Good Wednesday morning!
Today's post is UBER long, but everything is labeled, so skip what you must and read the rest!
The Gallery pics are an update status on Bev's house (and her neighborhood) after the January 23 tornadoes. They should be moving in a couple of weeks. Only four months after the destruction. Amazing.
RANDOMNESS - The Pioneer Woman is coming! The Pioneer Woman is coming!
And I'm going to meet her! And I'm going to meet her!
Oh... my... goodness! I am so excited (in case you couldn't tell). I'm getting my new Pioneer Woman Cookbook signed this evening. And Mikie is going to take multiple pictures of me with my new best friend. And I will share those tomorrow, along with a riveting story about our ten-second conversation.
Since I know it will only last ten seconds, I have been practicing in a mirror... for two months. (I know. Pathetic.)
Basically, I will say the following:
"Hi. My name is Belinda. I am a fellow blogger (not like you, of course). I love your blog AND your cookbooks AND your cooking show. My favorite recipes are Spicy Pop Pulled Pork, Chocolate Sheet Cake and Eggs in the Hole. I love beagles which are kind of like basset hounds. I have auburn hair. I wear flowy tops. I want to stay at the Lodge on your ranch for a week. I wouldn't be any bother. I promise. I would love to be your traveling companion on one of your book tour destinations. I wouldn't be any bother. I promise."
You have to take a deep breath and say it really, really fast (adding no punctuation) to get everything out in ten seconds... But I've got it down!
I just hope she likes me as much as I like her!
Wednesday Wisdom - I know I've used Rev. Graham's quotes on Wednesday Wisdom before, but there are just SO many good ones, I decided to do it again!
"Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion. It is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ."
"Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, the spines of others are often stiffened."
"God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you.'" (Perfect reminder for this week before Easter!)
"I've read the last page of the Bible. It's all going to turn out all right." (I've used this quote before, but it is one of my favorites.)
OLD TRADITIONS - (First Posted April, 2009)
Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt
This is something for the tween set. There are six kids in our family, so each child is assigned an egg color. If there are 14 clues, then there are only 14 hiding places with six eggs in each place... one egg per child. (When Roxie figures out the clue, she may find a total of six eggs in one hiding place, but she knows to get the yellow egg, etc., etc.) Here is a sample of some of the clues.
It's smaller than Grandmother's house.
It's just a little red.
Last year she hid the eggs real deep!
This year they're on top, she said.
(Six eggs hidden at the shed behind my Mom's house.)
It's a porch just like Grandmother's,
As pretty as can be.
Across the street at Miss Olivia's
Easter eggs you will see.
(I broaden the search to include two or three neighbors' homes as well. With their permission, of course.)
In the yard, you will see many,
But special is one tree.
Aunt Bev taught you all to climb
So high you can see and see.
(Six eggs hidden in the "Climbing Tree.")
A gazebo is something we do not have.
We know one is nearby.
Miss Linda and Mr. Charles have said
Find your eggs and go bye-bye.
(Six more eggs hidden in a neighbor's gazebo.)
You get the idea. The clues do not have to be rhymes. The eggs can be hidden in harder places, also. When I made the clues, I always mixed them up. Each child had the same clues, but each child had them in a different order so they were running everywhere. The first one back to the front porch won a dollar.
Variation #1 - Midnight Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt
This is the same as the above except you do it the night before Easter. When it gets dark, hand each child a pastel colored flashlight and their clue sheet. They have to find the eggs in the dark, which makes it much more challenging and a lot more fun.
Variation #2 - Video Easter STUFF Scavenger Hunt
Because we have teenagers, we did this one last year. We put all the guys in one van (Mikie, Austin, Josh, Uncle Tommy, Brad and Zac), and all the girls in another van (Me, Roxie, Aunt Bev, Katie and Grandmother). We had a set of things we had to find in a specific time limit (1 hour and ten minutes). We had to video each item or a person standing beside the item. The first team to make it back to my Mom's house won. (We beat the guys by five minutes. For every minute you were late returning, you lost a point.)
The list went something like this:
1. Easter Egg Tree (Video someone standing next to the tree.)
2. Easter Inflatable (Video someone standing next to the inflatable.)
3. Church sign with the word "Easter" on the sign. (Video the sign.)
4. Use some of the money in the attached envelope, and go to K-Mart and buy one Easter item. (If it is the same item the other team buys, it cancels out the point. Video yourself going through the store.)
5. Find a cross in a yard or in front of a church. (Video someone next to the cross.)
6. Use some of the money in the attached envelope to go through a fast food drive-thru and order ONE milkshake with six straws. (Video everyone taking turns drinking the milkshake.)
7. Somewhere hidden in your car is a pair of bunny ears. Find the bunny ears and take turns wearing them. (Video everyone wearing the bunny ears.)
8. Go to Southside Baptist's park and find three Easter eggs hidden inside the fence. (Video people looking for the eggs.)
You get the idea here, too. Use the neighborhoods and areas you are most familiar, and make it fun. We had a ball, and pitting the guys against the girls made it even more competitive.
NEW TRADITIONS
Things To Put in Easter Eggs Instead of Candy
I found this list on Pinterest. Great ideas!
1. Buy a puzzle and simply hide the different pieces in different eggs. When everyone opens the eggs they will have to gather all the pieces and put the puzzle together.
2. Put the names (or pictures) of all the people at the egg hunt in eggs. When your children get an egg with a name or picture, they have to read it, and go find that person. The person can then either give them a small gift, or give them a clue to follow to another egg. This keeps everyone involved.
3. If you want bigger items in the eggs that don't fit, put a picture of the item (or the name of the item) on a piece of paper in the egg. (For example, our kids love new pencils. Put a picture of a pencil in the egg and then when the hunt is over, your kids get to redeem their picture for the real thing.)
4. Stickers.
5. The little capsules you put in water and watch grow. Grow Caps. These were my favorite as a kid.
6. Seeds. (Plant them together when Easter is over.)
7. Character band-aids.
8. Silly Bands.
9. Coupons. ("Good for one extra bed time story." "Good for a McDonald's milkshake after school." You get the idea.)
I'll break tradition and have more Easter traditions tomorrow (as well as Blog Linkage and Dates). I'll also have pictures of me and my bestie, Ree Drummond. THE PIONEER WOMAN!
Take care, and I'll talk to you in the morning.
Sincerely,
The Enchanting Belinda
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