Happy Easter

So Corbin's Easter picture is actually a still frame of a video.
Because the real Corbin never actually is still!
I love that this shot captured his naughty expression.

We had a pretty traditional holiday, this year.

-We ate a big breakfast (hootenannies with blueberry compote and creme fresh)

-a plastic egg hunt for the kids (the Easter bunny is brilliant and puts mini marshmallows, pretzels, animal crackers, teddy grahams, and goldfish in the eggs, so the children can empty their eggs into plastic baggies and enjoy a day of snack mix instead of over loading on candy.)

-Easter basket loot (new school backpacks, glitter glue, garden gloves, and hello kitty underwear for Reese and Quincy, plastic bugs, a Biscuit book, a car, Buzz underwear, and a garden shovel for Corbin.)

-Easter dresses for Reese and Quincy and a new shirt for Corbin

-Watching The Lamb of God as a family

-Church (with exceptional music...beautiful job, Hillary!)

-a yummy turkey dinner (yup turkey, not ham, per Aaron's request) with mashed potatoes (the real kind, NOT per Aaron's request), gravy, roasted asparagus, watermelon, grandma Lynn's Relief Society raspberry jell-o salad, and a homemade chocolate raspberry cheesecake. It was pretty incredible, and dinner was even more special because we had the company of my parents and auntie Kasey with us.

I love that Easter hymns are full of Alleluias and I think we should sing these songs all year, because the great news of the resurrection is not just for Easter Sunday. Some of my favorite hymns are Easter hymns and seem to be held hostage for one Sunday a year. We should sing them all month long...no, all year long.

I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and His great Atonement. I could do nothing without His selfless gift and I am grateful for His love and sacrifice.

Christ lives, and while he lives I'll sing.

Alleluia! Happy Easter, everyone!

The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens

For book club, this month, we read The Life of Our Lord by Charles Dickens. It is 32 pages long and you can read it here, for free. I thought the piece was really touching, not just because of my personal relationship with the subject matter, but also because of the tone of the text. Charles Dickens wrote this specifically for his children, in words they would understand, with examples they could relate to. It is written almost like a letter, addressing the young children as children and testifiying of Christ to a young audience. Brilliant. One thing that my friend pointed out was that after all that Dickens wrote and was famous for, this was the legacy he decided to leave behind for his children. His testimony of Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer of men. It is the New Testament squished into a 32 page description, in the simplest of words.
It is full of wonderful advice from a wise father to his children.
Be kind. Be good. Be charitable. Be gentle. Be forgiving. Be like Jesus.

Easter

The kids were up waaaaaay to early on Easter Sunday.

The egg hunting began immediately. The eggs had traditional Willy House contents of mini oreos, goldfish, mini marshmallows, teddy grahams, peanut butter filled pretzels, jelly beans, and other goodies and each kid got a baggie to dump their treats into to make a snack mix for the movie. We watched The Lamb of God and talked about the Last Supper, the Atonement, the Resurrection, and the Sacrament with the kids. I love that they are getting old enough to really participate and add to discussions about gospel principles.


The Young Women in our ward held a fundraiser for girls camp that weekend, so we bought orange rolls from them to have for breakfast.

Corbin was a big fan.

The Easter baskets held new gluesticks for school, watercolors, Tinkerbell and Tiana underwear, a car, Peeps (gross), and the movie Despicable Me.

The girls were able to wear their Easter dresses from last year again (thanks, Auntie HolleeAnn!) and their dolls wore dresses to match. I wanted to take a picture in front of our dogwood like we usually do, but it was so stormy outside that we forgot about a photo until everyone was in pajamas again.

I baked a spiral ham, rolls, and fingerling potatoes in browned butter (new addiction...as if butter couldn't get any bettter-it can!) for dinner. Everything was really yummy and some of the leftover ham went into a pot of beans the next day. Perfect for a rainy rainy rainy weekend.

I love my little family.

Friendly Frogs: Eggs and Easter

Book: An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston
Book: Eggs by Marilyn Singer
Book: First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Book: The Egg by M.P. Robertson
Book: Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs by Janet Morgan Stoeke
Book: The Story of Jesus by Patricia Pingry

Share: Bring eggs

Fine Motor: Dying Eggs for Easter!

Science: We read Eggs by Marilyn Singer and talked about how eggs come in many colors other than white. Since springtime is when baby birds are usually born, we like to dye eggs to remind us of the pretty colored eggs that we see when spring is here. The illustrations in the book are great and show a lot of “actual size” drawings. The kids thought the hummingbird eggs were so tiny, they couldn’t believe a bird can come out of it!

Discussion: Read The Story of Jesus by Patricia Pingry. Who is Jesus and why do we celebrate Easter? (This is the part where I am happy to run my own preschool, and can actually have a Christian based discussion with the children.) I used a couple photos from the LDS Gospel Art Kit and we had a very simple lesson about the true meaning of Easter.

Math: Egg Matching game

Sensory: Musical Instruments-provide a variety of toy instruments, recorders, rhythm sticks, microphones, tambouries, maracas and recorders for the children to explore.
It was noisy up in here!

Gross Motor: Easter Egg Hunt! Before I told the children that I had hidden eggs all over the garden, we read Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs. Minerva Louise is a chicken, and she wakes up to find a stray egg in the yard. She is very concerned that one of the hens has abandoned this peculiar egg. Then she finds another egg, and another! Stray eggs all over the yard! What's a chicken to do?! She asks a (chocolate) bunny where the eggs came from, but gets no response. She runs back to the hen house and rounds up the other hens to help her sit on all the eggs in the yard to keep them warm, but when they return, the colorful eggs are gone, and there are a dozen children playing and having a picnic. The kids think it is funny to hear about an easter egg hunt from the perspective of a chicken. When the children were looking for eggs, I put one of our chickens in the garden and said, "Look! It's Minerva Louise! What are you doing with her colorful eggs?!" They thought it was hilarious. I thought Quincy was going to pass out she was laughing so hard. I love preschoolers, because I can be totally silly when I am teaching, and the kids are young enough that they laugh, rather than just look at me like I am nuts.

Candy Loot = Egg Hunt success!

Art: Bunny Bags

No egg hunt is complete without something to put the eggs in.

Science: Examining egg shells under the magnifying glass.

"He Lives, and While He Lives, I'll Sing...."

Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter!

Happy Easter!

From our family to yours, Happy Easter! We hope this day was filled with fun, happiness, and reflections of how we can use the great gift of our Savior's atonement in your lives. The healing power in His sacrifice is real. He lives. He loves us.