Sprinkle and Dye

I must admit that I'm a traditionalist. Every year, I always dye Easter Eggs. Last year, the boys weren't really able to participate. This year, we went big and for the first time, we made cookies and decorated them and dyed eggs.

Grandma and Ryan making bunnies.  Ryan was our best cookie cutter.  He loves to be in the kitchen checking things out.  He had quite a bit of dough which might explain why he didn't eat much dinner.  Oh well, it's only Easter once a year.

Mommy and Michael get in on Ryan's cookie action.  Michael wasn't really enjoying life during our Easter preparation extravaganza, so he was a somewhat reluctant participant.

Mr. Grumpus cuts a cookie while Ryan eats a little more dough.  Good times!

A family portrait!  Note - Dad looks grumpy because he has to be in the picture, James has his eyes on Ryan's cookie cutter, Michael hasn't decided if he's gonna cry again or be happy, and there's Mom just hoping for a good picture.

Ryan makes ducks!

Grandma and James start dying eggs.  Since I haven't done eggs with small people in a while, I forgot that eggs are really fragile.  James chunked his egg in to the cup and shattered it.  After said chunking, Mom got a little smarter, and we gently placed the eggs in the cups.

James cheers for his eggs, and Ryan eyes those colorful cups.  He helped me put the vinegar and water in the cups, and Grandma and I had to stop him from drinking the colorful water - I'm pretty sure it wont taste like koolaid.

Master decorators.  James and Ryan start the shaking while Michael starts the screaming.  James and Ryan loved shaking the sprinkles.  I must have swept up three times today, but I'm pretty sure it was worth it.  James licked all of the sprinkles and icing off of his cookies while Ryan took a tiny bite of his cookie, but neither of them actually ate a cookie.

James examines his duck looking for white areas that need sprinkles.

Ryan points to Michael and wonders "why is he so unhappy, we have SPRINKLES!"

Grandpa swoops in to do some Michael control.  He got mad at me for taking his picture.  I'm really hoping we get past these really long and loud fits soon, or I might just get picked up by CPS when I snap.

A neglected pacifier in a wasteland of sprinkles.

Mmmmmmm, these are good sprinkles and the cookie is okay, too.

The Grandmas and Aunt Faith ice the cookies while Michael shows his disdain for the day.  I'm pretty sure I've got some pumpkin pictures of him freaking out, too.  Hmm, this is a pattern we definitely have to break.

No!  I will not look at these beautiful eggs and tasty cookies.

Grandma and Ryan do some sprinkle maintenance before checking on the eggs.

Ryan really loved grabbing the eggs and putting them in other colors.  I have a feeling tie-dye eggs might be in his future.

Aunt Faith gives lessons in proper dying technique.

Champion egg dyers.  Michael finally decided to enjoy himself, and he loved dying the eggs.  He kept trying to pull them out of the dye and look at them.