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Easter Ideas…

April 2, 2010 in Crafty,family night,memories with 0 Comments

As we get ready for an Easter weekend, I thought I would share some ideas we did from our Easter family night last year….the day of the Tornadoes!

You can read about Resurrection Buns and Writing on your Easter Eggs here.

I also plan on doing Empty Tomb Cookies this year. Here is the Recipe and Scripture references for those….

Begin this recipe on Saturday, the day before Easter.

1 cup whole pecans
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 egg whites
pinch salt
1 cup sugar
zipper baggie wooden spoon or a wooden meat hammer
duct tape or packing tape
Bible

Preheat oven to 300*F.

Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon or hammer to break them into small pieces.

Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.

Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 teaspoon of vinegar into the mixing bowl.

Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.

Add egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life.

Explain that Jesus gave his life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.

Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste. Then put your pinch of salt in the bowl.

Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’s followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27

So far, the ingredients are not very appetizing! Add 1 cup sugar to the bowl.

Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because he loves us. He wants us to know and belong to him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16.

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 10 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks form.

Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3.

Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheets.

Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’s body was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of tape to seal the oven door.

Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read Matthew 27:65-66.

Leave the kitchen. If you’ve been making these cookies just before bedtime, GO TO BED!

Acknowledge that the kids are probably sad that they’ve worked hard to make these cookies, and now have to leave them in the oven overnight. Explain that Jesus’ followers were in sad when Jesus died and the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20 and 22.

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Ask the kids to notice the cracked surface. Have them bite into the cookies. The cookies are hollow!

Explain that on the first Easter morning, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matthew 28:1-9.

Resurrection Eggs are also a great craft idea to make with your kids. My kids have made these at church and at school and we are going to be using them this weekend, as well.

Here is a video to show you how to make them or you can go here to read how to make them!

Hope these ideas help you celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus this weekend!

Family Night…Snow, Snow, Snow

January 30, 2010 in Crafty,Decorating,family night with 3 Comments

On Thursday night, we had another Stew Family Night with a snow theme. I had been planning this one for a while, just looking up what we could do and let me tell you…there are endless possibilities with building a night centered on SNOW!

For decorations, I painted some branches white and hung some snowflakes from them and switched out all the red in my kitchen with blue and white.

You can see that we all wore white shirts to celebrate our snow night!

On Wednesday, I started making these cake pops with my handy assistant, Emery Kate. She loves to help out in the kitchen.

This was my first attempt at these, and let’s just say….it was pretty obvious!

We started out dipping the snow pops in the chocolate and it pretty much went downhill from there…

I had major chocolate melting issues for some reasons and wasted about 3 bags of white chocolate.

So, I ditched the idea of making them look like a snowman and settled for snow pops!

Or Snow Balls!

Either way, they were amazing to eat!

Working with the kids was interesting as well…can you tell who did which ones???

This is the reality of doing family nights. Sometimes our efforts in creating a fun, happy night end in disappointment at times. Things don’t always go as planned or hoped.

This was one night, that at the beginning, I was ready for bedtime! Just the way it is sometimes!

For dinner, we had Potato Soup or melted snowman soup!

After dinner, Jason talked to the kids from Psalm 51:6-7

⁶ Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

⁷ Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

We talked about sin and the holiness and purity of God. We also talked about the cross and how Jesus

watches us clean, like snow. Such an amazing picture of salvation that the kids could understand…at least somewhat!

Next, we did a little craft. My kids love to paint and do crafts, which is fun, stressful, and messy!

I bought some votive candles and we went to work creating our own snowmen candle holders.

Their personality traits are

so evident when we do things like this. Parker, the perfectionist, can get caught up in getting just right. Emery wants to do it a little differently than

what we have suggested. Bradley just jumps in and has fun doing it!