A couple Saturdays before Easter we had David's parents for a visit. It was just a regular visit. They brought Eli's new sandbox and spent a lot of time outside while he happily played in it. David's dad also fixed our kitchen cupboard that could have fallen off our wall at any time. We enjoyed a laid back afternoon on a beautiful Spring day. I hadn't planned/thought to do any Easter activities, but decided at the last minute that we could put together a little egg hunt for Eli, and ran to the store to grab an egg-dyeing kit.
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| Clara loving the outdoors and spending time with Grandma H |
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| Wasn't planning on having my picture taken, and still had wet hair from my shower, but good to have Mommy and baby pics! (Now we just need to get Daddy in front of the camera...) |
Eli went egg-hunting bare foot, of course. That boy will rarely wear his shoes outside. Since I hadn't planned the egg hunt, I searched my cupboards for things to fill the eggs with. I found fruit snacks, goldfish, mini marshmallows, and coins. Score! I picked up a small bag of m&ms as well. Can't have an egg hunt without some candy! All of those treats were a big hit. |
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| This picture shows Eli discovering there's an ant in his egg. He was rather flabbergasted at this occurrence. |
On to the egg-coloring! Believe it or not, this was my first time hard-boiling eggs, ha! Eli didn't have much patience/interest in decorating the eggs. He stirred them around in the dye for a little bit, and kept mixing them into the different colors. What really caught his interest was drinking up the colored water! (That is, if you can get much water in your mouth using the egg holder.) : )
Dave and I sure got a good laugh from this picture. No idea what brought on the funny face. He was in his own little world stirring up all the bowls of dye. Silly kid!
For the week leading up to Easter, we read as a family from the New Testament about the events that took place during Jesus' last week. I also brought out this great book, A Children's Story of Easter, which Eli took to so well and wanted to read several times a day, every day. I had thought of doing Resurrection Eggs, but decided to wait til the kids are a little older. We talked about the Resurrection a lot throughout the week. I also took out the cut-out pictures of the Easter story that went with my Primary lesson for Eli to look at and talk about. He had a pretty good understanding (for a 3-year-old) of the story.
The Saturday before Easter we headed over to my parents for a celebration, along with my Aunt and Uncle Metheny, and Metheny cousins, their spouses, and kids. A wonderful time was had by all! My cousin Megan has a boy Eli's age, and a boy who's almost 6. Eli had SO much playing with Aiden and Owen, and they got along so well.
We started off with an egg hunt for the boys. There were a bunch of eggs hidden in my parent's yard, and each boy had their basket filled high.
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| Eli on the move to grab the eggs! |
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| But then he'd latch onto Aiden and follow him around to find the eggs he was after. |
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| The boys showing off their spoils. Eli couldn't pose for the picture because he was too busy already eating them! |
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| We scooped him up anyway and I tickled him for a smile. : ) |
Clara didn't pay much mind to all the Easter egg shenanigans. She just soaked up all the attention she received from family. : )
My mom always out-does herself preparing fabulous holiday meals and gifts for her family. We ate a delicious dinner (I made mini quiche cups), and she gave every person a beautiful basket of goodies. We are so blessed to have so many opportunities to spend good time with our families.
On Easter morning I made my first Resurrection Rolls with Eli. They were so easy, and a great message with symbolism. I found a blog page that included scriptures you could read during the process of making/baking the rolls, so we did that and I thought it was more effective. The rolls were super yummy, too! I'm not sure they worked well, though. Eli was NOT happy when the marshmallows had melted, meaning Jesus had risen. He kept saying, "No! I want Jesus to be dead!" (I think he just wanted to eat the marshmallow, so I gave him one to eat.) He then went outside and yelled, "Jesus! Come back NOW!" over and over, LOUDLY. Probably sounded a little blasphemous to any listening neighbors. It was kind of worrisome to us that he was acting that way, but I think it was just all a little hard to understand/make sense of at his tender age.
I played and sang some Primary songs about the Resurrection on the piano. Eli really liked them, so I sang them on the way to church as well. (My car's cd player doesn't work, so I try to sing to the kids while we're driving.) I especially like to sing to them when we go to church to help get Eli in the right frame of mind.
We also watched a couple of Easter videos about Jesus on the Mormon Channel. Those short videos can really touch your heart.
Easter basket treats! I almost didn't give Easter baskets this year, after receiving so much already, but figured I would still do them since I bought all the stuff (and just left out the candy!).
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| Eli was excited for his first pair of sunglasses and his cool new selection of "things that go" stickers. We've enjoyed his new book, too. Here's a video of opening baskets-- |
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| David's hand is sadly covering up Clara's pretty green sash and yellow flower on her dress. :( I bought Eli a navy tie but he refused to wear it. The only way he would sit and smile was with the promise of getting to eat the candy in the egg that he's holding.) |
Like I said, neither kid wanted a second more of pictures (unfortunately), so we took one with just David and I.
We are so grateful for our Savior; for the perfect life He led and lessons He taught, for the sacrifices He made in the Garden and on the cross. He did it out of pure love for each one of us. I am so thankful that He knows and understands everything that we go through, and that we are able to be a family forever because of Him.
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