Our Easter Weekend...

There were Mini Eggs, chicks, Easter bunnies and chocolate galore, but it was not those things that made our Easter this year. Instead it was remembering the real meaning...

Good Friday kicked off with a fabulous family service at church where some of the Easter characters shared their stories. The girls were mesmerised... and it brought the truth of this amazing season back home for all of us. I won't deny I shed a tear or two when listening to "Mary Magdalene" at the empty grave... it was such a creative, helpful way to remind us what its really all about...

Photo courtesy of my lovely friend Kirsty!

The afternoon was spent with school friends... an Easter lunch, lots of little people running around, and lots of cups of tea and catching up.. and some little people who were sad to go home/say goodbye at the end of it all. It's been so much fun this year, getting to know Ava's little school friends and their families... we're all on countdown to the big primary school reveal on April 16th now (oh help!)

Easter Saturday was a normal Saturday - finishing unpacking from our trip to Wales last week (more on that to follow), a shop in Lidl and some down time for some girlies still recovering from a fun-packed, full-on holiday. We all needed some quiet time, and Saturday was perfect for it.

And then came Easter Sunday... the highlight of our year, the celebration of the greatest day in history. And it kicked off in the usual fashion with our Easter breakfast... hot cross buns, strawberry jam, a good amount of chocolate (yes - even a little for breakfast... are we bad parents?!?) and the highlight... the revealing of our Easter garden; the dead leaves and flowers were gone, and replaced by a lively, colourful garden... and the tomb? Well, the stone was rolled away, and the carefully laid linens had disappeared...

JESUS IS ALIVE!

The girls were delighted with their goodies, and we bookended our breakfast with the Easter story from a combination of the Bible and their children's bible...

Church was celebratory, with a couple of wonderfully moving baptisms thrown in, and was just as it should be. A joyful remembering of all that we have to be thankful for... and more important than all else, the Saviour who has made us right with God... and is living today! If you want to find out more, check out this video...

I think as I get older, Easter means more every year. I guess slowly (yes, I will be bidding farewell to my twenties later this year!) as life experience grows, you lose some of the heady optimism of youth. I'm still an optimist at heart, but the last few years have taught me that life is not perfect, that there are hard roads, and valleys, and dark journeys that everyone walks at some point in their life... Easter is a reminder that all is not as it should be, but that there is a plan to make it right again. That this life is not all there is. That this life is not what it was meant to be. There is so much joy and hope in the knowledge that Jesus has done the deal. Made the down-payment. If I trust in him, I have a certain place with him for eternity. So the hard stuff in this life is given a new perspective.

I am daily thankful. 

Easter Sunday afternoon was spent in the glorious sunshine with Dave's brother, his wife and their gorgeous baby boy... a few pictures of our fun-filled afternoon below.

This Easter, as always, leaves me thankful, joyful, grateful, amazed, in wonder...

I am so undeserving... and yet blessed beyond hope.

Happy Easter to all my lovely readers :-) 

 

Spring in the Huette...

Our house is not the only residence on our little piece of property that likes to have a seasonal makeover... our little ladies house also enjoys a seasonal spruce-up, and this spring is no exception. So yesterday, while Heidi napped, Ava and I headed down to the playhouse to give it some TLC...

We took down the remaining Christmas decorations (cringe... yes, the odd few had escaped!) and put some little springtime touches onto the Huette.

Of course, a bit of spring cleaning was the order of the day too!

And then Ava decided to concoct some soup before her little sister woke up...

... to very great excitement! Heidi was thrilled at all the changes in her little house and sat down to eat her soup straight away!

They spent the whole afternoon playing down there, popping their heads in and out of their little house, visiting friends, playing restaurants, travelling to Norway (yes, apparently they fitted that in too!) and looking after their babies. I'm hoping for lots of quiet hours in the summertime adjusting to baby number three while these two occupy themselves whiling away the hours in their own little cosy home.

Spring's greatest joy

beyond a doubt,

is when it brings the children out!

- Edgar Guest -

Spring's in the House!

