Hoppy Easter

Our Easter activities started last week, when we had some leftover frosting.... James made cupcakes all on his own, and the kids went to town! We didn't have cupcakes with frosting. When Ellie had the frosting, she made frosting with a little bit of cupcake. Everyone had a wonderful time! It felt so good to have Easter colors around!

Next, on our Easter Activities, was dessert for Easter dinner. I had been given these egg shaped jello molds, so I wanted to use those! Off we went. Hmmmm... what could we do with those eggs to make the dessert for fun? Well, after searching with the kids on the Internet, we had it. The boys love origami, so we decided on a bird theme! We made a nest with Tiger Butter and Chow Mien noodles which was fabulous! And certainly a dessert on it's own! And Ellie and Glenn LOVED forming that nest! But, I was bound to get those eggs in there! So, we put a little wax paper in the middle, and put our jello eggs inside, while James went to town on making origami cranes to sit next to its nest. It was quite the interesting dessert to say the least! The kids loved the eggs, but I personally will not make those eggs again. They all split in the middle when I opened up the mold. It was frustrating. But, we stacked them together, and made do. We had multicolored eggs (Alex's favorite... of course), and just plain orange. The tiger butter was my favorite... of course! Who wouldn't love white and milk chocolate mixed with peanut butter!


Next, were the Easter eggs. Hmmmm... Well, I was busy making hot cross buns, and let's just say I was a little distracted! When Glenn dropped an egg that he had colored, and it cracked open with a runny yolk inside, I realized that I had forgotten to boil the eggs! Yeah, well, it was only after they colored 18 eggs! Good thing we had plenty of eggs! I quickly boiled up another batch, and all the kids had a great time coloring the eggs, and adding stickers, and crayoning in star wars people and names. Great fun!
Last, came the table decorations. James loves to do origami, and wanted to do something other than cranes. So, we looked up info on the Internet, and was lucky to find a site with Easter origami, and had a side link to Star Wars Origami!!!! Ok, James just about flipped out! The kids are supposed to do a service project daily... something simple, even like making your brother's bed. But James kept scheming up ways to make Star Wars origami during the school day..."can I use it as a service project, if I make an A-wing fighter for Alex?" Yeah, it was hilarious. Anyway, we also found instructions for baskets, and bunnies. James was happily at work to make a basket and bunny for everyone. Alex and Glenn made eggs to go inside, and I was scheming a way to get my Cadberry Eggs for the season... "Oh, James! If you make the baskets, I can get a Cadberry Egg to put inside each one!" James then wants to know what is a Cadberry egg. WHAT???? On Easter, when he tried one, James says to me, "I can't believe you've never let me have one of these before in my life?!" I was surprised he'd never had one either. Now, he's hooked!



Easter weekend was a beautiful weekend! Sunday wasn't so great, but Saturday was beautiful! And we had no baseball! So, we went to work in the yard! I had gotten a compost bin last year, and we finally had the time, energy, and a son, to work on it! James loves to put things together, and the bigger the task, the happier he is. This assembly required power tools, and he was anxious to start! So, I gave him the box, and he took it from there. He asked for help holding things once in a while, and I checked in on him to make sure he was doing it right, but he certainly was! And did I mention he loved the power tools!? He had to drill, then screw... and he loved changing the ends! Yeah, hilarious. Can't wait to remind of that when he has to build a playset for his own kids!

But, he did it, and did a fantastic job! We already put some grass clippings in... life is good.
While he was working on the compost bin, I had to fix our lawn mower. The pull string was literally on it's last string... it was hanging in one spot by one thread. So, my mother-in-law, who is very creative and handy, came to mind, as I decided to take a needle and thread and sew the two thick spots of chord together with skinny rope. Then I taped it close, and it did pull, so it should hold at least for a little while. James is almost 10 now, and any big person job he gets, he's quite excited about. Mowing the lawn is one of them! He LOVES it, and can't wait to do it again. And by the way, the clippings can go in the compost bin which spins... what can be more exciting than that?!

Ellie wanted to make sure to get in on the nice day, too. She had a play date with her dolls. She zipped them up nice and warm in her coat to go outside, for a fantastic swing! She talked to them the entire time, making sure they were happy!

Glenn has become a member of the split club at karate, now. Yep, he's all the way down. It just looks painful! But, he's excited that he can do it!
And of course, Ellie can't be outdone. She's also very flexible, and can do the splits too. It's amazing!
Then there is Alex, who is NOT flexible, and tries to do the splits, and just cries cause he's not even close! So, we made up the horse stance club, and he's happy he's a part of that. For now.

Well, unfortunately we didn't actually get any pictures of Easter. But, we all enjoyed our time with the Dye's, despite my mishaps that day of having shoes completely come apart on me, sweet potatoes spilling over in the car, and getting frosting on my shirt... fun fun fun! It was still a wonderful day, and I'm glad we could be together as a family, and remember Christ's sacrifice for us. I'm so grateful for that, so we all can be together again with our families up in heaven!

Happy Easter Everyone!