Conference

"I say again, FOLLOW THE BRETHREN. In a few days there opens another general conference of the Church. The servants of the Lord will counsel us. You may listen with anxious ears and hearts, or you may turn that counsel aside.... What you shall gain will depend not so much upon their preparation of the messages as upon your preparation for them."

-Boyd K. Packer

                                                                                                                       

Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice

Thomas S. Monson

Need some ideas to help your family get more from conference? Check out some of these resources:

Blessings of Conference

From lds.org

Check lds.org for many other articles and videos having to do with conference.

Making Conference More Meaningful

From a earlier post on this blog

How Can You Prepare For General Conference?

From Meridian Magazine

April 2011 Conference Packets For All Ages

From sugardoodle.net

‎"Our being edified at conference depends on us. It becomes necessary that we prepare our hearts to receive and profit by the suggestions that may be made by the speakers during the progress of the conference, which may be prompted by the Spirit of the Lord. I have thought, and still think, that our being edified does not so much depend upon the speaker as upon ourselves."

                           -Lorenzo Snow                                     

Thanksgiving Activities for Children From Hilltop Ward

At Hilltop's recent monthly activity,  placemats for the dinner were these cute pages of children's activities.  

Hilltop leaders suggested these coloring pages would be a great way to keep kids happy while meals were being prepared or while children were at the Thanksgiving table. 

Hilltop Ward printed them off of this website: http://www.familyfun.com/  Check out this great website for activity and coloring pages, crafts for children, fun family games, and recipes for children to make. 

There are ideas for other holidays too!

       

Inexpensive Christmas Gifts

Mod Podge

Mod Podge is a product that is versatile and easy enough for children to use.  It is basically a white glue which dries clear.  Mod Podge comes in gloss or satin finish, and clear and tinted colors. It comes in smooth and textured finishes. There is also an outdoor Mod Podge, although I haven't been able to find it locally--you can buy it online. There are more and more kinds and finsihes of Mod Podge on the market all the time.  Mod Podged surfaces are cleanable with a damp cloth, but not dishwasher safe.  Spilled Mod Podge can be cleaned up with water, but wipe up spills before they dry.  You can use Mod Podge on almost anything you can think of to make personalized gifts.  Try Mod Podge on plastic, paper, fabric, cardboard, glass, wooden, painted surfaces--what ever you can imagine.  Mod Podge works both as a glue and a sealer--glue one surface to another, then seal the project with a top layer of Mod Podge.

Project 1: Wooden Box

Time to make (other than drying time) 5 minutes

I bought a $1 wooden box from a craft store and painted it with gold craft paint.

I used 3 coats of paint.



Next I took a piece of craft paper, and using my computer, I printed off some words directly onto the paper and cut it the size of the top of my box.

 

I Mod Podged it on for a simple, but fun seasonal treasure box. You could glue on jewels or other emblishments for a fancier box.



Project 2: Personalized Canister
Time to make (other than drying time) 10 minutes

I washed out a canister that held nuts and gathered scrapbook paper.

I cut a main piece to fit the canister and put a layer of Mod Podge on the wrong side of my paper.

 Wrap this piece around your canister and smooth with your fingers.

Cut more pieces for embellishment and glue them on top of your already glued down paper.

Cut a piece for the plastic lid and glue on.

Cut a ribbon for the edge of the lid and glue on.

 After everything is glued down, paint a layer of glue on the entire project.

Here's the finished project, personalized, and ready to be filled with crayons, hair ribbons, food, or small toys.

Project 3: Luminary from a Glass Jar

Time to make (other than drying time) less than 10 minutes.
This project uses tissue paper and a glass canning jar.  Tear the tissue paper into pieces-
mine were about 2" x 1".

Glue onto jar, overlapping slightly.

Tie or Mod Podge ribbons and decorative items around top.


Add sand and a candle.  Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Things to do With Kids

Do you need a project to keep your children busy while you prepare for the holidays?  Or maybe you are looking for a Thanksgiving-themed FHE treat or activity.
Last year we posted an idea for turkeys made out of candy and cookies easy enough for kids to make.  You can read complete instructions here.

