A Nutritious Meal

Under "Serving Others" in the Achievement Day, Faith in God booklet, pg 9 requirement is

*Plan, prepare, and serve a nutritious meal.

The girls made Oatmeal pancakes, scrambled eggs, apple slices & OJ.
We were going to have milk for their dairy, but was out voted by the OJ.

We  went shopping for a apples & OJ.

They each decided who would be in charge of making what.

Everyone had "their" way of doing things....just like women.

It was cute.

I am pretty confident with their cooking skills and pretty much let them go for it.

"Sister Mills?" was flying around the kitchen a bit more than I could handle.

They wanted to set the table with my "special" dishes.

They asked Troy if he would like to join us and made him a place at the table

and waited till everything and everyone was at the table before eating.

We passed the food around and enjoyed eating their wonderful meal together.
We talked about some important table manners and they were excited when I told
them that they would be having etiquette dinners when they get to young women.
They understand the importance of learning to cook nutritious meals, that they
will be mothers and will need to cook and feed their families healthy meals.

There was a lot of "Mmmmmmmm"

"This is good"

"These pancakes are good".......going on.

I asked if they wanted the recipe, "YES!"

So here you go....

Cinnamon Oatmeal Pancake Mix

4 C quick cooking oats

2 C Flour

2 C whole wheat flour

1 C non-fat dry milk

1/2 C sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp salt

3 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Combine ingredients and stir to mix well. Put in large airtight container.
Label. Store in a cool dry place. Use within 6 months.
( I place a copy of this recipe in with the mix)

Mixing Directions: In medium bowl, beat 1 egg.
Beat in 1 1/2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil gradually.

Alternately stir in 1 C pancake mix and 1/2 C water.
Drop by spoonfuls onto lightly greased skillet

over medium-high heat. When batter shows broken bubbles, turn pancakes over. 

They set the table all on their own!

 They did a wonderful job, I was very impressed how they jumped right in,
 they were focused and worked as a team.
They are very wound-up after school, but they settle right down,
I could tell that dinner was a special time in their homes by the reverence
they had while we ate.

"Secret Sisters"
Today the girls drew each other's names to secretly serve for the next 2 wks.
We will report their success next meeting.

Service

 We have a young mother in our ward fighting a battle with cancer and
the community had a fund raiser for her at the Fall Festival.
The girls wanted to do something to contribute.
The girls came over on a Friday rather than the usual Wednesday after school.

That way their baked goods would be their freshest Sat. morning.

They whipped up and baked 4 batches of
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies

Click on this link to find the recipe

Three of the girls called later asking for the recipe and made them for their
families, that was exciting.
They love to cook and they all work really well together,

and they are good about clean-up.

After they were done with their baking I asked if they would like to 

pick all of my corn cobs off the corn stalks......YEA!

Little Miss Pack Rat packed all of the corn into a pocket of her shirt.

Not good.......we hurried and took it all out before she exploded.

We had a guest this Achievement Day.

My cousin's daughter Victoria! 

She is only 6, but her best friend in Arizona is 8 and so she felt right at home.

I was so proud of the girls for including her and making her a part of their

activity.

These girls have the spirit of Christ in them and it radiated this day as they showed

their kindness to a little girl who had to leave her best friend behind as her family moves
to a new town. Victoria was so excited for them to come and

to be able to play with the girls.

I am grateful for their service today towards Victoria and Me.

Thank you girls.

A Water Fight

The Good Samaritan

At the April 2011 General Conference President Henry B. Erying

announced that in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Church welfare program, 

members worldwide will be invited to participate in a day of service. 

"Opportunities To Do Good"

In their "Faith In God" pamphlet under Service, pg 8 is an activity on service.

We read about the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:30-37.

They are to plan and complete a service project.

I encouraged them to do this on their own and that they will report back.

I also asked what they would like to do as a group.

They knew exactly what they wanted to do.

There is a young mother fighting cancer in our ward and a 10 yr old

boy who's pelvis was crushed after being hit by a car while riding a 4-wheeler.

There are going to be 2 separate fundraisers in their behalf.

They wanted to make things to contribute to the fundraisers.

I was so excited for their enthusiasm.

All summer they asked to jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler on, so

since summer is coming to an end I told them if it was hot enough they could.

They were so thrilled. I had them pack their swimsuits in their school packs.

Jumping on the tramp getting wet lasted for awhile till one jumped down and

decided to turn the sprinkler on me!

I changed my cloths and the water fight was on!

Those girls were ruthless!

I was drenched and finally ran to the house and locked them out.

Blue even got into it, but he was being too nice.

They wanted him to get another hose, but had already cinched it.

So Fun!!!!!!

