Easter 2016

Happy Easter everyone!! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter. I love Easter. As a child, we didn't put any extra emphasis on Easter and the Passover since we celebrate Christ every day and take the Lord's Supper every Sunday. But as an adult, I'm enjoying adding a little extra fun during Easter and adding some special things that remind of us Jesus' resurrection, so it's more than a fun bunny holiday.

This was Jackson's first Easter. He was so cute and is such an awesome baby! Truly a happy and laid back baby. We hosted lunch for my family at my house. Our kids got an Easter basket on Easter morning. Jackson was the first up and crawled right to his basket. I was amazed he knew which one was his. Grace was up next. She had two baskets, she really wanted a bunny basket so she got that one too and it had a pink bunny in it. When she saw it, she ask, "is this mine?" I said yes and she said, "Oh thank you!" What a sweet and cute girl I have! Caden was up last, and he liked his basket too.

I got smaller plastic baskets for my niece and cousin's daughter who came over for our lunch. So the kids got another Easter egg hunt. We didn't make it to the Easter egg hunt at church. We were all worn out. Caden was disappointed but I think he was understanding as well.

I didn't do everything I wanted to do with the kids this year but we did dye eggs, go through the dozen resurrection eggs, I made toddler resurrection eggs, and we read lots of Easter stories, about Christ, the Easter bunny, and spring. I also made an egg sensory bin and Grace did great identifying colors and sorting the eggs. I hope you all had a great Easter!

 

Resurrection Eggs for Young Children

As part of our Easter traditions, we go through the resurrection eggs. I have a set I bought a few years ago and we're going through that with the kids, but I was wanting something more bite sized for Grace and something we could use for Jackson, next year. Caden also made some resurrection eggs at school, which are awesome! He and Grace enjoyed going through those last night. However, I still wanted something that was a little shorter and bite sized for the younger kids. These Resurrection Eggs for Toddlers and younger kids are perfect!

This set took me 5 minutes, at the most to make. It uses six eggs, instead of twelve. Caden and Grace were both able to tell me about each egg after going through it one time. It's a great way to really bring home the story of Jesus and tie it in with Easter. 

Start with six different colored plastic eggs. I found these faith-themed eggs at Walmart. 

Egg 1: "Jesus ate dinner with his friends." Luke 22:14-15. Put bread crumbs or a bread shape in this egg. I cut out a bread shape from felt.

Egg 2: "The next day, Jesus died on the cross." John 19:17-18. Put a cross in this egg. I cut out a cross from some felt. 

Egg 3: "He was wrapped in cloth and placed in a tomb." John 19:40. Put a piece of cloth in this egg. I used a piece of white felt. 

Egg 4: "A stone was placed in front of the tomb." Matthew 27:59-60. Find a nice rock and place in the egg.

Egg 5: "Jesus' friends came to teh tomb. The tomb was empty." Luke 24:1-3. Leave this egg empty. 

Egg 6: "Jesus is alive! That's the sweet surprise of Easter." Matthew 28:5-6.

Jackson is 7 months old!

Dear Jackson,

Sorry I'm late with this post. You turned seven months old on St. Patrick's Day this year. Last month you started crawling and going from belly to sitting or crawling!  You love jumping, standing, laughing, smiling, babbling, especially saying, "Dadadadadada." You cut your first tooth while we were visiting family in New Mexico. You like to wave to people and are such a very sweet and happy baby! You also are great at grabbing things! My hair, clothes, picking up toys, small puffs to eat, etc. 

You love your Bible class and the teachers all love your sweet personality. You wear size 12 month clothes, size 4 diaper, and sleep around 11 hours at night and take two naps a day. Usually one nap is around an hour, the other around two hours. You recently survived a 30.5 hour road trip even though you don't like riding in the car. We moved you from your baby car seat to a rear facing bigger baby car seat. 

This past month we started feeding you solids. After eating them for a few weeks, you are really starting to enjoy them! We give you a variety of mashed cooked veggies, fruits, and a few cereals. I nurse you around 5-6 times a day, which is still your primary food. We love you so much and are enjoying watching you grow and explore the world!

Love,
Mom

LONG Road Trip to NM!

We decided to drive to see Collin's mom over Spring break. When we went last year, before Jackson was born, we flew. I had wanted to visit in the Fall when Jackson and Grace would both be free to fly but too many other things were going on with his family and ours so the timing didn't work out. After looking at our calendars, it looked like the Spring would be a better time to make the drive then the HOT summer and we didn't want to wait until Fall to visit. So off we went!

It was a LONG, LONG drive! If one made zero stops, it would take 10 hours. Knowing that a 5.5 hour trip takes around 7-7.5 hours, we knew there was no way we could drive it in a day. So we planned to drive halfway there one day and half the other. On the way we stopped in Andrews to see one of Collin's brothers and his wife and some of their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids. It was great to see them! The following day we got up early and hit the road. It took us 15 hours between the first two days, only stopping to eat, get gas, use the restroom, or give the kids a break because one or more kids were crying too much. Not to mention, I'm breastfeeding so we had to plan to stop for that as well. On the way back, it took us 15.5 hours. Overall, the kids did great, considering! But after looking at all the expenses we realized we could fly for a few hundred dollars more and have a more pleasant experience in the future. We spent four full days on the road, two full days and one half day visiting his mom. We stayed with his oldest brother and wife for three nights and got to see them and Jayce and Cindy who are about to have their second baby. We just hated the time together was so short and the drive was so long. The things we had hoped and semi-planned to do with the kids along the way didn't happen. They never do when we make the drive - mainly because it's such a long drive. Anyway, we did it and are so glad we got to visit so many of Collin's family and Collin's mom got to meet Jackson, in person!

Here are some pictures from our trip.

Stopped here to make a pit stop. There was no bathrooms for almost two hours after this stop.

 

Another pit stop. In Carlsbad.

All the kids strapped in.

Sweet face!

Smiling baby!

This road never ends!

 

Road trip!

He really wanted to pet the skunk.

She didn't want to get back in the car.

Maybe one day we'll get to go on the trails here.

Stretching our legs.

Church Sunday morning.

 

This is a fun restaurant in the old town. There are parrots in the lobby.

The kids were tired of sitting at the table so I took them for a walk.

I bought this bouncing thing for Jackson, he loved it!

Old town, church behind them.

Spending time with NeeNee.

NeeNee and Caden colored Easter eggs. So fun!

Grace loved Uncle Jim. She called him, "her friend."

She loved Aunt Viola too!

Both kids enjoyed playing dress up with the lights.

Caden showed us a dog show one night.

Grace loved their dogs too.

Preparing a meal with Mom.

Playing one the games I brought.

Caden helping make lunch.

Putting stickers on plastic eggs.

Me attempting to get these two down for a nap. Haha. I failed.

Collin, Reba, and Jackson (6 months old)

First time to meet his grandmother in person.

Hanging out at Uncle Jim and Aunt Viola's

These kids love their grandmother.

Jayce and Cindy

Family dinner

Collin and his oldest brother

Heading home!

We took the kids for a quick swim at the hotel pool the morning we made our last leg of the trip.

First time in a swimming pool!

Some of Shane's family

Jim, Grace, and Viola

Mike, Larissa, and Jackson

Shayna and Jackson

Shane, Grace, and Collin

 

Collin's favorite restaurant when he was growing up!

Most of the view was of windmills or oil rigs. :)