family home evening

I don't have a picture to post with this but I wanted to hurry and write this before I forget. We had Brooke Walker (from KSL) come to a stake relief society activity back in March and speak to us and one of the things she said was you have to practice giving good compliments. It stuck with me so we decided to talk to the kids about this for family home evening tonight. We talked about what a compliment is and how you need to notice good things that other people do and then compliment them. We talked about how it makes you feel when you give a nice compliment and when you receive a nice compliment. Then me and Rustin took a piece of paper and I took Jacey and went in a different room and Rustin stayed with Tyce and we asked them what they like about each other and what they think Tyce/Jacey is good at. It was so cute to hear the things they came up with.

This is what Jacey said about Tyce:
Tyce is good at building dragons, whales, making pictures, making boxes, and doing kind things for her. She said he is good at being happy and he takes care of her in Primary. She said she likes that he draws pictures for her. She said he is good at front flips and he is good at smiling. He is a good friend. She said he turns on the light for her when she cant reach and he gives her hugs when she is sad. She likes that he plays with her and she likes that he makes her crowns (I'm not sure he has ever made her a crown....perhaps it was just on her wish list or she was getting bored of complimenting Tyce so she might have just started making things up. but either way it was cute).

This is what Tyce said about Jacey:
She is a good dancer. She is really nice and very kind. She gets things for him. She loves him. Sometimes she shares (ha!). She takes care of Wyatt so he can play. She is a nice princess. She is pretty. She gets him a drink of water and awful lot (this is very true). She lets Tyce jump so he can do flips. She is loving.

So then we came back together and they told the other one all these nice things and they practiced giving the compliments and practiced saying thank you when they received a compliment. It was the CUTEST thing to see their face light up to hear their brother/sister say such nice things about them.

We generally stink at family home evening. Usually five minutes before FHE starts, I ask Rustin what we should talk about for and then we pick a random topic and throw it together in a few minutes, but his time I felt like we actually taught something they understood and can apply and it was really fun. We went outside after and played soccer. It started out being Tyce and me against Dad and Jacey (Wyatt was our mascot in his stroller on the sideline) but then Tyce got sick of me and asked to be on Dad's team - rude. Jacey was so ridiculous. She is pretty competitive and can't stand that Tyce is better then her. She bawled the whole time I think but she would never stop playing which cracked me up. She kept yelling that Tyce kept getting in her way! She would fold her arms and cry big crocodile tears but would run after the ball nonetheless. Tyce was just laughing his head off. Pretty soon me and Jacey were losing so badly that I was about to cry big crocodile tears too but resorted to cheating instead which is my usual competitive stand-by. I have never had many skills but cheating - I am good at so thats good news. Me and Jac started picking up the ball with our hands and placing it where it would be the most effective for us. We're pretty awesome. Throughout the game they practiced giving compliments to each other, which was painful at first telling them other good job for scoring against them but it got easier as the game went on. They got sick of soccer so we played baseball for awhile. It was really fun. Jacey is surprisingly good at hitting with the bat. She really watched the ball and could hit really well (when she got a good pitch that is. I am a retarded pitcher. she kept saying "wups, your bad again" every time she missed the ball).

Anyhow, this evening was definitely a journal entry because most FHE nights make me more frustrated and annoyed then not because the kids get so obnoxious and don't listen to a word we say and they just giggle and sit upside down on the couch and pretend to be some loud animal, etc., so tonight was truly epic. This one goes down in the books.