Easter Story Cookies!

Ingredients; 1 cp. whole pecans, 1 t. vinegar, 3 egg whites, 1 cp. sugar, zipper baggie, wooden spoon, tape and bible.

Our Easter family tradition is making Easter Story Cookies. The night before Easter Sunday we make the cookies and in the morning when they wake up they get to see the hollow cookies all ready to eat. I forget how I found this idea but I love it and it has become something we do with the kids to remind them of the sacrafice the Savior made for us and the miracle of his Resurrection and the gift that He gave to us of Repentance and Eternal Life. For anyone who would like to try this with their children, here is what you do;
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place pecans in zipper baggie and let the children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers.
Read John 19:1-3

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross He was given vinegar to drink.
Read John 19:28-30

Add egg white to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life.
Read John 10:10 and 11

Sprinkle a little salt into each child's hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus' followers and the bitterness of our own sin.
Read Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cp. sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us and so does Heavenly Father. He wants us to know him and return to Him and His Father.
Read Psalms 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 10-12 min. until stiff peaks form (I let each child have a turn with the mixer). Explain that the color white represents the purity in God's eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus.
Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons (I let the kids do one or two each) onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus' body was laid.
Read Matt. 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven; close the door and turn oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape and seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus' tomb was sealed.
Read Matt. 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 and 22

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter, Jesus' followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty.
Read Matt. 28:1-9. HE HAS RISEN!

I am so blessed to have the knowledge and a testimony of the Saviors sacrafice and to share it with those I love most. It all boils down to that one day in history where a king, the prince of peace, our Savior, our brother was resurrected. He is risen, He is risen...SHOUT IT OUT TO ALL THE EARTH!

Happy birthday, Aunt Marge!

We are very lucky/fortunate to have Aunt Marge live close to us. I have no family around from my side (closest is 20 hours away in Missouri) and Dave has a few Aunts, Uncles and cousins here in Utah. Aunt Marge always remembers the kids for holidays and birthdays and makes it a point to let them know she is thinking of them in one way or another. She comes over at least twice a month for Sunday dinner and makes it to all of the kids events. She is a very thoughtful Aunt in every respect.
For dinner she chose to have bbqed chicken, steak, oriental green beans (one of her favorites), bbqed sweet potatoes and rolls. We were glad to oblige since we would be eating this feast too:-).
For dessert we had a (lopsided) chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream.
Blowing out the candles. We hope you get all that you wish for. You deserve it! (don't you love how the kids are miming the blowing of the candles with her...heehee).
Often times the kids will come over and snuggle with Marge. This is a frequent occurance that I decided to catch on camera. You are loved, Marge! Thank you for being you!!!

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Here is part 2 since the first one worked out so well. I'm likin' this!!!! Thanks HEATHER!

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I am testing to see if I can create a collage. If this turns out then this should show some of my favorite pics over the years. One that, for one reason or another, have touched my heart or I just LOVE. Hope this works:-).

St. Patty's day fun

Mom got busy today while the kids were at school and had a little fun putting this St. Patrick's day dinner together for the fam damily.

Rainbow cupcakes and the traditional gold chocolate coins for dessert.

On the menu; green waffles, kiwi, green milk (or green power aid for those who don't like milk) and of course, the rainbow cupcakes for dessert. Yes, I know....really healthy. I'm doing this while Dave puts the hyper ones down for the night....LOL!)

Mom learned that the really cool paper plates she got for dinner ware are NOT microwavable when she went to get the milk and saw her dinner on fire in the microwave (didn't feel like waffles for dinner so I was havin' sumpin' else).

Hmmmm. Yummy! After our house nearly burned down the kids sat and did some coloring and activities while the waffles were cooking.

Chase's favorite part was the balloons. The kids couldn't wait to suck the helium and talk like....Leprechauns :-).

Contest to see who could finish the shamrock maze first.

Ryan finishing up his coloring before he eats 3 waffles and 2 cupcakes and I don't even KNOW how many chocolate coins. Of course, the kiwi was too healthy for him so he opted to skip them. Where the heck does it all go?

Rainbow cupcakes...nummy, nummy in our tummy!

Jenna licking her fingers let's mom know that they were "finger lickin' good".

I gave them the buttons in the morning so they could wear them to school. What a fun day! If you ask the kids the little fire we had going was the highlight of the evening. Everything turned out so perfectly and the kids were very excited and gracious in their "thank you" 's. Hope none of you had any Leprechaun problems at your house....but call me if you found a pot of gold. I'll tell you how you could spend it;-). Happy St. Patty's day everyone!

