How to make cookies

How to make cookies, By Miss B, age 3.

1. Drop some eggs in the bowl, try not to crush the shells too small or mom won't be able to get them out.
2. Mash them up with the whisker until the yellow mixes up with the clear. Don't taste it, or mom will make you spit and wash your hands.
3. Get a new bowl and plop in the butter sticks. Taste when no one is looking. Mom likes the little finger prints in it.
4. Dump in lots of sugar, the white sandy kind and the brown sticky kind. This part is good for tasting.
5. Cover your ears while mom uses the beaters, but don't leave the room so you can have one to lick when she is done.
6. Plop in the eggs. Taste first, because now mom wont let you anymore. Help stir the slimy stuff with the good stuff.
7. Keep stirring while mom puts in lots of spoons of white stuff. Don't taste, most of them are yucky.
8. Help scoop and dump in the flour. Not too high or it will make dust. Stick your hands in the canister while she is busy wiping the dust off. It is fun to squeeze and pat and makes the floor really slippery for ice skating.
9. Help stir until your arms get tired, then let mom do it. Play in the four dust until she is done.
10. Help drop in the chocolate chips. See how many you can grab and stick in your mouth before they disappear into the cookie dough.
11. Watch mom scoop ball onto the flat pans.
12. Wait, and wait, and wait some more. Keep looking through the oven window to see if they are done.
13. Yell really loud when the timer rings so your mom doesn't forget to take them out. Wait longer for them to not burn your fingers.
14. Eat with milk.

How to get your boy to pick up his clothes

I used to struggle to get the boy in our family to pick his clothes up off the floor. I am happy to report that for the past month, all of his dirty laundry has made it into the clothes hamper without any nagging from me. Here is how I did it. 1. Buy a hamper that hangs on the back of the closet door for $3.00 2. Tell him to gently place his clothes inside and to never, ever, ever throw them in because it might break. 3. Watch him happily throw all of his clothes in at the end of the day in a mini act of basketball rebellion. 4. Sneak in every three or four days to empty it out into the washing machine, because when it gets full he will just keep throwing even when they tumble out on to the floor. 5. Enjoy the smug feeling of outsmarting your kid just this one time.

Surviving Sacrament Meeting

This month our Relief Society Meeting will be about improving reverence during sacrament meeting. Specifically, improving reverent behavior of children. We were asked to have this meeting by the bishopric- I guess their view from the front is better than mine and they saw a pressing need. I can't say I saw the same one, but it may be because I was so busy trying to keep my kids quiet and pick up the dropped cereal and take the toddler to the potty and the crying baby to the foyer that I missed the irreverent behavior they were so concerned about. Regardless, we went to work.

We decided on a workshop format instead of a Sunday lesson. After all, stressed out moms know perfectly well when it is their kid that has the problem and don't need to be told they are lacking or lectured about reverence or parenting, esp with helpful comments delivered by child-less women that are just complaints about how they can't hear the speaker. They need resources and practical advice from other moms, more easily delivered in one of those meetings that used to be called enrichment meetings but are now just "meetings."
So we will be having an open discussion of "what works for me" and making some toys to try out on our kids. Because we all know that lists of ideas are great but we never have time to make them after we leave. We need to leave with it finished in our hands or it isn't going to get done. Or maybe that's just me?
I have been busy pinning lots of Sunday activities and gathering ideas. I thought I would share some of them with you. Here's my pinboard of Sunday ideas.

We will make three of four of them that day, as well as have a display table of some successful Sunday bags and their contents for examples of toys and books and snacks that are appropriate for Sacrament Meeting.  We are encouraging those sisters without young children to come anyway, to contribute to the discussion and share survivor stories, as well as to make some toys for kids in our ward who didn't have a mom to craft for them- those who come with single fathers, foster parents, grandparents, visitors, or investigators. Wouldn't it be great to be able to hand new members a welcome packet with something for their kids to do in all those new meetings?
We thought about having refreshment made of "Sacrament Meetings greatest hits" but decided a room full of moms didn't need cheerios and gold fish. So we are doing a "sacrament meeting rejects" table instead- fruity drinks, gooey chocolate, crumbly cake, etc. Bad examples are effective teaching tools as well, right?
And of course there will be child care available, because the last people we want to stay home and miss because they had no where to take their kids, are the women who have no where to take their kids when they need to get away. They are probably alone on Sunday as well and need all the support they can get! We asked the member of the bishopric that told us to give the lesson to provide the child care, it seemed only fair. :)

Here is the cartoon I used in the flyer. It really captures the feelings of most parents on Sunday afternoon!

