Stuff and Nonsense
This week we celebrated Holy Week and Easter. When we told the kids that last Sunday was Palm Sunday, they got very excited. Apparently Rea and Sara at least remember some of our Easter traditions and were excited to do them again. That made Alison very happy. Mike was sick with a cold, so the kids took turns being the donkey for the Palm Sunday game. Then they went outside to find green things to wave while we sang "Hosanna" from the Children's Songbook.
On Monday Mike was still feeling sick (as he had most of the last week), so he decided to take a sick day for himself. In the evening we talked about Jesus cleansing the temple and played a game of Clean Up Your Own Backyard with socks. Sara didn't want to play at first (she currently resents all organized games), but she got drawn in because it was so fun. We all enjoyed it.
Tuesday we went outside in the rain at Wheeler Farm. Gideon actually made it a whole hour! He's hated being out in precipitation or wind all winter, so this was big news. Then he and I sat in the car while the kids played at looking for unicorns with some friends. Tuesday night the kids watched Prince of Egypt (Timmy's favorite activity of Holy Week - maybe all the kids' favorite) to understand the history of the Passover. Alison went to a homeschooling mother's group with her friend while they finished their movie.
Wednesday we have our Passover Seder meal (Jesus did his on Thursday, but this makes our week flow better). Alison spent several hours cooking and trying to shoo the kids outside in the beautiful weather. Everyone went happily except Timmy, who really wanted Mommy to play with him and couldn't accept that she had to spent three hours working on dinner. But the dinner turned out delicious. We had the lamb made into an instant pot curry over rice, homemade matzoh and haroseth, and lettuce for the green herb and dandelions for the bitter herbs. Everyone was very excited to get to drink so much grape juice. Alison has adapted our script every year to make it simpler. This year was pretty good. The kids enjoyed it, especially Rea.
Thursday we talked about the Garden of Gethsemane and how the Atonement paid for our sins. We did a little activity giving each kid some toy money and offering to sell them candy bars, but they didn't have enough money. We talked about how Christ makes up the difference because none of us are perfect, but He is. It worked OK. The kids liked the candy and we had a little discussion. Today in Sunday School they showed this movie, which went along with the theme very well: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-04-0001-handels-messiah-debtors-prison?lang=eng. I think we'll watch that too next year.
Friday we talked about the Crucifixion and made garden tomb scenes. I let the kids do that entirely on their own, and they turned out sort of makeshift. Oh, well. I told them that if they closed up their tombs, they would find a surprise in them on Easter morning. I put pea seeds in there so that they could plant peas. They thought that was fun.
Saturday we dyed Easter Eggs. We used a new method this year: we squirted whipped cream into the bottom and top of the egg carton and stirred food coloring into it. Then we put eggs in the carton and closed the carton and left it for half an hour. When we washed them off, the eggs turned out pastel but pretty. And it was a lot more fun to all do at once than to have five little cups of color and waiting a minute or two for each egg to soak. We didn't have any fighting and lots of excitement. Mike suggested next year we dye the whipped cream and let them paint it on the eggs. We might try that too. But we're not going back to the old method, for sure. This was better. The kids really like hard boiled eggs right now, so I boiled six eggs for each of them and they dyed them, and then they can eat them for snacks this week.
We went for a hike on Saturday too. We were looking for morels, but no luck there. But it was beautiful and we had a great time.
We also made Resurrection Rolls on Saturday. Rea made them for Activity Days on Thursday, so I bought the ingredients and let her direct the other kids. They turned out very good.
Sunday we sang Easter songs and opened our tombs and hunted Easter eggs with candy and opened presents from Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sheila. The girls wore their fancy pink Easter dresses, and Rea sang with the choir in Church. Right now our Easter feast is cooking: ham and asparagus with a hollandaise sauce and cheese on top, funeral potatoes, and an angel food cake with a lamb face on it. Yum!
On Monday Mike was still feeling sick (as he had most of the last week), so he decided to take a sick day for himself. In the evening we talked about Jesus cleansing the temple and played a game of Clean Up Your Own Backyard with socks. Sara didn't want to play at first (she currently resents all organized games), but she got drawn in because it was so fun. We all enjoyed it.
Tuesday we went outside in the rain at Wheeler Farm. Gideon actually made it a whole hour! He's hated being out in precipitation or wind all winter, so this was big news. Then he and I sat in the car while the kids played at looking for unicorns with some friends. Tuesday night the kids watched Prince of Egypt (Timmy's favorite activity of Holy Week - maybe all the kids' favorite) to understand the history of the Passover. Alison went to a homeschooling mother's group with her friend while they finished their movie.
Wednesday we have our Passover Seder meal (Jesus did his on Thursday, but this makes our week flow better). Alison spent several hours cooking and trying to shoo the kids outside in the beautiful weather. Everyone went happily except Timmy, who really wanted Mommy to play with him and couldn't accept that she had to spent three hours working on dinner. But the dinner turned out delicious. We had the lamb made into an instant pot curry over rice, homemade matzoh and haroseth, and lettuce for the green herb and dandelions for the bitter herbs. Everyone was very excited to get to drink so much grape juice. Alison has adapted our script every year to make it simpler. This year was pretty good. The kids enjoyed it, especially Rea.
Thursday we talked about the Garden of Gethsemane and how the Atonement paid for our sins. We did a little activity giving each kid some toy money and offering to sell them candy bars, but they didn't have enough money. We talked about how Christ makes up the difference because none of us are perfect, but He is. It worked OK. The kids liked the candy and we had a little discussion. Today in Sunday School they showed this movie, which went along with the theme very well: https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2017-04-0001-handels-messiah-debtors-prison?lang=eng. I think we'll watch that too next year.
Friday we talked about the Crucifixion and made garden tomb scenes. I let the kids do that entirely on their own, and they turned out sort of makeshift. Oh, well. I told them that if they closed up their tombs, they would find a surprise in them on Easter morning. I put pea seeds in there so that they could plant peas. They thought that was fun.
Saturday we dyed Easter Eggs. We used a new method this year: we squirted whipped cream into the bottom and top of the egg carton and stirred food coloring into it. Then we put eggs in the carton and closed the carton and left it for half an hour. When we washed them off, the eggs turned out pastel but pretty. And it was a lot more fun to all do at once than to have five little cups of color and waiting a minute or two for each egg to soak. We didn't have any fighting and lots of excitement. Mike suggested next year we dye the whipped cream and let them paint it on the eggs. We might try that too. But we're not going back to the old method, for sure. This was better. The kids really like hard boiled eggs right now, so I boiled six eggs for each of them and they dyed them, and then they can eat them for snacks this week.
We went for a hike on Saturday too. We were looking for morels, but no luck there. But it was beautiful and we had a great time.
We also made Resurrection Rolls on Saturday. Rea made them for Activity Days on Thursday, so I bought the ingredients and let her direct the other kids. They turned out very good.
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