Coloring Eggs and Resurrection Cookies

It was such a nice day out that we did our eggs outside

Our Easter is all kinds of different this year.  It's our first Easter here in Vegas which means a new church, no family with us or family dinner and egg hunt, we actually have warm weather and daddy has to work.  BOO!  But as usual we make due and try to make new traditions. 
We decorated our Easter eggs together the other afternoon and had fun dipping our eggs and then covering them with stickers and sparkles.

Can you guess who's was who's?

After we did our eggs we ate pizza for dinner, took a walk around base together, let the kids play on at the park and then we made Resurrection Cookies.  It was such a great day (minus the part when our older 2 got in huge trouble for lying) of being together and celebrating Easter as a family.  Ending the day with the true meaning of Easter and teaching our kids through actions was really cool.  I found the Resurrection Cookie recipe/story in a cookbook I recently got from a dear friend and mentor.  It was a cookbook that came from our old church in Albuquerque.  I think we might be making this a yearly tradition though.  One that they will understand more and more as they get older.  What traditions do you do?

Easter Story Cookies (Resurrection Cookies)

Ingredients:

Beating the nuts

1 cup whole pecans

1 tsp vinegar

3 egg whites

1 pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

1 zip-lock bag

1 wooden spoon or rolling pin

strips of tape (2 or so per child)

Bible

Directions:

Smelling the vinegar

-Preheat oven to 300 before starting.

-Place pecans in baggie and let the children beat them with a wooden spoon to break into pieces. Jesus was beaten after being arrested. Read John 19:1-3

-Let the children smell the vinegar as you place it in a mixing bowl.  Jesus was given vinegar on the cross when He was thirsty.  Read John 19:28-30

-Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life, Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11

-Sprinkle a little salt in each child's hands. Let them taste it, then brush the rest in the bowl. Salty tears were shed by Jesus' followers. Read Luke 23:27

-Add sugar. The sweetest part of the story is that Jesus loves us enough to die for our sins. He wants us to know Him. Read Psalm 34:8 and John3:16

Sealing the "tomb"

-Beat the mixer on high speed for 12-15 minutes or until stiff peaks form and the color is pure white like God sees us when our sins are cleansed by Jesus. Read Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

-Fold in the broken nuts, drop by teaspoons on wax paper lined cookie sheets. These are like the rocky tomb where Jesus was laid. Read Matthew 27:57-60.

-Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Have each child seal the oven door with a piece of tape. Read Matthew 27:65-66

-God to bed. It's sad to leave the cookies in there overnight, Jesus' followers were in despair when He was sealed in the tomb. Read John 16:20,22



He is Risen!!!

-In the morning, open the oven door and give everyone a cookie. Take a bite. The cookies are hollow! The tomb is empty. He is Risen!! Read Matthew 28:1-9