We had an especially exciting week celebrating letter Ee. Exceptional even! Everyone loved the story of Granny E being old and deaf enough to always ask, “Eh? What’s ya sayin’, sonny! Eh? Speak up, would ya, honey! Eh?” Ask your child about Granny E and see what report you get. Fun! We found lots of Ee words, ie: eggs, elephants, exercise, Embree, and everything!
Monday, we decorated our Easter bunny bags and we dyed eggs. The bunny bags had plastic spoons for eyes and teeth, so they looked a little strange until the children added cheeks, ears, whiskers and a nose. Upon entering and seeing them all on the tables, Tallin said, “Those are really creepy bunnies!” Ha! I hadn’t thought of that, but he was right!
Then we set out glasses with colored water in each. The children did a great job of writing their name with a wax crayon on the white eggs and even drawing a decoration on them before dying them. As they carefully lowered their egg down into the colored water, it was fun to see the markings come into view, “Oooh! That’s like magic!” We sang our song about a nest several times while waiting for our eggs to dye. Then, they scooped their eggs up to see the bright colors surface after singing. They squealed with delight! “Mine is so bright!” “Look at mine!”
Then, we carefully placed our beautifully colored eggs in trays with great hopes that the Easter Bunny would come to hide them for our hunt Thursday.
Wednesday, we ripped small pieces of paper up to create a mosaic Easter egg. I instructed them to try to rip them nice and small. Tolson was very serious, as he tried his best to keep all his pieces the same size, saying, “You know, it’s so hard to rip them in the same age!” Darling! Their pictures all turned out so beautiful, a wonderful masterpiece for your Easter wall! I loved them and I was so proud of the children’s efforts. Ripping and gluing and ripping and gluing! Ahhh!
True confessions: Before instructing the children on their pictures, I wanted to crack and peel a real Easter egg to show them how the shell would look all cracked into pieces as their pictures would soon depict. I told them how my family liked to properly crack their eggs on one another’s heads in order to eat an Easter egg the “right” way, so I took one of the extra colored eggs and proceeded to crack it on my head. The trouble was, that silly egg was completely raw and broke all over my hair into a slimey wet mess! CRACK! You can’t imagine my surprise! I screamed, “Ahhh!” The children thought it was great fun and Miss Julie could hardly stop laughing! Too funny! Some of you may have noticed my nice-matted hair, while loading in the kids that day. Eggcellent! It turned out that one of my pans of eggs was timed wrong, leaving the whole batch raw. I was concerned about the spoilage, so I boiled another batch and secretly re-drew and dyed a few dozen of them, by starting anew! Miss Julie suggested I spin them and I soon discovered how to tell the difference between a raw and boiled egg by simply spinning each one. That was a first! Ha! Mrs. Julie is so smart!
Thursday, the children were bubbling over with anticipation of the Easter Bunny and the big hunt. Ammon said, “I hope he brings me 14 jellies!” But, to the children’s disappointment, I announced, pointing at those beautifully colored eggs, that the Easter Bunny had not come to hide our eggs, making it impossible to have an Easter egg hunt. NOOOO! Devastation! But Niki was ever optimistic, “Maybe he will still come while we are here!” A little later, my husband busted through the door, shouting, “You gotta see this! I think I saw the Easter Bunny hiding eggs right in the backyard!” What??? The room exploded with squealing children. They ran for the door and literally poured out to catch a glimpse of that bunny. “Where did he go?” “Woah! I found an egg!” “He must have jumped the wall!” “Look! Another egg!”
There were lots of newly hidden eggs filled with bunnies and candy, so we ran back inside, grabbed our bags and began our big hunt! Miss Julie made the same announcement about the Easter Bunny in the afternoon class and the whole scenario played out again. We had so much fun! When everyone had found their quota, they all marched in, single file, with completely satisfied grins across their faces. Tanner said, “That was awesome!” Niki added, “I loved that!” And Mason D exclaimed, “That was the best day ever!”
We managed to squeeze a few reading games in. The Everybody Team beat the Elephants, 11-10 and the Eggs beat the Envelopes, 8-5. Don’t you love the names they chose? Cute!
Mrs. Julie added our real Easter eggs to their egg totals, filling their bags to the brim. Sam asked, “Do we get to take them home?” Oh, yes! The children were ecstatic!
We had time to talk about the real meaning of Easter as the children offered their ideas. Several of them had attended the Easter Pageant on the temple grounds this week and had a lot to contribute. “Jesus was in a tomb!” “He came alive!” That gave me an opportunity to explain why we have eggs at Easter time and tell about the egg’s symbolism of a dark tomb and springing forth life. We had a great week.
If you are not familiar with the Easter Pageant, tonight is the last night to watch it this year. It is free and begins at dusk in the center of Mesa. If you go early, you may be lucky enough to get a seat, or take a blanket to sit anywhere else throughout the front lawn on Main Street. It is a wonderful depiction of the last days of our Savior, Jesus Christ’s life and one you don’t want to miss. I was amazed at how much these little ones were affected and how much they recalled and related. The actors, the music, and the Spirit of that production are unrivaled!
May I boldly take this time to declare my love for Jesus Christ, the Savior of us all! His infinite power and glory are amazing! How grateful I am for Him, for His atonement and matchless love, and His incredible hand and direction in each of our personal lives! I can’t imagine my life without Him! And I can’t even begin to tell all the times and ways His life and teachings have influenced me for good. My hopes for you and your family this weekend are that all might feel His love and power, for He lives and dearly loves each one of us! Have a Happy Easter! We love you and your precious children!
