Resurrection rolls

 Happy Good Friday Friends! 

As I've been pondering the cross today I am constantly in awe of God's goodness and grace to save such sinners like me. 

He is so so good. 

By his wounds we are healed. 

Crazy and awesome.

Thank you Jesus! 

One of our families favorite Easter traditions is making resurrection rolls. 

It's such a fun and hands on way to teach our kids the true meaning of Easter. 

Plus they are yummy. 

Win win. 

We always start by reading about the crucifixion and death/burial of Jesus before we make the rolls.

Then comes the fun part of actually assembling them. 

The kids get to roll the marshmallow (which symbolizes Jesus) in oil (melted butter) and them prepare his body for burial with spices (by rolling marshmallow in cinnamon/sugar). Than they get to wrap Jesus (the marshmallow) in burial linens (the crescent roll). And place them in the oven to bake.

Here’s a breakdown of the symbolism:

• Large Marshmallows – body of Jesus
• Melted Butter – oils of embalming
• Cinnamon  and Sugar Mix- spices used to anoint the body.
• Crescent Roll – the wrapping of Jesus’ body or the tomb.
• Oven – the tomb
• Cavity in bun – the empty tomb or the empty cloths

*For more details details on resurrection rolls look here or here).

As the rolls are baking we read the story of of Jesus' resurrection

and then we get to eat them!! 

The kids always love seeing how the "tomb" is empty after the rolls bake. 

Jesus has risen! 

 so cool! 

And just for fun we dyed eggs too.

pretty and tasty. 

Egg salad sandwich anyone?

What are some of your favorite Easter traditions?

Below are some of the other Easter activities we have done in the past t help teach our kids that Easter is about SO much more than just plastic eggs and yummy candy.

this felt cross

 and this activity to demonstrate the cross and resurrection 

Happy Easter!

He has risen!

He has risen indeed! 

Happy Easter!

What a fun weekend we had celebrating Jesus' resurrection.

 We had some friends over and made these resurrection rolls. 

They were the perfect hands on activity to teach our kiddos about Jesus' death and resurrection.  

We read the accounts of Jesus death and resurrection to the kids from the Jesus Storybook Bible  (our favorite) before we made the rolls (his death) and then while the rolls were baking (his resurrection).

And they totally got it!

 They were so excited to see that the tomb was empty after the rolls were done baking.

And of course they loved eating them too!

Yesterday our church had an Easter Egg hunt.

The kids had a blast and we got more candy then we know what to do with.

They are egg hunting/gathering experts.

There are 4 of them.

Hope you guys have a great day celebrating our Savior! 

We are off to church and then to my aunt and uncles for some more Easter fun! 

Easter weekend

He is Risen!
He is Risen indeed!

Happy Easter!

I hope you and your family had a great day celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus!

We sure did!

As usual it was a busy, fun filled holiday weekend.
 Here's a little peek at some of the festivities...

Our church had a really cool event called Walk to the Cross.
We went to the family/kid friendly version on Wednesday which was awesome!
It had different stations that walked you through the events in the Bible leading up to the crucifixion.
Each station had different hands on activities for the kids which helped it all come to life.
The pictures above are of the triumphal entry, the cleansing of the Temple, Jesus washing the disciples feet, Jesus as the Good Shepherd, identifying sin in our life and Jesus nailing our sin to the cross.
   

 On Friday we went to the Good Friday service at our church.
It was awesome.

Then on Saturday our community group hosted an Easter Egg hunt for our community. 

Sunday morning the kids opened their Easter baskets 

and searched for eggs.

This year I hid money inside since I was so over candy! 

Mackenzie was trading Wesley for the pennies because she thought they were prettier than the other coins. 

If she only knew. 

Then we went to church with our family

and some friends.

And then we went to my aunt and uncle's house 

and hung out with all of my cousins and family. 

She's cute :)

I love him!

And we had our annual egg cracking contest.

The kids were so excited to be old enough to participate.

Oh and I made cake pops! 

And I swore to never make them again. 

again.

Hope you guys had a great Easter weekend too!

Face painting and an easter egg hunt

I'm a total dork. 

I think working at Disneyland being a face painter would be the coolest job ever. 

Being at the happiest place on earth, getting paid to be creative and have fun...and getting free into Disneyland! Sounds like a win win to me. Aaron didn't go for it. 

Maybe when the kids are older :)

But in the meantime I'm practicing my face painting skills as a face painter for an Easter Egg hunt our church community group is hosting in our city. 

The person in charge of the hunt asked if I could pre paint some designs so the kids can see the pictures and have something to choose from the day of. 

My kids (and a friend) were more than willing to help.   

If you are in the area and looking for something fun on Saturday, April 7th from 10:00-1:00 stop by Flo Jo Park in Mission Viejo for an Easter egg hunt, awesome face painting :), food, bounce houses, and more! Oh and it's totally FREE! 

*Egg hunt will be at 10:30 sharp 

Address for Easter Eggstravaganza:

Florence Joyner Park, 22760 Olympiad Road, Mission Viejo, CA 92692, Corner of Alicia and Olympiad.

I'd love to meet you too so if you end up coming be sure to introduce yourself. 

Easter 2011

I hope you guys had as awesome of an Easter as we did.

It was a jam packed, crazy busy but super fun weekend!

In fact, I think I am still recovering from it.

We spent lots of time celebrating Jesus' death and resurrection, hanging out with friends and family and going to a zillion Easter egg hunts.

Oh and I thought I should report that the kids loved the Easter story visual I made for them!

I was so happy it worked out and the kids were into it.

Hopefully it helped teach them the real meaning of Easter because we sure got enough Easter eggs to totally confuse them into thinking Easter is all about candy.

Here are some pictures from our Easter celebrations...

enjoy!

Friday we went to an Eggstravaganza with my MOPS group.

They had bounce houses, yummy snacks, crafts,

face painting,

and of course an Easter egg hunt!

The kids loved hanging out with their friends

and getting to play with all the fun stuff.

Aaron was even able to come with us which made it extra fun and so much less stressful.

I'm pretty sure I may have lost a kid in the madness if I didn't have him around to help.

I love my husband!

Then, later that day I went to my parents house where my sweet mom and dad hid a ton of eggs for the kids and surprised them with all kinds of Easter goodies.

They are totally spoiled :) and well loved by my parents...

I'm not sure what I or we would do without them!

Then on Saturday our Community group from church hosted an Easter egg hunt for our neighbors.

It was so much fun and we had a great turn out!

Mackenzie's favorite part was definitely the bounce house we had.

I think she was in it for 3 hours straight.

And of course we got more candy and eggs.

Then on Easter Sunday we went to church and then to my aunt and uncles house to hang out with all my cousins and family.

Did I ever tell you that I pretty much have the best family ever.

We always have so much fun when we are together!

Aaron was even able to start teaching Wesley how to be a master ping pong champion

(which my family always plays when we get together).

We had a great time celebrating Easter.

Hope you guys had a happy Easter too!