Category Archives: Holidays

Mar24

Easter-Resurrection Cookies…again!

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Easter-Resurrection Cookies…again!

I am sure that many of you are aware of resurrection cookies. We love these cookies and they have become quite a tradition over the last few years!  What a great hands on way to reinforce what Easter is all about and have a snack the next day to show for it!  Don’t get your kids excited about eating them the day you make them….They have to sit in the oven overnight!

I have looked at quiet a few different sites and no one seems to know where they originated.  Here’s the recipe and devotional to go along while you make the recipe.

Resurrection Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup whole pecans

1 teaspoon vinegar

3 egg whites

a pinch of salt

1 cup of sugar

a ziplock bag

a wooden spoon

scotch or masking tape

Bible

 

These can be made the night before Easter or if you can’t do that anytime coming up to Easter would be just fine.  Let’s not beat ourselves up over trying to make this perfect!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300F.  (Do this now, don’t forget and try to do it later)

Place pecans in the ziplock bag.  Let your children hit them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces.  Explain that after Jesus was arrested Roman soldiers beat him.  Read John 19:1-3

Allow each child to smell the vinegar.  Put 1 t. into mixing bowl.  Tell your children that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink.  Ewwww. Read John 19:28-30

Add egg whites to vinegar.  Eggs represent life.  Explain that Jesus gave His life so that we might have life.  Read John 10:10-11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand.  Have them taste it and then brush it into the bowl.  This salt represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers and the bitterness of our own sin.  Read Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients are really appetizing.  Add 1 cup of sugar.  Explain that this is the sweetest part of the story….Jesus died because He loves us.  He wants us to know and belong to Him.  Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed.  Explain that the color white represents our purity in God’s eyes once we have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

Fold in broken nuts.  Drop by teaspoons onto a waxed paper covered cookie sheet.  Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.  Read Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet into the oven, close the door and TURN OFF THE OVEN.

Give each chile a piece of tape and seal the oven door.  Tell your children that Jesus’ tomb was sealed.  Read Matthew 27:65-66

GO TO BED!

Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight.  Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed.  Read John 16:20 & 22

On Resurrection Sunday (EASTER) morning (Or a different morning if that works better for you, remember we are not beating ourselves up for not doing it on the perfect day if it isn’t possible-doing it sometime is better than not at all), open the oven and give everyone a cookie.  Notice when you take a bite, that they are hollow!!  On the first Easter Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.  Read Matthew 28:1-9

I really hope that you will find some time to make these with your kids.  It is such a tangible (and tasty) way to explain the Easter story to them.

Dec22

Gift Wrapping Station

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Gift Wrapping Station

This post is for all of you who still haven’t finished all of your Christmas gift wrapping yet!  Above is a photo of  our wrapping paper station that I have set up in our bedroom for the Christmas gift wrapping season.  Yes, I know you are supposed to keep your bedroom as a special sanctuary.  However, when you have 5 kids who would love to know their Christmas gifts the table goes in a room that can be locked!

I think I learned this tip from FlyLady and it has made gift wrapping so much easier!  No more wrapping presents on the floor or having to clear the kitchen table in the middle of wrapping to eat dinner!  All of our supplies are in one location and the table is all cleared off to wrap.  My husband and I can go into our bedroom and wrap presents for an hour or just a few minutes easily! We just sent up a folding 6 foot table and we were ready to get started!

There are a supplies that we like to keep on hand at the table:

  • tape (we are loving the Scotch pop up tape dispensers) These dispense 1 inch segments of tape without you needing to rip it.  Also they somehow magically stick to the table.  We have also used the kind that strap to your wrist.  We like these too!

  • Scissors-at least 2 pairs.  This way if you lose one under the wrapping paper you have another pair handy.
  • Sharpie markers and pens (to label gifts of course)
  • Sticky labels or tags
  • Wrapping paper
  • I also like having a couple big plastic bins nearby to put the presents in once they are wrapped.  Because we celebrate at multiple different locations I like to try and keep the gifts sorted by where I need to take them to be opened.  So one bin for each side of the family!
  • My husband likes to put the TV on and watch while he wraps.  Or you could listen to some Christmas music to set the mood while you wrap!

I hope this might help some of you in your last minute wrapping!  It raises your productivity level and you can get a few minutes in here and there wrapping between baking or other activities you might have planned!

Oct30

A Thought on Halloween

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A Thought on Halloween

Yes, we participate in Trick or Treating. It seems that in the past 10 years or so that Halloween and all that goes with it has become very controversial for Christians. Maybe it’s been longer and I just have started to notice it more…I don’t know.

We let our kids go trick or treating. We go over to my parents house and trick or treat in the neighborhood that I used to as a kid. We don’t do scary costumes and maybe skip over a few of the really kind of creepy houses.

As Christians do we have many days in the year where no one is bothered that we stop by their house, even if we don’t really know them?  Halloween is an easy day to get to know your neighbors, even just a bit. It’s a day where you have a chance to start building relationships with neighbors you might not necessarily meet. And a day you can grow the relationships you do have.

Just a thought, but if you hide out in your house and won’t answer your door, what signs do you think you are sending to those neighbors around you? Is it one of love, or caring? I don’t think so….

