Easter Weekend - Monday

You know those days where things work out so unbelievably perfect that you know your choices for what you did that day were guided by a source far greater than your own? I wish we had more of them. I wish I had the inner stillness requisite to feel those inner promptings all day, every day. I'm not there yet, but I am working on it. When we were trying to plan our Easter weekend, I was pretty stumped when following through on our tradition of heading to the Keukenhof gardens in Holland did not feel right. I wanted to push forward, but I didn't and I am so glad that I listened to that feeling of needing to stay here. The result was a wonderfully harmonious, pleasant, memorable, friend-filled Easter weekend that I know the kids enjoyed every minute of, and so did we. 

Easter Monday was the perfect way to wrap up the weekend. It could not have gone better. The sun was shining, the kids were enthusiastic and excited about the surprise outing and we were all well-rested (which feels like a rarity some days around here..). 

Since we weren't going to be in the Keukenhof gardens in Holland we still wanted to keep with the tradition of being in a garden so we headed to the Rhododendron park here in Bremen. 

Of course, the flowers weren't quite in full bloom there, which was fine with us since we had figured that would be the case and planned to visit the Botanika indoor gardens that are nestled within the Rhododendron park.

The kids (and us) were pleasantly surprised when they learned that there were chocolate eggs hidden throughout the garden that they could find. So with baskets in hand, we set out to explore the lovely flowers. 

They even had some animals that we could visit! Bunnies, hens, roosters and even tiny, freshly born baby chicks. What a great chance to talk to the kids about new life!

The kids loved visiting the animals. And we loved the amazement on their little faces.

Though, that said, neither of the children were particularly keen on petting the bunny.

Jason did though :).

Atticus was more concerned with celebrating his success of finding the first chocolate egg. Yep, he's pretty excited.

The flowers inside were stunning. Atticus asked about the types of flowers and Milayla loved finding out the different colours of each flower.

They had the place set up in a nice, adventure sort of way like we were exploring the lands that these flowers come from. Anyone up for heading to Burma?

What about Mt. Kinabalu?

Since this was our first time visiting the Botanika, we really didn't know what to expect and were really excited to discover that they had other features that made it feel like it was partially a museum as well. The details in all the displays were lots of fun to discover. It gave us a few opportunities to talk to the kids about different countries, cultures and religions. So fun!

Pretty sure that we explored every nook and cranny of that place.

And just when we thought we were done it turns out that there was a wonderful little science centre/museum building to finish it all off. It was perfect, with lots of interactive learning centres. And when it was all said and done, Atticus could not resist asking for a rolled coin with flowers on it. He is starting quite the little collection of coins from places we have visited.

Milayla was pretty content to keep exploring while Atticus rolled his coin. I love watching Milayla run around, it is so cute. 

Before we headed off we sat down with the kids for a few minutes and talked about why being in a garden on Easter weekend can remind us of the Saviour. It was a nice, little chat.

And with that we were headed back to the bikes (snacks in hand) for a sunny ride home.

I really cannot emphasize enough how much we enjoyed this outing or the rest of our Easter weekend. It was special for us, yet nothing over the top or too complicated. The kids really enjoyed it and were able to grasp more about the spiritual aspect of Easter as they learned about Jesus and we were even able to share it all with friends. I'm so grateful we listened to that gentle prompting to change our plans from the usual outings this year, because what resulted was an Easter experience perfect for our family and has us all feeling a little bit closer to our Saviour and looking forward to next year. I love Easter. And, most importantly, I love my Saviour.

Happy Mother's Day

While Mother's Day is certainly about honoring our partnership with God in raising children, it is also about honoring the many incredible women in our lives. 

I am grateful to be a mother. And I am grateful for all the strong examples of mothers and women that I have been blessed with throughout my life. I hope to emulate them as I strive to improve and grow into the mother that my loving Heavenly Father sees in my.

If you would like to read a great article about honoring the women in your life please visit this link. Enjoy!

