Resurrection Eggs- The Real Story of Easter!

We LOVE to celebrate Easter! But with all the culture celebrations, eggs, the bunny and candy it becomes confusing to children. I wanted to teach my children the REAL meaning of Easter and when they were asking to do an Easter Egg hunt this seemed like the best way possible.

WHAT YOU NEED:

*Egg Carton

*Plastic Eggs

*Items listed in eggs:

  -Palm Brach or blade of grass

  -Cotton ball with perfume on it

  -Cracker

  - Three Dimes

  - Thorny branch (crown of thorns)

  -Toothpick (cut and glue into the cross)

  -Nail or push pin

  -Dice

  -A q-tip

  -Few whole cloves

  -Small Rock

 *Scissors

*Hot Glue Gun

ASSEMBLE

Egg #1 -Palm Brach (or blade of grass, leaf)
Msg: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. The people that loved Jesus waved palm branches
Passage: Matthew 21: 1-11

 

Egg #2 Cotton ball with perfume on it
Msg:  Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus' feet
Passage: John 12:2-8

Egg #3 Cracker- a small cracker to represent the pass over bread
Msg: Jesus ate the Last supper with his friends His Disciples
Passage: Matthew 26: 17-19

Egg #4 Three Dimes
Msg: Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver
Passage:  Matthew 26: 14-15

Egg #5 Crown of thorns. A small thorny branch or a single large thorn
Msg: Soldiers placed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head.
Passage: John 19:2

Egg #6 Cross made from a toothpick
Msg: Jesus carried his cross that he died on
Passage: John 19:17

Egg # 7 Nail or Push Pin
Msg: Jesus was nailed to a cross and pierced in His Side.
Passage: John 19: 18, 34

Egg #8 Dice
Msg: Soldiers parted Jesus' garments and cast lots for His coat.
Passage: John 19:24

Egg #9 A q-tip
Msg: They gave Jesus vinegar mixed with gall on a sponge to drink
 Passage: John 19:29-30

Egg #10 A few whole cloves
Msg: Spices to prepare Jesus for burial.
Passage:  John 19:40

Egg #11 A small rock
Msg: The stone covering Jesus' tomb was rolled away
Passage: John 20:1

Egg #12 NOTHING.
Msg: The tomb is empty . He has risen!
Passage: Luke 24: 6-7

We first read the Easter story before looking at the eggs. Our children are young (6, 3 and 16 months). It really helps if they have the story fresh in their minds! Then we hid the eggs, the kids found them and put them in order 1-12.

They opened the eggs and remembered the parts of the story!! They were SO excited that they could relate to the Easter Story with the items in their eggs.

It just filled my heart with joy watching them and seeing how they remember what we read and even the last egg.. that was empty (I wasn't sure how they would react.. but they were SOOOO EXCITED and they figured it out right away that it was empty because Jesus rose from the dead and went into Heaven for us!!!)

Also you can print bible verses and place them inside each egg, our daughter who is 6 was able to understand but the younger 2 aren't quite there yet so they enjoyed looking inside the eggs and listening to the story! :)

We have hid the eggs and told the story so many times this week in preparation for Easter and it is so awesome to watch the kids be able to tell each other the real meaning of Easter!

I also found a few other neat ideas on Finding Easter in Bunnies and Eggs here!

We hope you enjoy this as much as our family has! :)

Valentines Day at Home Dinner Date

Dressed in our best, the table is set!

Ready for our Valentine's Date Night at HOME!

First time every and I think it started a family tradition. The boys escorted the girls downstairs then Ashtyn seated  everyone at their spots at the table for a candlelit dinner. Ashtyn made the name tags for everyone.

The girls surprised the boys with the meal (we made lots of heart shaped things) and enjoyed some sparkling juice! It was such a fun night!

A few things on the table:

*Heart Shaped Pizza

*Heart Shaped Hot dogs with Cheese on the ends

*Fruit Salad

*Sparkling Grape Juice
*A few Valentine's Treats

*A special note for each person at their spot

We hope you enjoy this!

Hot Cocoa Bags

Ashtyn made these yummy hot cocoa bags for her Kindergarden class for a little Christmas Gift. They were a big hit and VERY easy to make!! Here is what we did!



The finished Product with a little Oopsie Daisy Flower attached :) 

Items Needed:

• 12'' Disposable Decorating Bags
• Hot Cocoa Mix (we used the large container of Nesquik from Walmart)
• Mini Marshmallows
• Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1 Tbs Measuring Cups
• Name Tags
• Glass
• Ribbon
• Scissors

1. Put 1 Disposable Bag a Tall Glass

2. Pour 5 TBS of Cocoa Mix into the bag

3. Next put 10-15 mini marshmallows on top of the cocoa mix

4. Put 1 tbs of Mini Chocolate Chips on the top

5. Cut a piece of ribbon and tie around the top

6. Label your cocoa bags with to: and from:

So simple and easy! Hope you enjoy!
Love,
Heather & Ashtyn

My Wish List for Santa

The kids have been talking all year about what they would just LOVE to get for Christmas! We usually write down the list of things they'll talk about for the year and save them for Christmas but I saw this a few months ago and thought what an awesome idea! I can save these each each and when they are older they can look back for years and see what they had "wished" for!
It was so easy to make and the kids had a lot of fun helping make them!


MATERIALS NEEDED:
Wooden Spools (I bought a pack of 8 from JoAnn Fabrics, you can also find them at Hobby Lobby)
Spray Paint
Paper
Permanent Marker
Glue
Ribbon
Scissors


WHAT TO DO:
1. Spray paint the Wooden Spools to the color you would like
2. Cut out the paper to fit the length of the spool
3. Write the "wish list" onto the paper
4. Glue the top of the paper onto the spool and then wrap it around
    *I also put a little dab of glue onto to spool after I wrapped the paper around 1 full time
5. Cut ribbon and tie at the top
6. Label with a piece of paper the name of the child and the year


SO Easy, YOU'LL LOVE THEM! :)