Easter Recap

Easter was extra special this year since Trip was actually excited about it and understood more about what we were doing and celebrating. As pastors of a small church, though, Easter is also a crazy time.

We decided to remodel the foyer of our church the week before Easter, which was a crazy but worthwhile endeavor. With the help of many people, we sanded and re-stained the wainscoting, painted the walls (half of them twice because our paint had not been mixed properly at the store and was darker at the bottom of the can), and built a coffee bar/information table. The transformation was really spectacular and it's very refreshing to walk into a warm contemporary space rather than a very outdated one.

Another group of volunteers helped us stuff a thousand plastic eggs with candy and put on our second annual Easter egg hunt for the kids in our community. We had a great turnout and will probably have to double the number of eggs we do next year. Last year, Trip didn't care about finding eggs, but this year, he was much more interested.

He was also very determined to get to the picnic tables and see what was in those eggs.

With so many projects going on, I was thankful that we had done some fun Easter activities before things got crazy. Trip did enjoy a couple of Easter egg baths. One with just some plastic eggs

and the other with some glowing eggs. With a little work, a glow bracelet will fit inside a medium/large plastic egg and makes for a fun bath toy or nighttime egg hunt.

Trip also enjoyed lots of surprises from our extended family, including a large egg filled with goodies that his Aunt T sent him in the mail.

Resurrection Rolls

One evening with some other friends over, we made resurrection rolls. I found the idea here from the Happy Home Fairy (a great site!) and couldn't wait to try it. It was a good thing that we did this with some older kids because Trip wasn't too into it. His friends, on the other hand, had an amazing time and their mom told me that she had to hear the story from each of the three kids when they got home.

All you need are marshmallows, Crescent rolls, melted butter, and cinnamon sugar.

The pure white marshmallow represents Jesus. Roll the marshmallow in the butter, which can either represent Jesus taking our sins upon himself when He died on the cross, or the water that was used to wash Jesus' body during the burial process.

Then roll the marshmallow in the cinnamon sugar, reminding us of the herbs and spices that were used to anoint Jesus' body. This can also represent that Jesus' death was a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God.

 The crescent roll dough represents the linen strips that were used to wrap Jesus' body.

Make sure that you seal the dough tightly around the marshmallow, pinching all of the edges together, then place them on a baking sheet. Put them in the tomb/oven and bake according to the package directions.

Once the rolls are baked, let them cool for a few minutes and have the children think about what surprise awaits them when they get to eat their treat.

They were super surprised to open their rolls and were amazed to discover that they were empty. Jesus has risen and all that was left in the tomb were the linens!

Although Trip didn't care to help us make the rolls, he sure did enjoy eating one and still talks about how Jesus was gone.

Easter Egg Hunt Lunch

Last week was spring break, so we had the opportunity to have some of Trip's friends over when they would normally be at school. I took the chance to try a couple of fun food activities that I've seen online, knowing they would be more fun with a few friends instead of just Trip by himself.

I found this pin on Pinterest and was sold on the idea of an Easter egg hunt lunch immediately. I washed some plastic eggs, counting out four of each color since we would have four kids eating lunch. I then filled them with finger food. We had six colors of eggs, so I came up with six different fillings. I used cheese cubes, pepperoni, carrots, grapes, oyster crackers, and a mix or raisins and M&Ms.

While the kids were busy painting, I was able to sneak around the house and hide the eggs. I then gave each of them half of an egg carton and set them loose to find one of each color of egg. They were excited to fill their tray and helped each other find any missing colors.

Once the cartons were full, they headed to the table to discover what they had for lunch. They were all quite pleased with what they found and did a great job of cleaning their plates.

This lunch was such a hit that I re-created it for Trip to take to his babysitter's house and share with his friends there. I think it would be fun to do an egg hunt breakfast too. It could be a fun thing to wake up to anytime.

You've Been Egged!

We have been having lots of Easter fun lately. All week long, I will be sharing some fun and easy last-minute Easter activities.

I'm starting with something that I hope will become a tradition for us. Trip didn't help me with it this year, but I know it will be fun for him in the coming years. The idea of egging friends is all over Pinterest. No, this does not mean throwing raw eggs at your friends' houses. It means filling some plastic eggs with candy (or little prizes/gifts) and some kind notes about your friends, then sneaking over to their house, hiding the eggs around their front lawn, and leaving a note on their door letting them know they've been egged. If you do this during the day, you can ring the doorbell and run!

I filled 13 eggs with candy and 5 with slips of paper telling our friends some things we appreciate about them. I also made a paper to put on their door. You can find it here if you'd like to print one for yourself. I went over to our friends' house at 7 o'clock on Sunday morning and quickly hid most of the eggs in their front yard, leaving a few in very obvious places so that they couldn't miss them when they opened the door or looked out the window. I taped the sign to the door, and drove off thankful that their curtains had stayed closed and I hadn't been spotted.

A few hours later when we saw each other at church, our friends were pretty sure that I had been the culprit of the egging, so I owned up to it. They had enjoyed their surprise and were already planning who they would egg.

Depending on where you live and how well you know the people you are egging, it may be good to tell the parents what you're up to or sign the notes so that they know that the candy is safe to eat.