​I hope you are all safe and healthy still. And not going too crazy being cooped up for quarantine. I have to say that as a stay at home mom with young kids not much has changed for me except that now we get to have my husband at home with us all the time. 

I always try to look for the positive in situations like these. One thing I am loving is our increased family time. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, we miss our friends and our church community (church has been cancelled for awhile now) but it overall has been a benefit for us.

We have home church each Sunday where we take the sacrament and share a little lesson. And we also try to Family Home Evening (FHE) on a weeknight. In our church we are asked to set aside a night each week and do FHE. You can think of it as a family devotional time. And I think it’s a wonderful time together that would be great for every family. 

A typical home evening schedule might be:

Opening Hymn
Opening Prayer
Lesson (about a gospel principle)
Closing Hymn
Closing Prayer
Activity (game or something fun your family likes to do together)
Treat (typically a dessert but don’t limit your options)

​Each member of the family participates and is assigned a role. The opening and closing hymns were chosen by the same person. Growing up, there were more of us in the family than there were assignments, so my parents also added Scripture (we would choose a scripture we liked to share with the family), and conducting (the person in charge of the meeting schedule). I have fond memories of FHE growing up and love that I can do it with my family now. 

In my family there are only 4 of us now so some people have to double up on jobs. That’s why I created this chart. Most families in our church have wooden boards that are specifically for this purpose and the board typically has a spot for each thing that is to be done for FHE. Then each family member has some kind of marker that gets rotated through each of the jobs. One day I think we will get one of those too but right now a card stock chart is perfect for us. I divided the jobs into 4 sections (the prayers are combined with activity and treat).  Then I made a smaller wheel divided into 4 sections where each of our names are written. We can spin the wheel and it shows us what are jobs are for the next FHE. 

​The kids love doing FHE together and our son taught us a great lesson the other night with pictures he drew of a scripture story. The great thing about everyone taking turns is that the kids can gain a greater understanding of the scriptures and gospel principles.

I hope this is something you can implement in your home and enjoy doing. For a limited time this chart will be free for our subscribers on our subscribers printables page. In two weeks it will be put into our Etsy shop. 

Are you going to do FHE in your home? Let us know how it goes for you and if you use the chart.

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Well, here we are in day 246 of quarantine (I'm not sure, but I think that's right) and the weather is warming up! Warm weather means I want to start making lemon dishes. Lemon says warm weather and sunshine doesn't it? When the weather is warm I just want that tart sweet tang of lemon in dessert form.

We had a few lemons that I needed to use up, and so I decided to make this delicious lemon pudding cake.

I had a little baker helper with me.

She loved helping me juice the lemons. I also was trying to show her how to separate yolks from whites and on the first egg the yolk broke and a small amount got into the whites. No good! I tossed the yolk into the other bowl to use it for the custard, but I had to toss the egg white.
So I started again and I didn't want to have one random egg yolk left over so I threw it into the mix. It didn't hurt the recipe at all.

So, I just thought you should know that even if you make a baking mistake it can still all work out.

Also, don't you love her cute apron? My mom showed you how to make it here.

If you have any extra lemons these lemon pudding cakes are the perfect way to use them! The lemon sponge topping is light and airy, and the lemon pudding underneath is creamy and tangy. It's a perfect taste sensation!

​Top your lemon pudding cakes with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and fresh berries if you have any!

Lemon Pudding Cake

    This project began when Lindsey sent me a video of her daughter and herself baking banana bread together.  My SIL was doing the filming and he asked my granddaughter if she was wearing an apron.  She replied, "Yes, I'm wearing Mommy's apron."  I knew right then that I wanted to make an apron for her and the rest of my granddaughters.  Maybe some of my grandsons, too. A couple of them enjoy cooking as well.  But, so far I've only made them for the granddaughters, so that is why my post is directed to little girls.
     I began by scanning Pinterest for patterns for kids, but nothing stuck out to me.  Then, I looked at one of my aprons that my DIL Jessica had made me for Christmas a few years ago.  Mine is made from about a yard of fabric on each side (it is totally reversible), it has a pocket on each side and it is super cute!  I figured that I could use that as my starting point and just reduce the size for my grandchildren.   They came out adorable if I say so myself.  I have three of them finished with just 2 to go for my older girls.  Those may take a little more than 1/4 yard fats if I want them to be able to wear them for any amount of time.  So, for now I'm going to show you how I've done the 1/4 fat aprons. Click on the photos for instructions: 

    These aprons are very quick and easy to make and a good project to be doing while in quarantine!  Fat quarters aren't as easy to find now because everyone has also been making masks, which is a great thing to be doing.  Luckily, my niece was getting rid of some fabric during a move that was passed on to me! So, I have plenty of fabric to do both and the prints are so cute.  Thanks Laura! My granddaughters are going to love these! (I hope) 
     Let me know if anyone gives this project a try.  Oh, and here are the buttons for the pocket patterns.  You can adjust the sizes to how big of small you wan them to be.  

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    This seems like a hundred years ago now.  In February, our family all went to Disneyland for our family reunion and had a blast!  For some of the people in the above picture, it was their first time to go to The Magic Kingdom and they had a great time!  Then, about a week later, Madalynn and I had a last minute chance to go together to Florida and spend 3 days at Walt Disney World!  Neither of us had been there and we had an amazing time together.  On our last night there, they announced that both of the parks would be closing because of Covid-19.  Wow! Things have certainly changed in a short amount of time. 

    We were going to write all about our trip and tips after these great vacations.  Since no one can go right now, we decided to hold off.  If you are Disney Fans like we are, we are really missing our Disney fixes! I still have a ticket left to use for a day this year and Maddy has an annual pass!  But, never fear!  Shop Disney has a plan to help you ease your pain and to help everyone get through this pandemic a little happier! 
    First of all, one of things I really like about Shop Disney is that they have free fun things for your kids to do that you can download and print! They still have Mickey Easter pages up and there is a new Onward coloring sheet!  You can watch the movie on Disney+ and then the kids can color the sheet.  (It is a great movie, BTW!) 

    They also have ideas for dealing with the quarantine, like games to play, movies to watch and snacks to make together. Right now, their art activity books are on sale for $10! 

    Shop Disney even has you covered for Mother's Day!  If you have a mother who is young at heart and who still loves Disney, (like my children do!),  they have some really cute suggestions and choices! 

Last but not least, Here is the big announcement! You can now order subscription boxes from Disney!  What?! Yes! There are 3 amazing categories:

• The Bedtime Adventure Box-complete with pjs and tools to help you get your kids to go to bed more easily.
• Disney Backstage Collection that adults will enjoy with shirts and art and more! 
• The Disney Princess Enchanted Collection-with dresses and themes inspired by a different princess each month! 

     The prices on these subscription boxes vary, with some more affordable prices.  What a great gift for Disney loving kids and adults! If you order now, delivery will be scheduled for May. With school out, what a great way to get the summer rolling!