The Sunday Nap

A typical day at church for the Ice Cream family:

(Pablo takes advantage of the quiet to draw without disturbances)

I've had several people ask me for advice on how to keep kids quiet at church. I've tried many things through the years, cheerios, hand puppets, coloring books, magnet sets, etc. I think I've finally stumbled on the perfect reverence solution. Let your kids stay up till Midnight watching cartoons and then wake them up at 6am Sunday morning. The only downfall to this is if you have a loud snorer. Cheeks snores louder than a rumbling volcano. And he drools.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Paint, Paint Every Where, Even In My Hair

This is what I was busy doing all day yesterday (Well, after having my regular pack of amazingly energetic boys over for preK/K class, that is.):

The lighthouse was the last one and I just barely finished it at 11:45pm. Notice my quick finish with the yellow paper? (and before any of you say I'm amazing or any such wonderful niceness, I should say that my house is completely trashed right now. It is 12:16am and I'm doing laundry so I will have something to wear tomorrow. And my kids have been pretty much ignored all day.) I painted these wall murals on strips of butcher paper taped together for an activity we are having at church today. In our church there is a program for girls (and boys too, but separately) ages 8-12 called The Faith In God Award. And there is a group called Activity Days where the girls get together and work on their Faith In God Award requirements together as a group. Cookie has been in this group for almost 2 years now and has loved every minute of it. Last night and all day today they are having Activity Days Girl camp, where groups from all over the area are coming together to participate in workshops and activities to pass off even more goals. This year the primary presidency (3 people who run the children's program at our church), of which I am the secretary, has been asked to teach one of the workshops. The camp's theme is something about boats and our workshop is called "Staying Afloat" and focuses on teaching the girls how to overcome emergency or tough situations that will tempt them even after they have decided to choose the right. So, I painted a lighthouse that shows our desired destination (to return to our Father in Heaven), a life saver (we are going to talk about setting up support lines that can help get us out of tricky situations), and a tempting Peer Pressure Island (It looks fun but it is a small island and will get you nowhere. Better to stay on the boat and continue on your journey.). The other things that will be in our room are oars (the goals and actions we make to propel us forward), life jackets (our testimony which can save us if we fall off the boat ), and a picture of Christ (our captain).

I'm excited to see how this all turns out. Luckily all I had to do was paint, and that was fun. It is up to the other gals in the presidency to get the point across.

Hope you are all enjoying a warm, sunny, fun weekend. See you back here on Monday.

The Weekend in Pictures

The Saturday before last was a gorgeous sunny day with temps reaching 80 degrees. We were sorely unprepared that lovely day. Not wanting to be unprepared this last weekend I packed the kids into the car after school on Friday and headed to the store to get (among many other things) some of these: A trip that should have taken us only 3 hours in total took us a whopping 6 1/2 hours because of the weather induced traffic jam we were stuck in. We managed to make it home with enough time for the kids to play in this: (Notice the bikes laying out after riding in the sunshine the day before)

Cookie said her face was cold. Sweet Terror refused to wear a coat because it is Spring.

While the snow kept falling (we had 4 inches on our deck railing that night) I stayed up till midnight making cupcakes, cakes, and more cupcakes, for Saturday's Cub Scout Cake Auction. Following a link from Scribbit I found this great idea on flicker and made these Settlers of Catan Cupcakes. They turned out pretty cool if you ask me (considering it was after midnight by the time I finished them). If I make them again there are several things I would do different but I'm not complaining.

Then, Saturday, I went above and beyond anything I've ever attempted before in the cake arena. Now, you must know that I am an awful cake decorator. On my kids' birthdays I usually make them cakes out of stacked and decorated Little Debbie Snack cakes because I am so bad at cake decorating. As soon as my knife gets near a cake it crumbles. I don't even like cake so maybe that has something to do with it. However, this awesome site called Instructables had this cake design for a 3D dragon and the instructions were so good I thought I'd give it a try (plus I did go to that cake decorating class with Cookie for her Keepers Club). I gotta say, I pretty impressed with myself. Check out his Apple Fruit Roll Up wings. If it weren't for Cookie prodding me along he would have just been a dinosaur (I have problems staying focused on things that take longer than an hour to make), but she encouraged me all the way to completion.

And isn't it so appropriate that Cookie made a Cookie Monster Cake? We made this one up all on our own. For the face we melted white and semi sweet chocolate and spread the shapes for the eyes and mouth on wax paper. We were going to make real cookies for him to eat but I was so tired of baking that Cookie brilliantly thought of using the tops of our left over spice cupcakes with a few chocolate chips pushed in for faux cookies. Good girl, Cookie!

We also cleaned a LOT. I'm sorry, but I just don't think regular cake is worth all the mess we made in the kitchen. And I must have washed my hands a gazillion times.

Saturday morning DSSH and I went to the Seattle Temple and then out to lunch. And Saturday night we took the whole family to the cake auction/appetizer potluck/dance activity at church. It was so much fun dancing with my husband. It has been far too long since we've done that. One of my favorite memories of DSSH and I falling in love has to do with a magical night of dancing. But that is for another post. Oh, and at the auction I spent all of DSSH's money bidding on a pumpkin cheesecake that the baby just HAD TO HAVE NOW!!! And, An Ordinary Mom, it is going fast so if you want a slice I suggest you hurry on over. =)

Sunday we went to church and then I came home to do even more baking for an unexpected baptism that evening. I am so done with baking today. We may just eat cold cereal for every meal, well except for me. I will be eating my pumpkin cheesecake. MMmmmmm!

And now it is haling. Monster Man says they are white ants dancing on the ground.

Can Mom's Keep The Sabbath Day Holy?

