Easter 2011

Easter was a lot of fun this year with Mason being older and able to understand more of the real meaning, and with our extra addition that we have this year!

~

I must say that I did have tons of fun buying stuff for a boy AND a girl Easter basket!

~

The Easter Bunny left their baskets right outside the kid's doors ready for when they first woke up.

~

Mason got candy, super hero stickers, action figures, a bunny, and a new movie.

~

Morgan, on the other hand, got a pink bunny, a few rattles, a princess bath ducky, a flower head band, and a 'Twinkle Toes' book.

~

Mason headed straight to his Easter basket right when he woke up.

~

He loved all his goodies!

Every year we've gotten Mason a bunny, and every year he has LOVED it!

~

Before he dug into his candy, he was a good boy and asked if he could open some.

~

And we of course said Yes since it was Easter!

~

Then we got all dressed up and headed to church.

~

It was our Princess Bunny's First Easter!

~

My handsome little man! I love that he lets me dress him all up just as much as I do Morgan! :)

My sweet sweet babies! I love Morgan's sleepy eyes from just waking up.

That morning it was rainy, so Christian volunteered to help greet the people getting to church with an umbrella and then go park their cars for them so they wouldn't get wet.

Erich and Christian were such the sweet gentlemen.

~

When we got home from church I could hardly put my camera down because my fam looked so stinkin' adorable!

I just can't get enough of these two precious faces!

~

My man and my babies.

~

Morgan couldn't keep her eyes off her basket. She must have liked all the girly stuff! :)

~

Mason had fun getting in to Morgan's basket.

~

He made their bunnies dance together.

~

And then "read" her book to her.


........................................................................

The week before Easter, we started our Resurrection Eggs. The Resurrection Eggs is a carton of 12 eggs that has an item inside each one and a booklet that explains what each item symbolizes. We opened up the final egg on Easter day.

~
Mason really enjoyed getting to open up the eggs each day and playing with each little object that was inside the eggs. With each egg, I would read the meaning of it, in a "toddlerized" version.

~

At one point, Mason pointed to a boy on the box and said, "There's Jesus!" I said, "No baby, that's just a little boy. Do you want to see a picture of Jesus?" He said, "Yes!" So, I pulled up a picture of Him on my phone. Mason just stared at it for a minute, and then started singing 'Jesus Loves Me'. It was SO precious! I have always sung that song to him but he has never joined in, so I didn't even know that he knew the words. It melted my heart!

He wanted to show Jesus all the items from the eggs and kept going back to singing the song, Jesus Loves Me. He always sings it to Sissy now and wants me to sing it with him.

~

Here are the treasures that we found and the story behind each one. Read along and re-live the real meaning of Easter.... Enjoy.

~

Egg #1 - Little Donkey: Jesus sent two disciples in to town to get him a donkey. Most people walked everywhere, except for kings would ride on donkeys or horses when they entered a city. On that day that Jesus rode into their city, the people were thrilled to see Him. They believed that He was their new king who had come to save them and to fill their lives with joy.

~

Egg #2 - Silver Coins: Not everyone was happy to have Jesus as their king. Some of the man that hated Jesus found a man named Judas to capture Jesus. Judas was greedy so he agreed to capture Jesus if they would pay him 30 silver coins.

~

Egg #3 - Cup: Jesus had a special dinner with 12 of his disciples. During the mean, Jesus stood up and held out a cup and gave everyone a drink. Then He said something that was hard for them to understand. He said that the wine in the cup symbolized His blood. He wanted them to remember this special night and the promise that He was making to them and to all people.

~

Egg #4 - Praying Hands: After the dinner with His disciples, Jesus took them to a garden. He asked them to pray while He went to another place in the garden to galk to God alone. He began to be sad and dread what He knew was going to happen soon. He was going to die.

~

Egg #5 - Leather Whip: When Jesus finished praying in the garden, the men who wanted to kill Him took Him as their prisoner. Then they whipped Him with a long and hard whip that hurt Him so much that He bled. Jesus hadn't done anything wrong. The men who wanted to kill Him were afraid of losing power, so they wanted Jesus out of their way. They knew that if people really believed that Jesus was the Son of God, they would follow Him.

~

Egg #6 - Crown of Thorns: After Jesus had been whipped, the soldiers took branches with thorns, twisted them into the shape of a crown, and shoved it down on Jesus' head. Again, Jesus bled. He could have stopped the men from hurting Him. But He let them continue because even though He hadn't done anything wrong, Jesus was taking the punishment for all the wrong things that any person had ever done or ever would do wrong.

~

Egg #7 - Nails in the Cross: The soldiers made Jesus carry a heavy wooden cross to the top of a hill. Then they nailed Him to the cross and He died a few hours later. - The Bible tells us that Jesus was stronger than any man. The soldiers couldn't have killed Jesus if He had not let them. He could have fought the soldiers but He didn't because God loves people so much, that He was willing to let Jesus be punished for oursins. And even though it hurt Jesus badly, He was willing to do what God the Father asked.

~

Egg #8 - Die: When the soldiers were crucifying Jesus, they played a game to decide who would take His clothes. Jesus knew what the soldiers were doing, but He did not show anger. He chose to die for their sins, too. That is why He prayed for them, even while they were playing their mean game. He prayed, "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing."

~

Egg #9 - Spear: When the soldiers came to check on Jesus, He had already died. But just to make sure, though, one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus in the side with a spear.

~

Egg # 10 - Linen Cloth: After Jesus died, a man named Jospeh asked if he could bury Him. Joseph was a believer of Jesus being the Son of God, and this was a brave and loving thing for Joseph to do. Jospeh wrapped the body of Jesus in a cloth and buried Him in a tomb cut out of rock.

~

Egg # 11 - Stone: And there was a great earthquake and an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and came and rolled back the stone. The The men that were guarding the tomb were no match for God's angel. The guards were so afraid that they fainted.

~
Egg #12 - Empty: When people came to see, the heavy stone had been rolled aside and the tomb was empty! Jesus' body was not there. The angel told them, "He has risen." Jesus had come back to life. - That was the promise that Jesus made to His disciples at their special dinner just a few days before-that He would die but come back to life to show those who believed in Him that they would live forever, too.

The story of Easter is such a sad, yet joyful story. I have so much to be thankful for, but the one thing that overrides it all is that Jesus died for my sins which enables me to enjoy such sweet moments like these with my beloved family. Thank you God and Jesus for making the ultimate sacrifice!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16