I make no secret of the fact that I love a little seasonal decoration. Our walls are a pretty blank canvas, which gives me the opportunity at the turn of every season, to inject a little seasonal something into the decor... (you can find out how and why we do that here...)

... Spring has been a little late coming. By the start of this week, my winter decorations had had enough; the white stag was eyeing me suspiciously, the candlelit houses were looking a little forlorn and the lanterns have ceased to be lit. Somehow in the cold sunlight of early spring, the reminders of winter seem out of place, lonely and lost, and yesterday, I finally had the chance to transform it into a little spring wonderland.

A few chicks, some eggs, a little wooden cross and daffodils, daffodils and more daffodils... all helping little hearts and little minds to prepare for the most important season of our family calendar.

Easter is coming!

Making Easter Meaningful...

 

One of the thing that's really hit me since having children, is how little a deal I have made of Easter in the past. As a christian, Easter is the big celebration - remembering Jesus death and resurrection stands at the heart of my faith, and yet so often, the day would creep up on me unexpected, a couple of chocolate eggs would be exchanged, and the day would be over in the blink of an eye.

When I began to think about the time and effort I have put in to preparing my family for Christmas, I began to realise that somehow the balance had got a bit skewed. We spend a month building up to Christmas, preparing our children's hearts to remember what its really all about, and yet Easter got next to no preparation at all.

And so we became convinced that we needed to change that; that somehow, our girls should be as excited in the run-up to Easter as they were to the run-up to Christmas.

And so we have started some traditions. This will be our fourth Easter with Ava, and our third with Heidi. Gradually, we are building up a set of traditions that help our girls understand what Easter is really all about.

So here are some ideas if you're seeking to make your Easter meaningful this year!

1. Resurrection Garden

The idea here is to make a little garden with you children and place a tomb in it, covered over by a large stone (the tomb is a cut out potato), on the night before Easter Sunday, you can roll the stone away, and transform the garden into a flurry of life, using little flowers etc. It's a beautiful visual of the miracle of Jesus resurrection... and that through his resurrection, life comes! You can see how we made ours here.

2. Countdown Eggs

The idea, similar to our family Advent Calendar, is to unfold the Easter story bit by bit as the week goes by, and to hopefully help the girls to understand that Easter is not just about spring chickens and bunnies (cute as they are!) An egg is opened each day from Palm Sunday, and inside is found a verse and an item which tell the next part of the story... If you'd like to find out more, you can read about them here. They really helped build up to the big day last year!

3. Easter Breakfast

This was something we started two years ago. A special meal is central to any celebration. We wanted to have a meal together as a family where we could enjoy each other's company, make the day a bit special and share the Easter story. Of course, boiled eggs and soldiers were a must, and a little treat in everyone's place... little easter baskets filled with chocolate eggs and Easter biscuits... Of course, you could have an Easter lunch, or dinner... but we wanted to celebrate in the morning the fact that Jesus had risen!!

4. Telling the Story

 The telling of the Easter story is a key part to our Easter breakfast. We highly recommend "The Beginner's Bible" or the "Jesus Storybook Bible" by Sally Lloyd Jones for little ones. Its wonderful to be reminded of the story behind this celebration... and if you've made a Resurrection Garden, it makes a great set for any playmobile or little characters to reenact the story!

5. Easter Nature Hunt

This is a really cute idea which we are going to try for the first time this year. Each child gets a list of items to find on a walk, or in the garden, each of which can be used to tell the Easter story...

1. Something pointed and sharp to represent the crown of thorns
2. Something made of wood to represent the cross
3. Something dead to represent the Saviour's death (a leaf or something?)
4. Something darkness to represent the darkness
5. Something hard and round to represent the stone rolled across the tomb
6. Something alive to represent Jesus' ressurection

I'm thinking Ava's just about ready to give that a go this year!

6. Bake Resurrection Bread

This fabulous book from the Good Book Company has some resurrection bread that we're going to give a go this year... we'll keep you posted!