Vivian and Bob Mirabal are friends that I haven't seen in 17 years and because of Facebook I have reconnected with recently. I LOVE FB! She was baptized in Alamogordo, NM on August 16, 1992 while I was serving as a missionary there. They came all the way from San Antonio, Texas to see me for a few days. Lucky me! :-)

This is Vivian and me. Why do I always wait until the day that someone is leaving to take pictures?!?! Hopefully she will send me some of the ones she took while she was here with hers (hint, hint).

At the end of February I flew out for a quick visit to North Carolina. Thanks to my awesome husband and friends (Dave and Susie) for making it possible.

I was pleasantly suprised when I pulled up to Nate and Amy's house to see Connor and Caylyn running toward me with huge smiles and big hugs....it MADE MY DAY. They had a 2 hour delay going to school that morning because of snow...LOL...yeah, right. There was no snow on the ground. NC makes me laugh with it's "snow days".

Rachael and I went to Pilot Mountain for a morning hike. It was pretty cold and the trail we wanted to go on was closed due to clean up that needed to be done after a recent wind storm but we had a nice little hike on "Sassafras" trail....love that name:-).

The trail was actually only .5 miles but I thought it would be more impressive to cover up the "point". It was fun to be with my little sister/best friend again.

The girls all got togther and went to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. From left to right; Me, Amy, Fletcher (who was starving...poor guy), Rachael, Jocelyn and Jane. I miss not being closer to everyone.

I accidently posted this picture twice and don't know how to erase it...sorry. I guess I just love my neice and nephew.

Looking forward to going back again soon. Love you all!

Sharing the love...

The girls each have their own room but lately Meagan has been sleeping with Jenna and Jenna hasn't minded at all. I love watching them. They have a very sweet relationship. They are truely best friends. I had to snap this photo of them sharing Meagan's i-pod as they fell asleep.

There are many times in my life when I wonder if I am doing anything right as a mom. Then, your kids suprise you with some comment and you know that you must be doing something right. This was one of those times...looking on the dry erase board and seeing this made my day! I have very forgiving kids who teach me as much as I hope I am teaching them.

For Valentine's day I suprised the kids and Dave with a special breakfast and dinner dessert (Dave fixed dinner:-)). On the menu for breakfast; pink, heart-shaped pancakes, honey buns, sausage and chocolate milk. It was so fun for me to put this together. I couldn't wait for them to wake up and see the table and open up their gift bags. They had so much fun. They wouldn't stop saying "thank you". I am blessed to have kids who recognize when I go the extra mile.

This is Berries on a Cloud. This is a tradition that has not happened in our home for about 3 years because every year I have forgotten that it takes 15 hours from start to finish and then it is too late to make (if you wait to the day of). It nearly didn't happen this year but I woke up at 4 am, remembered, jumped out of bed and went to make it so they would have it for dinner that night.

As you can see from the very happy faces...it was well worth it! I love my family!!!!!!!!!!!!

Making blankets, cooking and toothfairy

This is such a cute letter from Jenna to the Toothfairy. It accidently got thrown away when the table was cleared off that night so I told her to write a letter to the toothfairy explaining what happen and that she would understand. I just had to share it on here:-).

Meagan and Jenna LOVE to help out Mom in the kitchen and, most of the time, mom doesn't mind at all. They really enjoy cooking so for Christmas, Santa gave them each this apron and chef's hat in their stockings (gotta love the dollar store;-)).

SO, as some of you know our family theme (if you will) for this year is service. For family night we had Aunt Marge up and we ALL made blankets to give to Primary Childrens Hospital. With all the team work we got 8 made in 2 hours!

Jenna and Mom...

Tyler and Ryan...

Chase, Jenna and Meagan....

Aunt Marge and yes, even Dad:-) They all picked out their own fleece and they really felt accomplished at the end!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo. How 'bout you, you, you?

We seem to go downtown alot...I guess whenever visitors come to see us they want to see downtown. Anyway, we went while Mom and Dad Schell were visiting from North Carolina during the Christmas season.

We had fun torturing Gamma while she was here. Here we are putting peanut butter on her face and calling our dog, Bella, over to lick it off. She gave a good fight but she's not as strong as she used to be:-).

We always go to the zoo while Gamma and Poppop come visit. Here are Chase and Tyler standing under the ridge of the roof waiting for the snow to melt down and fall off onto them.

Playing on the snow filled playground.

I can't tell what this was a statue of but the kids love to pose every chance they get.

The kids loved watching the new baby elephant. She was kicking a ball around while we were there.

This big statue was added about 4 or 5 years ago and the kids love to stop and play on it. In the summer it squirts out water and makes noises.