The Artist's Cottage

When we moved into our house last year, there was an extra room attached to the garage.  A simple room with windows and electricity and heat.  You can safely bet that Abby begged for weeks to be able to use it as her bedroom.  You'd win the jackpot if you also bet that we firmly denied that request each and every time (Because, really?  A teenager in a room that is not connected to the main house?  No good can come of that).

   

I don't know if it was pitched to us as an extra cottage, or if we later found out that the previous owners were artists, but we took to calling it the Artist's Cottage and that is how we still refer to it today.  For the first few months the Artist's Cottage housed all of our moving detritus - the stuff we couldn't find an immediate home for.  Then winter blew in and it suddenly became a catch-all for our summer stuff - bikes and stroller and wagon and sandbox toys all found their winter respite in the Artist's Cottage.

We spent the winter dreaming big dreams for the space - my favorite being an extra guest bedroom. But that would require a little more work that we have time for during Uriah's busy season, so it continued to sit through the spring as extra storage space.  Finally early in the summer I gutted most of it.  I threw away a ton of junk, swept up a sandbox of dirt and rocks and dust.  I found homes for the items that needed to get out of there and organized the items that remained.

And suddenly it turned into an Artist's Cottage again.  We brought out all of the crayons, markers, craft stuff. The paints and the paint brushes, paper, coloring books and scissors, even the sewing machine all found their happy homes on the shelves of the cottage.  I strung up some string with clothes pins to dry pictures and I brought a bin of Uriah's old toys out for Finn to play with; I set up a very big table in the middle and stuck some of our folding chairs around it - giving space for imaginations and crafty ideas.

And over the course of the summer, Finn would ask me to open up the cottage for him and he'd play planes, or play-dough or color pictures.  Abby and her friends would visit in there and they even did a couple of paint craft projects.  We used it and we loved it.  But somehow, when I walked in there earlier this week, the play-dough had melted all over the table, the pieces of paper craft projects were scattered over the floor. The blow-up pool had found a temporary home in there, along with our charcoal, bird food, and a bag of quick-set cement.

In other words: the Artist's Cottage was more like an Artist's Junk Pit.  So I swept and organized.  I threw things away and stored things in the garage.  I scrubbed all the grody, melty play-dough off of the table and cleaned up the shelves. 

And although organizing that room was very, very low on my list of tasks to tackle this week, once again we can use the cottage for it's intended purpose: art and imagination.  

When we moved into our house last year, there was an extra room attached to the garage.  A simple room with windows and electricity and heat.  You can safely bet that Abby begged for weeks to be able to use it as her bedroom.  You'd win the jackpot if you also bet that we firmly denied that request each and every time (Because, really?  A teenager in a room that is not connected to the main house?  No good can come of that).

   

I don't know if it was pitched to us as an extra cottage, or if we later found out that the previous owners were artists, but we took to calling it the Artist's Cottage and that is how we still refer to it today.  For the first few months the Artist's Cottage housed all of our moving detritus - the stuff we couldn't find an immediate home for.  Then winter blew in and it suddenly became a catch-all for our summer stuff - bikes and stroller and wagon and sandbox toys all found their winter respite in the Artist's Cottage.

We spent the winter dreaming big dreams for the space - my favorite being an extra guest bedroom. But that would require a little more work that we have time for during Uriah's busy season, so it continued to sit through the spring as extra storage space.  Finally early in the summer I gutted most of it.  I threw away a ton of junk, swept up a sandbox of dirt and rocks and dust.  I found homes for the items that needed to get out of there and organized the items that remained.

And suddenly it turned into an Artist's Cottage again.  We brought out all of the crayons, markers, craft stuff. The paints and the paint brushes, paper, coloring books and scissors, even the sewing machine all found their happy homes on the shelves of the cottage.  I strung up some string with clothes pins to dry pictures and I brought a bin of Uriah's old toys out for Finn to play with; I set up a very big table in the middle and stuck some of our folding chairs around it - giving space for imaginations and crafty ideas.

And over the course of the summer, Finn would ask me to open up the cottage for him and he'd play planes, or play-dough or color pictures.  Abby and her friends would visit in there and they even did a couple of paint craft projects.  We used it and we loved it.  But somehow, when I walked in there earlier this week, the play-dough had melted all over the table, the pieces of paper craft projects were scattered over the floor. The blow-up pool had found a temporary home in there, along with our charcoal, bird food, and a bag of quick-set cement.