**SPOTLIGHT**

Miss Green Thumb grew this HUGE cabbage from a small seedling that she brought
home from school.
She is learning the joys and rewards of gardening.
That is an impressive cabbage.

Surprise Pictures On My Camera

They are back in school and wound up as ever.

This day we caught up with our scrapbooks.

A few days later I was going through my camera and found

these adorable pictures.

My first thought was, "I don't remember taking these pictures"

My next thought, "When did they do this?"
I think I know who the culprit is......

They are the cutest little girls, sweet spirits and full of joy.

Putting On The Whole Armor of God

“Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, 

against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. …

“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

“And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” (Eph. 6:11–18.)

I traced them out on paper and then they drew their armor on after we talked

about how Daniel, David, and Joseph put the WHOLE armor of God on

and withstood great temptations, evil and persecution.

I encouraged them to put their WHOLE armor on as they start the new

year of school and to remember the examples of these great men

who put their trust in God.

Swimming at the Pool

You have to go swimming on those hot summer days!

We just had fun....

tossing the big ball to each other

coming down the slippy slid

holding their breath contests

jumping

Father's Day

The girls wanted to go bike riding for one of our "Summer Days" activities.

Their parents dropped them off at the green belt and off we went.

I forget how little they are, they were pooped after one time around.

They are so cute!

We talked about bike safety on the road and they practiced the hand signals.

We took a break to put together some tasty gifts for their dads.

I brought a cooler to keep everything cool, but it was a really hot day 

and the chocolate candy bars were trying to melt.

I expected the girls to chug their rootbeer down, but they just sipped it

and ended up getting knocked over making a nice fizzy, sticky mess!

Happy Father's Day Dads!

School Is Out!

 Our first Achievement Days after school is out!

The snow is finally gone and they could jump on the tramp.

They even noticed that it had been moved.

Troy, "That is so you can watch them better"

Here they are singing "Doe, Ray, Me" from the Sound of Music.

We caught up with their scrape books and then had an ice cream sandwich.

We are so excited to finally be able to do some things outside.

We are planning on a bike ride!

 A few of them love collecting the eggs and the asking for one to keep.

They make "warm nests" for them to see if they will "hatch".

They look for the biggest, prettiest eggs.

I figure, what the heck, it's not like I don't have a frig full of eggs.

 Look at those sweet smiling faces.

Baking Cookies

 Today the girls made cookies to take home to their families.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had them in two groups of three and let them go at it.

 Six little girls baking cookies can be an interesting experience

specially after a long day at work.

They did really well.

We learned how many 1/4th make a 1/2, how many 1/2's

make a cup.  We learned a easier way to measure out shortening,

 how to level off ingredients, the difference between tsp and tbs.

 How to beat batter without spraying it all over themselves and the walls,

break eggs in the bowel, not mixing batter with fingers,

not handling the cookie dough like a ball of play dough,

 how to take turns, make even sized dough balls, placing them evenly

separated on the cookie tray, reading a recipe.

 Kristel & Hannah offered to do dishes!!

I was told not to tell mom's because it's better doing it for someone else,

"like a service project"

 They deserved licking the beaters.

 We didn't get them baked in time for them to take home,

so I promised I would finish baking and deliver them.

**SPOT LIGHT**

Miss Scientist presented a science project at the Elementary School Science Fair

"Heads or Tails"

Her project was about the probability of flipping a head or tail.

She discovered that out of 100 flips she flipped heads or tails

45 to 55, almost an even 50/50 outcome.

Good job, Girl!

Earth Day

 For Earth Day we went to the city park and picked up garbage.

As we walked we talked of ways that we can care for our earth.

Some would not touch the garbage so they designated themselves the "Spotters".

They insisted that we bring Zeus along for the walk.

Hallee who refuses to come into the house before Zeus is locked up into his kennel,

could not walk the dog enough

 Hannah wanted their picture taken at each bench.

These girls love having their picture taken.

These girls have so much fun.

They are so smart, happy, helpful, considerate and friends.

It is my hope that they will remain close friends as they become young ladies, 

that they will lean on one another and be there for each other as they grown up.

13 Articles of Faith Egg Hunt

Another great day with these cute little girls.

We started out updating their scrapbooks.

So they wouldn't take forever I told them we were going to have an 

Easter Egg Hunt!

O MY GOSH! They squealed so loud that I actually went deaf till they stop.

That got them hustling.

One of the girls who was all done asks, 

"Can I go check the chicken coop for eggs?"

Sneaky........"NO"

 I divided them into two teams.

Team One could only look for pink & lavender colored eggs.

Team Two could only look for yellow & green colored eggs.

