Easter Egg Coloring 2021

This year, Easter was a more highly-anticipated holiday than I think that it has ever been before.  We always look forward to it -- the signs of Spring, the Easter Egg Hunts, gathering with family -- but we are finally starting to turn a corner on the pandemic.  

Easter 2020 was a somber one; we couldn't gather with anyone outside of our household and all Easter-related events were cancelled.  Our dinner gathering was quaint and quiet and the chills of what the future held for our state and our country were still very real.  

This year, we made up for a lot of what we missed by celebrating all weekend.  We began with our annual egg coloring on Friday afternoon.

Over the years, we have perfected our system.  I always put down a disposable tablecloth (pulled out of a bin of random partyware) that can be wrapped up and thrown away afterwards.

We use plastic trays underneath for each kid -- these trays were an Amazon purchase about 6 years ago and are used for anything and everything in our house.

 

The glass teacups are part of a punchbowl set that belonged to my grandma and are ideal for egg-dying.  They are the perfect size and clean up easily.

We attempted a few eggs using a wax crayon and it was semi-successful.

I boiled 4 dozen eggs so that each child could color 12 eggs apiece.  They would have colored double that amount, but I couldn't imagine eating that many hard-boiled eggs and egg-salad sandwiches over the course of the week!

Sophia's creations were beautiful -- blended colors, swirling and filled with patience; just like any art project that she does.

Jack still puts his tongue between his teeth when he is concentrating ... and I love that.

This scene makes me smile.  Each one of the kids is focused on their own eggs, but still working together sharing colors.  And this is the first year where they all had almost complete independence.  I just sat back and watched.

Jimmy tried a method of dribbling color onto eggs.  It required some supervision and a steady hand, but he managed just fine.

Mia was a bystander over on the couch and Samantha asked to have a picture taken with her so that we could know that she was "here."  Mia is now about 12 years old and (sadly) I'm not sure how many more Easters we will be lucky enough to have her with us.

So many colors and so many designs!