Easter Festivities Day 6, He is Risen!

Easter Morning was a very exciting time for us! Matt and I both had lessons to teach at Church, I was performing a solo and with the choir, so I needed to be to Church an hour early. I got up early so I could get ready before we started all the Easter morning festivities, but Daphne and Tori too excited to sleep, and they were up at 6:30. I managed to hold them off for a while so that Matt and Isaac could sleep a little longer. So the girls watched the Veggietales An Easter Carole, (which I highly recommend), while I got ready for the morning. We got the boys up at 7 and let the joy begin!

I went ahead and let them tear into their baskets while I got the scriptures ready to finish up our Resurrection cookies. They were so excited!

Isaac with his new Lego Indiana Jones video game:

Daphne with Tangled on Blu-ray!

Gotta love the Cadbury eggs!

After all that, we ran over to check on the cookies! Here they are removing the tape:

When you touch the cookies, the surface cracks and you can see inside that they are hollow and empty, just like the tomb!

After we read the scriptures and saw the cookies, Isaac and Daphne were so excited that they ran and hugged me, which made me want to cry tears of joy- I love watching their sweet little testimonies grow!

After all the excitement of the morning, I ran off to Church to rehearse. Matt was so sweet and got some great pics of the kiddos in all their Easter cuteness!

So, back at the Church, I was getting more and more nauseated with every minute. I woke up with an icky, icky feeling in my throat. I ran through my song twice and had to stop and cough and clear my throat multiple times. After that, we ran through the choir numbers and by the time that was over, I couldn't even talk without my voice cracking.
I just sat there in my chair and prayed and prayed that the Lord would bless me so that people would still be able to feel the Spirit even if my voice wouldn't hold out. As soon as I saw Matt come in with the kids, I went over and asked him to come and give me a blessing. I honestly have not felt that nervous or worried about my voice giving out. I sat down in the chair and he placed his hands on my head, and I listened to his words, hoping I would hear something like, "Your will be able to perform" or something like that. While I didn't hear anything like that, I did begin to feel a tremendous sense of calm. I also heard him say (among many other things), "Know that your Father in Heaven loves you." After 15 minutes or so, my hands stopped shaking and just felt calm. When it came time for me to go up and sing with the choir, my throat felt fine! I know it seems insignificant, but it was a little miracle for me. I was able to stand and sing my solo and I think the others in the room were able to feel the Spirit, which is really all I can ask for. I felt such peace and calm knowing that God cares even about me and this one little Sunday performance. I continue to be surprised and awed that He genuinely cares for us and for each detail of our lives...

After Church, we came home and I took a fantastic nap! Then we headed over to Nanny and Papa's and began the Egg Hunt! Tori and Penny got a head start :

And of course, Tori wanted to stop and open each egg as she found it!

Here's Penny:

And then we let the restless natives out:

Matt is famous for hiding eggs ridiculously high and then having to get them down himself after much whining from the children. But this Easter, Isaac decided to just go for it:

And once he climbed up there and got the egg, Tori walked over and said, "Isaac, throw it down to my basket!"

Calvin had just spread grass seed down, so there was a whole section of the lawn taped off (in case you were wondering)

Tori looks thrilled about her stash, doesn't she?

Just when we thought we had found all the eggs, Daphne spotted some more of Matt's hidden eggs:

Ao, Matt threw her up onto his shoulders so quickly that her dress did this:

and then he hoisted her up to try and reach the eggs herself, which went from exciting to terrifying in about 2 seconds:

You can see from her face that this was not her favorite part of the day:

They gave her two of the three eggs up there for being so brave:

Isaac's stash:

After the egg hunt, Papa pulled Daphne's second loose tooth!!!

I pray that you had a blessed Easter. We had such a beautiful week together as a family! We are so incredibly grateful for the Sacrifice of our Savior. We know that because of His atoning work and resurrection, our family will be united with Him forever! Happy Easter, Y'all!!

Easter Festivities, Day 5: Eggs and Cookies

Since Day 5 was Saturday, we were able to do a little more than we did on the other days. In the afternoon, we dyed Easter Eggs. (This activity always reminds me of when Daphne was little and asked why we were going to DIE the Easter eggs with a sad look on her face) One of the things I did not remember is that the Dye kits tell you to wait for three minutes for the Dye tablets to dissolve in the water or vinegar.

If you are two years old, 3 minutes is a really long time to wait for dye tablets to dissolve, so you have to come up with things like this to entertain yourself:

After a very long wait, we started!

Daphne had a tummy ache throughout the entire event, so she never does get a real smile on her face, but Isaac and Victoria had a blast!

And then we just got a little silly....

And Daphne's tummy got worse. (That's a kiss on her head)

That night, after bathtime for the girls, we started our Resurrection Cookies. I was so excited about this activity... my friend Carole shared it with me. Here is a link to the recipe if you are interested: Resurrection Cookies.

We started by beating the nuts into small pieces to symbolize how Christ's body was bruised and beaten for us. (We used almonds because Daphne is allergic to pecans!)

Then I took a turn beating them and broke my very favorite Pampered Chef wooden spoon.

We added vinegar, salt and sugar. Each ingredient has a corresponding scripture and symbolic meaning. Then we popped it in the kitchen-aid and beat the mixture for 12 minutes! While that was beating, Isaac took a quick bath and we laid out the Easter Clothes for Church the next day.

Here are the girls waiting for Isaac to come down so we can finish.

Then we let everyone take turns folding in the nuts and scooping a spoonful onto the cookie sheets. Each mound represents the rocky tomb.

After that, we placed them in the oven and read about how Christ's body was placed in the tomb and the tomb was sealed with a stone and guarded with Roman soldiers.

Here are the kids taping the oven door to symbolize the sealing of the tomb!

We explained that just as Jesus's followers were sad to lose Him, we feel a little sad to have to wait for our cookies. Victoria was the most concerned about this... she does not understand the concept of delayed gratification. But she loves tape, so that helped a little. After that, we went upstairs and read of Christ's trial and Crucifixion, praying for a more genuine rememberance of His love for us.

Earlier that day, I was able to read the April issue of the Ensign and was so moved by several of the articles. I was reminded of my own sin, of my shortcomings and the failure of even my best efforts. I was humbled and ashamed to think how He atoned for My sins, My failures, My shortcomings. He suffered for Me, for you, for all of us. His perfect and precious body was bruised for My iniquities and I am so very, very grateful. For,

" But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Praise be to God for the gift of His precious Son!

We know the end of the story... for as painful as His suffering was, His victory is even more Triumphant!