Making Pizza: Epic Fail | cooking with kids

So, the other night I decided to make pizza with the kids, much like we've done before. We make super-yummy homemade pizza from scratch (well, the dough and the sauce, anyway). Other times that we’ve done this, it’s been a great opportunity for talking and having fun.

This time, though, things spun out of control fast . . . both of the little kids wanted to work with the dough, so I gave them a little dough and a little flour, and they made a little mess. (Actually not so little.) Then child #3 stomped out of the room after I insisted on helping her roll out one of the pizzas when she was obviously having trouble with it (the dough was really sticky from not having been refrigerated).

Meanwhile, dinner was running late and I still had three pizzas to make, with two little kids wanting to “help” with every step (and one of them taking the initiative by hauling random stuff out of the refrigerator).

By this point, it wasn’t just the dough that was messy . . . I was beginning to come a little unglued, too. You could tell from the way I was tossing things across the room into the sink, for instance.

That’s when Susan came to the rescue with her trademark, “What can I do?” (Four more beautiful words didn’t exist in the English language at that moment.) “Just help get these pizzas done!” I begged. And that’s where the video (above) picks up.

The lesson here? Always refrigerate your dough for at least one hour before rolling it out.

No, no, no! (Well, that is a good idea, but not the main point.) Life is gonna be messy, so don’t get stressy. Seriously. Breathe deep and be Mary rather than Martha (Luke 10:38-42). Where was Jesus in my messy kitchen? In two little boys, so proud of being helpers.

Celebrating Epiphany: Procession of the Magi

On the feast of the Epiphany we celebrate the appearance or revelation of God in human form to the whole world. The feast is normally celebrated on the second Sunday after Christmas. In the Roman Catholic Church, we associate this feast with the visit of the three wise men to the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. 

Here's a quick and easy Epiphany ritual that our family did on the Feast of the Epiphany (yesterday). For really small children, skip all but the last step.

Materials: Nativity set, including three wise men. Bible, or a copy of the Scripture passage listed below.

1. Explain to the children that the word "Epiphany" means "appearance." Ask them to try pronouncing the word, then explain that on the Feast of Epiphany we celebrate the appearance of God in human form (Jesus) to the whole world.

2. Explain that many people came to see Jesus when he was born, including three travelers from faraway lands. Then read, or act out, or paraphrase the story of the Magi in Matthew 2:1-12 (or shorten the reading to verses 9-12).

3. Ask the children some questions about the story.

4. Give each of the children one of the magi figurines from your Nativity set. Lead them on a parade around the room or the house to represent the long journey. If you know the melody by heart, sing "We Three Kings" during your "journey." When you arrive at the manger, place the kings around Jesus and ask the kids to say what gifts each king brought.

Quotable Kids: Why Santa is an environmentalist

From the mouth of M:

"Santa Claus is really worried about global warming, because he lives in one of those cold places!"

Waiting for Christmas

Welcome to Advent 2007, everyone. We put up the Christmas tree at our house...and the Nativity set (at the foot of the tree in the photo above, with Mary and Joseph waiting for the baby Jesus)...and the Advent wreath. But in the spirit of Advent, we are waiting to put up the lights and Christmas decorations until Christmas actually arrives.

We began this tradition last year. We set up the Christmas tree on the first day of Advent, and then explain that we are waiting to decorate it because the decorations symbolize the beauty and joy of the birth of Jesus. However, because we wait for Jesus in hope, just as we light another candle every week of Advent, we also add another string of lights (three blue, one pink for Gaudate Sunday) every week. That's why you'll notice one string of blue lights in the photo above. We will decorate the tree completely on Christmas Eve (adding some additional lights as well), and keep it up throughout the Christmas season.

Although our parental instincts warned that the kids might throw a fit at not getting to decorate the tree right away, doing it this way actually seems to heighten their excitement and interest. It also teaches them the virtue of patience, which is one of the more handy virtues to have around.