In other words: the Artist's Cottage was more like an Artist's Junk Pit.  So I swept and organized.  I threw things away and stored things in the garage.  I scrubbed all the grody, melty play-dough off of the table and cleaned up the shelves. 

And although organizing that room was very, very low on my list of tasks to tackle this week, once again we can use the cottage for it's intended purpose: art and imagination.  

Mighty Big Love

I have been loving these 14 Days of Valentine's.  All right, mostly, I've been loving them.  I tried to make them as simple as I could (sometimes I have mighty big ideas) and I tried to be as prepared as I could.  I'm sometimes a really huge a procrastinator (as evidenced by every single college paper I ever had to write).

I let Abby loose in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to practice giving up some control (me) and for some baking practice (Abby).  She made chocolate cupcakes and then I made pink and purple frosting for her and Finn to decorate their cupcakes with (Yes, I made the frosting.  I said I was practicing giving up some control).  It kept them busy during our 8 plus inches of snow storm.  Okay, so Finn ate more frosting than he actually used on his cupcakes and they both went a little overboard with the sprinkles, and Abby was right there with him, surreptitiously eating spoonfuls of frosting when she thought I wasn't looking.  And I wasn't looking because I was eating spoonfuls of frosting when they weren't looking.  It was good frosting.

Finn and I (mostly me) made Valentine's for his once-a-week preschool class.  Damn Pinterest for giving me holiday celebration ideas that my inner Martha Stewart feels an overwhelming need to act on (see every Elf on the Shelf idea that I had and 14 Day's of Valentine's for two years as evidence).  Let's all be thankful I decided to forego the 40 Days of Lent Countdown, since that really isn't so much of a celebration and actually would probably be considered a tad sacrilegious by some of the more devout.  I'll save my spring thing for Easter instead, since that actually is something to celebrate (complete with dyed Easter eggs, and this year, chocolate filled eggs made with real shells.  Because I want to, that's why.).

Happy Valentine's Eve (not a real holiday to celebrate, but I don't care!).

I have been loving these 14 Days of Valentine's.  All right, mostly, I've been loving them.  I tried to make them as simple as I could (sometimes I have mighty big ideas) and I tried to be as prepared as I could.  I'm sometimes a really huge a procrastinator (as evidenced by every single college paper I ever had to write).

I let Abby loose in the kitchen on Sunday afternoon in an attempt to practice giving up some control (me) and for some baking practice (Abby).  She made chocolate cupcakes and then I made pink and purple frosting for her and Finn to decorate their cupcakes with (Yes, I made the frosting.  I said I was practicing giving up some control).  It kept them busy during our 8 plus inches of snow storm.  Okay, so Finn ate more frosting than he actually used on his cupcakes and they both went a little overboard with the sprinkles, and Abby was right there with him, surreptitiously eating spoonfuls of frosting when she thought I wasn't looking.  And I wasn't looking because I was eating spoonfuls of frosting when they weren't looking.  It was good frosting.

Finn and I (mostly me) made Valentine's for his once-a-week preschool class.  Damn Pinterest for giving me holiday celebration ideas that my inner Martha Stewart feels an overwhelming need to act on (see every Elf on the Shelf idea that I had and 14 Day's of Valentine's for two years as evidence).  Let's all be thankful I decided to forego the 40 Days of Lent Countdown, since that really isn't so much of a celebration and actually would probably be considered a tad sacrilegious by some of the more devout.  I'll save my spring thing for Easter instead, since that actually is something to celebrate (complete with dyed Easter eggs, and this year, chocolate filled eggs made with real shells.  Because I want to, that's why.).

Happy Valentine's Eve (not a real holiday to celebrate, but I don't care!).

Becoming a "yes" mom.

Cabin fever has been setting in - it's been cold and rainy and a little snowy - which means time outside is limited.  I can only take so much soulful guitar playing/singing from Abby's room and "Let's play trains together, Mama." from Finn before I want to scream.  So yesterday after lunch, as the snow was swirling like a snow globe outside, I pulled out the red and pink and purple paper, the glue sticks and markers, crayons and paints.  I spread everything over the kitchen table and challenged my children to make some creative Valentine's for their cousins (and the hound/kitty cousins, too.).  It was a painty, markery, gluey mess.  I hyperventilation 12 times.

