Easter Story Cookies

My mother-in-law sent this to me and I thought it was a wonderful idea and wanted to try it. And now I want to share it with you! This is a great thing to do as a family, or even with a class.

Easter Story Cookie
To be made the evening before Easter
You need:
1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp. Vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie
wooden spoon
tape
Bible

* Preheat oven to 300 degrees (this is important-don't wait until you're half done with the recipe).

* Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.

*Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30. (I actually put a little on my finger for them to taste, and then next year I'll just have them smell it, but I wanted them to really grasp what Jesus was given).

*Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us eternal life. Read John 10:10-11.

*Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.

*So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. Read Ps. 34:8 and John 3:16. (I had the kids taste a little sugar too. By then they weren't very trusting to what I wanted them to try-in fact Devin refused!)

*Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isa. 1:18 and John 3:1-3. (We found out that 12-15 minutes is a long time in a child's eyes, so we also explained that it took a long time for Jesus to actually die on the cross).

*Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid. Read Matt 27:57-60 (I needed 2 cookie sheets).

*Put the cookie sheet(s) in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF.

*Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed. Read Matt 27:65-66.

*GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus' followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.

*On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matt. 28:1-9

As you can see, and guess from the ingredients that this is basically meringue. They didn't come out very "hollow" on the inside, but they were certainly light and airy. (Some were really hollow in places and actually caved in when we tried to pick them up). We also saw how many cookies were made, and for our family will probably half the recipe next year. I think the recipe as is yields about 2 dozen cookies, give or take a few. They are really sweet, and not necessarily ones we would eat very many of. I'm very glad we did this and will be making this a family tradition every year. Right now the kids are young and just excited to help make something that they weren't necessarily listening to the Bible verses...but I know that Aiden was grasping the messages. I hope that over time they will really listen and understand all that our Lord and Savior did for us. Happy Easter everyone!

Easter eggs and Bunnies!

Like everyone else, we had to color Easter Eggs-and now I have to do something with all these hard boiled eggs. It would be a lot easier if Micah would eat them, but he won't have anything to do with them-at all! I'll figure it out though. Anyway, here we are coloring eggs.

If you look at my hands, I'm having to hold Devin back a bit...he was overly excited to help and ended up plopping one egg in a cup that already had one in it...and thought it would be a good idea to try and dig it out with his hands...and then of course lick his blue fingers. Oh that Devinator...

We also had a few of those egg wrappers that you wrap around the egg and then dunk it in hot water to seal it around it. I think Aiden thought it was like "magic" and was just devastated when there weren't any more to do. I'm talking it was the end of the world devastating. Luckily we still had to make the Easter cookies, so we finally calmed him down enough to explain that there were still more things to do and help with.

Earlier that morning I took the boys to get their Easter Bunny pictures taken. I had planned on doing this first thing when the Bunny first came-but we had so many different distractions that I never got around to it. We finally made it the last day he was there!

At first Devin didn't want anything to do with those bunny ears, but later on that day he wouldn't take them off ;)

I put them on to show Devin how cute they were, and Aiden took my picture. Aiden has really loved using the camera, and has gotten some pretty good shots. He has a Fisher Price camera I should get out for him again and see how does with that. Maybe a cheap digital camera will be in his future if he keeps this photography bug going! My Dad and friend Laura will be so proud ;)

Cute huh? :)

Jaguar

My mom bought a Jaguar! It's funny because I have always liked the shape of the car, not to mention the cute hood ornament! So I've always said that I want to get one someday. Micah's mom Sandy has always wanted one as well, but she puts so many miles on her cars, and always passes on getting one when it's time for her to get a new car. And come to find out, my mom has always wanted one too! Who knew! So here we all are, wanting this car...and my parents come across a great deal while visiting my sister Lauren. They were looking to get my dad a truck, but after a few months of shopping, they couldn't find what he wanted for the price they wanted. So my dad told my mom to start looking for a new car. While they were visiting my sister, they had some free time on their hands and decided to test drive a few. They came across one that was just a great match for my mom and they got a good price for it. She's just not in love with the color, but sooooo ecstatic to have it! They had it shipped home and now she's got some great weather to drive it in and show it off!
Mom had to go out of town while we were in town for a wedding, and my Dad let Hilary and I take it out for a spin...I was pretty excited!

Dad showing me some of the features in the car.

Getting ready to take off! Just waiting for Micah to move the van out of the way so I don't back into it!! Better safe than sorry!

See ya!

All right open road...Here I come!
I was a good girl driving and didn't speed....can't say the same for my sister, but we returned the car without any scratches ;) Thanks Daddy! (and Mommy-even though you weren't there to say no!)

Oopsie Daisy

Oopsy Daisy is learning to crawl, she's such a pretty baby. Crawl to me as fast as can be...Whoops! Oopsie Daisy!

