Holy Week

 

Holy Week was a breath of fresh air.
It helped me regroup, and really focus on positive, 
uplifting things instead of doom and gloom.
We did our usual activities, but also threw in some different ones
 to mix things up! 
It was also nice having the evenings free and open instead of rushing
and staying up too late on a school night to fit it all in.

Hosanna shout and donkey rides for the Triumphal entry!

It always starts out tame.
And then for some reason they think Jesus needs to enter
into a rodeo! 

 Exhibit A.

Oh boy.

I get points for trying, right?

Jesus cleanses the temple.

And now we need a sugar cleanse from our sugar cube

temple replicas. 

Lane had a virtual mutual activity where each boy needed to bake
an Easter-y treat or dessert, then take a picture of it.

We invited Grammy over to help him make her famous carrot cake recipe!

Perfection!

While the cake was baking we discussed Judas betraying Jesus
for 30 pieces of silver.

We needed our big change jar sorted and rolled, what not 

a perfect night to do that! 

Grammy cut us some cake and we had a little party rolling

change, eating cake and watching The Easter Bunny is Coming to Town.

That movie has childhood nostalgia written all over it.

Hot cross buns for crucifixion night.

Quarantine was not going to stop me from having a big
 Passover dinner!

It was so weird  to feel like we were doing something naughty by

having people over for a holiday get-together. 

I will never quite understand it.

I'm grateful for friends we could invite to enjoy it with us.

Our night was complete with lamb, unleavened bread, charoset, matzo ball soup,
wild berry goat cheese, hard boiled eggs, herbed fruit salad,
lentil soup, and grape juice for wine!

We lit  our colorful oil lamps.

Cute kid table!

After we ate I read the children's book,

Let My People Go!

As we read, I had 10 bowls of candy that correlated  with the 10

plagues and each person had a sheet of paper.

They had to figure out which candy went with what plague. 

And I loved my volunteers who helped me narrate!

Thank you Moses (Tait) and Pharaoh (Jeanette). 

They made it hilarious. 

I then had a bunch of clay to let each person make their own oil

lamps to take home and light on Easter Sunday.

The Easter Bunny came!

A visit to see Papa and talk about Christ's Resurrection. 

And our first Easter egg hunt without Papa

hiding our golden eggs.

I know he was watching those kids, big and little, running around

with a smile on his face. 

Thankful for those traditions that remind us of him. 

We came home to a complete poster.

It's kind of sad when it's over.

I can't help but think about how Easter is perfect reminder of conquering darkness
of death, to overpowering light and life with His Resurrection. 

So grateful for the beams of light that surround me and my family during this time 
of worldly darkness. Easter helped me stop and look around at all our
many blessings, even during our hardships. 

I know the He lives and loves each one of us!