Small Footprints: Easter Festivities

I must say, each Easter seems to get a little more fun as the kids get older. When Rita Clare was younger (much like how Tyler is now), she really didn't understand too much about what was going on, nor could she participate in the ways she did this year.

Highlight #1: Dyeing & decorating the eggs. Next year, I'm going to have Rita Clare help me make the natural dyes. This year, I lacked confidence in whether it would actually turn out, she's notorious for making decisions without checking in with me first, and her attention span would have died out before we actually started dyeing the eggs. Much like cooking in peace (when both kids actually nap at the same time), making the natural dyes was quite fun and adventurous. I used some leftover red cabbage (blue/purple color), beets (pink), and turmeric (yellow-gold). I tried mixing a couple to make different shades but it didn't work out that well. (Maybe next year, I'll double my quantities of the primary colors and work with it)

After cooking the color into the water/vinegar, I poured the contents through a strainer. If I had strained it with a cheesecloth, I wouldn't have had any specking of the eggs. Honestly though, I kinda liked it speckled! At that point, I was ready to set up the dyeing station. The stress level was low because I had it all prepped before Rita Clare came out from her nap. Tyler sat up at the table and watched, while eating an undyed egg. Both the kids (and actually Brian and I too) have been eating a ton of hard boiled eggs recently. Some mornings, Tyler will eat two in one sitting! Here are a couple pics of the dyeing process:

Red Cabbage

All three cooking at the same time

Presto!

Highlight #2: Setting out everything from the Easter Bunny. This year, I progressively picked things up. I especially was excited for the opportunity to support a few local businesses in our gifts: Little Speckled Frog, Happy Little Monkey, Handmade Natural Wooden Gifts, Earth Fare, One Week Boutique, and a local vendor (I can't remember now) from Spring Time Tallahassee. This year, I wanted quality rather than quantity. Brian still thinks I went a little overboard (and I probably did) but many are the gifts that will bring us quality time together as a family. Here's what it looked like before I turned out the lights last night:

Highlight #3: Little moments in the early morning. As neat is it the moment they come out to look at everything, it is usually immediately followed by a craze that I have a hard time handling. This is especially because I am always woken up earlier than normal and have not had my first cup of coffee. Despite all that and some of the greed that is in there, there were a few memorable moments I'm glad I captured:

Tyler secretly swiped Rita Clare's chocolate & decided to help himself to it. When caught, he started laughing as thought he knew what he'd done and was proud of it!

Rita Clare wanted to ice the cinnamon rolls "all by myself". She'd ice one roll, lick off the knife and move on the the next one. I just couldn't bring myself to throw away the dye at that point, so I actually dyed the icing lavender.

Highlight#4: Easter Egg Hunt with family & friends. We were fortunate enough to be able to do our egg hunt with some other like-minded friends at Lichgate. I take this space for granted....it's stunning! It was so low key and most of the eggs weren't loaded with more candy. We put temporary tattoos in ours as our contribution.

Honestly though, Tyler was a major highlight of the egg hunt. It was his first official "hunt" where he could put it in his basket and look for the eggs. I was surprised how quickly he caught on. It was adorable. I have a video I made too. Maybe I'll post it on facebook, since it's too cute to keep to myself. :o)

Entering the Enchanted Space

Sister & Brother Love

Satisfied with a full basket

Priceless. This was his first egg.

Final Highlight: Baby birds on our back porch were born and set free this weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good picture but this was such an awesome experience. A finch nest was made on our screened in porch and the last few days, we knew the eggs had hatched. We'd hear their little chirping and the many rounds of food their parents made keeping their little bellies full. But yesterday, they all left the nest and flew for the first time...all over our screened in back porch. I couldn't believe how large they were for only being a couple days old. Their little fuzzy heads and vulnerable state kept Rita Clare and I watching them from our window. It was an honor to witness their freedom and how we helped protect their nest as they grew into being.