Recipes {Sidewalk Chalk & Caramel Biscuit Ring}

I love General Conference weekend. We have a lot of fun sitting around in our comfy clothes, listening to the brilliant speakers and laughing and spending time together between sessions.

Saturday evening, while Ryan was at the Priesthood session with our oldest son (it was Weston's first time going....pretty cool) the rest of the kids and I whipped up some Sidewalk Paint and colored our driveway. If you ever want to see what if feels like to have about ten children, do this activity! It draws the neighbor kids in like nothing else! 

Sidewalk Paint

1/2 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup cold water

6-8 drops of food coloring (or more....just be careful! Once I made a pink and added a lot of drops and we had a hard time getting the color off our cement!!) 

Mix up and start painting. I always have to tell my kids, "Not in the garage. Only on the sidewalk and driveway. And not on the house!" You'd think the fact that we made SIDEWALK paint would be enough of a clue. But, of course, it isn't.  

I stripped Molly down to her saggy diaper so she could get in on the fun. And, boy, did she have a good time!

Don't you love the paint-splattered legs and toes? By the end she had it literally from her head
to her toes! 

Emmett and Sam were having a fabulous time splattering the paint all over the place in dribbles and dots. 

I told them about the painter, Jackson Pollock and how he'd stand on a ladder while doing similar paintings. Well, this sounded like a marvelous idea, apparently, and they had to get as high as possible to try it out. 

Unfortunately this was only about a foot off the ground. 

As you can see, Molly was completely disobeying the "Only on the Sidewalk" rule. In fact, she took to applying a bit of "Sidewalk Paint Make-up" to anyone she could get to sit still long enough. 

This wasn't very long. 

During some of conference we played Bingo with these printables and M&Ms. 

The kids love that. And....mmmmm, I don't mind it myself. 

For breakfast on Sunday morning we had Caramel Biscuit Ring, which is one of our conference traditions. The kids love this and often request it for birthdays, too. And it's super easy. 

Caramel Biscuit Ring

2 cans pillsbury refridgerated biscuits

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

2 Tablespoons water

Cut biscuits in half and roll into balls (this is a great thing for kids to do...I let them use my kitchen scissors and they love it) Melt butter in a small saucepan on the stove, add brown sugar and water. Let it come to a boil and then remove from heat. Drip some of the caramel sauce into the bottom of a round bundt pan. Layer half of biscuit balls and then half of caramel sauce. Repeat. Bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until nice and golden brown. Invert onto a serving plate and let your family devour them!

Last night we all sat around and each shared something we enjoyed from the talks. I'm surprised by how much the children absorb. They truly are little sponges. 

Wonderful, messy, lovable sponges.

Some of my very favorite talks were (it's hard to choose though)...

Elaine S. Dalton's talk about the importance of fathers in their daughters lives. "The most important thing a father can do for his daughter is love her mother."  Love it. 

Elder Tad R. Callister's bold discussion of the Book of Mormon. Love his frank talk. Really great.

And, of course, I loved all of President Monson's talks. I loved hearing that Star Valley is going to have a temple. I have a lot of family up there. And I can't imagine how happy they were at that news. And I loved his talk about the power of prayer, especially the story about the the lost $5. What a wonderful and amazing man.

What a great weekend. 

Now back to the regularly scheduled program!