Author: Nurture Mama

Muffins and flowers for mom

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We love the If You Give a … series of books by Laura Numeroff. So I had to laugh when I read the following poem (you can substitute orange juice for coffee in your mind if that sounds more familiar to you!)

If You Give A Mom A Muffin
Author Beth Brubaker

If you give a mom a muffin,
She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.
She’ll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She’ll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she’ll find dirty socks.
She’ll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She’ll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She’ll look for her cookbook (“101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger”).
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She’ll smell something funny.
She’ll change the two year old’s diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She’ll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are…
If she has a cup of coffee,
Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Thanks to Life as Mom for sharing the poem!

On another note, I’m in the mood to make some springtime flowers. Here are a few options I like:

Fingerprint flowers from Serving Pink Lemonade

Handprint flower from Meet the Dubiens

Thumbprint hyacinth from Meet the Dubiens

Tissue paper flowers from Make and Takes

Our at home time has been disrupted a little this week due to a bathroom remodel project (pretty exciting!), but I think we’ll finally have time for some flower crafts on Saturday. Hopefully the mothers in our lives don’t mind if the flowers we send are a little late!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the fabulous women I know!

A Bouquet of Colored Pencils (Teacher Appreciation ideas and links)

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In case you missed the memo, it’s teacher appreciation week. My daughter’s elementary school has a different activity/theme for each day, and we are happy to be able to show a little of our appreciation for the fabulous kindergarten teacher that she has had this year.

Monday: Door Decorations

I volunteered to make the poster to decorate the classroom door, so  I went to Skip to My Lou and found loads of door ideas. I ended up going with a star theme: “Mrs._______ is a super star teacher”. The Ant Bug helped me cut and glue over twenty colorful stars to decorate the poster. Then we went to school early this morning and had each child in the class sign their name (some also wrote “I love you”-sweet!) on one of the stars on their way into class. Alas, I forgot my camera so you’ll have to use your imagination. It was pretty simple to create, but a nice way to brighten another persons day, and it gave us a great project for a Saturday afternoon!

Tuesday:Treats/Gifts

After looking around online for something special (and simple–I was down and out with the flu last week, so I’m simplifying my to do list!) I found the perfect idea at No Fuss Fabulous: A Bouquet of Pencils. Inspired by the movie You’ve Got Mail (one of my favorites), this gift is easy to create.I decided to put my bouquet in a vase, since that is what I had on hand. I re-purposed a glass jar, using Goo Gone and a little peanut butter to clear off the sticky label remnants. Then I used a hot glue gun to attach a ribbon to the jar opening (the Ant Bug said green was her teacher’s favorite, so we went with that). Printed off the label provided by No Fuss Fabulous, the Ant Bug wrote her name, attached the label to pretty cardstock, punched a hole and attached the label to the jar with another piece of green ribbon, and we were done. Again, simple but sweet.Wednesday: Luncheon

Sign up to bring a dessert–check

Thursday: Flowers

I’m still figuring this one out. Perhaps a potted plant with a cute sign “Thank you for helping me grow” as shown here?

I like the idea of these No Sew Fabric Flowers, but since I am not a seamstress I don’t have any scraps of fabric just lying around. But perhaps I could do something similar with felt? I’ve been wanting to try my hand at some of the creative felt flower variations at Craft Snob for awhile now, maybe I finally have an occasion. Or is that too similar to the bouquet of colored pencils? Hmmmm….

Friday: Notes of Appreciation

I am going to follow the example of Teach Mama on this one. She helped her daughter brainstorm (I love that she used a web for organizing ideas!) and write a meaningful card/story to give to her awesome teacher, and she shares all the steps in the process here.

And that’s it! Whew! Not too much, to thank these fabulous teachers in the lives of our children. For more ideas be sure to check out Skip to My Lou, she has a ton of ideas posted to cover every interest.

Establish a Christ-Centered Home

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“We understand and believe in the eternal nature of the family. This understanding and belief should inspire us to do everything in our power to establish a Christ-centered home.”

“Understanding the eternal nature of the family is a critical element in understanding Heavenly Father’s plan for His children. The adversary, on the other hand, wants to do everything in his power to destroy Heavenly Father’s plan. In his attempt to defeat God’s plan, he is leading an unprecedented attack on the institution of the family. Some of the more powerful weapons he uses in his attack are selfishness, greed, and pornography.”

