Good Friday, Messy Friday!

Emma & Nathan adore their Sunday School teacher at Church, Mrs. Jenny. They love going to church but there is always extra excitement over getting to see Mrs. Jenny. I thought with Easter coming up what a great way to get the kids in the kitchen to make something special for her. Something they would have fun doing & be proud of. I'm quickly learning that baking fun with children is equivalent to messy fun & slowly learning that it's okay. What a mess they made, but more importantly what a good time they had.

Making Almond Bark:
Step 1: Melt almond bark in microwave & simultaneously set up children at table. Explain to kids we may NOT shake the bottles of sugar crystals with the lids off before an accident arises.

Step 2: Stir melted almond bark. Let children add almonds & each stir. Explain to children why we can not lick the salt off of our hands & then touch the food. Sanitize hands.

Step 3: Ask children about the meaning of Easter. Lots of "Easter Carol" by Veggie Tales has been watched recently. Apparently much to the kids confusion because the answer was "eggs." (Despite the fact that we've been talking about the meaning of Easter for a while.) Begin talking about the meaning of Easter. Remind children why we can't lick our hands & then touch the food. Sanitize hands.

Step 4: Pour almond bark & nuts onto waxed paper & let cool.

Step 5: Break into pieces & enjoy. Sanitize hands.

Yummy!

Bake cookies:

I'm so thankful for the ingeniousness of those at Pillsbury. I used to think the precut cookies with the holiday decorations were the easy way out. Then I began baking with my two small children. We've done the "proper" sugar cookies, cookie cutters & sprinkles & my kitchen has never been the same since! So thank you Pillsbury for the adorable bunny & chick Easter cookies Mrs. Jenny will get to enjoy this year. Allow children to put cookies on stonewear & bake. Sanitize hands. Continue to talk about the meaning of Easter (and why we need to stop putting our hands in our mouth).

Now onto the pretzels dipped in almond bark.

Step 1: Sanitize hands. Let each child pick sprinkles & sugar crystals, thankfully without a fight. Emma chooses yellow stars & pink sugar. Nathan chooses green flowers & green sugar.

Step 2: Dip pretzels in almond bark, allow child to add sprinkles & sugar crystals of their choice.

Step 3: Explain to Nathan why he can't dump out tons of sugar crystals on his plate or why it's not sanitary to touch their mouths when working with food. Sanitize hands.

Step 4: Eat majority of sprinkles while mom is working with the other child. Sanitize hands.

Step 5 - 120: Repeat steps 3 & 4.

Step 121: Allow pretzels to harden. Finish eating sprinkles & move on to pretzels (thankfully not the finished ones!)

Step 122: Dump out sprinkles while mom makes the foolish mistake of going into another room to ask dad a question.

Clean children up & send them outside to run off their sugar high. Clean sprinkles off of every inch the breakfast nook. Package goodies in nifty Easter bag.

Smile & thank God that I've been blessed with such an amazing family.

Now Emma will tell you proudly that Easter is about Jesus. He died for us. The King was mean to him & spanked him (the only way I knew to explain a beating to such small children). How Jesus has owies & she would like to share her bandaids with him.