Easter Prep

Baking eggs is all the rage on Pinterest these days, so I thought I'd give it a try for our Easter eggs this year. 325 for 30 minutes. Muffin tin optional, but it really makes the most sense. I decided to throw in a few brown eggs this year too to see what would happen with the dyes.

After baking they had a 10 minute cooling bath and into the fridge they went, awaiting their fate.

This maniac being their fate.

But as maniacal as he was to get the process started, once we dove in he was calm and gentle with the eggs and really concentrated on what he was doing.

Noah wasn't really sure what was going on.

But he was happy to be part of the process.

Matthew dipped carefully (I was shocked really, I was expecting large splashes!).

And he made a plan for every egg.

I think they came out pretty nice.

Even Noah's "blob o' stickers" eggs are pretty darn good looking.

As are Matthew's "I want to use ALL the stickers" eggs.

And I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised about how nicely the brown eggs turned out (I left them in the dyes for about 5 minutes to get these colors).

I would call today's Easter project a total success!

Wordless Wednesday: A trip to grandad and nana's

 

 

First score of the season

Tag sale season is getting close. We had our first taste of it today at the annual Children's Tag Sale at the local Elks Club (a local moms club rents out the club and it's sort of a multi-family tag sale). We've had luck at this sale before, but I have to say I was disappointed this year with their toys - a lot of dirty stuffed animals and old toys that weren't in very good shape. The few things that were nice were insanely overpriced - small Lego sets for $15 (I can get them cheaper new at Target!). But, we did score one great deal on Matthew's latest obsession - Skylanders.

Skylanders are an expensive habit. The figures sell for $10-15 a piece at places like Target, Walmart, etc. Then there are a bunch of accessories and game pieces that run $20 and up. We've snagged some on sale and when I've had store coupons. When we told Matthew we were going to the Elks sale today he asked "If there are Skylanders there, can we buy them?" - I told him of course we could. I figured we'd come home empty handed. When we got to the sale Matthew spotted them - a bag full of them.

We scored a wireless Wii portal, a carrying case, and 18 figures. All for only $40. The carrying case alone retails for $20. Plus, all the little figure cards and game codes were in the bag, as well as a collector's poster.

The woman who rang us up made a face as if she couldn't believe the small bag of stuff I brought to her had a $40 price tag on it (like I was crazy!). Obviously she has never bought a Skylander before - this was the deal of the century! Matthew is one happy camper.

I hope the rest of the season goes as well!

Bunny Hop

The bunny arrived at the mall this weekend. Both boys were pretty excited about it. Matthew even made up a dance for the occasion.

The photo session started out pretty good. Both boys were in a good mood but for some reason we couldn't capture two smiles at the same time. I had the photographer keep trying. And trying. And trying.

But after a few minutes, Matthew got distracted (shocking, I know). First he wanted to high-five the bunny.

Then he wanted to check out his tie.

Then there were a series of silly faces, leg-kicking pictures. Then Noah gave up - and when Noah gives up, he lets everyone know about it.

So, in the end, I chose the one picture where both boys are smiling and looking at the camera. Sure, they were both squiggling and Matthew has sort of a half-pucker going on, but I'll take what I can get!

Winter is hanging on...

We're supposed to get some sort of weather "event" tomorrow night into Wednesday. Or Wednesday into Thursday. The forecasters can't nail down a day, or even what exactly we might get, so they're all just saying a "wintry mix" which means it'll be cold, rainy, icy, and/or snowy. Any way you look at it, it's winters way of hanging on just a little bit longer. That's March in New York for you.

But I'm doing my best to cheer spring on - the get Mother Nature motivated to change our wintry fate. How you ask? By decorating of course. How can Old Man Winter resist the charms of felt pastel eggs.

And little chicks I bought at the dollar store and have named Matthew & Noah.

The boys are getting in on the act too - Noah proudly wears his ears at home.

We've even been watching springy movies - we just got Peter Cottontail. You can head on over to Simply Stacie to check out my review and enter to win a copy for yourself.

Hopefully all the forecasts are wrong. I want to wake up tomorrow and have Linda Church on channel 11 tell me that it's all been a big misunderstanding and that we're going to heat up to the 50s and 60s over the next few days. It won't happen, but I can always hold on to hope!

Spring is in the air...

There's something special about changing the calendar to March here in NY. It gives me hope that spring is truly on its way (regardless of what those little rats predict each February). The days are getting longer. It's a tad bit warmer. Come of spring!!

In the meantime, while we wait, there's always funny stuff on Pinterest to look at!