Easter Bunny Bypass

It is that time of year again where parents find themselves in a merry-go-round of faith, logic and emotion.
To quote my husband, "Easter is the most important day of the whole year!" As Christians, Easter is the day that trumps all other days. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ there really is no point to Christianity. So when it comes to celebrating Easter... it is kind of a big deal to us.
Growing up, my parents definitely put a lot of emphasis on Easter. One thing that they did was separate celebrating Spring from celebrating Easter. We did all those fun things like decorating eggs, baskets filled with goodies and finding the eggs all on the First Day of Spring (or close to it). Then when it came closer to Easter we could focus on the meaning of it as a family.
Another thing that happened in my childhood around Eastertime was the first of my major surgeries. I was only 10 and it was a major and painful surgery (Pectus Escavottum). (My chest cavity grew inwards and was restricting my lungs and pushing my heart up into my shoulder.) My friends and family were so sweet and also worried and they showered me with gifts-- because of the season it was lots of little bunny figurines and little chicks and sweet pastel colored things. I really enjoyed the gifts, but now they are forever connected with times of great pain and days in the hospital. It is so interesting how much seeing those things really take me back to that time.
I am not sad that all these bunny rabbits and cutesie Easter decorations are synonymous with pain for me. It sends my mind on a direct path back to the cross. The pain I felt did not compare to the pain that Jesus endured on the cross. However, it did teach me about the meaning of pain. I could not believe that someone went through that much pain for me. It also gave me a glimpse at the meaning of separation at that young age. I was separated from my friends because I could not play with them for months. I couldn't be hugged or bumped because there was nothing protecting my heart. (The cartilage in my sternum had been removed so that it would regrow in a new shape that left more room for my heart and lungs.) The separation I felt in no way compares to the great separation that Jesus endured as God turned his back on him, when he took on the sins of the world. But what I experienced made me think about how Jesus must of felt.
I believe that culturally all the bunnies and chicks are meant to soften something grotesque. It is hard to think about Jesus being crucified on the cross. None of us want to face the fact that we are sinners and that Jesus died because of things that we have done.
So we try to paint the scene at Golgotha in pinks and yellows. We have a lovable bunny character bounce from house to house and give our kids candy. But in the end all the "Easter extras" are like spraying lilac scented air freshener in a stinky bathroom-- it smells like lilacs but it still smells like poop. So the question has to be asked-- is it improved? All this to say, we have to acknowledge our sin and face the cross straight on because our attempts to sidestep it or candy coat it get us nowhere.
So here I am, a mother of two sweet babes. I want to above all teach them to know Jesus. But, I also want to preserve their innocence and not overburden them before they can process and respond properly. I don't want them to grow up feeling deprived of fun and excitement.
So with much prayer we move forward at Eastertime--teaching, playing and most of all rejoicing that we have a Father in heaven who loved us so much He sent his one and only Son to die in our place, so that we could live with God forever in heaven and be guided through this life on Earth by His Holy Spirit.

Resurrection Eggs

Last year was the first time I heard about Resurrection eggs. My friend Tammy told me how she and her family had been opening an egg that had a little figurine and Scripture to represent a part of the Easter Story. They had 12 eggs to open for, one for every day on the 12 days before Easter. I thought this was a wonderful idea. 

You can either make your own Resurrection Egg kits or buy them prepared. I wanted to make our own. However, I found that some of the items are a little hard to come up with and take either planning or a sharp eye looking out for them through out the year. 

I had great plans of making Resurrection Eggs and making part of our family tradition. I got as far as getting an egg carton and filling it with 12 plastic eggs. Then my girls got very sick for a whole month. So this project didn't happen. But to my great joy and surprise, Rory's mom had made Resurrection eggs for their family in April of 1981. She still had them and they are in perfect condition. Even the piece of bread she lacquered was still in tack. Rory does not remember using them, but his older sisters do. These are even better than what I could have come up with and the fact that these were from when Rory was a baby makes them even more special. Rory's mom said we could use them this year.

This Resurrection set has more than 12 eggs to open. Rather than go through one egg each night-- Grandma and Grandpa hid them around the yard and the girls had great fun finding them. Once inside we opened up each one and went through the story. It was so much fun!

