Fun with Easter Eggs

As I said in my last post, we dedicated some time this week to celebrate and observe Holy Week, but it wouldn’t be Easter without some egg activities, as well!

Last Saturday, we dyed some Easter eggs.  I don’t do anything fancy; I just use the cheap Paas kits.  They more than satisfy my kids.  Before we dyed eggs, though, I read them a picture book about Easter, which talked all about Jesus and about the traditions involving eggs and bunnies.

I like how the book pointed out that the original spring festivals celebrated new life in general…and then how Christians folded that celebration into their own rejoicing over Jesus’ new life after death…and the new life He offers to us all!  Honestly, I really like the Christian tradition of taking pagan elements and infusing them with Christian meaning.  I think that kind of imaginative, transformative thinking can be so good for culture. 

Anyhow, for our purposes, it allowed us to connect the eggs-and-bunny parts of Easter back to Jesus, and to give the kids some historical context because otherwise, the eggs-bunny-Jesus connection is…a little vague:).

Okay—onto the eggs!

Dying eggs never takes as long as I think it will, but I’m always shocked by how much the kids clamor for it.  And even though it is over in ten minutes, and the kids don’t do much with them afterwards, they always seem convinced that this is an absolutely indispensable tradition.  And I must confess, I would be sad if we didn’t dye eggs at Easter!

Then this morning, we went to an Easter egg hunt that is hosted each year by some friends at church.  We went to this same hunt last year, and I love that we have this little tradition.

It was a little colder this year than last year, but the kids still enjoyed being outside.  I think they are starting to get stir crazy with anticipation for warm weather.

I love the Easter basket we bought Luke from Pottery Barn Kids when he was a baby.  It is monogrammed and everything.  Imagine my surprise when I proudly dug it out of the attic this morning and presented it to Luke, only to have him raise his eyebrows and say, “Mom—really??”

Okay, so maybe he’s outgrowing the Pottery Barn basket:).  His dad did look for a Star Wars basket last night at Wal-Mart, only to inform me that the Easter-Star Wars market is sadly going untapped.

Anyhow, back to the Easter egg hunt:  before the hunt, we enjoyed some brunch food.  I’m not going to lie; this part was my favorite.  I love brunch food.  I host baby showers just so I can schedule them on my terms and serve brunch:).

Luke was so eager for the egg hunt to start. This was his face when Anna came running up to him with his Easter basket, telling him it was time:

And here is the crowd:

And they’re off!

Full baskets and muddy knees = happy children!

It was a fun day!  And now the kids are asleep in bed, probably dreaming of the Easter basket that will be there when they wake up!

Our Holy Week Activities

Every year, I try to find ways to keep our Easter celebrations focused on Jesus.  This year, I found a great list of ideas on a blog post called, “How to Make Easter About Jesus.”  For each day of Holy Week, the author had listed sections of Scripture to read, along with the corresponding stories in The Jesus Storybook Bible, as well as a link to a kids’ audio Bible.  There was also some kind of project or activity for each day.  I checked out The Jesus Storybook Bible from the library, and we generally read out of that each day to keep continuity.

We actually didn’t do our Palm Sunday activities on Sunday because that day was so busy for us.  So on Monday morning, we read about Jesus’ triumphal entry to Jerusalem…and then we acted it out!

First, we made our palm branches using our palms (haha!), and branches that the kids found in the yard.

Next, we prepared the path.  The Bible says that people threw their coats down in Jesus’ path:

And then we needed a cheering crowd:

Then it was time for Jesus to come riding on “his” donkey:

It was hard to get good pictures because of the low light, but these at least give a sense of the action!:)

After one triumphal entry, we rotated roles:

Lastly, Anna wanted to be the donkey:

True to her character, she was a stubborn donkey and ended up running off from out from under Jesus’ legs!

Since we were a day behind, we did our second project after school that same day.  First, we read about the woman who poured the expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet.  Then we talked about how Jesus cares about our hearts.  Even though the Pharisees with whom Jesus was eating looked good on the outside, Jesus knew that their hearts were sinful.  In contrast, the woman who poured the perfume was sinful on the outside, but the beauty of her heart shone through her actions.  We talked about how God sees our hearts—which worked out well, since we were reading about David this week in The Story.  Thus, I was able to reference that story’s famous line, and the children immediately recognized it.

Then, we made a candle holder to help us remember the principle.

Just like the candle shines beautifully through the paper, our heart shines through our actions that bring glory to God.

On Tuesday, we read about Jesus washing His disciples’ feet, and for our activity, the kids took turns washing each others’ feet!  The blog post suggested that they go outside and get their feet all muddy, but I didn’t think we would do that because it was freezing outside.  However, the kids were insistent that they get their feet all dirty—so they did!

