Woo-hoo! With the colder weather upon us it’s time to gather inside more often and play board games! I got to play the games above over the weekend with family and friends. We had so much fun! I’m thrilled I found the bottom game, Compatibility, at the thrift store just last week for only $3! I noticed the Dice Tower, my favorite board game YouTube Channel, has been doing a few videos on party games lately. In one of the videos, Chris Yi mentioned Compatibility, and then I found it just a week later while thrifting. Score! We played it last night with my daughter, her husband, and son and it was quite enjoyable.
If you want some ideas for party games to buy for the upcoming holiday season where families and friends tend to gather more often and often want to do something besides just sit and chat (nothing wrong with that), watch below.
The video below is the one where I heard Chris mentioned Compatibility, below, in the video of games that didn’t make the “Top Ten Party Games.” Instead, these are the rest of the Top 100, the remaining 90.
I love that these guys share games that are little-known, besides the popular party games like Codenames and Mysterium. Watch these videos so you know what games to be on the lookout when you go thrifting.
If you want ideas on how to find great games while on a budget, get my guide to building a gameschool collection on a budget here. Yes, most if not all party games, count as great gameschooling games.
If you want more ideas for what to do as a family during November and December, besides play games, check out my website here for suggestions on family read-alouds and traditions. Click on “Fall” then scroll down to see the list for November. Click on “Winter” to see the list for December.
The following is an amazing story about an atheist who turned into a believer in God in a moment of crisis. It happened in a forest when the author was hunting for mushrooms. I am so grateful that this former atheist shared her story.
I am copying and pasting this story from the October 2009 Ensign, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“Grabbing the Strong Root,” by Melsida Hakobyan
“When I was a schoolgirl in Russia, I read a scary story about two boys who encountered a bear in a forest. Years later, after I had become a teacher, some friends asked me to join them on a trip to collect mushrooms. The forest still scared me, but I agreed to go with them.
“Entering the forest, I grabbed a wooden stick so I could defend myself in case I ran into a bear. My friends soon found the brown mushrooms they were looking for. I, on the other hand, was looking for mushrooms with bright red tops, so I started off in a different direction. Before I knew it, I was alone.
“While I was searching, I slipped and fell. My mushroom basket flew into the air, but I held tight to my stick. When I tried to get up, I noticed that the ground was muddy and sticky. To my horror, I realized that I had wandered into a swamp! My rubber boots quickly filled with water, and I began to sink. I tried to move my legs, but instead of freeing myself, I was pulled deeper. When the mud reached my waist, deep fear engulfed me.
“I cried out to my friends, but the only answer I heard came from buzzing dragonflies and croaking frogs. As I began to weep, I suddenly remembered my mother. Whenever she was in a bad situation, she prayed. She often invited me to pray, but I always refused, answering, “There is no God.”
“But in my watery soon-to-be grave, there was nothing else I could do but pray and call upon God for help. “If You live, please help me!” I cried.
“Almost immediately I heard a kind voice tell me, “Believe and be not afraid. Grab the strong tree root.”
“As I looked around, I saw a big tree root behind me. Using my stick, I was able to latch onto it. Something then gave me the power to pull myself out of the swamp.
“Covered with mud, I fell to the ground and thanked God for answering my prayer. I now believed that He lived. I had felt His presence and heard His voice, and He had given me power to pull myself free.
“A short time later, when the full-time missionaries taught me that the Prophet Joseph Smith had received an answer to his prayer in the Sacred Grove, I believed them. After all, God had answered my prayer in a forest. I latched onto the strong roots of the gospel, was baptized soon thereafter, and serve today in the Gyumri Branch in Armenia.
“I know Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and I’m grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I’m also grateful for the many other blessings I have received from Heavenly Father, especially for His answer to an atheist’s prayer in the forest many years ago.
“When the mud reached my waist, deep fear engulfed me. I cried out to my friends, but the only answer I heard came from buzzing dragonflies and croaking frogs.”
Happy Veterans’ Day! Here’s a great picture book to show how one woman showed her gratitude to veterans. It’s all about Moina Belle Michael’s efforts. Here’s what goodreads.com says about the book:
“Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, successfully established the Flanders Field Memorial Poppy as a universal symbol of tribute and support for veterans and their families during World War I and II. Known as the Poppy Lady, Michael dedicated her life to servicemen and women, buying and placing fresh flowers in rooms where they would gather before heading overseas.
“Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts and primary documents, as well as Moina’s great-nieces to better understand Moina’s determination to honor the war veterans.
“A portion of the book’s proceeds will support the National Military Family Association’s Operation Purple®, which benefits children of the U.S. military.”
