I told the kids I made them brownies for dessert tonight.
They were a little disappointed to discover the brown E’s I made for them. 
April Fools!
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Countless “winter” afternoons were spent sporting flip flops, eating picnic lunches outside, soaking in the warmth of the sun’s rays. And I loved every minute of it, while also inwardly fearing a return of cold weather. I so hate that time of year when you have to keep both warm and cold weather clothes in your drawers because you never know what the weather will do. I love it when you can confidently box up last seasons clothes and fully embrace the new season.
Which is why, I found it somewhat frustrating, and quite a bit comical that on the second Saturday of SPRING… the day of the annual community Easter Egg Hunt… the kids were bundled up in coats, with red noses and cold hands as they gathered their eggs. But, the cold wind blowing didn’t dampen the fun too much.
When we got to the van, she had to run back into the house for her Daisy Hop because “Mom, I promised Daisy Hop I’d bring her to the Easter Egg Hunt!”
This was his first hunt. His glee was priceless.
Their was a special “magic egg” which was orange with a purple suction cup on it. Whoever found it got an extra special prize. I loved my 6 year olds strategy for egg hunting. She only gathered orange eggs. It was so cute to see her running around the egg covered field, never giving a second look to any other color egg.
None of the other kids cared what color their eggs were.
The Easter Bunny also made an appearance.
It was a blustery, but fun morning!
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Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the music, the food, the decorations, the smells, the lights… I love it all. But without a doubt, my favorite part is that it is truly a month long celebration of our Lord’s birth. And I love that as I am grocery shopping or at the mall, or in the inner harbor of Baltimore, I can hear music which praises His name.
But, as wonderful as Christmas is, and as very near to my heart it is, it means nothing, NOTHING without Easter. For Easter is when we remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and His conquering of death and sin when he rose from the dead on Easter morning.
Easter is where it’s at, folks.
And yet, I don’t know why. It seems Easter gets much less celebration. Last year a friend sent me this link with some great ideas of activities to do with your kids Easter week. I was super excited and bookmarked the site. Next thing I know it was Easter Sunday and we had done none of the activities.
You all know that I love a good celebration and will celebrate any day that comes along. Pi day, anyone? And therefore, since we are a holiday/celebration loving family, I felt compelled this year to attempt to go all out for Easter. Being as it is, in my opinion, the holiday most worthy of celebrating.
So, I mapped out our Easter celebration on my calendar. We started our resurrection eggs on March 2o, with the goal to finish on Palm Sunday. I gotta tell you we have missed a few days here and there and had to double up. But, the kids have really, really enjoyed them and I think the physical symbols of the Easter story in the eggs helps them remember the details of the story. While my 8 year old already knows what is in each egg and what they represent, I realized my 4 year old doesn’t and so this has been a great review for all of us. Even our youngest enjoys his turn opening up the egg and playing with what is inside.
Today, I sat down with the link I mentioned before, my Easter pinterest board and a sheet of paper to map out the week of Holy week and schedule in the things I want to do with the kids next week during our spring break in anticipation of Easter.
I am so excited! But, I know that my intentions don’t often pan out, however, here is my dream list of what I’d like to do with the kids in the coming week. Here they are, in case any of you are looking for some Easter activities to do with your kids in the next week.
This weekend we are going to make a Easter garden like this. We are also going to go to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt. I am also hoping to make this adorable egg garland this weekend to hang above our piano. I bought the supplies today, but not sure if I will attempt this one with the kids or after they are in bed.
Sunday: We are going to make palm branches out of construction paper and wave them around singing Hosanna!
Monday: Bake bread for neighbor , make Handprint Easter lily bouquets
Tuesday: Easter picture tree, and do an Easter egg lunch hunt
Wednesday: Easter scavenger hunt, make cross shaped Rice Krispy treats
Thursday: foot washing ceremony, also going to make jelly bean bracelets with the girls (I saw the bracelet idea on pinterest but when I went to link to it, the site where it was linked to no longer exists, so here’s the picture. I assume a needle, thread and jelly beans is all that is needed).
