Easter

The week before Easter, the city held an Easter egg hunt. The hunt itself was over in the matter of minutes, but they also had a super cute petting zoo and some crafts (just painting, actually). It was colder than I expected, so we weren't as warm as we should have been, but we still had fun playing, seeing the Easter bunny, and getting some eggs. Andrew liked getting eggs and especially liked playing on the playground. He wanted to watch the animals until every single one got onto the trailer at the end - we were almost the last to leave. Seth was in heaven with all the animals and wanted to touch every one. He really loves them. I have to say, the baby camel was about the cutest thing ever, but I wonder what they do with the animals once they are grown ...







My goal with Easter is to make it a big deal in our house, more akin to Christmas. I think this year was an improvement over last year, but I still have high hopes to do even better next year (hopefully, I'll be done with my PhD by then and have some more discretionary time). This is what we did this year:

Palm Sunday - we made faux palm branches (Andrew tried his hand for the first time with scissors) and acted out the Triumphal Entry.




Daily - we tried to do scripture reading. We also talked about what happened of significance on that day and we put up a wall of pictures, added as each event occurred in Jesus' life that week. Our babysitter loved the pictures and wondered where we got them - maybe I should get her a Gospel Art Kit!



Monday - We introduced the Resurrection eggs for family night. Each egg (12 of them) has a little thing inside to remind us of an event in Easter (for example). Andrew loved this last year and loves it this year. He still wants to do it every day and he can tell you what every egg means, too.



Thursday - I really wanted to talk about the symbolism of Passover and eat some lamb, but alas, we went on a date night instead. Next year!

Friday - Nothing special, really. I have grand plans for next year. And I forgot to make the hot cross buns!!!

Saturday - Well, it was a little crazy with General Conference ... (not again until 2015!). But we made hot cross buns - they didn't rise very well, but they still tasted good:



We did a "Jesus dinner", as we called it, where we ate food like Jesus ate for supper. This year was pretty simple with a lentil soup and grape juice. But just wait, I have better plans for next year.

While Katsu was at Priesthood Session, Andrew and I made Resurrection Cookies. He was almost as excited on Sunday morning to see if the oven was still taped up as he was to get his Easter eggs.



Sunday - We did the obligatory easter egg hunt around the house. Both the boys loved it. No pictures as we took video instead. We also sat down and talked about easter and did a mini testimony meeting (very mini - think like 2 minutes).

We also had a ham for dinner and shared some of our easter treats with our neighbor, Martha. She was very kind and had gotten the boys easter baskets, too, only hers were complete with stuffed animals, ducks in eggs that "hatch" in the water, and candy. Ours only had candy (though we also bought the boys a kite, too).