Our Easter

Is this time of year not the most precious? There are so many things about this season and this time of year that put a smile on my face.

I want to share this sweet little video that a friend shared with me so I could share it with my girls. We do our best to explain to our daughters what Easter is about, but it is difficult trying to explain to a 2-year about sin and death and new life. This little video was not just great for my girls, but it was wonderful for me to watch as well. Hearing the Easter story from a child's perspective was exactly what I needed on this Good Friday. I hope it is equally as heart-warming to you and yours. May we never forget the significance of this event.

Easter involves traditions for us. I'm a gal that loves traditions. I love the Easter bunny. I love getting dressed up for church. I would even put on a hat and gloves and little shiny white shoes if I could get away with. But, my man is a hippie and we have church in the park. I do enjoy the sunrise service with our friends on Easter morning. There really is something special about a sunrise service. We follow that up by coming back to our house for a big breakfast with our church family. Then, we do get dressed up and go to church with my family, the traditional way.

And then there is the Easter bunny. The Mr. is not a fan of the Easter bunny. As stated above, I like him...a lot. I think all of that is nothing but fun for the littles and I want my girls to have those same memories as I did, at least until their daddy tells them otherwise. :) He has great motives, and I agree with him. I don't want my girls to be distracted away from the true meaning of Easter. So we comprise. Our Easter bunny comes on Saturday morning so that he can have more time at church on Sunday. :)

After we open our baskets in the morning, we will follow up with the cutest little "Bunny Rolls" that I found on pinterest.

I've also made a Easter treat tray that I will take to our family gatherings. This works a lot like my holiday cookie tray that I simply refill in between stops to arrive with a plate full of goodness. On this particular treat tray, I'm taking "bunny bark" (thank the good Lord above for pinterest!), oreo truffles (these are the same as the Christmas ones, just with Easter sprinkles and minus the peppermint), and little brownie bird nests. I got the idea from here, but tweaked it to use brownies instead of the cookie dough.

And I just have to share this photo of my girls who were so excited to "help mama in the kitchen". LR wanted to make sure I let her do the sprinkles! What a blessing they are!

Hopefully, I will be back in a few to post post-Easter pics. I'm not promising anything due to the fact that spring break will soon be over and I'll be back in survival mode.

Enjoy your Easter with your families! He is ALIVE!

Oh so thankful...

I am oh.so.thankful.

At this moment I am particularly thankful that I have ONE day of school left for the week. So even though it's Monday, it feels sort of like a Thursday. Plus tomorrow is payday. I'm smiling.

I need to apologize for being absent from blog world. As you all know, life is crazzzyy. I'm hoping to get a few good posts in during my Thanksgiving break. I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking, but it would take four or five posts to fill you all in, so I'll let those come as needed or when I'm simply out of blogging ideas.

Since Thanksgiving will officially be here in 3 days I'll share some of the cute school things we've done in my classroom.

We celebrated Thanksgiving at school this year by having a "snack" and not a actual feast. At first I was really saddened by this because so many children don't get to experience a real Thanksgiving meal, but I can say that my students had a blast today and I don't think anyone went home disappointed. We made quite a few snacks that they really enjoyed and of course finished it off with Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving.

#1 TeePees
These adorable snacks were pinterest-inspired and super easy for the kiddos to make.

#2 Pilgrim Hats
These also were incredibly easy. We do a "witches hat" version at Halloween using a Hershey's kiss instead of the Reese's cup. We just used yellow M&M's for the buckle on the hat.

#3 Crunchy Cornucopias
I've done this snack for the past 3 years and it always turns out so cute! I don't have a picture of these (sorry!) and I couldn't find one on pinterest...

You need:
Trix cereal
Ritz crackers
Cream cheese or peanut butter
Bugles

Spread your cream cheese or peanut butter on top of the cracker. Place the bugle on top with Trix pouring out.

Super easy and very cute!

For those of you that are already finished with your cute Thanksgiving treats, save these for your 2012 files. I'll be posting a great recipe for a yummy and easy sweet potato casserole later this week. Also, be on the lookout for a pumpkin cheesecake recipe. :)