Easter

Happy Easter!  We had a great Easter this year.  The weather was amazing as always in St. George and perfect for Easter egg hunts and picnics.  The first thing we did to get ready for Easter was color Easter eggs of course:

Paul and Alex came over to our house while their parents were at work and helped Emily and me color eggs.  We colored the eggs a little differently this year.  Instead of vinegar, water and food coloring, we used shaving cream and food coloring.  By swirling different colors in the shaving cream we created a coloring on the eggs that made them look like marble.  They turned out so pretty.

 We had to use a pencil to swirl the egg in the shaving cream so that our hands wouldn't get colored.  The kids were still able to get a few red, blue, and green fingers though.  After taking the eggs out of the shaving cream we had to let them dry before we could wipe the shaving cream off.  The instructions I read said to let them dry over night but we didn't have that much time.  While the eggs dried we played outside in the nice spring weather.  After playing for an hour or so, we cam back in to see how our eggs were doing.  

When we wiped off the shaving cream, we saw how beautiful our eggs turned out.  The kids found my silicone cupcake liners and decided they were the perfect size for little egg houses so they each put their eggs inside so they wouldn't break.

I think the eggs turned out good.  We made three different swirls of colors for our eggs: pink/purple, blue/green, and red/yellow.  Emily wanted all of her eggs in her favorite colors: pink and purple.  Alex wanted all of his eggs in his favorite colors: blue and green. Paul did one egg in each of the colors.  And I colored Colby's eggs in red/yellow and then Emily told me Colby needed a blue/green one because that was a boy color.  I gave Colby his eggs and he discovered that when you squeeze them they break.  He thought that was awesome and kept pushing his thumb into the egg making little holes in the shell.  (He has a thing for sticking his finger in holes.)  Being the mean mom I am, I took the eggs away from him before he totally destroyed them or ate a shell.

On Saturday Morning, Emily and Colby were excited to find out that the Easter Bunny had left them some gifts.

The favorite gift was the bubbles of course.  Blowing bubbles is one of Emily's favorite things to do.  Emily also got a hula hoop but I think Colby has played with it more than she has.  Emily didn't know what to do with a hula hoop so I showed her.  Then she tried and did just about as good as I did (which isn't saying much!) ;(  Then, Colby crawled right into the middle of the hoop and picked it up and tried to hula hoop too. He did better than I did!  It was so cute.

After getting ready for the day, we headed to Emily's first primary activity:

 The primary activity was an ice cream party.  Emily had been asking me for about a month if it was time for her primary ice cream party yet.  She was so excited to go.  At the party the kids made super hero capes for their teachers because they are all "super".  After the ice cream was finished, the primary presidency set up an Easter egg hunt for all of the kids.  

All of the kids had fun looking for the hidden eggs and especially eating the candy inside the eggs.  Here is a picture of Emily and her two little friends, Janessa Mortensen and Gracyn Arnold, from her Sunbeam class.  These three girls had fun helping each other find eggs and then showing each other what was in their eggs.  They were even nice enough to give Colby one of their eggs which made him happy.

After the activity, we met up with Russell after he PASSED his Fire Skills test!  Russell also found out that he passed his Fire I and Fire II written tests he took about a month ago!We were all really excited about him passing his tests.  He now just has HazMat Ops left and he will be an official Fire Fighter!  After meeting up with Russell, we headed to Santa Clara Elementary for our annual Morwood Easter picnic:  

 And we can't forget the annual baseball game!  I think this is the first year I haven't played in the game.  I should have though I don't know why I didn't except maybe because I was chasing Colby around.  Well anyway, we had fun playing on the playground.

Colby thought he was so big and wanted to do everything by himself.  I had to watch him as he climbed up the stairs because I was afraid he would fall.  Emily and Colby love going down the slides and swinging.  Emily loves holding onto Colby and playing train down the slides.

Colby is now 13 months old.  He is getting brave, funnier, more exploratory, and more talkative.  He is also getting stronger and I think he will start walking soon because he walks along the furniture and will walk if we hold his hand.  He loves exploring, taking everything out of the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen, and banging pots and bowls with spoons.   

We also had a little candy hunt with all of the little cousins 8 and under.  It is amazing to see how my extended family has changed over the years.  We have been having this Easter picnic for so many years I don't even know when we started.  I remember looking forward to this every year since I was Emily's age.  I loved rolling eggs down the dirt hills in Snow Canyon with my cousins and climbing the rocks.  Now it is fun to see the next generation.  I love seeing my kids play with my cousins' kids just like I used to play.  I hope my kids will be as good of friends with their cousins as I am.

Easter Sunday was also fun.  First we went to church and the kids wore their matching Easter clothes.  I made Emily a dress and Colby a matching tie.

 This second picture totally explains my kids attitudes toward pictures.  Emily is posed ready for any glamor shot and Colby is like "Are we done yet?"  So typical!  

After church we rushed over to Traci's Singles Ward to listen to her sing in her Sacrament meeting.  Traci did an amazing job singing her song.  I had no idea she sang until now but she is really good.  I had forgotten how quiet Singles wards are especially during the sacrament!  In our family ward, I wouldn't really care if Emily whispered to herself while she colored or if Colby babbled a little.  In the Singles ward though, we were the only ones with kids and I was so embarrassed how loud my kids seemed to be with all of their little kid noises!

Well after Traci's church, we had another picnic/BBQ with the Farnsworth's.  We had the BBQ at the Bloomington house where Traci is living now.  (PS I still love this house and sometimes wish we still lived there.)  

As part of our contribution to the potluck, I made these colorful deviled eggs.  I thought it would be perfect for an Easter celebration.  They were fun to make because instead of dying the egg shells, you dye the egg whites.  The BBQ was good and it was nice to be with family and relaxing.

After eating, Traci, Tyler, and Traci's friend, Clint, set up another Easter egg hunt for the kids.

The kids had a good time running around finding eggs.  Colby was perfectly content with the few eggs he found on the grass.  He loved opening and closing the eggs as well as shaking the eggs to hear what was inside.  Emily would get so excited when she would find an egg.  She really only liked to find the pink and purple eggs but she did get other colors too.

Here are those four crazy kids showing off their beautiful blue lips from robin egg lipstick.  No Easter would be complete without...

PEEPS!  Well Emily and Colby only ate a couple bites until they realized peeps are actually too sweet to eat and they abandoned the sticky chicks in the grass.  We had a great time and a great Easter.

One thing I did realize this year and it is my fault and I feel bad, is that Emily doesn't really understand the true meaning of Easter.  I asked her if she knew why we celebrate Easter and she told me so we can get eggs and candy and the Easter bunny.  I was shocked.  I realized that I wasn't teaching my kids right.  Easter is about Jesus Christ and the Atoneing sacrifice he did for us.  It is about Chirst rising on the thrid day as a resurected being.  It is becuase of Jesus Christ the we are able to return to our Father in Heaven.  It is through Christ that we can repent of our sins and be clean again.  It is not because of a bunny or eggs or the other commercialized things that I must have been caught up in.  Because of this realization, I put together a Family Home Evening lesson about the true meaning of Easter and it seemed to help Emily better understand what Easter really means.  Next year I hope I will be better and emphasize the true meaning of Easter instead of the commercialized meaning. 

Happy Easter eveyone and may the true meaning of Easter ever me in our hearts.