Easter Week + Conference

Easter feels like forever ago, but I have to blog it all before it leaves my memory forever. 

In years past we have celebrated Holy Week by talking about what Jesus did each day. This time we did the same but used the guide from The Small Seed. It includes songs, activites for some days and pictures to put on your wall. I really loved doing it each morning with the girls. I feel like once they are a tiny bit older we should start everyday with a daily devotional of some sort. I also felt that it made Easter a little more exciting like Christmas, with us doing something each day. 

The girls favorite day, that Esther remembered from past years, is Palm Sunday. She loved making the palm leaves and reinacting it.  

Since Easter Sunday was General Conference I tried to get them to wear Easter dresses this day. They didn't exactly cooperate (Adele) but still looked cute none the less. I still think next year I will have to splurge and get them matching dresses. 

Mostly these pictures are included because Adele's braids are so dang cute, but here is also an image of how we did our little lessons each day. (Also Esther was being stubborn and wouldn't look). 

On Thursday we did a "Jerusalem Dinner" to commememorate the Last Supper. I had fun preparing it and the girls surprisingly liked almost all of it. It is a fun tradition that we plan to continue every Easter. We had fish, olives, dates, flat bread, hummus, feta, cucumbers, grapes, tomatoes and grape juice. There are tons of different ideas on what to have on the internet though. I just choose things I liked and were easy to make. 

On Saturday our Easter week plans got a little wrecked by our two extra girls joining us. They came to visit and get to know us right as the morning session of conference was starting, then their foster family dropped them off that evening. I spent the break in between sessions frantically scurrying to Walmart to get them Easter baskets and things to fill it with so they wouldn't feel left out. (Word to the wise, never go to Wal-Mart the day before a holiday. 🙈). It all worked out though and they loved their baskets. I also did stay up way too late making cinnamon rolls so we could have that conference tradition too. They got eaten before I could get any pictures though.

Since everything was so crazy with them coming we didn't really get to listen to any of General Conference. I let myself feel bad about that for a few days, feeling sad that I missed out on what I heard was an amazing conference. Also that for our girls it passed by without them even realizing it, when typically we try to make it a big deal so they know how important it is. But then I realized that maybe them learning to share their house and parents with two other kids taught them important lessons too. I've been trying to read through all the talks and maybe missing them the first time helps me to study them more carefully than I would have otherwise.