Easter eggs: something new!

I roasted beets a couple months ago, and I was so amazed at the intensity of the deep red juices. The thought came to me: this would make a fabulous Easter egg dye! So I looked up natural egg dyes and found lots of great ideas. I thought it was way cool.

Red cabbage - this actually made a light blue. I wanted to try flowering kale, but I didn't have time to buy it (they don't sell that everywhere). We ate it recently, and the blue color was so intense. Maybe next year!

Frozen blueberries, which made a very dark blue. I also made yellow using onion skins and Tumeric. That was actually the hardest one to wipe up!

We put Chloe in jammies that were too small so she wouldn't stain her good clothes. I was so glad we didn't have any big spills!

Levi's cute picture smile! 

I ended up using food coloring for that green because mixing the yellow and blue didn't get us the shade we wanted. Maybe next year I'll do spinach or green kale.

We had a viral illness hit several kids over spring break. It wasn't too bad - just a cold that started with a fever and general malaise. Brennan actually fell asleep while I was getting the dyes ready, so we woke him up when we started. That's why he still looks a little sleepy in these pictures!

Cute egg, Tyler!

Who needs spoons when fingers work just as well?

I had a lot of fun with this. It may have taken more prep time, but it was just so cool to see the pretty colors we could get from everyday foods. Here's a little tip: I sometimes have difficulty peeling boiled eggs because the egg whites stick to the shell. Apparently it's worse with fresher eggs; we go through a lot of eggs, so they don't sit in the fridge very long. I read that boiling the eggs with baking soda prevents the sticking, and it worked great!