Last night we colored Easter eggs, but not how you would typically color them! Instead of coloring the outer shell of a hard boiled egg, we peeled the shells off of 4 dozen eggs and dyed the actual egg! Sounds crazy right?! But there is a reason behind this...
Each Saturday before Easter, it is becoming a tradition to get together with Chad's mom's side of the family (like entire family) and this year it is being held at our house! Each family member is in charge of a certain food/drink to bring and we decided to make deviled eggs to go with the sub sandwich and chips and dip theme! Well, being that it is Easter too, I thought it would be fun to make deviled eggs that actually looked like Easter eggs! As soon as I saw this idea over at Giggles, Glitz, & Glam I was sold! Her recipe is a little different from mine, but I loved her idea for dying the inside of the egg!
Step One: Boil as many eggs as your little heart desires! We are having close to 50 guests today, so I did 4 dozen!
Step Two: Once eggs are cooled, peel the outer shell, like the picture below on the left. I added the finished eggs on the right, so you can see what they look like when you are done dying them!
Step Three: Follow the directions on the back of the food coloring box to get the desired color you want. The kids loved dropping the colors in and mixing it up! We chose pink, turquoise, purple, orange, and mint green for our eggs! *JUST FYI, I only boiled the water and did the drops, as I did not have the vinegar and it worked just fine!
Step Four: Wait and wait and wait (it seems like it takes forever) to get the desired color that you want! Like, some of them took an hour and a half to two hours to get as vibrant as we wanted them to, but they turned out so pretty, so it was worth it!
Step Five: Once the eggs are the color you like, set them back in the carton and let them dry off (see the first picture, on the right).
Step Six: Cut the eggs in half.
Step Seven: Put the yellow part of the egg in separate bowl (see step 8 for what to do) and the colored part of the egg on your serving platter.
Step Eight: Mix yolk, real mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and sweet relish together. I wish I had exact amounts to share for this, but I really just eyeball it. I know I used the entire container of mayo, from there...it is really to taste. I probably add more mustard then most, but I like my deviled eggs zippy!
Step Nine: Scoop yellow filling into a ziploc baggie and cut a hole in the corner towards the bottom, this lets you squeeze the the filling into the egg without mess and it looks pretty!
Step Ten: Sprinkle paprika onto the tops of the eggs.
Step Eleven: ENJOY and try not to eat them all gone before your guests arrive!
My kids LOVE each other and 99.1% of the time, play very well together. I really think that as they get older, the better it gets! Their love and friendship grows and they are always finding something fun to do together. Lately they have been playing "Castle" and will combine all of people toys (boy and girl figurines) and spread them all over the playroom and they do castle things?! They enjoy riding their scooters out front and playing in the sandboxes (really the horse shoe pits) out back!
Last night I caught them digging away, building something together.
After watching them for a really long time, I begged them to squeeze in close to me, so I could embrace the camera with them, sand toys and all!
Embracing the Camera with Emily and many other mamas today! You should too! Grab your babies and your camera and start snapping!
My mom came out for the weekend and I have to say that this might have been my favorite visit that we have had together yet (do I say that every time she is out here?)!
Taylor Swift pretty much sums it up in her song The Best Day (play it or skip it, up to you).
Before I talk about how amazing our weekend together was, I better talk about how amazing my hubby is! He had the kids the majority of the weekend so that I could just be with my mama! No complaining, just kisses goodbye, saying to have fun...and what FUN we had!
Let me start off by saying that before my mom flew out, I got a text from her earlier in the week: Let's go get tattoos when I am there. She knows I have been tossing this idea for quite some time and that text was just the push I needed to get up enough guts to ask my principal if it was even possible (teacher + tattoo, some say it gives the wrong impression). I was ready for the big NO, since I wanted to get mine in a very visible spot, but I got the go ahead and immediately text my mama back letting her know it was on.
Friday was the big day! We headed to Rebel Ink to see if they could get us in and sure enough, they did! My mom's was tattooed by Jon Leonard (aka "Fatboy"). She was hilarious and does NOT handle pain well. The faces she made were priceless and these were the only pictures I was approved to post! She started her tattoo before me and judging by her facial expressions, I thought I was in for the worst, since she got hers on her wrist too and I didn't know just how painful it was (or wasn't) going to be. I thought I was doomed, as I had to do it times four! I was laughing the entire time watching her!
Love her little butterfly!
My turn! Honestly, it was no big deal! My friends Kristin and Abel stopped by (killing time on their date night before they had to meet up with their friend at Westgate. Abel really wants a tattoo, but not sure of what, so he wanted to come look around and watch to see what it was all about) and snapped pictures for me! One of the guys said to get a picture of the first time that "Chilly" puts the needle into my arm, so Kristin had the camera ready to snap, but according to her, "I wasn't doing anything"!!! That is because it really didn't hurt. Little zing, but that is about it! Piece of cake! Checking out my new tattoo - my family of birdies! Lola is leading the flock, then Kyan, then the mama bird, and daddy is in the back, watching over all of us. It is perfect and I LOVE it! Before and After. I am still getting used to it being there and stare at it more than I should. When my mom called and told him about our tattoos on Saturday, he told Kyan that "Only bad girls get tattoos!" Doh. He says that, but I really don't believe him. He is slowly warming up to the idea of them(he should, his son, son-in-law, wife, and daughter are all tattooed now). He still will take sandpaper to us if he ever sees them on certain parts of our bodies, but he loves us just the same!