This is a great book to bring up the topic of war, veterans, and how to show our gratitude to the men and women who have fought to defend the USA. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
Want more picture book suggestions for November? Check out my family read-alouds and traditions website here for fall, and scroll down the bottom third of the page, under the “November” heading.
Did you know that Dr. Annette Bosworth M.D., aka Dr. Boz, says all these symptoms can be alleviated or EVEN eliminated with the ketogenic diet? Dr. Boz, an internist, is a medical doctor who tends to work with senior citizens. She has found great success with her patients who get on the keto continuum. She speaks from experience!
Did you know that the keto diet can, on top of all that, ALSO eliminate carbohydrate craving/sugar cravings/food addiction forever?
Watch the video below and take the test with Dr. Boz to see if you have a sugar addiction!
How did you score? As Dr. Boz says at the end of the video, if you got over 5, you might be addicted to carbs! Find release from this bondage with the ketogenic diet using the keto continuum from Dr. Boz. My Slim and Healthy Keto Class uses this keto continuum.
Your health is priceless! Invest in yourself by engaging in this class. In doing so, you will reclaim your healthy birthright and prevent the typical symptoms we associate with aging in modern America. Adult-onset diabetes can be prevented! As Dr. Boz says, “Type 2 Diabetes is a choice!” Heart disease can be prevented! Dementia can be prevented!
Come learn from this keto class and apply your knowledge so you can reach your ideal health! If you apply what you learn in this class, you will trim down, you will most likely be able to get off needless medications and play with your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren for decades to come!
The photo below shows one man’s success with the keto continuum. Patrick, at age 61, got on the keto continuum. He lost weight and got off all his medications!
The Slim and Healthy Kick the Carb Cravings Keto Weight Loss Class!
-8 weeks of weekly, 2 hour classes
-On Zoom so you can attend anywhere you have Internet access.
-classes will be recorded so you can catch up on what you miss
Logistics of class:
Every Wednesday 6:45 – 8:45 PM MST in Zoom
Starts Wednesday March 13, 2024.
What you get by taking this class:
-Me as a mentor! I recently lost 40 lbs in 5 months the past spring and summer 2023. I will guide you through the crazy maze of the weight loss journey with sound principles that work so you don’t ever go back to yo-yo dieting and so you also end cravings. No guess work involved! If you do what I say, you will lose weight! It’s all based on numbers and science!
-A weekly class with accountability for you and your goals. You set the health and/or weight-loss goals you want with the knowledge and skills I teach you!
-A tribe to give you a feeling of community
-Help to actually lose weight during the holiday season and continue to lose weight
-Tools to deal with emotional eating
-Knowledge of how to lose weight without exercise, using the principles from the Ketocontinuum: Consistently Keto for Life book by Dr. Annette Bosworth M.D.
-How to avoid the common pitfalls of the keto diet. Perhaps you have tried keto before and couldn’t sustain it because of the keto flu, or other common challenges of going keto. When I first tried keto about 6 years ago, I had a few pitfalls so I had to stop. Learn how to overcome them in this class!
-Tools to end your carb/sugar/food addiction forever
-Knowledge of how to create the “chemistry set” in your body that will cause weight loss so you don’t have to rely on white-knuckled willpower! Doesn’t that sound amazing? True science, as taught by Dr. Boz, is behind this!
-Knowledge of the markers that indicate true wellness. Wellness is more than just being thin! You will learn about SHMEC, which stands for Sleep, Health, Mood, Energy, and Cravings. Learn these markers and how to improve your individual ones.
Cost for Class: Tuition (see below), Cost for Books (see below), and Cost for Keto/Glucose Meter (see below)
Regular Tuition for Class: $447
Early Bird Discount: Register by Saturday March 2 midnight and pay $157!
After that the price goes up to $447.
Cost for Books: Approximately $46 for these two paperback books (cheaper if you get a Kindle edition). We will be using these two books by Dr. Boz pictured below. We will refer to them and discuss them in class. So if you enroll in this class, you need these books to be successful! Please order them here on amazon.
This first one, pictured above, tells a story that is fun to read. You will enjoy following David’s ketogenic diet journey. Along the way you will learn the principles of the keto diet.
The second one, pictured above, is a companion book, a workbook, with charts for you to write in to track your data. Again, please order them from amazon here.
Cost for keto glucose meter: Approximately $50. To have the best success, you will want to get a meter that measures the glucose and ketones in your blood. Get this one on amazon. You don’t need the meter when you first start the class, but you will want one by week #5.
Ready to Enroll? Great! Register by filling out this form.
Questions? Text 801-628-8753 with any questions or email me: info (at) treeoflifemothering (dot) com.
Remember, if you want to be entered into the random drawing for a free registration of the class, put your name in the comments below with the reason why you want to get on the ketogenic diet.
