Since this is Easter week, we started off on Monday with an Easter Family Home Evening and Nests for dessert. For many years (at least 12, maybe more?) we have done an Easter treasure hunt for FHE where each clue is something that has to do with the Easter story. It is one of our favorites (I'm sure that is why we have done it so long, and not because I lost my creative juices a little less than 12 years ago...).
The kids start out the treasure hunt by riding a donkey into the living room, just like Christ rode a donkey into Jerusalem. That's how you know it is probably time to retire this Family Home Evening activity. The kids are a little bigger than they were 12 years ago. But, the donkey survived and we relearned the Easter story!
I tried the bread again and this time, success!! I baked it in smaller loaf pans and added just a little more flour, and kneaded it a little more than last time and that seemed to do the trick.
We did chalk art on our driveway. Avery inspired most of us to do these fun mosaics, and Ryan made a huge hopscotch. I think there were 204 squares! It was a workout!
Dustin and I went on a date! We took a drive up the canyon and found a reservoir. It was nice.
Ryan and I played croquet.
We dyed Easter eggs and tried something new this year. I do this with my preschoolers and call it tie dye painting. It is shaving cream mixed with food coloring, and for preschool we dip paper in it and it makes it look like tie dye. We dipped our hard boiled eggs in it and it worked pretty well.
Once you wipe off the shaving cream, the dye remains.
We were back in school this week. It seems to have the trend of starting off a little slow on Monday, and then after a day or so, we get back into the swing of things and it's not so bad.
This week we tried another new recipe: homemade bagels. They were actually pretty easy and really delicious--comparable to Einstein Bagels--and when we figured out the cost, we think these were about $.08 to make, instead of the $1.80 per bagel at Einstein's. Pretty sweet!
Pepper fell asleep in a funny position.
We took a little family field trip to a couple of Dustin's work sites so that he could check things out and we could get out of the house. This is a regional park that is going in in Magna, and the second one is a community garden in Sugarhouse. It is fun to see what he is working on. He is talented at what he does!
Monica sent me a quarantine survival package! Chocolates and bath salts!
On Friday Grant started running a fever and he had a sore throat and a stomachache. By Friday night, his fever spiked to 104 degrees, which wasn't fun. I took him to the Dr. on Saturday morning, thinking it was strep (although, how did he get infected with anything?? We are quarantining!!). The strep test came back negative, and she thought it might be good to test for Corona Virus, but as we thought about it, and after talking to the nurse who called to register us, we decided to not test him right now. She said it is a pretty rough test, especially on kids. If Dustin or I comes down with it, then we will get tested, but we didn't have the heart to put him through it, especially when there really isn't any treatment, just treat the symptoms at home. Saturday also happened to be his birthday, so that was kind of a bummer birthday for him. He was pretty sick all day and by nightime was throwing up. He was able to feel well enough to open his presents right before he went to bed, but we saved his cake for another day. Poor kid!
He wanted me to surprise him with a food cake of some sort. Spaghetti and meatballs anti-gravity cake was fun to make, with a lot of help from my kids! The bowl is made out of fondant, and the meatballs are made from the cakeballs of last week, with a little red food gel mixed with strawberry jam for the sauce. The noodles are frosting.
We finally cut it open a few days later, and it was delicious!
Grant turned 11, and almost immediately he looks taller and leaner (of course that one might be from having a stomach bug and sickness for the last 5 days) and older. Speaking of Grant being sick, he is always so kind and apologetic when he isn't feeling well. Even in his fever delirium, he kept apologizing to me for having to help him. He is a great student and hard worker in school. He has an engineering mind, and is so good at figuring out how things work and should be put together (a great skill for Legos). He is a loving, fun, happy part of our family and we love him!
Sunday was Easter. It was a nice day to study about the Atonement, death and Resurrection of the Savior. We did the Sacrament at home and watched the Bible videos pertaining to the last few days of Christ's life. We had some great discussions about Jesus Christ and how grateful we are for Him and all He did for us. It was a peaceful Easter Sunday.
Grant's fever started to come down and respond to medicine a little better, which took a load off of my mind. It is hard to have sick kids, but with all of the Corona Virus worry, it has felt especially stressful this time.
We got eggs all ready to do an egg hunt for the kids, but we wanted to wait until Grant was feeling better. But this little beauty is waiting for one of our kids to find as soon as we finally get around to the egg hunt. It's a hair nest with tums inside. Ha Ha!
That afternoon we decided to paint on some canvases that I ordered a while ago. In honor of Easter, our theme was "Light" and we each painted whatever we wanted.
It was a fun, relaxing activity for our Easter afternoon.
We had a nice dinner that night. I had prepared most of it the day before, so that made it easy.
I really am so grateful for the Savior, Jesus Christ. The week was spent thinking about and studying about His life and death and what it means for mankind. We participated in another worldwide fast on the Friday before Easter, as directed by President Nelson, and I don't think it is a coincidence that the worldwide numbers of deaths related to Corona Virus started to decline after that. I know that Heavenly Father is very aware of all of us at this time. And what a blessing to be able to rely and even depend on the strengthening power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ to help us through this!
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