Tips from this Kit made by Rory's mom Lillian 

(Pictured below):

~Use larger eggs. These eggs are too big to be stored in a regular egg carton, but the larger size makes it easier to find emblems that will fit.

~ Spray Lacquer on your bread and that piece of bread will last over 30 years.

~ Print out the verses and stick them inside the eggs with the figurines

~Number the outside of the eggs- these just have little stickers, but you could use puff paint or a permanent marker.

~ Be creative, and keep your eyes open for items that would work.

* Scroll down to see more items you can add to your kit*

1. Bread-- John 6:8

2. Coins to represent the 30 pieces of silver. Matt. 26:14-16

3. Rope- Used to bind Jesus. John 18:12-13

4. Robe- John 19:2

5. Crown of Thorns- Matt 27:29

6. Whip- John 19:1

7. Cross- John 19:18

8. Sign reading ' King of the Jews'- John 19:19

 9. Sponge- John 19:28-29

10. Spear- John 19:33-37

11. Linen Clothes- John 19:40

12. Spices- John 19:39

13. Empty Tomb- Matt. 25: 5-6

14. Angel- John 20: 11-13

Other items that you can add to your kit include:

~Palm Branch-  Matt 21: 8-9

~Donkey- (John 14:14-15)-- If you can't find one, borrow a donkey from your nativity scene

 ~Cup- (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:23-25)--A doll house cup would work. Or you can make your own goblet out of clay.

~Foot or a Basin and Pitcher- (John 13:1, 3-5), Represents Jesus washing the disciple's feet

~Praying Hands - (Mark 14:32-24) Look at a thrift store, you can fashion some out of clay.

~ Three small nails - (John 19:17-18) You would open this between the Whip and the Cross eggs

~Dice-(John 19: 23-24)  

~Rock- (Matthew 27:57-61, 65-66) Check your back yard or pick one up special while on vacation this year. 

*** After the Empty Tomb and Angel***

~ Fish- (Luke 24:41-33)

~ Clouds- (Acts 1:11) Cotton Balls

Rory and CJ discovering what's in the egg. 

The eggs after they have been found. The tin Grandma used to store them in all these years. 

Rose and  her Grandma the creator of this set.

Here are some eggcellent stories and a movie full of songs and rhymes to go along with your Resurrection Eggs. We really enjoy Miss Patty Cake and her songs. They are catchy and full of good teaching.

  

Easter Book Basket

 One thing I love to do is have a special basket full of books for us to read together as we prepare for Easter.
Here are the books in our Easter Book Basket.

"The Easter Story" by Tracy Harrast is a colorful lift the flap book. This book does a great job of telling the story in an understandable way. It is fun, colorful and interactive. This book is great for toddlers and Preschoolers.

"The Easter Story" by Carol Heyer is one of my very favorites. My mom bought this when my siblings and I were young. The illustrations in this book are absolutely beautiful, it is wonderful to look at. Throughout the book the illustrations show pictures of Jesus' hands in the different scenes and show the faces of the other people and their reactions. There is such an emotional response. This book will capture the eyes of young and old. The pictures go well with the story and will help your children remember it.

'The Parable of the Lily" by  Liz Curtis Higgs is a sweet story about a little girl, Maggie, who is given a special surprise gift. She is so disappointed when she opens it and only finds a crate of dirt. Maggie goes through a journey full of meaning and symbolism. There is something for every age in this book. For my toddler and preschool they were very excited when they got to see and smell and Easter Lily on Easter Sunday.

"Poems and Prayers for Easter" by Sophie Piper. I love to read poetry to my children. This is a wonderful collection of sweet and poignant works. It includes poems from Emily Dickenson, William Blake, Langston Hughs, William Wordsworth-- just to name a few. I really enjoyed reading this to my Preschooler CJ. Poems ranged from responses to what Jesus did for us, to the changes of the seasons.

"The Donut Man, The Resurrection Celebration." This is a movie full of wonderful songs and illustrations to tell the Easter Story. My girls absolutely loved it and I enjoyed watching it with them. We enjoyed singing and dancing to the music. It also brought the story to a level they could understand and apply the message to their lives.
  

