Happy Easter!

Secular Saturday

I recently read on a mother's blog that her family has declared the Saturday before Easter, Secular Saturday.  They egg hunt, color eggs, and she has even asked the Easter Bunny to deliver their Easter baskets on Saturday so their family can keep Easter Sunday focused on the Resurrection.  I loved this idea so we tried to implement it as much as we could this year.  We still plan on having the Easter Bunny visit Sunday mornings, but our hope is to squeeze in egg hunting, coloring eggs, etc on Saturday and focus on the Resurrection Sunday.  This year we were assigned to clean our church Easter week so with Justin working nights...that means cleaning the church Saturday morning.  With my broken foot and our 2 rambunctious children, I tried to be as much help as I could, but we spent all of Saturday morning cleaning.  We then tried to squeeze in what we could after lunch and naps.  We started with our own backyard Easter Egg Hunt, then we came inside to open our eggs and Easter baskets from their Mimi.  We then held a fierce game of duck duck goose...not sure why, it just happened, and it was hilarious!  

Easter Sunday

Because there just wasn't enough time Saturday to fit everything in, we still had to color eggs on Sunday. Ah well, maybe next year we'll get it all in and have our Secular Saturday.  Sunday, we opened our Easter baskets and headed to church.  We then, after lunch and nap, colored eggs.  We even managed to squeeze in time to Skype some family and have our traditional Easter Sunday Ice Cream Sundaes. :)  Happy Easter Everyone!  

Secular Saturday- why do i think i can get them to both sit still and look at the camera for a picture :)

not bad :)  Off to clean the church

Getting ready to go clean.  He's just so stinking cute , I had to sneak this pic in.

Looking for eggs in the backyard waiting on Mom and Dad to open the door for the egg hunt

showing off his eggs

egg hunting

there's one on top of the fence

filling up his basket

opening our eggs inside.

eating her bunny sucker ring from mimi

opening her Easter basket from Mimi

The Easter Bunny Came

Claire's Easter Bunny Clip

Ready for church

Almost ready...one last playtime before we walk out the door

After church, Claire discovering the Easter grass...my poor carpet :)  ah well, she had a blast.

After church, sporting the 80's Olive Oil sweatsuit that was mine when I was a baby...man baby clothes have come a long way. 

Coloring Eggs

Easter Sunday Ice Cream Sundaes!

Ethan putting together his US puzzle.  Boy does the Easter bunny know him :)  We had to do it 3 times in a row, then we made him start getting ready for bed :)

Resurrection Help for kids

Ethan is 3...how do explain the resurrection to a 3 year old?  This is what sparked our creative juices this Easter.  Throughout the week leading up to Easter we held Resurrection themed FHE's and crafts to help plant the seeds.  He may not be able to understand the real significance of the Resurrection but at least we can plant the seeds and help them grow each year.  Here are a few resources we used.

-30 Christ-centered Easter Crafts and Activities:

http://beinglds.blogspot.com/p/easter-crafts-about-christ.html

-The New Testament Stories- short kid-friendly videos (we used Chapter 54: Jesus is Risen)

http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/new-testament-stories?lang=eng&start=49&end=60

-Library books:  we headed to our local library and checked out a few kid-friendly Resurrection books to read with the kids

-Explaining the Resurrection:  With our dwindling Primary, we have actually combined our Jr and Sr Primaries leaving 3rd hour open for the Primary Presidency to go to RS or go where needed.  This Easter Sunday I filled in for one of our Primary Teachers and loved how the manual suggested teaching the kids about the resurrection.  Here is what the Primary 3 Manual suggests.  You will need a winter glove for this demonstration.

Show your ungloved hand to the children and tell them that when we lived with Heavenly Father before we were born we were called spirits. We could move (move the fingers on your ungloved hand) and think and learn.

When our spirits came to live on earth, we were given earthly bodies. (Put on the glove.) We could still move (move your fingers in the glove) and think and learn, but Heavenly Father gave us wonderful bodies to have and take care of.

When we die, the body must separate from the spirit (take off glove). The body cannot move by itself (indicate glove) but the spirit is still alive.

When we are resurrected, the body becomes perfect and is once again united with the spirit (put glove back on hand). After we are resurrected, we can never die again. That means that the spirit and the body can never be separated.

Emphasize that because Jesus Christ loves each of us very much, he died for us. Jesus was the first person to be resurrected. Because of what he did for us, we will be resurrected and may live again with Heavenly Father. When we think of Easter, we should think about the first Easter and remember the love that Jesus Christ has for us. He gave his life for us. He was resurrected. Now he lives in heaven with his Heavenly Father.

Point out that Jesus Christ’s resurrection is so wonderful that each year we celebrate Easter to show him how grateful we are for what he did for us.

