Let Easter Week Begin!

This year we are keeping up with our tradition of a Christ Centered Easter, and every day we are focusing on the events that took place that day. Saturday we read about Jesus lodging at Bethany and having dinner with his friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, among others, and Mary washing Jesus' feet in preparation of his burial. Yesterday we read about the Triumphal Entry and reenacted it by finding a white toy horse and pretending it was a donkey and throwing fern leaves (the only thing I had) in it's path so Jesus wouldn't get dirty from it's dust. After church we went on a nature walk around the lake and found items relating to Easter, i.e., a piece of wood representing the cross, a rock representing the stone in front of the tomb, etc... Today we read about Jesus cleansing the Temple and healing the blind and deaf. We also made "prayer" pretzels representing the Temple being a house of prayer. The kids loved it, and I'm pleased with their interest in learning about Jesus.

Watching a Praise Baby video after church. The kids are mesmerized by the music. Best video ever!

A tree downed by the powerful winds the night before. We are blessed we didn't have more damage like VA or NC experienced. Sadly this is our only picture of our nature walk after church because I failed to recharge the batteries in the camera.

Making the dough for our prayer pretzels.

Folding the arms of the pretzel.

Annika did a great job with folding her pretzels.

Brayden happily sat by and watched our work.

The finished product. We brushed them with melted butter and put cinnamon & sugar on it.

Annika shared a piece of her pretzel with Brayden.

Brayden trying to share his pretzel. He loves feeding people food.

He really enjoyed it!

On a different note, today Annika did her first 100 piece puzzle. Or should I say 99 piece because one was missing? Regardless, Joe and I were so amazed she could put this together on her own. She does love puzzles though.

Annika proud of her achievement...so are Mom and Dad!

The puzzle with one piece missing. So frustrating!

The fairy wings glowed in the dark. Here's Annika checking them out.