Last Sunday we held our annual Coombs Family Back to School dinner. This fun tradition has become a family FAVORITE every time the new school year rolls around.
Each year at this dinner – we present a NEW Family Motto to our children. Our Family Motto gives us something to FOCUS on throughout the year. It’s also usually something that can be memorized and repeated as needed
{i.e. as encouragement or motivation}.
Our Family Motto is also really good at helping us remember what’s MOST important in life.
The theme we chose for our 2016-17 school year is:
Taken from Moroni 7:46-47 {found in The Book of Mormon}.
The word CHARITY has been on my mind A LOT! lately.
Charity = THE PURE LOVE OF CHRIST.
And don’t we ALL want to emulate that?
In a world full evil — I feel like there is STILL so much GOOD to be done.
I want to teach my kids what it means to BE and DO good unto others.
I want them to FEEL the happiness that comes from having charity and serving those in need.
I feel like NOW {more than ever!} is the time to teach my children this principle.
So….my CHERRY themed CHERRY-ty dinner was born!
When we present these themes to our kids, I like to have something to help them remember it with.
{Hence – the cherries because well….it sounds like CHARITY, right?}
I picked up loads of fresh cherries on sale at Sprouts and included them with each place setting.
I also scored these cute little red tins on clearance at Michaels for 70 cents. I whipped up some cherry tags to go on top and then placed each of the kids’ very favorite candy inside.
Carson = Salt Water Taffy
Grant = Sweedish fish
London = Starburst
Our menu for the evening included EVERYTHING cherry!
{Recipes for everything to follow tomorrow}.
These cherry gummies were found at Sprouts and I think I ate about 20 of them.
{And I’m not even a big fan of gummies}.
THEY WERE DELISH!!!
I also like to give the kids something to keep in their bedroom to remind them of our new family theme. These frames were the perfect touch.
White for London…
And black for the boys…
I also created a ‘CHERRY-ty’ jar.
Every night before we go to bed – – we are going to fill out a piece of paper with something nice that we did for someone that day.
On Sunday’s – – we’ll read all of the slips out loud to everyone. I hope this little activity gets the kids to THINK throughout the day of nice things to do for others.
{Fingers crossed}.
They were so giddy throughout the entire dinner.
I just love seeing how excited they get about life.
We also had the kids come up with some names of people to deliver fresh baskets of cherries to that night.
Ya never know who could use a little pick me up, right?
I loved hearing them decide who to bring them to.
These 3 are my heart and soul.
Joe and I are so blessed to be their parents.
I feel so grateful to be able to teach and learn from them.
Last Sunday at church one of the speakers said:
“We bless our posterity through our actions”.
I sure love that.
I know that MY own life has been blessed because of MY parent’s actions. I hope that one day MY own kids feel the same way about me.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I’m offering ALL of my coordinating printables with this dinner for FREE!
8 x 10 Charity Theme HERE
5 x 7 CHERRY-ty Theme HERE
Cherry Menu HERE
Cherry Circles HERE
Cherry {Pits}Tags HERE
As always – if you plan to download any of my tags – I
just ask that you PLEASE make sure to become
an official follower of my blog
{right hand side under ‘Join Site’}.
************************
You can also follow me on
my social media sites
*Ideas are posted daily!*
Also – – I am MORE than flattered when others
‘replicate’ my ideas and come up with their
‘own’ tags. I just
PLEASE ask that you give credit where credit
is due when posting, and please link back to
this original post. xoxo
So you're my hero! I hunt down this post every year. Thank you so much for sharing. It is such a help. I LOVE the cherries and can't wait to do this in a few days! PS-just saw all your Cedar posts. That's where we are. Thanks again!!!!!!
Thanks so much Nicole for your sweet words! Cedar this time of year is the best!!! Hoping to make it back up for the SUU vs BYU game in the fall! Go T-birds!
You are amazing!!! This is a wonderful theme, we do need charity in our world today. Your children are truly being taught the true love of Christ.
Thank you so much Lori. Your sweet words made my day! xoxo
You can tell by their great big smiles how much they just love you and all the great things you do for them! What a great tradition to have! You always make everything so fun and cute!
Thank you RuthAnne – I so appreciate your kind words. xoxo
Love love love it!
And I'm not a gummie lover either.. chocolate on the other hand… lol
SAME! 😉 xoxo
I love this theme! I am with you in the world is increasingly become evil, but we can have such a great influence in our children's life. So thank you for being the wonderfully awesome person that you are and thinking up this theme.
You are so very welcome Becca. So glad you enjoy it. Thanks for commenting! xoxo