Our Easter weekend fun

We had a fun weekend. Because of all of the rain I wasn't sure if we'd be able to do anything outside, but the showers held off long enough for us to enjoy an Easter egg hunt. There were 5000 eggs at this hunt, but they were probably gone within 5 minutes! These kids are good egg finders! Well, my kids didn't get so many, but I am sure other more ambitious kids did!

The hunt was not without obstacles. There were huge puddles of water in a saturated field. Jack decided to swing over this one, which, as I'm sure you can guess, ended with him falling in the puddle and soaking his pants and shoes.

scanning the field to figure out the best egg hunting route

I tried to get a nice picture of the boys waiting with their baskets. This is what I got.

We decided Caroline needed to get in on the fun, so Jack helped her by handing her an egg. She was completely content with her one blue egg.

walking with Daddy

Another activity we did was to make Resurrection Cookies. (Should that be capitalized? Probably not, but it just seems more appropriate or something!) It was really neat to see how each step of making cookies correlated to part of the Easter story. The boys really enjoyed it, and Jack seemed to understand and enjoy the Bible part as well as the baking part.

First we beat chocolate chips just like the guards beat Jesus. Then we smelled vinegar, which is what they gave Jesus to drink on the cross.

We placed egg whites (representing new life), salt (to signify the salty tears Jesus's followers shed and the bitterness of our own sin), and sugar (the sweetness of Jesus's love--that he loved us so much he died for us).

When we finished the cookies we put them in the oven and taped it shut to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb. The magazine where I got this recipe said, "Go to bed. Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus's followers felt despair when the tomb was sealed too." Hmmm...maybe Grant is a little too young for this part. He was literally wailing for around 15 minutes that he wanted a cookie. I felt really bad and tried to use the magazine's explanation, but of course he didn't understand. It just seemed a little cruel to do that to a 3 year old. Maybe next year will be easier for him. Jack didn't seem to have a problem understanding delayed gratification--something to be said for maturity.

Here is how they looked when they were done. The best part is that when you bite into them they are hollow. I explained that they are empty just like the tomb where Jesus was buried. It is so cute because every time Jack bites into one he says, "There is nothing in it! It's empty!"

I loved this activity! It's one of the few times when the boys and I have baked together that I haven't hoped that they would lose interest and go play somewhere else. (Does it make me a bad mom that I admit I usually hope for that?) We will definitely do it in the years to come!