They loved it.

It occurred to me as I was wiping Finn's fingers that they were just going to get paint on them again, so why bother.  It occurred to me that I don't need to micro-manage Abby's Valentine making - I don't need to offer suggestions, she's creative enough on her own.  I realized that I need to be more of a "Let's make a mess" mom.  I need to say yes more and no less.  Abby's constantly asking for artsy projects to do and all I ever see is the huge mess it's going to make and how to keep Finn occupied while she does whatever it is she wants to do or how to amend a project so that Finn can do it, too.  And so I usually end up just saying no.  But I need to remind myself -  even if it's every single day - that it's okay to have paint on shirts and markers on cheeks and scraps of paper all over the floor.  It's okay to let Finn practice with the scissors and to let him taste the crayons.  It's okay to give Abby some creative freedom to express herself, even if that expression includes playing with the sewing machine or Picasso-ing her way to some artwork for her wall.

It's okay to make a mess.
Being the yes mom?  That makes for really happy kids.

Cabin fever has been setting in - it's been cold and rainy and a little snowy - which means time outside is limited.  I can only take so much soulful guitar playing/singing from Abby's room and "Let's play trains together, Mama." from Finn before I want to scream.  So yesterday after lunch, as the snow was swirling like a snow globe outside, I pulled out the red and pink and purple paper, the glue sticks and markers, crayons and paints.  I spread everything over the kitchen table and challenged my children to make some creative Valentine's for their cousins (and the hound/kitty cousins, too.).  It was a painty, markery, gluey mess.  I hyperventilation 12 times.

They loved it.

It occurred to me as I was wiping Finn's fingers that they were just going to get paint on them again, so why bother.  It occurred to me that I don't need to micro-manage Abby's Valentine making - I don't need to offer suggestions, she's creative enough on her own.  I realized that I need to be more of a "Let's make a mess" mom.  I need to say yes more and no less.  Abby's constantly asking for artsy projects to do and all I ever see is the huge mess it's going to make and how to keep Finn occupied while she does whatever it is she wants to do or how to amend a project so that Finn can do it, too.  And so I usually end up just saying no.  But I need to remind myself -  even if it's every single day - that it's okay to have paint on shirts and markers on cheeks and scraps of paper all over the floor.  It's okay to let Finn practice with the scissors and to let him taste the crayons.  It's okay to give Abby some creative freedom to express herself, even if that expression includes playing with the sewing machine or Picasso-ing her way to some artwork for her wall.

It's okay to make a mess.
Being the yes mom?  That makes for really happy kids.

Getting to the good stuff.

I feel like all I've been doing lately is slaving in the garden.  And I love my gardens, but dang...there is no end to the weeds and the random crap poking their heads up helter and skelter.  I'm still not sure if I'm pulling weeds or pretties and I'm not sure if I should be pruning back some of the more rambunctious plants.  But I'm doing it anyway.  We'll see where I need to fill come spring.

It's the weekend, though...or almost, at least.  I'm determined to not step one pinky toe into any of the gardens - my shoulder and my calloused hands need a break!  I plan, instead, to play with lots of construction site trucks outside in the sandbox and to buy some school supplies (because we haven't done that yet and school starts in just over a week.).  I plan to eat pancakes with blueberries at our outdoor table that is, somewhat, in shambles because we are "re-envisioning" it.  Which also means I plan to haul two small humans down to the lake to gather some more rocks for aforementioned table re-envisioning project.  I plan to lay on my back and look at some clouds.  I plan to blue-tape the library in anticipation of painting it next week-ish (I'm having a hard time nailing down my time these days.  At least I get out of my jammies before the church bells ring daily at noon.).  I plan to take in the county fair.  I'm plan to pet a cow (because I love them.) and watch Finn's world blow up when he sees a real, live horse.  I plan to eat some cotton candy.

What about you?  Big plans for the weekend?  The Great Minnesota Get Together kicked off yesterday, but I just don't think we'll have the time to get down for it this year.  There's always next year, I guess.  If you're in need of a fun project for the kiddos that doesn't require blowing your diet on all things fried and secured to a stick, I believe that sidewalk painting is the new sidewalk chalk.  Mix equal parts water and cornstarch, add food coloring and paint the heck out of your sidewalks (and feet).  Washes off easily with water (hose or wait for rain, you decide.) and is pretty much fun for adults, too!

