Easter 2024

 I'm Erica's primary activity leader and for our Easter activity we made empty tombs out of doughnuts and doughnut holes. They turned out so cute and the girls thought it was pretty fun.

Here are this year's wood egg painting. Justin's is the jack-o-lantern and he thinks he's so funny. It did not get displayed in a prominent spot.

I got all inspired in Relief Society by Elder Stephenson's talk from last year which was all about celebrating Easter more intentionally that I went home and made this Hosanna banner out of felt. I can't draw or paint but I can make anything out of felt. The leaves are for Palm Sunday and then each night we added a new symbol of what Christ did that day. The completed banner is at the end so keep reading.

We had our first egg hunt at Justin's parents' house on Saturday. Here are the kiddos ready to head out. Sarah has to participate. We all do!

 

 

Justin's aunt crocheted these bunnies and filled them with candy and I just love them so much. The kids do too, of course but I find them extra special because they remind me of.....

 

...these cute chicks my aunt crocheted for my sisters and I when I was just teeny tiny. I'm the little one in pigtails, maybe 2 and a half? Sadly no one still has theirs.

Emptying eggs.

It was cold and rainy Sunday so we had to take our pictures inside.

Erica is not pleased about something.

Now she's just mad.

These kids clean up pretty good. Last years colors were green and blue. This year is pink and blue. Totally unintentional as each kid picked out their own clothes but nice when it works out that way.

Justin was feeling left out so here you go.

Sarah was half amused/half embarrassed by us.

I like to sit by Erica while she sorts her candy because she will always hand me stuff she doesn't like.

That afternoon we went to my mom's. The kids helped me frost a bunny cake. He's actually a carrot cake because you are what you eat.

We had an extra layer so we made him an Easter basket.

We always take a picture of the kids participating but this year we had all the grandkids that were present included in the picture as well. I love these kids so much! Even though half of them aren't kids anymore.

And then they were off!

This is my little grand-nephew and I could just eat him up! He did a great job getting preoccupied with the first egg he found, just like all one-year-olds do.

Now I'm embarrassed for us. I don't know what we're doing here.

"Stop taking pictures of me so I can find candy," James is saying here.

Always check in the well. Always.

James was pranking everyone with this nesting doll situation. He had a jelly bean hidden in 4 levels of orange plastic eggs. Here he's tricking my dad. They both got a pretty good kick out of it.

Here's our completed banner. The symbols are just clipped on with these mini quilting clips I have. Next year I'm going to put the lettering on another color to make it stiffer and stand out more. And I'll thread the leaves through differently so they don't rotate. 

Justin and I took turns talking about what happened that day and then a child got to clip it on, day by day. Next year I'm going to have the kids take a turn teaching us what Christ did and maybe add some more symbols.