True meaning of easter

The Easter celebrations have come around very quick this year. 
A little earlier than usual, since it was my birthday only Thursday!
Anyway, I wanted to bring the true meaning of Easter into our own home. I wanted Arabella to know Easter is not only a very exciting time when the Easter bunny comes to our home and deliver yummy chocolate eggs. It's also a time to be grateful for Jesus.

Arabella and I decided to make our own tree. We found a couple of branches that had fallen off a tree. Arabella picked the best one. We began using scissors to cut off the leaves, that was a little slow. Since the leaves were dead and dry pulling them off was much quicker and easier.

Arabella had a pretty pastel pink pot. It already had soil in it. We kept the soil, made a hollow in the soil an stuck in our new branch. Filled it with nice pretty stones. Voila! Now the soil and stones will hold the tree stay in place.

Time for the fun part. :) DECORATING!!! 
We found pretty egg decorations at target. 

Arabella did a wonderful job of decorating.

We stuck it on top of the mantle. The tree looked very pretty. Still, it looked like something was missing. 

I thought we needed a pop colour. I went searching for some free Easter bunting, found some on this blog http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2013/03/fridays-freebie-printable-bunny-banner.html
 Arabella loved the bunny bunting, so pretty and very colourful.

Arabella helped cut it out. It still didn't look complete. I wanted Arabella to understand the real meaning of Easter. I'd seen a similar idea on Pinterest. We decided to make our very own Jesus garland. 
Here is link for jesus pics.

 http://www.lds.org/search?q=pictures+jesus&domains=all&lang=eng

I picked pictures that reflected the Savior's life, the miracles he performed.

 Arabella helped with the cutting, hole punching, pulling the string thru the holes and stick it to the mantle. Then to keep it colourful we made our own bunting from green & blue coloured paper

She can now enjoy eating her yummy Easter eggs an be reminded of Jesus. I'm so grateful as a family we can truly understand the meaning of Easter and reflect on our Savior's life and his biggest sacrifice he has made for all of us his atonement.

Arabella and I were very proud and excited to see what we had made together.  We love our DIY Easter decorations.