Fun Easter FHE

My sister in-law posted a fun idea to use for FHE.  We tried it tonight and it was a big hit with the kids.  Thanks Michelle. I thought I'd share the idea as well.  I did change the recipe a bit--the original called for a lot more butter and sugar/cinnamon mixture.  Even using the below amounts I had a little waste.

Resurrection Rolls

16 Big Marshmallows (Representing the Body of Jesus)

2 cans of crescent (Rolls Representing the cloth they buried Jesus in)
1/2 stick of Butter (Representing the sacred oil Jesus' body was dressed in)
1/2 cup cinnamon and sugar (Representing the spices His body was dressed in)

Roll Marshmallows in butter and cinnamon/sugar. Wrap a crescent triangle around it and seal it up tight. I'd line the pan with foil or wax paper.  I tried hard to make sure the crescents were tight but some still leaked and it was a mess on my pan.  Put it in the oven (the tomb) and bake for 10-12 minutes. When you take it out of the oven the marshmallows are gone (Jesus is not there but, is resurrected!) Eat and Enjoy!!
 
I liked this because it was easy enough for even Ellie to do and it was quick and not too messy.  I had to help pinch the crescents, but that is all.

Once A Tease...Always a Tease!

In preparation for the start of our “Juice and Journals” Scott pulled out some of his old journals to show the older kids. We had fun looking at the journal he started when he was only four years old. We especially loved the story his mom wrote about him in Jan. 1979. Scott was almost 5 ½ years old. She writes:

“At the table (dinner) tonight Shelly announced she had to go to the bathroom and didn’t want anyone to get into her food while she was gone. She went and a few minutes later Scott headed around to her place. I said “Scott don’t you tease her.” He looked at me so serious and said “I’m not going to tease—I’m really going to eat it!”

Not a week later as our own family sat around the dinner table Ellie announced that she had to go to the bathroom. She looked at Scott very seriously and said, “Dad, no eat my dinner!”

I started laughing and couldn’t believe that 30 years previous almost the same conversation occurred—different victim—same culprit!

Ellie’s comment was not sparked by Scott’s journal entry—she was napping when Scott read it to the kids. Rather, Ellie knows her dad as well as anyone. Scott loves to tease!

• Every time Scott reads to Jared and Ellie he starts the story by reading it in Spanish. I usually hear the giggles of Jared and Ellie as they say, “English Daddy! English!” In fact, once when he started a story in English, Ellie so used to his teasing exclaimed “English Daddy!” without realizing he was actually speaking English. Strangely, none of them, including Scott, tire of this.
• When Scott and I were dating we visited his grandma and some of his cousins in Lovell, WY where his uncle ran the family farm. His youngest cousin who was probably four years old at the time must have encountered a dead goat some time before we came. He loved to show us his depiction of the “dead goat.” He would lie flat down on the ground with his eyes closed, his head to the side and his tongue also hanging out to the side. Once we were married sometimes at night while we were talking in bed Scott became silent and completely still. When I’d look at him he’d have his eyes closed, his head to the side and his tongue hanging out just like that dead goat. And then he’d stay that way for several minutes while I started getting all worked up. Of course I knew he wasn’t a dead goat, but I still didn’t like how long he acted dead. Finally Scott would just start laughing exclaiming I was just like his sister Michelle and if I didn’t get so worked up about it he wouldn’t do it!
• Just last night Ellie was searching for her favorite pajama shirt. Scott found it first, put his head through the hole and then taunted Ellie, “Look at my jammies, Ellie!” It’s no wonder sometimes I feel like I have six children instead of five!
• Scott likes to tell Ellie and Jared that we’re going to take Nate back to the zoo and give him to the monkeys. Jared and Ellie were both a little worried the first time Scott mentioned this, but now just go along with it.
• Sometimes when we’re all out in the car getting ready to go somewhere and I have to run back in the house for something (this happens frequently at our house) Scott will back out of the garage and act like he’s going to drive away and say, “Let’s leave Mom!” The kids were worried at first, but now Ellie chants it every time someone has to go in the house for something whether it’s me or one of the other kids, “Let’s leave them!”

Scott is such an awesome dad and husband. He throws so much of his energy into the kids and his teasing makes us all laugh (although I can see why Scott drove his younger sister crazy)!

Ellie's Determination

Ellie is not yet three but has proven to be a pretty determined girl. Just today she was very determined when she knocked down Jared’s block structure set up with army men not equipped for her kind of warfare. Not much later she was unwavering when we caught her trying to cut the carpet and then a few minutes later the table cloth with her scissors. I also shouldn’t fail to mention how today we also found her sitting with a bottle of Elmer’s glue emptied out on the table, her hands and arms covered in glue, with the mess getting spread by each passing second.

Fortunately we have a recent example where Ellie’s determination has been for the good. For some time we have worried about her thumb sucking--it seemed to be getting worse with her thumb almost constantly in her mouth.  Then her friend Wyatt threw away his binkies.

When I mentioned to Ellie Wyatt's brave act and issue into "big boyhood" Ellie immediately looked down at her thumb and tried to pull it off.  With sadness in her eyes she exclaimed, "I can't throw away my thumb!"  With a little more discussion and a promise that if she stopped she would be able to go to “Chuck E Cheeses” (her way of saying it) with her little friend Wyatt, she made up her mind and hasn’t relented. We’ve had only a couple of weak moments at bedtime where she didn’t want anything to do with Scott, but with me by her side Ellie held her own hands under her blankie and held tough.

She is very proud of herself--as she should be!  What an amazing feat for someone so young.  I have been impressed with this determination and am pleased to see it being channeled in a positive direction.

Gone are the days of pictures like these:

Scissor Happy

Ellie is in the "scissor happy" phase.  Kaitlyn and Brynn went through the same thing--Jared bypassed this phase and was out riding his bike all the time instead.  I know it must be a common phase though because the day after I took these pictures my sister-in-law took almost identical pictures of her kids doing the same thing.  Little pieces of paper everywhere! 

Ellie can stay busy cutting tiny pieces of paper for at least twenty minutes.  She has cut her hair--twice.  Luckily both times she has cut hair in the bangs area and you could hardly tell--unless you were her mother who was trying to grow out those bangs!

This is Ellie taking it one step further.  Little pieces of paper "food."  And there is water in one of those pans too.  This is often the scene as I'm trying to make dinner and hopscotching around her kitchen set-up.

Ellie is thrilled when Jared will play with her.  Tiny pieces of paper everywhere combined with all my pots and pans and water equals a big mess, but I love this kind of pretend play.  Who needs toys anyway?  Besides that, Ellie is going to be a pro at cutting by the time she hits Kindergarten.

The Cutest Rat

Brynn was the cutest rat in a musical rendition of "The Pied Piper."  Ellie did not like watching the play one bit--she was very concerned about why Brynn was a "bunny" and where she was when she was off-stage.

In one part the group of rats were supposed to act like zombies being led away from the town by the Pied Piper's music.  I loved Brynn's dramatic license--she was the only rat with her tongue sticking out the side of her mouth!  Good job Brynn!