How To: Easter Resurrection Eggs

Resurrection Eggs are a fun way to make the story of Christ's Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection more tangible for kids. My girls love it; one of the reasons we do this all week is because they beg to do it over and over (and often argue over who gets to open the last egg). I like that it helps them remember the specifics so that when we watch the LDS Bible Videos about Jesus's final days, they are already familiar with what they are seeing. 

There are lots of ways to do Resurrection Eggs, and lots of (much more fun) resources out there, but we keep it simple: twelve plastic Easter eggs in an egg carton, numbered 1 through 12. Each one holds a different item that symbolizes part of the story.

• Egg 1 - a leaf (last year it was from a dandelion) that represents a palm leaf and the triumphal entry into Jerusalem
• Egg 2 - a piece of bread that represents the bread at the Last Supper
• Egg 3 - a sacrament cup that represents the wine at the Last Supper
• Egg 4 - a piece of tree bark that symbolizes the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane
• Egg 5 - a drawing of an angel (because I'm too lazy to get out the Christmas ornaments) representing the angel that strengthened Christ in the garden (see Luke 22:43)
• Egg 6 - string that represents the cords used to bind Jesus when they arrested him
• Egg 7 - prickly weeds to represent the crown of thorns
• Egg 8 - a nail representing the nails of the cross
• Egg 9 - a die to represent how the soldiers cast lots for Jesus's clothes
• Egg 10 - a strip of white cloth for the white linen cloth Jesus was buried in
• Egg 11 - a rock to represent the stone place in front of the tomb that was later rolled away
• Egg 12 - is empty to represent the empty tomb on Easter morning

One of the best parts of doing Resurrection Eggs is that you can decide what to include - there's no one right way. We decided to include an angel and leave out the 30 pieces of silver (we would have used three dimes) to focus more on Gethsemane and less on Judas. There are lots of ideas out there and I definitely encourage you to come up with what works for your family. Hopefully this is something to get you started!

She's four and fabulous

Our Rosie turned four last week, and since I haven't been blogging since she turned one, I thought I'd do an all about Rosie post because she's one of my favorite daughters. 

Rosie is full of energy and spunk! One of her nicknames is Spunky Brewster, and she EARNS it. She has perfected the art of saying "No" over the past few weeks (pre-gaming for actually being 4, I think), but she also makes me laugh, so we're keeping her for now. She is stubborn but sweet, has an amazing memory, gets reeaaally loud when she's excited, forgives easily, and often refuses to things except on her terms. Luckily, her terms usually means once we've stopped asking her to do it - she just has to decide for herself. There are other days that she is helpful and eager to please, though they are fewer now that she's really asserting her independent four-year-old-ness. 

She loves to play with dolls, ponies, her "stuffies" (stuffed animals), and her sister's toys. She doesn't usually have an extended attention span for coloring/drawing/painting, but she loves puzzles and will happily work on them for an hour or more. She loves to read stories but is in the phase where she tends to interrupt every page to tell me what she sees, and sometimes that's find and sometimes I can't handle it. She loves to snuggle and be held - another nickname is my little "snuggle-buggle." She is soooo silly and playful, and she makes us laugh every day. She still plays silly games with me that Georgie has grown out of and still loves being tickled. 

She is incredibly articulate, clever, thoughtful, and insightful. She remembers things and brings them up (in the correct context) days or weeks later, but she also makes up words and hears works/phrases wrong and it's adorable. I love hearing her sing and we are frequently treated to spontaneous performances. She has seemingly endless energy, and still sometimes just runs around in circles to get it out. Literally. Runs in circles. 

She also is firmly and forever attached her to special blanket, called Wah-Wah or Wah-Wee. Like, if it's out of sight and she can't find it, she goes full-on screaming/crying/hysterical meltdown as if one of her limbs had just gone missing. We are working on detaching a little (like, say, enough to not bring it to school) but that thing is just part of who she is. She still sleeps with it at night and wraps one corner around her index finger, puts it up to her face, and makes a sucking noise when she falls asleep, just like when she was a baby.

When I was pregnant with her and after she was born, I had several distinct impressions that she was a gift to our family - she came when we needed her, and she chose to come when she did, even knowing that it would be hard. She was born four months after my dad passed away and we needed her joy and light to help us move forward. She has a gift for creating joy and I am grateful for it and her. 

How To: Easy and Delicious Rolls

I've never been brave enough to learn how to make bread or rolls because getting the yeast to rise always seemed super daunting. But I found a super easy recipe and after MANY attempts, I figured it out! These rolls are delicious and come together really quickly. I make them weekly, sometimes more than once a week, and they take only about an hour or so to go from start to hot rolls straight from the oven. In other words, you're welcome.