Style Files

There are days where I wonder how these kids come up with creative ways to spend their 'free play' time. Like when they decide to put on a fashion show for Mommy and Daddy. Where did they come up with that from (bear in mind - we don't have a television...). Quirky, fun, and fashionable :). Love it.

Easter Weekend - Sunday

I love Easter Sunday. We typically start things off with a few scriptures, watch a video about the resurrection and then get into our Easter outfits before sitting down for a special (yet simple) Easter breakfast. This year we stumbled upon a breakfast dish that we are calling Pancake bread that won some big favour around here (with everyone except Milayla). It is made with chickpea flour (no sugar, no oils and vegan). It was brilliant as I just needed to mix the ingredients and throw it in the over and it baked while I got ready for church. So much simpler and easier than pancakes. Then we topped it with plenty of fresh fruit and it was the perfect low-effort, tasty, special breakfast. But enough about food endorsements... :)

It was plenty of fun capturing the kids' smiles on Easter morning as they were all dressed for church.

Oh man, I love that smile. So gorgeous!

And this little boy is just growing up so fast. The other day he declared that he thinks he is too big for baths and it's time for him to just have showers. When I asked him why he replied (in his deepest possible voice) that "he is a big boy like Daddy". 

And just in case you are thinking that these cuties are always all smiles, I just want to document that that is not the case. 

 That photo makes me laugh. Milayla wanted cuddles. Atticus didn't. Enter Atticus pouting and Milayla crying. All was forgiven within seconds of the photo being taken though. Good kids. They have their disagreements but they work through them pretty well for how young they still are.

Church was lovely. We have a new family that moved in and the wife is very talented at playing the viola so we were blessed to have a beautiful piece played by her along with some lovely talks.

After church and nap, it was time for Easter Family Home Evening. We decided that we wanted to focus on the idea of following the example of the Saviour; making choices he would make so that when we are resurrected (like he was) we can live with our Heavenly Father again as an Eternal family.

There was a path of footprints that made their way around a good majority of our apartment. Some of those footprints had a heart on them. When we stepped on a foot print that had a heart we could turn it over and read an example of a way that we can follow our Saviour. 

 The footprints finally came to an end at a picture of the Edmonton Alberta Temple (which is the temple that Jason and I were married in) which led us to the talk about eternal families and how important it is to follow the Saviour and to make good choices. I'm not always sure how much of these things are really sinking in as I know some of the concepts can be a little tough to simplify, but without fail, the kids show at another time and place that they not only heard the lessons but they also understood and remembered them.

Following Family Home Evening we had a little bit of prep work to do before our company came over for Easter dinner. The kids helped set the table while I made sure that everything in the kitchen was cooking.

Easter dinner was an absolutely lovely time, complete with an impromptu testimony bearing about The Saviour, reading the Living Christ, and singing 'I Know That My Redeemer Lives' (which sounded quite lovely as Atticus passionately conducted us through all four verses, though I may be a tad biased).

It was just a small group of us but the reverence and spirit of the evening was very special. We were so glad that we had the opportunity to invite others into our home to share in the joy of Easter as we celebrated the good news - He lives!

Easter Weekend - Saturday

Saturday is the day we use to fill up with the activities that are a little less symbolic. This year that meant easter baskets, egg hunts, last minute errands and a nice dinner with some of our friends. 

The kids woke up to their new Easter outfits and baskets. 

My goal this year was to make a sweet-free basket that the kids would love (because, let's face it, they are going to get a plethora of sweets from plenty of other places - and trust me - they did). And they definitely loved their baskets, which made us pretty happy too!

**For those who are looking for ideas for next year, the baskets had wooden puzzles, new notebooks and pencils, spelt pretzels, raw fruit bars, Jip & Janneke raisin boxes (a serious source of excitement around here, probably because it is a rarity since we need to buy them in Holland), dehydrated fruit snack packs and a new scripture case for Atticus. The kids were stoked!

Then once we had breakfast and all were dressed the kids went on a little egg hunt (which I would have loved to be outside, but the weather just was not in agreement with that idea).

