April Theme Dinner

It was time for our monthly theme dinner. Since this is April, we did an Easter theme this month. The girls were, once again, so excited. They really get into these dinners.

I got our decorations from Target this time, and I tried to think of a dinner to make that goes with Easter. I am not too much of a cook so this was a challenge for me. I went with chicken, carrots, and corn. I was trying to think "rabbits" but the carrots were as close as I could get.

For dessert, we made resurrection cookies. However, these have to stay in the oven overnight so I bought a tiny Easter cake so we would have something related to Easter for dessert. It was the perfect size for the four of us and it was very yummy!

The last part of our theme dinner involved making the resurrection cookies. I have to give Mrs. Jerkins, the best preschool teacher in the world, credit for telling me about these cookies on her blog. It is a great and fun way to reinforce the real meaning of Easter to your children. The girls are excited about the bunny coming but you should have seen how excited they got when they were able to recall the death and resurrection of Christ.

To make the cookies, we started off by turning on the oven to 300. Then we put a cup of pecans into a baggie. The girls beat the pecans into tiny pieces. This represents when the soldiers beat Jesus.

Then we added 1 teaspoon of vinegar to a mixing bowl. I had the girls smell the vinegar and explained when Jesus was thirsty of the cross, they gave him vinegar to drink.

Next came the 3 egg whites. We added to the bowl. I explained that eggs represent life, and Jesus gave his life on the cross for us.

After we added the egg whites, I had the girls taste a dash of salt. Then we added a dash of salt to the bowl. The salt stands for the bitterness of our sins.

I explained to the girls that everything in the bowl is kind of yucky. However, the "sweetest" part of the story is that Jesus DID die for us so we could be forgiven of our sins and all the yucky stuff we do. We needed to add something sweet to the mix so we added a cup of sugar.

Then we mixed it with a mixer for 15 minutes. We talked about how the white color of the mixture stands for the purity we now have since we are forgiven of our sins. We are cleansed and made new!

Once we finished mixing it we added the crushed pecans. Then we put teaspoon amounts onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. The mounds represent the rocky tomb where they laid Jesus' body.

Then we put the cookie sheet in the oven and closed the door shut just as the tomb was sealed shut.

The amazing part of these cookies is that you turn the oven off, go to bed, and when you wake up the morning to eat the cookies, they are hollow just as the tomb was empty that first Easter morning!

He is RISEN!!!!!!