I feel like all I've been doing lately is slaving in the garden.  And I love my gardens, but dang...there is no end to the weeds and the random crap poking their heads up helter and skelter.  I'm still not sure if I'm pulling weeds or pretties and I'm not sure if I should be pruning back some of the more rambunctious plants.  But I'm doing it anyway.  We'll see where I need to fill come spring.

It's the weekend, though...or almost, at least.  I'm determined to not step one pinky toe into any of the gardens - my shoulder and my calloused hands need a break!  I plan, instead, to play with lots of construction site trucks outside in the sandbox and to buy some school supplies (because we haven't done that yet and school starts in just over a week.).  I plan to eat pancakes with blueberries at our outdoor table that is, somewhat, in shambles because we are "re-envisioning" it.  Which also means I plan to haul two small humans down to the lake to gather some more rocks for aforementioned table re-envisioning project.  I plan to lay on my back and look at some clouds.  I plan to blue-tape the library in anticipation of painting it next week-ish (I'm having a hard time nailing down my time these days.  At least I get out of my jammies before the church bells ring daily at noon.).  I plan to take in the county fair.  I'm plan to pet a cow (because I love them.) and watch Finn's world blow up when he sees a real, live horse.  I plan to eat some cotton candy.

What about you?  Big plans for the weekend?  The Great Minnesota Get Together kicked off yesterday, but I just don't think we'll have the time to get down for it this year.  There's always next year, I guess.  If you're in need of a fun project for the kiddos that doesn't require blowing your diet on all things fried and secured to a stick, I believe that sidewalk painting is the new sidewalk chalk.  Mix equal parts water and cornstarch, add food coloring and paint the heck out of your sidewalks (and feet).  Washes off easily with water (hose or wait for rain, you decide.) and is pretty much fun for adults, too!

Crafty Crap {Mother's Day Gift Idea}

Two Mother's Days ago - that's sounds like a tongue twister, so let's make it easier: 2 years ago for Mother's Day, I was a billion months pregnant and, although I was adamant that getting crap for the baby's room was more important and I didn't want anything for Mother's Day, my husband was very kind and thoughtful and bought me a rosebush (what I really wanted was a martini.).  It was called a Knock Out rose, but I called it the Knocked Up rosebush.  It had lovely pink roses and we planted it in our back yard in Kansas City.  In the moving chaos that ensued last year, I forgot to dig it up to bring it north with us.  I'm sure someone is enjoying my Knocked Up rosebush as I type this.  Or the ninja squirrels that lived in our back yard ate all the buds, in which case it's probably dead.  Either option is dismal.

Last year for mother's day - my first real Mother's Day, we were moving and our lives were less than stable.  Apparently, Uriah slipped Abby thirty bucks and told her to get me something nice.  I got a card and a small plant.  She pocketed the change (or should I say, she used the change on my gift and pocketed the rest.).  I tried not to be bitter about my husband totally phoning in Mother's Day last year - after all, I did give him a glorious son and I was actively assisting in the raising of his daughter, you'd think the least he could do was honor me for one day in the manner to which I am befit (you know, parade, marching band, ice sculpture made in my likeness. Simple stuff.), instead of passing it off on an eleven-year-old who (allegedly) was jonesing for some Grape Smackers chapstick.

I've learned my lesson, people.  This year will just be another normal Sunday since my husband will, once again, be busy feeding everyone else's mother.  No biggie; I'm used to it by now (but that doesn't stop me from complaining about it, obvs!).  I think I'll get some flowers and we'll do some planting if the weather holds.  If not...it'll probably be a movie/martini hot cocoa fest up in here and everyone will take naps.

If you're crapping your pants, just now realizing you have nothing for the mothers/grandmothers in your life and you want to do something thoughtful, or rather, you want your kids to do something thoughtful, may I suggest you have them paint some pots and then plant some flowers.  It's relatively cheap (terracotta pots at the Wals are less than $2, depending on what size you get.  All the acrylic paints I got were on clearance.) and the little planters can be used again for years to come (green points!).  We used two different sizes, bigger pots for Abby, baby-sized pots for Finn.  This project obviously took Abby a lot longer than Finn, she used a paintbrush and all, he just used his fingers.  After the paint was finished drying (I waited a couple of hours for Finn's, a little bit longer for Abby's.), I slapped some modge podge on those little suckers (the pots, not the kids), let them dry completely, and then put each kid's name and year on the bottom.  Abby got to plant the flowers and Finn got to water them.

