A New Easter Tradition?

Jon and I were talking about our traditional Easter supper Tuesday night and debating about what to cook.  Each year we've made something different but we always try to keep it special.  And Wednesday morning, A Holy Experience's blog post popped up in my email entitled "The Best Easter Dinner".   What timing and what an interesting concept.  Ann Voskamp writes about starting a new tradition with a Messianic Seder.  With beautiful writing and beautiful pictures, I would love to bring this tradition into our home.  I'm not sure where I'll find leg of lamb here in our town but I would love to add even more special meaning to the Easter celebration.  I encourage you to check it out and maybe you'll begin a new tradition in your home as well!

Resurrection Eggs

Can you believe Easter is 12 days away!  I found this Resurrection Countdown on Pinterest back in February and was excited to do this with Buddy and Sweetpea.  Of course, with Ladybug, Easter almost snuck up on me but we have our egg carton ready to go.  (Confession, I'm still compiling the last few days of materials.)

What I like most is that the countdown teaches about Jesus and what He did.  I want Buddy and Sweetpea to enjoy the passages with Jesus as much as they enjoy David and Goliath and Daniel and the lions. 
As we open our eggs each day, I'm looking forward to teaching and learning about Jesus! 

If you are looking for a different Easter countdown, check out The Story of the Resurrection Eggs in Rhyme and Song.

Easter Recipes

Today Buddy and I made a Resurrection Cake, well Buddy helped me mix up the cake but I did a lot of the decorating since Buddy just wanted to lick the icing from the beaters.  Here is a photo of the final project. 

We just used a box cake mix and I cut out the cooled cake into the empty tomb shape.  It is a fairly simple design but Buddy started really talking about Jesus and the tomb.  My favorite quote from today was "Jesus was not buried.  That's just not cool."  I can understand his confusion as many of the books we've read have gone straight from the cross to the open tomb and Jesus' resurrection.  Jon and I kept explaining that Jesus was buried in a tomb and then resurrected but Buddy insisted that Jesus wasn't because "that's just not cool!".  This will be Sweetpea and Buddy's dessert with our nice Easter supper tomorrow night.

Another recipe that we will be trying out tomorrow is the Resurrection Rolls from DLTK's Growing Together.  It will be interesting to see Buddy's reaction to the disappearing marshmallow.  I am hoping that Sweetpea will want to try this easy recipe with us too even if she just plays with the crescent rolls.

Finally, a classic Easter treat is the Resurrection Cookie.  This is a great recipe for older children as it has a Bible verse to go along with each step of the recipe.  I've put this in my folder to try next year with Buddy and Sweetpea. 

I hope you have a blessed Easter tomorrow! 

"He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay."  Matthew 28:6

Unfinished Work...

Here are a few things that we started today but never finished. 

Buddy, Sweetpea, and I started making the Easter Mobile.  Buddy was having too much fun coloring so all my photos turned out a little blurry.

Sweetpea joined in on the fun with her red crayon.

 After we finished coloring, I put the pages aside to cut out later, which turned into after Buddy and Sweetpea were in bed.

While I was waiting for a chance to cut out the crosses and verse for the mobile and crayons were out, I thought we could start shredding crayons for our Stained Glass Cross.  Buddy had a blast shredding the crayons and even though Sweetpea wanted to join, I just let her continue to color.

 We now have a lovely pile of crayon shavings waiting to be used tomorrow on my counter top.

Now you may be wondering why we started all of the crafts and not have time to finish them.  Today was one of those days that Buddy and Sweetpea were the best of friends and I did not want to stop their playing to continue with craft time.  It warms my heart to see them enjoy spending time together and to see Buddy showing Sweetpea how to do things.  Sometimes Sweetpea even shows Buddy a thing or two.  I could have redirected both of them to do what I wanted but instead I decided to take a few pictures of them and let them enjoy one another.  I even added to my list of one thousand gifts today.  Here are a few pictures of their play time.

Playing in Buddy's room.

 "Brother, will you read to me?"  Buddy gladly picture read this book to Sweetpea.

 
Blowing bubbles with Sweetpea.  Regardless of the picture, she was giggling once he quit blowing them directly into her face.

 Putting their heads together to plan more mischief.

These are the sweet moments of life and I was glad to have unfinished projects that can wait for tomorrow.

Maundy Thursday

Today is Maundy Thursday, a term that I had not heard much until I was in college, and probably never really understood until tonight.  Also a term that confuses a lot of our youth as they tend to ask, "What is Monday Thursday?"  I knew that it was a celebration of the Last Supper and the Lord's Supper but never stopped to think about the word Maundy. 
At our church, we had a Maundy Thursday service tonight and it was explained that 'Maundy' means "A new commandment".  Buddy, who was in the service, started to recite his Bible verse of John 13:34 where Jesus states, "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you so you must love one another."   While it made my Mommy heart proud, it also made me a little curious if this verse and Maundy Thursday are connected.  So I looked and found a post by John Piper at Desiring God called Thursday of the Commandment.  I hope you enjoy the post as much as I did.