Saturday started out with rain! Kyan was supposed to have a football game, but it was cancelled due to it, so the boys headed to breakfast together (they went to the game only to find out there wasn't one) and the girls did the same before dance! Grandma Donna joined us at dance too (after breakfast with the boys, she was headed to the game too, so she and grandpa Michael went to Black Bear Diner before dance, which is where the boys were)! Lola showed off for both grandmas and then headed home to hang out with the boys while I hung with both mamas for the day! We went to Ikea, lunch with Hannah, and Merchant Square! We had so much fun and Donna was finally able to make a shopping trip with us, something that she always says she wants to do, but the timing never works out! We found quite a few treasures, but the time spent together just visiting and laughing and being together was the best!
When we got home, I quickly changed and got ready for date night with the hubs, while grandma babysat! Dinner at Hayashi was delicious. We then headed to see the movie Limitless (wait until it comes out on dvd, it is good, but spend your money on something different for the theater). We went for drinks and a little bar trivia afterward! It was an awesome night!
We went to church early, breakfast, and did a little shopping before we headed up to her place for the day today! The kids took her to the airport to drop her off with me and Lola cried harder than I have ever seen her cry when she got out of the car. It was so sad. All weekend, about once per hour, she asked her grandma if she was leaving her or not to go, please stay with us. My mom's answer was always yes that she was staying, so when the time came to go, little Lola didn't know what to do and pretty much cried the entire way home. Kyan knew he was going to see his grandma soon, as we go to Nebraska in about a month, so he wished her well!
We love you mom/grandma. Thank you for spending your weekend with us. We were spoiled that we got to spend every night with you (kids loved that you slept in their beds)! We can't wait until we see you soon! Love you. Thank you dad/grandpa for shipping her out to us and sharing her! We know you miss her when she is gone. We can't wait to see you in a few weeks, when you have to come down to check on one of your houses. Hope you are ready for us to spend lots of time with you too! Love you.
Yep, that is my wallet and an arrow pointing to my drivers license. Bet you are wondering why in the world I might be posting about this, huh? I promise there is a point. There is something that I keep hidden underneath my license. Something I haven't shared with anyone (except my mom while waiting for dinner at Applebee's tonight for our take out order). You see, underneath my license is my father-in-law, Brion's, license.
I found it in an old wallet when we were cleaning out his house. I know it is old and was unused because it has the hole punched in the top of it (I had one like that too, they did it when I got a new license). I immediately snuck it into my wallet and it has been there since. Each time I need my ID for anything, I see him and think about him, good times and sad. I am reminded of the amazing father, grandpa, and friend that he was. I feel like he is with me somehow by keeping that in there. Like he is watching out for me and the kids, keeping us safe.
Today marks year two without him. I especially remember him today.
WARNING: There is NO rhyme or reason for this post!
Seriously, now that that is out of the way, let's get down to some randomness...
Some new pictures of Lola that melt my heart. This was her sweet little face when I asked her to look into the lens and tell me what she was seeing. I like them in both color and black and white and couldn't decide which one I liked better, so they all went up! Kyan's latest obsession: POP-TARTS! He can't get enough of them and tries to eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! These are his two favorites (well, really the only two that he likes)!
I was voted Employee of the Month at school! Yippee! Not really sure how that happened and when I read the email I about spit the water I had in my mouth across the room! Special parking privileges for me!
I won a wand from Lisa Leonard a few weeks ago, she was launching all of her new products and doing giveaways and I was a lucky winner! The wand was personalized for none other than Princess Lola and she LOVES it! Want to know how to get your little princess her own wand or maybe check out something for yourself? Head over to her shop, you won't be disappointed!
I recorded Lola opening up her package from Lisa's shop. Girlfriend BEGGED to go to the mailbox each and every day after I showed her what was on its way for her, so when it arrived, I wanted to see her excitement...little did I know she had a plan to shop for all things princess to go with her new wand! Enjoy!
Playdough. Ugh...so messy, but oh how it kept my kids busy for about two hours today! They got this playdough "thing" for Christmas and it has been sitting perfectly packaged since! I was sick of myself saying, "No, not today!", so they patiently waited for me to open it up (took forever, the way they package toys these days is ridiculous) and hand it over! I watched them for about a half an hour or so, then went to the grocery store and back and they were still playing away, quite nicely I might say!!! They continued to play for another 30-45 minutes before they got hungry and put away their playdough to eat and watch a movie!
Football practice kicked off a few weeks ago for Kyan and yesterday marked his first game as a Scorpion! He woke up bright and early, got himself dressed in his gear, and was ready to go! We made the hike to northwest valley (the southwest valley doesn't have enough teams to play all of the games close to home) to be at his game by 7:30 for warm-ups and stretching before his 8am (all of the games begin at 8am) start! Even though it is early, it was still so hot! Shorts and tank tops for us!
Warming up his arm before the game starts Game Time! Kyan is the Quarterback! D-E-F-E-N-S-E Kyan's #1 Fan! Lola has dance class at 9 each Saturday and is busy learning her steps for her recital in June, but because the studio is on Spring Break for the week, we were all able to enjoy brother's first game! When he plays games away, we won't be traveling, but when he plays closer to home (actually his "home games" are a block away from our old house) we will be able to make it for at least half of it! YAY! Juggling a Saturday schedule is what it is all about with two kiddos involved in activities!
Proud of you Kyan and the rest of the Scorpion football team! You did a great job!
Step Nine: Scoop yellow filling into a ziploc baggie and cut a hole in the corner towards the bottom, this lets you squeeze the the filling into the egg without mess and it looks pretty!
Step Eleven: ENJOY and try not to eat them all gone before your guests arrive!
