Easter Week

I love Easter. I love having these pictures of Jesus up to remind us what it is all about. (This is the end of the week and they are starting to fall down)

On Sunday I was happy to find that a lot of the stuff that we used for Easter week last year was in our Easter box- so less work for me! We had our palm leaves and did our triumphal entry into Jerusalem.

Monday was FHE and we talked about Jesus cleansing the temple. We also made these yummy birds nests for our treat.

They were so messy to eat. Alex didn't want to pick it up with his hands.

Chase was a mess after eating his.

Tuesday and Wednesday we learned about some of the parables of Jesus

Thursday was the day that Jesus had the Passover dinner with his disciples. So we had a Passover dinner with my sister Joanna.

This is the Seder plate. I have learned a lot about the Passover while trying to recreate it in a respectful way.

I don't claim to understand it all but I have read a lot from the internet. Everything on the seder plate reminds you of the children of Israel being in slavery in Egypt. It is the whole point of the dinner.
Chazeret- Horseradish- symbolizes harshness of slavery.
Karpas- Celery dipped in saltwater- bitter veg dipped in tears of the slaves in Egypt.
Maror- Romaine lettuce - Bitterness of slavery
Charoset- Apple walnut mixture- symbolic of the mortar used to build the pyramids in Egypt.
Zeroah - chicken wing- symbol of the lamb sacrificed in the temple of Jerusalem
Beitzah- hard boiled egg- symbol of temple sacrifices- also of the destruction of the temple.

Then it was Friday and all the kids had the day off. We read the scriptures about the last day of Jesus' life starting with the Atonement in the garden of Gethsemane, and ending with him being put into the tomb.

We thought about going somewhere for Easter Break but couldn't decide where to go- and we had to be back to sing in the ward choir- so we decided to have a stay-cation kind of thing. We started off on Friday visiting my Aunt B. We like to take her out to lunch once in a while. Chase loved the peanuts! All the boys did. Chase was just the lucky one sitting across from me.

This is not the greatest picture- but it is the one I have. We love Aunt B.

We went to her house and the boys love to play on her organ.

So.... the weather. It did not cooperate with my outdoor Easter weekend plans. It was cold and rainy and snowy all weekend. We saw that there was a Nickel cade right near Aunt B's house so we went there. We normally don't do this kind of thing and if we do the boys only get a few tokens or they have to bring their own money. Well, today was a treat. They each got a whole bag of nickels.

That night we watched the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie because Alex and I have just read it together- and it was so fun. Alex loved the book. The movie was good too. But he said the book was sooo much better. It is amazing how much it tied into Christ's atonement and how we finished the book right on Easter week.

Saturday morning we had the Easter egg hunt. In years past we have only hidden the eggs downstairs. This year we hid them all over the house except the bedrooms. So it was a bit of a challenge. 

Tanner's is right in the blinds and he is so close.

Of course candy was super yummy!

Jaxon loves a song called Cat Groove. Chase hates it. So when ever Jaxon turns it on, Chase has to try to turn it off! Craziness ensues. Also, Andre doing his calling- calling and texting people for the bishop. He does this for hours on Saturday mornings. He has done it for years.

Saturday Andre had a soccer practice. Then we went to see Zootopia as a family. 

Very cute movie. I liked it.  

Then Andre did the decorating of the eggs with the boys and I went to my moms to watch the general woman's meeting. It was a great meeting. I loved it and I loved watching it with my mom.  

We left the eggs out on the counter all night- so we didn't even get to eat them.

Saturday night we played scrabble.

And Jaxon shaved!  His hair was so long- but only on his side burn and mustache area. (you can see Andre's beard. It was shaved that night also)

Sunday morning we woke up and everyone had to get to the church by 8:20. (Andre actually had meetings at 7:00 as usual) Our choir had a quick warm-up reminder of songs. The sacrament program at 9:00. The songs were great to bring the spirit of Easter. My favorite song was the one that Alex and a bunch of primary kids sang. They really bring the spirit to the meeting.

I try to take pictures of the kids on Easter. They are so darling. The pictures have to be in the shade because if not, eyes are closed. So this was the shade we found.

Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Monday was supposed to be the best weather day of the weekend so that was the day that we planned to for sure be outside. We were supposed to have a picnic somewhere and hike around and enjoy spring. Instead the weather was lame. Monday was the worst weather day of the weekend. Snowy and rainy all day long. So we had to adjust our explorations. They had to be indoor.

We went downtown to the Church History Museum. We watched a cool movie that was on a 280 degree screen- it just wrapped around the room. It was only 5 minutes long but it was powerful. It was Joseph Smith's first vision.

Then we saw the exhibits:

Then we made our way to the Clark Planetarium. We have never been here. Weird huh? We have been to so many places and never been here.

On the moon! (can't breathe)

On Mars!

We saw a planetarium show. I think it was called We Are Stars. It was cool and educational and stuff. 

Riding Trax

Walking in the wet.

This is a picture of the Church History Museum.

Then the Easter break for Jaxon and Andre ended. It was a great week. And very busy because we still had our normal stuff to do in between all that celebrating.

Happy Easter!