If she had the proper words to say,

I can't wait for the next 40 minutes or so to pass! One of our favorite shows, White Collar returns to television tonight. In addition, we'll also be recording Parenthood on another channel. I'm ready for some Matt Bomer, though. :-D

I forgot to mention an exciting find on Sunday when I ran to the commissary for this meal plan. As Jack and I were picking onions, I noticed there were TONS of the dry skins all over the bin. We grabbed an extra plastic veggie bag and loaded up! This way, I won't have to buy nearly so many onions just for the skins as we get closer to Easter. I had to keep buying them in bulk last year, and then Philip would dice/freeze the actual onions. I had them for months and months that way. It's all for the natural-dyed eggs, though - so worth it!

I paid bills today, and Philip and I ran to the commissary again for the handful of items they were out of at closing time on Sunday. I didn't do a whole lot else, as my tummy still feels really weak and sore. I can't even fully explain what happened last night, but oh, it hurt so bad. I felt like my intestines were swelling and pushing against my skin. Truly, my skin was tight as a Braxton-Hicks contraction, and it lasted for hours. I think all the lingering pain today comes from that long period of intense contracting. It was so awful. I couldn't bend at the waist, I couldn't lay on my side, and I had to breathe very shallow to keep the stabs at a manageable level.

I haven't the foggiest clue what caused it. It began almost an hour after eating dinner, but I never even felt that overstuffed, FULL feeling beforehand. I sure hope to never feel that way again, though.

A.J. wasn't interested in coloring the eggs, but two days later, he was ALL OVER cracking and peeling them!

I originally just asked him to help me, and he easily agreed to do so. A few minutes later, I was still shelling my first egg as he reached for his third. I remarked how amazing that was - how was he doing it so fast?! - and it instantly became a game, a race!

He showed me his technique (all thumb skin, where I'd been carefully using my thumbnail and it slowed me down), and then we really started scrambling. His tenth egg had imperfections, and it caused me to leap ahead from my seventh egg to a start on my eleventh one. At one point, he reached across me and knocked my little paper plate of shell bits all over my lap, costing me half an egg's time in clean-up (while he giggled and worked furiously ahead!). I made him grab the next carton of eggs, and I caught up my half an egg's time.

In the end, we were sing-songing out our numbers each time we finished a new egg, and we were talking to and coaching our little eggs to go faster. We both finished our twentieth egg at the SAME TIME, and it was chaos as we each reached for the last egg...

I had it first, but A.J. bumbled it out of my hands (and neither of us understand HOW we didn't knock over my Dr. Pepper in the process!), and then I caught a fingertip on it once more, dropping it from his hands to the wood floor... where it rolled and cracked and rolled and cracked. A.J. was fastest on his feet to grab it, and he scored the final egg. It took him no time to peel it, especially since it was then already cracked and open!

Score: A.J. - 21, Mom - 20.

But so fun! :-) Neither of us even like hard-boiled eggs, so it was great to have a fun memory to associate with such a yucky task. (I enjoy coloring them, and Philip loves eating them, in case you wondered why I bothered even making them. *nods*)

I had so much fun using natural dye for my eggs last year, so I did it again this year!



This time, I saved the skins from Runza's yellow onions, but I also procured a bag full of red onion skins from our local grocery store (who thought I was nuts, by the way!). I bought a bouquet of flowers, and my friend Ann came over for some creative fun. We laughed for hours while we crafted our masterpieces together.

Note: red onion skins are much more STINKY than yellow onion skins while boiling!

Add in the fact that Ann knocked over a just-opened bottle of white wine the second she arrived, and my kitchen/dining area was quite... aromatic? for several hours. :-D

The red onions produced a richer, more "chocolate-with-a-hint-of-purple" dye, and they were Ann's favorite. I like both colors so much, I don't think I could choose one over the other. :-)

( LOTS more pics. )

If you're curious, you can find all the instructions in last year's set. If you decide to try these, let me know how they turn out! I'd love to see more pics. :-)

I colored my eggs naturally this morning. They turned out SO beautifully!