New Creation Butterflies

Today we finished up the activities that I had planned for Buddy with his Bible verse this week.  He has been working on 2 Corinthians 5:17 and had it memorized a few days ago.  I finally got him to say it on video, so please excuse the Nemo pajamas...he was looking for an excuse to stay out of bed.  Is reciting Scripture an okay reason? 

I mentioned in my post 2 Corinthians 5:17 about the Easter Tot Pack at 1+1+1=1.  Buddy and Sweetpea made New Creation Butterflies today from the Easter Tot Pack and I think they turned out super cute.  Plus, it is a great automatic reminder for Buddy for his verse.  We hung them on our wall when they were finished drying.
I did not get any pictures of the process since it involved paint and a 3 year old and a 1 year old so here are the completed projects.

Buddy's Butterfly

Sweetpea's Butterfly

We are still working on a few of our Easter crafts since I was sick all day yesterday.  Hopefully we'll wrap them up by Sunday. 

More Easter Books

Here are my final recommendations of books for Easter!

The Week that Led to Easter by Joanne Larrison is a book that our church librarian helped Buddy choose and one that I have loved.  It rhymes and starts with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.  This was the perfect book to read with Buddy as we talked about Palm Sunday yesterday and as we approach Easter this week.  The illustrations are beautifully done as well and Sweetpea enjoyed pointing at various things on the pages.

Easter by Fiona French is a beautiful Easter book with words from the King James Bible.  The entire book is written in an Old English style and the illustrations look like stained glass windows.  This was a little over Buddy and Sweetpea's head as I had to change to more simplistic wordings.  Buddy also had a hard time "seeing" the pictures because of the stained glass format.  I thought it was a great book that I will definitely look for next year since it is different from anything else that we normally read. 

What is Easter? by Michelle Adams is a board book that a friend has recommended.  I have not read this book myself but she said it is a really cute book.  It explains what Easter is truly about and that our focus should be on Jesus not on chocolate, bunnies, and eggs. 

The Story of the Resurrection Eggs in Rhyme and Song by Jean Thomason and Nancy Gordon is a Miss Patty Cake book that we picked up this past weekend at our local library book sale.  I was not sure if Buddy would enjoy it but the pictures are so vivid and the whole book is great.  I love that it each Easter egg opens up a new surprise that points back to Jesus and there is a very clear salvation message in the book as well.  After reading the book, I was curious because some of the book seemed like it was set for a movie and sure enough there is a Miss Patty Cake DVD Eggstravaganza.   Miss Patty Cake has several other DVDs that look super cute so I'll definitely be keeping an eye out for them in the future. 


Egg Carton Plants Day 3:
Buddy and I watered our plants today and put them in sunlight.  I explained to him that it takes water, air, and sunlight to help plants grow.  He was pretty disappointed that it was still just dirt in our carton but I explained again that it will take a long time for plants to appear.

Palm Sunday

"Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" ~ Mark 11:9b 

Palm Sunday has always been a special time in my heart because of the memories of my childhood.  Several times growing up, each person at church would each receive a real palm frond and we would recite the verse above.  One year I remember, we, the children, were told to lay our fronds at the altar while shouting, "Hosanna!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!".  Since tomorrow is Palm Sunday so I thought I would share a few craft ideas for children.

I plan to make a construction paper palm frond with Buddy tomorrow since we do not have a real one and let him walk around the house shouting Mark 9:11b.  DLTK's Growing Together has a great palm leaf template to use to create your own frond. 

DLTK's Growing Together also has several other Palm Sunday crafts if you are interested in doing other crafts as well.

If your church passes out real fronds, I found a neat tutorial on Folding Palm Crosses.  The video shows you how to take a palm leaf and turn it into a cross.  It is a reminder that while Jesus was entering Jerusalem triumphantly, the cross was ever looming.

And finally, John Piper has an awesome explanation of the meaning of the word Hosanna if you are interested.

I hope you have a great Palm Sunday and remember to focus on the reason that Jesus was entering Jerusalem.  Hosanna!  Salvation has come!

Egg Carton Garden

Today, Buddy and I started his egg carton garden for spring time.  This is something that we are going to try to keep up with daily and hopefully in about 3-4 weeks, we'll have nice marigold and asylum blooms and fresh parsley.  Buddy has been very interested in our rose bush and comments each day when he spots a new bloom so I thought this would be a hands-on approach to help him understand plants.  It also goes along with his Bible verse, 2 Corinthians 5:17, since I think this qualifies as a new creation.

If you are interested in making an easy spring time 'garden', here is how we made our egg carton plants. 

