Simple Sunday Joys

Exodus 20:11 

For in ^asix days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and ^challowed it.

Ah...Sundays.  What would I do without Sunday?  It's the day that I look forward to sleeping in just a tad, spending time at home with my husband and children, going to church, taking walks, reading the scriptures and just resting from daily cares.  It's a day when we turn off the electronics and be with each other. The laundry and vacuuming has to wait until Monday.  We don't shop or eat out.  We don't play with friends or do yard work. And for goodness sake, we don't do any school work.  We just recharge our batteries and come closer to each other and our faith.   This morning the kids put the 2yo in a laundry basket and buried her under heaps of stuffed animals and baby blankets.  They were laughing until they cried.  Simply joys.

One of my favorite things about Sunday is baking with the kids. Our church services don't start until 1 pm this year.  (We share a building with two other congregations and we rotate start times each year.)  This year I like having the long slow mornings to start something in the crock pot and then bake up something sweet with my sweeties.  Today we tried a new recipe called Crazy Cake.  It's dairy and egg free.  I'm not vegan and I don't have allergies of any kind, and neither do the kids. But we heard it was good so I gave it a shot. It smells delicious while it's baking.  And since the batter is egg free, we sure helped ourselves!

Unfortunately, I was expecting the center of the cake to look light and fluffy when it was done baking, and it never did. So I left it in the oven way too long.  It wasn't burnt. But it wasn't what I'd call soft and moist either. So if you try this recipe, go ahead and just do the toothpick test even if the center looks like it's still too wet.
I got this recipe from a local homeschool online board that I belong too.  Here are the original author's notes and directions:

When I was a little girl my Grandpa would make homemade chili and serve it with crazy cake and butter instead of cornbread. It’s a family favorite at our house. 

Here it is: 

CRAZY CAKE 

3 cups flour 
2 cups sugar 

½ cup cocoa powder 

2 tsp. baking soda 

1 tsp. salt 

2 cups water 

2/3 cup + 1 1/3 TBSP. vegetable oil (or coconut oil) 

2 TBSP vinegar (apple cider not white) 

2tsp. vanilla 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray. Put ingredients in a medium mixing bowl in order listed. Mix with a wire whisk thoroughly. (About 2 minutes). Pour into greased baking pan. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. ( I usually take it out of the oven at about 50-55 minutes) 

Sometimes I add 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the batter. It’s delicious with or without it. Coconut oil changes the flavor just a little, but is still delicious. 

Serve warm topped with butter. 

Cookies is another one of our favorite Sunday treats.  I love a warm cozy house that smells like fresh cookies and happy children eager to eat them.

Who doesn't love to dunk their cookies in milk. But drowning them?  Hm.....

One of our Sunday traditions is to read the scriptures before bedtime.  We try to do this during the week too.  But we're not always successful at that.  We never miss a Sunday night scripture study however, because it also involves yummy snacks.  

**Note: I don't cook "dinner" on Sunday.  (It's supposed to be a day of rest, right?) I make one large meal after church and then we snack our way to bed. So while we are reading scriptures we usually have popcorn and some kind of special drink. Either a smoothie, orange frosty drink, special lemonade, etc. 

Tonight it was orange frosty drink, which I haven't made for quite some time.  The kids love it.  Here's the recipe that I got from a church friend a few years back.

Orange Frosty

16 oz. frozen orange juice

1/2 cup milk  (I omit this)

1 tray ice cubes (I use 2 trays)

1/3 cup powdered milk  ( I add a little more to make up for the milk that I left out)

1/2 cup sugar (I use 1/4 cup)

1 cup water (I use 1 1/2 cups to accommodate for the milk I left out)

Does your family have any simple Sunday joys?  What do you love about setting aside this special day for faith and family?