Our Lenten Spiral 2013

Our Lenten Spiral 

Last Tuesday, the kids and I made our Lenten Spiral.  A Lenten Spiral is basically a advent calendar leading up to Easter instead of Christmas.  Last year, we made ours out of salt dough and this year we did again. I made some changes based on what worked and what didn't work last year.  Instead of a salt dough cross (which kept falling and breaking last year) we are using a marble as the counter that moves from the outside to the center where we have a wooden cross.  This is a visual reminder of the preparations and reflection we do as we await Easter.

Hannah made a cross with Jesus on it.  Unfortunately, she squished it up before I could stop her.

Here she proudly holds up her second cross.  

Ethan and Hannah hard at work making more crosses.

Our finished pieces ready to go into the oven.  On the left are the crosses Hannah and Ethan made, in the center is a tomb and a rock, and on the right is our spiral.

All set up.  I have everything here for now.  But the tomb will be for our Easter garden which we will make closer to Palm Sunday.

Here you can see the spiral up close.  The marble works well.

The tomb.

I also included an Easter book basket with a few books we already owned as well as a bunch of library books.  We made the crosses into ornaments and hung them on our branches.  

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, today is the day that we remember Jesus' triumphant and joyful entrance into Jerusalem.  In the Christian calendar it also marks the beginning of Holy week.  People waved palm branches and shouted Hosannah (yes it can be spelled with 2 h's).  So the kids and I made a banner and palm branches out of hand prints.  

Then we practiced waving them.  Ethan did NOT want to do this and was very confused, probably because he hadn't had a nap and was tired.

This however was received fantastically from Hannah.

Here she showing daddy how we waved our palm branches shouting Hosannah

Another, joyful entrance was made on this day 3 years ago.  Hannah was born on Palm Sunday and while her actual birthday is later this week today is extra special for Andrew and I. (As an aside both Hannah and Ethan were born on a Sunday, since their daddy is a pastor we think this is fitting.Hehehehehe).

Our 2012 Easter Garden

Last Saturday afternoon we made our Easter garden.  An Easter garden is a great visual way for me to teach Hannah and Ethan about Easter.  Our garden includes 3 crosses (Jesus' death on the cross), a tomb (teaching about resurrection of Jesus), candles (Jesus is the light of the world), and of course the garden part (Jesus prays in the garden, and in Christ we have new life) .  Between now and Easter my hope is to use the garden to talk about the events of Holy week (When You Rise has a great chronology of  Holy Week).  This is our second year making an Easter garden, last year we didn't actually plant anything but this year we did. 

Both Hannah and Ethan had fun helping Andrew and I put the dirt in and leveling it out.  Then we put in the tomb, candles, and rocks.  Once it was laid out I added the seeds and covered with a little more soil. Finally, we put in the crosses and some more rocks.

Hannah and Ethan liked decorating and re-decorating with the rocks.

I love how Hannah hugs Ethan when I ask her to take a picture with Ethan.

We made the tomb when we made our Lenten Spiral.  Hannah and I made the tomb out of salt dough with black paint added to the dough to  give it the grey rock color.

We planted three different seeds but only the sprouts have come up so far.   This picture was taken 3.5 days later I couldn't believe how fast the sprouts came up.

Our Lenten spiral on the left, our Easter garden, and finally Hannah's Lenten Spiral on the right.

Here is our Easter garden from last year.  Hannah looks so tiny.

Easter Weekend

We have had a great weekend so far, and it is not even over yet. On Friday, my sister and I took the kids to the zoo.  We got there just after it opened, so the lines were short.  By the time we left, a couple of hours later, the lines were quite long.  Hannah loved the zoo, and I did too.  Ethan slept almost the entire time.  The weather was beautiful so it was nice to walk around.  Hannah walked the whole time and had a blast not being confined to the stroller.  Here are some pictures:

Hannah and a crocodile.

Inside the lizard bubble.

Hannah loved the fake pigs because she could touch them.

Giraffes

Hippos

Duck of some kind.

On Saturday, Andrew and I took the kids to the Surrey Nature Center to their annual easter egg hunt.  Unfortunately, by the time we parked we had just missed the hunt for Hannah's age.  But she had fun anyway.  She made some bunny ears, and enjoyed just walking around looking at everything.  When we got home I hid some eggs in the backyard for her to find.

Hannah standing inside a nest.

