I hope it encourages her to ponder rather than just skim.

This way Gwen gets a) the stories from the illustrated scriptures in a comprehensible format, b) learning where the stories can be located in the actual scriptures, c) becoming familiar with the language of scriptures, d) learning how to find verses in the scriptures, and e) practice marking verses.
We have been doing her study guide for over 3 weeks now and Gwen is loving it! She asks "mom, can I study my scriptures now?" all the time!

Some things we do to keep it fun:

• colorful tabs to help her find the book she needs (a diy project of my own invention: you just use Post-It tabs, stick down on one side of the page, fold it over, and tape it down on the other side)
  
• a personalized scripture journal with a picture of Christ 
  
• colored pencils for marking AND for drawing a picture about what she read each day. 
• stickers for scripture stories (I found these transparent ones that go IN the scriptures and are familiar Gospel Art Kit (GAK) images--free printable ones here at MeekMom, 
  
• or these opaque ones from Latter-Day Homeschooler that go in the scripture journal. New Testament free here and Book of Mormon free here)
• a pretty little bag I sewed for her using this adorable pattern (designed by a friend of mine--- so happy to say I know Ashley of Mommy by Day Crafter by Night personally!) so Gwen can take her scriptures to church. The bag is not huge: it fits her scriptures, her journal, and some colored pencils with room to spare, but this is not a 'take-all-your-toys-and-chapstick-to-primary-and-be-distracting' kind of a bag. I think it is perfect!!!
  

And, just in case anyone is curious, Caroline (age 4) also does scripture time. But she cannot read yet, so there are no journal prompts. She gets to have me read to her and then color pictures in a scripture stories binder we are building little by little. 

And the exciting part is that I can tweak the study guide each year to add in things as she is ready for them: adding in my favorite verses, topical or seasonal study, attribute study, Articles of Faith, missionary study, etc. Another thing I'd like to add in the future would be 'definition' stickers that she can put in her scriptures to define new vocabulary she might not be familiar with. Another great resource (not free) that I'm considering investing in are scripture timelines that go on the wall with attachable figures (sounds like a great way to 'advent' the study of the text and keep it interactive for the kids, right?) available here.

I would also like to do a scripture treasure hunt journey together as a family, using this awesome idea

AND Trina's awesome reading charts:

 I am excited to incorporate the AMAZING scripture journaling resources (not free, but still awesome!) over at Red-Headed Hostess . I think that will be part of her "scripture gift package" when she turns 8! There are great things there for teens too and I can hardly wait til she is ready for those!

(image from Red-Headed Hostess)

I just LOVE studying the scriptures!!!  In fact, I've kind of got things tentatively planned out on when I will introduce each new element so that scripture study stays fun and fresh throughout the years! I get so excited about these kinds of teaching things!

Gwen is eager to share what she is learning and reminds me often, "I love reading my scriptures because then I feel closer to Jesus". What a good girl. What a good example to me too. Hope something here inspires you to get your little ones excited about reading the word of God!

Holy Week with Children: Daily Lessons and Activities

I've compiled the 'perfect'  Holy Week lessons/activities for children! 

(Perfect for our family at these ages--- 'Perfect' is so fluid a term...)

I thought I would share my compilation with all of you! 

I've mentioned before that I love teaching my children. Easter is one of those holidays that is tremendously secular unless YOU bring the Truth into your home. I'm passionate about doing this and for Easter the past couple years I've been gathering teaching ideas* to make this week truly remarkable for my family. 

*Note 1: I've borrowed other blogger ideas and I owe particular credit to We Talk of Christ We Rejoice in Christ for the original inspiration. I've made it my own, but I definitely used her blog as a jumping off point! 

Here's how it works: 

Every day I have a devotional time with the kids. We use this layout of Jerusalem (a 2-page spread) and move a little picture of Christ with sticky tack each day to show His path through the week. We sing songs, read a scripture, and discuss an application question for their lives.

We put coordinating pictures on the wall each day to build a 'timeline' of how Christ's final week was spent. Some of these pictures are Gospel Art pics, others are from a stash of religious art I've collected from Friend/Ensign magazines. 

