Easter Preparations...

What a beautiful week leading up to celebrating our RISEN Savior!  I had been searching Pinterest (my new addiction--thanks Lara M!) for a few weeks now on activities that we could do with Hannah to talk about why we celebrate Easter Sunday as a special day and what it is we are actually celebrating.  First of all, we are blessed that Hannah is in a Sunday school class at church that has actual lessons and that it's not just play time, and the Sunday before Easter they had a lesson out of Matthew 21..."And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!'"  Matthew 21:9.  All week long when I would ask Hannah, what did you learn this week in Sunday school Hannah would say (actually shout) "Hosanna!".  On Monday morning Hannah and I headed out to the mighty dollar and walmart to gather our supplies for home activities.  The first one we did Monday night with Bryan.  Like I said, I found the idea on Pinterest and I think it may be my favorite overall thing I have found so far...an Easter garden.  All we needed was a clay saucer pot, potting soil, some grass seed which we already had, rocks, twigs, something for the open tomb (they suggested a small clay flower pot but I couldn't find one, so I used what I think was a small flower pot in the material of what egg cartons are made of--found at the mighty dollar), and one big rock. 

EASTER GARDEN

 We went out Monday night after supper on a little treasure hunt for the supplies we needed that could be found in the back yard or driveway (twigs and rocks).  Here Bryan and Hannah are collecting twigs that would be used to make the three crosses...

 Hannah helping get the potting soil out that we mounded up on one side and over the tomb...

 After putting a mound of potting soil on, we sprinkled the top with grass seed, put more potting soil on and then sprayed with water.

 Me and Hannah with the finished product...

 Hannah is not into pictures these days, so this was the best we could do...the crosses were made from the twigs...

 Bryan explaining it all to Hannah...

 Happy girl!  The grass is supposed to come up between 7 and 10 days...I haven't seen any yet and as I write this blog, we are on the 7th day.  I'll post pics if any pops up...

The next activity we did was on Tuesday and I got this off of Pinterest too.....

RESURRECTION ROLLS

All you need is one package of crescent rolls, cinnamon, sugar, butter, and marshmallows...

 Hannah loves to stir, so I knew this would be the perfect simple cooking activity with her...here she is stirring up the cinnamon and sugar which represent the spices used to prepare Jesus's body for burial...

Hannah really enjoyed dipping the marshmallows in the melted butter and then rolling them in the cinnamon sugar (the marshmallow represents Jesus...pure and without sin...the perfect non-blemished sacrifice for our sins and the butter represents the embalming oils)...

And this is just us making a big ol' mess while waiting for the rolls to bake.  After rolling the marshmallows in melted butter and coating them in the cinnamon sugar, you wrap the marshmallow up in the crescent roll symbolizing how Jesus's body was wrapped in linens and then when you put the rolls in the oven, that represents the tomb they put Jesus in.

12 minutes later, this is what we got.  They weren't as pretty as the picture on Pinterest, but I think it was because I didn't wrap them tight enough and the liquid oozed out of the rolls.

This one turned out great!  So, as we were getting ready to have our special afternoon snack, I talked to Hannah about how three days after Jesus died on the cross that he was RISEN and that is what we celebrate on Easter Sunday...our living hope in a RISEN SAVIOR!  When you open up the crescent roll, the marshmallow is no longer there!  Just like Jesus is no longer in the tomb...HE IS ALIVE!

I'm pretty sure our special treat was a hit!  They were super yummy!

Just a side note, the directions suggest reading the scripture out of the Bible as you explain each step and what it represents...a great idea for older children...Hannah and I just talked about it all.  Hannah was covered in cinnamon sugar and butter by the time we finished!  I think that equals a successful project!

The third activity I had planned was for Thursday when we were in Bowling Green with Hannah's friend, Lena.  I took the girls down to the bigger preschool room where there were tables for us to do the activity, but when we walked in and they saw all the new exciting things to play with, neither of them were interested in gluing.  So, we just played!  Maybe we'll do that activity next year.

What a wonderful week of talking about our living hope in a RISEN SAVIOR!