Finally, I made a handout of some rules for Sacrament Meeting Survival. I thought I would share them here. Feel free to add any of your own in the comments. I might steal them and add them in later!

Surviving Sacrament Meeting

1.     Prepare with care. If it can, it will.

If it can beep, honk, ring, squeak, ding, or sing, it will. If it can break, tear, drip, leak, crumble, smear, or spill, it will. If it can fly, bounce, roll, or zoom, it will. If it can be made to bark, neigh, cry, or vroom, it will. Bring soft, quiet, contained, and mess free snacks and toys.

2.     The Party is in the Pew.  Foyer = No Fun Zone

The best books, toys, snacks, and company are in the pew. If you want the good stuff, be good and stay in the chapel. The foyer is one big time-out chair where you have to sit perfectly still, fold your arms, and be ignored by your parent. It’s a boring and lonely place. Better to stick it out in the chapel. If you take your fussy kids out of the chapel to the foyer and reward them with snacks and snuggles and friends and run around space, you are rewarding the behavior that got them there in the first place. Next week, they will misbehave to come out even sooner.

3.     Practice Makes Perfect.

Practice sitting quietly and whispering at home during the week. Start small, say 5 minutes. Gradually work up to 30 minutes of quiet time, sitting quietly and playing with the Sunday toys and books on the couch. Reward them with lots of praise and treats for each success. When you are first starting out, try for silence and stillness during prayers and work up to the time the sacrament is passed.  Then shoot for the rest hymn. Have a party the first week they make it all the way to the closing prayer.

Keep coming. Come to church every week, even if you only make it through the sacrament. Consistent expectations and lots of chances to practice will lead to success.

4.     This too shall pass. And then they grow up.

Older children will require less hands-on care. Once they are school age they can be expected to sit for an hour without snacks, potty breaks, or toys (they do it all day at school!) and a pencil and paper is all they need to stay busy. They can sing hymns, read scriptures, and listen for keywords or stories during talks. Once they are old enough to be baptized and make covenants, they should be mature enough to sit quietly and reverently while the sacrament is being passed.

5.     Call in reinforcements. We’re all in this together. 

Younger children do best with one-on-one care during sacrament meeting. If you have a bench full, or are there by yourself on Sundays, get some help.  Search out an older couple who miss their grandkids and would be happy to hold your baby while you play with the toddler, or and mother of self-contained teens who would happily play finger games with the preschooler while you rock the fussy baby. Teen girls and young married couples are also valuable Sunday resources. If there aren’t openly friendly faces around you on Sunday, try asking your bishop or RS president for recommendations. I would look for the member who complains most vocally to the leadership about the disruptions and ask for their help. You will get the extra hands you need, or after a week they will be more understanding and stop complaining. J

Making a list, checking it twice

About a week after Christmas I found myself sitting at the table with my husband and my oldest daughter, talking about our favorite parts of Christmas. When my turn came and I was asked, "What is your favorite part of Christmas?" I was stumped. I love lots of things about the Christmas season- music, food, decorations, gifting, programs, family time, etc. but I couldn't pick just one.

Before I could make my decision, my husband answered for me. "Your Mom's favorite part is making all those lists!" He was teasing, but he was right. We went on to list all the lists I make for Christmas- what to cook for dinner, what to bake, what to craft, what to do as a family, where to go on vacation days, people to buy things for, what to buy, what to make, what to mail, what to hand deliver, a card mailing list, an activity advent list, a kid gift list, a Santa list, a list of books to read, of scriptures of study.
Then we listed all the lists I make throughout the year- A New Year goal list, a Valentine celebration list of crafts and treats and such, a Dad birthday list, a spring cleaning list, a moving list, an Easter holiday list, an end of school year check list. A summer camp planning list, a vacation planning list, a packing list for each trip, a getting ready for school list. A birthday list for each kid, a Halloween list, a Thanksgiving list, and then we roll right in to Christmas listing again.

