Happy Easter!

Back before life got so busy, I used to make sure to dye Easter eggs wtih the kids. I realized a few days ago that we hadn't done that for several years. It started when Jake called his buddy Ben to see if he could play last Sunday. Ben's mom said no, because they were dying Easter eggs that afternoon. She called me later, still laughing at Jake's response of "I don't understand". She put me on a small guilt trip, and I decided to suck it up and dye eggs with my kids this year.

I managed to put it off until Saturday night. I finally ran out of excuses so we mixed up the dye, found an old sheet to protect the table, and divided up the 13 eggs I had managed to hard boil. Lizzy didn't really get it, but she acted like she knew exactly what she was doing. At one point, she put the stickers for the eggs all over her belly. She did eventually figure it out and her eggs turned out beautifully.

Jake turned the project into a science experiment: he put his first egg in the blue, then left it until the very end, to see how dark it would get. For the record, and the science journals, it turned a gorgeous shade of blue.

And for Lexi, the whole project was a test of just how much one can do with only one hand! Her left hand is in a splint (tomorrow it will be in a cast) after she broke her wrist on Thursday (long story, perhaps for tomorrow's post!). She had big plans to make fancy eggs...they eventually turned into tie dye eggs!

As for me, I was right. This project was a mess, a pain, and not something I would have done had I not been guilted into it. But, it is something I'm so glad we did. It was fun to see how each kid tackled the project... from the scientific to the artistic approach. I realize my big kids have grown up a lot since the last time we dyed eggs. And I realized that Lizzy is getting big enough to do fun , and messy, projects. Most important, the 30 minutes we spent dying eggs set the tone for the rest of our Easter celebration. We had a great day together today..doing nothing in particular, but spending quality time together. We have been far to busy to enjoy each others company lately. But now, thanks to a project that I didn't want to do, we had a great weekend together, just the five of us. Now, to find someone who likes hard boiled eggs... I've got 13 beautiful eggs to get rid of!