The snow has melted, the grass is getting greener, and spring has officially sprung.  Easter is here and that means sweet little bow ties, patent leather shoes, frilly pastel-colored dresses and matching bonnets, precious moments, and chocolate-filled baskets. It’s the perfect holiday to pull out your camera and capture loving moments before church, during an Easter egg hunt, or at a relative’s house visiting with family and loved ones.

In photography it is important to pay attention to your available lighting. The number one place to capture those stand-out portraits or even those classic snapshots will be outside, in the natural light. More often than not we, as photographers, want the light source behind us.  Sometimes, though, this may wash your subject out, and since they will probably be in soft colored clothes that wouldn’t be so good for your picture. Instead of the light source being behind you when you shoot, try to have it coming in from an angle; basically speaking, aim for [the sun] to shine over your right or left shoulder on to your subject. Also, when taking portraits inside strive to take photos near a window, for diffused lighting effect. Posing near a window, using diffused natural light, will give you a soft look to your image; making it look absolutely magical, in a frame, on your wall, or imprinted on a photo book or calendar.

Here are some tips to make your Easter portraits memorable:

• Try not to over-pose. Instead, ask your children to hold hands and follow them as they walk by a row of flowers or take a shot of them walking away from you. This creates a timeless portrait that Grandmas go crazy for.
• Have fun. One fun pose to try is where you have your children lie down, with their heads coming together, and shoot from above. Posing them this way is a different take on traditional portraits.
• Don’t worry about smiles or eye-contact.  Some of the best pictures don’t have either.
• Embrace the mess. Church is over and it’s time to dig into the Easter chocolates; don’t worry about a choco-face.  Snap away and capture the candid fun!

by Rondi Hillstrom Davis and Janell Sewall Oakes

Wonderfully simple to do and oh so impressive!

You don’t need a $40 Easter egg decorating kit with pages of instructions to impress your family and guests this Easter – achieve sophisticated elegance with colors taken directly from nature. Simply decorated from a myriad of plants and flowers, you can create a beautiful range of natural colors and textures. Try this technique – it’s simple enough to do with young children.

Ingredients
Gather together eggs, an enamel or stainless steel pot, vinegar, cheesecloth, a rubber band, and plant materials such as onionskins, blueberries, pecan hulls, parsley, beets or dandelions.

Directions

1. To prepare the dye bath, fill a pot with two or three cups of plant material. Barely cover it with water (more plant material produces stronger colors.) Simmer for at least 30 minutes. Add water and stir as needed. The dyes can be made several days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Strain and heat the dye before using it.
2. Use hard-boiled or blown out eggs. Carefully wash the eggs with soap and water. Allow them to dry. Wipe the eggs with vinegar.
3. To decorate the eggs, moisten small leaves and grasses, one at a time. Press them firmly against the egg. Hold them in place by wrapping the eggs in a six-inch square of cheesecloth or nylon pantyhose. Pull the cloth tight against the egg and secure it with a rubber band. Immerse the egg in a container of warm dye. Some dyes are stronger than others. The process may take only a few moments or several hours. Dyes derived from yellow onionskin, red onionskin, and blueberries all provide quick results.
4. Unwrap the eggs, drain, and let them dry upright.

What a magical and unpredictable process. Each lustrous egg is a unique surprise. Some of our favorites were the results of happy accidents. Enjoy discovering!

About The Author
Rondi Hillstrom Davis and Janell Sewall Oakes are the co-authors of the award-winning book Together: Creating Family Traditions. To check out their website that’s jam packed with family ideas, visit togetherparenting.com/.
info@togetherparenting.com

By Chick Moorman and Thomas Haller

Our children are being bombarded with candy from every direction. Chocolate bars, gum, suckers, and assorted gummy candies line the checkout lanes in grocery stores. School fundraisers sell candy bars, cookies, and brownies in the hallways during lunch hours. Every mall, skating rink, soccer complex, movie theater, and even the video store has a place to buy candy.

And then there is the holidays. Halloween trick or treat bags bulge with every kind of candy imaginable. Christmas stockings are topped with bubble gum and chocolate bars. Valentine messages are stamped on candy hearts and boxes of candy are the staple of communicating love. Easter baskets overflow with jellybeans and chocolate bunnies.

Candy is everywhere and its presence wreaking havoc on our children’s teeth and waist lines. Children are visiting the dentist with serious tooth decay at younger and younger ages every year. Obesity in children is a national concern.

With candy being universally available and regularly within sight of children, what is a parent to do? How do you combat its influence on your children? How do you lessen the influence of advertisers and get candy consumption under control in your family? How can you win the candy wars?

The following suggestions can assist you in curbing your children’s candy consumption. Use them to increase the health and well-being of your family.

