We hope everyone had a great Easter. This year I think my kids finally got it. They may each have got it on a different level, but this was the first year that I felt like they all shared some joy and understanding in this holiday. We celebrated the ressurection of our savior in several ways this year.
First in our celebration was getting crafty. We had lots of fun getting our hands busy making decorations for our home. We pulled out feathers,glue, sequins, pom-poms, pipe cleaners and construction paper to make our simple and adorable spring creations. We had chicks popping out of eggs, fuzzy bunny's, stained glass window eggs made from melted crayons, and decorative crosses. Each day was a new project and the kids really got into it.
Of course a few days before Easter there was the traditional, and more commercialized Easter egg hunt with hundreds of plastic eggs filled with gobs of candy, stickers, bubbles, and other fun prizes. We had many of our friends over to share the fun with us and there were plenty of eggs for everyone to find, more than enough sugar to give them all a buzz, and tons of great photos ops. For anyone who didn't get in on it with us this year, we are sorry and didn't mean to exclude you, it was really a last minute idea, but we hope to have another fun gathering next year.
Then of course there was the actual dying of easter eggs. Knowing how
much all of my kids enjoy making a mess, this is something I look forward to and dread at the same time. I have decided to take it all in a stride and see the inevitable mess as a great photo opportunity and just picture the cute scrapbook pages that will follow (some year when I get them actually made) and enjoy the moments of creativity just as much as my children do. This year we dyed just 3 dozen eggs. Not too overwhelming a number so it went by very quickly with 5 kids dying eggs (my niece Tori joined us for this activity). We had two basic dye kits, some crayons, five unusually patient, generous and kind spirited kids and loads of creativity that led to some beautiful easter art. 
For the past few Easter's we have added another activity into our Easter eggs, they are called ressurection eggs. It is a kit we bought at our local Christian book store. They are a dozen plastic eggs each a different color and conatining a different momento of the Easter story to help bring the story to life. My kids love each of the miniture figures and replicas, and it helps hold their attention and brings details to light while we go through the story of the ultimate display of love.
We also spent lots of time reading Easter books and talking about the meaning of Easter.
Remembering what a wise children's minister had shared with me about letting God use the gore for the purpose of getting their attention, I shared the story more vividly then I had in the past. To this day I can't mention the name of Jesus without one of my boys going into some kind of detail about how He was beaten, forced to wear a crown of thorns, then nailed to wood to die on the cross. But it wasn't until I asked Philip why Jesus did that, that I could see how the message sunk in. And in the words of my blunt four year old were wise words far deeper then I expected "So we can go to heaven mom, just so we can go to heaven, it doesn't make sense." And surely it doesn't, who are we to be worthy of such gift of grace?
First in our celebration was getting crafty. We had lots of fun getting our hands busy making decorations for our home. We pulled out feathers,glue, sequins, pom-poms, pipe cleaners and construction paper to make our simple and adorable spring creations. We had chicks popping out of eggs, fuzzy bunny's, stained glass window eggs made from melted crayons, and decorative crosses. Each day was a new project and the kids really got into it.
Of course a few days before Easter there was the traditional, and more commercialized Easter egg hunt with hundreds of plastic eggs filled with gobs of candy, stickers, bubbles, and other fun prizes. We had many of our friends over to share the fun with us and there were plenty of eggs for everyone to find, more than enough sugar to give them all a buzz, and tons of great photos ops. For anyone who didn't get in on it with us this year, we are sorry and didn't mean to exclude you, it was really a last minute idea, but we hope to have another fun gathering next year.
Then of course there was the actual dying of easter eggs. Knowing how
much all of my kids enjoy making a mess, this is something I look forward to and dread at the same time. I have decided to take it all in a stride and see the inevitable mess as a great photo opportunity and just picture the cute scrapbook pages that will follow (some year when I get them actually made) and enjoy the moments of creativity just as much as my children do. This year we dyed just 3 dozen eggs. Not too overwhelming a number so it went by very quickly with 5 kids dying eggs (my niece Tori joined us for this activity). We had two basic dye kits, some crayons, five unusually patient, generous and kind spirited kids and loads of creativity that led to some beautiful easter art. 
For the past few Easter's we have added another activity into our Easter eggs, they are called ressurection eggs. It is a kit we bought at our local Christian book store. They are a dozen plastic eggs each a different color and conatining a different momento of the Easter story to help bring the story to life. My kids love each of the miniture figures and replicas, and it helps hold their attention and brings details to light while we go through the story of the ultimate display of love.
We also spent lots of time reading Easter books and talking about the meaning of Easter.
Remembering what a wise children's minister had shared with me about letting God use the gore for the purpose of getting their attention, I shared the story more vividly then I had in the past. To this day I can't mention the name of Jesus without one of my boys going into some kind of detail about how He was beaten, forced to wear a crown of thorns, then nailed to wood to die on the cross. But it wasn't until I asked Philip why Jesus did that, that I could see how the message sunk in. And in the words of my blunt four year old were wise words far deeper then I expected "So we can go to heaven mom, just so we can go to heaven, it doesn't make sense." And surely it doesn't, who are we to be worthy of such gift of grace?
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