Nature, FHE, and Potty Power

Nature:

We've been overrun with bird nests this spring.  We're renting so the handyman usually takes care of the nests.  However, he's been out of town for family emergencies. As a result we've had a few baby birds to observe.  Here's a video of one trying to learn how to fly, but actually just running away from us.  You have to listen to how Natalie talks to the bird toward the end of the video. 

Also anytime we're in a hurry and we tell her to 'grab shoes' she picks these ruby red slippers...she loves them and they fit her personality well. 

 

Family Home Evening:

I love my new primary chorister calling, it's so much fun.  This past Sunday I had an activity for the kids to do that involved hiding magnetic letters in a bucket of rice.  They dug out each letter, put it on the board then we sang a song about a corresponding gospel topic.  For example. r=reverence.  For senior primary I had them tell me what the song taught them about that specific gospel topic.  Then when all the letters were on the board we unscrambled the letters to make a word that had to do with the monthly primary theme ("restored") and had a quick mini-lesson.  It was a fun activity. 

Since I am basically a pretty lazy person I wanted to get more mileage out of this activity.  So we used it for FHE the next night.  The topic was prayer because we've been feeling like the girls are using a lot of 'vain repetitions'  We didn't expect Natalie to really understand too much, and she didn't.  But digging out the letters kept her engaged.  

Potty Power:

   Well I guess the third time's the charm in our house.  Anna is a wonderful third baby, David loves his third job out of college, and our third attempt at potty training Natalie has been successful.  She's proud to wear panties and has been very good with few accidents.  Oh but those accidents can be doozies....I won't go into detail.  I think it's been successful this time for two reasons.  First, her obsession with princesses has grown exponentially so princess panties are a huge hit.  And second, this video that was recommended by a friend:

Natalie loves movies and music so this was perfect.  It had catchy songs that she memorized quickly, real kids sitting on a real potty, and a fun princess fairytale at the end.  She related and has done amazing well.  Pass on the Potty Power!  I checked it out from the library.