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

 

Note: These were actually our Easter presents for the grandmas, but I think the craftiness works for Mother's Day, too.

Two Mother's Days ago - that's sounds like a tongue twister, so let's make it easier: 2 years ago for Mother's Day, I was a billion months pregnant and, although I was adamant that getting crap for the baby's room was more important and I didn't want anything for Mother's Day, my husband was very kind and thoughtful and bought me a rosebush (what I really wanted was a martini.).  It was called a Knock Out rose, but I called it the Knocked Up rosebush.  It had lovely pink roses and we planted it in our back yard in Kansas City.  In the moving chaos that ensued last year, I forgot to dig it up to bring it north with us.  I'm sure someone is enjoying my Knocked Up rosebush as I type this.  Or the ninja squirrels that lived in our back yard ate all the buds, in which case it's probably dead.  Either option is dismal.

Last year for mother's day - my first real Mother's Day, we were moving and our lives were less than stable.  Apparently, Uriah slipped Abby thirty bucks and told her to get me something nice.  I got a card and a small plant.  She pocketed the change (or should I say, she used the change on my gift and pocketed the rest.).  I tried not to be bitter about my husband totally phoning in Mother's Day last year - after all, I did give him a glorious son and I was actively assisting in the raising of his daughter, you'd think the least he could do was honor me for one day in the manner to which I am befit (you know, parade, marching band, ice sculpture made in my likeness. Simple stuff.), instead of passing it off on an eleven-year-old who (allegedly) was jonesing for some Grape Smackers chapstick.

I've learned my lesson, people.  This year will just be another normal Sunday since my husband will, once again, be busy feeding everyone else's mother.  No biggie; I'm used to it by now (but that doesn't stop me from complaining about it, obvs!).  I think I'll get some flowers and we'll do some planting if the weather holds.  If not...it'll probably be a movie/martini hot cocoa fest up in here and everyone will take naps.

If you're crapping your pants, just now realizing you have nothing for the mothers/grandmothers in your life and you want to do something thoughtful, or rather, you want your kids to do something thoughtful, may I suggest you have them paint some pots and then plant some flowers.  It's relatively cheap (terracotta pots at the Wals are less than $2, depending on what size you get.  All the acrylic paints I got were on clearance.) and the little planters can be used again for years to come (green points!).  We used two different sizes, bigger pots for Abby, baby-sized pots for Finn.  This project obviously took Abby a lot longer than Finn, she used a paintbrush and all, he just used his fingers.  After the paint was finished drying (I waited a couple of hours for Finn's, a little bit longer for Abby's.), I slapped some modge podge on those little suckers (the pots, not the kids), let them dry completely, and then put each kid's name and year on the bottom.  Abby got to plant the flowers and Finn got to water them.

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

 

Note: These were actually our Easter presents for the grandmas, but I think the craftiness works for Mother's Day, too.

Let's call this our dry run for the Bunny.

Last year I stumbled across a website that had the most vibrant dyed Easter eggs - and everything you needed to do to hollow out, dye and fill your own eggs for an Easter egg hunt.  Since I didn't have the time or the energy or, actually, come to think of it, my own house (we were in the process of packing and moving, so Easter was at my Mom's), I just read the post for it's recipe on how to dye eggs.  This year, however, I'm taking Easter to a whole new level.

I am going to make the eggs for our Easter egg hunt.  I did a trial run over the weekend to ensure that this was, in fact, going to be a feasible undertaking.  We all know that sometimes I get these grandiose ideas in my head, but fail at the executions (see: Finn's 1st Birthday Cake). However, this time was different. The process is a bit time consuming, it's not something that can be done in an hour or two, but I think the results are going to so much fun in a couple of weekends when we have a full-on Easter Egg Hunt in our back yard.

Step 1: Crack a small hole in the bottom of your eggs - or drill a small hole if you have a drill. I chose to use a pointy nut-cracker thing that I found in my junk drawer because: a) I wanted to be able to eat the eggs after I got them out of the shells and b) we don't own a teeny-tiny drill. I probably should have taken a picture of the eggs as I cracked and emptied them, but I didn't. Sorry.