Looking for Eggs

Today, we gave Hannah and Ethan their easter baskets.  Hannah got her Easter things that I made.  Even though we didn't have much time to look through it before we needed to leave for church. I think she liked it.  Ethan's had the animals from the book "Brown Bear Brown Bear, What do you see?"  I wanted to put something in his basket even though he is really little.  The were very colorful and I thought he would like the pictures.  We also hid the resurrection eggs and than Andrew showed Hannah what was inside.

Easter Baskets

Finding eggs.

Daddy explaining what was inside each egg.

After church, we had the cool opportunity to meet and see our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper.

Ethan and I waiting.

Stephen Harper -PM

Shaking Hannah's hand.

Security Detail.

Finally, we capped off the weekend with dinner at my parents house.  Hannah stayed to have a sleepover with Gamma Gamma and Papa.

Happy Easter

Kristina

Easter Garden

During nap time today, I came across a great idea for Easter over at A Holy Experience (here). I then searched to find more ideas and low and behold I found lots. Some are quite simple, and some are even life size versions. Since, I don't know how Andrew would feel about me creating a life size tomb in our backyard while he's away, I decided to do a smaller version. We can light the candles until Friday, by then my flowers should look really dead, this symbolizes Christ's death. Then on Sunday, I will roll back the rock in front of the tomb and replace the flowers with new ones to represent His resurrection and and new life.

Easter Garden

I used salt dough to make the tomb and added a little black tempera paint to give it a rock like color.  After I finished forming it I baked in the oven at 200 for a couple of hours (until it was hard).  I filled a pretty tray with dirt and added the crosses, greenery, flowers, rocks, and candles.

Before baking, I put the pieces on wax paper so they would not stick to the pan.

Basic Salt Dough Recipe 

1 cup of fine salt 

1 cup of flour 

1/2 cup of water (may add more) 

In a large bowl, combine the salt and the flour 

Make a well in the salt/flour mixture and add the water 

Knead until smooth and shape into a ball

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

Easter Preparations

I have being thinking long and hard about how to teach and prepare Hannah for Easter.  After lots of searching and looking I found endless amounts of crafts, songs, coloring sheets and activities all about bunnies, eggs, and candies.  I even found a respectable amount of material on the real reason my family celebrates Easter: because of Jesus death and resurrection and all that Jesus accomplished for us.  However, most of what I found was too old for Hannah.  She's only 2, so I wanted a few activities and things that she would enjoy and understand.  I also did not want to glaze over the work of the cross or miss it entirely which surprisingly seems to be the most common phenomenon.  What Andrew and I will do is present it in such a way that it is age appropriate and sensitive.

Here is what were are going to do:

Easter Coloring Book:

I'm made a story book out of these Easter Story Coloring Pages (here): 

Easter story wheel:

I got the pictures from this really cool easter booklet (here) and then put them onto a wheel.: 

Easter Story Eggs/Resurrection Eggs:  

We will introduce all of the objects in the eggs in a story format, and we will do it all on Easter.  Then next year we can do it leading up to easter one egg at a time.  I put this together after seeing a great set made over at Catholic Icing (here).

What is in my eggs:

1. Palm Branch- Jesus triumphant arrival in Jerusalem.  Matt 21:1-11
2. Soap – Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.  John 13:1-17
3. Small cracker piece – Last Supper Mark 14:22 
4. Flower- Jesus prays in the Garden. Matt 26:36-46
5. Three dimes – Judas betrays Jesus for 30 pieces of Silver.  Matt. 26:14-15 
6. Twine or a small piece of rope - Jesus is arrested. Matt. 27:1-2 
7. Crown of Thorns - Matt. 27:29 
8. Nails - Matt. 27:31 and John 20:25 
9. Cross –John 19:17-18 
10. Sponge – The Soldiers offered Jesus something to drink.  John 19:29-30 or Matt 27:48 
11. White fabric and Spices – Burial clothes and spices.  John 19:38-40
12. Stone – The tomb.  Matt. 27:65-66 or John 20:1-10 

Easter Play Scene:
I think this last one is my favorite and the activity that I am most excited about.  You can download the printable at Catholic Icing (a great blog, full of great ideas) (here).  I love that Hannah will be able to play with this set in order to learn about Easter.

The Easter Scene

Mary Magdalen, Mary, crucified Jesus, and the cross.

Two angels and the Tomb with a movable rock.  

Risen Jesus and 2 Soldiers.

That is how we will be teaching Hannah about Easter this year.