Reflections of Easter in China

Last year we celebrated Easter in Guangzhou, China. We were thrilled to find a Catholic church even if the entire service was spoken in Mandarin. Josie lasted only 20 minutes into the service before Emma and I had to take her outside to enjoy it from the back door. Despite the language barrier, it felt peaceful and familiar. I'd like to say we've made progress with Josie's busy behavior, but she's still very very active during mass.



Even though the Easter bunny might have forgotten to drop off a basket to our hotel room, the Lobby of the White Swan Hotel was decorated with golden eggs and bunnies.



This is a video shot in the lobby of the White Swan Hotel on Easter morning. I can't believe how much the girls have changed in one year.



I have one day left of work until I can be home with the rest of the family for spring break. I love this idea for putting together resurrection eggs to tell the Easter story.



Each one of these plastic eggs numbered 1-12 has a different object in it and it has 12 different visuals to tell the Easter story to children. They get to look at the enclosed object, learn about the message and read the corresponding scripture. On the last day the egg is empty, just like Jesus' tomb.

I'm going to put this together when I'm home from work on Thursday. I don't want to lose sight of the meaning of Easter (even though I look forward to the Easter bunny and loads of chocolate).

I hope you are all having a wonderful week!!

Me and My Shadow...

The girls spent their first day home during spring break with Daddy. They had a lovely time building a fort out of pillows and blankets. Josie adores Emma. Ever since our first day together in China, she's looked to Emma for comfort and amusement. She mirrors EVERYTHING Emma does.



Check out this video of the girls during lunch today. Josie is imitating everything that Emma is doing.



I can't wait to be home with them on Thursday and Friday this week.

The dress that Josie is modeling was originally Emma's dress. I'm so glad we hung onto a few of her special outfits. The smocking features little bunnies.



Here's a sneak peek at Emma's Easter outfit.



In one of my many Target steals, I picked up a hat from their dollar bin and hot glued a silk flower and ribbon to jazz it up. I swear my glue gun is never turned off in my house. Who knows if Josie will actually wear it on Easter, but you can bet I'm going to try and get a few pictures of her wearing it with her Easter dress.



In case you want an Easter coloring page to print for your kiddos, this site has a vintage bunny coloring page that's really sweet.

I have a subscription to Family Fun magazine and their website features a slew of great Easter egg decorating techniques. I can't wait to include Josie in our egg decorating traditions. Last year, we were in Guangzhou for Easter. In all our chaos, the Easter Bunny failed to show up in China (oops). You can bet that won't be happening this year.

PS. West Michigan missed out on the latest snow storm. Yippee. By the weekend, we're suppose to be back up in the 50s. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'd love to take the girls to the zoo on Friday with their cousins.

Hot Chocolate & Jelly Beans

We’ve been told by our local news station that West Michigan will be blessed with SNOW Monday and Tuesday during the K-12 spring break. Come on warm weather!!! Emma’s anxious to get her bike out and Josie’s ready to drive her new car around the neighborhood. I guess we’ll just stay tucked inside with some hot chocolate a little while longer.



In garage sale updates, Chris and Emma braved the cold weather and hosted our garage sale Friday and Saturday. We had quite a bunch of clothes and baby toys to sell. Although it was a family effort to organize all our stuff, Chris was the complete mastermind behind the garage sale. I wasn’t even home to help on Friday. I was at work. He gets MAJOR kudos for pulling this whole event together. You’re the best, sweetie. A local charity is coming on Tuesday to take away the remaining items. Emma has graciously offered to give half her garage sale earnings to a local soup kitchen. We're so proud of you!!



Here's another fun and easy craft. Josie helped me put together this jellybean topiary Saturday morning.



She sorted the jellybeans by colors (as well as sampled a few).



I hot glued the jellybeans to a sytrofoam cone and finished it off with a decorative ribbon on top. Aside from Easter, this would be a cute table centerpiece at child's birthday party.



I can't believe tomorrow is Palm Sunday. This month is flying by. Is anyone doing anything fun or exciting for spring break?



Blessings for our celebration of Christ's Resurrection.

Another Adoption & Miniature Treat Baskets

No, we aren't adopting again. I can't stop looking at the Special Needs lists, but this request is for my good friend, Steffie. Please, pray for the Beckering family. They are leaving for China on Sunday to finally meet their newest addition to the family. He's such a handsome little guy. Emma thinks he needs to marry Josie someday.



I can't wait to celebrate their "Gotcha Day". I pray that the transition of settling/attaching/bonding comes easy to Andrew. Safe travels, Steffie, David and Emmie!!!

