Every year Teacher and I find directions for dyeing Easter eggs with natural dyes and every year we say “We should try that!” but so far we haven’t. When it’s Saturday afternoon and we’re faced with six excited kids bouncing off the walls, at least three dozen hardboiled eggs to decorate, and about an hour until dinner, we end up using the familiar dye pellets. I’ll bet you would too! But this year I decided I really, really wanted to try natural dyes. Teacher and I are trying to incorporate more “green” and natural products into our lives, and onion skin dye just has to be more natural than those little pellets, right? Besides, it would be so much fun, and such a good experience for the kids. I started researching online and was surprised by what I discovered!

One method to dyeing eggs with natural dyes is to put raw eggs in a pot with water, vinegar, and a dye material like dry onion skins, then simmer this mixture for 20-30 minutes. When they’re done the eggs will be a gorgeous shade of yellow… and taste like onions. Eeeeewwwww! I also found out that some natural dyes may be toxic depending on what dye material you use. Since everyone in my family LOVES boiled eggs I’m thinking that toxic dyes and onion-flavored eggs aren’t going to work for us.

Another method for dyeing eggs with natural dyes is to boil the eggs ahead of time, then boil the dye material in vinegar water separately. When the dye is as dark as you want you put the eggs in and let them sit overnight. That’s an easy method, but we won’t be able to make our traditional striped and plaid eggs… unless we start on them tonight! I didn’t find out if these eggs will taste like the dye material too, but wouldn’t be surprised if they do - eggshells are permeable after all.

So now I don’t know how we’re going to dye our eggs this year. I was really looking forward to using natural dyes but don’t want to risk toxic dyes or nasty flavored eggs; those little pellets are looking better and better to me all the time. I’m not ready to throw in the towel quite yet though!

Do you dye Easter eggs? What do you use to color them?

I gave in. I didn’t want to, but I had to admit it was time. The girls had been saying “Mom, he needs one, he looks like a girl!” for weeks but I didn’t care. His hair was so soft and fine, with ends that curled up around his ears giving him an angelic look. I wanted to hold out as long as I could, but when I noticed that his bangs were falling into his eyes and the back of his hair was below his shoulders I had to admit it - it was time for Little Guy’s first haircut.

We went to The Barbershop, a local chain that is just for men. They have leather chairs and sofas, free coffee, water and peanuts to snack on, and a huge flat screen TV showing sports, sports, and more sports. I feel very out of place when I’m in The Barbershop but it’s cheap and the males in my house love it. I really can’t blame them; for $10 they get a cubicle with a TV, a haircut, shampoo, facial hair trim, hot towel, and head massage. I wish there was a Barbershop Call it “The Salon” for women - I could handle all that pampering for $10!

I knew that Little Guy would never sit on the chair so I held him on my lap and prayed that he’d sit still long enough. He absolutely refused to wear a cape - he held out his hand and said “Nooooo!” with a frown on his face when the stylist tried to put it on him. I wore one since I was dumb and had on black. Next time remind me to wear something hair-colored!

It turns out I had nothing to worry about. Little Guy was distracted by the cartoons on his little TV and by Angel Face wielding my camera. Yikes, don’t drop it! Having a Dum-dum to suck on didn’t hurt either; Little guy LOVES suckers! Actually he’s pretty fond of any kind of candy, but M&Ms and suckers are his favorites.

Look at that adorable curl in back - it breaks my heart to see it cut off. I can’t look… I can’t look… I can’t look… Sob!

Almost done and he’s still sitting happily on my lap…

Here he is, all done! No more curls, but still amazingly adorable… not that I’m biased or anything. Actually, I am biased, but I’d still think he was adorable even if I wasn’t.

Teacher and I lived in rentals for the first 12 years of our marriage and couldn’t wait to get our own home. We would get so frustrated whenever we had to call our landlord with a problem because we had to wait for the landlord to send the company maintenance guy over. This person was usually either overweight, over 70, not overly blessed in the brains department - or a combination of the three. Teacher and I longed for the day when we could fix our own problems or hire our own people to fix it for us.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! We got our first taste of home ownership trouble with the tumor in the kitchen. Luckily there wasn’t much damage done and my dad was able to fix the problem quickly and cheaply - two things I like!

Unfortunately our next experience wasn’t fixed nearly as quickly or cheaply, and was much messier! The first indication that there was a problem was when Teacher spotted a trail of water coming down the hall toward the laundry area from the basement bathroom.

