sanity saver.

As much as I would love to have children that sat quietly and only had the program and a pencil to entertain themselves during Sacrament Meeting... that is not realistic when your husband has been on the stand for half of your marriage.  We bring snacks, puzzles, books, and a little bag with things to do for each of the kids.  The older kids are getting better at only having a pen and paper.  Some weeks are better than others.  Mostly I just try to make it through the meeting without having to leave.  It's survival mode for sure.  

The past few weeks have been ultra hard and I knew it was time to change up the church bag.  My amazing sister-in-law had these great dry erase binders for her kids when we were in Georgia.  I knew it was something that I needed to try.  I made one for the four older kids one afternoon while Peter and Jayne were napping.  I covered the binders in fabric for each of them. (fabric and hot glue.  no sewing involved)

 I went online and found a bunch of coloring and activity pages.  All gospel centered.  I would link the file but I have no idea how to do that.  If you want it... email me.  I printed them on cardstock, double sided, and put them each into a sheet protector.

 We got a zipper pouch and a package of dry erase markers/crayons to put inside.  I found them at Target for $5 each.  It even comes with a handy cleaning wipe.

 We added a pen and some lined paper so they can write to our three missionaries each week if they would like to.

 This is my favorite coloring page.  They can color it to look like the Bishop each week.  The best part about these is you can erase the coloring and do it over and over again each week.

We used them for the first time last Sunday and it was amazing!  We haven't had that quiet of a meeting in a long time.  Now if I could just find something that would keep Peter entertained a little longer.....