Holiday | Easter

This Holy week was wonderful and exhausting, but also very exciting as we've been able to better explain to Sebastian what it all means. At our church's Maundy Thursday service, Cody washed Seb's feet, and thus taught Seb how Jesus washed his friends feet. On Good Friday, Sebastian went up the cross and helped his daddy place little white papers with our names on them at the foot of the cross, to symbolize us dying to ourselves. And of course, on Easter morning, we celebrated our risen King with Easter ties, jars filled with tasty treats, and lunch followed by an egg hunt at friend's house. And before bed and nap times this week, I read to Sebastian about the Last Supper, the crucifixion and Jesus' Resurrection.

Cody and I normally observe the Sabbath from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday, so Easter started last night for us. We watched Easter Parade, which of course doesn't really have anything to do with Easter, but seems like a good tradition to us, and ate Easter treats. Since I'm still on my diet, I made these raw vegan brownies, which were absolutely delicious. I didn't have time to take a picture of them because, of course, I was eating them.

Happy Easter season, my friends! May you be blessed by our risen Lord Jesus.

P.S. Sebastian picked his Easter "basket" off the floor, but Bruno apparently had felt that it belonged to him, so he lunged towards Seb, grabbed him around the leg and growled. Ooo boy.

Holiday | Traditions at Easter

^^Seb's first Easter^^

It's so hard for me to sift through ideas about traditions, and decide what I want to do with my family. It's nice to have Pinterest to help, but seriously, the number of hot cross bun recipes in the world is just a little overwhelming.

Fortunately, The Pioneer Woman has come to our rescue. She has a heavenly looking recipe for hot cross buns, a tradition I can get behind. (Okay, and these look like a good idea, too) Nothing brings a family together like food, and in the years to come I hope it will spark discussion around our table and contemplation of the death of Christ.

For Easter morning, make these resurrection rolls for a perfect visual of the resurrection story and a tasty treat. I hope to have Seb help make these.

Dyeing Easter eggs seems to be a tradition that must be kept, though the thought of figure out how to dye them is daunting to say the least. Nevertheless, it's a great opportunity to create something beautiful and experience the idea of renewal and life coming from something lifeless—the resurrection of Jesus. Honestly, I highly doubt we'll actually get around to dyeing eggs this year, but if you do, these natural dye recipes look good.

And lastly, I thought this post over at This Whole Family was inspiring. I love how their family is seeking to make Easter simple on the consumerism side of things, but a treasured time of creativity, excitement and joy. I can't help but be a little jealous that they get to have an Easter egg hunt in their garden! Marvelous.

What Easter traditions are important to you? What would you recommend doing with a toddler to bring the meaning of Easter to life? I would love your input!

Music | The Lamb has Overcome by Luke Morton

Home | The very best & most joyous Holiday

And now, because of what Christ has done, we look forward to when 

"We will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; 

for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."

-1 Corinthians 15-51-52

Easter Joys

This Easter weekend was wonderful and refreshing. The best, I think. It was so fun to share the joy of Christ's resurrection with Sebastian and to spend time with our families during the most important holiday of the year.

The Dells

My brother, sister, Cody, Sebastian and I drove down to my family's house on Friday afternoon, and spent the evening at my Aunt and Uncle's for a mushroom fry. Saturday morning, amidst delicious green fields and cloudy skies, we continued our long-time tradition of a scavenger hunt for our Easter baskets. My mom is amazing when it comes to making us play silly games and inventing hilarious clues, like "Go milk the cows. Don't worry! I already tied their tails so they wouldn't smack you in the face." Imagine our delight when we found "cowtails" the candy tied up in the milking parlor.

 

looking at the kitty with aunt b

 

jumping on the trampoline with uncle isaac

The Streckers

Saturday afternoon took us to Cody’s family’s house. We spent the evening enjoying the open windows that allowed the breeze to move in and watched Sebastian play with his new toys from Mamaw. We went to church as a family on Sunday morning (Seb got to play in the nursery with his auntie!). Cody's brother and his girlfriend came over Sunday evening for dinner and then we spent the rest of the night playing a sweet new scrabble game and Funglish. Have you ever played? It is amazing and really fun. I highly recommend it.

chillin' with auntie

mamaw knitted seb a bunny!

rocking with mamaw. is this not the most precious picture?

sleepy sleepy and watching veggie tales easter

I love our families, and am so sad to be away from them again. I hope your Easter weekend was filled with as much joy as ours!

Good HEAVENS, Good Ties

This small South African company, Good HEAVENS, makes the loveliest ties. I'd love to get Cody one of the Liberty prints for Easter. Do you buy/wear something special and new on Easter Sunday each year?

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