Crepes and Shoelaces

On Sunday we went to Stake Conference. For some of you, the thought of two hours, four kids, hard metal chairs and no spouse may seem a bit daunting, but for me, I say, BRING IT ON!! I was adequately prepared for this event with M&Ms, mini oreos, water bottles, sippy cups,crayons, coloring books, and a box full of new activity books from Deseret Books. Things didn't look too good as we got there early and the only seats available were in the very back row of the gym. Maybe it was a good thing we were way in the back since we aren't known for our ability to sit quietly and reverently throughout church meetings. Except when the bag of M&Ms spilled, I rather wished we were in the carpeted chapel section rather than the noisy gym floor section. Oops. The kids did pretty well, I only had to give the stink eye to Ella once or twice when she got a bit antsy. The new books kept Colton totally enthralled the whole time, and even Jaxon who prides himself on his level or maturity, broke down at the end and did a few word searches. Mason spent 99% of the time on my lap with his blankie, trying to figure out how he can unravel my skirt since it resembles the crocheted edging of his beloved blankie and he has picked all the stitching apart over the past few months. I'm glad he had no luck taking apart my skirt, as things might have gotten embarrassing as I tried to make a subtle exit in just my slip. After Church, we went to the Turner's house for crepes. I bought an official crepe pan yesterday at the Bazaar and thought I better try it out to see if it's any good before our official crepe maker, Sean, returns home. I even bought one of those little rolly things that spreads out the batter evenly on the pan. It was cool. Christy and I cooked up a ton of crepes, set out all different toppings from berries and nutella to syrup and sugar and let every one dig in. They were well received.



When we got home from Christy's, Ella was determined to learn how to tie shoe laces. Remember all those shoes I got for her yesterday? One pair of shoes had laces and she really wanted to figure out how to tie them all by herself. So, we sat outside on the front steps for a few minutes while I tried to show her how the bunny went around the tree, threw the hole and then you have to pull him out by the ears. I don't know if that's the official shoe-tying story, but it seemed to help her visualize the whole process. Within minutes she was a pro. We moved to the wintergarten where she continued to tie and untie her shoes for a while. Then she turned to her family members and asked one and all if she could tie their shoes. This morning she was still on a shoe tying kick and had to tie and untie my workout shoes for me. Here she is during and after a successful shoe tying experience:


After shoe tying, we moved onto the game portion of the night. Lo and behold, all on their own, the kids played some games together. Nicely. No fighting. Happily. They had fun. Together. No bribing. It was AWESOME!!!

And to finish off our evening, Colton turned into ManBat. You mean Batman? No, he called himself ManBat and went around chasing Ella and Mason. Although the noise level reached maximum heights at some points, they all had a good time.