More Easter eggs...

Yes, I did decorate more eggs, now with my family. And this year, I decided to skip all the vinegar/dye thing and stick with just markers. It was less mess with kids and took longer time for kids to decorate one or two eggs! M was very concerned when she dropped her egg and got cracked (the very front left one in the pic below), she said "It'll hatch! Hurry!" She thought a chick would come out of the egg! In her mind (as a very picky eater, she never eats boiled eggs or in any visible form of eggs), there is only thing inside the egg shell - chicks! I guess I need to have her help in the kitchen more often....
My hubby did the camo one, of course, for J. I added my lace covered ones from Eggstravaganza for this photo.

This is not a good one, but here is the pic of sugar cookies I made for the family Easter dinner. See the difference from the top left to the top right. As the day progress, the details faded.... Somehow we had 1 piece of cookie left, so lucky J took it with his lunch the next day. I think I'm done decorating sugar cookies in the while...

Eggstravaganza

I was invited to an egg decorating party today by a friend who is an artist. And it was serious. I mean, her house full of people with creativity was so inspiring!
Just simple combination of electric tapes and rubber bands made such beautiful intricate designs. And I learned that fresh eggs wrapped in fabric with onion skins and barley grains then boiled make such beautiful marble looking piece of art. That was such a fun time!
So, here are some of the pics...

Beautiful bowl of eggs.

The funky looking egg covered with googly eyes is my creation. Shows my personality!?Also, I made a couple of lace covered ones that you can see the instruction here.

Someone made this elegant piece. So I decided to make this.Meet my Ms. Elegant Egg with her proper Easter outfit even with Sunday Bonnet.

Kids were so excited to see them and wanted to decorate their eggs right away. Well, let's do that tomorrow, and let's keep it simple. The serious decoration is only for the grown-ups, or at least those who don't require my intense supervision.

Housekeeping strike

or maybe I'm turning to be an old lady who wants to just sit and crochet. I can totally ignore my surrounding. I like it (thought my family may say otherwise). Dishes and laundry are piling up, but crafting is so much more fun...

A baby hat for our friend's new baby boy (girl stuff is easier for me to come up with...)

My daughter M's pajama bag
(the idea is that she'd put her pajamas in this instead of spreading out everywhere)
And what is she wearing in this pic? Her pajamas. This is what happens when Mommy refuses to do housekeeping (she was nagging me to finish her bunny).
She was playing "Duck Duck Goose" with her friends.

My latest passion

Crochet. I've done some in the past, but was never into it. Recently I inherited a crochet book from my friend, and thought I'd give a try. Oh boy, it's fun! I now understand those ladies with balls of yarn and needles stitching away! Yes, my house may have been neglected a bit lately because of it, but I've been having so much fun!

Baby beanie with flower for our new niece M.
(Model: my daughter's 18 inch baby doll who happened to have similar size head)
It was my own creation, and of course I didn't write down what I did. It's truly one of the kind!

And the monkey. You've got to have a amigurumi monkey, right?
Yes, this one I followed an instruction.

Now I know how to break the codes such as "2 sc in next 2 ch" and "tog2sc" stuff in those American version of crochet books, it opened up a whole new world of crafting to me.

You know he is up to something when he is quiet...

Then, all of a sudden, you hear "slop, slurrrp, he he, slop, slop..."

Yap. That was my baby K. Eating food off the floor.
Menu: Cajun-spiced baked tilapia with alfredo sauce, green beans, and rice pilaf.
Yummy.

Okay, that didn't sound good...let me try again.

There was a leftover on the dining table packed and ready for my hubby's lunch. Hubby was out with older kids. Baby K was happily playing, while I was in kitchen doing dishes.
I guess, he was happily playing and eating. I guess my baby is now tall enough to reach stuff on the table. I thought I fed him good. I mean, he ate the whole fillet of tilapia, a good portion of rice pilaf, milk, etc., way more than his big sister consumed for the day.
I thought he was full.
I was wrong.
Sorry, baby, you don't have lunch tomorrow, because K and Leo (our dog) decided to share it instead. I know you were looking forward to it. Maybe K felt bad that Leo didn't have enough food of his own. He is such a lucky dog.

Getting pretty close to perfect

About a few weeks ago, J decided he doesn't like store-bought bread (when kids are hungry at bedtime, they get only bread-and-butter). He likes "Mama's jam on Mama's bread" for breakfast more than Coco Puffs. Mama's secret? Bread machine "dough" setting. Less work for me, but it does good kneading job for me. Then bake the bread in oven. Oh, the smell of freshly baked bread! I have a feeling that it's going to be a bread baking day.

Early Valentine's Day date

I went to a date with a very special person on Saturday - my son, J.
It was more like running errands, but it was only J and me, and I'd call it a date.

We went to Home Depot for free kids workshop (they offer every 1st Saturday). This month's craft was of course, Valentine's Day gift - a heart shape shelf. Right away, J knew that shelf was going to become "a perfect gift" for M. He glued, hammered, and put stickers to decorate a one-of-the-kind heart shape shelf, just for his sister M. (I thought I was his date, but obviously he had the other girl in his mind...)

While we were at another place, he saw a box of frozen donuts and was drooling over it. So I suggested, instead of the stale looking frozen donuts, to go get fresh one at our local bakery. To last this Mommy-and-J only time, he requested us to eat our lunch there (i.e., cream-filled donuts and chocolate milk). While we were eating, glancing over my shoulder, he found another perfect gift for his sister (again, I was his date here. But it's okay, I guess. He is a very thoughtful boy) - a brownie with Hello Kitty decoration on the top. So we bought that brownie and a donuts to take home.
It was a good date, he said, but maybe it was more like a trip to get his Valentine's Day gifts....oh well, it was for his sister. And M just loved the gifts so much (not so much of the brownie itself, but, oh yes, the Hello Kitty!).

By the way, the original purpose of me wanting to go Home Depot was to find some paint samples. After living in this house for almost 7 years, I finally got an idea of color theme for our glossy everything beige dining room with antique mahogany dining set (picture below). My husband thinks I'm crazy to even think about painting our house, but I'm ready for some change. We shall see....