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.