Easter FHE Ideas

I can't believe Easter is right around the corner! I LOVE Easter & spring time. I'm a bit bummed that spring weather hasn't quite made it's way to Philly yet... I'm hoping that will be SOON. There's just something about hearing the birds singing in the tress, fresh new leaves in the trees, people outside gardening & mowing their lawns, warm rain, brand new tulips that have just bloomed, etc... I could go on forever. I love spring time. Also, fun fact: my favorite weather is 70 degree weather. :)

 I hope to instill in my children that Christmas & Easter are not just about the festivities, easter bunny, and santa claus... while those are all fun, I want them to gain a firm testimony that these holidays are all about the Savior, Jesus Christ. I want them to know that He LIVES. That He loves them with a perfect love. That because of Him, we too will too will live again and will be together forever after this life.

 In the LDS faith, each Monday families set aside time in the evening to hold what we call: Family Home Evening ( aka FHE.) It is a wonderful time to spend quality time as a family without any distractions ( well, not all FHE's go perfectly planned with little ones, but that's okay!) The most important thing is that you're together.

Usually FHE goes as follows: Sing a primary song, say a prayer, share a scripture or spiritual thought, have a short lesson related to the gospel of Jesus Christ, have an activity, say a prayer, enjoy yummy treats. FHE's tend to last anywhere between 15 minutes ( depending on how young your little ones are) to an hour or hour and a half. Like I said, the most important thing is that it becomes a habit & the children look forward to FHE each Monday night to spend all together. It's such an important time to bond, laugh, chat, and grow together as a family.

Here are some idea's I've found that you can do during FHE for Easter!

 Since Easter is just around the corner, I'm going to have our little family watch this beautiful clip this coming Monday Night. It's strait from the New Testament leading up to the Savior's crucifixion & then his resurrection. It's a great way to get everyone thinking about Easter and what a blessing it is that HE IS RISEN.

 


Nick and I had such an amazing opportunity to attend this particular General Conference in Salt Lake the day that Elder Holland gave this powerful talk about Easter. He gave it a few years ago, and I will always remember the feelings I felt that day ( and still feel) when I heard his talk. He LIVES!

 

I'm sure a lot of us have seen family nights for easter where you put little scripture verses in plastic eggs and teach the lesson that way. Super fun and creative way to teach especially if you have little children. I did this with Nick a few years ago and it was fun.

You can find that lesson HERE.

My Easter Mantle, everyone. 

if you're looking for a quick Easter garland to make for your mantle... I suggest this! I literally made it in 10 minutes with scraps I had around the house. Click HERE for an easy tutorial!

and speaking of General Conference... it's coming in just a few weeks! ( April 6 & 7... Time: 10 am - Noon & 2 pm- 4pm Mountain Time) You can listen to it HERE. Come, listen, and be uplifted!

We are so blessed to have a living Prophet on the earth who leads and guides us under the direction of our Heavenly Father. I am SO excited to hear our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson & the general authorities speak to us!

DIY Valentines

My sweet daughter got invited to her first Valentine Party Swap last week. 

Even though she's only 15 months old, she had a lot of fun socializing with the other babies & well, I had fun making her bag and valentines! 

Valentine Bag: 

Her valentine bag was kind of a last minute thing. Luckily, I keep lots of paper and glitter handy just for occasions like this. (1) I grabbed an 'ol brown bag out of our closet ( because that's where I keep our birthday bags.) (2) I then grabbed some pink and sheer ribbon to tie on one side of the handle of the bag. (3) I then cut out a large heart from an old book. ( I got this book at a thrift store for the purpose of ripping out the pages to use for my crafts. Is that bad of me? I love books! I promise. This book seemed dull and boring anyway, so I'm putting it to good use!) (4) Then I cut out a smaller heart out of glitter paper. I then cut out a little rose ( that's also off of a ribbon my sister gave me... I love it.) (5) Then I cut out a little flag and wrote her name. Everything you see below is taped on... just because I needed to use that brown bag for a valentine gift I gave my husband. :) This bag literally took me 5 minutes. Awesome. 

Valentines: 

Most of the kiddos at this party were 3 years old and under, so I wanted to be creative with these little valentines. I decided to go to the dollar store and pick up some play dough. Each package came with 4 containers of play dough. I needed 20, so I only spent $5. 

I got on pinterest and found some cute "labels" to put on the top of my play dough containers. You can find these freebie labels HERE. 

I then got plain white card stock ( or printer paper) and cut out squares for the front of the containers. I covered up the ugly label from the dollar store and drew hearts with Elmer's glue & covered them with gold glitter. 

I wrote: " You make me feel squishy inside" love, Madeline. 

Voila! 

ps- I'm telling you: glitter is a girls best friend. Go getchya some if you don't have any. ( My favorite glitter is the Martha Stewart brand found at Michaels Craft.) 

also, click HERE if you want to see another VALENTINE I made for some girls I visit teach. 

I think "skewer" so lovely

I wanted to give the girls I visit teach a little valentine, so I decided to make skewers for each of them. I also made this little tag on photoshop and printed it out, tied it to the skewer with a ribbon, and gave it to them. I got the delicious gummies from one of those candy shops in the mall. 

" I think "skewer" so lovely" ... clever, eh? :) 

sorry this is a bit blurry!