1. Begin by being a model for your children to follow.

If you are a chocoholic and find yourself foraging through the cupboard for the last chocolate bar or eating an entire bag of M & M’s once they are opened, reflect on the message you are sending your children. It will be difficult for you to curb your children’s candy consumption when they see you unable to curb your own. So model the message. Eat a small portion of candy and set the rest aside for later. Talk to your children about your desire and your willingness to stay conscious and make healthy choices about your own candy consumption. The positive images you give them on how to set candy aside will help them to be more likely they are to set it aside themselves.

2. See candy as a wonderful opportunity to set limits with your children.

As parents we set limits around television, computer time, video games, bed times, friends, and a variety of other items. Setting limits with candy does not mean you make if totally off limits. It means that you provide opportunities for your children to enjoy candy within some clearly defined parameters or guidelines.

Children want guidelines. They thrive on structure. It is the structure provided by the adult that allows them, to relax into being a child. Of course they will push and test the limits. That is there job. Pushing and testing the limits does not mean that your children want them changed. It most often means that they want to see if the structure is really in place.

Set your limits early before you go to the store, before the Easter bunny arrives, before the Halloween bags are full, before you bring candy into the house. “We will be buying one treat today in the store,” sets the limit. So does, “We are shopping for food today. This will be a non-candy trip.”

Discuss with your children how candy consumptions will take place before they head out to gather a bag full at Halloween time. Agree on a portion to be eaten each day and a place to keep it. Do not allow candy to be taken into their bedroom. Do not leave bags of candy in the cupboard for easy access. This is part of setting limits and it is your responsibility as a conscious, committed parent to see that it is done.

Setting a limit doesn’t means you have to say, “No.” Sometimes saying, “Yes,” with a qualifier, helps you avoid power struggles.

“Yes, you can have one right after supper.”

Another important way to set limits and structure candy consumption in your family while reducing resistance and resentment is to offer children choices.

3. Offer your children choices when it comes to candy consumption.

“You can choose five pieces of candy out of your Halloween bag for today and set the rest aside for a different day. Let spread all your candy out and look at your choices.”

“You can choose one piece of candy now or two pieces of candy for after supper. You decide.”

“You can choose to have your Easter basket candy kept in the kitchen cupboard where we can keep track of it or you can choose to be done having access to your candy.”

With candy, remind your children that responsibility equals opportunity. Your children have an opportunity to have some candy. If they are responsible with following the parameters you have set then the opportunity continues .If they choose not to be responsible with candy, they choose to lose the opportunity to have it available. In that instance, access to candy is removed.

This could mean you may have to remove all the candy from the house and make it unavailable to anyone. That would include you.

4. Make the eating of candy something special.

Educate your children that candy is not food. It is junk and has no nutritional value for their bodies. Candy and the opportunity to eat it is something special and are reserved for special moments. Keep candy eating rare and enjoyable. Once the line is crossed and candy becomes an everyday occurrence, specialness of it wears off and it presence is now expected..

Have different candy around at different times to bring attention to the special event that the candy may represent. Focus on the event and how different types of candy are significant at different times of the year. Talk about the cultural or family significance of what a particular type of candy may represent. Change the focus from that of mass consumption to that of significance to you and your family.

5. Don’t use candy as a reward.

When you use candy to motivate your children to perform a particular task or behave in a certain way, you are positioning it as a tool of manipulation. Using candy to get children to behave is a form of bribery and produces children who perform for a substance. In this way you end up producing a “candy junky,” someone who chases after the next fix of the desirable substance.

Candy should never be used as a reward by parents, teachers, or any professional working with children. This distorts the role candy should have in a young person’s life and teaches children that the reward (in this case candy) is more important than the task performed..

6. Help your children create an inner authority.

You are not always going to be present when your children have access to candy. You are not going to be there to enforce a limit for your children or give them choices. You want the ability to curb candy consumption to already be inside them. This control for within will develop in children if you can start early and consistently utilize the suggestions above.

Another way to help your child build inner controls is to debrief or talk through your child’s choices with him after he returns from a place where you know candy is easily available. Help him think about and talk through his decisions. Ask him to articulate what he would want to keep the same and what he would like to different next time. Help him create a plan to build on his successes.

Your child’s inner authority is the only authority she will take with her wherever she goes Help her learn to trust her ability to decide and make healthy, responsible choices.

By following these six suggestions you and your children can enjoy the wonderful taste of chocolate and other candies. The holidays can be filled with pleasant moments of special candy consumptions. The “candy wars” will no longer be necessary. Instead, eating candy will move from a weight and tooth decay issue to a wonderful time when one can simply enjoy a sweet taste upon the pallet.

