Sunday morning with little ones

It's saturday night and already I am thinking ahead to tommorrow morning. The chaos of getting three kids under the age of 5 ready for church, a bag packed, and praying with all my heart that I will hear at least some part of the talks in between potty breaks, and picking up cheerios off the floor! I used to absolutely dread sundays. I will be honest. It is hard for a parent to take young kids into church and sit for an hour and 15 minutes in sacrament. It is just a challenge for some of us. But I have learned a few things along the way that I would like to share. First of all, we always pray before we leave for church. When everyone is in the van, ready to pull out of the driveway, we pray. Last week, my 4 year old autistic daughter prayed, it was her turn and she prayed that we would be reverent and that curious george would help Sydney stay in nursery. hmm........ We will have to keep working on the prayer thing. LOL. Some things that I have tried to do personally on sunday mornings to make them go a bit smoother is to lay out clothes the night before, pack a small bag of things to do, no snacks anymore, my kids were at the point where we were having to come to church on monday morning just to vaccuum our pew LOL, and amazingly, they dont even miss the snacks. Also, I have packed simple quiet things like stencils and colored pencils and coloring books. Now that Dylan is 5, I am packing the friend magazine and trying to encourage him to be thinking about Jesus as the sacrament is passed, and also to think about the time that he will be a priesthood holder and pass the sacrament. He is finally sitting very very quietly during the time the sacrament is passed. I think it is because I have tried really hard to get him excited about it. That is another thing I have tried to do, we practice church at home. I know it sounds funny, but I got the idea from the Duggar family, I don't know if you guys have heard of them, they have 16 kids and they have had a couple of shows on discovery health channel. Anyway, they have their kids practice " quiet time" each day. They sit quietly for 2 minutes, then they can play, etc, then they go up in time each day. My kids loooved this. I totally didnt think they would even go for it, but I told them we were practicing being reverent , etc and so we had church music playing in the house, then they had to sit with their arms folded in a row on the couch for 2 minutes. We are going to keep trying with this. Hopefully it can make a difference. Another thing that I have learned personally is to get the kids excited about church. Every sunday my son wakes up and says " its the sabbath" they know the rules, no video games, church movies only, etc and they know that is just the way it is, we have had quite a few fhe's on the sabbath, what we should do, why it is done that way, etc. My kids are really excited about going to church, and I just love that. Last sunday, Marlee ( my four year old) opened up the door to the chapel and announced quite loudly " We're here Jesus!" She is autistic and she has a very special relationship with the Savior. She knows even at a young age, that we go to church for a reason. Anyone else have some good tips on church with little ones???? Please share!!!! I would love to hear them!! THanks!! Jaelle