Christ The Lord is Risen Today

The Little Man isn't so little anymore. He's 11, in 5th grade and finishing up elementary school. It's amazing how fast time flies with raising children. 

This year, we had a much more low key Easter. Quite honestly, it snuck up on me. Lent started with the Big Man in the hospital, 

and ended with my mother hospitalized.

 In between, we've had lots of cold and snow, and more stress than I thought humanely possible. 

Easter is a chance for new life. It's a do-over. In church yesterday, instead of preaching solely on Jesus' resurrection, the pastor put a different spin on it. 

But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. (Romans 8:9-11 NLT)

We have been given new life.

Yesterday was a chance to pause and reflect on our new life in the resurrection.

It was a beautiful, warm spring day. Warm enough to wear a sundress. 

Warm enough to hunt eggs in shorts.

Warm enough to bask in the sun.

Welcome, new life

Jesus Christ is Risen Today

I know, Easter was last weekend. I've been on a bit of a blogging break due to my mom's illness and recovery, the Princess moving back to South Dakota and the Big Man crisscross applesauce the country to make it happen. My mother was hospitalized the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. she moved from the hospital to a nursing home for rehab on Ash Wednesday. My sister arrived the week before Lazarus Sunday. Lent was a blur, rather than a holy journey. My desert this year was a very different, unintended one.
However, as the hope of resurrection on Easter, my life is slowly returning to normal.

We met a donkey on Palm Sunday.
We raised and waved palm branches and cried out hosanna.
We went on egg hunts.
We dyed eggs.
We decorated peeps.
We celebrated the resurrection, which meant so much more this year.

Pastel Princess

I have a fashion confession-I don't wear a lot of color. I'm definitely a neutral black-navy-gray-brown kind of girl. Wearing color can make me super nervous, but it's a fear that I'm willing to overcome.
For our casual family Easter celebration, I chose to wear pastels that were in the same hues as the eggs we dyed.
I wore a pair of Ralph Lauren jeans in lilac, that are a spring wardrobe staple. On top, I chose a tangerine top, which is the in color this year.
I think I love this color too-and if I could find the Polyvore designed outfit, I would gladly become a pastel princess!

Bunny Cake

I love Pinterest, and I've found a lot of things to try. One was a bunny cake that looked deceptively easy. While mine didn't quite turn out like the picture, my family didn't mind!

1 box white cake mix
Supplies to make cake
Food coloring to color cake (we made ours purple) and frosting
White frosting
Construction paper to make ears
Junior mints for eyes
Licorice for whiskers

Make cake according to box directions. Bake in 2 round pans. One pan will be the body. Cut a large circle from the other round for the head. Frost. Decorate and serve!

Peeps Sushi

I saw this on Pinterest and thought that the Little Man would just love them. I was right!
They are super easy and super yummy!

You need:
Rice crispies treats
Peeps
Fruit roll ups

Place the peep on the rice crispies treat bar. Wrap fruit roll up around it.

That's it! I told you it was super easy!

Putting all our eggs into one basket

http://www.sfmvm.com/

Last night the Princess, the Little Man & I attended an Easter party at the Museum of Visual Materials. We decorated eggs, made bunny ears, egg carton flowers and Easter cards.
But the cutest idea were these egg baskets.
Basically, it is a Dixie cup, that you color with a marker, punch 2 holes and thread a pipe cleaner through. The "grass" was shredded paper.

The Princess and the egg basket

The Little Man dying his eggs

Ingenious.




Simple.



Creative


Green.


Easter.