I am not endorsing all that Halloween has become to some, but just take a moment to think about it. Most people are out with their kids….looking to create memories, get some free candy and have a good time with their family. What as a Christian and neighbor can you do to be a part of that? How could you begin to open doors with your neighbors to be able to have deeper more meaningful conversations though this holiday?

Just a thought…..

Apr2

April Fool’s At Our House—The Journal Entries from Our 10 Year Old Daughter

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April Fool’s At Our House—The Journal Entries from Our 10 Year Old Daughter

Joy, my 10 year old daughter, really doesn’t like pranks.  Unfortunately, she lives in a family with boys who love to prank and take full advantage of it on April Fool’s Day.  I thought today it would be fun for you to see our day through the eyes of Joy, as she deals with April Fool’s Day! (all shared with her permission)

 

The Journal Entries for April 1, 2012 from Joy:

10:22 AM Noooooo
The day has come…APRIL FOOLS DAY!
The boys say the jokes they are going to do on me is not the joke Matthew did on Andrew last year. I will write all the practical jokes they do on me. Well I will try!
Wish Me Luck On Surviving The Worst Day Of The Year!!!

10:29 AM About April Fools Day. I still hate it. The boys keep whispering to each other. It sounds like they are saying, “What prank should we do on her first”. Andrew has this giant book called JOKES AND PRANKS. Or something like that. By the end of the day I bet I will be in tears or drenched with water. O.K. I may be over thinking this.
PRANK 1: The boys took the batteries out of the remote. Both remotes. And they hid all the batteries.

10:36 AM I am fine with those pranks. The remote pranks. Especially when the pranks are not on me. By the way PRANK 1: They did it on dad. It may have been made to do on me…The world will never know!

11:10 AM I just finished exercising with mom and dad. Faith did it with us a little bit. The boys are in the School room. Matthew was writing a paper for school. Andrew was with him.
There was a paper in there with a list of their pranks. It was a pretty long list. EEK!!! Before I could start reading the list he snatched it.
PRANK 2: Andrew asked to play the wii. Mom said yes. And then she hid all the wii remotes. HAHA!!!
He now can’t find them! Mom said it was in the family room. He found them.

11:20 AM No pranks done on me so far!
Two done total.

11:22 AM Cody is holding the prank list and just said, “After I write my paper, let’s set these up O.K.”

11:25 AM PRANK 3: Green Hazelnut Creamer!
Prank made by Boys done on mom.

11:28 AM I am keeping track of all the pranks and numbering them all!

11:30 AM From now on I will say who made the prank and who it was done on!!!

11:35 AM Dad and mom are going to do a prank on Matthew- The Spy event thing, since Matthew has been wanting to go so badly that are going to tell him he can’t go or that if he guesses the right number between 1 and 100 he can go. I will list it when they do it!

11:43 AM Matthew is asking me if I am doing any practical jokes on him. Uh…no!
He also asked if mom and dad are. I didn’t say yes but I didn’t say no. He says he wants to know so he can “dodge it”. Whatever that means.

12:06 PM Matthew was ready to set up pranks, but Andrew wanted to play Indiana Jones. Matthew said O.K.
Andrew saved me quite a bit of time for having no pranks on me!

12:23 PM Boys still playing the Wii. I was thinking I could lock mom and dad outside as a prank. But I didn’t.

1:51 PM PRANK 4: We were cleaning out the grill and dad was putting it back together and he said, “Ow…that’s hot…April Fools…How was my acting?”
Made by dad
Done on Avery and mom
HAHA!

2:13 PM PRANK 5: We are raking and mom said, ” Did you take that tarp full of leaves and burn it? That had poison ivy on that…April Fools!”
Done by mom done on dad

2:16 PM PRANK 6: Dad said, “Joy maybe you should stay off Momento for today…April Fools.
Made by: Dad
Done on: Joy

Were there any good pranks played at your house yesterday?

 

Mar11

St. Patrick’s Day traditions for your family to try…..

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St. Patrick’s Day traditions for your family to try…..

This is from a post I did last year on St. Patrick’s day Ideas to do with your family…..ENJOY!

I wanted to tell you about 2 quick and easy ideas of fun things to do for your family for St. Patrick’s Day.  Key words being: QUICK and EASY!  I am all about that.  If something gets too complicated I am most likely not going to do it.  I have limited time in my day but like to do fun and special things for my family.  When I ran upon these two ideas I had to share them with you.  I hope that you will choose one of them to do for your family. I know they will love them.  I also have realized that these types of things are what traditions are built on and how much they can mean to children.

Green Ice Cubes! (make sure to make them a day ahead)

Make green ice cubes using food coloring.  Once they are frozen you can drop them into a clear glass of Sprite, 7 Up or water and watch the drink turn green as the ice melts!

Copycat McDonald’s Shamrock Shakes

Ingredients:

2 cups of vanilla ice cream

1 1/4 cups of 2% milk

1/4 t. mint extract

8 drops of green food coloring

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until smooth. If necessary stir with a spoon to help blend ice cream.  Pour into cups.  (Makes 2 – 12 oz servings)

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Hope you choose one of these for your family’s NEW St. Patty’s Day TRADITION!