If you are excited to jumpstart your knowledge about the ketogenic journey before class starts, please read and watch the extra stuff below:
First, read Dr. Boz’s first book, shown above.
Also, watch Dr. Boz’s video docuseries, An American Traddiction, shown below.
The book is the story of Dr. Boz teaching her mom how to do the ketogenic diet to so her mom could fight cancer. The keto diet healed Grandma Rose, Dr. Boz’s mom, of cancer.
The docuseries shows Dr. Boz mentoring her sister-in-law Michelle on the keto diet journey. The videos show her 6-week journey, and then her results after 6 months. Michelle lost 23 lbs in 6 weeks doing keto!
This video above is the trailer. The whole series is below.
I just love this picture book! It’s probably my all-time favorite Thanksgiving picture book, although it’s super hard to pick just one, they are all so good! It captures the spirit of Thanksgiving so well, of immigrants, as the Pilgrims were immigrants, kindness to strangers (like the Pilgrims and Native Americans had for each other), hospitality, and gratitude to God. If you love stories of friendship and surprises, you will love it! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!
How delighted I was to find that my friend Melanie Hartzell has a YouTube with her reading it aloud! See below! Reading this aloud every year to at least one of my children is a family tradition for me, and I will continue this on with grandchildren. If you want more suggestions of picture books for fall, check out my new website, all about family read alouds and traditions, over here.
Today I’m sharing these fun conversation starters from Jennifer Flanders of flandersfamily.info. These are fun to keep handy by the dinner table. Print them out, cut them up, put them in a jar and let the kiddos each pull one out for dinner. Or be lazy like me and just download and keep them in a file on your phone or iPad, LOL, no cutting or storage involved. If you want to go all out, print them on colored paper and put them in a decorative box or put one under each person’s plate. I did that with the Christmas ones for a Christmas dinner and it was super fun. The Autumn Days Conversation Starters are here. Here are some sample questions from the Autumn Days set, copied from Jennifer’s site:
Sample Questions from Autumn Days Conversation Starters
What’s your favorite thing about fall?
When’s the last time you laughed so hard you cried? What was so funny?
Name your favorite kind of pasta. What sort of sauce do you like to put on it (if any)?
Describe an instance when your first impression proved to be wrong.
Sing the catchiest jingle you remember from a television commercial.
I love it when people sincerely discuss these types of questions, and we all learn from each other. Last night I used one of the Autumn Days questions during dinner and learned more about my daughter and her friends.
The Thanksgiving Conversation Starters are here. Here are some sample questions from that set (again, copied and pasted from Jennifer’s site):
What is something you like about living where you live?
Tell about a time when a stranger came to your aid in some way.
Share something your parents did that made you thankful.
Name something you admire about the person on your left.
What is your favorite pastime? Explain why.
Share a funny story that always makes you laugh.
Tell about a good book you’ve read. Explain what you liked about it.
You could be like Jennifer and print them out, cut them up, then put them in decorative jars with a twist of ribbon and a cute tag to give to a friend. I hope you enjoy them! I like to do at least one conversation starter at every dinner. Then I do some pun quiz cards or trivia quiz cards, often ones that I pick up at thrift stores.
Today for our countdown to Thanksgiving, I’m suggesting you print a banner that says “Thankful” or “Happy Thanksgiving” or some other gratitude-themed saying. I know it’s hard to read, but the one in the above photo over my French doors says “Thankful.” It was my printer’s idea to print it with blue letters, as all my other colors had run out! Then my teen daughter had the great idea to then hand color the pieces with a peachy orangey background which I love! I found the printable banner free online but it’s been over a year now since I found it and now I can’t remember where I got it. The great news however is that a quick search such as “free printable Thanksgiving banner” will reveal other options for you. Whatever you choose, print the pieces on cardstock for extra durability and then just tape the letters to yarn or string and hang it wherever you want a festive touch. (Hint: use frog tape on the back of the pieces of the banner to stick them to the wall.) I realize mine isn’t hanging straight in these photos. That’s what happens when you enlist your children to hang it up for you and you never fix it, LOL. It still adds a lot of cheer. Here’s how it looks this year:
I just love gathering in this room in our dining room for mealtime and family game nights. I found the leaf garlands on clearance at Walmart, you can also find lots on amazon. I love that the yellow walls are a great neutral color for any of my decorations any time of year. Banners and garlands are my absolute favorite seasonal decorations. They are super cheap, sometimes free, easy to pack and store, and easy to get out and use. I have some for every season and almost every holiday. These garlands and banners have become a family tradition at our home. They make me look forward to each season. When Christmas is over, I’m excited to get out my brightly-colored pom pom garlands to hang up for January. If you want more Thanksgiving family tradition ideas, check out my new website on family traditions here. Scroll down to the bottom to the November section, then look under “Activities: About Gratitude and Thanksgiving.”
