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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Mouth of Babes: 12/9

This weeks lesson was on the Resurrection. We taught the kids about it a few weeks ago when we had a lesson on Christ so we tried to test their knowledge on what they knew. Let me tell you, these kids are smart! They explained the Resurrection to us! At the end, we had a few kids come up and they would wear my coat and we would say that it was their body. Then, Nephi would tell them how they died (Sorry parents, it wasn't that detailed) and we would take the coat off and they would "fly away" into the spirit world. We would tell them that it was "time" and they would come back into the jacket. They LOVED it. So simple and so easily entertained. We love these kids.


From the mouths of our babes:

Mallory: We missed you at the ward Christmas party! Santa came.
K: What? Where?
Mallory: Here. At the church, last night.
K: Oooo, I didn't tell my Mom! Ahh, man. Well, we were tired. We stayed home and watched a movie.
Mallory: Oh, cool.
K: And ate pizza in the basement with bread sticks and ketchup. YOU missed out.

--

(The kids were really rowdy when we first got into the classroom. We usually let them tell us a few stories from the week before we start the lesson.)

Nephi: Okay everyone, wave your hands in the air like you just don't care!

(All the kids wave their hands in the air.)

P: I did it the best!
K: I did it the bestester!
P: (Looks at K with a sad face) Well, that wasn't nice.
K: (Yells) WE ALL DID IT THE BEST!

--

(During the same period of time as the above mentioned quote.)

P: Can I touch your shoes? (They had a flower on them.)
Mallory: Sure.
K: Can I touch your shoes?
(Both touching my shoes.)
P: Can I touch your tights? I LOVE polka dots!


Eventually, they all come over and are all touching my tights, then my dress, then my belt, and then we pulled them off of me. Then we hear this:

C: Well, I'm lucky because I can do this...(He reaches over and starts rubbing the hair on Nephi's arm. HA! It was awkward.)

--

(After the prayer.)

P: You (facing towards 'K') need to fold your arms and close your eyes during the prayer.
K: I can't. I can't close my eyes! See! (She starts blinking her eyes like crazy.)

--

(We started talking about death and the Resurrection.)

P: When I was born, there was a bright light...(Nephi and I look at each other in shock.)...and an angel appeared! And turned me into a princess!
K: Uhhh, Okay...(Sarcastically.)
P: What??? That's what my Dad told me!

--

(We brought brownies because it was 'K' birthday 2 weeks ago and it was our cute twins birthday, too. We sang to them and then they all grabbed a brownie and we had 1 sugar cookie left over. 'K' and 'P' both wanted it but they seemed to come to an agreement where 'P' got it and 'K' took a brownie.)

K: You wanna split that cookie?
P: No thanks.
K: (In shock) Whhhhhaaa? I thought we were friends!? Friends split cookies.
P: No...they would get their germs.

---

Bah! Today was great. You can see that 'P' and 'K' took over the majority of the conversations today. They each have their "Sunday" but those two are usually the stars of the show. We die over them each week like it is the first but they know us, and we know them. The girls are sweet and compliment me on my outfits and they all drool over Nephi's teaching and his magic. The 2 hours we spend with them are not enough and today we asked the Bishop if we could move up with them next year to the older class and he said go for it! We just have to get the primary presidents approval. :)

See the other previous Mouth of Babes here!



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Holiday Hoopla

We took advantage of the holiday "hoopla" and had a great weekend! This week was crazy for me with work. I got put as lead event planner on a new event and it has added a lot to my work load. It will be a crazy first quarter, but I am excited to be part of it all. I have been loving my work lately as I feel more adjusted and comfortable with the team and responsibilities. But, always looking forward to a weekend with Nephi!

Friday evening we went to my friend, Sarah, daughters dance recital. Needless to say, I left craving a little girl to dress up and coach on the sidelines. She was adorable and did a great job! We love, Miss Laken!

 
Saturday, Nephi worked during the day and Cait and I ran errands, shopped, and cleaned. We had our ward Christmas party so I made these yummy treats and then headed off to the party where we played a very important role...


Can you spot us? Yep, we were Mary & Joseph. It was great and as soon as we walked in the door at the party, we were bombarded by our kiddos telling us how they met Santa and all the random facts that we can never predict. It was a great party. Have we mentioned how much we LOVE our ward? Because we do.

After the party, we met up with Sarah and Stephen and grabbed some hot chocolate and headed off to tour the lights in Idaho Falls. We hit up "Candy Cane Lane" and then went to a house right by it that actually had Santa, Mrs. Clause and a penguin outside. It was amazing! Sar and I took this pic with the igloo. They used $500 worth of glue sticks to build it. Insane.



We came home and watched A Christmas Story. I've only seen parts on TV but Nephi and Stephen are obsessed and enjoyed themselves very much.

Sarah got a cool camera kit for her phone and took this pic of us with her fish eye lens! Way cool.

