We watched a few Easter videos from lds.org to finish off the night, and Gary shared some neat insights on the atonement with us. It turned out to be a very nice Easter week.

After stake conference on Palm Sunday, Amy and Tyler wanted to act out the Triumphal Entry. Natalie and Adam willingly complied, and Andrew grumpily complied. I know it is preferable to not have anyone dress up like Christ, but we’ve usually had a baby to fill that position (and I’ve never felt bad about that). Sadly, Mark was asleep for it this year. Tyler loved being the donkey! We had him walk over the clothes the others put in his path.

We had a very simple Jerusalem Dinner this year on our wooden dishes: grape juice, olives and vegetable curry (a recipe my British trainer taught me). It has been a long time since I’ve made this, and I figured that for my kids, it is best to serve this one in low light. (wink)

(Sister Loftus was known as a “tree hugger” in our mission. She was an environmentalist, animal rights activist and a vegetarian.)

Here I am at the entrance to our apartment (holding a loaf of bread we just bought). Every time I make this recipe, it brings me back to that apartment.

I was so proud of all the kids for trying it and eating quite a bit! I think the novelty of a “Jerusalem dinner” and using tortillas in place of utensils helped with the effort.

Mark loved the curry and pounded it the following days.

Friday, the boys loved the Easter egg hunt put on by our neighborhood playgroup. They played on the playground for a while before it and I enjoyed chatting with other moms in the gorgeous weather.

There weren’t a ton of eggs for our large group of kids, so the moms hid them in 4 different areas, and the kids got to find one egg each time. The wooded areas at the park were the coolest!

Mark made it almost impossible for Jon to play the guitar. Because Mark loved it so much, he attacked the strings and pounded on the guitar. I thought it was pretty cute.

Mark loves his little car and playing outside!

Adam and Andrew both started soccer again. They needed bigger soccer shoes, so Jon took them shopping and Andrew surprised me with his yellow cleats! It makes him easy to spot on the field!

When we returned from bike shopping, we found our amazing babysitter reading books to her brothers.

Natalie is quite artistic!

Mark is the perfect age for our lid toy. It was so fun to introduce him to it.

Since hearing Jon recount his story of breaking up rocks with a hammer to sell to kids at school and to neighbors when he was little, I found the boys harvesting their own cool rocks in our back yard. (I told them they couldn’t break them on the sidewalk, so they moved to the grass.) Jon has a lot of little fans!

Some items didn’t have scriptures for them. I usually give the kids new toothbrushes in their baskets, and couldn’t resist these light-up light saber brushes!!! I bought some Christian action figures for Mark, which he loved.

If I did this idea again, I would just print one list of the bolded items and their corresponding items rather than taping a scripture to each item.

Can you tell who didn’t want to be in this picture? This is real life.

It was a challenge to do something different for Easter baskets this year. I liked this idea of having scriptures for each item. As I expected, the girls really appreciated it and thought it was awesome, while the boys were purely excited about the items (so I could’ve left off the scriptures from theirs).

For the eggs the kids hunted, I inserted “eggs-changeable” coupons and one jellybean or chocolate in each egg.

I was excited to find these chocolate lambs at Target (for the Lamb of God)!

While shopping online for scripture pins, I found these CTR shirts, which all the kids love. I love how bright the boys’ shirts are.

I couldn’t make up my mind about which fish to give them: Goldfish or Swedish Fish, so I gave them both. I also couldn’t resist the Phineas and Ferb Band-aids (the scripture is about the Master Healer).

In the interest of time, we had the egg hunt after church. Jon and Matt Gary (a teacher from his quorum) hid the eggs for the kids. (Matt was waiting for a haircut from Jon, so got to help and watch the kids hunt.) It is so slick that they each have their own color. Jon can then hide them according to their level.

I am always amazed at how creative Jon is in hiding them, and at how long it takes the kids to find them. It’s a good thing they have a set number, because I’m certain we’d be finding them later if they didn’t keep hunting for their 12.

Tyler counting his eggs

I had forgotten about this walker until Jon mentioned it that day, so I pulled it out of the basement storage. Mark loves it!

Gary and M’Jean brought a delicious ham for dinner, and Rosie and David contributed the salad, green bean casserole (Mmmm!), and a rich, chocolate cake. I made mashed potatoes and rolls. The dinner was divine, and the company very enjoyable! Josh and his girlfriend visited us as well.

We brought down the Ballapalooza from the boys’ room so we could keep the little ones happy while keeping them in sight. It was a bit too loud for my liking, but was entertaining for them. William seemed to like playing with his cousins and was sad when Jon removed Tyler from the scene for disobedience.

After the hunt, I finished the Easter lessons with the kids using the objects inside the eggs on my Easter tree.