We Heart Primary

Paul and I have one of the best callings ever: Primary teachers! We teach the 7-8 and 8-9 year-olds in our ward, and we have a blast. They are SO inquisitive at this age, and they are finally starting to "get it" in terms of the gospel--partially because biologically their brains are developing the ability to reason and empathize, partially because they all come from warm, loving families who teach them the gospel at home every moment they can, and partially because they have been baptized and have the gift of the Holy Ghost with them.

Regardless of the reasons, it is SO fun to see them grow in their testimonies, listen to the CRAZY-deep questions they come up with, and do our best to answer them as we teach them about the gospel. It is even more fun to help them recognize the Spirit as it influences them in their lives! Just last week one of our kids was talking about how there's an apostle that speaks so powerfully to him that he just can't hardly talk afterwards, it's like there's nothing you can do or say to deny the truth of what he says. I said, "Do you know what that is?! That's the SPIRIT!" And even though this is a very precocious child, a new connection was made and he understands now a little bit better that the Spirit speaks to us all in many different ways. Moments like that happen nearly every week, and between that and trying to answer their incredibly vast range of questions, Paul and I feel like sometimes we get to learn SOOOO much more than our kids ever do.

It's also been a blessing for us as a couple, because Paul and I do not get to see much of each other these days. It is HEAVEN to spend all day Sunday with him and with our kids. :) And a good trial-run for when we ever have our own...

Well, in just under two weeks we are having our Primary Program, and Paul and I have desperately tried to learn some of the new songs--"My Eternal Family" and "The Family Is of God." Any of you with children or callings in Primary know how adorable these songs are. It is even more adorable to hear an entire choir of 3-6 year-olds screaming out the chorus because that's all they really know! But, it turns out, they are better than us. We have been spending our FHMs (Family Home Mornings! :) ) and a little time in the evenings lately trying to nail down the words to these two songs--I don't know why it is so difficult for us to master them, but it is what it is. We're trying. We can't let a few 8-year-olds show us up. ;)

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Paul's 25th Birthday

This has been a rigorous and rough semester for me, and for Paul, as well, and happy moments have been too few and far between lately. But the highlight of the semester so far was DEFINITELY Paul's 25th birthday on October 18th. I had been planning it pretty much since the summer, and all that planning sure paid off!

Since I chose to go with a LEGO theme, for birthday week Paul had to search the house each morning for a giant LEGO (made with a kleenex box and milk jug lids spray painted red, thank you very much!); in the LEGO was a candy bar and small toy, along with a short message tied to the candy...he had a lot of fun finding the toys, and we both are STILL eating all the candy!

Since his birthday was on a Sunday, we went up to Chicago Saturday to kidnap his sister and visit the LEGOLand Discovery Center in Shaumburg. It was a lot of fun, even if we were a little old to be there! We got to play with LEGOs, go on a dragon ride, walk through a LEGO jungle, visit the "hall of fame" with famous LEGO-made artwork reproductions and famous figures, and visit the mini factory (did you know only 18 out of every MILLION LEGOs is discarded from a factory? Talk about quality!). We also got to see a miniature Chicago--very detailed and realistic looking, except for a Batman figure on top of the Sear's tower!

If you have any sort of LEGOland or its discovery centers nearby, GO!  It's worth it!

Then we went back to his folks' place and Paul visited, opened presents (like the Enterprise cufflinks and LEGO mp3 player from Emilie shown below!), and ate some Filipino food before heading home.

(P.S. There are a million and one different LEGO-themed gifts and prizes to buy if you go to the LEGO store HERE.)

That night, we started our "Happy Birthday, Moon" on birthday eve tradition--Paul found the birthday top hat, beneath which was about 10 pounds of LEGOs for him to play with! (And for us to use in the party the next day!)

On Sunday, we threw a party after church with some of our wonderful friends. I learned how to make vegetable pancit, and we fried up some lumpia (two of my favorite Filipino foods), and after everyone was well-fed we played some games. We had "Guess How Many Legos are in the Jar?" and had a super-difficult LEGO quiz.  Some bold primary and green colored birthday decorations helped round out the table.Then we had LEGO team building relays.  This was everyone's favorite part!  I made three stacks of identical "challenges," which included objects they had to build and the inches high it had to be (for example, in the picture below, the word "Paul" at least 3 inches tall...we also had planes, giraffes, tables and chairs, etc., at varying heights).  I backed each set of challenges in a different color, with a ruler to match, for each of the 3 teams, then shuffled them.  So, everyone's building the same things, but not necessarily at the same time.  One person from each team started off, and when they finished they had to take a picture of their creations with the rulers and then tag the next person to go build.

Then I split up the rest of the challenges into three different rooms.  We had LEGO tower races (build the tallest free-standing tower you can in 2 minutes), LEGO chopsticks (transfer LEGOs from one bowl to the other in 1 minute), and a LEGO toss into bathroom-sized cups, with points at the bottom for you to add up. At each "station" was a paper to record your name and stats, like the height of your tower or how many chopsticks or the points you got.  It made finding the "winner" of each category super easy, and let them know what they had to beat, while still giving them time to have fun wandering around a bit and socializing in more intimate settings.  :)  We had a "closing ceremonies" and I awarded the winners for each game and the quiz and guessing game earlier with prizes--like the LEGO salt/pepper shaker, or LEGO post-it notes, or keychain, or magnetic frame (I made that one myself), etc.

Then we had cake--and with 25 relighting candles spread out over the entire table, it took the entire party to put out the flames!  (Excuse the crazy melty appearance, I'm not a cake decorator by any means and I'm afraid of fondant!)

For this cake, I basically baked two 9x13" cakes and cut them into different sized rectangles (half the cake was the 2x3 LEGO).  I used mini muffins/cupcakes for the knobby parts.  Add some brightly colored icing, a green plastic tablecloth to put everything on, and voila!  Instant, easy (though time-consuming), affordable cake!

We ate, chatted, and played some more, with Paul opening gifts and having an all around grand time. The favors were some LEGO-like building block candy and some paper with crayons. People seemed to have a lot of fun reverting back to their childhood, as did we--it was nice to go back to the good old days of creative play. I had a blast putting the whole thing together, and now I'm looking through my birthday binder to try to figure out how to top it next year!

I don't know why I love birthdays so much...we celebrated them now and again at home, but growing up we didn't really make a huge deal out of 'em. But whatever the reason, I love them now, and I wish that we didn't always feel like the "fun" parties are just for little kids--as the LEGO party proved, you're only as young as you feel, and we all have a little child tucked deep inside of us.

If you want to see more pictures from the party, visit my facebook album!