Honesty is Great!

What does honesty mean to you? To me it means telling the truth even if you think it won't matter that much, to not cheat, and not to steal anything.

In our Church, we have a magazine with different articles that relate to church. Some of them are submitted by people who want to share their experiences. I think this one goes really well with this topic. Since I'm not very good at retelling things, I am going to include it here so you can read it.


Unwavering Honesty
Jordan P., California,

Each day at the beginning of my film class the teacher gave us a writing prompt. After letting us write for about 10 minutes he randomly picked five people, who could choose whether to share what they had written. Whenever he picked me, I’d decline.

One day the prompt was “Are there certain kinds of stealing or borrowing without permission that are OK? What’s the difference? When was the last time you stole something?”

I wrote an answer to the prompt and didn’t think much of it. After a few minutes the teacher started calling on people to share. I noticed that the first four people each had a story of what they had stolen and how they stole it. Then he called my name. Even though I usually said no, I got a feeling to share what I wrote. I started talking about how I didn’t think there was any good kind of stealing. Then I answered the part about the last time you stole something: I’ve never stolen anything in my life. Right away my teacher didn’t believe me and everyone in the class thought I was lying. I insisted that I was telling the truth. After about five minutes of my being called a liar, the teacher said, “I’m going to call your mom and ask if you’ve ever been caught stealing.” I told him to go ahead and do it. Then he left the classroom to call my mom. While he was out of the room, most of the kids in the class kept saying I was lying, and I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

The teacher came back into the class and everyone asked him what my mom had said. He announced to the class that my mom had verified that I had never stolen anything. Some of the kids weren’t convinced, but most of them were just shocked. My teacher was impressed and actually said, “You’re a better human than I am.”

I’m grateful to my mom for teaching me the importance of being honest. Until that day in film class I never thought that honesty was that rare. I’m glad that I took the opportunity to share with the class what I wrote and that my mom was there to back me up. With the help of my mother, I’ve become a trustworthy person.

The original link is here.

I hope that you enjoy it!

This post is by me (Alia), and I'm helping Ashton with the post because he will be on vacation next week.

Happiness

A lot of things can make you happy, but not for a long time. Here are some of the things I am talking about:

Toys

Shoes

"Cool" Clothes

Phone

All of these items are fun to have, but they really don't make you that happy as THESE things in life:

FAMILY (The most important thing in life)

Good books /scriptures (Great things to read and learn out of)

True Friends (Who help you to be a good person)


Think about which of these lists makes your life happier.

If you chose family, good books, and true friends, then we agree.



A few examples that can make you happy:

1. Going to a nearby beach or park to ride bikes with your family.

2. Having a family member visit you and your family at your house. Our two aunts, Trisha and Jodi came to visit us. We had a great time going to Knott's Berry Farm, sleeping by each other, and just getting to know each other better!

3. Going to the library together and checking out books that you can't wait to read.


What are some things that make YOU really happy?

More Valentine's Day Ideas

Ashton included SO MANY great ideas! I wanted to say that the Heart Attack was great idea. I've done that to other houses and I've even had that happen to me!

The "Operation: Luv" Stuff sounds like a good idea and I want to try that sometime.



I also LOVE the pop-up-card! I made one when all of my siblings were making cards for their church teachers. (my teacher thought it was so cute!)



I wanted to write about more ideas that I made up. Here they are!

Drawer of Love

The Drawer of Love is just an empty desk drawer (you could use a filing cabinet or anything that holds a lot of things). I got tissue paper (red, pink, or white works best) and lined (or stuffed) it with the paper. I made some drawings such as hearts, teddy bears, and anything cute I could think of. Then I made little notes and I put them in the Drawer of Love. My sister cut out a heart and gave my mom a Valentine, so we put them in it as well. Then, I announced that the Drawer of Love was open. Now, our family can share their love and make sure that everyone knows how much they are loved.

I found these crafts online at FamilyFun's website:

Cute Valentine's Bracelets

If you have some string and beads nearby, this craft is a good one. Just get some beads and start stringing them on. Make messages on them and give them to friends and family members to show your love for them.

Heart Curtain

I like this idea and it sounds like something I would do (I probably can't because I have a three-year-old brother). First, cut out little hearts and write a message on them. Put those papers onto another color of paper and cut out a back for them. Get a long ribbon and hot glue them onto it (ask a parent for help because a hot glue gun really hurts! I've gotten hot glue on me and trust me, it is not very fun at all). Finally, hang the hearts from a top of a doorway (a doorway with no door works great) and voila! You have a Heart Curtain!

Hot Chocolate!

Find some plastic cups and stick a hot chocolate packet in it. Cut out a heart and then write a message on it and glue or tape it to the front of the cup. Now you can give someone the gift of hot chocolate!

Lollipop Flowers

Use colored paper to cut out a lot of medium-

sized hearts. Get your choice of lollipops and glue one on the middle of every heart. From the sicks, glue two green paper leaves to complete your flower! These treats will make a great Valentine's Day gift!

