How to Fire the Easter Bunny

I'm really struggling lately with how I want our family to celebrate Easter. I've never had a problem inviting the Easter Bunny and the candy and the eggs and the baskets and all the fun into our celebration, but this year I'm feeling uneasy.

I just don't want to lose Jesus amidst the jellybeans.

The thing is, Easter is huge. HUGE. And yet it seems to take a backseat to Christmas. I love Christmas, but Easter holds so much weight in my faith. Jesus was born. Jesus died. And then Jesus rose again.

He rose again!

Craft stores start marketing their Christmas wares in June or July. Retailers start throwing Christmas at us in September. By the time Easter is on the shelves (occupying a fraction of the space that Christmas requires), it's only a few weeks away. We listen to Christmas carols at the hint of the first snowflake, but you'd be hard-pressed to name five Easter songs.

It just seems that if Christmas gets such a build-up, doesn't Easter deserve at least that much?

I'm not out to change an entire culture of tradition, but I can change it in my family. I've been so inspired by my friend Janna, who feels passionately about making Easter meaningful.  I strongly encourage you to visit her blog to get a bunch of great, practical ideas about how to make Jesus the focus and priority in these days and weeks before Easter Sunday.  She has Easter crafts, recipes, and activities, and she even has a playlist of Easter carols to put on your iPod to get your mind focused on the Lord.

We built our Hill of Calvary on Sunday and are waiting for our sprouts to come up!  Since then we've gotten to talk about the hill, the crosses and the empty tomb.

And even though I know my girls know what Easter is all about, I cringed when Addie said, "What I especially love about Easter is THE CANDY!!!!"  (I'm sure those of you who know Addie can hear - and see - her saying this, with her big blue eyes popping out of her head.)

So, back to the Easter Bunny.

The Easter Bunny is fun.  It's springy and fun and seems innocent.  My problem with the Easter Bunny is when he becomes more anticipated than the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

So here are a couple of the thoughts rolling around in my head:

1.  The Easter Bunny won't come on Easter Sunday.  With Gary being a pastor, he's not around on Sunday morning.  It's kind of a drag to do the whole Easter bunny thing alone.  For years now, I've rallied the troops and made sure they come downstairs all together to see what the Easter Bunny left them... and I always miss  having Gary there to watch the fun with me.

My friend Mer has her kids find their baskets on Friday night.  I think that's brilliant!  Then they get to have the fun of the Easter Bunny and baskets, but save Sunday for focusing on Jesus.  I love it.  Read her post about it - Saturday is saved for all-you-can-eat candy consumption.  Which leaves Saturday night for... well, you'd better go read that post.

2.  I'm done with junk in the Easter baskets.  I remember one year, I was very ill-prepared for Easter morning and ran to a toy store the night before.  I am embarrassed when I remember the load of junk I came home with.  Yo-yos with a buck-toothed bunny on them, erasers in the shape of a chick, an egg-shaped bouncy ball... you know what I mean.  I'm fairly confident that the girls handled each item once when sifting through the basket and then they were relegated to the bottom of the toy box.  I read this blog the other day about taking back the Easter basket and could totally relate.

So IF the Easter Bunny leaves baskets for my kids (I'm still debating), they'll be good.  They'll have candy... and maybe not much else.  When I was younger, we always received a stuffed bunny.  It's so hard to break from this tradition, but honestly, those bunnies were hardly played with, and my girls don't play with theirs either.  This year I'm considering a Easter book for each kid plus a little something they've had their eye on (Addie saw a necklace she wants, Brody a dinosaur...), and of course candy.  Sweet, simple, and keeps Jesus in the spotlight.

My kids still believe in Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Toothfairy (naturally, they're only 7, 5, 2 and 8 months old!), so if I canned the Easter Bunny, they'd be on to me and figure out those other mysteries in no time.  And I don't believe there's any harm in letting the Easter Bunny visit as long as Jesus remains the focus.  And I think that can be done.

So contrary to the title of this post, I don't want to fire the Easter Bunny.  (And you should know that the original title was "I Killed the Easter Bunny" because I was ready to do away with him altogether.)


I'm just demoting the Easter Bunny.

And Jesus is getting a raise.  (Ba-dum-bum!)  But seriously, I want my children to understand without a doubt that Easter is about Jesus.  The bunny, the eggs, the candy... it's all a buildup to the greatest celebration of all on a Sunday morning filled with hope and new life.

Will the Easter Bunny visit your home?

Chop chop!

The girls have been growing their hair out for a while now, with the hopes of donating it.

Last week they couldn't take it another second and begged me to take them to get their hair cut. I love playing with their hair - braids, ponytails, messy buns, french braids, sponge curlers, bows, bows, BOWS! But I reluctantly took them to get the big CHOP.

A certain little blondie chickened out, but still got a couple of inches off.

(I was relieved.)

Emma got THE CHOP.

She barely had enough to donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which requires 8". (Locks of Love requires 10".) That's all she needed to hear! She was ready.