Step 1: Mix 2 tablespoons of yeast with 2 2/3 cups warm water and 4 tablespoons (or 1/4 cup) of honey. Stir until the honey is dissolved. [I like to mix the honey with the water first before adding it to the yeast.] Give it 5-10 minutes for the yeast to rise.

Step 2: Add 7 cups of flour and 2 teaspoons of salt. Mix on the lowest setting until the dough comes together, then at a slightly higher setting until the dough is thoroughly mixed. [It shouldn't be too sticky, but rather pretty elastic.] Let it sit and rise for just 5 minutes or so.

Step 3: Roll the dough into balls and let them rise for about 20 minutes. [They can rise longer, but I think they are better if they don't rise too long. You have to play it by ear.]

Step 4: Place the rolls in a greased glass baking dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned on top.

The finished product! Don't they look amazing??

Our Easter Advent: 40 Days of Jesus Stories

You probably think it's too early to start thinking about Easter - after all, it's only Valentine's Day! - but last year, we did an Easter Advent that turned out really well, and I wanted to be sure to share it with you in time for you to participate, if you so desire. The full list of scriptures/stories/videos is listed at the end, but first some background:

Two Christmases ago, I wanted to do a 25-day advent that would help us focus more on Jesus, and so every night, we watched a "Jesus video" (the Bible videos created by the LDS Church) and we talked about the things Jesus did and the qualities he showed.  Fast forward to a few weeks later, and I kept thinking about how wonderful it was to talk about Jesus every day and how Easter should be even more of a big deal than Christmas, and I decided to put together an Easter advent. Tim helped me focus my ideas and I made a plan, and we just went for it.

And the results?

It was so much better than I thought it would be. 

Here's what we did last year (and what we'll do again this year):

- We decided to share stories about Jesus every night, starting with a few of the prophecies of his birth and going through his life until his death/resurrection. We included a handful of Book of Mormon stories and we broke down the final days of Jesus's life into several parts to meet our goal.

- We chose to do 40 days partially because 40 days is significant in the scriptures and partially because it coincided with Lent, which I usually like to celebrate. This year, Lent starts today on February 14th.

- Rather than sacrificing anything for Lent though, we decided to focus on doing service. Lent is actually 47 days long because Sundays traditionally don't count, so we decided to do stories for 40 days and service as a family on the extra 7 days. 

Here's how it actually turned out and what we learned: 

- Because we were focusing our actions on service, we ended up focusing all of our nightly stories on how Jesus served people and how he showed his love for them. Once we framed everything in the context of love and service, it went much more smoothly.

- While I initially mapped out which days were most likely to be good service days over the seven weeks, we were flexible as unexpected opportunities have come up. Some things we planned, other things we didn't, but we learned that if you look for service opportunities, you'll find them. 

- One thing that really made a difference was the Bible videos. I can't praise them enough. Even on nights when there wasn't a video to go along with the story (for example, the story of the 10 Lepers - how did that get skipped??), we ended up watching our favorites again. This year, we are adding in one or two Living Scriptures movies, but we very much prefer the Bible videos.

- Another thing that helped is that when we broke down the events leading up to Jesus's death and resurrection, I made resurrection eggs for the kids to open. If you haven't heard of this idea, here's a good example of some easy resurrection egg ideas. (I'll create a separate post about ours and what we included when we're closer to Easter.) [UPDATE: As promised! Here's our Resurrection Eggs explained.]

- I should also note that last year, we wimped out and didn't try to read the stories directly from the scriptures. Instead, we explained the story in words the kids could understand, then we watched the video (occasionally pausing to make sure they were following), and then we talked about it after and asked them questions. And then we'd usually watch it again! Because the kids are older, we plan to read the stories from the scriptures for our daily family scripture study this year.

The main thing I remember about last year was that although I originally planned this for my kids, I needed it for myself, too. I learned so much and gained insights and was strengthened through the opportunity to bear my testimony to my kids over and over again. 

I remember that one of the most rewarding moments came during church when we were about 2/3 of the way through our 40 days. I opened up the Gospel Art Book and showed the girls all the pictures from Jesus' life, and they were able to tell me the story behind every single picture that we'd covered so far. Even Rosie could tell me the stories, and up to that point, I had serious doubts that she was listening when I explained the stories in kid-speak. The whole experience made Easter better for all of us and I'm excited to try it again this year! Yes, 40 days is a long time and yes, it's a big commitment, but yes, it was absolutely worth it.

Here's the full 40-day list of Jesus stories/scriptures/videos. (Sorry it's not in a better/easier format - I couldn't get the table formatting to work.) This does not include the extra days of service, so remember to work those in before the last week. (The stories assigned to the days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday are scheduled for specific days.) And if you decide to join us or do your own version, please let me know how it turns out!

