Today we had a few friends over for an Easter egg hunt. Before we bought this house we had always met up with friends or family at a park to do egg hunts, but this is our second year doing it at home instead. Our yard is perfect for this sort of thing, and we were all excited to see our friends. Unfortunately I didn't realize that so many people would have plans the day before Easter, so our gathering was smaller than I had expected (we had stuffed a LOT of plastic eggs with candy)! But that actually turned out to be a good thing, because we got to spend some quality time with the people that were able to join us.
In the morning the kids and I made chocolate and coconut birds nests while Matthew worked on deviled eggs:
I had found a recipe for the nests online, and thought they would be fun to make with the kids. They were simple to put together, and tasted delicious! I will share the recipe at the end of this post, I want to save it for next year!
It has been raining heavily all week long, and the forecast wasn't looking good for any outdoor activities. We totally lucked out though because right when everyone arrived, the sun came out from behind the clouds and we had a few minutes of dry sunny weather. We rushed outside and hid the eggs in the backyard while the kids waited so patiently in the front:
And then it was on! Matthew opened the gate and the kids made a mad dash for the eggs:
Rowan was so cute, she would giggle to herself every time she found an egg. She was so excited!
As usual, the kids found all the eggs in less time than it took the adults to hide them! The rain had started up again, so we all headed inside and got a place set up for the kids. They immediately got down to the serious business of candy negotiations and trades:
It was fun to see them so excited as they opened each egg. While they were doing that, all of the grown ups headed into the kitchen for some snacks and conversation. I realized again as we were standing around the kitchen laughing and joking that we are so incredibly lucky to have such amazing people in our lives. We have some really good friends :)
Later in the day after everyone had left and we had eaten dinner, we sat down together to dye some eggs. I had originally planned on doing natural Easter egg dyes this year, but we just never got around to getting the supplies. Plus, the farm eggs we buy are brown, so I didn't know how well they would color up with the more muted tones of the natural dyes. So instead we chose the lightest of our brown eggs, and a egg coloring kit and got to work. We put a dye tablet, vinegar and water in each cup and found that two eggs would fit at a time. The kids monitored the eggs and stirred them occasionally.
We left them in for a long time, and I was happy with the results:
They had such beautiful jewel tones, I liked them much better than the bright colors that you get with white eggs. When the eggs were done it was time for bed for the kids, they were anxious to wake up in the morning and see what the Easter bunny had brought them!
Bird's Nest Recipe
*****
Reading the comments after the recipe (here) we added one cup of mini marshmallows to the rest of the ingredients in the saucepan. The nests held together really well, so I think that it helped. Instead of unflavored rice cereal we used EnviroKidz peanut butter koala krisps cereal, which added even more peanut butter flavor to our nests. Yum!
In the morning the kids and I made chocolate and coconut birds nests while Matthew worked on deviled eggs:
I had found a recipe for the nests online, and thought they would be fun to make with the kids. They were simple to put together, and tasted delicious! I will share the recipe at the end of this post, I want to save it for next year!
It has been raining heavily all week long, and the forecast wasn't looking good for any outdoor activities. We totally lucked out though because right when everyone arrived, the sun came out from behind the clouds and we had a few minutes of dry sunny weather. We rushed outside and hid the eggs in the backyard while the kids waited so patiently in the front:
And then it was on! Matthew opened the gate and the kids made a mad dash for the eggs:
Rowan was so cute, she would giggle to herself every time she found an egg. She was so excited!
As usual, the kids found all the eggs in less time than it took the adults to hide them! The rain had started up again, so we all headed inside and got a place set up for the kids. They immediately got down to the serious business of candy negotiations and trades:
It was fun to see them so excited as they opened each egg. While they were doing that, all of the grown ups headed into the kitchen for some snacks and conversation. I realized again as we were standing around the kitchen laughing and joking that we are so incredibly lucky to have such amazing people in our lives. We have some really good friends :)
Later in the day after everyone had left and we had eaten dinner, we sat down together to dye some eggs. I had originally planned on doing natural Easter egg dyes this year, but we just never got around to getting the supplies. Plus, the farm eggs we buy are brown, so I didn't know how well they would color up with the more muted tones of the natural dyes. So instead we chose the lightest of our brown eggs, and a egg coloring kit and got to work. We put a dye tablet, vinegar and water in each cup and found that two eggs would fit at a time. The kids monitored the eggs and stirred them occasionally.
We left them in for a long time, and I was happy with the results:
They had such beautiful jewel tones, I liked them much better than the bright colors that you get with white eggs. When the eggs were done it was time for bed for the kids, they were anxious to wake up in the morning and see what the Easter bunny had brought them!
Bird's Nest Recipe
Ingredients:
- 3 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup flaked coconut
- 1/3 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 40 jellybeans
Directions
- In a medium bowl, stir together the crispy rice cereal and coconut. In a large saucepan, combine corn syrup, brown sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat, and stir in the coconut and cereal mixture until it is well coated. Set the mixture aside until cool enough to handle.
- Form the mixture into balls, then make an indention in the center so that they look like little bird nests. Place two or three jelly beans into each nest.
Reading the comments after the recipe (here) we added one cup of mini marshmallows to the rest of the ingredients in the saucepan. The nests held together really well, so I think that it helped. Instead of unflavored rice cereal we used EnviroKidz peanut butter koala krisps cereal, which added even more peanut butter flavor to our nests. Yum!