I used onion skins to dye the eggs. The brown, papery skins, and I'd been collecting them from Runza for the past two days. I was so excited to make them that I couldn't sleep last night - I woke up every hour, just counting down the time until I could get up and get started! I made the eggs all by myself, and I had so much fun doing it! I call them my "grown-up eggs" - heehee. :-)

( Tons more pictures, plus some how-to instructions. )

Can I just say how badly I wish this new cold front would NOT come? Minnesota, you're more than welcome to keep your snow - I don't want it, and especially not for Easter weekend. It's so ridiculous, too. The forecast is for a high of 40° on Sunday with a chance of snow, but it should be sunny with a high of 60° the very next day, Monday.

Wouldn't it make so much more sense to just skip Sunday's weather and go straight to Monday's? We've hunted Easter eggs in the snow before (when we lived in Alaska), and it's just not as much fun.

Plus, our new Easter outfits are not suited for snow. *sigh*

After Jack's last soccer game this morning (finishing the 'season' at an even 2-2, by the way), I came home and undecorated the house from Valentine's Day. I put up St. Patrick's Day decorations on the front door and in the entry hallway. I don't have much for the holiday, though, and I still felt guilty about the gypped Easter decorations (six days just isn't enough!). So I put Easter stuff out in the living room. We're are set now for this crazy month.

Including the many impromptu Easter egg hunts we'll be doing around the house in the next few weeks. The boys love to play with the plastic eggs. I used to do the same thing with my sisters when I was younger: hide the empty plastic eggs all over the house, then have a sister hunt for them. Lather, rinse, repeat. It's just a game that never loses glory, no matter the generation of children.

I got called in to work for a bit at lunch at Runza. They were short-manned, and I helped out when Brett called. I was only there for a little over an hour, and I just went in my regular clothes. Meh - no biggie.

It was quiet tonight at church, and I'm sure the low attendance had everything to do with the absolutely GORGEOUS weather we had today. Nice, clear, and about 65° - perfect, especially after so many cold, wintery weeks. The boys wanted to sit in the front row, and this time, we agreed to their request (they ask often). We sat two rows behind them, but they behaved well. Jack was very enthusiastic with his dancing while singing, but he made the members of the band onstage smile and clap even more heartily as they sang. :-)

After church, we drove around for a while before settling on a nice dinner at Lums. We really love that place. It's so cozy, and it's owned by the family of our good friends, Brad and Ann. It's especially nice to be recognized when we walk in, and if Carole is there, she always comes out to chat with Jack (she says that Jack is the only one of Ty's friends she can remember!).

It's quiet now - everyone is asleep. After a late date night last night, Philip was up at 4am for work this morning, and he's crashed very early tonight. I've lit some candles, and I'm thinking of watching a movie and tatting a bit.

I'm really torn on whether to put my Easter pics up tonight or just go to bed.

I'm also really torn on whether to sneak a piece of candy from the kids' Easter loot. The Easter Bunny didn't leave me anything, and he really only bought a little this year for the eggs. But man, those peanut butter eggs with Reese's Pieces inside them look soooo good...

I hope that everyone had a lovely Easter Sunday, whether you celebrate or share the holiday. We had a relaxing and nice Easter ourselves - another great memory for '06.

The "Easter Bunny" prepared baskets for the boys last night just before Philip and I went to bed. Unlike last year, we filled the baskets with pretty much just candy this year (I was so good last year - what happened?!). We'd anticipated the boys waking up before us, so we'd hidden the baskets until later in the morning, along with all the filled eggs for hiding in the yard later on. I got up and showered, and then I woke Philip up. He showered and dressed himself and the boys while I finished getting ready for church. He and I also prepared a turkey breast and put that in the oven to roast while we were gone.

The boys were excited to find the goodies in their Easter baskets when we brought them out. I took some pictures, and then we loaded up in the car to get to church about twenty minutes before our usual time. I'm so glad we did, as the church was packed (the attendance estimate for our seven Easter Sunday services was right at 2000 people). There were crosses outside the front entrance, made from Christmas trees and covered with chicken wire, and we were supposed to bring a flower to tuck into the wire (decorating a symbol of both Jesus's birth and death with new life), and the boys added their flowers to one cross while Philip parked the car (the sky was so dark and the air so wet that he'd let us out in the drive-through loop). The boys and I went inside, and I caught the most adorable picture of Jack watching through the window in the Narthex, straining to find Daddy in the parking lot.