Weekend Warriors

We kicked off the weekend with our local YMCA's Easter Egg hunt in the POOL....yes, in the pool.  The kids jumped in, with dad, hunted for eggs and Ethan even found a "Prize Egg" and won a bottle of bubbles.  After the pool hunt they did games and crafts at the Y as part of the festivities, which thrilled them to death.  They even got candy bags and candy prizes for participating ..that mommy quickly tucked away for our own egg hunt at home next weekend...they don't need more candy on top of what they got so I just took the candy and stashed it away, and no one has even asked where it went :)  We then rushed home for a visit from Pappy and Gma Kathy.  They brought the kids fishing poles so we had endless "fishing" in our living room.  They even brought the kids a few Cubs outfits and Ethan a Cubs hat, that mommy LOVES but Daddy wishes said Brewers.  Ah well, I let him put the kids in IU stuff so he'll have to suck up the Cubbies gear.  My dad even had "Sandberg" put on the back of Ethan's Cubs shirt since Ryne Sandberg was my absolute favorite when I was a kid.  Pretty sure I still have a couple of his baseball cards tucked away somewhere.  Pappy and Gma Kathy even brought some old pics of the Bradbury clan...grandparents, great grandparents, and even great-great grandparents along with some genealogy work and great stories you can't get from paper...I guess you could say that was Mommy's gift since I love doing our family history.  After all going out to dinner, we even managed to sneak in a game of Candyland.  Ethan is still talking about how he played Candyland with his Pappy and Gma Kathy.  Finally Sunday rolled around, along with the springtime SNOW, and more snow, and more snow.  So Ethan and Daddy headed outside for some fort building and snowball fighting while mommy and Claire made mini chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting to eat after our FHE.  FHE that night included a quick 2 minute kid-friendly video on the resurrection and then we made paperplate tombs and had fun rolling our "stone" away.  I'm pretty sure we couldn't have packed anymore into our crazy weekend, but it sure was fun!  Enjoying every moment we can as an entire family.    

Our Fearless Weekend Warriors

Kicking off the weekend with some fresh breath

Easter Egg Hunt in the Pool

Obstacle course he had to race through holding his jellybean-filled egg on a spoon

Easter Egg Hockey with a Carrot as the Hockey stick

A visit from Pappy and Gma Kathy

Snow forts and snowball fights

Claire helping me in the kitchen :)  She kept clapping her "oven-mitt arms".  It was hilarious.

The picture we used to make our paperplate tomb crafts for FHE.

Friday Family Faves...HEALTHIER chocolate pie

I've held on to this chocolate pie recipe as a secret for so long; I'm finally ready to stop being stingy and share :)

 I usually make this pie for pitch-ins and family events, and people LOVE it!  Then when I call it "Healthy chocolate pie" they want to know how...so I tell them tofu.  Sometimes I get the response "EWE" and then I have to remind them that they ate 2 pieces so it couldn't have been that bad :) 

Okay, so whenever I hear people talk about tofu they say 2 things...1. they don't like the taste and 2. they don't like the texture.  Well, tofu really has no flavor so you have to flavor it the way you like it...so I opt to flavor mine with CHOCOLATE!  And with this chocolate pie, you blend the tofu so it eliminates the normal texture that so many people can't stand.

JUST TRY IT!

CRUST:
You want to use a 9 inch graham cracker crust.  You can make this from scratch or I like to take the easy way out and buy a 9 in reduced fat graham cracker crust.

FILLING:
1/2 c. milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (if you prefer a darker chocolate taste, you can use even less milk chocolate chips as long as the combo of chips is a total of 2 c.)
3 tbsp honey
2 packages Firm tofu (drained)
2 oz sliced almonds (optional)


In a double boiler or microwave, melt your chocolate chips.  Meanwhile make a cut in film covering tofu packages and drain water into sink.  Cut tofu loosely into cubes while still in package.

Add one package of cut tofu to blender then add honey and melted chips.  Begin blending, pausing occasionally to push tofu chunks down toward blender blade (I use a long handle wooden spoon).  When first package is blended add second package of drained and cut tofu.  Keep blending until smooth.  If you have a hand blender you may prefer to use it.  Pour smooth filling into 9 inch graham cracker crust.  Top with as many almonds as you like.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or until tofu has firmed up enough to stand on it's own.

HEALTHIER CHOCOLATE PIE

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

Happy St Patty's Day!

This is a copy of the 1920 census.  At the bottom is the surname Dale.  Cecil Dale is my great grandpa.  Listed under him is Thelma, my grandma Bradbury, and Thomas A, my Great Great grandpa.  I found this census doing my genealogy about 6 years ago and was shocked to find that my great grandpa Thomas had listed Ireland as the birth place of his mother and father.  I was also shocked to find that he had listed their primary language as Irish....hahaha!  Of course that instantly meant St Patty's Day was taken to a whole new level.    

After church on St Patty's Day we threw off our church clothes and put on the green.  Then we started cooking our Irish feast of Irish Stew, Colcannon (basically cheesy mashed potatoes and cabbage), and apple barley pudding.  Of course we have to have some O'douls as well...oh don't judge, I know you're drinking your Martinellis.  We invited some friends over to enjoy this Irish feast and celebrate our legacy and the joy of genealogy.

Playtime in green

Playtime with dad

O'Douls, Apple-barley pudding with homemade whipped cream,  colcannon and Irish stew

Yep, we had to add a "kids' table" :)

Peterson Obstacle Course Races

We declared our Saturday a family fun day.  Blowing off everything on our "To-do" lists, we spent the entire day enjoying life as a family...with simple, inexpensive things.  We ended our day with an after dinner obstacle course race that the kids LOVED....okay mom and dad loved it too.  First the kids had to race their "racers" to our piano then climb through the "tunnel", over the boxes, and jump along the cushions before racing to the finish line.  We did this over and over and over, until finally Ethan said ,huffing and puffing, he needed to take a break.  That was our cue for bedtime.  It was a great way to get our kids to burn off some of that energy, especially Claire, right before bedtime, and made for some fun pics :)

Ethan on his "racer", heading to the piano

Claire on her "racer"

Daddy through the tunnel...and no, no adults got stuck in the process :)

Ethan through the tunnel

Over the boxes

jumping down the cushions

Through the finish line.  Ethan modelling the broken through finish line ...our wonderful streamer we'd taped and re-taped across the doorway 

Gold trophy stickers for everyone