Candles, a yummy treat

All of the kids at church were very restless because we were practicing the Primary Program today. Aidan and Ian were, of course, squirming and shoving each other. Ian's primary teacher came up and said in English, "If you are good, I will give you some CANDLES afterwards." Ian and Aidan looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. She could tell they hadn't understood what she said, so she said it in English again really slowly. Aidan and Ian started laughing and I said, "Inma, I think you mean caramelos (CANDIES), not velas (candles in Spanish). And then all four of us were laughing.

I also had to stay unexpectedly after church for 40 minutes for an emergency meeting about the Primary program. Some of the Stake Primary Presidency stayed to watch us practice and it was a fiasco as usual. I felt like we were being scolded a little about the behavior of the kids. There was a discussion about how South American kids are more reverent and show more respect to their teachers than Spanish kids. I finally said that each child is different and it doesn't matter where the kids come from, they behave or misbehave whenever they feel like it. I even pointed out that I was sitting with my two boys during the practice and I still couldn't get them to behave. How in the world could we get 30+ kids to behave? This Primary is the rowdiest I have ever been in in my life. But I don't think it is the fault of the presidency. I think it is just how this particular group of kids are. My kids don't particularly like going to church, I think it feels like jail to them because they aren't allowed to run around or talk out loud or play with their friends.

Ian was taking a nap in his underwear today in our bed, next to Collin, who was reading. He asked if he could put his feet in Collin's pants to keep them warm. The next thing Collin knew, Ian had wiggled his way into Collin's pants up to his own waist and fallen asleep.

We got invited to the Ferrer's house today and were told to bring food to share. I had almost all the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies and decided to try and make some since my apple pies turned out great in spite of Hell's oven. I always use the the Tollhouse recipe that can be found on the back of a Nestle chocolate chip bag. The only alterations I make at home are that I use 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening, double vanilla and leave out the nuts. Here I had to use all butter, powdered vanilla, a chopped up chocolate bar (because they don't sell chocolate chips) and all white sugar because I forgot to go to Al Campo to get brown sugar. They are edible, but are flat and slightly uncooked in the middle as well as crispy at the edges. They don't look or taste or have the same texture as the cookies I make in the States, but as my father-in-law always says, "(They're) better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick." And it's true, they are better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I should have brought my silpat with me as well as some shortening, my cookie scoop, measuring cups and spoons, oh and while I'm at it . . . my KitchenAid stand mixer. Pennsylvania kitchen, I swear I will never take you for granted or compare you to the Orem kitchen again. The picture of the cookies is supposed to show the "good" cookies on the left and the bad ones on the right, but you will note that they all look the same. Granada oven, you have won the battle, but not the war. I shall prevail.

We received another great package from April containing new church clothes for the boys, books for Collin and I, a Monsters vs. Aliens DVD, and candy for all. The kids got suckers with monster lips. I think they have watched the DVD four times already. Aidan decided he wanted to take some "modeling pictures" in his new clothes. They got lots of compliments at church about how handsome they both looked. My mom also sent us some yummy dried pineapple, dried bananas and panko crumbs from Trader Joe's. We love and greatly appreciate receiving packages, so keep 'em coming!

I let Aidan start his own blog. You can read it here: According to Bob Pie.

I'm stuck in the subjunctive tense of verbs. I am having the hardest time understanding when to use them. I can conjugate them fine, but it is difficult for me to use them in a sentence. I lazed around all weekend reading Stieg Laarssoon's The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo and also The Girl Who Played with Fire. Managed to read one a day.

We took the kids to Kinepolis yesterday. It is sort of a mall, but it only has restaurants, jewelry stores, decorating store and a bowling alley/arcade with a play place. The kids opted for the play place and then Ian got to play a couple of arcade games because he was the only one with any money left. We also had ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. Collin and I shared a cup with a scoop of Caramel Chew Chew and Chunky Monkey. The kids shared two scoops of cookie dough and one scoop of chocolate fudge brownie. Collin calculated the cost in dollars and for 5 tiny scoops of Ben and Jerry's, it cost us $17. That is just plain crazy. In the States, I could buy almost 5 pints of ice cream for the same cost. They are really running quite a racket over here with the Euro.