Easter Eggs

One day while perusing Facebook I found a link to a fun, different way to dye Easter Eggs.  I wasn't sure if it was a hoax but figured we didn't have anything to lose and if they didn't turn out we'd dye them the old fashioned way.  

First up, the boys were told to take off their shirts.  If the sight of nakey boy tummies bothers you stop reading right now.  I wasn't about to let them ruin their shirts with food coloring - that stuff stains and doesn't come out!

So, the recipe was to use either shave cream or whipped cream in the bottom of a dish or cookie sheet then to drip drops of food coloring over the top.  Then you use a straw to swirl that around - don't mix it because you want to see all the different colors.  I used whipped cream because it's edible.  Take your hard boiled eggs, set them down in the fluff and carefully roll it over so all sides have been covered.  Let them sit for 10 minutes then rinse them off.  That's it! Easy peasy!

This was a tiny bit messy on the fingers but what kid doesn't love a little mess making?

I like that this was something Tate could do.  I think those typical dyes are too liquidy for a rambunctious 3 year old. :)

Here are ours sitting in the goop 'resting'.  The more you do the more the coloring gets mixed together but it worked pretty well for a dozen eggs.

And here they are all rinsed off.  This picture doesn't do them justice - they were much brighter and more brilliant than this.

You can see one clearer here and this is more true to how they looked.  We waited 15 minutes for our second batch and they didn't seem any brighter than the 10 minute batch.

This was a fun, easy way to decorate eggs this year and the boys had fun doing it. Win win!

Spring Break Fun

While the world was off going to warm, exotic locations for their Spring Break, we headed over to our local farm store and checked out the baby chicks.  :)

Tenley was curious about the chicks from the get-go.  She had no fear and was ready to get out of the cart almost immediately.

Tate loved watching the chicks running around their cages.  He wasn't afraid to get nose to beak with them.

The big boys loved showing the little two the chicks and baby ducks.  They were so helpful lifting them up to see the higher cages.

 

These lower cages were perfect for Tate and Tenley.  They had no problem squatting down to look inside.

No, it wasn't any place tropical or with amazing sights for seeing but my kiddos sure did love their trip to the farm store!

 Linking up with Justine and her co-hosts for Tuesday Talk.

Life Lately || Tuesday Talk

Hello!  Here's a little of what's been going on around here lately...

Last week we had a weather system come through that had extremely high winds, gusts topping 70mph.  The tornado sirens went off in town, not because of a tornado just because of the high winds and the danger that brings.  The kids were all in bed when the alarms went off so Andy and I each grabbed a baby and headed to the basement where the big boys were sleeping.  Tate stayed asleep the whole time but Tenley thought it was party time and ran amuck in the basement.  Finally the winds died down, we got the all clear signal and got everyone back in the bed.  The next morning I was doing my usual routine of getting the babe's their sippy cups of milk and happened to glance out the kitchen window. What did I see? A part of our fence laying over on the neighbors fence! Oh no!  After checking it out we determined there was no damage to the neighbors fence (phew!) but ours would have to come down and a new one built.  Ugh.

Since then we have torn that fence down and started pricing out how much a new fence will cost us.  What a bummer!

Aiden has been working hard on perfecting a solo for the 5th/6th grade band solo contest.  He did so well, we were so proud of him!  He received a I rating, only one rating lower than the best which is a I+ - can't complain about that on his first go round!

While he was warming up for his solo we let the little three run the halls of the high school. We found some pretty neat murals painted on the walls from what I believe were past students.  I enjoyed them more than the kids did but they were nice enough to stop for quick pictures.

Two cuties reading books together on the couch.  I love seeing this (and the 2 minutes of quiet it brings to the house)!

With Andy's parent's recent move to a retirement cottage and all of the downsizing and purging they did we were the recipients of a few treasures.  Did any of you have these melty beads back in the day? I was forever designing and ironing 'drink holders' and what not's.  It was fun showing these two the ropes.  And it kept them busy for 15 minutes while I was cooking supper!

Meanwhile, Tenley was picking out what she wants to plant in the garden this Spring.  She loves looking at my seed catalogs, it cracks me up!

I went stamping over the weekend and these are the cards I made.  It's always fun being creative but making the mess at someone else's house.

We met up with some friends for supper Saturday night.  I grabbed my camera to get a picture of the two little girls but I think I said "I want a picture of these two cuties" so these two guys cozied up for a picture of 'the two cuties'. Ha, yea right guys!

Here are the real two cuties!  Ainsley and Tenley.  Tenley was fascinated with Ainsley's head - I think she got that from Tate because he couldn't stop petting Ainsley's head!

I guess this is the only way to watch Daniel Tiger these days. :)  And check out that sweet little girl in the background taking care of her dollies!

That's life lately around here!  Busy busy busy.

I'm linking up with Justine for Tuesday Talk

Springtime On The Farm

Who doesn't love Springtime on the farm? All the sweet, new babies being born. Things are greening up. The air is fresh and clean.  Aww, love it!

This past weekend we went out to my parent's farm to see some of their new baby lambs.  Last week in Iowa we had AMAZING weather!  Highs in the 50's and 60's, even hit 70's one day!  Then Thursday things changed, we had a system come through with rain and snow and the temps dropped back down to the 20's.  And guess what - sheep started dropping their lambs like crazy!  In one day/night my dad had 2 sets of triplets, 4 sets of doubles and 1 single - that's craziness right there!  Out of a herd of 50 ewes that's quite a percentage at once!

