The Last Straw

Perfect book.

Perfect for a Christmas Fam Home Evening. My friend

Lara and I were

talking about Christmas FHE's for this month...

This book, "The Last Straw, " is just what we needed.

The story line:

It's winter, the kids are stuck inside the house, Mom is tired of kids fighting, arguing..she was on her last straw.

She had an idea to change the "mood" of the house....BUILD a manger for Baby Jesus by Christmas Eve, using straws from the kids "service" to each other. (get it?..the last straw)

She had the kids pick names, keep it a secret, and do service for each other.

Every time the kids do something nice, they add a

S T R A W to the manger.

Day by day, week by week, the straw builds up for the manger...

Every Sunday, they re-pick names and do service for a new person.

Soooooo, I loved the idea.

My kids have been on each other lately due to the cold weather and spending more time in.

SO last Monday, I bought the book at Seagulls Book for $14. We sat around and we started our FHE.

The kids loved it.

The book is super cute...the illustrations are perfect for Christmas.

I read the story about the kids and the secret names and service

and I asked the kids if they wanted to do the same thing:

Yes!

They were alll excited....I was surprised. (Cuz what kids really want to willingly help one another....!) So we all picked names... and have started building our manger for Baby Jesus....

And let me say, it's been so cute to watch the kids get creative.

I really am surprised they jumped right into the idea.

I walked into the room and found this on my pillow.....

The next day when Ry got home from work,

this note was waiting for him....

Last night, I found Ash giving a piggy back ride to Mace to cheer him up.

And Aus's bed was secretly made with his clothes put away.

And this morning,

Ashlyn's backpack and coat were layed out ready for school!

Wahooooo!

cute,

It may of worked... and maybe if it even works for a day, a moment, that's all I can ask for....

I just want the kids to grasp the concept of service.

I want them to know that giving is much more rewarding than receiving.....

and they have all loved the feeling of giving their secret service to one another and seeing the reaction of the recepient.

So we will see, we will see how big Baby Jesus Manger gets....

I have a brown bowl as the Manger, but on the hunt for a real manger...still looking.

And it doesn't look like lots of straw yet, maybe 20 plus......but each straw represents something each kid has done.

Great. thrilled. Glad they are even trying...

Treats to always follow after FHE.

the favorite: symphony bar with toffee.

yum!
Oh and forgot to say. Ashlyn read the book in her class yesterday and the Teacher loved it, so she had them ALL pick names and do secret service for each other...thought that was great...I love love the twins teacher...she is the best!

And just wanted to end with my snowflake window...we always do a snowflake window. But this year the kids want to hang snowflakes at the entry way at different lengths. So I bought these snowflakes for cheap and put them up!

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas season...!

And one more day until my party....
bring it on!

Merry Christmas...18 days and counting! I love the Mountain House at night, all the lights glow. Here are some of my favorite pics: Do you like my mom's ginormous utensils on the wall? I think they are awesome. I tried to decorate around them a little!

I found this tree in my mom's storage and hauled it upstairs and put my leftover bulbs on it!

Kids' tree at night! It glows and glows and glows.....

There's plenty of Christmas Spirit at the Mountain House.

I like to keep my table set at Christmas time. I still have my Thanksgiving table cloth because my Christmas one's are deep into storage!

We love Santa at our house!

I love to wrap presents, they add color to the tree.




Merry Christmas from the Mountain House! We hope everyone is enjoying the lights, the parties, the colors, the friends and all the magic Christmas brings!

Decorating at the Mountain house~

Merry Christmas...18 days and counting! The decorating has begun at the Mountain House~

Merry Christmas everybody!

Holidays Underway and a Thanksgiving Suprise!

I love this time of the year. When all the golden leaves have fallen off the trees, and you feel the crisp, cold breeze in the air, I know it is coming: Christmas. Christmas..I love christmas...hot chocolate, warm candles, christmas jingles, holiday parties.... But before I get to that, I need to tell you about my Thanksgiving Suprise: I get my dad all to myself. Yes, it is true. Me, so lucky to get my dad all to myself? With 10 children in the family, surely I lucked out. This is the "off-year" for Thanksgiving in the Brown family, so everyone is venturing off to the in-laws. Well our in-laws are serving a mission, so me and Ry were going to have our own little Thanksgiving. My mom is now going to be out of the country on Thanksgiving so yup, I get my DAD!!
You all need to know how much I love my dad! I can't say enough about how amazing, loving, selfless, and giving of a man he is. He stands for truth, principle, knowledge, strength, and love. He is my foundation and he is my strength.

I am going to miss decorating my mantle this year...
So the day after Thanksgiving, all the festivities begin. Actually, when the clock strikes midnight it begins. Me and all my sis's (and Kim :)) go midnight madness shopping. ! We love this tradition of running to the Target and getting all the fab deals. Some people don't understand why we would stay up all night, fight the crowds, stand in the cold and I tell them that it is not about saving the cash, but making the memories. We always have the funniest things happen and we laugh about it all year. We love the craziness.

Some of my favorites:

Temple lights, Decorations, Snow Storms, Silent Nights, Holiday Parties, Colorful Packages, Glowing Candles, Santa Clause, and let's not forget Vanilla Steamers! Starbucks makes the best. Yum. Me and Ash go about twice a week from here on out. Warm milk with a little bit of sugar and vanilla flavoring. Add a little whipped cream on top! Perfect Holiday drink.

I will miss all my decorations this year. But don't worry, I will still create the "Christmas Spirit" at the Mountain House. In fact, it has already begun.....

"Engoy.".....I mean enjoy this time of year. I know I will.