“We learned that our children might not remember everything about the family home evening lesson later in the week, but they would remember that we held it. We learned that later in the day at school they would probably not remember the exact words of the scriptures or the prayer, but they would remember that we did read scriptures and we did have prayer. Brothers and sisters, there is great power and protection for us and our youth in establishing celestial traditions in the home.”

“The responsibility for establishing a Christ-centered home lies with both parents and children. Parents are responsible to teach their children in love and righteousness. Parents will be held accountable before the Lord in how they perform their sacred responsibilities. Parents teach their children with words and through example.”

Richard J. Maynes, “Establishing a Christ-Centered Home”, April 2011 General Conference.

New Paper Doll site

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My sister-in-law Mindy is a talented graphic designer. This week she launched her latest project: Heritage Paper Dolls. Mindy is creating and sharing a series of paper dolls. The current doll is named Clara, and she has fashionable dresses available to print through each decade back to the Victorian era. I printed off a set for my girls to enjoy this afternoon…and enjoy them they did! I am looking forward to a lot more creative and artful afternoons with these stylish dolls in days to come.

If you have any young girls in your life then you definitely need to check out her blog. Be sure to read the touching introductory post here.

Pray for abilities

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“My dear sisters, do not pray for tasks equal to your abilities, but pray for abilities equal to your tasks. Then the performance of your tasks will be no miracle, but you will be the miracle.”

“You are a mighty force for good, one of the most powerful in the entire world. Your influence ranges far beyond yourself and your home and touches others all around the globe. You have reached out to your brothers and sisters across streets, across cities, across nations, across continents, across oceans.”

Thomas S. Monson, “Three goals to guide you”, October 2007 General Conference.

A lesson for Easter

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The theme in Primary for this month is Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I’ve been preparing my Sharing Time lesson for this Easter Sunday, and I think I will do some variation of using Easter eggs, the Gospel Art picture kit, and symbolic items to teach the children about the Savior’s atonement and resurrection. Hailey shared a great lesson plan at Little LDS Ideas.

To conclude the lesson I plan to share the following film:

But I also really like this newest film:

In our family we traditionally have an Easter themed FHE lesson the week before Easter, to put us in the right frame of mind to remember the real reason behind Easter. This year we followed the lesson plan from A Year of FHE.

FHE quick tip: I have discovered that the best way to keep the attention of my children during FHE is to gather at the table, instead of on the couch. The living room leaves too much space for jumping or running or dancing around, whereas at the table they have to be more contained. Then I usually give them a coloring page to work on while we discuss the lesson. Coloring keeps their hands busy, and their ears (and heart and mind) more receptive to the message.

Our Easter celebrations are simple. We will have a nice family dinner on Sunday (always a baked ham, this year with red potatoes and green beans), followed by an Easter egg hunt outdoors. In my attempt to keep the day focused on the real reason for Easter, many of the eggs that we hide contain a small picture of Jesus Christ. I cut the pictures out of old Ensign magazines, fold them up and save them for future years. I still include small candy/treats in the eggs, but the pictures of the Savior are my little reminders.

How do you celebrate Easter?

You are incredible!

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“We recognize that there are enormous forces arrayed against women and families. Recent studies find there is deterioration in devotion to marriage, with a decrease in the number of adults being married. For some, marriage and family are becoming “a menu choice rather than the central organizing principle of our society.” Women are confronted with many options and need to prayerfully consider the choices they make and how those choices affect the family.

“These are very emotional, personal decisions, but there are two principles that we should always keep in mind. First, no woman should ever feel the need to apologize or feel that her contribution is less significant because she is devoting her primary efforts to raising and nurturing children. Nothing could be more significant in our Father in Heaven’s plan. Second, we should all be careful not to be judgmental or assume that sisters are less valiant if the decision is made to work outside the home. We rarely understand or fully appreciate people’s circumstances. Husbands and wives should prayerfully counsel together, understanding they are accountable to God for their decisions.

