Crescent Roll Tombs

Good Tuesday morning!

I hope your Monday was good. It was so pretty... which in Alabama is a prelude to thunderstorms, up and down temperatures, etc. Enjoy it while you can!

There was no Jon & Kate last night (except for reruns), so we're down to only five TV reviews on Friday. But 24 was very good. I'm pretty sure I can get half a page out of last night's episode!

Have you been thinking about things you want to do before you are 90? If so, feel free to share one, two or more. When you share them, you feel a little more obligated to try to DO them. At least, that's what I've discovered.

100 Things To Do Before 90

As promised, here are a few more things from my list. However, these things could (and will) actually be marked off before my 48th birthday in August. (And some of these things will just automatically happen. I will not have a lot of say or control over the completion of these items on my list... which is a good thing.)

1. See Austin graduate from high school (I don't have to wear a harness or anything!)

2. Get a pedicure (I'm getting one for Austin's graduation to wear with my new "mother of the graduate outfit." It's very sad. I've never had a pedicure. I feel bad for me.)

3. Learn to drive a boat (I'm more of a navigator-type person. But I think I would be a good driver. I like the fact there are no speed limit signs on the lake. I think I'll be very, very good at this. Mike thinks the opposite.)

4. Catch up Austin's scrapbook (Except for the last of his four high school scrapbooks, which I'm working on, he is caught up! And I have to be finished by May 28... I just have to be!)

5. Go on a glass bottom boat tour on the Gulf of Mexico (I think it would be so much fun. I'll probably throw up the entire time!)

See... I have five things I have no excuse for not marking off by August of this year. FIVE. Now, just for fun, I'll give you five more things that are going to be a little more difficult.

1. Write a book (Not just any old book. A really good book. A New York Times Bestseller book. "They" always say write about something you know... and I know so little. And basically everything I know I've already written on the blog. Maybe I'll just make my blog into a book. Yeah, that's the ticket. I'll just call it Belinda's Blog. That sounds like a bestseller, doesn't it? Not!)

2. Publish an article in FamilyFun Magazine (I've only sent them 20 articles. But you have to keep trying. That's how you succeed. You learn from your many failures. That's what I've always heard. Actually, I just curl up in a ball and cry for a few days in the corner of my bedroom when I'm rejected... but that's just me.)

3. Take a digital photography class (I know I should do this, but classes remind me very much of meetings. Again, if you've known me five minutes, you know I don't do well in meetings. Three minutes into a meeting, I'm pretty much ready to scream. I don't exactly know why I feel this way about classes/meetings, but it has gotten worse the older I've become. I feel like that is going to be one, two or three hours of my life I will never get back... EVER. I would prefer a written memo containing the pertinent information. That's a good meeting to me. However, I know a photography class would probably be different from a meeting. Don't you think?)

4. Meet and shake hands with a President I voted for - past or present (Actually, I may ride up to Plains, Georgia one day and try to catch Jimmy Carter out and about. He would count as another "famous" person, also. I think he's my best bet. And due to his age, he probably couldn't outrun me when I spotted him. Even though I didn't vote for him, I think I would waive that rule... just for him.)

5. Attend a Cirque du Soleil performance (You know me. I'm starting an envelope today. Five dollars every two weeks for the next six years, and I'll have enough for the Fabulous Faulkner Five to attend. I know the shows are all over the place, so once I have the money for the very expensive tickets, we'll definitely do this one.)

Tune in tomorrow when I give you a list of famous restaurants I want to dine in before I'm 90. I have a lot of those!

Crescent Roll Tombs

These are a preschool version of the tomb cookies you leave in the oven overnight the night before Easter. (I'll have that recipe next Tuesday for you and your older children to try.)

You will need:

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
8 large marshmallows (one for each roll)

1. Mix sugar and cinnamon mixture together and put in an empty and clean salt shaker. Set aside.

2. Pull the crescent rolls apart and have them on several paper plates already in their original triangle form.

3. Let your preschooler use a cooking brush and lightly brush the inside of the crescent roll with butter.

4. Place the marshmallow in the center of the roll and show the child how to roll the crescent roll around it.

5. Let your preschooler brush the outside of the crescent roll with butter.

6. Now the child can sprinkle the top of the crescent roll with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

7. Place all of the finished rolls on a cookie sheet and cook according to the instructions on the crescent roll package.

While the crescent rolls are baking, open your Bible and tell your child the story of the Resurrection. (Read John 21:1-30 to be familiar with the story.)

Explain to your child the marshmallow they used in the recipe represents Jesus after he died on the cross and he was wrapped in the burial clothes. The crescent rolls are like the tomb where they put Jesus' body. Now, you want to wait for the rolls to finish baking.

When you remove the rolls from the oven, you can look through the crescent roll and see that it is empty except for some remnants of the white marshmallow (the burial clothes). This is just a simple visual example of the story they will hear every year for the rest of their lives. But children are very visual, and seeing something makes it much more real to them.

While you are eating your Crescent Roll Tombs, finish the story of Jesus' Resurrection. Ask the following questions:

1. Did Jesus immediately go back to heaven? (No. He went to talk to his disciples.)

2. Which disciple didn't believe it was Jesus talking to him? (Thomas)

3. What did Thomas have to do to believe it was really and truly Jesus? (He had to touch the holes where the nails had been in Jesus' hands and feet.)

4. Do you think you would have believed it was Jesus?

5. How do you think the disciples felt when they realized it really was Jesus?

As I said before, this is definitely a preschool recipe, and I'll have the older version for you next week. However, two, three, four and five year-old children are truly amazing. They will learn anything you are willing to teach them. And this is a great activity because it allows them to "cook," so they are going to be very interested in the story and the questions at the end while they eat their snack with you.

NOTE: You can also use a children's version of the Easter story to read to them instead of from the Bible. Pictures keep them interested and the books will be on their level.

Have a marvelous Tuesday. I'll be back tomorrow NOT with an Easter tradition. Sorry, folks. It will be April Fool's Day, and I have a pretty easy trick to play on the family. The bad thing about April Fool's Day is you can only play a prank one time. We did this once, and it was a lot of fun. (I promise, after Wednesday we're strictly Easter all the way for the next two weeks. Promise!)

Talk to you tomorrow.