My church calling is one big list (RS secretary), I make daily to-do lists, shopping lists, menu lists, cleaning lists, chore lists for my kids, and I have a big list of back-logged posts I want to write for this blog. When I prepare a church talk or lesson I make a list. When I was in college I took notes as lists and re-wrote all those fun and fancy graphic organizers into lists and outlines. My cell phone menus and calendars are set to display in list mode.  My previous blog posts have pretty much been big long lists! I keep lists of books I read and want to read. I compulsively buy journals and notebooks and pretty pads of paper for making more lists on. If I shrink my browser window, my pinterest boards display as an illustrated to-do list.

And because this post has no purpose other than to illustrate my list-making obsession, I will end with a list of why I love lists.

1. I can check things off. My task-oriented personality needs that tangible bit of evidence that I got something done. Even if it is just "Go to bed" at the end of the list!

2. It makes big tasks less overwhelming. It know it seems like the opposite would be true, and maybe for some it is- that "Clean the kitchen" would be harder to swallow than, "sweep, mop, wash counters, wash stove, empty dishwasher, load dishwasher, wash pans, tidy cupboards, organize pantry, wipe microwave, take out trash, wash cabinet doors and outside of appliances, clean out fridge." However, I will never be able to walk into the kitchen and clean it and be done. I will be able to walk in and out 30 times while trying to also be mom to four kids who need stuff. So it might take me three hours or three days to "clean the kitchen" and I will never, ever be done. And I need to be DONE. The detailed list gives me 5 or 10 chances to do something and be done, even if the big job never really gets finished.

3. I forget stuff less. I forget stuff. Important stuff. All the time. So I have to write it down. And if I want to actually remember to look at the stuff I write down, I need it to be in some sort of organized recognizable format. So I make lists. And as long as I don't lose the lists, I am good to go. And then some people even think I am one of those organized people, and I let them. It's one of the things on my list- to be more organized.

4. Kids can do lists. I hate micromanaging chore time or packing bags or whatever. I don't want to waste my time telling them what to do next every two minutes. So I make them a list. I can still be a control freak about how many pairs of socks and shorts they bring to the beach, but not have to tell them how many four different times. And "clean your room" is too big a job, but "Make the bed. Pick up your dirty clothes. Put the books on the shelf. Put the toys in the bin." is manageable.

5. Sometimes its looks that count. A gross job like taking out the trash or cleaning the bathroom just feels better if it is written in a list on pretty paper. Don't judge- it really helps!

6. Lists are less distracting. I am a very visual person, but instead of being drawn to flow charts and graphs and other pictorial tools used to present information, I just get distracted. I have to read it and study it and look at it all at the same time and it all stays there, in its blobs and arrows and colored sections. But then I don't know what to do with it. A list is simple and straight. You start at the top, read the whole thing down, and are done. A nice neat row of facts or principles or words or dates to sort, store, and remember without all the colors and lines getting in the way.

7. Lists are black and white, even if you write them in purple ink. I hate gray areas. I like things as absolutes- right and wrong, on or off, done or not, yes or no. This gets me in trouble sometimes with the gospel (compassion, mercy, the spirit of the law type things) or parenting (consistency, exceptions, fairness, and just plain changing my mind) but its still how I think and feel most comfortable when things are neatly spelled out in a checklist of sorts.

8. Lists force me to think and make choices and simplify. To turn the swirl of demands and worries and plans and wishes into something concise and tangible and manageable. And that is really good for me and my sleeping and my nails, which otherwise suffer from anxiety and distraction and general unproductive busy-ness.

9. Lists, especially completed ones with lots of scribbles and check marks that are ready to be thrown away, make me happy.

What's on your to-do list today?