Milayla tried to get a head start on egg-hunting :)

The kids loved the hunt but what was inside the eggs needed a little bit of explaining.

I think the kids were expecting to find chocolate (as was in the eggs on the hunt we did in Holland), but instead they found coloured slips of paper which left them a little puzzled. It wasn't until we explained to them that each of those papers were a special outing to make as a family they they got excited. The outings really cover a large range of activities but we worked on picking things that would be above and beyond the outings that we typically go on and we were happy to see the kids light up for several of the ideas. The plan is that we will select one of the outings to do each week as a family. Thus far, it has been a huge success!

That night we had a group of friends over for an Easter potluck dinner. It was a huge success. It was so great to catch up with everyone, get to know some new friends better, and to cuddle the newest addition to our group (an adorable little baby girl). The kids literally melted my heart when they put on their bunny ears and went around giving everyone a piece of the candy that they had been given throughout the weekend from our friends and neighbours. There was absolutely no thought about the diminishing candy amount in their basket as the smiles on their faces kept getting bigger with each candy they gave out. I love those kids and their little golden hearts. The potluck dinner was definitely a high light of our Easter weekend and we are so grateful for all who were able to come and contribute to the success of the evening. 

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A post about Easter Sunday coming soon :)

Easter Weekend - Passover and Good Friday

I love Easter weekend. It is always filled with so many good things (and I'm not talking about the chocolate overload and seemingly endless sweets). We work pretty hard to come up with and plan the best ways to spend the Easter weekend. Each year things have been tweaked a little bit more to find the balance that best suits our family and our situation for that particular year and how to best facilitate the kids' discovery of the real meaning behind the Easter season. We feel really good about how this year went.

For 30 days beforehand we counted down as we worked our way through The Living Christ. And during the week before we had a small little lesson and activity each night for that particular day in the last week of Christ's life. The things we taught were quite simple, but I am still amazed and how much the children grasp about Easter and I am so looking forward to building on that knowledge throughout the year and again next year.

On Thursday we held a small passover dinner. Last year we did the full seder plate. This year I felt concerned about doing the full Seder plate (as is traditionally done in the Jewish religion). My concern was that it is a very time-honoured and meaningful tradition in the Jewish faith and I was worried that my attempts could not possibly do it justice and that it would be disrespectful. So, at the last moment I made some tweaks and tried to simplify with a focus on the Savior, his atonement, and the sacrament (which, really, is a large portion of the Jewish Seder plate anyway).

We invited our friend, Mark, over for the dinner and everything went quite well.

The Passover Dinner acts, in a large part, as our official welcome of the Easter weekend. We talk about the last Supper, Jesus praying in Gethsemane, and the importance of what he was willing to do for us. We try to keep the night simple, focused and enjoyable.

On Friday we went for our Easter walk to look for symbolism of the Savior and signs of spring. It was quite strange to still need to bundle up to go out for our Easter walk (not exactly typical weather for the end of March). We also stopped by to wish our neighbours a Happy Easter as well.

I love this picture. While Atticus and I are working to give Milayla kisses, she is busy reaching for the chocolate bunnies that our neighbours had just gifted the children with.

 I was a little hesitant that we would see many signs of spring with how prolonged winter has been here this year but the kids did an incredible job catching every little flower bud, bug, colorful eggs or even chalk drawings of wishes for spring time.

And you know the winter here was abnormally long when people are trying to protect their trees from the elements...

 Between thorny bushes, new flowers, dead tree branches and a few other treasures we found plenty of opportunity to talk about the Saviour naturally. It was a great opportunity.

Then it was home to work on colouring our Pysanky eggs and our Easter Story book.

 The kids are so proud of their eggs and book. Both are on display in our home (even still) and I think its going to be a little while longer before the kids are ready for them to be put away with the rest of our Easter decorations. Just as well, I like the extra color that they give our monochromatic color scheme anyhow.

And with that, I must post about the rest of our Easter weekend another time as I need to wake some adorable children from nap :).