Friday: GOOD FRIDAY: For breakfast we are going to have hot crossed buns. I’ve never made them before but they seemed appropriate for Good Friday. The recipe calls for raisins which I don’t care for and after an informal face book poll, it seems ok for me to make them without raisins as long as they are hot and crossed.
I would also like to have each of us write down a sin we’ve done this week and nail it to a cross, as well as do the white carnation in red dyed water activity (both found here). In the evening, we will also attend our church’s Good Friday service. It is my most favorite church service of the year.
Saturday: We are going to invite the grandparents over to dye Easter eggs. I was also thinking about re-watching the Passion of the Christ after the kids go to bed.
Sunday: We will go to church Easter morning. Afterwards we are going to have both sets of grandparents over for Easter dinner. I’m going to have the kids make these resurrection rolls for our dinner. We are going to have carrot cup cakes for dessert with those trick candles that keep relighting. We will also do an egg hunt in the backyard. That night we’ll have a family movie night and watch this animated movie about the life of Christ.
Without a doubt, my favorite Children’s Story Bible is the Jesus Storybook Bible and I do plan to read the Easter story to them from it on Easter weekend as well. I’ve also pulled out my copy of No Wonder They Call Him the Savior by Max Lucado to read personally this week.
I gotta confess I set out on the first day of Lent to read the Holy Week account during Lent, and I got off track somewhere during week 1 and haven’t kept up. I hope I do a better job this week of staying on track. I can’t wait to worship our Lord on Easter morning and I think my worship will be much more heartfelt if I spend the week reflecting on my sin, and on His sacrifice for me.
Happy Easter everyone!
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She pretty much whips me at this every Monday and Wednesday… and I wouldn’t trade the sweet memories we’re making for anything in the world.
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I really wanted to take the kids in to DC this spring to see the Cherry Blossoms. It’s not something we do every year, in fact, I think I’ve been only a handful of times in the 27 years I’ve lived in Maryland. But, this year, I thought it’d be fun to go and was thinking we might even have a free weekend during their peak blooms.
But, thanks to the warm winter we had, they peaked early and there was NO chance of going during their peak week as it just didn’t fit with our schedules. We hoped to try this weekend, but the cold and rain didn’t make it seem worthwhile.
So, today Scott called me at 11:30 and said, “What are we doing tonight? Wanna go to DC?” I had an hour and a half to pack up some dinner, gather stuff together, (shower) and pick him up at work and the oldest 2 from tutorial. I was so excited, b/c I had given up on seeing the blossoms this year and while we knew it wouldn’t be peak, we figured we could hopefully still see some.
Once we arrived in the city we realized there really weren’t many blooms left, so we decided to make a bee line for the Natural History museum b/c I’ve been wanting to take the kids this year to see the mummies, dinosaurs, and butterflies (all things we studied in school this year). We had a little over an hour before it closed and were able to see all three exhibits! (wahoo, 2 trips taken care of in one spontaneous outing)
Since Scott’s dad works in the city, he met us and we enjoyed a picnic dinner on the mall looking at the Capital and Washington Monument. (can you tell we had them looking into the sun for this picture?)
The big 3 actually enjoyed sitting on a steam vent for the metro. It was nice and warm as the cool evening air blew in. 
I tried not to think too hard about the smog and pollution that was blowing up on them and their food.
Like I said, most of the blossoms were off, but we did enjoy walking around the tidal basin at sunset and we did see some blossoms. It was also peak season for the tulip garden which was beautiful!
We were so excited to find a tree in bloom. Daddy and Pop hoisted the girls up on their shoulders so they could get a picture with the blossoms.
What a wonderful way to start the week… with a spontaneous afternoon in the nation’s capital with the family.
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Despite wet ground and a rainy forecast all systems were go for the Cub Scout rocket launch this morning.
And, I gotta come clean on this one… it was WAY cooler than I thought it would be.
They built the rockets at home and then went to the field to stuff them and other technical stuff which I didn’t really follow all to closely.
Then they set the rockets up on their “launch pads”
And the count down began…
3-2-1… Blast Off!!
He was able to launch his rocket 3 times. Unfortunately, the last time it was lost in space…. such a fun way to spend our Saturday morning. Thanks again Cub Scouts for providing us with a educational and fun family experience.
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