Changing the Color of My Skin With My Mother’s Permission.....a/k/a Dyeing Easter Eggs

Every year the neighbor graciously hosts the Easter egg dyeing on Good Friday. This year she had some friends in town and we about doubled the size of the party.

You have to make sure you get your initials on them. You sure would hate to take home someone else’s eggs.

We started off with some sponge painting.

And did some tie-dyeing.

More sponge painting.

Some plain old dye.

K started like this.

She looked like this after her first two eggs.

Frankly, she couldn’t stand to work with the egg holder any longer. Fingers do a much better job.

See???????

Her mother was thrilled!

Bug had a hard time reaching the table.

We were left with some very cool looking eggs.

Quite obviously, it was a ton of fun.

Recognize those blue fingers?

I just loved this egg. It reminded me of a globe.

Hoppy Easter!

Phew! It has been a whirlwind of a weekend for us. For the past two weeks Bean, Bug, Almost Mine, and our neighbors M & K have been stuffing Easter eggs for our church’s annual East Egg Hunt. Those 5 children stuffed 851 eggs! Eight-hundred fifty-one EGGS! My entire living room was full of eggs and their fingers were sore. But those 5 little ones were able to make 158 children very happy.

The morning started with a visit from a local farm with a train, a pony, and a fantastic petting zoo.

The girls enjoyed the petting zoo more than anything else. First Bean found the colored chicks. Orange was her pick.

Then Bug found the colored ducklings. Ah, a nice lovely teal shade.

Zman was the pony leader. He walked that pony back and forth and back and forth for a solid hour and made many a children’s day.

Bean was enamored with those colored chicks. She and her buddy, M, picked color coordinating chicks. You know, a girl’s got to make sure she coordinates her accessories.

I could not resist Bug and K, with their faces painted like bunnies while they loved on some real, live, furry bunnies.

Bean eventually made her way around to the bunnies.

The girls spent their entire hour switching back and forth between chicks, ducklings, and bunnies.

Then it was time for the egg hunt. See that girl in the red pants? She was wasting no time.

And she’s off!

Bug was a little more laid back, but still managed to have a fantastic time!

And the kids came home hyped up on candy, cookies, juice, and adrenaline. Oh, and they smelled phenomenal as well!

Good Report Cards = TCBY

Bean and Bug have both made honor roll this past 9 weeks.  Bug asked if we could look into getting some ice cream as a reward.  I hope she is easily pleased when she’s 16 as well!

We had a mass of children Saturday night.  There were the neighbors, M & K, Bean, Bug, and Almost Mine.   Since everyone had done pretty well on their report cards, it became a group outing. 

Do you know how long it takes for 5 children to decide what they want?

Do you know how many funny looks you get when you walk into a store with 5 children that span a 3 year age difference?

 

Fadre and I realized the only child out of the 5 that didn’t look like it belonged?  Bean.  Everybody else has pretty much the same hair color – but hers is much darker.  When you see her face though, you know she is Fadre’s child.  At least that’s what people tell me.  I see a child who constantly looks at life through a prism.  But that’s another story…

It turned out to be a worthy reward.

And we were all happy.  Did I mention I had a strawberry parfait?  You know, I’ve been working hard too. 

And my willpower was not strong enough to just watch them eat it.

And then Bug asked if these could spend the night:

 

And I said yes.

Because I had forgotten they were energized by this:

Oh, and the last one was still awake after 11 o’clock that night.

Bean’s Birthday Dinner

On the girls’ birthdays I pick up their requested lunch, a birthday treat to share with their friends, and I have lunch with them.  Zman wanted to know why I don’t have lunch with him.  So I offered to pick up lunch for his upcoming birthday.  He was all excited until I reminded him that I’d be joining him for lunch.  Funny, all of a sudden Chik-Fil-A was not so appetizing….

Anyway, Bean requested a McDonald’s cheeseburger – plain.

She is not big on cupcakes, so we searched for an alternative.

Twinkies make everyone smile!  And they have a 3 to 4 year shelf life.  What more could you ask for?

Look how good they make you feel!

As I have said before, in our family, on your birthday you pick the dinner.  Bean ALWAYS picks Macaroni Grill. 

I picked up Mamaw after work and Fadre picked up the kids.  And we all met a Macaroni Grill.  Here’s a video of Bean’s excursion from her friend’s house to the truck to head off to dinner.  A little dramamine anyone?

 

You have to wait a few minutes when you ask for a table for 13.  Let’s see how we spent our time…

Bean and Bug were given this digital camera by my boss about a month ago.  It hardly ever leaves Bean’s hands.  (hence the above video)

Clockwise from bottom left:  Nana, Mamaw, Fadre, iNik, Jocelyn, Paul, Zman, Carson, Almost Mine, Bug, Bean, Papa. 

 

Bug’s a little tired.

iNik in her natural habitat – on her phone.

 

What’s in the bag?  What’s in the bag?

It’s her own camera so she doesn’t have to share.  She was elated!

 

And then this lovely lady sang “Happy Birthday” in Italian.   Complete with a piece of chocolate cake.

WHAT??????

Oh, sorry Mom!