We also engaged in the holiday spirit by adopting a child to give Christmas to. My family did this all growing up and I have countless memories of us delivering Christmas to a family every Christmas. It was a great lesson to learn and a tradition Nephi and I will be incorporating. This year, we chose an 8 year old girl. I, of course, have no idea what 8 year old girls want so we basically got her anything in pink. Her poor parents are going to hate us for all the trinkets and make-up we got her...sorry ;)


Looking forward to the continuance of holiday activities this week--Relief Society Christmas dinner, Christmas Bunco night, and 2 work Christmas parties.


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A Recipe Post: Peppermint Macaroons

I am not a baker--I'd rather cook. Mostly because baking is dangerous (calories, carbs, and high maintenance baking times/measurements) but Christmas baking is too fun to pass up. 

For our ward party I made Peppermint Macaroons. We had homemade coconut macaroons at our wedding and I will never forget getting to the hotel with the yummy goody basket my sisters made us with the food from the wedding and eating that macaroon in bed. Pretty sure I melted right there and then. They have been on my radar ever since.

But doesn't the word macaroon intimidate you? Well, don't let it. It was too easy. My co-worker gave me this recipe and it was a huge success!

Peppermint Macaroons
(Makes about 2-3 dozen.)
**I made my notes and adjustments in red.**

2 egg whites (at room temperature) I would add another egg white to help it set up better.
1/2 tsp salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 (14-ounce) packages shredded sweetened coconut This is a lot of coconut. Use a big bowl to fold it in so the wet mixture gets thoroughly mixed.
1 cup white-chocolate morsels I only had about a 1/4 cup left and wish I had more! They were the perfect addition.
1/2 cup crushed peppermints The chunks will melt and stick to the parchment paper depending on placement so if your not a big fan, leave out or use flavoring instead of actual peppermint. I loved it.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. I don't have parchment paper so I used wax (don't know how different they are) but it stuck to the paper! Boo! So the second batch I used my cookie liner (which is the best purchase you cookie makers will ever purchase) and they were perfect. I am going to buy another one this week so I can put more batches in the oven at one time.

Mix egg whites and salt until foamy (2 min.). Mix in sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Fold in coconut, chocolate chips, and crushed peppermint.


Use spring ice cream scoop to shape dough onto pan. Bake for 20 minutes, let them cool on pan for 10 minutes, then move to  wire racks. Make sure they are small and round. You can't have the edges stick out because they down flatten or rise, they stay the same and you know they are done when they start to brown.




They turned out great! I took a whole plate to our ward Christmas party and put the candy dish in the middle because I couldn't fill the platter and it was completely wiped clean, candy and all by the time we left! I highly recommend trying it for those coconut lovers.




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Sunday, December 2, 2012

Mouth of Babes 12/2

We had a smaller class today which was a relief but the lesson was: I can show love for animals.

Enough said. 

(P is on one side of me and K is on the other. I am trying to tell Nephi how many copies to get of a handout and I hear this conversation...)

K: Hey, (tapping my thigh over and over again), Hey, ummm, Hey! 
P: Don't call her "Hey"! (Sternly) Teacher....Teacher....

--

Bishop: (Holds up a Book of Mormon) What is in this book?
I: PAGES! (He is in the sunbeams class in front of us.)

--

(Nephi interviews a few of the kids asking them questions and recording it on the phone.)

Nephi: What's your favorite animal?
C: Um, a squirrel. 
Nephi: How old do you want to be when you grow up?
C: Um, 88. 
Nephi: What do you want to be with you grow up? 
C: Um, sell water softeners. 

--

(I would describe an animal and they would guess what animal I was describing.)

Mallory: I have a bushy tail and I love to run up trees. 
P: Umm...MORT! 
Mallory: No...
K: What's a Mort!?
P: It's a bush animal...(duh)...from Madagascar. 

--

(We have a little girl in our class whose parents are divorced and she comes every other week and missed a few weeks. We walked into sharing time and I welcomed her and told her we missed her.)

K: Um, what's that girls name?
(I tell her.)
K: Do you think we should have her say the prayer because she missed a few weeks? 
Mallory: Yes, sure. That is a great idea.

--

These kids never cease to amaze us. We are in love. 

Oh, and stay tuned for next week. We've been asked to be Joseph & Mary in the Ward Party nativity scene....Yeah, looking forward to it. 



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Favorites

On Saturday I went to my first "Favorite Things" party. I have been dying to throw one and was invited to attend with some girlfriends and had a blast!


We all brought our favorite treat (I brought a veggie tray in the shape of a Christmas tree) and snacked, played some fun "favorite" games, and then of course opened our favorite gifts.

Each of us brought one or a few of our favorite things to share. There were 8 of us so we brought 7 gifts to give out of our "favorite" thing. My favorite thing was hosting and delivering cute goodies so I gave them a 4 cupcake holder box with cute cupcake liners, cookie bags, Christmas tags, and ribbon so they could deliver goodies. I didn't take a picture but it turned out cute!

I got a bunch of fun stuff and it was fun to mingle and get to know these ladies. I needed some good girl time and I hope we do it again next year!



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