About the Authors:
Chick Moorman and Thomas Haller are the authors of The 10 Commitments: Parenting with Purpose. They also publish a FREE email newsletter for parents and another for educators. Subscribe to them when you visit, http://www.chickmoorman.com or http://www.thomashaller.com. Chick Moorman and Thomas Haller are two of the world’s foremost authorities on raising responsible, caring, confident children. For more information about how they can help you or your group meet your parenting needs, visit their websites today.

By CD Mohatta

Jesus died on the cross. Jesus was nailed on the cross. Yes, He was nailed. How many of you have taken injection shots? Do you remember the feeling of pain that comes with a very thin needle? That also is taken away within few seconds. Now imagine getting hit with a nail and the nail crossing your palm, a thick nail and you are left to bleed. Now imagine the pain.

Pain, intense pain, yes, death by intense pain and Jesus died with that. By laws of science, I don’t know how much of His weight was taken by His palms, but even if the weight taken was a fraction of his body weight, the pain would been much more. And Jesus died on the cross, bearing his own weight with his palms, bleeding. Left to bleed in the afternoon sun.

Good Friday was the day He died. I read somewhere that earlier it was called God Friday. And He resurrected on Easter Sunday. If one goes through the work and the teachings of Jesus, one finds nothing but selfless giving and miraculous cures. Jesus could cure miraculously because He was Son of God. But did He enjoy any material comforts? Any pleasures? His life is nothing but a chronicle of a man who suffered, but took away sufferings of others. Even His death was a very painful death.

What does Jesus’ life teach us? It teaches us not to give suffering to others but take it ourselves. It teaches us to comfort others. It teaches us selfless giving. It teaches us to forgive even if extreme pain is inflicted upon us. It teaches us to love all and hate none.

Let us celebrate Easter Sunday. Let us remember the teachings of Jesus Christ. Let us spread peace in the world. Let us start giving selflessly. Let us live selflessly. Let us all spread goodness, happiness and cheer in the world. Let us all work to remove hatred and vice from this world.

About the Author:
C.D.Mohatta writes on spirituality, motivation, management etc. You can send Easter ecards with messages written by him. Also download beautiful Easter screensavers with meaningful text messages. The third site, the author writes for is Cupid Ecards.

By Kacy Carr

Just an Easter thought that needs to be shared that some of you may find very beneficial for you and your family.

The season of spring is a time for new beginnings, new life and new tomorrows – our lord Jesus Christ proved that to the world with his miraculous rising on Easter Sunday.

Out with the old and in with the new (removing clutter followed by a lick of paint) was a mission undertaken by people the whole world over when the great spring clean took place. It is all well and good that the house be in ship shape order and tip top condition with the new facelift – but what about you. How about this Easter be focused on keeping you and your family in tip top condition.

Now the house has a new image after the service of fresh linen – mopped floor and polished furniture then now it is time to service your self. Health farms and beauticians can make your Easter extra special by giving you the (it takes 2 factor) Number 1 is the feel good factor and number 2 is the look good factor. Both of these factors combined are with out doubt a sure way of finding the real inner you.

Health at Easter time can be a major concern for those looking to stay prim and trim should they over indulge with the intake of their Easter fix of chocolate Easter eggs. Obesity in children should not be encouraged by to many of these Easter goodies.

The fragrant aroma fills the air from the cherry pink blossom – in spring. The smell of the fresh cut grass lingers aloft also – in spring. Then we have seasonal baby lambs and yellow fluffy chicks hatching in great numbers again also – in spring. So why don’t you spring into action this Easter and take control over your health.

Out with the old (remove waste body toxins) and in with the new (inner feeling of health) by taking up yoga this Easter. Yoga is normally performed to music compilations made up of nature sounds but why – when at springtime you can exercise to the real thing. On a fine day – take you and the kids out into the garden or Local Park and introduce them to a little gentle exercise showing them what they need to know on body awareness. Preferably the park – the reason for this is you may also gain interest from the public who may just want to become aware too.

This could be the start of a new craze at Easter where you get the both of both worlds. Chocolate eggs and bunnies can be eaten with no feeling of guilt because you get to shed the excess pounds all at the same time.

You will find the children involved with your new Easter trend will not only have taken their first steps in gaining a more healthier out look on life but furthered there education on the birds and the bees so as to speak. In other words they can tell you what bird whistles the happy tune and name the flower that sways in time with the gentle spring breeze air as you exercise.

Your health and that of your family should be first and foremost in your mind. Because new tomorrows can only bring sorrows if health matters are ignored.

About the Article:
100% fit in mind body and soul is what healthy living is all about. With yoga you claim what is rightfully yours control. http://www.want2yoga.com Take steps now to move on with your life http://www.allaboutonlineeducation.com