Making Letters To The Easter Bunny Special

My oldest daughter Melanie has always loved to write letters to The Easter Bunny. She is very selective about the paper and other supplies she uses. So this year I decided to take her with me when I went shopping.

When I told her that she was going to go on a special shopping trip with me to buy all the things we would need for our Easter letters. She was so excited. I was glad that we were going to have a day out together with just me and her. She got a pen and paper, she sit down and made a list of all supplies we would need.

We started the day at the craft store. She took her time making her choices. When it came to stickers she chose flowers in soft spring pastels. Then she found a pack that had baby animals. To my surprise she even picked out a pack of stickers with pictures of bugs. She explained that those were for her brothers. I was glad to see she was thinking of them too.

She picked out envelopes that had little bunnies and chicks along the bottom. She found paper that matched. She couldn’t wait to get home and start writing a letter to the Easter Bunny.

Next she went to the glitter. She picked colors to match her stickers. She wanted to get brown for the boys because the always play in dirt and they had bug stickers.

We stopped and had a nice lunch at her favorite pizza restaurant. We ordered her favorite toppings. We spent a couple of hours talking as we ate our pizza. It was nice for her to have some time without any of her brothers and sisters. She talked the whole time about her friends and school. I was glad to hear that things in her world were happy and sunny.

Our last stop was the post office to buy stamps. Melanie told the woman behind the counter that she needed stamps so she could mail a letter to The Easter Bunny. The woman showed her the different stamps they had to offer. She picked a book of flower stamps.

When we got back home Melanie showed her brothers and sisters what we had bought. The boys were thrilled with their bug stickers. The girls all worked on making fancy letters. I found them little pieces of lace to glue in the corners of their letters. They sit down and got started right away on their letters. Even my husband Drew helped with the letters. In the end they all turned out adorable. Melanie told The Easter Bunny all about her special day out with mom.

Coloring Easter Eggs Together Can Create Cherished Memories And Stronger Family Bonds

The day before Easter my kids and I dye our Easter eggs. We dye several dozen eggs to be used in our egg hunt on Easter Sunday. I put the eggs in a big bowl in the center of our picnic table outside. Dying the eggs outside makes cleaning up any spills much easier. Each of the kids has six cups with the all the colors of the rainbow to choose from. I also give each one of them a rubber band, a small sponge and white crayon to decorate their eggs.

They all take their places at the table and choose an egg. Trenton drops an egg into each of his cups. He runs off to play while he waits on his eggs to change color. Jackie and Doyle wrap rubber bands around their eggs to make swirl patterns. A warm breeze is blowing making this a perfect day to be outside. The sky is a brilliant shade of blue with white marshmallow clouds in the sky. While the kids work on their eggs they talk about writing letters to The Easter Bunny.

Sally and Melanie draw designs on their eggs with the crayons Trenton stops by the table every few minutes to check on his eggs. He likes his eggs to be bright and vibrant. When each of the kids finish with an egg they place it in one of the drying trays. Sally says we should include a picture of all our Easter eggs in with our Easter Bunny letters. The truth is, the brightly colored eggs would make a pretty Easter picture.

The girls sometimes take some of their eggs and draw stems with leaves on them with the white crayon. Next they put the eggs into the dye. When the eggs were the color they wanted they set them aside to dry. When the eggs had dried completely they took the sponge and made little flowers atop of the stem. Jackie said that she wanted to email a letter to The Easter Bunny and add a picture of the eggs.

I dyed a special egg for each of kids to put in their baskets. The kids were allowed to keep half a dozen eggs in their basket. The rest of the eggs were to hide for the big Easter egg hunt the next day. Sally chose all blue eggs to put in her basket around a letter to The Easter Bunny she had written. The girls pick some of the hyacinths that grow along our fence to put in the house. We all like to add a touch of the outdoors with beautiful flowers. I guess spring is my favorite season – I just love all the flowers and newness and I think that is rubbing off on my kids!

When the eggs are all done we look at the master pieces the kids have made. I take a lot of pictures that day. It turned out to be a perfect day. I’ve learned that any day can be made into a special and meaningful day if I let it be. All it takes is a little creativity and effort. I love spending time with my kids. It’s fun to watch them grow and learn and I think these family times help them see that life’s most precious gifts really don’t have a lot to do with money at all. Instead, it’s about sharing good times with the people you love. I hope that we will be blessed with many more Easters as happy as this one.

Easter Sunday – Disaster Almost Strikes But Instead A Cherished Keepsake Is Found

On Easter morning I have my hands full trying to get my husband and children ready to go to church. It is a challenge to make sure the boys don’t end up with some kind stain on their Easter clothes before we leave. My husband, like many men, has the inability to find anything on his own so I have to direct him around all morning. My two teenage daughters must be checked over to be sure they aren’t wearing anything too wild for Easter Sunday. My youngest daughter Sally still needs me to fix her hair.

