Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

This is VERY cool however I cannot take credit. It came from another blog I frequent, Weelicious.

I love all food-related things associated with holidays, but dyeing easter eggs is an especially favorite activity for me. This isn’t exactly a cooking activity for younger kids, but I think it’s close enough to qualify. Like most kids, I grew up using Paas Easter egg dyes. I realize it’s a lot easier using dye kits, but I think doing it the natural way is so much more fun, healthy and natural and it’s a great way to use some of the spices that have been in the cabinet for a while.

You should have seen our kitchen stove, covered with pots brimming over with all kinds of cool color concoctions. We tried everything from juices, to spices, to frozen berries, to fresh vegetables and more with, what I have to admit, very mixed results! I dreamed of using fresh spinach to turn organic white eggs an emerald green, but instead I got a pale green that was basically undetectable. The turmeric on the other hand was an amazing bright yellow, as golden as the sun.

Once we dyed the eggs, I let Kenya decorate them with stickers and markers. His favorite part, though, was dropping and rolling them on the counter, peeling off the shells and eating them up. So I guess this is a food activity after all!



Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

White Eggs, preferably organic if you’re going to eat them

Turmeric (yellow eggs)
Frozen Blueberries (lavender eggs)
Beets (pink eggs)
Chili Powder (rust/brown eggs)
Pomegranate or Grape Juice (grey, blueish, red eggs)

White Vinegar

1. Place eggs in a pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Stir in 2 tbsp of white vinegar and the food ingredient for desired color.
2. Bring water to a boil. When the water reaches a boil, reduce, simmer and cook for 15-30 minutes (the longer you cook the eggs, the tougher they will be).
3. Check the eggs to see if the desired color is achieved.
4. Let the easter egg hunt begin!

*If you want the eggs a deeper color you can remove them from the pot, let the color mixture cool and pour it back over the eggs and refrigerate overnight or longer. The longer the eggs are covered with the color, the deeper the shade will be. We also found that the color of the eggs deepened after they dried.

*If you want to eat the eggs make sure to refrigerate them.

What Tha' Hail?!

I have a few posts in the works, but since this occurred last week, I thought I would post a picture from our most recent hail storm for those of you not in the area.



Yup, we had 2 1/4 inch hail! What's crazy is that we had NO warning. We knew that thunderstorms were expected, but we didn't know anything about hail coming in along with it.

It was about 10:30 pm, the twins were down, I had just finished nursing and changing Gabe's diaper, and was about to put him into his bed when it literally sounded like gun fire had hit our house! Jon turned to me and said "WHAT WAS THAT?!" And then it hit again. About the same time we both realized what was going on. I put Gabe on our bedroom floor, and took off for the garage, as both vehicles were outside! Jon grabbed the keys, and ran out to get the Odyssey. About the same time we also realized just how big the hail was, and that it might not have been too smart of a move for him to run out in it!

Surprisingly enough, however, we didn't get a lot of damage. We will need a new roof (surprise, surprise), Jon's truck has several large dings, and the Odyssey has a couple small ones. Overall, not too bad. As the boys and I went for a walk the next day, we saw several broken windows, including a broken back window of a BMW. Yikes - hope the interior didn't also suffer from the damage!

A couple of days later, the ground dried out and so I finally let the boys back in the yard to play. We then noticed some more damage. Jacob walked to his little wagon and fell to the ground saying "No, uh-oh, no..." (So dramatic!) I wish I would have taken a picture, but I was too busy trying to console Jacob while muffling/hiding my giggles. His little plastic wagon which he uses to pull around his juice, "la-la," and whatever toy he attached to that day around the yard had a baseball sized hole in the bottom. Supermomma was able to piece it back together with duct tape and mailing tape - "all better!"

We have had a lot more exciting times - including our church's Eggstravaganza and Opening Day at the Ballpark - so more posts will soon follow.

Happy Spring!

We had a great day playing outside today and got a few good pictures too! Below are a couple of the really good ones.






