Egg-cellent Idea

Last week I was perusing some blogs and came across this post where a woman used Kool-Aid to color her Easter eggs.  The colors looked awesome and I was really intrigued.  Enough so that I emailed my sister and a few friends.  Because Tracy and I share the same brain most of the time, she was interested in how well it worked too.  We decided to test the waters together.

Friday morning her family came over to dye their eggs with us.  Tracy and Maddie worked on our solutions and decided which colors to mix or not mix.  I set the table and ran back and forth to the above mentioned blog to reread ideas she had on color mixing.  Soon enough everyone was seated and ready to start dying their five eggs.

Austin and Jake sat together.  Austin may be the fastest egg-dyer I've ever seen. 

He and Jake were seated together.  Jake is NOT the world's fastest egg-dyer.  My kids may have introduced some new habits to Tracy's kids.  Mainly the art of two-color egg-dying.

Every year on Easter my kids show up at church in wonderful new clothes and stained fingers.

I take that back.  RILEY is the world's fastest egg-dyer.  One color.  Egg after egg.  Tracy tried to get her to use different colors, but it was not to be.

Riley's eggs were all pink.  Except that stray Tracy snuck in there.

I love this picture...

I'm telling you: this girl is going to give those Runchey's a run for their money.  You know it's coming with just that look.

Maddie's a dunker and egg artist when given the time.

Ellie. 

Ellie, Ellie, Ellie...

She was so excited for her finished projects.

And remember...they were made with Kool-Aid.  No vinegar.  These things smelled GREAT!

Ellie is also into counting lately.  She counts everything.  She counted her eggs no less than 10 times for us.

She touched those eggs no less than 500 times.  First she'd point and count.  Then she'd lift them out and count and show them to Tracy.  (Who, by the way, was on the side-lines all but begging her to stop touching the eggs.)  Then Ellie would remove an egg and none-too-gently drop place it on the table and count it for us.  Somehow she didn't crack a single egg.  Truly an Easter miracle.

Each time, she had five eggs.

And they smelled good, have I mentioned that?

The results?  I was happy and would definitely use it all again.  I hate the vinegar smell of Easter eggs so this Kool-Aid thing for that alone was worth it!

But an even better selling point was that the colors were actually really pretty!

All in all a very productive, entertaining, and enlightening morning!

Not Right

Five Things About Jake

1.  A couple mornings ago Jake asked me if he could have coffee or tea with his breakfast.  I told him he could have tea; I don't see where decaf is going to do him any harm.  Yesterday morning he said, "Could I have some tea with my breakfast?"  Sure.  This morning he said, "I guess I'll go make my tea now."

2.  We now have a little dinner tradition.  Someone - and it's different every night who starts - makes three statements about themselves.  Those statements can be about anything - favorites, looking most forward to..., dislikes, good things about the day - whatever they come up with.  We go around the table and everyone states their three things that begin with that same phrase.  Last night Mike said, "My favorite clothing is....".  Jake's favorite clothing is his robe and pajamas.  This kid LOVES his robe.  He's been known to sleep in his robe and it's the first thing he grabs in the morning.  I have to admit: it's the softest robe I've ever seen and I wouldn't mind having one either.

3.  In the tradition mentioned in #2, if there is something that is a favorite Jake says, "My favorite ______ is ______.  But I also like ________."  He can never list just one thing.  The last couple nights Mike and I have told him he has to make ONE decision; he can't have two favorites. 

4.  For as stubborn as this kid is - he can't make a decision to save his life.  I'm not great at this either and both Mike and I are determined to make him responsible for his own decisions.  Besides, we aren't dumb...this way he can't blame us for "choosing the wrong thing". 

5.  Today was "Culture Day" at school.  What is this?  Dress as your favorite culture?  Dress as your own culture?  I said, "Well Jake, I'll guess you'll go to school dressed like an American boy."  That seemed a little too "Everyday-ish" so we decided to add a little spin to it. 

We may have turned it into "Heritage Day".  But, he's wearing flags that represent the different aspects of his heritage with a big American Flag representing who he really is.  I assume these paper flags will be torn to pieces within the first two hours of school.  Afterall - he is an American BOY.

'Tis the Season...

For grass stains! 

But these are the best kind...the ones I'm not responsible for removing!