Everything was running pretty smoothly last Easter Sunday until Sally ran to me with her dress shoes in hand. It seems that since Christmas she had out grown her shoes. I told her not to worry that we would find a pair of shoes for her to wear. I told her to sit and read the letter sent by The Easter Bunny while I tried to find a pair of shoes for her to wear. My older daughters checked their closet but unfortunately they didn’t come up with anything suitable.

I called my mom and asked her to check and see if she might have an old pair of my older daughter’s dress shoes. She said she would look around and call me back if she found a pair. Sally and I tried a pair of my shoes but her foot was just too small. Then my mom called back and said she had found an old pair of my Easter shoes in the back of her closet.

I told my mom that Sally and I would be right over. I rushed her into the car and told her to fasten up her seat belt. On the way to mom’s Sally read me her letter from The Easter Bunny. We looked out the car window at all the beautiful spring flowers popping up everywhere. Sally pointed out the trees that were starting to get their new spring leaves. Sally told me that she wanted to us to grow daffodils in our yard next year.

When we walked in the door of mom’s house she handed Sally an old black shoe box. Sally took out the shoes and tried them on her feet. I couldn’t believe it but they were a perfect fit. Sally pulled an envelope out the box she found under the shoes. Inside was a letter sent by The Easter Bunny to me when I was a little girl.

At home we finished getting ready to go to church. I spied Sally slip both of our Easter Bunny letters into her new purse. I thought it was funny that she thought having my old letter from The Easter Bunny was special. And I was grateful that my mom had hung on to the shoes and the Easter letter for so many years.

Does The Easter Bunny Have Favorites And Special Friends

My daughter Sally loves to write letters to The Easter Bunny. She is always the one who volunteers to go shopping with me for the letter supplies. She takes her time when she picks out the stickers we buy. She always tries to pick out stuff she thinks that The Easter Bunny will like. I used to use plain white envelopes but she insists on using pastel colored ones. She says that The Easter Bunny likes those pretty shades of pinks, blues, yellows, greens and lavenders. According to Sally, The Easter Bunny pays more attention to the letters and envelopes that are written on his favorite colors of paper.

When it is time to sit down and write the Easter Bunny letters she lays everything out neatly. All the glitter and paint is organized by color. There isn’t a craft supply we might need Sally hasn’t thought of. She likes to write her letter where she can look up and see the flowering Japanese cherry tree in bloom in the garden.

She likes to help me make the snack we are going eat while we are writing our letters. Without fail she wants warm chocolate chip cookies with tall glasses of cold milk. She counts the plates and fills the glasses with milk. None of her brothers or sisters argues with her choice in snacks. Sally really likes to bake and cook with me. I’m glad I have her to pass my love of cooking on to.

She takes longer that any of my other kids on her letters to The Easter Bunny. Her letters turn out very pretty thanks to her attention to detail. She likes to use glitter and shiny foil stickers. One year she made pretty tissue paper flowers that she glued in the corners. It was tricky to get that letter to stay sealed inside its envelope.

In Sally‘s letters to The Easter Bunny she doesn’t ask for a lot of things. Her letters are more of a run down of the past year. She loves to write to The Easter Bunny. She has been known to tattle tell about her brothers and sisters in her letters. They get so mad when she does that.

This year she has a new set of Easter stencils she is anxious to use. She plans on decorating the back of her envelope with them. She showed me the stencil of an Easter basket and told me it was her favorite one.

Once her letter has been mailed she goes crazy waiting to receive a letter from The Easter Bunny. She checks the mailbox everyday when she gets in from school. When it does arrive she reads it probably a hundred times. She makes sure that everyone in the family sees her letter. She calls her grandparents and brags to them about the year’s letter from The Easter Bunny. Sally believes that her letter is of course, more special than anyone else’s – she thinks that she has a special bond with The Easter Bunny that other kids just don’t have. I think it’s funny to listen to her brothers get upset about this – because they too believe that The Easter Bunny and Sally are special friends!

Little Girls And A Love For Bubbles

My daughter Sally loves to blow bubbles. As soon as it starts to warm up outside she is ready to sit on the front porch and blow bubbles. Her best friend Mandy who loves down the road also loves bubbles. They have every imaginable shape of bubble blowing stick. Both of them wear necklaces with little bottles of bubbles.

Sally and Mandy told me that this year they plan to mail a letter to The Easter Bunny. They told me very seriously that they just knew The Easter Bunny would bring them bubbles in their baskets if they asked.

They looked through all their coloring books. Any pictures they found with bubbles they pulled out and colored. There were pictures of fish bubbles, soap bubbles and of course the kind you blow. They wanted to add the pictures they colored in their Easter letters to The Easter Bunny. I showed them there wasn’t room in the envelopes for all the pictures they colored. I let them each pick two pictures to send.

They were disappointed about the pictures they colored until I told them that they could leave the pictures in their Easter baskets for The Easter Bunny to take with him when he comes.

The letters the girls wrote were long. They included every reason they loved bubbles. They sat at the kitchen table talking to each other while they were writing letters to The Easter Bunny. I baked them bunny shaped sugar cookies to snack on while they worked. I had never seen those two girls sit still for so long.