Again, I was so glad we'd arrived early. Even still, we found our four seats nearer to the back than we usually sit. There was no Sunday School today, so entire families were in the services together. Jack was boisterous, of course, but there were so many other children that it didn't really make a difference. He must've been told by Pastor David in the preschool chapel sessions how to respond, for every time the pastor said, "He is risen," Jack would answer, "He is risen, indeed!" And that was before the pastors asked the congregation to participate in that manner! Pastor David gave a children's message, and the boys went up to the stage quickly but ended up being the last ones to finally get seated (they kept walking around, looking for the best spots). When Pastor David was saying how long his grass had gotten, Jack piped in with, "You should pick it up and put it back to make it small again." The congregation laughed, and Philip and I exchanged knowing smiles.

Later in the service, while Pastor Glenn was giving the Easter message, Jack chose to speak up again. The congregation was very still, very quiet when Pastor Glenn said, "Do you have stones that you need help in rolling away?" And Jack shouted out, "No!" The congregation laughed for a while over that one, and I'm sure I blushed! I imagine Jack's telling the absolute truth, though - he's too young to have any real burdens in his life! :-) During communion, Pastor David blessed both A.J. and Jack, but after I took the bread and grape juice (I always skip the wine and opt for juice), Jack tried to go back to him, saying, "But I didn't get one." I explained to him that he wasn't old enough for communion yet,and he was fine with that. He loved singing "Create in Me," and he kept singing it even after we switched to a new song - silly kid. It's fun having him in church every once in a while, but I'm so thankful that he's usually in Sunday School, as I think his rowdier antics wouldn't be so amusing on a regular basis. ;-)

After church, we came home to the enticing aroma of perfectly roasted turkey. It looked like it could rain at any minute, so Philip headed out to hide eggs while I finished preparing our Sunday lunch. We had roasted turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green peas and corn-on-the-cob. A.J. asked for sweet potatoes, but I'm a horrible mom and forgot to buy them at the store. :-( Heather joined us for lunch as well, having come over to share in the egg hunt festivities (she also brought large bags of goodies for the boys). The boys cleared the plates, and I did the dishes before we all headed outside for the hunt.

We've always done a very large egg hunt and Easter party, and this year I just didn't feel like all the preparation. I think some of it was unexplained laziness on my part, and the rest of it had to do with just wanting a nice, quiet hunt with just our family (which, of course, includes Heather). After all, Philip wasn't here for Easter last year, and it was nice just having him back for this holiday. The egg hunt was slow and relaxed, and throughout the 20-30 minutes or so, I just kept thinking how nice it was to be so low-key for once. The boys hunted alone for a few eggs, then they would pair up for a little bit, and then they'd hunt alone again. The grass was very long, and it hid the eggs very well (lawn mission accomplished!). There was one particular egg - a green one hidden in the our bedroom windowsill - that seemed so obvious to we adults, but the boys walked past it countless times. It got to the point where we were flabbergasted that they kept missing it, especially when they would walk within a foot of it. It was so funny! Heather even poised for a picture right in front of it, ready to capture the moment when one of them found it, and they STILL kept walking by it! Finally, Jack and A.J. spotted it at about the same time, but Jack walked away with it, and we all laughed. Later on, I learned that Philip actually captured video of the last bit just before the boys found that egg - neat!

The boys filled their Large Berry baskets many times, and Philip brought out the Large Boardwalk for them to empty into before heading out to hunt for more eggs. I think we hid 122 eggs altogether, but I might be off by one or two. As it was, when it was all said and done, all of the Easter candy from the hunts they've been to this year (four for Jack, three for A.J.) fills to overflowing a Medium Market basket - that's a LOT of candy! Heather sported her Easter Bunny ears for the day, and she took several pictures as well. It never did end up raining, but it stayed very gray and overcast all day, and there was also a slight greenish-yellow tinge to the outdoor light. 'Tis the season, I suppose...