Our weather for next week is suppose to be bitter cold and snow filled. Just in time for spring break! Here's a picture of the girls taken Thursday night decorating our little Japanese maple with Easter eggs. I'm betting by next week, this same tree is going to be covered in snow....sigh.



Today's craft features two versions of miniature treat baskets. I think these would be fun to have on your Easter table filled with jelly beans and chocolate treats.



The first one is very very easy. I promise.

Supplies needed:
Cupcake baking cups
Pipe cleaners
Hot glue gun
Easter grass
Easter stickers (optional)
Treats

Step 1. Take two different colored pipe cleaners and cut them in half. Twist together to form a half circle. This is your basket handle. 1 pipe cleaner makes 2 handles (after you've cut them in half).



Step 2. Use at least 2-3 baking cups to create the basket. Hot glue the pipe cleaner to the sides of the paper baking cup. Set aside to cool.



Step 3. Fill your basket with Easter grass and treats. You can even embellish your baskets a bit more with tissue paper ruffles or Easter stickers. Target has adorable Easter stickers in the dollar bins.



Basket Number 2.

This second basket is from a template I found online. You basically feed scrapbooking paper into your printer, print off the template, cut it out and glue together.



Supplies needed:

Paper (I used scrabooking paper but you wouldn't have to)
Glue
Scissors
Easter grass
Easter stickers (optional)
Treats

Here's the template (click image to enlarge and print).



Step 1. Cut scrapbooking paper into a 8 x 11 sheet of paper and put in your printer.

Step 2. Print off the template and cut out with scissors.



Step 3. Fold and glue the edges of the template to form a basket.



Step 4. Fill your basket with Easter grass and treats.



You can even embellish your baskets a bit more with tissue paper ruffles or Easter stickers.



If you have a child's birthday party coming up, these little decorative treat baskets would be fun to use for your party guests.

Happy Crafting!!



PS. I did get x-rays on Thursday and I'm happy to report no fractures on my right knee. I just banged the heck out of it. Ice and elevation are a good thing. My computer tower in my office is a great substitute for a footstool (hee hee).

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Easter Peeps & Easter Bunnies

Look who discovered marshmallow peeps? Yes. Josie ate both of them and wanted more.



It's officially April and I can bust out the Easter crafts in full force!! I love decorating for Easter (almost as much as Halloween...shhhh don't tell Chris). This craft was constructed last weekend. I typically work on crafts with the girls on Saturday or Sunday afternoons.



This craft is very similar to the wooden Chinese dolls that I made for Kimberely's shower. These rabbits are made out of wooden beads that are hot-glued together and painted. I found my wooden beads at Hobby Lobby, but they are available at all craft supply stores. They come in bags of 12.

Supplies needed:

Wooden beads (1 large round wooden bead, 1 medium wooden bead, 1 wooden heart).
hot glue gun
White paint, black paint, pink paint
Paint brush
Embellishments (such as tiny flowers, cup cake papers, ribbon..etc)
White felt
Fine point black marker

Step 1. Hot glue the wooden beads and heart together. The heart becomes the base/feet of the rabbit.



Step 2. Paint the beads/heart with white paint.




Step 3. Set aside to dry. We waited around 20 minutes and put them under a fan to speed up the drying process.



Step 4. I took the end of my paint brush (the round pointed part) and dipped it in black paint to make eyes on our rabbits. Using a slightly smaller brush, I did the same thing with pink paint to make a tiny pink nose. I used a fine point black marker to draw on their whiskers and mouth.



Step 5. Using cupcake baking cups, I cut them apart to make a skirt on our bunny. One cupcake baking cup makes at least 2 skirts. I also glued tiny flowers and ribbons to embellish our bunnies a bit further. I used white felt to make ears and then glued them on our bunnies.



Isn't she sweet?



We had so much fun, Emma and I constructed a whole bunny family. These bunnies would look cute as a table display for Easter brunch or dinner.



While Emma and I were painting, Josie worked on her leap phonics pad. She now recognizes all the letters in the alphabet. What a little smarty pants. Sometimes she joins us in our craft project, but this one was a little more involved.



Happy Crafting!

PS. I really did something to my right knee when I fell on Tuesday at work. I'm seeing a doctor and getting x-rays Thursday afternoon. Emma's hoping I need a knee brace because she thinks it would be cool. I'm thinking an ice pack and less walking sounds just about right. I still can't believe I tripped over a chair while I was training faculty in a computer lab. My pride and my right knee is definitely bruised...sigh.