Dyeing Eggs

Dyeing eggs is one of my most favorite holiday activities.

Of all time.

Long before my sister or I had kids, but also long after we were done being kids ourselves, we still dyed eggs together.
It's just so much fun.
Watching those white eggs turn all sorts of bright and beautiful colors is magical.
I do love color.

I've done it every year with my kids since James' first Easter.
There would be rebellion if we missed.
This year was the most fun time yet.
They are all big enough now that I can just set them loose and let them create.
Which is just what they did.

I let each kid have their own dozen to dye.
I know, it seems like a lot, but the fun they had was worth every penny of that $1.49 per dozen.
We did the dyeing outside so there was no stress about dye getting on table, chairs or floor.
It makes for a much more fun experience.

Don't you love the way the dye fizzes when you add the vinegar?
We left some with just vinegar and dye, no added water, to get really bright eggs.
And we used some brown eggs to get those jewel tones we love.
This yellow and green one are brown eggs.

I snapped picture after picture while they dyed eggs.
I just couldn't get enough of all the fabulous colors.

And I love to watch them interact with the process.
I love the way they experiment with the colors, letting them sit a long time, or mixing them around.
It's such a great art project.

It's messy.
We always have some remnants of dye under our nails on Easter morning.
It doesn't matter.

Every single egg is different.
Even if they go in the exact same cup of dye.
They love seeing how each carton of eggs is unique.

And what does a little, almost 10 month old baby do while his big siblings dye eggs?
He crawls around on the ground and gets into mischief.

He tried to eat a lot of succulents.

The kids spent the entire morning dyeing eggs.
We all agreed it was more fun this year than last.
And we know next year will be even better.

I love this tradition.
I hope they'll indulge me when they're in college and I ask them if they want to dye eggs.
Say yes, OK kids?
Because no Easter would be complete without the egg dipped in every color.
We must have the muddy egg.
It just wouldn't be Easter without it.

Only 1 more Easter post left, folks.

Or, maybe 2.

I aim to get them done before the week ends.

You know, so we can get ready for the 4th of July.

Happy Easter!

Love from,

Greta

First Day of School: STATS

4 Backpacks

4 Lunch Bags

4 Water Bottles

1 Stroller

1 Sling

90 Degree temperatures

0 Trees for shade

1 Beautiful ocean view

1 Favorite trail to hike at Bolsa Chica

1 Scared little bunny spotted by James

2 Red Tailed Hawk sightings: 1 adolescent right overhead and 1 next to the trail eating his lunch
1 Great Blue Heron flying right over us--we heard his call for the first time
1 Little boy drawing that heron in his nature journal

1 Poem to be learned
3 little girls being taught the poem by 1 big girl while sitting in 1 lean-to built by the boys

1 big baby boy who just wanted to nap

24 friends, from 3 months to 7 years, to learn with, explore with, laugh with and grow with

1 day of (sweaty) fun

and many more to come!

Hope your first day of school was perfectly wonderful.

Love from,

Greta

Toy Jail

Every mom has things her kids do that drive her crazy. This is mine. All the toys taken out and strewn across the room. As soon as they tire of one, they take out another until James says to me increduosly, "there is no room to play in here Mommy. This place is such a mess." It drives me mad.

This, of course, leads to the next part of the trial: cleaning up. I am sure the sheer volume of toys makes the idea of cleaning up quite daunting. That is why they resist it so vehemtly. And that is why I go crazy every time they do this.

Enter toy jail. Sometimes we get our best ideas from our moments of greatest desperation. (Allright, I know that sounds a little dramatic, but really, after a day of having this battle with them over and over, I had had enough.) I stepped into their room, surveyed the mess and declared, "if you guys do not clean this up, you are losing every toy that is out." I don't think they believed me. They sort of started to clean up, but quickly got distracted by some toy or another and began to play again. I quietly cleaned up all the toys and piled them into one corner of the room.

"Look at this guys," I told them, in my calm voice. "All these toys are going into toy jail." I stacked all the toys in the crib, making the visual of jail that much better with the rails and all. The boys stood looking at them quietly.

"When you play with toys and don't pick them up, they go to toy jail. If you take toys out and put them away like you are supposed to you may pick out a toy and rescue it from toy jail."

Still quiet, they stood looking at the massive pile of toys in the crib. I am a genius!

Then James says, "It's OK mommy, we still have lots of other toys to play with."

I can't win. I guess the real lesson here is that my kids have WAY too many toys.