Halloween in the country

 A day of fun activities for the girls (and for me too!)

I love the fact that one of the best ways to strengthen our families is to have fun with them. An important part of living the gospel is doing things together as a family. This has been illustrated to me by the following experience:


One day I asked my daughter to bring her toys inside the house from the front yard. I was astonished when she said she was "too tired." … She was sitting in front of the TV and watching her favorite Disney show.  Then I remembered the previous day, when my daughter had wanted me to play a game with her. What was my answer? I was ‘too tired.’ (I think I was actually doing my blog on the computer).
Days later, I asked my one of my daughters to do the dishes and put them away. She was "too busy." I remembered that I have often been ‘too busy’ to do the things that they want to do.

I have vowed to spend more time with my daughters. Hugging, Kissing and telling them that I love them only goes so far. It doesn't really make them believe it. They needed to play with me too.  They need to see and know that a family can have fun together as well as work together and study together.
Recently we have started playing games together. This is very hard for me as I am not a big game player. (Suffice it to say that it brings back some pretty bad memories).  The current favorite game in my house is called "Spoons". This is a totally crazy card game that they can play anywhere and anytime (as long as we remember to stick extra spoons in the car). They love this game and it means a lot to them that I have started taking the time to play.

With anything that takes effort, a reward comes. My reward came after an especially good half hour with my youngest daughter. She wrapped his arms around my neck, gave me an affectionate kiss on the cheek, and said, "This is the bestest day ever, mom”.
I didn't spend any money, or buy her any presents. I only gave her the thing that she values most of all.... a little bit of my time and attention.

We spend most of our time doing the things we feel are important. Our daily work, our Church callings, our personal time, serving others, home teaching, visiting teaching, and other things that take a lot of time are important. We should recognize that one of the most important things in life is our family, because it is eternal. I know that I have been guilty of expecting my family to understand the constraints on my time. Expecting them to know that I am doing the best that I can do. However, this week especially, I have learned that no matter what our circumstances, we should find time to spend with our families.
I hope that each of us remember to have a little fun with those we love the most!

This past weekend was Halloween and we had a great time together.  The girls all made their own costumes and had a great time doing it.  Creativity was running high in our house for the past several weeks.  Miracle decided to be a little bit morbid this year and be a "Death Ballerina".

Kayla was a ballerina, she did wear tights under her tutu for trick or treat, but she loves wearing her jeans with the tutu for some reason.  She made her tutu and also Anya's.  She did a great job!

Anya was supposed to be a pink ballerina, then she found fairy wings in her closet and so she became a Fairy Ballerina

 

and now for the cute closeups!

And last but not least, the car! The girls decorated it all by themselves and I was not allowed to look until we arrived at the church for trunk or treat!  They had a great time getting ready for all of this and did so much of it on their own this year.  We all had a really good evening handing out candy, taking hay rides, eating hot dogs and just spending time together. 

Hope your Halloween was just as amazing as ours!