“You devoted sisters who are single parents for whatever reason, our hearts reach out to you with appreciation. Prophets have made it clear “that many hands stand ready to help you. The Lord is not unmindful of you. Neither is His Church.” I would hope that Latter-day Saints would be at the forefront in creating an environment in the workplace that is more receptive and accommodating to both women and men in their responsibilities as parents.

“The remarkable pioneer woman Emily H. Woodmansee penned the text of the hymn “As Sisters in Zion.” She correctly asserts that the “errand of angels is given to women.” This has been described as “nothing less than to do the direct and immediate bidding of our Father in Heaven, and ‘this is a gift that … sisters … claim.’”

“Dear sisters, we love and admire you. We appreciate your service in the Lord’s kingdom. You are incredible!”

Quentin L. Cook, “LDS Women are Incredible!” April 2011 General Conference Session.

Teach children in the home

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“Parents must bring light and truth into their homes by one family prayer, one scripture study session, one family home evening, one book read aloud, one song, and one family meal at a time. They know that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily parenting is among the most powerful and sustaining forces for good in the world. The health of any society, the happiness of its people, their prosperity, and their peace all find common roots in the teaching of children in the home.

L. Tom Perry, “Mothers Teaching Children in the Home,” Ensign, May 2010, 29–31

FHE: Use your manners. Be polite.

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Teaching good manners is a topic that I have been thinking about for awhile.  Reminders like “Use a napkin, not your shirt” and “How can you ask that in a nice, polite way?” and “Use your fork, please” are heard often in our home. So I was very excited to find a FHE lesson on Manners at A Year of FHE.

I mostly just followed the lesson as outlined by Emilie. We talked about the magic words of please and thank you and we sang this cute little song:

(Sung to I’m a Little Teapot)

I have super manners. Yes, I do.
I can say “Please,” and “Thank You,” too.
When I play with friends, I like to share.
That’s the way I show I care!

Then we read Time to Say “Please” by Mo Willems. We’ve had this book out from the library for over a month now. Anything by Mo Willems is always a hit at our house, so this book has been a good tool for reminders about saying please and thank you.

Then we moved on to the topic of Table Manners. For our family, we have decided to focus on two:

Always use your tools to eat your food.

Clean with a napkin.

I made a little poster with some visual aids to help us all remember!

To wrap things up, the girls colored the mini book of manners that Emilie shared.

As they colored, we read and discussed  What do you say, dear? by Sesyle Joslin, with pictures by Maurice Sendak.

This book was written in the 1950s as “A handbook of etiquette for young ladies and gentlemen. To be used as a guide for everyday social behavior”. What we have really enjoyed about this book is that even though the hypothetical situations the children face are often bizzare and quite imaginative, there is still a place for manners. For example, “You are picking dandelions and columbines outside the castle. Suddenly a fierce dragon appears and blows red smoke at you, but just then a brave knoght gallops up and cuts off the dragon’s head. What do you say, dear?” And the answer of course, as you turn the page is, “Thank you very much”.

Adding to our Family Habits List

Use your manners. Be polite. is the sixth habit we have added to our Family Habits list. To read more about the habits we are working on in our family, read this post.

Tell stories of Jesus Christ

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“The stories of Jesus can be like a rushing wind across the embers of faith in the hearts of our children. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” 8 The stories of Jesus shared over and over bring faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strength to the foundation of testimony. Can you think of a more valuable gift for our children?

“To fathers and mothers, to grandfathers and grandmothers, and to those without children of their own who lovingly nurture children and youth, my counsel is to speak more frequently about Jesus Christ. In His holy name is great spiritual power. “There [is] no other name given nor any other way … whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ.”

“If a child is not listening, don’t despair. Time and truth are on your side. At the right moment, your words will return as if from heaven itself. Your testimony will never leave your children.

“As you reverently speak about the Savior—in the car, on the bus, at the dinner table, as you kneel in prayer, during scripture study, or in late-night conversations—the Spirit of the Lord will accompany your words.

“As you do your best, the testimony of Jesus will gently distill upon your children’s hearts. They will go to their Heavenly Father in humble prayer and feel His influence through the power of the Holy Ghost. A stronger personal faith in Jesus Christ will prepare them for the challenges they will most surely face.“

Neil L. Anderson, “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus”, Ensign, May 2010.