Get Your Santa On!

This month for a service project the YW decided to do a service activity for the ward by offering free babysitting for families. The idea was that people could have a couple of hours to do their Christmas shopping, but really people could use the time for whatever they needed most. I've heard from a few couples who used the time to get to the temple. We really had a whole lot of fun! We used the church and split the kids into two groups. We tried mostly to separate by age, but there were a few siblings who chose to stick together. We had several stations that we rotated the kids through and let the girls be in charge of the activities. We started out by singing some of the fun primary activity songs like snow man and hinges while we waited for most of the kids to arrive. Some of the stations included simple games like duck duck goose, and red light green light for the younger kids. We also had a parachute at one of the stations. We had a story telling station, and games like frog detective for the older kids. After we rotated through the stations we had milk and cookies and watched some scripture videos while we waited for parents to pick their kids up. I really enjoyed this activity, and actually I think the YW did as well! Although I have to comment that only 4 families signed up for a total of 12 kids. MUCH MUCH MUCH more than that showed up ;)

Modesty Scavenger Hunt

This last Wednesday we took the girls to one of our local stores for a "Modesty Scavenger Hunt". It was a lot of fun! We had the girls pick out two outfits, one that was already modest and one that could be made modest with for example a sweater or leggings. I think the girls really had a whole lot of fun although if I were to do it over again, I think I might limit it to one outfit. It was a stretch for some of the girls to find more than one outfit in such a short amount of time. This activity was simple and took just a little preparation so it was a nice break for both the leaders and the girls!

Angry Birds Photos

These photos aren't great, but it sure was fun!

Angry Birds Combined Activity

This week we are doing a life sized Angry Birds Game! I'm super excited, and super nervous that it's going to be a flop! This is an activity that the Beehives and the deacons are working on together so the deacons are working on the life size sling shot and the beehives are building boxes and and painting balloons and balls. Just to keep it real we will have a guest visitor who is expert at crafting terrific analogies compare the game to real life for just about 5 min.

So basically we're going to divide the youth into two groups and then let the youth plan out and build their own Angry Birds contraptions. We'll let them assign points to their "pigs" and place them strategically. Each team will have a chance to break down the other teams buildings in an attempt to get at the pigs. I bought about 25 boxes, 2 dodge balls (Birds), and 48 green balloons (pigs). I think I will also make an attempt at green pig cupcakes ;) We'll see how it all works out!

Actual pictures to follow, but this is basically my inspiration!

Modest Fashion Show

So this activity was a lot of fun. The girls really enjoyed it and we had 100% attendance. Our Class presidency actually planned this activity and used it for one of their personal progress goals. We let each of the girls choose from two categories of dress which included: School Cool, Church, Formal, Casual, Business, Sporty, and Crazy. A lot of the girls walked in their team sport attire which made it fun to see what they were all up to. Also they really seemed to enjoy doing the Crazy category. In fact that was the only limitation I put on them, that they could only walk "Crazy" for one of their walks. We used some fun music and we were so lucky to have an entertaining MC describing the girls as they walked down the runway, and my sweet husband in charge of the lighting. Those two really helped to make if fun!

As far as the runway went we placed our 3 stair unit on the floor in front of the center of our gym stage followed by 2 of our long tables (just laying on the floor, I didn't want any falls!). We ran the tables and stairs with a roll of plain craft paper and then taped large Christmas lights to the outsides of the stairs and tables to make it more exciting, and then lined the runway with a couple of rows of chairs for parents and families just like in a real show. I was a little nervous about the girls making it back on time for their second walk, so we decided to have a brief intermission in between the walks and had the families help themselves to some refreshments. After the girls did their second walks they all came and sat down next to their families and listened to one of the Laurels give a very brief 5 minute talk on the importance of dressing modestly. Also, a week before the fashion show I handed out a copy of the section on dressing modestly from the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet. All in all I think this was a really fun activity for the girls and it was fun to see them shine!

Frog Gloss

 My most recent Pinterest adventure was DIY lip gloss to use as a handout for lesson 31 on dating, and oh boy did I learn a lot! I was really in love with the idea of the Kool-Aid lip gloss, but it ended up being disastrous. It was way too sour even after I added plenty of sugar. Also, the Kool-Aid does something funny when you mix it with the hot jelly. It makes the specs of Kool-Aid  kind of rough and scratchy so that the gloss feels more like a scrub. I tried a couple of recipes but here's what worked best for me.

