Easter Egg Decorating and Traditions

We dyed Easter Eggs today and as with all other endeavors that I've taken on with my children, there was yelling, a huge mess and hopefully some sweet memories. I hard boiled around 24 eggs. I started with 18 but then the girls began eating the eggs and demanding, MOOOORE Egg! So I made more eggs.

Then we sat down to decorate our eggs. Maggie spilled dye immediately all over Molly and herself. Molly dipped her hand into the dye, turning it green and spilling dye on the table. 

They anxiously dipped their eggs and moved onto the next ones before the dye had really sunk in. The simple act of putting the eggs into the dye was enough for them, not the final result. My children are process people. They dig the journey, not the destination. 

There are no photos of Maggie dyeing her eggs because she kept leaving the table and when she was at the table, I was too busy trying to keep her from spilling more dye on my hardwood floors. Maybe next year I should take our egg dyeing activities outside. 

We now have way more hard boiled eggs than I think we'll need for Easter Lunch. I'm making deviled eggs though and I know those will go fast. We're having Scott's Mom and Stepdad over for Easter along with my brother's family and my Mom. The kids are excited to have their cousin over. 

Now I just need to figure out where to safely hide these eggs for an Easter Morning egg hunt and get their Easter Baskets together. This year, I've gone with small tote bags and pretty practical stuff. These kids have too much stuff as it is.

If you are looking for some unique Easter Egg dyeing ideas, I've got 10 clever ones for you over at Seattle Refined. If you are into a more natural form of egg dye, then check out the article I wrote for Seattle Refined last year about Natural Easter Egg Dyeing. 

Easter Eggs, Body Image and Photography Projects Are This Week's Links From Around the Web

10 Clever Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs My latest with Seattle Refined - all about decorating Easter Eggs.

How Asking 5 Questions Allowed Me to To Eat Dinner With My Family I'm incorporating this into life because it is important.

Mom has biggest impact on girls' body image I try to remember this every single day when I tell my girls that they are strong and that their bodies can do anything.

5 Photography Projects You Should Try in 2016 These are sparking my interest!

Love and Sparks  Learning to just let the love for our children grow is huge. We don't need to be the most perfect Mother, just a good Mother to our kids.

I'm headed to the Made to Create Photography Retreat this weekend and I'm so excited! I'm pretty sure I'll come back fired up with new photography ideas, hopefully some answers to my business tax questions and new friendships!

February Book Report

I kept my reading streak alive in February with another four books being read. This reading for at least 15 minutes a day is making me so happy!

My first book was The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood which I actually first started to read when she released them as shorts. I love pretty much anything by Atwood so this was a delight. I like how she takes our world and projects a very possible and very scary world. 

The next book I read was Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall which was a Book Club pick from a blog that I follow. I would never have picked up this book on my own but I'm so glad I read this one. It tells the story of a small town, a little girl, an African-American woman and what is happening at the start of the civil rights movement. This is an amazing book! 

Ian McEwan always thrills me with his books and Sweet Tooth did not disappoint. The book focuses on Cambridge student Serena Frome's entrance into the MI5 in 1972 and her love affair with promising young writer Tom Haley.  As with McEwan's other books, the true story is never revealed until the very last page. 

My final book was The Good Girl by Mary Kubica which was also my first audible book. I listened to it every day when I did the dishes (which I hate doing). I actually began looking forward to doing the dishes every night because it meant that I was able to hear more of my book. This book is about a kidnapping gone wrong and who is affected and how. The ending on this one blew me away. I was not expecting it at all. 

What are your favorite audible books? I need more! I'm addicted to them now. 

Gas Explosion Levels Seattle Neighborhood Businesses (Wednesday Web Links)

Early this morning. a gas leak caused an explosion in a neighborhood near my house. The businesses that were destroyed were ones that I frequented often. The intersection is one that I drive through at least 2-3 times a day. Luckily no one was seriously hurt but clean-up will take months and hopefully the businesses can recover. Today's Wednesday Links are all about what happened early this morning. People said they could feel the explosion up to 8 miles away. I'm about a 1 1/2 miles away and slept through the whole thing.

A Greenwood Regular Remembers Mr. Gyros and Neptune Coffee

How to help Greenwood Businesses Destroyed/Hurt by Explosion

Explosion Rocks Seattle Neighborhood

Greenwood Gas Explosion Levels Mr. Gyros, Neptune Coffee

Monthly Goal Check-In (February)

I'm a few days late checking in on my 2016 goals for February. We've had a bout of hand, foot and mouth hit the youngest child and she has been keeping us on our toes!

I made excellent progress on my 2016 goals even though it was a shorter month. It just meant I had to focus more.

1.  Workout 4 times a week - February was a complete exercise bust for me. I averaged about twice a week but I decided to try out ClassPass along with barre3 so I'm hoping it energizes me in March. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - I tackled the Living Room, Dining Room, Master Bedroom and Master Bedroom Closet in February. I donated, purged and cleaned a lot. This month I'm moving on to the kid's room, bathroom, linen closet and *groan* the office. Look for a separate post on this goal soon. 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I did my first 1 first Day in the Life Challenge on February 14th and my second 10 on 10 on February 10th. I figured out that I can take photos on my camera and then use the camera's wi-fi to send them to my photo for Instagram posting!

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I made some excellent progress on this goal. I completed the research for my blocking report and knit three of the 16 swatches. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! I made some progress on this front too. I brought in some dirt but need more and planted some carrots and peas. 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- I have read every single day so far this year! I'll have my February book report out shortly.  

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls - The girls and I volunteered at Mary's Place and it was a great experience. We'll be back soon. I'm also getting ready to volunteer with the NICU at Swedish First Hill as their photographer and am attending a PEPS volunteer luncheon event next week. 

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - No progress here!

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing - Working on this!