What Easter traditions do you have? I'm always up for new ideas!!

Spring...

Then beautiful Spring came;

and when nature resumes her loveliness

the human soul is apt to revive also.

- Harriet Anne Jacobs - 

 

 

Nymans gardens... a collision of colours... the conflict of winter and spring.

 

Vibrant daffodils reaching for a sunshine still hidden behind clouds... 

 

The grey of winter standing stark against the colour of spring...

A new world to explore... 

Colours and scents... the earth comes to life again.

Dead ground bringing forth life.

 

A reminder of the central celebration of this season.

A new beginning.

Hope from hopelessness.

Life from death.

It's just what Easter is all about.

Hallelujah.

The Springtime Surprise Project...

Over the winter period, when I was feeling cooped up and shut in and longing for the longer days of spring and summer, I came across the lovely Lucy's gorgeous new springtime idea. If you haven't ever checked out her blog, you must... it is simply stunning to scroll down and just breath in colour. She is an incredibly gifted photographer and just wonderfully captures beauty in the ordinary. I've been hooked on her blog Capture By Lucy for about 2 years now, and there's no sign of my readership letting up any time soon!

Anyway, back to her latest idea... the #Springtimesurpriseproject

Lucy came up with the idea that bloggers and instagramers across the country could share a little springtime love. The idea was that each person taking part would wrap up a pretty little parcel, for around £5, for another participant after finding out a little bit about them... I thought it was such a sweet idea and signed up immediately.

In early February, I received an email telling me all about my "springtime surprise" partner Emma at The Mini Mes and Me. I had great fun, while I was away in Norway, sourcing little goodies that I thought would be appreciated by my new stationary loving, baking blog buddy, and all on a budget.

And last week, I had great fun packaging it all up and sending it off... there is something lovely about sitting down and taking time for good old fashioned snail mail!

If you would like to take part in Lucy's next project #summertimesurpriseproject you can find out how to sign up on her Surprise Project website.

Thank you Lucy... such a lovely idea!!

My little Washerwoman...

We are revelling in the little glimpses of springtime... getting out in the sunshine, savouring the scent of the first fresh flowers and listening on the school run for the sound of those songbirds making their presence known.

Our return home from nursery at lunchtimes has taken a change too. The children are no longer eager to burst into the house, to warm their icy hands and devour a warm lunch... instead, they are rushing straight out to the garden to their happy little Huette to busy themselves with cups of tea, picnics and sweeping the doorstep!

And this week, a new activity kept my little ladies busy. It seems spring cleaning has hit even the smallest ones!

After all, dollies need their clothes washed too!

And so an afternoon was spent working hard washing all the dollies clothes in their little sink (the old fashioned hand-washed way, with invisible water... I know, the best Mamas would've let their kids loose with real water, but I'm too much of a neat freak for that!)

 

And then, once they were washed, the clothes were all hung out on the line to dry! As I said... we are making the most of the glimpses of spring sunshine!

 

Of course, little sister was keen to help out too, although she was very clear that her own "Tilly" did not want her clothes washed. She was more than happy to help Ava out with her babies though.

Then, like any productive housewife, she stood back to admire her handiwork...

I thought that was the end of it as I promptly packed the girls off to their nap time/quiet time, and was surprised when my eager big girl appeared an hour later ready to head straight back out to the garden.

After all, you can't leave your clothes hanging on the line all day!

The clothes were taken in, ironed, and folded and laid to one side, ready for babies to be re-dressed!

Note our makeshift iron... sometimes Mama's desire for creative perfection is usurped by a need for speed. No pretty little iron for this girl... a butter lid, a yoghurt pot and a little sellotape was enough for my little lady. You don't have to be creative if your little one has a good imagination!

As she busied away all afternoon, it struck me that my little lady means it when she tells me "when I grow up I just want to be a Mama"... that may not always be the case, but while it is, I'm proud of this little girl and her joy in something I find so menial. I work so hard to teach my girls to delight in the ordinary.

Yesterday I realised she was teaching me.