Sunday Update

What a busy, eventful weekend!



I will post some pictures soon but here are the highlights:



Friday night: dinner at Rubio's and a little shopping at Party City, then home to make the white chocolate flowers which would adorn cupcakes on Saturday...

Saturday morning: Molly's soccer pictures, another trip to Party City to get the helium balloons, Molly's soccer game, then 30 minutes of birthday party set-up at the park by our house. (It is very hard to put platic tablecloth on picnic tables when it is very windy. Luckily #1 my mom was there to help, #2 we had a lot of duct tape, and #3 the wind died down enough to enjoy the party!)

Saturday, 12-2pm: Molly's 6th birthday party! It was her first "friend" party, so, kind of a big deal.

Saturday afternoon: party clean-up, household chores; feeling sunburned.

Saturday evening: Stake Conference adult session. Excellent. Followed by a mini-dinner Chili's (we split an order of "big mouth bites" [mini burgers] - those things are deeelicious!)

Sunday morning: up at the crack o' dawn for stake conference. Had to be there at 8am. I directed one of the choir numbers and one of the congregational numbers. A nice couple from my ward growing up were two of the speakers, since they're in the Mesa temple presidency, and they sat right in front of me on the stand and it was fun to catch up with them a little bit. Aaron sang in the choir too, leaving my four youngsters to their own devices from 8:30-11:00am. They sat on the 2nd row, flanked by two kindly teenaged boys whose parents were in the choir, and they were so so very quiet. I had packed up several coloring/activity books, crayons/pencils, other papers to work on, and a few packs of Smarties, and they were good to go. It helped that they were unfamiliar with the boys sitting with them, so they acted a little shy; and sitting in the 2nd row is great for less distractions by other kids around!

Sunday noon: Another nice couple who sings in the choir invited us over for an impromptu lunch; delicious. The kids, by that point, had just about had enough of being "quiet" and while they did sit and eat their lunch with fairly good manners, some pool table arguments ensued afterwards so we cut the visit short.

Sunday afternoon: The kids chilled out & watched a few "church movies" (Living Scriptures). Then, we embarked on a lengthy dinner-preparation journey. My mom made Molly the absolute cutest little apron for her birthday, and gave it to her wrapped up with some kid-sized kitchen tools and a "My First Cookbook." We picked out three recipes from her cookbook to prepare for dinner: Fruit Salad, Cheese Souffle, and Crepes. How very French we were! Not ideal "my first" recipes for a just-turned-6-year-old, you say? Well, you'd be right. Separating eggs? Yeah right. Hand-whisking egg whites to soft peaks? It would've taken at least two hours if I'd left it up to Molly. Spreading the batter in the pan to make thin crepes, inches away from the hot burner? Um, no. Aside from my curiosity as to what exact age this cookbook is intended for, it's quite cute and has very nice full-color illustrations, and Molly looks SO cute in her new apron. So, Molly helped with some mixing, cut up the strawberries and bananas, and watched me do the rest. Of course the other kids wanted in on the action, so they got some brief turns helping too... it resulted in a chaotic and lengthy cooking process but a tasty dinner. The kids weren't crazy about the cheese souffle but Hubs had seconds on everything. He's awesome like that.

Sunday evening: the children, all four of them, regaled us with a Kazoo parade around the house. It may have been the highest decibel we've experienced in this house so far. Then they were in bed by 7:30 and Hubs and I sat enjoying the silence.

Which brings us to now; I am still in my church skirt and apron and feeling very 1950's about it (except for the fact that I'm on a computer which is not very 1950's) and Hubs is doing some dishes for me. What a guy.

I'll post pictures of Molly's party soon...