On Wednesday, we read about Jesus’ last supper, and then we pretended to have our own last supper.  Only, I didn’t have grape juice, so we used apple juice instead.

On Thursday, we read about the garden of Gethsemane.  (Me, reading:  “And so Jesus and his disciples went into the garden of olives.”  Anna:  “I love Olive Garden!”)

After we read the story (and listened to the audio version), we made a “night garden scene,” using heated aluminum foil and crayons. 

The kids loved the novelty of this at first, but neither of them ended up drawing for very long.

Friday was rainy, and our activity was to take place outside, so we skipped that part.  On Saturday, we read about Jesus dying and being laid in the tomb, and then we made “Empty Tombs.”

I explained to the kids that the marshmallow represented Jesus, and that the crescent roll was the tomb in which He was sealed.  In theory, the marshmallow was supposed to disappear while it was baking.  In reality, I opened the oven, and about half of the crescent rolls had marshmallows oozing out of them, making me think that maybe this wasn’t such a good analogy after all.  However, some of them turned out beautifully, and I gave those to the kids:

 

It’s empty!

And delicious.

In the morning, we will read about the Jesus’ resurrection.  I know that the kids are most excited about their Easter baskets, but my hope is that, even as they are rejoicing over candy and toys, they don’t forget the reason behind the celebration.  (Also, while I was looking over this before posting, Luke joined me and excitedly reviewed the pictures.  Then he told me, “We should do these activities every year!”  I’m glad that they enjoyed them so much.)

iPhone Photo Dump: Late March 2013

I have several things I want to blog about, our Easter activities being chief among them, but before I get to all that, I feel that I must give a shout-out to some of the “little moments” of this past week and a half.

Last Thursday, there was a package from Gaga waiting for us when we got home from the Discovery Center.  In it was some really cool swimwear for the kids:

There were also several outfits for Anna, some picked out by my mom and some by my cousin, Lyndi, whom mom commissioned to shop for Anna, alongside shopping for her own daughter and niece, both of whom are about Anna’s age.  I usually take pictures of the kids with the things in packages to send to the sender (usually Gaga), and can I tell you how giddy Anna was to model all of her outfits for Gaga and me??

Well…maybe I should just show you:

And believe me—these are just a small sampling of the poses I captured that evening.  Mom and I were rolling.  Where does Anna get these ideas?

Okay, moving on…

Both Luke and Anna love the “Teach Me” apps for the iPad.  One of Anna’s Teach Me exercise has her tap the sight word that the “teacher” calls out.  So inspired was she by this that she made a real life version for Luke and I to play.

On Friday, we enjoyed going out to breakfast with Greg’s mom and grandma.  I love this picture he took of four generations of Kirby ladies!

Here’s a little view before Sunday morning church.  Luke is usually nowhere to be found because he usually sits with his friend, Brown.  Today was no exception.

On Sunday afternoon, the kids and I went to see Greg at our youth group’s Spring Retreat and to visit Gramma Dottie.  We had a great time playing Scooby Doo BINGO with her.

Some silliness before school on Monday.

On Monday afternoon, Greg wanted to do something together as a family since he had been gone all weekend on a retreat and since he was about to leave the next day for another trip.  Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy, and we had already exhausted most of our “indoor” field trip options.  Thus, after school, we all decided to go to Opry Mills mall.

The kids spent some of their allowance money:

And they enjoyed a ride on the carousel.

It was a really fun trip that capped a really fun day.  I am currently loving homeschooling right now.  I hope to write a post soon that properly captures my love, but I’m having a hard time finding the words.

On Tuesday, it snowed!  I snapped this picture on my college campus to help encapsulate the weirdness of this particular spring.

The kids continue to be enthralled by our old Thomas tracks.  I let them build and keep up their track all week, and then we take it down on Saturday so I can vacuum.  Since they were stepping all over it watching the game last night, I convinced them to go ahead and take it down so that they would have more room to play.  To help ease the sorrow of parting, I agreed to take a picture of their masterpiece.

I will do a fuller post about our first semi-engaged March Madness later, but it will suffice to say that Luke spent most of the Louisville game last night trying to piece together a Roman soldier costume (we had studied the Roman military that morning in school).

And Anna spent a great amount of time carefully reading every flap in our Usborne See Inside Your Body Book.  So while my husband was debating the merits of the referees, I was helping Luke fasten a sock to the back of a plastic lid with packing tape for a handle while simultaneously telling Anna how to pronounce “cochlear.”

We weren’t greatly involved fans:).

Today we have a big day planned, and I can’t wait to blog about it and all of our Easter activities.  And our stinky house incident.  And our March Madness experience.  But for now, I just wanted to share some of those little moments that can get lost in the midst of more exciting things.  More later!