Easter Fun '11

Last weekend was full of Easter activities. This is probably my favorite holiday for our family to celebrate together. This holiday out of all of the ones we celebrate is pivotal in our Christian faith. Having the opportunity to highlight that with our kids is always so much fun and brings so much more meaning to the holiday.

Our festivities began on Good Friday. We started by making "tombs," Grands biscuits rolled out with a marshmallow inside. The biscuit represents the tomb and the marshmallow represents Jesus. When baked in the oven, the marshmallow melts into the biscuit leaving an empty tomb to represent Jesus' Resurrection. It is so much fun, especially for the little ones who are so shocked to see that Jesus is no longer in the tomb.

Rolling out the dough

Putting in the marshmallow

Sealing up the tomb

While the "tombs" were baking, we dyed Easter Eggs.

Once the tombs are complete, we take communion with the bread and

"special juice"(sparkling grape juice).

This is always a special time as a family as Rick leads us.

It brings our focus to the sacrifice that Jesus made.

Isaiah was very much into the Easter story this year. He was very attracted to the power that Jesus displayed by conquering death. Yesterday, we found out that our neighbor's dog died. Isaiah responded, "We should pray for God to use His power to bring their dog back! He is powerful and can do that!!" I love that he is grasping the power of God at the age of 4. We went on to explain that God could absolutely do that, but He might not choose to do that.

Before bed, the big kids and I made the Easter Story Cookies. This is a recipe that you make that has Scripture verses with each step. Then, the cookies go in the oven overnight. Next morning, they are ready!!

Usually when the kids wake up on Easter morning, their baskets have Easter goodies in them. This year, I decided to surprise them with an Easter morning scavenger hunt. When they woke up and went downstairs, their baskets were empty. It was funny to know that they were perplexed by the empty baskets.

The Scavenger Hunt took them to 8 places throughout our house. At each stop there was a treat and another clue. The big kids took turns reading the clues.

Here is the first clue:

"Grab your basket and get ready for pics.

We are celebrating Jesus' Resurrection, not just bunnies and chicks.

Take pictures with a grin and the scavenger hunt can begin.

Take your baskets along to collect your loot,

but whatever you do, please don't toot!"

After pictures, the next clue led them to the Easter Story Cookies awaiting them in the oven.

The cool part about these cookies is that they are hollow like the empty tomb.

The hunt continued taking them to various places throughout the house. Here are a few of the stops:

The kids' bathroom where Pop Rocks were awaiting them.

The grill outside where they each received $5 from Papa and Grammy

The Jeep where there were Peeps!

The hunt ended in the basement with "Just Dance" for the Wii.

We have had a blast having family competitions with this game all week!!

Next up, a breakfast of my yummy homemade cinnamon rolls

Then, it was time to get ready for church.

Abby

Sam

Cody

Isaiah insisted that he must tuck his shirt in to be handsome,

despite our insistence that he would match his brothers and

look just as handsome with it left out.

Laila

Lauren

The whole fam coordinated and smiling

After church, we came home to relax and enjoy the rest of our day together. At about 4:00, we had a family feast that took me two days to make and about 15 minutes to devour. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly they can go through food. Our table looked like a band of locusts had come for a visit. We had ham, cheesy potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, pistachio salad, booty breads(ask me about those sometime), and strawberry pretzel dessert. It was yummylicious!!

The grand finale event was the Annual Easter Egg Hunt in our back yard. Now, I must stop here and express my deep frustration with Colorado weather. Seriously, Rick and I were hiding eggs and it was snowing. The kids were hunting eggs in their winter clothes!! I think we hid at least 200 eggs!! We were running out of places to hide them!

Yes, we even hid them in trees.

We had 2 prize eggs this year, a silver one for the little kids and a gold one for the big kids.

Laila found the silver one and got VeggieTale gummies.

Lauren found the Gold one and got a Chocolate Bunny!

Don't their eyes look alike?

We really had a good Easter this year. This was the first Easter as a family that Rick didn't have to work. We spent the WHOLE day together. That was a beautiful thing!!