When I was newly married my MIL joked about keeping the Sabbath day Holy. She quoted Deuteronomy 5:14 "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou."

MIL: "See, they mention the servants, strangers, even the donkey, but nothing is said about the mother not working. Mom's never get to rest, not even on the Sabbath."

My first reaction to this was to think, "Oh come on, it's not that bad. And really you could keep it holy if you wanted to."

Then I became a mother myself and I realized that really a mother can't rest. At least, not a mother of small children. Babies must be nursed, diapers must be changed, food must be prepared, kids need to be dressed. It is simply impossible to expect that a mother can spend all day in reverent prayer and worship on any given day of the week. Recently I started to take upon myself this one complaint of my MIL and began to feel like a victim. "Oh poor me, I'm a slave, I am lower than the ass, I must work on Sunday." I've never liked feeling like a victim and I quickly realized that I really wasn't liking myself with this victim attitude going on. So, like many young mothers I know, I have been trying to improve my Sabbath day with small and steady changes. Sure, I may not be able to sit in silent meditation all day long, but neither did Christ. Even he healed the sick on the Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is not just about what we should and shouldn't do, but the spirit in which we do things.

Sure I must feed my family, but the food can be simple like tonight's dinner from the Crockpot Lady (Thank you for your awesome and funny blog). I don't need to do it all myself. If I can work in the kitchen, so can everyone. This way the work is quick and family bonding is happening, which is a holy thing.

Sure I must help the younger kids get dressed, but I can have their clothes ready the night before, I can have their daddy help them, and I can do it with a smile and a good sense of humor so it is a fun time instead of a chore.

Sure diapers must be changed or potty training bums be wiped, but.... ok, I'm sorry, there is just no way that is ever going to be a holy thing. It just stinks. But I can remind myself that it won't be this way forever. Someday, in the distant future there will be a day when I am released from the bonds of pottydom and I will sing praises all day long. And until that day I can at least stop my whining and do it with a smile... even if it is a fake smile.

And really, I need not do it all every Sunday. My husband and I can switch off Sundays, giving each other a turn at having a relaxing, meditative Sunday. The kids can be expected to clean up after themselves (or just not make any messes for ONE day every week) and to help with the younger kids.

We can have well planned Sunday-worthy activities ready to do.

I can have a holy attitude one day each week and, thereby, keep my Sabbath day holy.

And if all else fails we can all take naps. =)

Conference and Ice Cream Reviews

Did everyone have a good weekend? I hope so. My weekend was very nice. I sat around doing nothing, I let my children run around like heathens, I let my house get even messier, and then I listened to conference and ate ice cream. Conference was so wonderful and actually quite humbling and motivating. For those of you who don't know what "Conference Weekend" means to us "Mormons" I will elucidate. Twice a year the leaders of our church assemble and speak to us. They travel all around the world all year long speaking to churches, building temples, meeting with foreign and home dignitaries, administering relief aid, and doing other great things, but at General Conference they speak to everyone. Each speaker is allowed to speak on whatever they feel inspired to so there is a wide variety of things that are addressed. This was also a special conference because, after President Hinckley's death, a new Presidency was presented and sustained. Thomas S. Monson is the new President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and he is one heck-uva guy. At the very ending of conference he was telling all these funny stories and had everyone laughing, and right as I started to think that maybe he was going too far he suddenly turned all his funny anecdotes into a powerful message about creating love and joy in our families. One of the talks that seems to be getting the most attention was Russell M. Ballard's talk to young mothers. It was a fabulous talk that aptly captured the humor, the hardship, and the responsibilities of motherhood. It was because of this talk that I woke up happy, bathed all my kids, folded all my laundry, fed everyone, got the kids to school and went to the store to buy fruits and veggies for the week, all before 9am. Anything that can make me do all that with a smile on my face that early in the morning is something good. I can't wait for all the talks to be available for reading and listening to.



And now, time to review all that luscious ice cream:


B&J's Strawberry Cheesecake. You can read my extra comment on this one in the sidebar. It has a scrumptiously thick swirl of crunchy, sugary, buttery graham cracker crust through it that makes it hard to stop eating. YUM!

B&J's Pistachio Pistachio. My husband doesn't understand why I like this one. It isn't very sweet and there is no chocolate or candy in it. It is a subtle pistachio ice cream with whole pistachios throughout. To be enjoyed only by the most avid pistachio lovers. Mmmmmm. I love it.

Haagen Daz's Vanilla Honey & Granola frozen yogurt. This is good, but nothing to write home about. The granola is in small bit rather than big chunks so you get these odd specks of oatmeal throughout the ice cream. I think I would rather just pour my own granola and honey over a bowl of Dreyer's vanilla or caramel flavored ice cream.

Haagen Daz's Mango Sorbet. Have you tried it yet? Come on people, what is the point of me finding the world's best ice creams if you aren't going to try it? I even tried a different brand of Mango Sorbet and it didn't even come close to this. On of my favorite restaurants of all time puts a scoop of this over fruit salad and it is roll your eyes to the back of your head good. It just never ceases to amaze me how much flavor they have packed into this amazing stuff. BUY IT!

Breyer's Chocolate Crackle. Um, yeah, this is Breyer's all natural vanilla with ribbons of Magic Shell through it. Not good. Breyer's natural vanilla is made to be used with other natural ingredients, not fake processed chocolate, so it just didn't work. Also, I like my Magic Shell as a topping, not a stir-in. And if you are going to use Magic Shell, do yourself a favor and find the Heath Bar Magic Shell (So far I've only seen it at WalMart or Winco Foods). It is THE BOMB! But don't put it on Breyer's Natural Vanilla, put it on Dreyer's vanilla.