This past weekend we held our annual
Coombs Family Back to School Dinner!
{Our kids started school yesterday! Yes…in July. It’s too hot here to do much of anything else!}
Each year at this annual dinner we present our family with a new MOTTO//THEME for the new school year.
We do this in hopes that our kids can always remember it…thru the good times AND the bad while at school and dealing with their day to day activities.
We hope that these themes each year help them to remember what’s MOST important in life.
The theme we chose for our 2018-19 school year comes from a scripture in The Book of Mormon:
“And now, my sons, remember, remember that is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
Both of our boys are in Junior High this year.
London is in 4th grade.
These are critical years for our children.
I feel, more so now than ever, that our kids are about to face temptations and challenges like we can’t even begin to imagine.
I’m a firm believer that you can’t shelter your kids from these things. I wish like crazy you could…but you just can’t!
No matter what school they go to…
what activities they choose…
who they hang around with…
they will eventually face adversity.
It’s just a matter of fact.
I’m also a firm believer in TEACHING our children IN OUR HOME what is RIGHT…and what is WRONG.
I hope with ever fiber of my being, that my kids will REMEMBER the things that they’ve been taught in our home.
That they’ll REMEMBER why it’s SO important to CHOOSE THE RIGHT.
And that they’ll REMEMBER that is upon our Savior Jesus Christ that WE AS A FAMILY choose to build our foundation.
Because…our Savior Jesus Christ is OUR ROCK!
Because of all of this…I chose to do a ROCK themed dinner.
{I’m all about the symbolism, puns…you name it.
Anything to help them REMEMBER!}
Each place setting had a large rock on it with each member of the family’s name on the front – – and a scriptural reference of our theme on the back.
I also filled clear plastic tubes with chocolate ROCK candy and placed them by their utensils.
Our menu for the evening was:
I’ll be sharing these recipes with you later this week!
{C-ROCK pot chicken is my kiddo’s’ FAVORITE!}
I’m all about the daily reminders and so I made up a keychain/backpack clip with a ROCK on it for each of my kids to put on their backpacks.
London’s of course, I blinged out a bit…but the boys’ I kept very simple and discreet.
{Because HELLO? 7th and 8th graders! 😂}
I also made up a set of vinyls and allowed the kids to choose where they wanted to place it in our home. I told them that it needed to be a place where we could all see it daily.
They chose the garage door in our laundry room.
{Last year, they chose their bathroom mirror and our refrigerator}.
I even made up ROCKS for Joe and I.
Joe took his to work yesterday and put it on his desk.
I placed mine on my nightstand.
Because…PARENTS NEED THIS REMINDER TOO!
A couple of other things worth mentioning about our theme:
I found and showed a couple of short video clips explaining the importance of this scripture. I starred the ones I showed. They can be found here:
https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/counsel-to-youth-2– counsel to the youth
I also stressed the fact that in this scripture…it doesn’t say….IF the devil shall send forth his mighty winds.
It says WHEN.
I wanted my kids to be warned that temptation can and WILL happen. And that they NEED to be ready by REMEMBERING where their foundation has been built.
I love these children of ours.
Oh. So. Much!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
DETAILS on how to replicate this dinner:
My 8×10 THEME and MENU can be downloaded for FREE!
Theme HERE
Menu HERE
You can find….
Rock vinyls HERE
Name // Scripture vinyls HERE
Rock Keychains//Backpack clips HERE
What did you make for the sedimentary salad?
Any salad would do! But I made this one just because it’s SO yummy!
http://www.marcicoombs.com/2018/07/sunshine-jello-salad.html?m=1
I love everything about this! Thank you for sharing.
This is my favorite dinner you’ve done. I think I will copy you exactly. Thanks so much for sharing!
Copy away!! 😉 Thanks for taking the time to comment. Xoxo
Love, Love, Love it!
I’m so glad!! Xoxo
What a phenomenal mother! Such great ideas!
Thank you sweet Michele. ❤️ You!
I wait for this every year. You’re amazing. I can’t thank you enough for sharing!!!! And this is my fav scripture so I’m double excited!!!
Oh hooray! That’s makes me so happy to hear. Thanks for your sweet words!
This is amazing!! I love it!
Thank you! So glad you love it!!
I actually got teary reading this!! You are so spot on! Our kids will & do face challenges every day. We need to be strong in teaching them !! Absolutely loved this, you are incredible xxxxx