"Easter Mountain"

Big hit this year was the creation of an "Easter mountain" out of playdough, an activity a NH friend had successfully attempted last spring with her same-age kids. We created the mold on Thursday night by making, shaping, and baking the playdough; decorated it on good Friday and inserted pipe-cleaner "Jesus" in the tin-can tomb; and then delighted to "roll back the stone" on Easter morning to discover that Jesus was indeed no longer inside.

HF and I briefly discussed whether the tomb should be colored green and brown - to make it life-like and help it actually resemble a mountain (my notion) - or whether we should give the kids full color creative license (his). We went with the colors. The monkey and Roo really loved the whole project; the hands-on nature of it really brought the Easter concepts to life. "I wish we could post a guard in front of the tomb," said the monkey after Jesus came off the cross and was laid inside the tomb on Friday night... And so, as the idea was completely biblically accurate, we did. Pictured.

Uncle Dan, Aunt Rebecca, Noah, and baby Josephine spent the weekend with us, and we had a great time hunting Easter eggs together this morning before church. The grown-ups opted to have our Easter dinner on Saturday night so it could fully be enjoyed and appreciated in a kid-free manner. The ham was from the quarter-pig we helped our local friends raise - our first effort in preparing one. We were pleased with the results; a tasty meal. Perfect to celebrate Jesus' resurrection with good friends.

We felt a slight earthquake this afternoon on the sidewalk as we were helping our friends pack up their car... Third or so since we moved here. Getting better at identifying them!