Easter: The (sweetest) oldest and most important Christian holiday....

Here are a few fun/random facts about Easter.

~The term Easter comes from Eastre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes the hare and the egg.

~Did you know that only 12 of the 50 states recognizes Good Friday as a holiday?

~In 2011 in Italy, the tallest chocolate Easter egg to date was created.  It weighed in a 7200 kg (15873.28 pounds).  Taller than a giraffe and heavier that an elephant.

~Pysanka which is the art of painting eggs originated in Ukraine.

~Easter eggs are considered to be a symbol of rebirth in many cultures.

~Where do you start when eating your chocolate Easter bunny?  In America, 76% stated they start with the ears.  Have you ever wondered why the larger chocolate bunnies are hollow?  Well, if they were not hollow, they would be as hard as a brick which would in turn break your teeth.

~Can you believe that over 700 million Peeps are sold in America every Easter?  In fact, Peeps are the most popular non-chocolate candy sold.  Before 1954, it took over 30 hours to make one batch of Peeps as they were hand-crafted and took hours to dry.  Today, that time is down to six minutes.

~Americans eat over 16 million jelly beans during the Easter holiday.

~Speaking of chocolate bunnies, over 90 million chocolate bunnies are produced in America each Easter, as well as 92 billion chocolate eggs, and Cadbury cranks out 1.5 million creme eggs each Easter.

~The Easter Bunny has apparently been hiding eggs since 1680.  He must be exhausted! 

~The idea of the Easter Bunny is said to date back to Germany during the Middle Ages.

Happy Easter

First Easter in our new apartment!!!!

Happy Easter

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Easter treats

I was not sure how this Easter was going to go considering the circumstances but it actually turned about to be a great day!!  My girls and I hung out all morning eating candy and being lazy.  They had to leave for a few minutes but when they came back, I had a big meal with dessert waiting for them and we ate, laughed, played outside, and had friends over.

Easter is not really about gifts.  It is about being with the family that you love and who love you back.

I was able to pick out a few little gifts for my girls and it turns out that A11 said the gift she received from her sister and  I was the best gift she received.  Since it was such a hit, I just thought I would post it.  It is a new item and I am pretty sure that Kendra's kiddos and Heather's kiddos would like this.  I hope you guys see this blog post.

Anyway, it is a Lego Creator.  This kit is called fierce flyer.  You have a choice of 3 designs to make but as you can see, A11 opted out to make the eagle.

The box and the finished eagle.

This is the finished product.  It did not take A11 very long to put this together.  The instructions were very easy to follow.  She put this together Easter morning.  It actually has movable parts.  She is planning to make a stop motion movie featuring this eagle soon.  

It was a great gift and a great day.

 C13 received a new book that she wanted.  I found a collector's edition. She really likes it.  She treasures books.  Also, they were thoughtful enough to make me a gift.  They were so cute.  They were working and collaborating for hours to put together the perfect "Mommy mix" CD for me.  I am so proud that they even thought of me.  They are my gift and I do not need anything but them.  I have to admit though, that CD rocks!  I have played it through at least 10 times since Sunday.  It is nice to see thoughtful children.

HAPPY EASTER

There is nothing better than sleeping a little late on Easter Sunday (any Sunday morning really) and have your two sleepy girls come in and snuggle up with you.  We are having a dark, rainy morning so it is the perfect situations for snuggling up.  Smokey was feeling a little left out so he piled on top of us too.  His morning breath is not good but we love him anyway.  This is the start of a great day!!!


We went to our church event yesterday where C13 was a guess photographer which she enjoyed.  A11 was her assistant.  We were also invited out to a big dinner.  It was so good!

My girls have to go out for a few hours but when they get back, we are going to have a big home-cooked meal and dessert.  YUM!  We will also talk about what Easter is really all about.  I try to do this every Easter.

Easter bunny

If you still believe in the Easter bunny, stop reading now. My kids have known that the Easter bunny is not real for a few years now. The idea of a giant bunny sneaking around hiding eggs while they slept was a little creepy for them, they mentioned this several times. They have participated in Easter egg hunts every year but this year, they both agreed, they do not want to do any Easter egg hunts (period).  Don't misunderstand, they want the candy, just not to do the egg hunt.  We will still go to our church's Easter function like we have been doing for years but this time, they may just help the younger kids.  C13 is also going to be a guest photographer, and she is very excited about that as well.

Kids grow up so fast.  You have to savior every moment.

Dying Easter eggs.

We have been dying eggs for Easter for a few years now.  The kids really like to dye the eggs.  We use the PAAS kits that you can buy almost anywhere.  I did not realize that PAAS has been around since 1880.  So I have just posted some pictures of the egg dying process.

Now that we have dyed all the eggs, it is time to go to grandpa and grandma's house to EAT!!!!

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE EASTER.

Happy Easter to all!

Just wanted to say Happy Easter to all!