Step 2:  Following the original instructions, empty the shells, clean them out of remaining egg matter and then boil the shells for 10 minutes to make sure they are good and clean and ready for your Easter fillings.  Allow the egg shells to dry completely.  Note: THE SHELLS ARE FRAGILE!  They will crack easily.  That's the point later on when the eggs are found and need to be cracked open to get the surprises out, but for now, be gentle!

Step 3: Following the original recipe, make your egg dyes.  Boiling water, vinegar and both regular and neon food coloring will do the trick.  After you've made your dyes, submerge one egg in each color.  The original recipe has soaking times for each color, as well, to get the optimal color.  I didn't really follow the time guidelines - mine were in longer, although for how long, I can't really say.  I sometimes don't pay attention to time.  Also, I was taking pictures.  Go figure.

Step 4: Allow your son to run around the back yard in just a diaper and some shoes.  If you're lucky, the neighbors will think nothing of you taking pictures of a bunch of colored jars and begging your half-nudie baby to "not touch!"  And yes, he's just beyond each shot, pointing and giggling.

Step 5: Continue to allow them to soak.  They get so much prettier the longer they soak.

Step 6: Remove eggs from dye when you think they've soaked enough.  I used a lone chopstick and my fingers to get the eggs out.  Place them on a cooling rack with a paper towel underneath so you don't stain your counters.  You want the air to circulate up into the bottom of the shells to dry out the inside, too, so if you don't have a cooling rack, you can let them dry in your empty egg carton, just flip them over when the outside is dry.  Allow them to dry completely.  I left mine out overnight.  This is where the time-consuming part of the project comes in.

Step 7: Fill the eggs.  I used pastel colored M&M's over the weekend (because I love peanut m&m's more than just about anything in the whole entire wide world), but I'll probably find some really small surprises to put in the eggs for our hunt.  To cover the bottom of the eggs after you've filled them, use small muffin papers.  Again...I forgot to take a picture - sorry.  I was having too much fun!  I found mini-white cupcake liners at the Wals-mart, I put a little glue around the bottom of my egg, near the hole, then attached the cupcake liner and put them back into the egg carton, paper side down, until the glue was dry.  Voila!  And we have eggs for a hunt.

Step 8: Hide the eggs and practice finding them.  I think he's got it down.

Big FUN plans this week:  Uriah's birthday is tomorrow!  (I love birthdays!).  We are also going to make some more eggs.  We are going to make some Bunny Bait.  We're going to try finger painting.  We are going to get some Easter books from the library.  And Abby has her first school dance.

If you'd like to see some more fun pictures, head over here to I Should Be Folding Laundry.  Last week I had such sweet comments left after participating in the black & white challenge, it made me smile every time I read something someone wrote!  I love that inspiring feeling!  Anyway, I have a feeling I will be adding fun pictures all week...like the two newest additions to our family that I will be sharing with you tomorrow!


Next week's challenge: White


See you later, alligators!

Last year I stumbled across a website that had the most vibrant dyed Easter eggs - and everything you needed to do to hollow out, dye and fill your own eggs for an Easter egg hunt.  Since I didn't have the time or the energy or, actually, come to think of it, my own house (we were in the process of packing and moving, so Easter was at my Mom's), I just read the post for it's recipe on how to dye eggs.  This year, however, I'm taking Easter to a whole new level.

I am going to make the eggs for our Easter egg hunt.  I did a trial run over the weekend to ensure that this was, in fact, going to be a feasible undertaking.  We all know that sometimes I get these grandiose ideas in my head, but fail at the executions (see: Finn's 1st Birthday Cake). However, this time was different. The process is a bit time consuming, it's not something that can be done in an hour or two, but I think the results are going to so much fun in a couple of weekends when we have a full-on Easter Egg Hunt in our back yard.

Step 1: Crack a small hole in the bottom of your eggs - or drill a small hole if you have a drill. I chose to use a pointy nut-cracker thing that I found in my junk drawer because: a) I wanted to be able to eat the eggs after I got them out of the shells and b) we don't own a teeny-tiny drill. I probably should have taken a picture of the eggs as I cracked and emptied them, but I didn't. Sorry.