We had pineapple, peaches and Easter candy for dessert later on. What could be better? And though our yard was lush and green and beautiful - not a single weed anywhere in sight in our grass (and yes, we do treat it every year) - it was quite long and shaggy, and Philip had planned all week to mow it as soon as the Easter egg hunt was finished. He did that this evening, and it looks fabulous now, as it always does after the very first mow of the year. We all played outside for a few hours while he was doing that, and the boys had a friend over as well. Since it never did rain, it ended up being a pretty perfect day. :-)

( Easter in Pictures. )

Video Clip: The Elusive Easter Egg (there's no sound - Philip was manning our old digital camera, while I had the new one)

The Goal: go out and find myself a shirt for Easter Sunday tomorrow morning.

The Outcome: accomplished!

I went to Sears, and I actually ending up finding four shirts that I really liked. I picked up a brown tank to go underneath an eyelet white shirt, but I ended up not liking the eyelet. The tank was super-comfy, so I bought it anyway. I bought a green dress shirt for 40% off, and I got two striped shirts as well. Everything is sleeveless - I'm just too hot for sleeves in the spring/summer, if I can help it. I'm happy with my finds since I hate shopping for clothes. I had the boys with me in the dressing room, but we were still in and out of the store in half an hour.

I'm so thirsty today. I'm not sure why.

We're heading to the Easter egg hunt at the church today at 2pm, but the sky may open up on us before then. It's definitely stormy weather. If it's raining, the hunt is supposed to be inside the church - yikes!

This afternoon we dyed Easter eggs outside on the picnic table. Heather came over for the fun, and she brought even more egg-dyeing kits with her (I already had two sets myself). We set to work dissolving the tablets for the colors in clear cups. At one point, Heather let go of her green cup, and a gust of wind blew then, knocking the cup over and turning a large section of the picnic table green. A.J. and I jumped out of the way in time, but it was still funny. We decided we'd dump out the extra dye at the end and make the table look really "pretty."

We dyed all of the eggs first, and then we set to work tie-dyeing them with the Scooby Doo kit. I sucked at this part, but the boys did great. I spent several minutes on a red egg, only to unwrap it and find just ONE tiny gray spot. I named him "Cyclops," and he and I became great friends. Next, I dyed a pale yellow egg, but I only managed to give it a handful of purple spots. I named her "Speckles," and I loved her in spite of the laughter she and I endured. ;-)

Before we actually began the tie-dyeing process, however, we dumped out the coloring water and made fresh batches with just a little vinegar (the watered down versions for coloring the eggs just wouldn't work well with the tie-dyeing). Since the dye didn't weigh much, we couldn't put it in clear cups alone, or they'd fall over (we'd learned our lesson earlier *wink*). Heather had a great idea, and we put a little vinegar in the bottom of the egg wells in one of the egg cartons. It worked fabulously until she added the color tablets - then the FIZZ took over and bubbled out into all of the other egg cups! Soon we had a bunch of colors, though none of them were precisely the color that we'd intended - hehe.

While we'd been dyeing the eggs, A.J. was watching over a new cup of green color, and he and Heather got into a discussion about what kind of drink it could look like. They ran through a couple of juice ideas, and then A.J. popped in with, "Or it could be egg nog. Get it? EGG. NOG." Oh my goodness, Heather absolutely cracked up! I thought she might cry from laughing so hard for a minute there. It was just a really funny moment, though you might have had to be there. ;-)

Later on, Jack finished his first tie-dyed egg, and it turned out really, really well. Heather complimented Jack on this, and Jack didn't even pause before saying, "It's because I'm a popular guy," as his reason for the egg looking so great. We laughed at that out-of-the-blue comment, too.

When we were finished, we painted the table with all the leftover color. It looked beatiful as it dried - a rainbow! The boys lined up all of our decorated eggs down the table so that we could see all our hard work. I'm so glad we did this activity outside this year!

( Pictures! )