Lenten Family Devotions

This is our display that goes by our table. Everything we need for family devotions.

Last year I picked up, "Family Celebrations at Easter" by Ann Hibbard at our local library, and this year I bought it off Amazon. This is a book that we will use through out the years and something I think we will grow into.
This is an excellent book full of wonderful activities and daily family devotions. In the back of the book there are these 'Symbol Patterns.' For each daily devotion there is a symbol.
It's a project:
1. Copy the symbols  from the back section of the book.
2. Cut them out, and color them.
3. I chose to mount them onto colored paper to make them a bit more sturdy and colorful.
4. You also need to find a way to hang them on your tree. I used ribbon and attached them to the back with glue dots.
5.  I also wrote the verse that goes with each devotion and the day that it should be put on the Easter tree.
My advice to you--- Start this project before the Lenten season begins. Or at least give your self a head start so that you have the first couple of ornaments ready.
Better yet, start this project before you have kids. These devotions would work for a husband and wife to do together. I also think it is a great idea to do these time intensive projects before you have kids, so that when the time comes and you don't have time, you have them ready and waiting.
Of course, if your kids are older this is a great family project. You could spread the project over the entire Lenten time (there are 46 ornaments). Or work together as a family to get them all done at one time. You will have the project done in not time!
I made two copies of each ornament. One for me to color and one for CJ to color with me.
The season spans between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. The idea is that each day of the Lenten Season you have a family devotion and hang an ornament on the tree.

You can decide when to have your family devotions based on your schedule. Some days we like to have them around the breakfast table. Other days we do it after dinner.

Each devotion has a scripture to read, songs to sing, a little anecdote to help bring understanding, and questions for discussion.

The book also includes recipes and ideas to create your own family Passover Meal.
I highly recommend it!

Setting the Scene

Triumphal Entry or Palm Sunday scene.

At Christmas time I absolutely love setting out the Nativity. It has been such a wonderful teaching tool to tell the Christmas story to my children. When I saw these Easter figurines I was so excited! These have not only been perfect decorations to prepare and remind us in the Lenten season, but they are also great teaching tools. The girls enjoy helping to set them out and looking at them through out the season. We also use them in family time and I have used them to tell stories in Sunday School. I bought both of these sets through Oriental Trading a few years ago. These are not heirloom quality, and each set cost under $20 a few years ago. There are other higher quality figurine sets out there if you are looking for something to last through the ages. However, for us right now these work great.
I try to separate the celebration of Spring from the Celebration of Easter. So we put up these figurines after we take down all the bunnies and chicks. The kids love decorating and it provides a visual shift of focus for us all.

Resurrection Scene. 

I look for pretty crosses at our local thrift store to add to our decorations.

Here are a few figurine options you can find on Amazon.

Cloth Diaper Review-- Still my favorites!

Rose in her prefold diaper, before I put the cover on.

Prefolds. These are the good old fashioned diapers that many of us wore as kids. I have read that the ones you want to look for are either Chinese or Indian, and you should look for diaper service quality. You can get 24 of them for about $20 to $25. If you really want to save money... Get these! If you have a couple of good covers they really aren't that hard to use. We don't use pins we use a Snappi that just hooks onto the diaper.

Mamabearbabywear
This is a seller I found on ebay. Her name is Amy Washington and she's a mom who makes diaper covers. The link above goes directly to her personal site. Her covers are very well crafted and they are an awesome design. She made a one-size cover that looks like your average pocket diaper. You can adjust the size with snaps and you close it with Velcro. Plus it's great to support other moms!

Rose modeling the cover from Mammabearbabywear.

Another view of the Mammabearbabywear. Note the gussets around the leg.

Mother-ease
This is a wonderful brand. These are like prefolds but you don't have to worry about pins or any kind of contraption to make the diaper stay on. They have a variety of different designs. I have two of the Sandy's (I think I have the Sandy's Organic) and one of the One Size Cloth Diaper (I have the Bamboo). These diapers are super soft and they seem so comfortable. Rose actually wanted to sleep with one of them the other day. Plus they work well. I can really adjust them to fit Rose.