The hairdresser asked Emma, "Are you ready?"

And I jumped in and said, "No! I'm not!"

But... snip, snip!

I love it. She looks adorable. It took a few days for me to get used to it, but I love how fresh and well-kept it looks. And I'm proud of her for wanting to help others in this way.

Thankfully it's still long enough to play with.

I've already done a couple of little braids and a ponytail and a headband...

so our HUNDREDS of hair accessories aren't going to waste!

(You think I'm kidding...)

I just *love* her cute little profile!

Now she says she doesn't want to cut it for a long time because she wants to donate it again. I won't try to convince her otherwise this time. I love it!

wiww {6: a secret tip}

I'm slipping back into another "What I Wore Wednesday" just to let you in on a little secret.

I was getting dressed for church on Sunday and caught myself doing something I do frequently, and I wondered if anyone else is as lame as me uses this snazzy little trick.

Sometimes, if I'm layering a tank top under something, I find it's too low. But the back of the tank top is just right! (Are you cringing yet?) So, you guessed it, I wear it backwards. Oh yeah, that's right. I wear it backwards... on purpose.

But on Sunday, the tank top I wanted to wear under my dress had these wooden beads on the front, so I turned it around and wore it backwards!

On this particular tank top, the front is actually higher than the back... but, uh, yay for scarves. Right?

I threw a scarf on and voila! No beads, no tag, nothing. No one was on to me.

Can't even tell, can ya? Classy.

You don't find these tips in Vogue, people. Consider yourself lucky.

Wanna play along? Link up with Lindsay at The Pleated Poppy for the "What I Wore Wednesday" extravaganza!

My MIL

When it comes to mothers-in-law, I scored.

I've heard horror stories. I don't even need to go into it, because we've all heard them. I've heard the moniker "monster-in-law" and I've also heard "mother-in-love." Mine is much more like the latter.

I mentioned to a friend last week that I'd be picking my mother-in-law (MIL from here on out!) up from the airport, and she laughed, patted me on the back and said, "Oh dear. Well, if you need an escape, come on over! Ha ha ha ha!"

But see, it's not like that for me.

She came to visit from California over the weekend, and left today leaving Addie in tears (like every other time). It's hard to let Grammy go home when she sets up scavenger hunts, takes the girls to the school carnival, reads to them, takes them to the park, plays games with them, plays tea party, jumps on the trampoline, goes on walks, lets the kids play with her high-tech cell phone, rocks the baby to sleep, has a sleep-over in the kids' rooms, and climbs through the messy van to sit in the backseat with them, right in the middle of the chaos.

I look forward to my MIL coming into town. She's fun. She has lots of energy. She's helpful. She really loves my kids. She's totally selfless and just cares so much for other people.

And hello! She catches me up on my laundry and dishes. I've learned to look past misplaced utensils and things folded differently than what I'm used to. I've learned to accept the help rather than resist it. I've figured out that things don't need to be perfect when she visits: she's not judging me for the fine layer of dust on my mini-blinds or the unsorted papers on my desk. She loves us and just wants to spend time with us.

We have great conversations, lots of laughs and have a created a bunch of great memories together in the last thirteen (!) years. She prays for me regularly and she loves the Lord deeply. She's eager to share that love with everyone she knows, especially her grandkids. What's not to love about that?

And best of all, we both love this guy.

Thanks for being a great mother-in-law, Margaret. I'm blessed to be part of your family, and proud to be your daughter-in-law!

The Face Place

Years ago, my parents suggested visiting Mt. Rushmore for family vacation. But my snotty high-school self, along with my teen and tween-age sisters balked at the idea.

"The Face Place?" we mocked. "Bor-ing!"

I don't know how growing up with this mug stashed in our cupboard didn't get us more excited about visiting the esteemed monument...

..butt in the end we never visited Washington and his pals.

But thanks to educational shows like Phineas and Ferb, our kids were very, very eager to visit The Face Place!

And so we piled in the car for a quick jaunt up to the great state of South Dakota for Spring Break last week.

Emma was Map Girl, and tracked every mile of our drive. When Gary announced that we were at a junction in Wyoming, she quizzically said, "It doesn't look junky!"

We arrived at our hotel right at bedtime, so the kids didn't have too long to bounce off the walls before we put them to bed. I won't tell you how many tries it took to keep them all quiet and in their beds, but think double-digits.

The next morning, Addie came bounding into our room (we had a suite) and jumped on our bed, squealing, "Let's go see... THE MAYORS!!!!" We're still laughing about that. Addie does have a soft spot for mayors, you know.

So off to see the mayors we went. Once I saw how impressive Mt. Rushmore is, I regretted mocking my parents' attempts at taking us there when I was younger.

I even texted my mom to say it wasn't so bad.

The kids loved exploring the paths and giving us their best "president faces." Addie informed us that presidents don't smile.