Here is what you need:
1 container of petroleum jelly such as Vaseline
1 OZ Wilton's pink sugar sprinkles
24 small containers with screw top lids. I found mine at Michaels in the beading section.
cherry candy flavoring also found at Michaels
3 Table spoons of sugar

The first thing you will want to do is heat your jelly in the microwave for 30 second increments stirring each time until the jelly is completely liquified. Remove from heat and whisk in the rest of your ingredients. I cheated and used my Kitchen Aid. I tried the whisk first, but found it difficult to incorporate the sprinkles. They just sank to the bottom. So I dumped the concoction in my Mixer and cranked it up to full speed. Very quickly pour concoction into the tiny winy containers. If you wait too long it won't pour and then you will have a real mess on your hands!

Helpful Hints:
I have never burned petroleum jelly, but I'm sure it's not pretty so watch it carefully while heating it!
Have your jars prewashed and sitting open so that the minute your gloss has been mixed you are ready to pour.
I found it very helpful to have a dish towel handy to wipe hands, containers, and little drips. This project can get messy quick!

I also had a ton of fun putting together these printables. I used photo paper and a 1 and 3/8 in circle punch for the Frog Gloss labels and a 1 and 1/4 circle punch for the sticker backing (also found at Micheals) to turn the labels into stickers. The cello bag topper reads: You don't have to kiss every frog to find your prince!

Hope this proves helpful! The very best part is the way your whole house will smell like Cherries!

Click here for the free printable!

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Best Ever Gluten Free Brownies

So recently we had a new little beehive join our ranks who is a celiac which means that she can't have any gluten. She specifically mentioned missing brownies, so of coarse I immediately set out to conquer the brownie! After experimenting somewhat I found this recipe. It is delicious, Best EVER with out a doubt!

The first thing you will need to do is either buy a basic gluten free flour mix or make your own. I highly recommend making your own. It can be somewhat costly to start, but if you plan on baking gluten free on a regular basis than you will actually save money. Not only that, but your food will taste umpteen times better!

Basic Flour Mix

Mix together:
1 Cup sorghum, 1 Cup tapioca starch (flour), 1/2 Cup almond meal, and 1 tsp xanthan gum.
I wanted to make a big batch so that I wouldn't have to remix too often so I did these amounts X 6. Either keep your flour mix in the Freezer of keep refrigerated. I was able to find everything I needed at our local Smith's Market Place. Some of it was next to the flours on the regular baking isle and the rest I found on their health food isle.

And now for the BROWNIES!

6 ounces Bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped - I prefer Ghirardelli!
2 ounces Unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons) butter
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract, (most are)
4 Large eggs
3/4 teaspoons salt
1 Cup Basic gluten free flour mix
1 Cup Semisweet chocolate chips

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 13-by-9-inch baking pan, knocking off excess flour.
Melt bittersweet and unsweetened chocolates with butter in a medium metal bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.
Stir sugar and vanilla into chocolate mixture, then add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add salt and flour, stirring until just combined.
Pour batter into baking pan and smooth top. Sprinkle the top of the brownies with chocolate chips. Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center comes out with some moist crumbs adhering, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack, then cut into 24 bars. Enjoy!

If you are only baking for a few this recipe halves very well. You will be amazed at how nicely they come out of the pan. They are like the perfect combination of moist and chewy without falling apart.

Good Luck!

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What's A Spoon Party?

This week for our class activity we had a "Spoon Party". This was really just a lot of fun! It definitely went better than I had hoped. The day of I taped a reminder invite spoon to the girls doors that just said It's a Spoon Party, but don't forget to bring a Spoon! I didn't give them any other information except the time and place. I have never had so many calls / texts from the girls wanting to know what we were going to be doing. That was Great and we had 100% attendance! The idea was that they would come and be spiritually fed, but for sure we couldn't go without doing some of the other kind of feeding too! We started out by reading a 2006 conference talk by Elaine S. Dalton. In it she mentioned a group of youth who had adopted the motto "I Can Do Hard Things!" We gave the girls a hand out with that written at the top and had a short discussion of some of the "hard things" we face in life. Each girl made her own list and then I wasn't planning on the girls sharing their lists, but some of them wanted to. Most of them did. I started out by telling the girls we were going to work first then play. Although I think the girls really enjoyed the little discussion we had about the "hard things" more than I had anticipated. After that we played "spoons" and ate ice cream and brownies. The girls really got into the game! The talk we read also helped them with one of their faith experiences for Personal Progress!

Class Temple Trip

This week for our faith activity we are going to go to the temple as a class and do baptisms for the dead. We're going to leave a little earlier so we can catch the light and get some individual and group pictures taken. I'm really looking forward to this activity!

I used this free printable temple picture and added some text to create my reminders. You can find it at http://carianthony.blogspot.com/p/free-artwork.html