Our New Project

Lately we've noticed that the kids spend too much time focused on each other (to put it nicely) or the T.V. So I've been trying to figure out something else that might capture the kids' interest and provide something else for us to focus on, work on, and discuss. Tonight we started my latest "plan" for Family Home Evening. After delivering some "Thank Yous" to people who have been so kind, generous, and helpful during the pregnancy and this past month, we came home and started up the table saw. Earlier Matthew and I had gone and bought a 2" x 4" x 8' stud. Then tonight James and Michael cut it into 1 1/2" pieces (which is the finished size of the 2 x 4) so that we now have wooden blocks. Then all of us sat around the table and sanded them. We will be donating them to the church's humanitarian service efforts. James's mom is in charge of humanitarian efforts for their ward so I'm hoping that if we get our finished things to her (either when they visit here or we visit there) that she can help get them to Salt Lake for us. I hope that this continues to be a fun thing for the kids to work on in afternoons when they are 'bored'. We'll see how long it lasts. When the sanding gets old, though, we'll get to pull out mineral oil and oil them or paint them. Hopefully that will add more interest again later. I've hoped to do a family service project for the holidays -- maybe this will be it!