Does anyone else remember this doll or have one? It was launched in 1988 and was in huge toy demand for Christmas. I remember wanting one soooooo badly and was soooooooo happy when I got one. I remember even saying to my mom "look mom, batteries not included!" I was only 5 and thought that meant that it didn't need batteries ;) Oh did I love that baby doll! I slept with her every night and played with her often. Eventually her leg popped out of it socket, and she didn't really crawl to well anymore. But that didn't matter to me, I still loved her and played with her and loved to hear her cry "mama, mama!" And then I would go and pick her up just like the girl in the commercial and love on her more and more. Even at that tender age I knew I was meant to be a mother. Anyway, I never had the heart to let her go and so I packed her up with some other stuffed animals when I moved out of the house and got married.
Now that we are gearing up for another move, we are beginning to sort through some things to put into storage, take with us, and get rid of. I came across the box with my animals and at the bottom was my precious Daisy-still broken. I looked on the internet to find the picture above, and read that in 1989 the doll was recalled because it had many design flaws, like heads coming off, hair falling out, legs detaching from the body, etc...I was not aware of the recall and I don't think my parents were either. And even if they did, I am truly certain that I would have been absolutely devastated to have her taken away from me. I'm having a difficult enough time getting up the nerve to get rid of her now! The next model they came up with was smaller and not as popular.
Well, anyway, I pulled my precious baby out of the box knowing in the end it would be foolish to keep hanging on to her. I set her on the table and went about some more business. Later that evening I came across Devin playing with my Daisy, and it just truly warmed my heart! (Part of my reason for saving some of my toys/animals was to see my children play and love them as much as I did. But alas I do not have any girls (yet) and didn't think my Daisy would be loved again. I was hoping that Micah would be able to fix her broken hip, being that he is an ortho doc and all, but I'm sure there is no hope for her...) But here is my doll being played with by my child!

Sleepover

Often my friend Laura and I babysit for each others kids so we can enjoy date nights with our husbands. It's wonderful that our kids have become best friends, and we are truly going to miss them when we all move away in a few months. Typically when I have the kids they play hard for awhile and then I turn on movie to quiet them down. The kids get a kick out of making "sleeping bags" with the pillows and blankets and line up on the floor to watch the show. Devin's getting to be at the age where he needs to do what the big kids are doing, and it was hilarious to watch him scurry to get his blanket and get settled in. I threw Gracie in there so she wouldn't feel left out ;)

And of course what's a movie without some popcorn??

Later that month Laura needed to take Ally out of town to see a specialist. Her appointment was first thing in the morning, and she asked if I could take James and Grace overnight so she could head down the day before to be there on time. Plus it helped that her husband Ben was doing an away rotation at the same hospital and got to spend some quality time with him as well. I was happy to help, and excited that Aiden's first real sleepover was going to be with his best friend James!

When we designed Aiden's airplane bed, we put a trundle underneath so we would have an extra bed. It's proven to be handy, especially since we are expecting the boys to share a room when we move and now they can share this bed.

Play time!

The kids and I got to enjoy an afternoon at the park with Auntie Hilary and Uncle Daryl and their "kids" Sadie and Bear :)

Whheeeeee!!!!

Down the slide they go.

We remembered when we were little, how we tried to get our dog Bentley to go down the slide, and it was hilarious-so we made Sadie go down...and eventually she went down on her own!

Bear was not about to escape our tortures...

Auntie Hiwey wrapping up the sliding.

C'mon Sadie!

Go fetch Bear! It was a fun afternoon :) thanks Hilary and Daryl!

Birthday wrap up

So there have been a lot of birthday celebrations over the past few months. So here they are all in a nutshell. My sister's husband Daryl had his birthday on the 3rd of February, but they had the party on a weekend we couldn't make it into town. Then my cousin Mandy and her husband Gregg asked my parents to host their daughter Lily's first birthday at their house because it was a central location for all their family, and they live out of state. So we had a big birthday bash for her. Lily's great Grandma Frances also celebrated her birthday that same week.

That dress Lily is wearing is the same dress Mandy wore for her First Birthday party...Mandy was tall!

The next day was the super bowl, and the day after that was my birthday. Since we were in town for Lily's party we got to celebrate my birthday with my parents and watch the super bowl together. It was a jammed packed weekend!

Check out all that smoke! And since I was turning 28, we decided on 2+8=10 candles so we wouldn't burn the house down ;)

After over a year of Micah promising me a lap desk, I finally got one!

And I wanted everyone to know where my true alliances were, even though we were rooting for the Colts ;)

After my birthday was my sister Hilary's birthday on Valentines Day. Following that my father had his birthday on the 18th. We couldn't be with them on their birthdays, but we did give them great gifts!

On March 15th my sister Lauren celebrated her birthday. She moved out of state earlier last year and was finally getting settled into an apartment of her own. My parents planned a trip to go visit, and my sister Hilary surprised her by flying out for a long weekend while my parents were there. I was sad that I wasn't able to make the trip as well, but there was no way to afford to go while we prepare for our move, and traveling to look for housing etc. Anyway, I made cupcakes with the boys and their friends and dedicated one of them to Lauren on her birthday :)

Then our good friend Gracie turned the big 1! Ben and Laura had a small party for her at their house to celebrate. Devin wasted no time in helping Grace open her presents by promptly opening up the gift we gave her as soon as I set it down with the other gifts. No joke...just ripped the whole thing open before we realized what he was doing! The Devinator strikes again. Luckily Gracie didn't seem to mind and enjoyed opening up all her other gifts with the help of her siblings. I didn't have my camera with me, so I took these photos from Laura's blog.

And finally to wrap up the celebrations, Micah turned 29 on the 28th, and his parents threw him a small get together at their place. Micah didn't want a cake, but asked for gluten free brownies and strawberry shortcake instead. The guys all ate the brownies before we sang-and I didn't get one :( So they attempted to use a tea light candle for him to blow out...but it was already burned down and kept going out. Oh well, he still made his wish!

And if I missed anyone's birthday I apologize, but I think I got them all! Happy Birthday everyone :) It's our last ones here before we move...