Happy Easter – Christ is Risen!

I hope you have a lovely Easter!

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Matthew 28:5-6

Printable Easter Craft Ideas

Due to some tummy troubles last night, Gabe stayed home from school today. So far he has been OK today, so I hope he’ll be able to return to school tomorrow. In the meantime, I needed to come up with some activities for him to do besides endless screen time. Thanks to some ideas I’ve been collecting on my Easter and Spring board on Pinterest, I was able to print out an Easter scene for Gabe to color and put together, plus some great coloring pages for Julia. I still haven’t come up with a good idea for a centerpiece for Easter dinner this weekend, so these crafts are our decorations until then :).

The Parable of the Lily – a Wonderful Easter Story for Kids

After school today, the kids and I made some “hand-crafted” lilies for our breakfast table Easter centerpiece. I based my ideas on a few tutorials I had seen here and here, but improvised with the supplies we had on hand (hehe, sorry – I can help all the handy puns!). Later, after baths and before bed, I read them a wonderful Easter book called The Parable of the Lily. My mom saved this book over the years, then passed it along for me to read to my own kids. It is such a blessing! Here’s and excerpt from the back of the book:

“The gentle farmer…lovingly helps His young daughter, Maggie, understand the power of grace and forgiveness and the true meaning of Easter”

I love this story, and the best part is that there are Bible verses included to help teach your kids about Jesus and the Easter story :)!

Have you been up to any fun Easter crafts or preparations?

Happy Palm Sunday!!

Here’s a Palm Sunday thought for you, taken from the Bible story I told my kindergarten Sunday school class this morning :).

Easter Weekend Photos

We had such a lovely Easter weekend filled with special times of worship at church, wonderful family gatherings and of course plenty of good food and sweets! On Friday afternoon we had a little family outing to Spoiled Rockin’ Kids to get Gabe’s hair cut, then we got take-out for supper. Later that night a bunch of friends came over for a game night. We tried two new games: Wits and Wagers and Mexican Train. I am not sure I’m a fan of Wits and Wagers, but Chris liked it and I enjoyed watching the fun and learning random facts. I really liked Mexican Train – I think we will have to buy that one! On Saturday morning, despite the rain, we went to the Botanical Gardens for the Easter egg hunt. Due to a mix-up, the 3-4 year old hunt started too early, so it was pretty much over by the time we got there, but Gabe had fun and got some eggs anyway. On Saturday afternoon, we got together with family and friends to color Easter eggs. We tried some new methods, including glitter – fun! Of course, Easter morning we took our annual Easter family photo and went to church.

Julia still cries all through nursery, so I decided to try bringing her into the service with us. She did great! I think she liked the beautiful music – especially daddy playing the drums in the orchestra :). Finally, Sunday evening my family came over for dinner and we played a few rounds of Whoonu afterward. I am so grateful to have made so many nice memories with the ones I love :)! By-the-way, Julia did wear my first Easter dress to church, and got lots of compliments on it too :). Above, you can see a picture of my mom holding me on Easter when I was a baby and also a picture of me holding Julia yesterday morning. Below is a slide show of some of my other photos from the weekend. Enjoy!

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