I can’t believe it is April already. Easter is here! Bunnies! Little chicks! Candy in spring pastel colors! Little ones hunting for Easter eggs in sweet Sunday-best outfits is just the best, isn’t it? I remember when mine were little. Their sweet little hands were just big enough to grab those eggs and boy could they move. Bright colored eggs everywhere. Their eyes were so big, and the baskets were so full. We usually take the boys to a local farm for Easter. They offer a brunch with the Easter bunny and you can feed the animals on the farm. At some point you load up on the trailer and the tractor takes you through the farm to the place where they have hidden (in plain sight) all sorts of colorful eggs. They have a 20 egg per child rule but somehow the two-year-old’s seem to miss that part. We parents have to strategically take out the extra eggs prior to re-boarding the trailer. Not so fast short stuff. You may be cute but we’re way over our daily bag limit. Then there’s the burning question on every parent’s mind. Will my child like the Easter bunny or run away screaming?
I have to say, we have typically had good luck at Cedar Hill Farm. Real bunnies, however, now they are cute. We have two bunnies that must live on or near our property because we see them routinely. The boys named them Hop-Hop and Boing-Boing several years ago. We usually just look up and out of nowhere one of them will be sitting out on the hill eating. When they go scampering off, you just see this flash of white fluffy tail go whizzing by. We love our bunnies. We love all things Easter. Most of all, we love celebrating our risen Lord. We are blown away by the overwhelming love of God and his plan to save the lost in the amazing sacrifice of his son, Jesus. Below are some of the fun things we are enjoying this week and how we are taking every opportunity to focus on Jesus and tell our boys this most important part of God’s love story.
Eggs of The Empire
Being the gigantic Star Wars fans that we are, you need to know that two of the books in our collection include Darth Vader and Son as well as Goodnight Darth Vader. Written in comic format, they give us a window into what some of the all-too familiar parenting moments might have been like for the ruler of the galaxy.
I like to think that if Darth Vader had dyed eggs with Luke and Leia, they would have looked a little something like the ones below. Eggs from a galaxy far, far away! Now, truthfully, there are a couple of layers to painting these, so I did most of it. I think the kids can definitely help but may lose patience at some point and just turn it over to you to step in as the craft-closer that we all are at times. You know what I mean. They get tired of gluing, or cutting, or drawing something and inevitably you end up putting the finishing touches on a project. I am including the link to the article with the instructions. I just used regular acrylic paint from Wal-Mart and it seemed to work just fine. For the gold, I actually had a gold stamp from a previous project that I dabbed my paintbrush on and applied it to the eggs. I decided I would only make a few since it required painting a couple of layers and thought I could put something special in them and add a couple to each boy’s basket. That way, they stand out and we didn’t have to make make enough to fill an entire basket.
As we enjoy all of the fun traditions involving Easter eggs this year, I thought it would be good to discuss the concept of Spring and new life that accompanies this season. New growth begins to bloom and baby animals are born. Historically, the eggs were a symbolic part of that observance. As we celebrate Easter, one of the things we are grateful for is our new life in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here.”
Check out the song, “Rescue Story,” by Zach Williams. This is a great addition to your playlist for this week. The lyrics beautifully describe the transition from death to life.
Sweet Emotion
As if the week will not already have enough sweets, I thought it would be a good idea to throw in a couple more. I attempted to make bunny butt cookies, regular sugar cookies that we could decorate and some sheep cupcakes. Now, first of all, my youngest loves to ‘help’ in the kitchen. I use that term loosely because he’s five so there’s usually more batter on his face and clothes than in the bowl. However, he’s adorable and it makes a good picture plus we’re making memories! My goal was to have some fun and put some yummy treats in their lunch, or just enjoy have more chocolate throughout the week. Yay! As usual, my baking efforts looked nothing like the pictures I was using for inspiration. The sugar cookies were pretty sad, actually. Scary, psycho bunnies as opposed to cute Easter ones. Some were broken and warped. It’s ok though. I choose to look at that as a great reminder that we are all broken and warped and in need of Jesus….teachable moment? Yes, I know. Bit of a reach. The bunny butt cookies were yummy though, and who doesn’t like chocolate cupcakes? We are definitely getting our chocolate fix.
One of the things I love about this week is the chance to not only celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday, but to reflect on Good Friday also. A church we attended when we lived in a different area started doing a Good Friday service several years ago. We appreciated the way it served to highlight the significance of this important day, and it became a tradition of ours. It is a quieter time for reflection and the message is usually focused on the last supper, arrest, trial and crucifixion of Jesus. It is so sweet to spend time focused on the cross and thank God for his incredible love and amazing sacrifice.
“It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining.” Luke 23:44
My song for this day is “Forever,” by Kari Jobe. Such a beautiful song that starts with the death of Jesus, but it doesn’t end there…Sunday’s coming!
Still Rolling Stones
Come Easter Sunday, it’s time to celebrate! It’s time to sing your favorite songs that really make you want to move. If you’re not ‘Amen-ing’ from the pew on this day, there’s something wrong with you because this is the message that makes it nearly impossible to keep all that joy bottled up inside. He is risen! I realize of course that depending on where you are, you may be ‘Amen-ing’ from your couch, and that’s ok too.
“The mountains shake before You, the demons run and flee
At the mention of the name, king of majesty.