They could not touch the other teams eggs (so they didn't give them away)

They also could not open them till I said they could,

"You are going to have a challenge with them"

"You have to find 17 eggs each team"

I hid the eggs in a very small area so we didn't loose any

(we all know no matter what there are a few that are never found each year)

"Is there candy in them"

"Yes, but you cannot open them till I say so"

After they found all of their eggs they came into the house where they opened 

them up and found in them the 13 Articles of Faith without numbers.

Each team was to see who could get the most Articles of Faith in order.

They were a little overwhelmed, "Just do your best"

The Articles of Faith 

1. We believe in God the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost.

2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

3. We believe that throught the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience

to the the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.

4. We believe that first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord

Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission

of sins; fourth, Laying on of the hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

5. We believe that man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by 

those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.

6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles,

prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and so forth.

7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation

of tongues, and so forth.

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as long as it is translated correctly;

we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does reveal, and we believe that He

will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

10. We believ in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that

Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will

reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive it's

paradisaical glory.

11. We claim the privilege of worshipping Almighty God according to the dictates of

our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where,

or what they may.

12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying,

honoring, and sustaining the law.

13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men;

indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we

hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.

If there is anything viruous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we

seek after these things.

Joseph Smith

After they finished trying to put those in order they were allowed to eat their candy.

I didn't want to end our meeting with Easter eggs and candy.

I wanted to remind them of the true celebration of Easter and what 

Christ did for them so we watched this 

(click on the title to view)

His Sacred Name: An Easter Declaration

And if they didn't have enough sweets, I had cake and milk for them.

The cake didn't turn out, the whip topping melted into the cake so they

weren't too impressed.

Faith

 It is Spring Break and so

I was excited to have five girls show up for Achievements.

The girls shared some of their favorite Book of Mormon stories

that teach us of faith;

*Nephi and his brothers going back to Jerusalem to get the brass plates from the wicked King Laban,

*Samual the Lamanite Prophet who obeyed God and went back to the City of

Zarahemla to preach repentance and was not harmed.

*Ammon the missionary who went to the evil Lamanites and taught them the gospel

and defended the kings herds.

*The Anti-Nephi-Lehies who buried their swords as a covenant with the Lord

to never sin again by the shedding of blood.

*Mormon burying the gold plates and then appearing as an Angel to the young

Joseph Smith on the Hill Camorah.

I took the opportunity to share my testimony with them, and

tell them that whenever we follow and obey Heavenly Father we have nothing to fear.

That Heavenly Father loves them and knows each one of them.

These girls have the sweet spirit of innocence and enthusiasm. 

They loved holding the sword.

Scrapbooks & Snow

  The girls have journals, but I have a hard time getting them to sit down and write something in them

especially after a long day at school. You'd think I was trying to kill them slowly.

We, Mormon's, are a record keeping people.

Family History is very important and a commandment.

I decided that the girls might enjoy a scrapbook filled with pictures, 

and I wanted them to have something they could take with them to

remember their time in Achievement Days.

The fun part was when they started asking for dates as

they wrote about the activity next to the photos.

I am so excited to watch them fill their scrapbooks with memories they will always have.

I told the girls I had a surprise for them, a blog about their Achievement Days.

They were so excited and wanted me to write the URL address down for them.

Now the real reason I think they come to my house, TO PLAY!

They decided to have a snowball fight.

They divided into teams, gathered snowballs and the FUN BEGINS!

"Take pictures!"

Of course!

Some stayed out of the line of fire and provided an endless supply of ammo.

The secret weapon, Snowball Maker.

"Block Head" the snowman!

Another great Achievement Day!

Heart Attacks

 Welcome to my Achievement Day Blog.
I have 8-10 yr old girls that meet twice a month with me.
We focus our meetings on Service, Talents and Gospel Learning.
This meeting we gave Heart Attacks to 3 sisters in our Ward.
Secretly!
I made pink, heart shaped rice crispies for the girls to leave on the door steps.
Before leaving the girls wrote fun, cute notes on hearts to tape to the doors.
"You Rock"
"You are awesome"
"We love you"

The girls tend to get pretty excited which means "LOUD"!
To help them be quiet and secretive they thought they should tape their mouths shut.
They were quietly taping the hearts but when they turned and high tailed it back
to the car they all screamed with excitement.
So much for the tape idea.

 A storm was coming in and it began to blow and sprinkle.
By the time we reached our last stop the wind was really blowing
and some of the girls wouldn't get out of the car.
I about lost my doors to my car.
When we returned to my home, snow was blowing horizontally.

                                                        We had a great time, always do!
                                When we have extra time the girls love to play the game of LIFE

 or BINGO.