The Boys


Jacob pushing Mommy


Caleb and Daddy swinging


The Boys climbing

More words

I forgot to add a few classic new words to the Yackety Yack blog.

Mess - Both boys use it often, but Caleb scares us a little. He cannot STAND messes, yet, unfortunately, doesn't much care for picking them up either. If he drops a bite off of his spoon, he gets very anxious and repeats "mess, mess, mess..." over and over until we either clean it or are able to convince him it is not a big deal and we will get it later. Jacob and Caleb both like to inform us that their playroom is a mess, but refuse to keep it tidy... hmmm... not sure how it help them there!

Clean - Along the same lines, they like to clean. Before you get too jealous about that, you should know that they really don't like to keep the area clean for long. For example, they will pick up every last MegaBlok and Hot Wheels car in playroom, put it in its proper storage container, and then turn it over, dumping it all back onto the floor immediately after. They cannot STAND for the toys to be cleaned, yet they love the process of cleaning. Crazy boys! Oh, they also like to help me clean up after breakfast by using a napkin to rub oatmeal into (errr, I mean off?) of the table. Such the helper boys, right?!

Switch - This one cracks me up, as it sounds more like "swish." It started when Jacob wanted a book that Caleb had. Jacob really, really wanted the book, but Caleb wasn't parting with it (yet he wasn't even reading it - he just didn't want Jacob to have it). I suggested that Jacob go get one of Caleb's favorite books (the Grandpa book), and ask his brother if he wanted to switch. Well, sure enough, Jacob got the book, went up to Caleb, and asked "swish?" Caleb handed over the book - no questions asked!! I got so excited and praised them both. Evidently it stuck with them, as they still ask to "swish" things multiple times a day. Sure, it sounds really cute, but it is not so cute when they want to "swish" cups, toothbrushes, and plates and seats at the dinner table - in the middle of the meal!

A Few Recent Pictures

Aren't my boys all getting BIG?!

Our Family on Jacob and Caleb's 2nd birthday!
(We are all in the picture - including Abby - and all HAPPY! If only Jacob would have been looking and they would have put the Thomas the Train gift bags down... but overall, a GREAT picture!)

My little Ladies Men and Major Cutie on Valentine's Day.


Group hug! Notice Jacob is kissing Gabe's forehead... awww!


The Valentine's card that we made to send out to the boys' Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, and Great-Great Grandma!


The 4 Seastrunk Boys Opening Weekend of Aggie Baseball Season 2009!
(Don't you LOVE the boys' matching "old school" baseball uniforms?!)

Yackety yack!

Jacob and Caleb are saying A LOT now, but here are a few noteworthy words that we hear often:

"NO" - I hear this no less that 200 times a day around here! Oftentimes this great word is heard in unison: "NO," but sometimes they add a twist for me. My personal favorite is "no-no-no" said in a high pitch tone. After several days of them doing this, I realized that they were mocking me ("Boys, no-no-no, let's come read books quietly for a minute rather than beating cars on the table.")

"Play" - Anytime we are doing an evil necessity - like washing hands, changing diapers, waiting on me to fix lunch, waiting on me to clean up the kitchen after lunch, etc - they inform me that they would rather "play" than participate in the task at hand.

"Bubba" - This is what they still call one another. They can also say "Cay-cay," "Jay-Jay," "Gabe" (sounds more like (Gee-be), "Gabriel" (which is hilarious to hear), and others, but the twins still choose to refer to one another and Gabe as "bubba."

"Grandpa Al" - This is greatness. My dad is Alan, but most people just call him Al, so we began telling the boys that he is their "Grandpa Al." When they first began repeating it, it came out more like "Growl-growl." Later it had three syllables, but was still "Gr-Gra-Growl." They have gotten close to mastering it now.