Easter Advent: Forty Days of Jesus Stories

Day 1: Prophecy of Christ’s Birth (Isaiah 9:6) 
Mormon Tabernacle Choir - World’s Largest Virtual Hallelujah Chorus

Day 2: Samuel the Lamanite & Christ’s birth in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 14:1-6; 3 Nephi 1:4-21)
[There is a Living Scriptures video "Samuel and the Sign" but it's not available online unless you have an account]

Day 3: The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38)
“An Angel Foretells Christ’s Birth to Mary”

Day 4: The Nativity (Luke 2:1-20)
”The Nativity”

Day 5: The visit of the Wise Men & fleeing into Egypt (Matt. 2:1-15)

”The Wise Men Seek Jesus”

Day 6: Jesus teaches in the temple (Luke 2:40-52)

“Young Jesus Teaches in the Temple”

Day 7: The baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3:13-17)

“The Baptism of Jesus”

Day 8: Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:1-11)

“Jesus Turns Water into Wine”

Day 9: The Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5-26)
“Jesus Teaches a Samaritan Woman”

Day 10: Fishers of men (Matt. 4:18-22)
“Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men”

Day 11: Jesus heals a man of palsy (Mark 2:1-12)
“Jesus Forgives Sins and Heals a Man Stricken with Palsy”

Day 12: Jesus heals a lame man on the Sabbath (John 5:2-12)

“Jesus Heals a Lame Man on the Sabbath”

Day 13: The Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:3-16)
“Sermon on the Mount: The Beatitudes”

Day 14: Jesus heals the Centurion’s servant (Matt. 8:5-13)
[No video]

Day 15: The Widow of Nain (Luke 7:11-16)

“Widow of Nain”

Day 16: Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:37-40)

“Calming the Tempest”

Day 17: Jairus’s daughter is healed (Mark 5:22-24, 35-43)
“Jesus Raises the Daughter of Jairus”

Day 18: The woman with an issue of blood (Mark 5:22-34)

“Jesus Heals a Woman of Faith”

Day 19: Jesus feeds the 5,000 (Matt. 14:15-21)
“The Feeding of the 5,000”

Day 20: Jesus walks on water (Matt. 14:25-33)
“Wherefore Didst Thou Doubt?”

Day 21: The adulterous woman (John 8:2-11)

“Go and Sin No More”

Day 22: The man blind from birth (John 9:1-12, 35-38)

“Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind”

Day 23: The parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)

“Parable of the Good Samaritan”

Day 24: The parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:2-7)
“Jesus Declares the Parable of the Lost Sheep”

Day 25: The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32)

“The Prodigal Son”

Day 26: Martha & Mary (Luke 10:38-42)
[No video]

Day 27: Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44)
“Lazarus Is Raised from the Dead”

Day 28: The ten lepers (Luke 17:11-19)
“Chapter 37: The Ten Lepers” [from the LDS media library]

Day 29: “Suffer the little children” (Luke 18:15-17)
“Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me”

Day 30: Forgiveness & the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18:21-35)

“Forgive 70 Times 7”

Day 31: The rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-27)
“Christ and the Rich Young Ruler”

Day 32: The greatest commandment (Mark 12:28-34)

“The Greatest Commandment”

Day 33: The widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44)

“Jesus Teaches about the Widow’s Mite”

Day 34 - Palm Sunday: Triumphal entry (Matt. 21:1-11)

“The Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem”

Day 35: Jesus cleanses the temple (Matt. 21:12-13)

“Jesus Cleanses the Temple”

Day 36: Mary anoints Jesus (John 12:2-8)
[No video]

Day 37: The Last Supper (John 13:1-35)

“The Last Supper”

Day 38: The Atonement (Matt. 26:47-57; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:40-46)

“The Savior Suffers in Gethsemane”

Day 39 - Good Friday: Christ’s trial and Crucifixion (Matt. 27:11-50; John 19:25-27)

“Jesus Is Condemned Before Pilate” &  “Jesus Is Scourged and Crucified”

Day 40: Signs of Christ’s death in the Book of Mormon (3 Nephi 8:3-23; 3 Nephi 10:9-10)

The Testaments: One Fold, One Shepherd of Jesus Christ [full movie on YouTube]

Day 41 - Easter Sunday: The Resurrection (Matt. 27:57-60; Matt. 28:1-8; John 20:3-18)

“Jesus Is Laid in a Tomb” and “Jesus Is Resurrected”

Favorite Children's Books, part 1: Picture Books

My kids love books. They love being read to, they love "reading" to themselves and each other (cutest thing ever, see the photo), they love going to the library to pick out new books, they love it all. Parenting win, right?

My favorite part of this photo is that the 3-year-old is "reading" to her older sister. Love. It.