You'll need:

1 cardboard egg carton

1 small bag of potting soil

1 or more packages of seeds (Be sure to check plant heights...it would be interesting to have a 5 foot plant growing from an egg carton)



Buddy filled each section of the egg carton with the potting soil.  Apparently, he is really excited in this photo!

 I poured the packets of seeds into my hand and he would take a small pinch of seeds and place them in the dirt.  We added another small layer of potting soil on top of each section to cover the seeds.

Buddy watered his new plants and then asked to see the flowers.  This will be a lesson in patience as well.  I recommend helping a little closer with the watering.  Buddy flooded our carton and so I know our three types of seeds, that we carefully placed in three different sections, were probably washed and blended together. Oh well, I think it will still turn out great.

The carton will be placed in a sunny section each day and carefully watered as needed.  I'm looking forward to checking for blooms with Buddy and watching his response.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Buddy's current Bible verse is 2 Corinthians 5:17, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!".  We started working on this verse yesterday and he loves the recite it after me because I let him shout the last phrase, "the new has come!".  I printed the verse poster, from the In My Heart section of Totally Tots, in grey scale and let Buddy paint it yesterday.  He gradually added crayon coloring today since it is posted on his easel.

This afternoon we made the cross from the Easter/Spring Tot pack at 1+1+1=1 to hang up in the living room.  I think it is a great decoration for our house!  I made Buddy color with crayons today but the only way he would color was if I was coloring. 

I let Sweetpea join in the fun too! 

Buddy was able to practice cutting the pieces apart.  I did the main cutting and let him work on cutting a straight line.  Buddy also glued the pieces together once I showed him where each part went.

Here is the final product!

The 1+1+1=1 pack has more Easter activities that we will be working on throughout the next few weeks and different learning activities as well.

Easter Lapbook

Today Buddy and I worked on making his Easter Lapbook from Scripture Adventures.  It is a free download to create the lapbook and it will be a great resource to help Buddy understand the true meaning of Easter.  The printables are all in black and white and so I really wanted Buddy to add color.  Knowing that he has not been a huge fan of colored pencils or crayons in a while, I opted to let him paint each section.  It worked great!  Although, his choice of color today was primarily brown and there was not much convincing him to use another color.  Oh well.  Buddy painted diligently for about an hour or so, with a few basketball breaks thrown in occasionally.  Here are a few pictures of our lapbook creating process.

Painting the dove...brown.

This was the page that made me laugh...it was soaked in brown and bled through onto our table.  I am so glad we were using watercolors.

Finally, Buddy decided to add more colors!

Sweetpea spent the time outside enjoying playing music.

The completed lapbook cover.

The inside of the lapbook.



The inside activities are not quite complete since we did not work with the flip file today.  We read the Easter Story twice and already Buddy is retaining facts about Jesus and his life.  My plan is to have Buddy tell me a fact about Jesus' Birth, Ministry, Atonement, Death on the Cross, and Resurrection.  I'll record what he says and let him draw a picture for the flip file.  I will admit that I will probably not be using the word atonement with my three year old. 

All in all, this is a great lapbook for younger and older children.  The activities can be adapted for older children and there are memory verses to go along with the lapbook.  Scripture Adventures is also offering An Easter Adventure, over 100 pages of stories, crafts, recipes, and ideas, to help make the last week of Jesus' life come alive for children.  If you are looking for ways to create new family traditions, this resource could help you do just that. 

Easter Books

If you are looking for some books to read with your child about Easter, here are a few of my recommendations.  My goal is to find books about Easter that focus on the real reason we celebrate, not just bunnies and eggs.  I am still on the hunt for a few of these but am glad to have at least one to read with Buddy.


 He is Risen Seasons of Faith Series is a book that I am hoping our public library has in stock.  It is a Precious Moments illustrated book that follows the last days of Christ's life, death, and resurrection.  It focuses on the true meaning of Easter.  Each page has a beautiful Precious Moments picture along with a Scripture verse that can be easily memorized.  Buddy will be working on his Easter verses soon and I hope to be able to find this book with one of his verses.

He is Risen from the Dalmatian Press is a book that we are currently reading.  Buddy has enjoyed reading this book several times but Sweetpea will not sit through even the first page.  Each page has a lot of text but it is a very detailed account of the true meaning of Easter.  It begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem for Passover and ends with the Resurrection.  My only criticism is that the last illustration is a picture of an angel at the tomb announcing that Jesus is not there.  I think I would have preferred an illustration of Jesus to end with but overall this is a great book.

The Story of Easter (Alice in Bibleland) is another great book that I am hoping to find in our public or church library.  We've read several Alice in Bibleland books and Buddy and Sweetpea both enjoy the rhythmic text.  Hopefully we'll be able to find this one soon!