Sunday morning we got everyone's muck boots on and headed to the farm.  What's not to love about kiddos in much boots? :)

Here's my mom picking out a baby from one of the pens in this barn.  They have the sheep spread out between two barns and 2 old hog lots.  The ewes who are lambing are in the two barns.

Aiden's an old pro with the sheep now. :)

Aiden held the baby while Andy held MY baby so she could meet her first little lamb.  She wasn't afraid, maybe a tad hesitant, but she stuck her cute little pointer finger out and touched that little lamb's nose.

This one was one of a set of triplets.  He was the runt of the litter and oh my was he tiny for a lamb!  His body was the size of a piglet!  But look at those long legs!

Tate needed a little coaxing (and a bucket to stand on) but he finally got close enough to pet a lamb.  He gave it three little pets then said "I'm done."  He was content looking on from a few feet away.

This momma and her babes look like little calves with their coloring!

And look at this 'deer sheep'!  Unusual coloring for my parent's flock.

This sheep is one of my dad's "old girls".  She is fairly tame, especially if my dad has a bucket of corn! Just look at her eating out of the bucket my dad's holding!

Then the rest of the sheep in that pen got wind of what was happening and came running over - they wanted corn, too, but weren't willing to get that close to us to get some.

We moved on to one of the old hog lots to see the older lambs that were born in December. My dad doesn't usually have ewes lambing at various times throughout the year, they all lamb in Feb/March but he had bought a dozen or so ewes from someone and they were already bred, thus the Christmas lambs.

Tate said "These sheepies need fed, Papa." So Papa fed 'these sheepies'.

Papa and Tenley <3

I love this boy!  I can't believe Aiden will be 11 this summer.

Time to haul these "sheep" away!

This pictured I love.  Tate told Papa the sheep needed fed so Dad took off to get a bucket of corn.  Tate took off after him.  If you wind the clock back 32 years this is what you'd see - Dad walking to do chores with me trailing along behind him.  Oh the good old days, I miss them.  I'm glad my kids get to experience a tiny bit of what I did on the farm.  And I'm glad my little kiddos love my Dad as much as I do, he's quite the Papa!

Life on the farm, doesn't get much better than that!

Birthday Weekend Rewind

Oh Monday, why did you have to come so soon?

It was a great weekend for the most part.  It would have been a wonderful weekend had Andy not been sick all Saturday.  Because of that we cancelled our plans to go out that night for my birthday.  We'll try it again soon.

Saturday morning, my birthday, was pretty relaxing.  Andy made me cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we lounged around watching Rick Steves on TV.  Does anyone else out there love watching his travel show?  He has such a relaxing way about him.  Anyway, we watched Rick while Andy ran to the bathroom every 20 minutes.  I'm not even exaggerating.  He felt fine aside from the frequent bathroom trips.  We knew there was no way he was leaving the house like that, though, so we had a quick, easy lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches and I left at 11:30 with Aiden and Brennan for Aiden's last basketball tournament of the year while Andy and the babes stayed home.

At the tournament my sister came to watch so we were there kid-less since Aiden was playing and Bren was off with his buddies playing their tablets.  It was fun getting to catch up with her for 3 hours!  Sadly Aiden's team lost all three of their games.  Aiden gave it his all, ran his tail off and was hustling like a pro and that's all I can ask for - well, that and him having fun which he did.

The last game of the tournament and the season was played against his buddies, the other 5th grade team from our school.  Such a bummer but I think they actually all had fun playing each other!  The parents, on the other hand, did not enjoy it.  It's just not fun watching friends compete against each other.  The gym was pretty quiet through the whole game except for clapping after baskets made or when a kid was subbed out of the game.  It was a fun afternoon of ball but now we move on to soccer in two weeks.

We got home around 4 and stayed home the rest of the night.  We hung out watching TV and playing toys.  Because he knows how much I love it, Brennan grabbed my brush and brushed my hair for my birthday for an hour!  It was pure bliss!  Aiden jumped in for 15 minutes while Bren took his shower and brushed again for 45 minutes Sunday.  So sweet of them!

Sunday morning we picked up the house, had breakfast and headed out to my parent's farm to see the new baby lambs.  Tenley was hesitant but still reached right out to touch the lamb's nose.  No kisses for the babies but she did blow a kiss once to them.

 Tate was much more hesitant than Tenley.  He stood back a few feet until Gramma Jeannie held his hand and walked him up to them.  And then he just pet it a couple times before saying he was done.  :)

Brennan has finally gotten over his fear of the sheep thanks to Aiden's 4H sheep last summer!  Yay!  He walked through the barn no problem and didn't run when the momma's came to the fence.

Aiden is an old pro at this point and asked a lot of questions.  He held the lamb's for Tenley and Tate to see.

After we left the farm we headed to town to stop by Andy's folks' new house. We stayed for about 15 minutes then the kids all got too crazy so time to head out.  Because we didn't go out for supper for my birthday we stopped by my favorite pizza place in town and grabbed a pizza to go.

The rest of Sunday was spent coloring...

building puzzles...

hiding under blankets...

taking naps...

making my birthday cake (a day late because he wasn't feeling good the day before)...

and folding laundry...

We laid low Sunday evening, got showers and baths and went to bed early to prepare for the week ahead.  It was a great birthday weekend and the kids and Andy made me feel special from the minute I woke up Saturday to the minute I went to bed Sunday.  They sang me Happy Birthday a number of times, gave me lots of hugs and kisses, made me my cake and just helped around the house.  I have an amazing squad!

Here's to another week!