A Parent's Prayer of Abandonment

Well, "Family Prayer Time" didn't go quite as planned again tonight. Andy preferred to read his Bible, Maggie was avidly reading one of the many toy catalogues we've been receiving since, oh, August, and Susie decided to make a game of screaming at increasingly loud levels. After one particularly ear-shattering shriek, I picked her up and moved her into the other room. I could've forced Andy and Maggie to attend to prayer, but somehow it seems counterproductive to a spirit of loving self-giving when you have to use your raised "I AM ABOUT TO LOSE IT" voice.

So, it was down to Marie and me. As we huddled on the couch, I prayed a prayer that I find myself praying all too often: "Help me, God, to be a good parent to these children; give me the wisdom and courage and charity to do what needs to be done. I need your help, because obviously I can't do it on my own!"

Kind of a sad prayer, but Saint Paul reminds us that "boasting" of our weakness to God is our greatest strength: "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought" (Romans 8:26) and "I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Cor 12:9).

Praying with St. Anthony

St. Anthony must like kids...or at least my kids, because it seems as though they always find whatever they are praying for. (Not so for me.) Once their aunt called long-distance to ask them to pray for a lost wedding ring. They did, and five minutes later, she called to say she'd found it--in a huge load of laundry.

This morning, 7-year-old Andy couldn't find his coin purse. This was a big deal, since he planned to use his money to buy himself hot lunch. (We're too cheap and too wary of school food to shell out for hot lunches ourselves. $2.50 a day! Back in our day....) He looked and looked, but it was only after praying for help that he found it. (He reports having mashed potatoes and some unspecified meat.)

I am of two minds about praying to find lost items, especially with kids. On one hand, I don't want to inculcate a "magical" understanding of God in my kids--i.e., prayer as a way to magically get what you couldn't get otherwise. Nor do I want them to have an understanding of God as fast-food clerk ("Here to serve you, your way, 24/7!")

On the other hand, God seems to be leading the way here. They pray, God gives them what they want...who am I to interfere? We have been careful to place all of these "lost and found" prayers in context: "You know, we don't always get what we want when we pray. God is not magic or a machine; God is like a friend or a parent. He always gives us whatever is best for us." Sometime in the future God may lead them to a more relational prayer life. But for now, something tells me he delights in their simple faith.

Pictures of Heaven

This morning I walked downstairs with dread in my heart. The kids were already up, but it was quiet...too quiet...eerily quiet.... I held my breath as I entered the kitchen, expecting the worst...but Maggie and Andy were only coloring peacefully at the kitchen table. Miracle of miracles.

Not only that, but Maggie announced that she was painting heaven, using water color paints. Naturally I took a look. Here is what she had painted:


Yes, that is white water color paint on black construction paper. As 5-year-old Maggie explained, the large smiling figure in the center is Jesus; the souls of the dead hover on the right side of the paper (those would be the short white lines). The arch above Jesus is a rainbow.

I asked her why she chose black construction paper. "Because heaven is dark," she said. Okay! Never let it be said that my daughter let artistic convention or theological tradition hold her imagination back. (This is the same girl who once imagined a sky full of sunflowers for stars.) Personally, I think this heaven is black because the black construction paper was on top of the pile.

She followed up with this:


Again, we have the central figure of Jesus, under a rainbow. The vertical lines are "the arms and legs of the dead people." Most interestingly, the orange tree in the upper right-hand corner is supposed to be "the Tree of Love." I wonder whether she lifted this from the image of the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden, but I'm not sure.

Andy, seeing all the attention Maggie was getting with her pictures, whipped up the following (exclaiming at one point, "Darn, I messed up God!"):

Yes, it's somewhat derivative: you have the figure of Jesus, the rainbow--but with the ocean at top (represented by the wavy blue lines) and a house to the right. "All the dead people are sleeping. They live fifteen people in each house."

In my past life as an editor of Catholic religious education materials, this is the sort of activity I would see prescribed for older kids--"draw your image of heaven." I'm not sure, but I doubt that you'd get anything near as imaginative from 100 older kids.

Later, during Mass, I smiled to hear that both of the readings were about heaven, including the Gospel:

Jesus said to them,
"The children of this age . . .
can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called out 'Lord, '
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive." (Luke 20:34, 36-38)