For today in my lineup of fall and Thanksgiving goodies I’m highlighting this darling picture book Leif and the Fall by Allison Sweet Grant and Adam Grant, illustrated by Merrilee Liddard. It is so absolutely charming! Here’s how goodreads.com summarizes it:
“Leif is a leaf. A worried leaf. It is autumn, and Leif is afraid to fall. ‘All leaves fall in the fall,’ say the other leaves. But Leif is determined to find a different way down, and with his friend Laurel, he uses the resources around him to create a net, a kite, a parachute in hopes of softening his landing. The clock is ticking, the wind is blowing. What will happen when a gust of wind pulls Leif from his branch? In a culture that prizes achievement, kids are often afraid to fail–failing to realize that some of the very ideas that don’t work are steps along the path to ones that will.”
If you are looking for a fall-themed picture book, or a picture book about risking failure, or a picture book about friendship, or a picture book about beginning a journey and pushing through fear, then this is the book for you! I give it 5 out of 5 stars! The story is sweet and engaging, the illustrations are cute, and the whole thing doesn’t wear out its welcome. I love how the story builds up leading the reader to wonder how it will end with a wonderful resolution. I think I will read it aloud to my class of 6–7-year-olds at our next homeschool co-op class. They will love it!
Want more picture book suggestions? Go here on my blog.
Do you want more fall-themed and Thanksgiving picture book titles? My NEW site has tons! Click here to the fall page and scroll down, past “September.” The fall-themed ones are listed under “October.” Then scroll down to look under “November” to get the Thanksgiving-themed ones.
Do you want one place to plan and track all of your read-alouds? Get my handy dandy read-aloud family calendar over here. Right now, the price is $13.95. It goes up on Tues. Nov. 14 to $16.95.
My son got to go fishing last week for one of his classes at our homeschool co-op. He caught a trout. I’m so grateful for our co-op as it allows him to do things I wouldn’t think of on my own.
I have my Thanksgiving decorations out! It is feeling so Thanksgiving-y around here! I love it! I insist on giving Thanksgiving its proper space as a proper official holiday, so it doesn’t feel like a neglected stepsister of Christmas. Thanksgiving deserves its own decorations, time, rituals food, and attention. (If you want ideas of picture books, read-aloud chapter books, traditions, and books for parents to read regarding Thanksgiving, go to my family traditions website, and scroll down to the bottom third of the page under the “November” heading.)
I just love this song called “Thankful” by Shawna Belt Edwards. It is so fun to play and sing! Watch and listen below.
“Thankful” is one of the Thanksgiving songs I have gathered for the month of November in my Celestial Family Devotionals Ebook. For each month of the year, I have gathered songs by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that have been in the Church magazines since 1971. These are songs that are not featured in the Hymns or Children’s Songbook. This ebook is full of links to stories, songs, poems, and scriptures to share with your family every day when you gather to feel God’s love and light. Go here to get it.
I have seen such power in being thankful. When we voice and sing thankful words, pray thankful prayers, write down what we are thankful for, and think thankful thoughts, we attract even more blessings, even more goodness, even more things to be thankful for. It’s amazing! I’ve seen this happen. I know it’s true! Over six years ago, I took the counsel from President Henry B. Eyring in the talk below to write down how I saw God in my hand that day in my journal. I have seen miracles happen because of this! You can read it here.
It’s November! Yay!!!! I love looking forward to Thanksgiving with my fall decorations out and my Thanksgiving picture books. I love, love, love Thanksgiving picture books! They are just so yummy and warm!!!
The above book is such a delight to read.
It tells the story of the power of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, who fought to make Thanksgiving a national holiday.
Did you know that states in New England celebrated Thanksgiving as a holiday every year, but the rest of the United States did not?
Did you know that Thanksgiving was a day often celebrated in the late 1700s and early 1800s as a way to give thanks to God for blessings received after days of fasting and prayer were called for by government leaders?
Did you know that Sarah Josepha Hale wrote letters to U.S. Presidents for decades, pleading with them to make Thanksgiving a federal holiday? She never gave up and finally got her wish when Pres. Lincoln responded.
Not only was she a crusader, but she was a ladies’ fashion magazine editor, a mother of five, and the writer of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
You will know all these things after reading this book! I give this book 5 out of 5 stars! The illustrations are so beautiful and the story is fun to learn. To top it off, it’s true! Check it out from your local public library. Thank you, Sarah for saving Thanksgiving for us!
If you want more picture book suggestions for November, check out the November section here on my website for Christian-based family read-alouds and traditions. Just click on this link and scroll down to the bottom to see the November list.
Tree of Life Mothering 