Easter 2012 There was…

Easter 2012

There was the coloring of eggs (and the ritual fighting over colors):

The triumphant completion:

Mine is the blue stripey one (made by putting rubber bands on the egg first):

Trying to put an egg back together after cracking, to no avail:

Peppering the eggs:

And eating them:

Easter Saturday morning, I realized I had no baskets for the egg hunt. But I did have felt. Slightly-frantic sewing ensued:

Honestly, I'm not sure how this one came out with such a pretty reverse side. Sheer luck, I think. I started with a square, and improvised from there; I'm not sure I could repeat it.

For Anand, I attempted to make a felt woven basket, with semi-success. I couldn't figure out how to finish off the tops of the weave, and ended up just sewing a seam around and then hacking off the extra. Not the most polished look, but luckily, two-and-a-half-year-olds don't mind a lack of polish. Next time, maybe just sew down an extra length of felt around the top before attaching the handle? Bias tape? Something like that. Starting more than half an hour before guests are due to arrive might also help.

We've been spring decorating around here for a few weeks now. Hyacinths (in front of my very spring-toned stained glass window) and glass eggs in a wire nest:

Mini daffodils in a glass jar with stones and moss (a week later, these were replaced with muscari, which looked even better and lasted much longer):

Spring-y bowls on the kitchen shelves (courtesy Anthropologie, one of their oddly affordable items -- $5 each for the large bowls, and $20 for a set of 8 mini ones -- they come in other great colors too, including neutrals):

A paper flower kit ($11 @ PaperSource) was jointly assembled -- the kids had a lot of fun with this one evening. Theirs (and Kev's) went up on the mudroom wall:

Mine (more obsessively color-coded) were sewed onto a ribbon and hung as a garland in the front parlor:

My blue and purple tulips garland was less successful -- cutting them out of felt went smoothly enough, but sewing them onto a ribbon led to way too much twisting for a garland. So I hunt them on the wall instead, where they only twist a little. Not the most successful craft ever -- ah well, live and learn. I think next time, smaller flowers that I can just sew directly to each other, the way I did for the grey and cream Valentine's heart garland.

The island's set with mango, strawberries sausages, fruit cookies (courtesy our neighbor Mary) and a very silly spring tree:

And Kavi has stickered up an Easter picture (later she will add the story of a baby duck):

Finally, it's time for the hunt! Anticipation is making everyone tense:

But also happy:

Where are my eggs?

We let them go in order of age -- Anand and Zain first, then Kavi and Zoya, and finally Otto, who managed to be polite, though clearly desperately impatient:

Luckily, all of them managed to find about six eggs each, so peace was maintained in the kingdom. With very little help from the adults, even.

After egg-hunting, came bubbles:

That was hard work! Let's take a rest in the swing.

Happy Easter, everyone. Happy Spring!