Step 2:  Following the original instructions, empty the shells, clean them out of remaining egg matter and then boil the shells for 10 minutes to make sure they are good and clean and ready for your Easter fillings.  Allow the egg shells to dry completely.  Note: THE SHELLS ARE FRAGILE!  They will crack easily.  That's the point later on when the eggs are found and need to be cracked open to get the surprises out, but for now, be gentle!

Step 3: Following the original recipe, make your egg dyes.  Boiling water, vinegar and both regular and neon food coloring will do the trick.  After you've made your dyes, submerge one egg in each color.  The original recipe has soaking times for each color, as well, to get the optimal color.  I didn't really follow the time guidelines - mine were in longer, although for how long, I can't really say.  I sometimes don't pay attention to time.  Also, I was taking pictures.  Go figure.

Step 4: Allow your son to run around the back yard in just a diaper and some shoes.  If you're lucky, the neighbors will think nothing of you taking pictures of a bunch of colored jars and begging your half-nudie baby to "not touch!"  And yes, he's just beyond each shot, pointing and giggling.

Step 5: Continue to allow them to soak.  They get so much prettier the longer they soak.

Step 6: Remove eggs from dye when you think they've soaked enough.  I used a lone chopstick and my fingers to get the eggs out.  Place them on a cooling rack with a paper towel underneath so you don't stain your counters.  You want the air to circulate up into the bottom of the shells to dry out the inside, too, so if you don't have a cooling rack, you can let them dry in your empty egg carton, just flip them over when the outside is dry.  Allow them to dry completely.  I left mine out overnight.  This is where the time-consuming part of the project comes in.

Step 7: Fill the eggs.  I used pastel colored M&M's over the weekend (because I love peanut m&m's more than just about anything in the whole entire wide world), but I'll probably find some really small surprises to put in the eggs for our hunt.  To cover the bottom of the eggs after you've filled them, use small muffin papers.  Again...I forgot to take a picture - sorry.  I was having too much fun!  I found mini-white cupcake liners at the Wals-mart, I put a little glue around the bottom of my egg, near the hole, then attached the cupcake liner and put them back into the egg carton, paper side down, until the glue was dry.  Voila!  And we have eggs for a hunt.

Step 8: Hide the eggs and practice finding them.  I think he's got it down.

Big FUN plans this week:  Uriah's birthday is tomorrow!  (I love birthdays!).  We are also going to make some more eggs.  We are going to make some Bunny Bait.  We're going to try finger painting.  We are going to get some Easter books from the library.  And Abby has her first school dance.

If you'd like to see some more fun pictures, head over here to I Should Be Folding Laundry.  Last week I had such sweet comments left after participating in the black & white challenge, it made me smile every time I read something someone wrote!  I love that inspiring feeling!  Anyway, I have a feeling I will be adding fun pictures all week...like the two newest additions to our family that I will be sharing with you tomorrow!


Next week's challenge: White


See you later, alligators!

14 Days of Valentines (Part 2)

Uriah and I are not really very good at keeping secrets from each other, which I guess is a good thing, unless of course, we want to give each other a gift.  I am usually so excited when I come up with a good idea (and more often than not, my ideas are stellar!) that I want to give the gift right away.  Waiting for the actual date seems like a waste of time.  After discussing our inability to keep our respective mouths shut over coffee this morning, we each told the other what our Valentine's gifts were.  We couldn't even be bothered to wait 10 hours until dinner tonight.

We are having our Valentine's date tonight, since tomorrow night Uriah will be taking care of all of the lucky couples who don't work in the food and beverage industry and have, therefore, secured a babysitter and a reservation at his restaurant.  We are putting our kids to bed early (yeah!  My favorite gift!), making gigantic steaks and crab claws and asparagus (because we're healthy, too.) and watching a movie.  No curfew, no baby-sitter fees, no limit on the wine consumption.  And also, because I love him, I made Uriah creme brulee - a perfect date, I must say.

I will still give him the card that I picked out, even though he already knows the gift that will be inside.

Here are the rest of the Valentine's from our 14 Days of Valentines.
If you'd like to see the first 8 days of our 14 Days of Valentines, you can go here.

Happy Monday, friends!

