I had a busy week last week. Lily's birthday party was on Saturday. (It was a "girl party". There was fingernail painting involved, and bracelet making, and a pinata shaped like a purse. I also made a purse-shaped cake that was somewhat successful. Lily said it looked like her lunchbox more than a purse and she had a point. I made purses for the girls to take home as favors that were pretty cute and they were filled with all kinds of random "girl" things. Thankfully birthday party season is over for us until November.) The big Day of The Tornado was Tuesday. (No damage to our little neck of the woods. Or swath of the prairie I should say.) My birthday was on Wednesday. Thank you! (Because I know you were just thinking "Oh, happy birthday, Wendy!" in your head). Friday the kids had no school so we dyed Easter Eggs. Here's a little secret for you - my kids dye raw eggs. That's right. I DO NOT HARD BOIL OUR EASTER EGGS. Seriously, who wants upwards of two dozen hard cooked eggs after the fact? I like a good egg salad sandwich now and then, but certainly not enough to handle that kind of inventory. People always say "Don"t your kids break the eggs?" and the simple answer to this is no. No they don't. I tell the kids that the eggs aren't cooked and that they have to be extra careful and guess what? They are. It's amazing. Next year I'll probably hard boil a few for Wesley to handle, but for the last three years we've used only raw eggs with not one break. Of course, we've had multiple incidents of the dye cups being knocked over and the colored vinegar water spreading itself all over the table which I always know is going to happen but which always frustrates me.
We do Easter baskets for the kids. Here is my secret about that: I didn't buy a single thing for their baskets this year. I bought it all last year when it was 75% off at Wal-Mart. Chocolate bunnies, Reese's Eggs, Jelly Beans, you name it. I bagged it all up in Ziploc bags and stuck it in the freezer. I pulled it out the night before Easter and loaded it in their baskets. The next day, after the kids had done their usual ritual of opening 3/4 of what is in their baskets and taking two bites out of each item and then just leaving it lying around I took the opportunity to take a few nibbles myself to test the quality, as it were. And I am happy to report that one year in the freezer left no trace. The chocolate looked normal and tasted normal and it was enjoyed by all normal people.
Also, don't you love strawberry shortcake? I do. It's kind of an Easter tradition for us to have strawberry shortcake as our Easter dessert. I always use angel food cake for it, so I guess it isn't technically shortcake. We had some friends over for Easter dinner and their 3 year old said "This is strawberry shortcake? But this cake isn't short at all! (I do have a recipe for authentic shortcake, which I made once and it was roundly maligned by my family. Tyler in particular did not appreciate my historical accuracy. It was more like a slightly sweet biscuit than any type of cake.) My dad told me there is a bumper crop of strawberries this year and strawberry farmers are disappointed because there is such an abundance that they are selling them very cheaply and they aren't making any money from them. That's too bad but this is certainly one of those "their loss is our gain" type of situations. I love to see my fridge full of fresh strawberries.
The End.