A Puzzle from the Heart

Get some old puzzles out from the garage or buy some at the dollar store. Get some red or pink paint and color over the puzzle piece. Place them in an area where they can sit and dry. Then, glue them into that shape of a heart. Make as many as you can before the pieces start to run out. If you want to, you can glue magnets on them. Have fun!

The Pencil Valentine

Cut out a paper heart and write something on it. Poke two holes, one on the top left corner and the other on the bottom right corner. Find some cute Valentine's Day pencils and poke it through the holes. That is how you make the Pencil Valentine.

Valentine Butterfly

Get a bunch of clothes pins. These can be used for the butterfly's body. If you do not want (or don't have clothes pins), you can use sticks of gum. Get colored paper and make wings for the butterfly. Write your message on your wings and glue or tape the wings to the clothes pin or stick if gum. Get pipe cleaners and cut one in half. These can be curved to be the antennas. Decorate your butterfly with glitter and anything you can think of.

Hearty Pencil Topper

Candy hearts are fun, but pencil toppers just like candy hearts. Get foam hearts, but make sure that they are tiny. Poke a hole in the bottom and poke a pipe cleaner through it. Twist the pipe cleaner around the pencil from the top and glue as you go. Make sure that the foam heart is glued to the top of the pencil. (This craft can also be made with a pen).

I hope these ideas will make your Valentine's Day a lot of fun!

Fun ideas for Valentines Day!

Hey, everyone! My family does two really fun things each February. They're called:

Operation: Heart attack!

1. Cut out tons of little paper hearts*.
2. When nobody is looking, wright messages about what you love about people in your family.
3. Decorate them beautifully.
4. Hang them with tape or string in the kitchen, office, den, or anywhere else where people will see them.
5. Look at the surprised faces when your family sees them!

Operation: Luv Stuf

1. Cut out little strips of paper.
2. Write something fun to do each day that has to do with love (e.g. read a love story, call someone you haven't talked to in a while).
3. Put these in a cup
4. Draw one out each day and tell your family to do the same.

*One of my favorite things to do is make a pop-up card. To do

it, you will need:

• scissors
• glue
• crayons or markers (if you wish to decorate it).
• three sheets of paper

1. Use one of your papers to make a big heart.
2. get another one of your papers, fold it in half (hamburger) and cut it as shown.
3. fold the paper so that it looks like the picture for number 3.
4. glue in the heart (see picture).
5. close the card and glue another piece of paper on the back to hide the big gap (see picture).
6. give it to whoever it's for!

Happiness is Everything

This week will be all about happiness. Think for a moment, what makes you happy? Is it new toys? Is it spending time with someone you love? Is it even sitting down to a home-made meal? I feel very happy when I give a gift or do an act of service for someone I love.

When was the last time that you wrote in your journal? If it has been a long time, you could write a short bit about what makes you happy.

I am VERY excited because we (The Power of Kids) are getting a new member tomorrow! Her name is Eliza and she will be turning eight and then she can help us out by writing with us.

If you have any suggestions, just email them to powerofkidslp@gmail.com We will be happy to hear your suggestions and we may include them in our "End of the Week Post."

Have an AMAZING Valentine's Day!
Love,
The Power of Kids Crew

Love Languages

Love is an important thing. I am going to talk about our love languages. Each and every one of us has one. Here our family’s love languages:

Dad: Quality time (He enjoys doing FHE, scripture study, and any other thing that has to do with family.)

Mom: Acts of Service (Like doing the dishes, folding blankets, or something else that makes our home cleaner.)

Alia, age 11: gifts AND acts of service (little Webkinz or something that she enjoys.)

Me/Grace, age 8: Written words of affection (Nice cards or words that say “I love you” or “You are a great kid.”)

Ethan, age 7: Gifts (like little things from little parties sort of like party favors.)

Spencer, age 3: Quality time (He likes Mom to lay by him for a hundred minutes).J

So if you like one of these things you have a love language.

Fun stuff to do with your family (part 1)

They're small, they're big, they're old they're young. They live in a mansion or just a small house. What are these people? What kind are the best? Oh, you really can't tell. They each do their own special things, and none are the same.

What are these things? Families of course!

Here are some fun things to do with your family:

1. Take a bike trip to the park or a restaurant.
2. Make some cookies, brownies, pie, any dessert together
3. Have a movie night. Click here for some fun ideas.
4. Plan a scavenger hunt. Have any kid hide the stuff and make the list.
5. Make a family poster. Cut stuff out of magazines and glue them onto a big poster board. Make sure they are about your family and what you plan to do this year!

Do these things and watch your family come closer together!

New Post Tomorrow!

Hi! This is Alia. I just wanted to day that there won't be a new post today. Although, there will be two tomorrow! Stay tuned for more blog posts!