Easter Treasure Hunt

Instead of hiding lots of eggs filled with candy each year, our family does an Easter treasure hunt. It's basically the same as our Valentine's Day tresure hunt. Ruben and I write clues on slips of paper and put them inside plastic eggs. We hand the first one to one of the kids and inside it has a clue to where the next egg is hidden. They follow all the clues to find where their Easter baskets are hidden (they know the baskets are from us, we don't do the Easter bunny). This year Buzz and Boo each got candy, a book and an amber necklace. Plus Buzz got a Lego Hero Factory guy and Mary got a purse (with new earrings inside). Bean got a book and a toy.

I've resigned myself to the fact that with three young kids, I'm never going to get a perfect shot of all three of them, so this is as close as I got :)



Family Traditions: Valentine's Day

Every year for Valentine's Day we have a treasure hunt for the kids. After breakfast on Valentine's Day one of the kids will find a paper heart somewhere near by (this year it was sitting under Ruben's phone when we asked Buzz to go grab it). Each paper heart has a clue about where to look for the next heart.

This year's treasure hunt was especially fun because it's the first year the Buzz is reading independently, so they didn't need any help from us to figure out the clues.

In the end the treasure is always books and candy. They were SO excited that they received The Doll People trilogy! They love love love these books and if you haven't read them to your kids, I highly recommend them.

We're all about making memories for our kids and the special little ones like these seem to be some of their favorites.

Family Traditions: Christmas

Our family is big on traditions and Christmas is full of fun traditions for us. Throughout the year we save all of our spare change in a jar. At the beginning of December we talk and pray as a family about where the money should go. This year we felt God was leading us to bless a sweet couple from church who are saving to adopt internationally.

Every year we spent Christmas Eve at home as a family (our church does a Christmas Eve Eve service). We bake cookies (although this year Boo suggested we make Jesus a birthday cake) and the kids open their present from Mommy and Daddy, new jammies all washed and ready to wear. We wear our jammies while we watch The Polar Express. After the movie we read Luke 2, leave out milk and cookies for Santa, and the kids head to bed. In the morning we eat cinnamon rolls before opening gifts.

I hope that our Christmas traditions lead to wonderful memories for our children as they grow.