Easter Celebrations

I can't believe it, Easter didn't sneak up on me this year, it usually does.

Our advent goodie bags during Christmas were such a hit, that I wanted to do the same thing for Easter....this will continue.  Inside these eggs I put one piece of candy for each person for each day of the week prior to Easter.  Then, with these ideas from the Friend magazine we enjoyed one candy and these activities to help us remember what Easter is all about...and it's not the Easter Bunny.  We did have a good discussion as to why eggs and bunnies are associated with Easter though.  We also pulled out our gospel picture book and talked about what happened each day in Christ's life during his last week on earth.

Sing a Primary song that talks about Jesus Christ. How can you follow His example today?

Read what living Apostles wrote about Jesus Christ: “He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come” (“The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles,” Ensign, Apr. 2000, 2–3).

We take the sacrament each week to remember Jesus Christ. What can you do to be especially reverent during sacrament meeting this Sunday?

Sing your favorite Christmas song. What do you remember learning about Jesus Christ’s birth?

Read John 3:16–17 with a parent and talk about what it means. How do you know Heavenly Father loves you?

Read the story “Because He Lives” on page 6. How can you share a meaningful Easter message with your friends?

Draw a picture of your favorite scripture story about Jesus. You could ask your parents to help you watch The Life of Jesus Christ Bible Videos at biblevideos.lds.org to get some ideas.

 On Saturday we were invited to the Pohlig's country home for a egg hunt, cook out, games and a visit from the Easter Bunny!!  Wooohooo, what fun!!
The weather was perfect!!!  After a week of snow, cold, rain and wind, Saturday was warm, mildly breezy, but not to hot....in short--absolutely perfect!
We enjoyed meeting friends from the Ft. Chiswell Ward.  Liam was especially thrilled to see his friend Jaci, who recently moved to another ward (Christainsburg) there.  He sure has missed her.

 Here come Peter Cottontail....coming down the bunny trail....what a fun surprise!

 Cailin had fun helping Brianne find eggs....only three, but three more than she would have on her own.  She also enjoyed time with her friends Beryl and Mikayla.

 I suggested they get a photo with the Easter Bunny, Mik and Cailin were not amused....Beryl thought it was a great idea and dragged them over!

 Brianne was not impressed with this tall furry creature.  She wanted nothing to do with him, although, she was fine with just watching him....she was curious, just not enough to get close.

 After a lunch of hot dog, hamburgers with the fixings, salads, chips and brownies (as if candy were not enough), a rousing game of tug-of-war began.

 .....and sack races!  This was something rather new for Liam, but he definitely wanted to join in the fun.  He wore his overly large cowboy boots....so off, they went.  He had a bit of trouble with getting into the sack.  Bro. Pohlig helped him get in.....and they were off.

 Brianne found entertainment by playing in this basket

 which was beside the box full of empty Easter eggs.  They had over 500 eggs filled and hidden for the egg hunt.  What a generous, kind thing to do!  

 .....as if all that weren't enough fun for a day, Brother Pohlig, (whom Cailin says "I like him, He sounds just like the Bishop and acts just like Grandpa Stumm.)  anyway, he took the kids on a tractor ride.

 Cailin is always wishing for a place to RUN!!  she just wants to run.  I'm not always able to let her go where we live.....here, I let her RUN!!  They have a nice long driveway so she ran and I followed after her later as we headed home.



Now, where are the boys?   Why are they not in any pictures.....well they spent the morning and early afternoon at a stake young men's missionary activity.  Here's Connor to tell all about it:
        Well, to answer the question, we were at a missionary activity for young men only. Oddly enough, it looked as though the missionaries would actually outnumber the young men! We had fourteen missionaries there and fifteen young men, most of whom were late (Ryan and I were not included in the late arrivals). We were told how to talk to an investigator, had some lunch from returned missionaries, food from the places where they served. It's strange that one of them was sent to the Spokane Washington mission, which is the same place Mom grew up. After that, we headed out for a half hour tracting with the missionaries. Ryan went with one elder, and didn't have much luck. The only person who opened the door was the wife of a Lutheran minister, who invited them to church. I went with the other elder, and after a few refusals, came to someone who seemed interested. Well, interested in reading the book of Mormon, not becoming LDS. He was Catholic, and was moving some brush out in his yard. We offered to help but he declined, saying he was almost done. He said he really liked what we were doing, spreading the gospel. He said he was pretty set in  his beliefs but would like to learn more of what we believe. We gave him a book of Mormon and he said he would read it. After talking to him, we learned he was a big sci-fi fan, just like me! Additionally, all of his movie watching was from Netflix, also like me. After he went inside, we wrote down his name (we only had his first not his last), and house number and told the Blacksburg missionaries to follow up on it. Me and Ryan were the only people there from the Radford ward, and everyone missed out on what was probably the best activity I've ever gone too.

Satruday night our friends the Morgan's invited us over for a hotdog cook out....yumm!  Afterwards, Julie and Mikayla, Cailin and I headed off to the church of the Young Women's Broadcast.

Easter morning.....came with more candy and a chocolate bunny.  Somehow, Barry restrained himself from cutting off the bunny ears, as per his fathers tradition, but I think next year the tips may be missing!

At church Cailin and I performed the song "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing", Cailin was on the flute while I played the piano.  This was challenging for both of us....me to learn the harder music and Cailin to learn how to perform in front of people.  We both did very well.  We know we made a few mistakes, but I don't think others did (unless they have played that music themselves). Cailin was soooo nervous.  Brother Cloe mentioned what a scowl she had on her face while going up front, but once there, she was all smiles.  This song had a Gaelic sound to it and was in the first hymn book published by Ss. Emma Smith.  It's so beautiful and I loved practicing it...and especially performing with my sweet daughter.  We'll do this again.

Here are some more happy chocolate fed littles.....I was to preoccupied with getting everyone ready that I didn't realize that Liam had not eaten breakfast before we left for church.  After Sacrament meeting he was most unhappy due to hunger.  If he wasn't such a little guy I would have said "tough", but Ss. Turpin, the primary president had a cheese stick and he was much happier with real food in his tummy.   So thankful for all she does!

This is a picture of our Easter feast...Ham, my mom's potato casserole, cornbread stuffing, deviled eggs, green beans, spinach salad and strawberry jello pretzel salad with rolls and biscuits. For dessert: pumpkin pie and pound cake topped with blueberry pie filling and real whip cream.  We had Granny and Pawpaw, Donny, Beth and her kids,Josh and Hayliegh, plus the Elders over.  It was a pleasant evening.  The next night, during  FHE, Barry spoke of how strong he felt the peace and love in our home that night.  It really was a wonderful night.
Most times Easter just sneaks up on me and I miss out on preparing spiritually along with the festivities   Because of our busy school and play practice schedule I didn't get to do everything I had planned to do, (dying eggs, making Resurrection cookies, and few activities from the Friend,) but what we did was enough.