On our way back to the car, Gary and I were lost in each other's eyes, gazing longingly at one another busy trying to keep track of the littles when we realized that Emma and Addie were goofing around and about to run into some mountain goats. Literally! They were just a few feet away from the wild beasts.

It turns out the wild beasts let us pose for a picture without batting an eye.

Later in the car, trying to take advantage of a nature lesson, I said, "Why do you think the mountain goats were white?"

Emma said, "From all the dust."

Addie said, "Because of the snow."

I said, "Addie's probably closer. They're camouflaged in the snow, right? That way predators like bears and hunters can't get them."

With horror, Emma replied, "They're hunting the presidents?!"

She thought I was asking why the presidents were white. Not the mountain goats. I die laughing when I recall this conversation.

We continued down the road to take a peek at the Crazy Horse Monument. WHOA. I didn't know it was so enormous.

We got to see/hear/feel a blast while we were there. So cool! 1,400 tons of rock were blown away right in front of our eyes.

And for a mere $1, the kids each got to take home their very own rock from Crazy Horse. Brody was clearly impressed by his rock. He held onto it even while he dozed.

Finally, we headed back to our hotel, which was connected to a great indoor water park. Despite seeing a bit of good ol' American history towering above them earlier in the day, I think it was the 3-story water slides that really impressed my kids. They loved it.

It was a quick, whirlwind kind of trip, but totally fun. So what do you say, Mom and Dad? Road trip to Mt. Rushmore?

And if you still have that sweet mug, I call dibs!

I'm doing this!

I stumbled across this super fun opportunity for my kiddos yesterday, and we're doing it!

And I think you should too!

I'm just going to leave links where you can learn more about it, but the gist is that your kids (age 4 and up) create miniature works of art on a 2.5" x 3.5" piece of watercolor paper, bristol board or illustration board. They're called Artist Trading Cards (ATC). Then they mail them to other kids who sign up to participate, and in turn they will receive 5 other ATCs.

SO FUN! It seems a little like those sticker or recipe chain letters, but a bit different. My girls will love making something to send to someone, knowing they'll get some artwork in return. I can't wait to see my kids' masterpieces and see what comes in the mail for them. Plus it'll be fun to squeeze in a little geography lesson when they each get their ATCs in the mail. The organizers say there are international participants!

Info about Kids' ATC Swap 2011

Registration for Kids' ATC Swap 2011 (hurry! you must register by 4/4/11)

After following link to link to link (of course now I can't find it anywhere to confirm), I think I read somewhere that there were over 500 participants last year! Or maybe it was 500 ATCs. Or maybe it was 900. I really don't remember what I read - numbers aren't my thing. Art? Yes. Numbers? No.

Suffice it to say, there were lots of kids playing along. Won't you join the fun?

Let me know if you sign up!

Imitate

I hear it from my girls several times a day:

"I'm her!"

"I'm that girl!"

"You be that one - I'm the other one."

When they're watching a TV show or movie, or when I'm reading them a book, they have to claim which girl or character they are.

For example, we were watching Mary Poppins the other night when the animated carousel scene came on. "I'm the purple horse!"

Or when we were reading a book about a clown family, "I'm the girl with the red hair!"

Or when we're reading Little House on the Prairie together, "I'm Laura!" (and then a fight ensues, because doesn't EVERYONE want to be Laura?)

Or watching a new show on TV, "I'm that one! I'm Izzy!"

After they've claimed "who" they are, nothing happens. It's not that they're setting the scene for later when they reenact everything they've just watched or heard. Staking their claim on which character they are actually has no implication later on.

Sometimes I wonder what the point is. And sometimes I'm annoyed by it. (Until I remember that I did the same thing when I was little.) I know it's just a game.

And I wonder, are they basing their affections on how the character looks? How they act? What they stand for?

So then I began to think: if they're going to be thinking these things, do I want them watching this show/reading this book? I mean, would I really want them to "be" anyone on this show? Is this just a silly game and they're just pretending, or does it go deeper than that?

And then I think...

Do they look at me and think, "I'm her! I'm THAT girl!"?

I mean, I'm not wearing the sparkly pink gown, and nor do I have the flowing locks which might actually be the object of their affection. I'm not the funniest or the most entertaining or the one with the longest eyelashes. I'm not sure why they'd pick "me" to be.

But it's just a good reminder that when the show is turned off, when the storybooks are closed and when it's just me and them, I'm the focus of their attention. Am I sending them the right messages? I want them to think, "I'll be her!" And not because I'm all that. But because I'm trying my best to show them how to love Jesus and live for Jesus.

I want them to see Jesus in me and think, "I want to be like THAT."

"And you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ."

1 Cor. 11:1 (NLT)

Lord, help me to love my kids how you love them, so that they would see you in me. Teach me how to be an example to them of living for you and loving others. Show them that no one measures up to you, no matter their fame, their beauty, their possessions or their character. Help me to live in a way that would intrigue them, so that they would want to know you more, and so that they would point at me and say, 'I want to love Jesus like THAT.'