There is no power in hell, or any who can stand
Before the power and the presence of the Great I Am…”-“Great I AM,” by Phillips, Craig and Dean
All that celebrating just works up an appetite so there will, of course, be an epic holiday feast. Below is the menu we have planned complete with the links to recipes. Both the sweet potatoes and the green beans can be found on my Holiday Side Dish page, link included below.
Easter Menu 2021
- Honey Baked Ham
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Southern Green Beans
- Cran-Raspberry Jell-O Salad
- Sister Schubert’s Parker house dinner rolls.
Holiday Side Dishes – Mockingbird Mom
Dessert!
This year, for dessert I am making the mini cheesecakes below because they look so cute! In addition, I found this blackberry lemon cake recipe that sounds yummy too. More sweets!
- Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll: This recipe sounds very light but with the cream and berries, it seems like a great after meal sweet option. Recipe here: Blackberry Lemon Cake Roll
- Cadbury Mini Cheesecakes: It’s cheesecake. Need I say more? Recipe here: Cadbury Mini Eggs Cheesecake
To celebrate the resurrection on Sunday, we will attend our church service, whether in person or online, and in talking through it with the kids, we also plan to read the story from The Jesus Storybook Bible. During lockdown, we also watched the “Superbook” episodes on YouTube with the boys. Kids are very visual and I think it helps to reinforce some of the stories in other ways as a supplement to what we read with them. They really like these episodes and I have included the link below to the full Easter episode so you can check it out.
Superbook – He is Risen! – Season 1 Episode 11
“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.” Matthew 28:6
If you have not heard “Living Hope,” by Phil Wickham, you should add that to your Easter playlist. Such a wonderful song that lays out the amazing love of God poured out in Jesus’ death that builds into the wonderful moment of the power of the resurrection. “Still Rolling Stones,” by Lauren Daigle is another great song, hence the name of this section of my post.
“Then came the morning that sealed the promise, your buried body began to breathe. Out of the darkness, the roaring lion, declared the grave has no claim on me. Jesus, yours is the victory!”-“Living Hope”
Good stuff.
Easter Reading List
I went through our library to pull out all the books I wanted to be sure we got a chance to read this week. I like that we have a couple of books that talk about the fun traditions of Easter like hiding eggs and the Easter bunny along with the appropriate context of the real meaning of Easter. For example, remembering that God has given new life through Jesus and during Spring we are reminded of that with all the new life blooming, hopping and buzzing around us. Bright colored eggs can certainly remind us of the beauty we see all around in his creation. Since we started our 2021 reading goals, I have been trying to add to our library. It has been so fun to read through the recommendations of books for my boys’ ages. I want to try them all! Anyway, below is a picture of some of the ones we read this week and I have some links below to those as well. Looking forward to growing that collection as my boys grow.
“So, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17
My song for this day is “My Story” by Big Daddy Weave. I love how it tells of the amazing grace of Jesus in a very personal way. It also weaves in the beautiful hymn “Blessed Assurance.”
“Oh to tell you my story, is to tell of Him…
This is my story, this is my song. Praising my savior, all the day long.”-“My Story”
The Tale of Three Trees: A Traditional Folktale
Easter Bunny, Are You For Real
The Picture of Love
We have two little artists at my house. My boys love to draw (which I love because so do I!) Several years ago when we helped teach the 3rd -5th graders at our church, I did the simple cross picture below incorporating John 3:16. I thought it was a simple, yet great way to connect the dots a bit. I know many of our kids learn that verse and on Easter as we learn about the sacrifice of Jesus, we can point out that this is exactly what the verse is talking about. This moment right here! So, we made our John 3:16 crosses and used bright Easter colors. For younger kids who might not be ready to write so much, you can also do one that says Jesus loves me in the form of a cross as well.
In addition to John 3:16, another verse that keeps running through my mind is the one below.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
Not while we were being particularly obedient or praying or loving others all that well. There really was no good time in history with good people worthy of such a sacrifice, and yet he showed up and went to the cross. The very picture of love.
We have certainly enjoyed this week leading up to Easter. My goal was to create some opportunities for us to do some fun things while continuing to talk about the significance of this weekend. The activities we did were geared to help with that. What I want to instill in my boys is that because of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection, we can have new life in him. We are going to make sure we know his story and give thanks to God for his overwhelming love, amazing grace and unimaginable sacrifice. Bunnies and candy are great. I, myself have a never ending supply. Of candy, that is, not bunnies. I just want to be sure our focus on the real meaning of Easter isn’t completely overtaken by bunnies. Don’t be fooled. You think they are cute and sweet and virtually harmless. Rabbits can be killers. If you’ve seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, you should, if for no other reason than to see the African vs European swallow debate which is personally my favorite scene. There are several legendary comedic skits though, so you should add it to your list. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Genesis all contributed around $10,000 to make the film which is an interesting fun fact. Next time you’re in the mood for some sketch comedy produced in 1975, check it out. I’ve veered off topic, though. The point is, don’t be like the knights in the film and underestimate the cute little bunny. If you notice that he’s creeping in and taking over your Easter celebration, don’t hesitate to take action. It may be time to launch the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Jesus trumps the bunny.
I hope you have enjoyed this week and get some restful time this weekend to enjoy some fun with your kids and celebrate. A phrase my mom used to say to us growing up was, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” I think this is the most important exception to that rule. All my eggs are in just one basket. My Jesus basket.
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” John 14:6
Wishing you a very Happy Easter from Mockingbirdmom.com!