THEN we do the activities below to go along with the day! So here are the activities:

Saturday (one week and one day before Easter)-

• Plan of Salvation review and what Christ's role is in the plan. 
  

I made the one above by combining free illustrations and my own creations too. 

Palm Sunday: Triumphal Entry

• make paper palms
  
• or check out this blog for more amazing Palm Sunday ideas!

Monday: Purging the temple (teach about temples, our bodies, and/or repentance/baptism)

• play outside and then take a bath
  

Tuesday: Miracles and Teaching at the temple (parables and widow's mite)

• decorate Easter eggs using the Christ color theory sheet
  

Wednesday (actually occurred on Thursday)**: Last Supper and washing of disciples' feet

• Passover Feast
  
  
   Emmett wanted in on the unleavened bread! (He snatched it right off Eric's plate and swung it around triumphantly before attacking it)
  
  
  
   garlic and cumin rubbed roast lamb

eaten together the lamb and arugula (bitter herb) is truly spectacular!

**Note 2: The lessons follow each other in chronological order, but you'll notice that Wednesday's events actually occurred on Thursday. That is because the Gospels are very quiet about how Christ spent the Wednesday before Passover. And because Thursday has so many important lessons, I didn't want to gloss over anything. Splitting the subject matter into more than one day seemed appropriate. If you want to be sure you are teaching correct history, be sure to point this out to your children or feel free to put it all on Thursday. 

Thursday: Garden of Gethsemane and Christ's arrest

• carnation red stain experiment

Friday: Peter's denial, trials, the Crucifixion and the burial

• toothpick crown of thorns  and overnight meringue empty tomb cookies (don't open the oven til Sunday)
  
  

  Caroline crushing walnuts

 

 scriptures alongside recipe instructions--- my advice? NOT by the mixing bowl unless you like batter splatters on the Word of God!

Gwen beating the meringue--- she is becoming an actual helper in the kitchen these days! (as opposed to the little 'helpers' we love to have cooking with us but struggle to find a job for them--you know the kind I mean)

Saturday: no picture. Talk about the Spirit world and Jesus' teaching there. Review the Plan of Salvation. Talk about missionary work. 

• Easter egg hunt with golden egg for Christ (1 golden egg per child with picture of Christ inside)
  

This year we are using gold foil Cadbury eggs with a tiny picture of Christ taped over the candy logo for each child and one BIG golden egg filled with candy and a picture of Christ--- lesson? to SHARE with others once you've found the Lord! Gwen found it this time and was an eager 'missionary' as she zealously distributed "Jesus candy" to the family. :) Found that giant golden egg at Target.

Sunday: Christ visiting Mary, the Empty Tomb, Christ appearing to Apostles

• open the oven 'tomb' cookies (see Friday above)

• Easter lily craft.
  

Monday after Easter:

• serve honey and fish for dinner (ha! I know this should be served on Sunday to reflect the post-Resurrection meal Christ shared with his apostles, but... Yeah right! We're having ginger-thyme pork loin roast on Easter Sunday!...so I am actually planning this tradition for the day AFTER Easter for our Easter review)

• FHE review Easter (using ALL the eggs from the whole week-- see below)

• FHE: Atonement lesson (Brightly Street free printable PDF)
  
• marshmallow empty tomb rolls
  

The evenings of Wed-Sunday is when we open the corresponding Resurrection Eggs 

There are tons of these out there! Some have free printables too. I have a set from my mom that actually has 15 eggs instead of the usual 12. You have to sort through which ones correspond with each day, but it creates a nice evening recap of the day's lessons.

In the evenings we also watch the Bible Videos that correspond to that day's lesson and give the kids a chance to share with Daddy the things they have learned that day. This way they learn from teaching AND he gets to participate in their testimony-building experiences even though he's gone when we do the learning activities.

 If you are interested, I have a printable that lists the days/activities on one 8x11 sheet for easy preparation that I am happy to email to you. Just leave your address in the comments! 

I hope you all enjoy Easter week as much as we do!!! Share your Holy Week traditions in the comments!