getting in an FHE groove!

I'm a woman on a mission.  And that mission is to be better at holding meaningful, well-thought-out Family Home Evening nights.  I usually get my ideas from pinterest and while I find so many great lessons, I always find myself tweaking them a bit to meet our needs.  That is kind of the point, right?
So for the month of February, I am going to share our lessons on the blog, to keep a record, and to help other moms out there who need or want ideas.

There has been some fighting and arguing going on with the older kids lately...even today Susanna bit Drew's back so he bit her hair!  As I have mentioned before, the tone of voice the kids have with one another (and if I'm totally honest, its a tone I have with Mike more than I should too) has been a little snippy.  So in an effort to fill our home with love (which seems appropriate during February, right?) I've been looking for and coming up with FHE lessons that focus on love.

While the girls were napping, I made this little house, printed out the hearts (both house and hearts and the main idea for the whole lesson I got from this site), and rummaged through my closet for some heart stickers I picked up at Target a few weeks ago on a whim.

I had this cute little guy hanging out with my while I got it all together...

After dinner, we set up in the living room and talked to the kids about how when we are kind and thoughtful toward each other, we feel loved, and that there is no greater place to feel that love than in our homes.  We talked about how when we argue or fight (using a incident from the day as an example) it is hard to feel loved.  So we played a game with the hearts, house and stickers.  We put the hearts face down on the floor (you could also put them in a bag) and each took turns choosing a heart, reading what it said, and then determining if that action would fill our home with love.  If the answer was yes, the kids put a heart sticker on our house, the point being to fill our little house up with love!  

Jillian even wanted to play!  

 look at that reach!  she's going to be a freestyle swimmer...

 Is FHE really FHE if you aren't in your Elsa dress?

 see?  they really do love each other!

 We read John 13:34 and talked about how Christ commanded us to love one another and how He shows us how to love one another.  Short and sweet (which it pretty much has to be when your kids are 5, 3 & 10 months).

Then we had our treat!

They were little chocolate messes afterward!  We practiced the 1st and 2nd Articles of Faith and then let them share their testimonies.  Susanna said "I know that Jesus has found us"!  How sweet and profound is that?  

Ultimately, Family Home Evenings for us are often unpredictable.  Sometimes they go well and sometimes I feel like the kids didn't get a thing out of it.  Sometimes we just get frustrated because they act silly or don't listen and other times we are amazed at the things they do and say.  The important thing is to keep going and to hold FHE every week.  Today when they bit each other, I was able to stop and remind them about our lesson last night and when I did, they were both so quick to apologize.  I know that if I keep planning and preparing, it will bless this sweet family of mine and we will grow closer together, and we will feel that love whenever we are together.