Easter eggs and Resurrection buns

As a child I remember coloring easter eggs with my grandma. Sometimes I had cousins there and sometimes it was just Grandma and me. Though they might deny it, my uncles got in on the fun many times. I loved coloring eggs with them! Egg coloring was a big production. We colored dozens and dozens of eggs. We had to have a lot of eggs because the next day, Easter Sunday, there was to be a HUGE egg hunt.
After a large Easter dinner for what seemed like hundreds of Stouts, the hiding began. The older kids and the adults hid eggs while the younger kids stayed inside where they couldn't see the hiding places. The best hunts were when the eggs were hidden in fields of my grandmothers farm. It was acres of colored eggs peeking out of grass mounds and well, other "mounds" of farm-stuff (I think the older kids just like to see who would actually "dig" around for an egg). There was always a prize egg. The prize egg was hidden very well and had money in it. As I recall, I never found the prize egg.
My Stout family still has an Easter Sunday egg hunt. My cousin has already stuffed 500+ eggs. I so wish my kids could be there for all of the fun. But being in ministry, our Easter Sundays are spent with our church family.
So, I made up my mind several years ago that my kids would have great Easter memories and egg hunts. We colored eggs last night. I am sure that my grandmother had an easier time of coloring eggs with just me. The sheer amount of little hands and egg dye on our kitchen table was a little nerve racking. But we managed to color the eggs with lots of "oo"s and "ah"s as each egg came out of the dye.


Today we made resurrection buns. It is a great way to tell the story of Jesus' resurrection with children.
You need cresent rolls, marshmallows, melted butter and cinnamon sugar.
First, I talk about Jesus and how he was killed by people who didn't believe he was the Son of God. We talk about the cross and how sad his followers must have been. Then I introduce the marshmallow as our Jesus. I let each child roll their marshmallow in the butter and then the cinnamon sugar. We talk about the oils and spices they would have used on Jesus' body. Then "Jesus" is wrapped in a blanket (the cresent roll). We make sure the marshmallow is completely tucked into the crecent and sealed. Next we put "Jesus" in the oven (the tomb). We set the timer for 3 days (12 minutes). After a couple of minutes of cooling, we go look for Jesus, just like Mary Magdalene. But when we look into the blankets, Jesus is gone...


The marshmallow completely disolves, leaving an empty shell.
My kids loved seeing the empty shell of a bun. We talked about how Jesus did not stay in the tomb and how he lives in Heaven with God, his father. A great time with my blessings and a time that made me even more thankful to my Savior.

As a side note...Olivia loved this! She was so into every step of the story. She was the first to open the tomb and shouted "He is risen"!!!
Lucas made me open his tomb because it was too sticky for his fingers.
Joshua open his and then cried because he could never eat Jesus' towel and he "weawy missed my mushmell Jesus".

I pray you all have a wonderful Easter filled with family memories and happy times. But more than anything, I hope you will be in church and worshipping the living Savior. This Son of God became man and died a horrible death just for you. He rose again and sits on the right hand of God waiting for you to ask Him into your heart. Make this Easter the most blessed ever, accept Him, worship Him.