Happy Family Times #2

Thank you to everyone who shared with us their wonderful family experiences last week. If you missed it, go check them out here. Or visit our Pinterest Board for Happy Family Times where we pin some of our favorites. I know I find it so inspiring to see how we are all spending our quality time with those we love most.

This week we did several things together. Some of which I did not get a picture of, so I'll share the pictures with the Easter Bunny that we had taken last week. (They gave us two since one of the ones I was in came out so nicely!) The first thing we did is we had a family date at Starbucks. I love .Starbuck's chai latte, so we went to get me one. Hazel got a kids' hot chocolate (they make it cooler for the kids) and Steve got a cup of tea. We also got some treats--a cookie, a muffin and an apple pie tartlet. We sat in the store and enjoyed each other's company as well as the treats. It was fun until Hazel got too tired and didn't want to stay anymore.

Then  Hazel announced she wanted to go out to dinner at the restaurant that gives her the pizza dough to play with. This would be Bertucci's. Not only do they give the kids crayons with the kids' menu, but also a small bit of pizza dough to play with while waiting for food. We decided to go for lunch since dinner time can be tricky if she hasn't napped and since she hasn't been sleeping well with the ear infection. We enjoyed a nice family lunch out. And have leftovers for today--always a bonus!

Then when we came home we tried two activities I found on-line. The first one I saw over at Blue Skies Ahead and it is Resurrection Rolls. I love this idea!! All you need is a package of crescent rolls (we used the reduce fat), marshmallows, melted butter and cinnamon sugar. You give each person a crescent roll dough piece and a marshmallow. The marshmallow will represent Jesus' body. You discuss the story of Jesus dying on the cross and being put in the tomb and how they would anoint the body in oil (dip the marshmallow in butter) and with spices (cinnamon sugar) and then wrap the body in cloth (the crescent roll dough) and put the body in a tomb (the oven). Then you bake the rolls for 10 minutes and of course the marshmallow is no longer there. You then discuss the resurrection and the empty tomb. It is such a wonderful visual for a young child to begin to grasp this concept. Plus you get a tasty treat which we had with a cup of tea as a family.

The next idea came from Motherhood on a Dime and is called Preschool Resurrection Eggs. Apparently there are something called Resurrection Eggs that you can buy. I don't know anything about them, however I loved this idea. She took six plastic eggs and put a letter on each of them to spell Easter. Then in each one put a symbol to represent part of the Easter story. The first E gets a heart and stands for each of us and how God loves each of us. A gets a band-aid and stands for a broken world. S gets a cross and stands for our sins. T gets a tomb made of clay or play dough (in our case) and stands for the tomb. The second E gets a rock and stands for empty tomb. The R is left empty and stands for the Risen Christ. Again another way for a preschool to begin to understand the true meaning behind Easter. Hazel and I did the eggs again this morning and added them to our Lenten Table so we can go through them each morning.

Now we want to see what you have been doing!!

~ please link up (family time oriented giveaways are ok, but please no Etsy shops)

~ we'd love for you to follow us Crafty Moms Share and Happy Whimsical Hearts

~ check out our Happy Family Times Pinterest board where we will be pinning some of our favorite ideas

Ok, now for our PARTY!! Please share your FUN Family Times!!