Finally they announced they had finished their letters and were ready to mail them off. I gave them each a stamp. They very carefully placed the stamp on the corner of the envelopes. I walked with them to the end of the driveway to put the letters in the mailbox.
They lifted the red flag and doubled checked that the door was closed real well.

For the next week we had to check the mail everyday. I was so happy when Sally pulled two pastel purple envelopes out of the mailbox. They opened the letters from The Easter Bunny. Inside the special letters The Easter Bunny told them he was real impressed by the way they blew bubbles. The girls bragged to their other friends about the things The Easter Bunny said, including that they took excellent care of toys.

Sure enough the girls were right. The Easter Bunny left bubbles in both their Easter baskets. They skipped off to the front porch to blow bubbles. Through the open window I could hear them planning the next year’s letters.

An Easter Bunny Letter Writing Party – Why Not!

Every year we have a ‘write to The Easter Bunny’ party. It is one of my favorite things we do for Easter. I take all the kids shopping with me so that they can help pick out the supplies for our party. We have such a good time picking out the decorations and writing supplies. We always find little surprises while we are shopping that will make our party a little more special.

I let the kids make home made invitations to send out to everyone. They really feel grown up filling out the address and putting the stamps on the envelopes. Sally makes sure that each envelope has an Easter sticker on the seal. At the post office they drop each invitation one by one into the big mailbox.

The day before the big party the kids and I bake lots and lots of sugar cookies. The girls love to spread the pastel colored icing and sugar crystals on the tops of the cookies. I make two trays of deviled eggs I have to keep those hidden from my husband Drew. My daughter Melanie helps me make the cheesecakes.

Outside we tape the brightly colored table clothes to the picnic tables. We double check that we will have everything we will need for our Easter Bunny letters. The kids always get so excited waiting for the party. They cut tulips and daffodils to put all around the house as decorations. I have to admit, I think the house looks wonderful with the beautiful flowers and pastel Easter decorations spread about.

On the morning of the big party I put out the streamers and balloons. I go through the house and make sure the house is ready for visitors. On the tables outside we set out the supplies we have collected. We always ensure that we have plenty of markers, crayons, stickers, glue, and glitter. Those are some of the basics needed for properly decorating an important Easter letter. Plus, some of the kids like to create imaginative Easter crafts while they are into the concept of writing and creating. I always make sure that we have plenty of tables set up so no one will be crowded while they are busy designing and writing letters to The Easter Bunny.

We are all so happy when people begin to show up. It is always nice when we get a chance to have a day to spend with so many of our friends and family. The kids run through the yard glad to be out in the warm sun after being stuck inside all winter.

All the kids work very hard on their letters. The older kids help the younger ones to decorate the letters with glue and glitter. The kids are always excited about getting a letter from The Easter Bunny. We have a special satin bag we put all of the letters in when they are finished.

The party is something we look forward to every year. I hope to hold one each year, even when the kids are grown. Hopefully then I will have some grandkids that will be running and playing and we can teach them how to write letters to The Easter Bunny. It is always nice to be surrounded by the ones you love. I am glad that we get this opportunity to connect with out friends and family.

Family Traditions That Bond – So Simple But So Important

I was so pleased when I looked out the window that Easter morning. A bright blue sky like a Robin’s egg hung over head. The path down to the creek shined, lit up by the cheerful daffodils that swayed in the breeze. The branches of the trees were brushed with the bright green of new leaves promising the return of warmer weather. I couldn’t help but think of the Easter’s when I was a little girl.

About a week before Easter my brothers and I would decorate our Easter baskets and write our Easter Bunny letters. We started out with a plain wicker basket. My mom would bring out all the things she had gathered for us to decorate our baskets. I loved running the bright satin ribbons through my hands. We were allowed to decorate our baskets however we wanted. I always used lots of glitter on my baskets. My brothers liked to glue small chicks and bunnies on theirs. One year my Mom helped them to make cowboys and Indians baskets.

While we worked on our baskets my mom would bake us a carrot cake. We would all talk about what we were going to write in our letters. My youngest brother was always so excited about getting a letter from The Easter Bunny. It always amazed me how my mom always had the best ideas. She knew which colors would blend nicely together and how much glue it took to make paper butterflies stay in place. As the room filled with the sweet scent of the carrot cake we would be finishing up our baskets.

My mom would place all the finished baskets on a shelf in her laundry room to dry. She would then bring out the paper for our letters. When my brothers were real small I would help them write their letters. We spent a lot of time on our letters. Along the sides of the paper we would draw colorful Easter eggs or put stickers with bunnies and eggs. We wanted to make personalized Easter Bunny Letters. My mom was the best - she had Easter envelopes and she even found Easter stamps for us to use on the letters.

Now that I am a mother I try to build special memories like my mother did when I was young. Every year when my children sit down to write letters to the Easter Bunny I am so grateful my mom started these holiday traditions. I hope that when my children grow up they carry them on with their families. It is funny how something as simple as writing a letter can bring a family closer together.