The kids have been talking about Easter for months, and spending a lot of time debating and agonizing over what they were going to ask the Easter bunny for. Well, Rowan did anyways - Killian spent a lot of time thinking about what he was going to ask US to get him for Easter...after he announced that he didn't believe in the Easter bunny anymore. Its kind of sad to see him stop believing, but I guess its inevitable that it will happen. I just would have liked him to hold onto that youthful innocence a little longer!
They ended up deciding to ask for Pokemon (since Killian and his friends like these little trading cards, Rowan has taken a big interest in them too) and they each wanted another Webkinz. Those things are like crack for kids, I swear! Each stuffed animal comes with a code that you can enter online and the POOF!...suddenly your little animal is online and you can dress it, and take it to the playground and even have it grow a garden - which I am pleased to say both kids did and they are enjoying bumper crops of all sorts of veggies. :)
The Easter bunny (and mom and dad) listened, and they each got what they asked for plus another small toy. They were beside themselves with excitement Easter morning!
They spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys, and of course, stuffing themselves with candy. They didn't get that much in their baskets, but since they rarely get any sort of candy they were pretty overjoyed at the sight of all that sugar. Matthew had to work all afternoon and evening, so he got the fun of watching them open their gifts, and none of the enjoyment of watching two kids who have OD'ed on sugar bouncing around the house all day!
I totally slacked on dying Easter eggs, and we didn't even start the project until well into the afternoon on Easter. The kids really didn't care either way, they were too busy trading Pokemon, but I had already bought all the supplies and had a surplus of eggs to use up in the fridge. We did natural dyes this year, and I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I think they are much prettier than eggs that have soaked in those yucky chemical dye packets!
Left to right; Coffee, Onion skins, Turmeric and Red Cabbage:
Our happy eggs taking colorful baths:
And the finished product!
The blue ones are from the cabbage, the dark orange from the onion skins, the light brown and dark brown from coffee, and the dark yellow eggs at the bottom are from the turmeric dye. I loved the colors, but I think they would have been a lot brighter had I thought of using white eggs. But our farmer friend who we buy eggs from only has chickens that lay brown eggs (which I think are prettier with their natural speckles and spots than white eggs would be even with dye) so that's what we used. Since we now know they work and produce such pretty results, I am looking forward to branching out next year and trying even more dyes and colorants.
Even though we didn't get to spend the whole day with Matthew we made the best of it and the kids and I had a lot of fun. And Matthew isn't going to miss out on the experience entirely....I had the kids save some of their candy to eat when daddy is home to enjoy it too. Grin.
They ended up deciding to ask for Pokemon (since Killian and his friends like these little trading cards, Rowan has taken a big interest in them too) and they each wanted another Webkinz. Those things are like crack for kids, I swear! Each stuffed animal comes with a code that you can enter online and the POOF!...suddenly your little animal is online and you can dress it, and take it to the playground and even have it grow a garden - which I am pleased to say both kids did and they are enjoying bumper crops of all sorts of veggies. :)
The Easter bunny (and mom and dad) listened, and they each got what they asked for plus another small toy. They were beside themselves with excitement Easter morning!
They spent the rest of the day playing with their new toys, and of course, stuffing themselves with candy. They didn't get that much in their baskets, but since they rarely get any sort of candy they were pretty overjoyed at the sight of all that sugar. Matthew had to work all afternoon and evening, so he got the fun of watching them open their gifts, and none of the enjoyment of watching two kids who have OD'ed on sugar bouncing around the house all day!
I totally slacked on dying Easter eggs, and we didn't even start the project until well into the afternoon on Easter. The kids really didn't care either way, they were too busy trading Pokemon, but I had already bought all the supplies and had a surplus of eggs to use up in the fridge. We did natural dyes this year, and I am pretty pleased with how they turned out. I think they are much prettier than eggs that have soaked in those yucky chemical dye packets!
Left to right; Coffee, Onion skins, Turmeric and Red Cabbage:
Our happy eggs taking colorful baths:
And the finished product!
The blue ones are from the cabbage, the dark orange from the onion skins, the light brown and dark brown from coffee, and the dark yellow eggs at the bottom are from the turmeric dye. I loved the colors, but I think they would have been a lot brighter had I thought of using white eggs. But our farmer friend who we buy eggs from only has chickens that lay brown eggs (which I think are prettier with their natural speckles and spots than white eggs would be even with dye) so that's what we used. Since we now know they work and produce such pretty results, I am looking forward to branching out next year and trying even more dyes and colorants.
Even though we didn't get to spend the whole day with Matthew we made the best of it and the kids and I had a lot of fun. And Matthew isn't going to miss out on the experience entirely....I had the kids save some of their candy to eat when daddy is home to enjoy it too. Grin.