Resurrection Rolls

This is a tradition that we started with the boys about 5 or 6 years ago. They are our Resurrection rolls....we always have fun with these...

You start with a marshmallow which represents Christ's body

You dip it in butter...representing the oil that they put on his body in the tomb
Then dip in cinnamon to represent the spices
Roll it in dough and seal the edges (represents the tomb being sealed)
see all the nice little tombs?
Let them rise (3 days symbolically) and then bake....mmmm...smells yummy!

Take them out of the oven, open the "tomb" and see that it is empty!

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said"
Matthew 28:6

Happy Easter!

Rappleye Easter Traditions

Easter is always fun around here. Here are the highlights....

Here's the Karate Kid...

he must get that from his dad's side of the family (hee, hee!)

Josh and his egg (look, he has teeth again-Josh, not the egg!!)

(no Star Wars this year...Ben picked the kit so it was CARS theme)

Chris and his tye dye egg (he spent all night on it!)

Lots of eggs (now who's going to eat them all?!)

Easter morning.. (well, technically afternoon, they had to wait until after church)

Looking for Easter eggs that the Easter Bunny hid.

We always give the boys a little something. This year, it was a "big" something. We bought this soccer net thinking it was a small net they could practice kicking their balls with...when we got it out and put it together it was HUGE (7 ft. high and 12 ft. wide--yes, we could have seen those measurements on the box...but who reads stuff like that??!!!) They like it though...

They spent 2 hours playing with it outside, even though it was only 40 degrees!!

Max getting in on the action

Ready For Spring

To say that I am sick of winter is a huge understatement. Friday we had a huge storm come through here. It began around noon and just kept coming and coming. They even let school out early! That night the winds picked up and the snow kept falling. When we woke up Saturday we couldn't even see out our windows because the wind had been blowing so much it trapped snow between the window and the screen. It was kind of weird to look out the window and see white! Then we went to let Max (the dog) outside and we couldn't get the front door open....there was about a 4 foot snow drift on the front porch! The back door wasn't much better, we had knock down the drift back there for poor Max. Everything shut down because the snow was still coming down and the wind was still blowing. Our county went to a level 3 snow emergency which means that if you are not an emergency vehicle and you are on the road, you will be arrested! Yippee!!!! That meant that Chad had to stay home from work...no complaints here! It snowed until about 5:00 in the afternoon. We went outdoors (along with the rest of the neighborhood) to dig out. The boys had fun running around playing with friends while we huffed and puffed and grunted and worked to get the 3 feet of snow off the driveway!!! (NOT FUN!). Then Chad and Chris went and did our next door neighbor's driveway for them (Chad was VERY sore the next day). We then got a call around 6:00 that church was canceled the next day because we were still under a level 3 snow emergency because of all the snow and ice covered roads. So, we got another full day home with the family. It was kinda nice. BUT, then today, they canceled school again!!!! Arggh! The streets are cleared and there is no more snow...I can't quite understand the logic behind this decision, except that they are trying to drive all the mother's crazy! It is a nice day, up to 40 degrees, so the boys bundled up and spent a good 3 hours building forts and snowmen in the front yard with all the neighborhood kids!

Here are the windows covered with snow

Looking out the window on the side of the door to the front porch (which is covered)

This is what we found when we opened the garage!

Big snow drift!!

Front Porch

Having fun on the big snow banks

Ben's World

Today I found Ben in his room hanging all his stuffed animals (and himself!!) from the top bunk! He said it's how they play...(I think cabin fever is setting in!)

Ice Storm

Last week (or was it the week before??? I can't remember now) we had an ice storm here in Columbus. We had a small one in St. Louis, but not quite like this. I decided to grab my camera and take some pictures of the ice that the boys were chipping off the driveway.

Here is the ice after they had been chipping away for a while...

The boys having fun getting rid of the ice (remember the roads are all covered also, they just don't look like it!)

Some ice on the branches (look closely)

More ice on the branches (yes, those are Christmas lights in the background!)

The prettiest part this storm was the next morning. The temperatures didn't get above freezing so all the ice stayed on the brances of the trees. The next day we drove out to Chad's work and we pass a very wooded area on the freeway. The sun was out and shining and the ice on the trees was soooo pretty in the sunlight!!! It looked like a silver forest, one of the prettiest things I think I have ever seen. I could've kicked myself for not having my camera with me! Next time I will!!!