Easter Tradition - Family Foot Washing

We began a new Easter tradition this year: A Family Foot Washing.

As the girls get older the more I realize the importance of sharing with them the beauty of Easter that lies beyond the eggs and bunnies. I want them to see the beauty of God's love for them in Jesus. What better than the story of Jesus washing his disciples feet the night he was betrayed?

We began the evening by reading "The Servant King" from the Jesus Storybook Bible.

"One by one, Jesus washed everyone's feet. 'I am doing this because I love you.' Jesus explained.

'Do this for each other.'"

So we did.

To help things go smoothly I took two cups. On one I wrote "Dirty Feet" and on the other I wrote "Washer." I placed a piece of paper with each of our names into both cups. Then we drew one name from each cup and each person had the chance to wash and be washed. It was a simple foot tub with warm water and essential oils with a towel nearby for drying.

As we washed each others feet we said these words:

"Like Jesus, we will offer humble, joyful, loving service."

There was such a beautiful and tender intimacy between all of us. I guess it was due to the focused attention to the person being served and the nature of lovingly washing someones' feet.

The girls LOVED it. 

We closed with this prayer:

O Jesus, in this Holy Week you prayed

that we would love one another

as you have loved us.

Tonight we have tried to practice what you have taught us!

Let the love, joy and humility

we have known here with our family

continue to bless us,

and let us share that blessing with world

you love and gave your life for.

May the peace we feel together in this place

Point us toward the hope of Easter.

Plastic Bag Kites - A Windy Day Activity

We've had some SUPER windy days this April with beautiful blue skies and cool weather. The perfect setting for getting outside. While looking for "windy day outdoor activities" for the girls I stumbled upon plastic bag kites. This simple, quick activity provided literally hours of fun for the girls.

All you need is a plastic shopping bag and yarn.

Resurrection Garden

Spring! New life. Fresh beginnings.

We created a Resurrection Garden as a reminder of these gifts.

Waiting for Easter and waiting for this to sprout. 

Reverse Easter Egg Hunting

Today we tried Reverse Easter Egg Hunting. The idea is that instead of searching for treat filled eggs, you send the kids out to search to goodies to fill their eggs with. I chose colors as our theme today and added a slip of paper to each egg with instructions to "Fill with something (insert color name here)." I gave each girl five eggs.

Logistically it was better to have the eggs inside the house in a bowl marked with their initials. They chose one egg at a time and went out to fill it. Once complete, they came in for another egg until they had a bucket filled with eggs containing colorful pieces of nature.

This was a great activity for Marin and Adalyn. Coralee wasn't interested in specific instructions, but had a great time opening and closing her eggs and following her sisters around attempting to fill her eggs with treasures from our yard.

This is something we'll do again. I think I'll try other attributes too! "Fill with something heavy," or "fill with something cold." Even "fill with live bugs" could be fun! Watch out rolly pollies.

Toilet Paper Roll Bunnies

This girl house can churn out empty toilet paper rolls, so I'm always on the look out for ways to turn them into fun activities. These bunnies were a big hit and simple to create.

What you need to make one bunny:

1 and 1/2 toilet paper rolls

A pair of googly eyes

Paint

Black marker

Hot glue gun

A cotton ball

I started by letting the girls paint their rolls. You'll need one single roll for the body, and then we cut another roll into fourths to create the ears for two bunnies.

Once the paint has dried. Attach the eyes and cotton ball tail using hot glue. You'll fold the other half roll in half and cut into two pieces to create the ears. We hot glued these into place and then reenacted Beatrix Potters' "The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies" but any good bunny story will do.

Happy Spring!