Easter

I will admit it, I'm in a love affair with Easter. I'm so grateful for that class I went to last year that taught me how important it is to focus on, and celebrate the true meaning of Easter. We still have egg hunts and the Easter Bunny visits, but those are the least of what happens as part this special holiday.

We were in Arizona on Palm Sunday, so I taught the boys about it on Monday when we were home. We just made these simple palm fronds with tissue paper.

The idea is to discuss events in the Savior's life the whole week leading up to Easter, based on what Christ was doing the week before he died. Obviously, we don't know exactly what occurred and when, in the Savior's last week, but it's a general outline. Because of some scheduling conflicts, we didn't always stick to the outline, but we still did all my favorite activities. 

We made our own clay lamps on the day we discussed the parable of the 10 Virgins.

And we had our Passover Meal! This is my favorite night. We shared it with the Shaheens and they surprised me with how genuinely they liked the food. Lilly asked for THIRDS of lentil soup. I was in shock. We had fish, olives, dates, flatbread, goat cheese, honey yogurt and lentil soup. Oh, and Nestle Drumsticks for dessert. Gotta keep it real. And we ate by the light of our oil lamps and listened to Fiddle on the Roof music, ha!

 

 

 

 

 

I don't ever remember dying eggs as a kid (maybe we did and I just don't remember, but I do remember my mom hating it because of the mess!) Well, I agree with my mom! Dying eggs is a flippin' pain in my side. Every second that they were dunking eggs I was giving myself a pep talk to stay calm and not worry about the mess. While simultaneously giving myself huge pats on the back for letting them do this in the first place. I have a feeling, kid #5 isn't going to be so lucky.

Their baskets are so sad! I really need to get them some nice looking baskets for next year. And what's inside wasn't super great either. But they were thrilled.

On Easter morning, I made monkey bread and we went to the cemetery to eat and discuss the true meaning of Easter with the boys. (So scenic and beautiful, huh?) Of course, it wasn't so simple or easy to do. Travis was at the church, setting up for Stake Conference while I dashed around like a mad woman trying to get us all ready. I got lost trying to find the cemetery and Travis nearly got hit by a car, following me. We finally found it and had a rushed 10 min. before we had to pack up and hightail it to Stake conference. But at least we didn't have any allergic reactions like last year! Hopefully, with better planning it will turn out like I picture it to go, next year.

Notice where Weston's arm is? If he can be touching his sister, you better believe he's doing it.

Easter consisted of 3 phases to me. Phase 1- Cemetery. Check

Phase 2- Visit Neighbors

So earlier in the week I was reading a conference talk and had a strong impression that we needed to do something for our neighbors for Easter. So this is what I came up with... I made 12 mini loaves of monkey bread and attached a Passalong card to each. We got 12 Books of Mormon and I had Travis write up a little note to stick in the cover introducing ourselves, wishing them a happy Easter and explaining a bit about the Book of Mormon. We kept our Sunday clothes on after Stake Conference, loaded up the stroller with Olive, the boys and all the goodies and set out on our street. We had met several of our neighbors, but still didn't know the majority. The first house we approached was kind of comical. I guess the lady that lives there turns 100 years old that week and have some friends visiting her. We explained we were her neighbors and handed her the bread and book. She handed the book right back and said she couldn't read, then kept pestering her friends to give us money for the bread. We all kept trying to explain it was a gift and we weren't selling anything. At the very least we had a nice conversation with her friends! At least 4 or 5 homes didn't answer their doors, so we just left it on the doorstep, but the rest did answer and we had some slightly awkward encounters and some really, really nice ones! One man was so happy and welcoming and insisted we come in and meet his family and friends that were all seated and having their Easter lunch! They kept trying to get us to stay and eat with them and were just so so nice. At another house, the woman answered with a thick, Texas accent and was so happy to chat and get to know us, even though she was having a big party inside as well. They had young kids too, and we exchanged numbers and promised to get together to barbeque soon. Overall, I felt good about it. At the very least, I felt good about following my prompting and doing some missionary work. Oh, I forgot to mention, one man across the street from us had been contacted by the sister missionaries and agreed to set up an appt. to meet with them. He didn't answer his door when we knocked, but he called me later that day to thank us and express his appreciation for such nice neighbors. I found out from the sisters later that he had called them to say he was excited about the Book of Mormon he had received from us and was anxious to read it and meet with them! Who knows where it will go, but when I heard that, I felt like my heart soared. Missionary work is amazing!

Oh yes, another Pinterest fail. I let the boys make "eggs" out of glue and yarn. Obviously, it turned out spot on.

The best Easter picture I could get from these 3!

We had our big dinner with the Kings and also invited a single man from our ward over that didn't have anywhere else to go. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of our egg roll, but we kept tradition and did that and had a lot of fun! Weston's egg won!

These two! I love this picture of Kreighton and Weston. Just 3 months apart.

This is out of order, but on Friday night we went up to McGaffey with a bunch of families from our ward and the kids had an Easter Egg hunt. They all had been camping, but we just went up for the night to have dinner and visit.

An appropriate ending I suppose. Collin's Easter bunny mask from preschool. Hippity-hop!