I learned a couple days ago that the word "easter" only appears once in the New Testament, and a more accurate translation is the word "passover." Christ is the Passover. He is salvation from destruction, both physical, and spiritual. I know He lives. I know he suffered in Gethsemane, was crucified, and was resurrected. Because of Him, we too will be resurrected, and if we bind ourselves to Him through covenants, we can have Eternal Life, living in the presence of our Heavenly Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and our families.
Still trying to catch up here. Figured I'd better get these posted before next General Conference rolls around.
Flexible structure--predictability with flexibility--is key at our house, especially during special events or for special occasions, like General Conference.
We like the kids to sit through one of the four sessions, but even that is expecting a lot and takes some creativity. In October, Mike and I watched the Saturday sessions during the kids' nap on Saturday, and after Priesthood session that night. During Sunday morning session, we had a picnic on our bed and had conference coloring packets for the girls to work on.
During the afternoon session, we drove to the temple, walked around the beautiful grounds, and ate popcorn. (This is a tradition we started during April conference last year.) Much better than staying at home and fighting whiney crazy kids while we try to watch conference. Mike and I watched the afternoon session after the kids were in bed. In peace.
I love Easter, and I'm so thankful for the knowledge I have of the Savior, His Atonement, and His resurrection. I love knowing I can be with Mike and our family forever.
Here are some photos of our Easter celebrations over the last couple of days:
On Friday, I saw a tutorial for tie-dyed easter eggs. So, I loaded the girls up and headed to goodwill, where I bought 8 silk ties for $8. Then we headed to the grocery store to buy eggs. I decided to do some of our weekly grocery shopping at the same time. We were quite the sight, I'm sure. I had Sal in the backpack and Mariah and Elaine in the stroller; I pulled the cart behind me. I'm pretty sure we didn't go unnoticed.
The girls were fascinated with the eggs; being vegan, we don't ever buy them . . . . In fact, Mariah accidentally broke one (Kudos to her: she very calmly said, "Oops. Sometimes we make mistakes.") while we were "tie-ing" them up, so I cracked it the rest of the way so the girls could see the inside of an egg. What a sheltered life they live.
Anyway, it was a fun activity to do with the girls. Elaine lasted for one egg (then she headed outside to take her monkey to the zoo), but Mariah stuck with me for the whole time. (Which, actually, shows amazing progress on her part. I used to try to do fun projects with her, and without fail, she would have a melt down, or destroy everything we made, or both.)
Wrapping an Egg
Sally Supervising
Elaine heading to the Zoo
Pleased with the Fruits of their Labors
Yesterday morning, we headed to a community egg hunt. The girls had a good time gathering lots of eggs, all filled with candy. (Last year, the eggs were all filled with little toys instead of candy. We were a little disappointed this time. Oh well.) As I should have expected, the crowd scene, etc., were too much for poor Mariah, who had a complete melt down on the way back to the car. She hasn't had a public melt down in so long, my brain froze, and I had no idea what to do. We just calmly continued to the 5-minute walk to the car with her screaming her little head off. Poor poor girlie. She did recover quickly once we were home, though. Phew.
There was a cute little bucket available to Elaine. She insisted on using her Halloween pumpkin. Whatever.
After the girls' naps, we did our own hunt in the backyard with "healthy" candy. The girls had a good time. We came in and sat up for dinner, only to realize I had forgotten to give Mike our tie-dyed eggs to hide. So, out we went again, for the third hunt of the day.
