Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Easter Week, day 2

Here's a picture that I forgot to add to our egg-dying post.  Can you see Brian about to go in for the tummy?  :)  And happy boys, too!
 
Tonight we did an activity that involved a little more preparation.  We did it last year, so I tweaked a few things (and will next year, too!).  I found the idea here: https://powerofmoms.com/easter-seder-a-new-spin-on-an-old-tradition/
and changed a few of the things (like eating olives--I'm not buying a can of olives to throw away!) to make it more Marchant-family friendly.  Also, we didn't make the boys eat anything they didn't want to.  Basically, it goes through the days of the week before the crucifixion and puts little actions or symbolic foods to it.  I think next year, I'll include more reading of the actual scripture passages, rather than just reading the story as written in the linked post above. 
 
 Here's Mckay's plate after we finished. I really should have taken a picture at the beginning!  It looked so pretty.  Oh well.  I was lucky tonight to get everyone at the table.

Monday, March 30, 2015

Happy Birthday, Brian!

Happy Birthday, dear Brian! 

On Friday, we got to go to the temple (together, even!) to the baptistry.  We took 30 names of family members that we've found over the past few months.  Most of them were families--brothers, sisters, and parents.  I felt so excited and happy to be able to go with Brian to do these family names. 

Then, today, the boys and I made a scavenger hunt and sent Brian all over the house and yard to find his birthday present.  Except Camden kept telling him exactly where to go.  He he!  Next year, I'm going to be more sneaky and hide the clues without the boys. We had brownies and ice cream (special soy-based "ice cream" for Brian, but maybe next time we'll try the almond or coconut variety to see if he likes it better).

 
Daddy's new BB gun, shooting a birthday balloon in the back yard.  It took 2 direct shots to pop the thing!  Don't worry--more protective eyewear will be worn in the future.

Easter Week

So, I had grand intentions this year to make the month of March a wonderful preparation for Easter, as I try to do with December and Christmas.  But, this year, I couldn't figure it out, so we're going to focus on the week before Easter, and call it wonderful. :) 
 
I found this idea of Names of Christ Easter Eggs from http://www.cranialhiccups.com/2015/03/names-of-christ-easter-eggs.html
I don't think we've ever dyed eggs with our kids, and I thought egg-blowing sounded potentially disgusting.  Let's keep it simple, right?  So, as a family, we brainstormed different names of Christ and wrote them with white crayon on the boiled eggs before we dyed them.  Camden wrote about half, and I wrote the others while Daddy made Mckay giggle. :)  (LOVE that sound!)  I love the way they turned out!  But now I can see the benefit of egg-blowing--that you can display them, rather than hiding them in the refrigerator to eat later. 
 
 

Here are some other Names of Christ:
http://lds.about.com/od/jesuschrist/a/names_of_Jesus.htm

Any ideas of what to do with the extra dye?