Easter Celebrations

We've adopted the tradition of having the Easter Bunny come on the Saturday before Easter.  It makes it so that Easter can be spent focusing on Jesus.


My cousin introduced the idea of color coding eggs for the kids.  Each kids has a different color to look for.  So the older kids aren't always getting the easy to find eggs. We hid Rachel's pink and purple eggs a little harder than Joe's blue eggs.  The eggs we dyed the day before were free game.



Sunday morning we went to church with Grandma and Papa Goodwin.  These two angels were the talk of the ward that day.










Easter evening we talked about Jesus and the resurrection.  Then we made Resurrection rolls.  (Yet another Pinterest idea)


The marshmallow represents Jesus.  The crescent roll represents the tomb.  The cinnamon/sugar mixture represents the spices that were used when they buried Jesus.  The butter is the anointing oil.

You roll the marshmallow in butter and then in the cinnamon/sugar mix.



You roll the marshmallow up in the crescent roll. Make sure that it's well sealed.  The stone rolled in front of the tomb made it impossible for someone to get out on their own.


Then you bake the rolls. Some of ours weren't sealed very well.


When the roll is opened the marshmallow is gone.  Rachel and Joe loved it!  They tasted good too.

 

Dying Easter Eggs

This year I made our Easter egg dye by adding food coloring to 1 cup of hot water and 1/4 cup distilled vinegar.  It worked like magic.



We had fun discussing colors and how they combine to make other colors. 



You can see in Joey's eyes that he doesn't feel real well.  But it didn't stop him from having fun.


The whisks idea came through Pinterest.  Boy were they wonderful!  I didn't have to worry about eggs being dropped and broken.


Rachel was so proud our our eggs that she invited anyone that came to our house to see them.

Easter Sunday

We got up early Easter morning and drove up to Logan.  We visited my brother's family, then went to 1:00pm church with them.  Rachel loved going to nursery with Aunt Jen.  After church we went to my Aunt Susan's and Uncle Harry's house for family dinner. 

We took our Easter pictures at Aunt Susan's house.  Joe had only had a small nap that day.  You can see it in his eyes.


He was still cheerful though.


Best friends.
 

Kidding around.


We love these kids.



Our little princess.


 

Daddy-daughter bonding time.


Family Pictures.  (Thanks to my niece Amy)

Easter Celebration

We had our traditional Easter celebration and egg hunt on the Saturday before Easter.  We were leaving early on Sunday morning to spend Easter in Logan and didn't want to cut the fun short.  The Easter Bunny brought a soccer ball for the whole family to enjoy.  Rachel was thrilled to find candy in her basket.


Joey was happy to have some new toys to explore.



Then the hunt was on.  We hid purple and pink eggs for Rachel and asked her to leave the blue eggs for Joe.
 


Joseph needed a lot of coaching but had fun none the less.


Inside the eggs?  An m&m or two, a little marshmallow


and a piece of a puzzle printed on magnetic paper.


The climax of our celebration was putting together the puzzle and remembering that Jesus was the real reason we celebrate Easter.

Easter Morning

"Basket?  Hold it?"


We had a discussion with the Easter Bunny.  We requested that everything for the family comes in one basket.  However, I'm pretty sure the Easter Bunny favored Rachel more than Doug and me.  Joseph's a little young yet to care.


"Mommy's."


Rachel had a blast hunting for eggs.

 
 

But she really wanted what was inside.
 

She painstakingly removed the wrapper.


Mmmmm... Chocolate.