Easter Pictures

Notice the "colored hand" along with the "colored egg"!!

Darin's good idea for modifying the egg dying for Esther. A plastic egg with stickers! How ingenious!

Can you note Adrian's excitement and yet self control in letting his little sister pick up the egg instead of him!!

Nathan Orlando hid the eggs with his cousin. They did a great job of finding creative places to put them that weren't too easy or too hard.

I think Elliot was having to look into the sun because he is scowling in all his pix! Poor kid bloodied his lip right before all our friends came over. He and Adrian were playing Simon Says in the basement and he claims that Adrian told him to bonk his lip into something! ???

Movie night with popcorn and milkshakes.

Daddy's always make a better chair than the couch does!

For Easter this year we started some new traditions. We dyed Easter eggs, of course, or rather, we dyed the skin of our hands as we used the whole hand to lower the eggs into the vinegar solution and then used our whole hand to remove it and then put it into another color, which in the end, all the colors were the same.... It's a good thing Darin was there to keep the mood light, because I must have some perfectionist in me that wanted to have a 5 year old and 3 year old making perfect eggs and not coloring everything else in addition to the eggs :) Then Saturday night we made some Easter cookies (recipe to follow) Then on Easter morning, we hid the kids' baskets in the house and they each had to find their own, which only had about 2 eggs with jelly beans in it and then about 6 with Easter icons in them like the cross and the purple robe and the crown of thorns. Then Darin read them the verses associated with each icon and talked about what it meant. It was cool. Then after church we had some friends over, the Reiersons, Diffenbaughs, and Orlandos, for a lunch and an egg hunt for the kids. It was pretty chilly and breezy outside, so we had to cancel the park picnic we had planned and opted out for a cozy fire in the basement. It was a good day. We ended it by renting a cartoon on Redbox and eating popcorn and milkshakes in the basement.

EASTER STORY COOKIES

To be made the evening before Easter

You need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp. Vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape
Bible
Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important-don't wait until you're half done with the recipe)!

Place pecans in zipper baggies and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested. He was beaten by the Roman soldiers.
Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. Vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink.
Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.
Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin.
Read Luke 23:27.

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him.
Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents --in God's eyes -- the purity of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.
Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper-covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.
Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.
Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that
Jesus' tomb was sealed.
Read Matthew 27:65-66.

GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.
Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie.

Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow!

On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.
Read Matthew 28:1-9