Pray for us...

The boys seem ready, but I sure am not! Jon and I have a huge challenge ahead of us starting Friday. I'll let the pictures explain...

 

We have one Fisher-Price Royal Stepstool Potty...

 

... and another...

 

...a toddler-sized urinal... (this REALLY cracks me up!!)

 

... a potty training Elmo...

 

... and 30 pairs of little underwear!

I guess we have everything we need to get going. Wish us luck!

They were EMPTY!

What do you think happened with our resurrection biscuits from the previous post?!

 

I baked them this morning before the boys got up so that we could enjoy them for breakfast. When we each bit into our biscuits, we surprised to find the center empty!

 

The marshmallow – Jesus – is GONE! Our little tombs are empty, but still very good and sweet. He is not here, but has risen indeed (Luke 24:5)!

 

Right now the boys think it is just good food and maybe a little Momma Magic involved, but in a few years I’ll get to explain the science behind. We do plan on making this a tradition.

Happy Easter from The Seastrunk Family! We had a GREAT day this way, and I hope to get some more pictures posted soon.

By the way... the biscuits were not only a fun little project, but also very tasty!

Resurrection Biscuits

We did a really good project with the boys tonight. I love it in that it teaches not only a important Bible lesson, but also cooking and science! (You all know I am quite the multi-tasker!)

We took Grands canned biscuits, and flattened them out until they were about 5 inches across.



We then poured melted butter across each biscuit. This was like the tears pouring down from the eyes of the people who believed that Jesus really was the Son of God.



Then we sprinkled sugar and cinnamon on it. These represent the spices used to anoint Jesus' body before His burial.



Then we all got one large marshmallow to represent Jesus.



It is white because it stands for His purity and His sinless life.

 

We placed the marshmallow in the center of each biscuit, then folded the sides around it forming a "tomb".

 

We then placed them crease side down on a baking sheet, so they will not open while cooking.

I then added more cinnamon and sugar to the outside of the biscuits. This is because sweetest part of the story, is that Jesus died because He loves us, wants us to know Him, and live with Him forever one day.

But at this point, Caleb became VERY upset that I took his biscuit away! I placed them in the oven as another symbol of Christ in the tomb. (They are just sitting their tonight. I'll cook them at 350 for 15 minutes or so before the boys get up tomorrow.) We told him that it was fine to be sad... Jesus' followers were also very sad when the tomb was sealed.

 

That didn't really help matters with our strong willed little Cay-Cay who also happens to LOVE sweets!

 

We distracted him with bath time, which he also really loves. All was well again by bed time. I think he will be excited to see his "tomb" again in the morning.

What do YOU think happens in the rest of the story?! We will find out the good news tomorrow!!

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

This is VERY cool however I cannot take credit. It came from another blog I frequent, Weelicious.

I love all food-related things associated with holidays, but dyeing easter eggs is an especially favorite activity for me. This isn’t exactly a cooking activity for younger kids, but I think it’s close enough to qualify. Like most kids, I grew up using Paas Easter egg dyes. I realize it’s a lot easier using dye kits, but I think doing it the natural way is so much more fun, healthy and natural and it’s a great way to use some of the spices that have been in the cabinet for a while.

You should have seen our kitchen stove, covered with pots brimming over with all kinds of cool color concoctions. We tried everything from juices, to spices, to frozen berries, to fresh vegetables and more with, what I have to admit, very mixed results! I dreamed of using fresh spinach to turn organic white eggs an emerald green, but instead I got a pale green that was basically undetectable. The turmeric on the other hand was an amazing bright yellow, as golden as the sun.

Once we dyed the eggs, I let Kenya decorate them with stickers and markers. His favorite part, though, was dropping and rolling them on the counter, peeling off the shells and eating them up. So I guess this is a food activity after all!



Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

White Eggs, preferably organic if you’re going to eat them

Turmeric (yellow eggs)
Frozen Blueberries (lavender eggs)
Beets (pink eggs)
Chili Powder (rust/brown eggs)
Pomegranate or Grape Juice (grey, blueish, red eggs)

White Vinegar

1. Place eggs in a pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Stir in 2 tbsp of white vinegar and the food ingredient for desired color.
2. Bring water to a boil. When the water reaches a boil, reduce, simmer and cook for 15-30 minutes (the longer you cook the eggs, the tougher they will be).
3. Check the eggs to see if the desired color is achieved.
4. Let the easter egg hunt begin!

*If you want the eggs a deeper color you can remove them from the pot, let the color mixture cool and pour it back over the eggs and refrigerate overnight or longer. The longer the eggs are covered with the color, the deeper the shade will be. We also found that the color of the eggs deepened after they dried.

*If you want to eat the eggs make sure to refrigerate them.

What Tha' Hail?!

I have a few posts in the works, but since this occurred last week, I thought I would post a picture from our most recent hail storm for those of you not in the area.



Yup, we had 2 1/4 inch hail! What's crazy is that we had NO warning. We knew that thunderstorms were expected, but we didn't know anything about hail coming in along with it.

It was about 10:30 pm, the twins were down, I had just finished nursing and changing Gabe's diaper, and was about to put him into his bed when it literally sounded like gun fire had hit our house! Jon turned to me and said "WHAT WAS THAT?!" And then it hit again. About the same time we both realized what was going on. I put Gabe on our bedroom floor, and took off for the garage, as both vehicles were outside! Jon grabbed the keys, and ran out to get the Odyssey. About the same time we also realized just how big the hail was, and that it might not have been too smart of a move for him to run out in it!

Surprisingly enough, however, we didn't get a lot of damage. We will need a new roof (surprise, surprise), Jon's truck has several large dings, and the Odyssey has a couple small ones. Overall, not too bad. As the boys and I went for a walk the next day, we saw several broken windows, including a broken back window of a BMW. Yikes - hope the interior didn't also suffer from the damage!

A couple of days later, the ground dried out and so I finally let the boys back in the yard to play. We then noticed some more damage. Jacob walked to his little wagon and fell to the ground saying "No, uh-oh, no..." (So dramatic!) I wish I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy trying to console Jacob while muffling/hiding my giggles. His little plastic wagon which he uses to pull around his juice, "la-la," and whatever toy he attached to that day around the yard had a baseball sized hole in the bottom. Supermomma was able to piece it back together with duct tape and mailing tape - "all better!"

We have had a lot more exciting times - including our church's Eggstravaganza and Opening Day at the Ballpark - so more posts will soon follow.