Easter Fun

Since Cooper's birthday was in the week before Easter, we didn't do as many Easter themed activities this year, but we still had a few things.

This is our Jesus Tree-- isn't it beautiful ;)  I had looked online to try to find a Lent devotional for kids or families and one of the things I came across was called a Jesus Tree. Cooper loved our Jesse Tree that we used to countdown to Christmas, so I was intrigued by the idea of a Jesus Tree.  Basically it is a story every day from Ash Wednesday until Easter Monday and the stories are all about the life of Jesus-- his birth, his ministry and miracles, and his death and resurrection.  There were actually several options on Etsy and I ended up buying this one-- mainly because I liked that the ornaments could just be printed on cardstock and the stories were simple and each one had a question and a prayer at the end.  And it was cost effective since we weren't sure if this was something we'd continue in later years.  We did really enjoy it and I am planning to put the stories on the back of the ornaments and laminate to store for future years.  It was fun having a little devotional that we did every morning over breakfast.

I don't have pictures of our own, but we also did our same Resurrection Eggs that we've done every year.  These are a very simplified version of Resurrection Eggs, but I think they tell the story well.  And one of my favorite parts that we started last year and continued this year is the surprise in them.  We do the eggs every day in the week leading up to Easter and the last egg is always empty as a sign that Jesus rose from the dead.  On Easter Sunday I fill it with candy as a symbol of the sweet surprise of Easter that Jesus is alive.  So when Cooper opens all the eggs Sunday and is telling us what the mean (since we've been doing it all week he knows the story by Sunday) he gets to the last one and shakes it and is totally surprised.  Then we talk about how fun that surprise is and when Jesus' friends went to the tomb they expect him to be there but it's empty and that is an even better surprise.  This really stuck with him both years and he tells everyone about it (although he didn't remember it from last year, so it was fun that it was a surprise again!).

 

We also participated in the Plano Parks and Rec "Easter egg hunt."  They hid signs with pictures of Easter eggs along one of the longer trails.  Each sign had either a challenge ("hop like a bunny 10 times") or a riddle (What does an egg do when it laughs?  Gets cracked up). You take pictures with them and send in proof and are entered for a prize pack.  For us it was just a fun way to get outside and do something different on our walk!

We also dyed eggs this year for the first time.  Cooper helped mix the colors and was very interested in it.

I had planned to use them to make confetti eggs, but there was no confetti in stores at the last minute, I had no rice (which was the other idea I found) and I couldn't even find our 3 hole punch to make my own confetti.  So I gave up--maybe next year we'll be more prepared.

Sunday we went to church with my family at Woodcreek since they had an outdoor service.  And then back to my mom's backyard for lunch and playing.  Cooper loves to match Miles and it's actually the only way I can get him to dress up-- because he gets to choose matching shirts for them.  

While his cousins and brother were too excited about an impending Easter egg hunt to enjoy much lunch, this boy savored all the foods on his plate.  

While Miles napped the other kids did an Easter egg hunt.

Emptying the eggs and sorting the candy from the coins.

Then we let Cooper hide the eggs for Miles and Miles crawled to get them after nap time.

This was the only one he picked up.  He loved it!  So big brother got to get the rest-- win win.

It was a happy Easter indeed!