"Hers" - There is a great story behind this one! They boys really like to annoy Abby, our 10 year old rat terrier. They won't pet or play sweet with her for long, but insist on hitting, pulling her tail or legs, etc. So far she has been good with them, but I fear that she will retaliate any time. She has several toys of her own that they boys like to go steal (heaven forbid if SHE were to take one of there's!). Caleb came up to her one day as she was chewing a tennis ball and tried to snatch it. Afraid that Abby was about to bite, I yelled at him "Caleb, seriously, leave it alone - THAT IS HERS!" His eyes got all wide, "HERS?!" Me: "Yes, Cay, it IS hers." Well, he now calls a tennis balls - whether Abby's or not - "hers." I am working on trying to explain it to him, but no such luck. I think he might be playing tennis one day in high school with a racket and "hers!" :-)

"Abby" - Along the lines of Abby, they also love to scold her when SHE does something wrong - like try to come in the kitchen/dinning room while we are eating. Of course, "Abby" sounds like "B.B." for some reason, but we - including Abby - know what it means!!

"More" (mooore) - This is said about two or three times every meal. Within a couple of minutes of the start of a meal, something is gone from one part of their plate, and the request is on - "MORE!" Me: "Thank you for asking so sweet (*implied: rather than screaming*), but eat a few bites of something else, and then I'll get you MORE oranges (or whatever the requested item is)!"

They say almost all of the other basics - like juice, milk, ball, book, car - as well as some other random words, but I thought the above ranked as some of the funnier ones that we would want to remember years from now.

On that note, I'll close the blog with another favorite - "A-MEN!" This is said in the appropriate times (like when we finish their Baby Devotional before bedtime), as well as when they are getting impatient for their meal. If I am fixing their plates and they are really hungry, they will sit in their chairs saying "A-MEN, A-MEN..." over and over (and louder and louder). I guess they are letting me know that we have prayed, so there is no reason to delay food any longer!

(The sweet boys can also say "church," "Jesus," and "Bible" too. They LOVE Sunday School!!)

Be sure to see my previous blog too. Hopefully I'll get some pictures posted tomorrow!

So far behind...

Well, I realize that I have not been great at blogging lately. Life has still been pretty crazy around here. Nothing earth shattering, really, just day-to-day life kind of stuff. I have been wanting to blog for a while now, but, being so far behind, knew that it would take me a long time to get caught back up, and I just don't have that kind of time right now. I came to the conclusion today, however, that I don't have to get caught up, rather just pick up where we are now. I mean, the twins are doing so many cute things, and I want to document it all here. Sure, I like to share it with all of our readers, but it also helps Jon and I to have record to remember in the future too.

So, anyway, a quick post for tonight:

Jacob and Caleb turned 2 on February 4th!! At their two year check up, Jacob was 34 1/2 inches and 33 pounds, while Caleb was 34 inches and 32.4 pounds. They are running everywhere and into everything. Their speech has really improved a lot too. Caleb talks constantly and is like a parrot, repeating the last word of EVERYTHING he hears! When Jacob does talk, it is more plain, but he just doesn't have a lot to say. When he does say something, it is important so listen up (sounds like his Daddy)!

Gabriel turned 6 months on February 18th, and was 15 pounds 12 ounces and 25 3/4 inches at his check up. He is still little, but otherwise doing awesome. He is the most calm mannered baby I have ever seen (thank God) and has the sweetest spirit. He laughs a lot and loves to play with his big brothers and in his exersaucer. He rolls all over the place and can sit up on his own too - I think we'll have a crawler on our hands before long. :-)

Jon and I are also doing well. We have gotten to go out a couple of times by ourselves, thanks to my parents watching the boys. We always miss the boys when we leave, but it is so nice to eat dinner without having to tend to a major meltdown, dodge food, wipe faces, get them seconds-and thirds-and a cookie before we even finish our main meal, etc.

I just wanted to briefly let you all know that we are doing well. It is after midnight now, and Gabe is still waking me every three hours or so (yes, through the night too), so I need to get some rest! I will TRY to be more diligent about picking up with now and making at least a brief blog more often. We'll see... :-)