Slice of Life: Easter Comes Early

As I mentioned in the previous post, Ben and I are preparing to head out of town this weekend for a friend from high school's wedding {you may recall the bachelor party that Ben went on a few weeks ago}. The timing is impeccable {Easter weekend}. Clearly the couple doesn't have children and realize what it means to be away from your little ones on Easter morning. Surely they will understand soon enough, though. That being said, we love him so we will be there to support him in his matrimony {sans kids}.

This past weekend some friends of ours {you probably remember them from this post} came in town again for work and to celebrate their youngest son, Palmer's birthday. The theme was an Easter Egg Hunt, so it was a great chance for us to hunt eggs with Jack {again, since we won't be here on Easter morning}. It was really a cute party. I can't wait to see Linley's photos, because everything was so "egg"-stra cute!

Linley works as the Marketing Director for Coton Colors, a locally owned hand painted pottery store, that sells their goods in retailers all over the U.S. and online. She always has tons of cute pottery to enhance her parties. Each child got one of these precious eggs as a favor, which are perfect for using as candy jars or hiding money in or other goodies for your little one on Easter morn.

The weather this past weekend was absolutely gorgeous! So on Sunday, Jack and I painted Easter eggs on the patio. We did it while Paigey napped. I felt sort of bad for not including her, but at the same time, I knew it wouldn't be very relaxing chasing her around with paint all over her fingers. Jack and I had a relaxing time stamping, rolling, dyeing and gold leafing eggs.

The finished eggs. Aren't they lovely?!

Do you know how to hard boil the perfect egg? I never knew {in all my years of cooking} that there was such a thing as a perfectly hard boiled egg – much less how to achieve it – so I thought I'd share this {probably-not-so-secret} secret with you:

First you gently place the eggs in the pot and add water until the eggs are completely covered. Bring the water to a rolling boil, then turn the burner OFF. That's right, I said shut.it.off. Then place a lid on the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes and ONLY 10 minutes. Remove eggs from pot and place directly into an ice bath {ice water for the lay man} and allow to cool a few minutes. Voila, the perfectly cooked, easily peel-able hard boiled egg.

So how do you know if the egg is over cooked? Well, if you've ever seen a gray/greenish yolk, then that would indicate that you have officially overcooked the egg. I wonder if that is where the idea for "Green Eggs and Ham" came from?

I found this cute and fairly easy crafty Easter project for Jack and Paige's preschool Easter parties. Really there was no talent on my part to create these. I found the idea on Pinterest.com {my new favorite obsession}, and the link took me here for the idea and the FREE printable topper download. She recommends taping the toppers on to cardstock, but instead I just printed mine out on ultra white 65 lb. cover stock, then cut them all out {two per baggie} and stapled them together on to the bags. It was really quick and easy. And it would have been a much faster, if I had a paper cutter or at very least a straight edge and Exacto knife.

I also made these precious cupcakes for Jack's class.

Pretty easy, but gotta really give some love to cake decorators. Using a piping bag is no joke. My hands and arms were cramping up like nobody's businesses after icing only 24 cupcakes. The "eggs" are Cadbury's Mini Eggs and the grass is buttercream icing dyed green. I piped the icing with a small star tip and stippled it on the cupcake to create the look of grass. I also added green sprinkles to enhance the grassy look and topped with 3 eggs each.

And finally, here are the kiddo's basket from the EB all done and ready to go.