Easter Celebrations

On a spiritual level, we spend the week before Easter with daily devotionals starting with palm sunday and ending with the resurrection. The boys learn a lot about the Savior's last week through the scriptures we read and stories we act out. The favorite might be when they take turns as Jesus riding the donkey (Ryan) into Jerusalem while we wave palms (green paper cut into leaves) and shout hosanna. They also love opening our egg carton with 12 eggs that have different scriptures and symbols about Jesus that all lead up to his resurrection. I'm glad to see that the time and effort we take to focus on Christ seems to have an impact on them.

As far as more springtime, secular activities, we have some fun too. The Easter Bunny doesn't really make it on the list of our traditions during this time of year. I struggle enough with the departure from the story of Christ to add a giant bunny that leaves gifts.

Last year, I made a scavenger hunt for the boys with simple notes for Dezi to read and follow that ultimately led to some gifts. They thought it was sooo fun that they begged for it again this year. We made it extra long because they never wanted it to end. This year, Cai could even read some of the notes. They had a great time following directions to find eggs that contained clues that finally led them to some prizes.

Afterwards, we loaded the eggs with candy and let the boys hide eachother's eggs. They had a great time both hiding and then finding their eggs.

We also try to do an official egg hunt with the community. This year's was a little bit crazy. I actually thought someone might get trampled. In the end the kids, hardly got any candy, but they didn't seem to mind.

I started a trend with these last two pictures. The line for pics with the Easter Bunny was way too long and it wasn't high enough on our priority list to wait around so I thought a pic with him in the background was good enough. Recipe: Stand off to the side of the line, wait in between kids and snap! Pretty soon, there was a little line forming behind me as other parents caught on to what I was doing. Not as good as sitting on his lap? Sure, but 3 min vs 40 minutes was awesome!