Last summer, I compiled a checklist of about 75 books kids' books recommended by other moms/bloggers/BYU Magazine, and as of this month, we've checked off all but a handful of them that the Provo/Orem libraries don't carry. This process was fun for three reasons:

1 - I really love marking things off of lists. Like, a lot.

2 - It gave me specific things to look for at the library instead of aimlessly browsing and hoping for a good find.

3 - We read a lot of really awesome books!

So in the spirit of paying it forward, and in no particular order, here are 25 of our favorite picture books! This is mainly for (but not limited to) kids ages 2-5, and some of these are geared more for girls than boys. This list has been thoroughly vetted by both children and adults, a.k.a., the kids loved them AND I didn't mind reading them multiple times. (There are many books left off this list that the kids loved but I wouldn't read more than twice. Sorry, Pete the Cat and Eloise.)

Journey by Aaron Becker - We love this book (and its sequels) with all our hearts. No words, only pictures, so it's perfect for any age. 

Nibbles by Emma Yarlett might be the kids' all-time favorite book ever. Note that this is an Usborne book. If you don't know what that means or you need a consultant, I've got a connection for you. :)

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty is another absolute favorite that I quote to the kids ("It was the perfect first try!") on a regular basis. Also makes me cry on a regular basis. A must-read/own.

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey is one that I remember reading this as a child and now my kids love it too.

Berlioz the Bear by Jan Brett is a fun and silly story and we read it over and over and over.

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor - We are BIG fans of Fancy Nancy around here. Start with the first book and then enjoy all of the sequels and easy reader books.

The Adventures of Beekle, the Un-imaginary Friend by Dan Santat is one of the first books we read off of my list and it was so sweet and fun!

The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer almost didn't make the list because I didn't want to read it more than once, but once was enough for the kids, too, because every page has a LOT to look at. This is a great one for reading once and then letting the kids peruse after that.

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt is really funny and silly! We never got sick of reading this one.

The Enchanted Wood by Ruth Sanderson - This fairy tale was surprisingly sweet and original. My kids stayed with it until the end, in spite of the large amount of text.

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud - Everyone needs to read this book! It gave me a way to talk to my kids about kindness and empathy and even bullying in a very accessible way. Just this morning, Rosie told me I'd filled up her bucket when I helped her, so it's memorable too!

Good Night, Yoga and Good Morning, Yoga by Mariam Gates were fun ways to introduce my kids to yoga, and Georgie still asks to do yoga before bed sometimes. Winner winner.

When You Were Small and When I Was Small by Sara O'Leary have been favorites for a long time. Simple but magical stories.

What Do You Do with an Idea? and What Do You Do with A Problem? by Kobi Yamada are delightfully illustrated and creative in their approaches. I think I liked them more than the kids, but we will definitely be reading these again as they get older.

The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig is a powerful story about the power of a friend. It was a great way to challenge my kids to notice who might be feeling invisible and to reach out.

Mrs. Muddle's Holidays by Laura F. Nielsen is a book that I'd like us to own at some point. The kids loved it and it made me excited to start more of our own family holidays and traditions. Very fun!

The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman was one that my kids brought me to read again and again. 

The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts really caught my kids' attention, I think because they often feel so small too. It's a great story about the difference one person who pays attention can make.

Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman - My kids really liked this one, and even if they didn't quite grasp some of the deeper messages, they got the part about apologizing and forgiveness, so, excellent. 

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth has some beautiful answers to the questions, though it was bit over my kids' heads. Another one we'll come back to later. 

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon is one that we've enjoyed for several years. It's one that has a couple of lines that made me and Tim laugh out loud the first time we read it. 

One Smile by Cindy McKinley was one of two books that we read (and the better of the two, I thought) about the power of simple acts of kindness. Always looking for ways to teach that so this was a great find.

Here's the full list without my commentary:

Journey by Aaron Becker

Nibbles by Emma Yarlett

Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Berlioz the Bear by Jan Brett

Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor

The Adventures of Beekle, the Un-imaginary Friend by Dan Santat

The Big Book of Bugs by Yuval Zommer

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt

The Enchanted Wood by Ruth Sanderson

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud

Good Night, Yoga and Good Morning, Yoga by Mariam Gates

When You Were Small and When I Was Small by Sara O'Leary

What Do You Do with an Idea? and What Do You Do with A Problem? by Kobi Yamada

The Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig

Mrs. Muddle's Holidays by Laura F. Nielsen

The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman

The Smallest Girl in the Smallest Grade by Justin Roberts

Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman

The Three Questions by Jon J. Muth

Alice the Fairy by David Shannon

One Smile by Cindy McKinley

And there you have it! We have many more books that we could recommend but this is a good start. Leave a comment with your favorite books to read with your kids so I can start my next list!