Mother-ease has the BEST covers. I have several Rickki Wraps. These have really effective gussets (gathering around the waist and legs) They also have what they call Airflow Snap (breathable covers), I really like these as well.

The Table: The Missing Link

One of the joys of getting a handle on the clutter in my house is the rediscovery of furniture. One piece that we have been missing for quite a while is our dining room table.

It has always been my intention to have regular... if not daily meals at the table. What young wife doesn't envision her family sitting down like a Norman Rockwell painting while she swoops into her chair--- Cool, Composed and Collected... not to mention Chic wearing her 50's style vintage apron. 

Then reality hits... AKA…babies enter the picture. As I look back over the past three and a half years I see that we have tried to sit at the table. But many meals have been spent with me doing the nursing mom thing. Feeding me, feeding her, spilling food on baby and using the burp rag as a napkin. We tried variations of family table time with the baby in a bouncy seat, swing and then later high chair. 

However, I would often survey our average meal time: The girls at the kids table, Rory eating in his spot over the sink, and me sitting in a chair somewhere... or for the past six months after surgery I ate in bed and couldn't physically sit in a dining room chair.

So now, as a recovering back surgery patient, and a recovering 'Messie'--- We are embarking on new territory of meals at the table.

There are so many benefits to eating together at the table. It is a great time to reconnect, to teach manners, to enjoy our food and many more. One definite plus is that my kids eat more of their food if we sit down and eat with them. This is huge. The family meal table isn't just about building relationships it also leads to better eating habits in our children!

So pull up a chair! Bon Appetit!

Watch for some meal time tips and more benefits I have discovered along the way.

Cloth Diaper Update-- After Two Years of Use

Rose asking the question: 'Does this diaper make my butt look big?'

Cloth diapering.... what a ride! We have done cloth diapers through the many ages and stages of Rose and through the potty training stage of CJ. Our diapers have seen close to two years of straight use (this is factoring the six month break we had to take due to my surgery). In that time the diapers have more than made up for their initial cost.

Here is a report on how the diapers held up:

My Bum Genius all need to have new Velcro tabs replaced, which is really a minor sewing project but something I haven't gotten to. I have had to buy more inserts over the years. I have also had to strip them regularly to keep them smelling fresh. I strip the diapers by occasionally running them through the wash with vinegar and baking soda or lemon juice. Since we have gotten our front-loading washing machine I usually soak them in a bucket with vinegar to strip them.

When it comes to stripping the diapers I recommend looking at the manufacturers website to see what they suggest.  

I have been using the Kushies lately because they are less worn out, and Rose has grown out of many of the covers that I have. We stopped using the Kushies early on because I find it really difficult to keep them smelling fresh. This continues to be a problem. But between borax, baking soda and using an odor eliminator, I think I am making progress.

If I had to buy diapers all over again I would probably just buy prefolds and covers. Prefolds can be so intimidating when you are starting out. Pocket diapers and all-in-ones seem so much like disposable diapers, they seem easier and safe. BUT, one thing that I have learned about pocket diapers is that they create a lot more laundry than needed. Doing cloth diapers already increases the laundry, why make it more than needed. 

I like being able to reuse the same cover through out the day, or rotate between a couple. I also think that the prefolds are easier to soak and wash. Plus you aren't having to deal with so much work before putting them in the washing machine. With pocket diapers you have to remove the insert and fold down the tabs. This may not seem like much, but I don't relish spending quality time with yesterday's poopy diapers. 

Rose sporting a prefold and Snappi. 

Once you get the hang of prefolds they really aren't as hard as they look. Trust me! I still like using the Snappi, but with certain covers you don't even need them. I still really like the covers from Mother's Ease. But, I have been hearing great things about the G diaper. 

When I was starting out the G diaper was a combination of cloth and flushable eco-friendly disposable inserts. They were also really expensive. Now, I am hearing that they have a great cover that you can just fold your prefold up in the newspaper fold and stick it in there. The covers are super cute, and hold up well. The most important thing to look for in a cover is the gussets around the leg. You really want to make sure that it is leak proof. I am told that these are really awesome. I am thinking of ordering a few to test them out. 

And that, folks, is my cloth diapering update. Stay tuned for more articles on the many facets of cloth diapering.