Here are some more to try:
The first decoration/treat is for pilgrim hats. It's very easy--easy enough for small children.

You need fudge strip cookies, large marshmallows, dipping chocolate, orange or yellow frosting, and a few kids willing to make a big mess.

Dip the marshmallows in the chocolate.

Place the marshmallow on the fudge side of the cookie.

Let them set up for awhile and then add a orange or yellow buckle, using tube frosting from the grocery store.

You can use these as place cards at the dinner table or eat them for FHE treats.

The next one is a turkey.  It takes a little more patience and coordination than the pilgrim hats and is more suited for older kids, or for a time you can spend plenty of time helping younger children.

You will need Oreos, Reece's peanut butter cups, candy corn, whoppers, and chocolate, white, and orange frosting.  Those decorating tubes of pre-made frosting in the cooking aisle at the grocery store work well for the white and orange. 

I used double stuff Oreos.  Put layer of chocolate frosting around the middle of the Oreo. 



 Stick five candy corns into the frosting.  Or use starbursts, cut into triangles.

 On a second cookie, put a dab of chocolate frosting toward back.

Set the "feathered" cookie into the dab of frosting and let set up.

Cut one side off of a peanut butter cup.

Frost top and cut edge of cup. 

Turn your turkey and place cup on top this way:

(cut side against plain cookie, top of cup against feathered cookie).

Next, put whopper on using chocolate frosting.  Add a beak--a cut candy corn--with frosting.

Using the white frosting, add two eyes.  Let your turkey set up for awhile at this point.

Now you can sit the turkey up and add a dark spot to eyes--either a dot of black frosting, a miniature chocolate chip, or a cake sprinkle.

Add legs and a waddle with orange frosting.  You can also use shoelace licorice for legs and a red hot for the waddle.

To use as a place card holder, attach a name to a toothpick and stick into the feather area.



Gratitude FHE

November is a great time to have a Family Home Evening lesson on gratitude.  Last year we posted this FHE idea for encouraging feelings of thankfulness:

http://billingseaststakereliefsociety.blogspot.com/2009/11/i-am-thankful-for.html

This is a similar idea.  These "remembering to feel grateful" activities were something my children looked forward to every year when they were little.

First, make a turkey out of scrapbook paper or constrution paper.  My turkey has a big circle body, a little circle head, an orange beak, yellow wattle, feet and eyes.

Cut several "feathers" out of different colors of scrap paper.

Add notches, if desired.

Method 1: On the back of each feather write a family member's name or "friend" or "other".  On a FHE night, let each member draw a feather out of a pile and write what she/he is thankful for about that person.  "Other" is the wild card--they can write about anything or anybody they are thankful for and why. Make sure you have several feathers for each family member.  Do this over a couple of FHE nights.  Read them all together on a Sunday afternoon or final November FHE.

Method 2:  Each night during the month of November, everyone gets one feather to write about something that happened that day for which they are grateful.  Again, read them together as a family at FHE or on a Sunday afternoon.

Everyone can stick their feather on the turkey.

If you use blue painters tape, it's easy to remove the feathers later for reading.

You can add as many feathers as you like.

Hang your turkey somewhere in your home in a place everyone will pass by several times a day as a reminder to be grateful.

Ice Cream In a Bag

This is a recipe Hilltop Ward provided during a recent monthly

Relief Society meeting.

It's a fun activity to do with your children.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup milk or half and half

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

6 Tablespoons rock salt

Ice

You also need:

1-pint sized Ziploc plastic bag

1- gallon size Ziploc plastic bag

Fill the large Ziploc bag half full of ice, add rock salt, seal the bag and set aside.

Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the smaller bag and seal. Shake to mix.

Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully eliminating the extra air.

Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes 5-10 minutes.

You may want to wear gloves to keep hands warm.
Wipe the top of the small bag; open carefully.

Enjoy!