{February 9 | Starbursts for Abby; Green Lantern Little Person for Finn}

{February 10 | Orbits gum for Abby; book for Finn}

{February 11 | Almond Joy for Abby; book for Finn}

{February 12 | Snickers candy bar for Abby; Superman Little Person for Finn}

{February 13 | Valentine's socks for Abby; swim trunks for Finn}

The combo card was supposed to be for the day that I missed; Abby was going to get a bag of Combos and I'm not even sure what Finn was going to get - maybe some more goldfish crackers?  My creativity was starting to wane a bit.  Tomorrow, instead of getting the day that I missed, they'll get actual Valentine's Day cards and their last (slightly larger) treat. 

Uriah and I are not really very good at keeping secrets from each other, which I guess is a good thing, unless of course, we want to give each other a gift.  I am usually so excited when I come up with a good idea (and more often than not, my ideas are stellar!) that I want to give the gift right away.  Waiting for the actual date seems like a waste of time.  After discussing our inability to keep our respective mouths shut over coffee this morning, we each told the other what our Valentine's gifts were.  We couldn't even be bothered to wait 10 hours until dinner tonight.

We are having our Valentine's date tonight, since tomorrow night Uriah will be taking care of all of the lucky couples who don't work in the food and beverage industry and have, therefore, secured a babysitter and a reservation at his restaurant.  We are putting our kids to bed early (yeah!  My favorite gift!), making gigantic steaks and crab claws and asparagus (because we're healthy, too.) and watching a movie.  No curfew, no baby-sitter fees, no limit on the wine consumption.  And also, because I love him, I made Uriah creme brulee - a perfect date, I must say.

I will still give him the card that I picked out, even though he already knows the gift that will be inside.

Here are the rest of the Valentine's from our 14 Days of Valentines.
If you'd like to see the first 8 days of our 14 Days of Valentines, you can go here.

Happy Monday, friends!

{February 9 | Starbursts for Abby; Green Lantern Little Person for Finn}

{February 10 | Orbits gum for Abby; book for Finn}

{February 11 | Almond Joy for Abby; book for Finn}

{February 12 | Snickers candy bar for Abby; Superman Little Person for Finn}

{February 13 | Valentine's socks for Abby; swim trunks for Finn}

The combo card was supposed to be for the day that I missed; Abby was going to get a bag of Combos and I'm not even sure what Finn was going to get - maybe some more goldfish crackers?  My creativity was starting to wane a bit.  Tomorrow, instead of getting the day that I missed, they'll get actual Valentine's Day cards and their last (slightly larger) treat. 

14 Days of Valentines

 Last month I decided to do something little for the kids for the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day and we are currently about half-way through 14 Days of Valentine's.  For once, I decided to do something that required some planning and forethought and I've managed to accomplish it!  Each morning the kids wake up to a small treat and a small Valentine - I created the cards and then had them printed them on wallet sized pictures at the Wals-Mart rather than buying a bunch of Valentine's.  Plus, this way I could created my Valentine's to compliment their treat...it's lost on Finneaus this year, but Abby gets it and she looks forward to each morning to see what we've left out for her.  

For the record, so far, I've only missed one day...not because I missed it, but because I forgot.  I guess that means that day 14 will be super special because they'll have double the Valentine's!

{February 1 | Donut Holes}

{Day 2 | Animal Crackers}

{February 3 | Stickers}

{February 4 | Goldfish Crackers}

{February 6 | Magazine for Abby, book for Finn}

{February 7 | Apple Juice boxes}

{February 8 | Pens for Abby, Crayons for Finn}

 Last month I decided to do something little for the kids for the 14 days leading up to Valentine's Day and we are currently about half-way through 14 Days of Valentine's.  For once, I decided to do something that required some planning and forethought and I've managed to accomplish it!  Each morning the kids wake up to a small treat and a small Valentine - I created the cards and then had them printed them on wallet sized pictures at the Wals-Mart rather than buying a bunch of Valentine's.  Plus, this way I could created my Valentine's to compliment their treat...it's lost on Finneaus this year, but Abby gets it and she looks forward to each morning to see what we've left out for her.  

For the record, so far, I've only missed one day...not because I missed it, but because I forgot.  I guess that means that day 14 will be super special because they'll have double the Valentine's!

{February 1 | Donut Holes}

{Day 2 | Animal Crackers}

{February 3 | Stickers}

{February 4 | Goldfish Crackers}

{February 6 | Magazine for Abby, book for Finn}

{February 7 | Apple Juice boxes}

{February 8 | Pens for Abby, Crayons for Finn}