Easter Traditions

I absolutely LOVE Easter! It ties with Christmas as my two favorite holidays. What could be more worthy of celebrating than the birth and resurrection of Christ?!?!

Every year, it seems that Easter means more and more to me. I love studying the death and resurrection in the weeks leading up to Easter, but it always makes me so emotional. It is hard to think of the physical pain that Jesus went through in the hours leading up to his death and the horrific torturous death that He endured. I'm so grateful that my Savior was willing to pay that price for me. Aren't you? I'm also eternally (literally!) thankful that He didn't stay in the tomb, but rose again!

Today Clayton and I made "Resurrection Rolls." I love the Resurrection Cookie recipe that we used last year, and I plan to make those again with him this weekend. I love the way that it uses scriptures throughout the recipe to tell the Easter story. But, this was a fun, quick recipe to try. It also tasted better (in my opinion) than the meringue cookies. You can't go wrong with Crescent rolls, butter, and cinnamon/sugar. Ha! ;)

Resurrection Rolls:

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 pkg. jumbo size marshmallows
1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 small dish of cinnamon/sugar mix
wax paper

Separate the uncooked rolls and spread out on wax paper.

Give each child a marshmallow. Explain that the marshmallow with its white color represents Jesus who was pure and without sin. Have children place the marshmallow in the middle of their roll and fold/roll the dough until the marshmallow is completely covered up.
Explain how Jesus was laid in the tomb and how the tomb was sealed. (Be sure all of the edges are "pinched" together!)
Then tell the children how normally when people were buried in Jesus' time someone anointed them with oils and spices, but that Jesus' friends had to wait because the Sabbath was upon them and they could not go into the tomb. (During this time, have the children dip their "tomb" in the butter and then in the sugar/cinnamon mix.)
Then explain that they had to wait three days until they could come into the tomb. At this point, put the rolls in the oven and bake according to the directions on the crescent roll can.

When baked, give each child a tomb. Ask them to "open" it and see what the women found when they went to the tomb the first Easter morning!
The "tomb" is empty! Celebrate, Rejoice, and Eat!

After eating one (or a bunch!) of the rolls, we dyed Easter eggs. We had fun together while Little Brother was napping. Maybe next year Drew will be old enough to join in the fun. ;)


When Drew woke up, Clayton showed him the eggs. He kept saying, "Ball. Ball."

What a fun day we had!

Disney On Ice

On Sunday afternoon, my friend, Katy, and I took Avery & Clayton to see Disney on Ice. The kids had a ball (Katy & I did too!). We had great tickets, and the kids were both memorized by the show. Wade was sweet to stay home with Drew, so that Clayton & I could have a Mommy/Son date. :)

"Whoa!"

All of the characters in the opening number.

Clayton's favorites were all there. Peter Pan & Wendy...

Mickey himself...

Aladdin & Jasmine...

all of the princesses...

and the whole Toy Story Crew!

If you remember back to our Disneyland trip, Clayton had a little crush on Alice from Alice In Wonderland. Well, as luck would have it, Alice was a part of Disney on Ice. I whispered to Clayton, "Look! Alice is waving at you! She must remember you..." He turned 50 shades of red and sunk back in his seat. Ha!
It was a fun way to spend the afternoon with my boy! Clayton and I have been testing each other pretty much daily lately - we're too much alike, I guess. It was good for my soul to have a fun afternoon with him. :)

Family Field Day

On Saturday our church hosted Family Field Day as an outreach to the community. They had tons of free food, bounce houses, games, face painting, a petting zoo, and pony rides. It was awesome! The staff planned the event as an outreach to invite everyone in the community to come and worship with us on Easter Sunday. I'd say that it was a huge success! There were GOBS of people, and we are hoping that they will all join us for Easter services.

Our sweet babysitter, Catherine, met us in the parking lot as soon as we arrived. She took Clayton by the hand and off they went to play the day away. She stayed with him the entire time and took him wherever he wanted to go. Mind you, she wasn't "on the clock." We are so blessed with a babysitter that loves our kids and enjoys hanging out with them (even when we aren't paying her to do so!). We love Miss Catherine!

Catherine and Clayton had a race on the bungee wall. I think that Catherine won... ;)

The petting zoo was really fun, too. Drew didn't really want to pet any of the animals, though. He was content to just look at them from a distance.

Clayton loved the baby pig.

Both kids loved the pony rides!

Clayton got his face painted like a puppy.

Wade & Brent worked the bounce house for an hour. When the crowds had died down a bit, they let the little kids have a "baby bounce." They all LOVED it!

Drew & his BFF, Luke

Drew borrowed Luke's cool Aunt Jamie for a little bounce time.

Even with all of the super fun activities of the day, I think that Drew smiled the biggest when I let him wear my sunglasses for a few minutes. Ha ha! Those glasses are ridiculously HUGE! (I was channeling my inner Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen when I bought them...)
A good time was had by all! Our staff and all of the volunteers did a great job organizing such a fun day.

A Day in the Garden

Friday was a gorgeous, warm Spring day! The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the tulips were in full bloom. My friend/neighbor, Katy, asked me to take some pictures of her family, and I knew just where to take them. We headed to the Botanical Gardens in Grapevine to snap some portraits.

I took the pictures of Katy's family - 2 daughters ages 6 and 13. Easy, peasy. Everyone smiled right on cue and looked directly at the camera. Then Katy was kind enough to help me get some pictures of my boys. Not so easy, peasy....

All I wanted was a picture of my two little darlings in their coordinating outfits gazing lovingly at me with their darling little {completely unforced} dimpled smiles. Is that too much to ask???

Um, yeah.

It was torture. I tried every trick in the book, but no dice. :( I did get a few decent ones...













But I got a lot more terrible ones. Ha! These are my favorite bloopers...

So much for frolicking in the sunshine and capturing priceless portraits. Perhaps my standards are a bit too high... ;)