Teacher checked it out because I wasn’t going near it and told me that the shower drain in the basement bathroom was backing up. We’d had a lot of snow melting and it had rained the previous day so I figured that was the cause. Teacher gave the drain a good plunging then mopped up the water. We told ourselves that since the rain had stopped and the temperatures had dropped the problem would take care of itself. Wrong!

The next day Teacher checked again and it was worse. The shower floor was filled to the brim with murky brown water that had bits and pieces of sludge suspended in it and sticking to every surface it touched. This was taken AFTER Teacher had cleaned some of the sludge out. Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!

Teacher gave the drain another plunging then used a pressurized clog remover that has worked great in the upstairs shower when it starts draining slowly. Finally he poured a ton of Drano into the drain for good measure and left it alone overnight to do its magic. The next day Teacher checked the shower and it had drained! We were hopeful that the problem was fixed, but turning on the shower to test the drain proved our hopes wrong - it was still clogged. After another round of plunging, pressurized bombing, and overnight Drano we admitted defeat.

I called a plumber Monday morning and was happy to hear that one was able to come within two hours. The previous night Teacher had discovered that the water filling the shower was coming from the kitchen sink so I told the kids not to use that sink. I knew that they’d forget and use it anyway so I put a big bowl in the sink to catch the water. It had to be emptied frequently which was a pain in the butt and made me extra eager to get the drain fixed.

After an hour of work, a good-sized bill, and a recommendation to have all the drains in the house cleaned out for a hefty price, the plumber was done! I was thrilled that we could use the sink again, but wasn’t looking forward to cleaning up the mess. The water had seeped out of the shower, covering the bathroom floor and streaming into Teacher’s tool room next door as well as up the hall toward the laundry area. In addition, all the feet that tramped through that water tracked it up the stairs and into the kitchen. I mentioned something about the clean-up job and the plumber told me to hire someone and make a claim on our home owner’s insurance. My first thought was that I could clean it up myself so why bother, but then I went downstairs to take a peek and immediately changed my mind!

I called our insurance company and a cleaning/restoration company. The insurance guy came out to take a look at the damage and told me that the clean-up would be covered - hooray! Unfortunately our yearly deductible was more than the cost of the clean-up, but remembering the mess in the basement I’d decided it was well worth it. The restoration tech was a really nice guy who did a very thorough job. He cleaned and disinfected everything in the bathroom, the hallway, and all the way up the stairs. He even did the outside of the trash can, the toilet brush, toilet brush holder, and emptied the trash! We haven’t gotten the bill yet but I’m sure it was worth every penny. It may not be the prettiest bathroom in our house, but it’s definitely the cleanest!

Now that things are back to normal I’m hoping it’ll be a while before the next emergency…

Our house was was relatively quiet; all I could hear the fish tank’s gentle gurgling and the TV murmuring in the other room. I grabbed the camera to capture this moment for all posterity - it’s not often that our house is so quiet!

Little Guy was fast asleep on his sleeping bag. Since he learned how to climb out of his crib he refuses to nap in his crib and would fall asleep on the floor in front of the baby gate. I hated that and finally had a brainstorm: I folded a sleeping bag inside-out so the soft part was on the outside then folded it in half so it’s cushy-soft. Now he happily lies down with his star blankie and sleeps on his own “nap mat” which is almost like the big kids’.

Z-Man was taking a rest on the couch cuddled under his blankie with Angel Face’s teddy bear next to him. I let him watch TV in the hope that it would relax him and he’d fall asleep, but he never did. He was quiet for a good hour though - a record for him!

Jo-Bear and Angel Face went to Uncle Jon’s house to play. Usually Uncle Jon has the kids help him with a couple of things around the house before playing video games. Since Jo-Bear and Angel Face are going through a terrible stage where they fight like cats and dogs, having them gone contributed greatly to the quiet in the house!

Princess was trying her hand at baking Mocha Swirl Cheesecake. She’d been craving cheesecake but hadn’t had time to make any earlier. I’d been trying to convince her that she didn’t want to make cheesecake - those last 10 baby pounds just won’t budge - but she didn’t listen. Like most cheesecakes it took forever to cool but we were able to try a slice before going to bed. That was one of the best cheesecakes I’ve had in my entire life! I may not be able to button my jeans by the time it’s gone but I won’t regret one bite.

Teacher and College Boy were also out of the house. College Boy is home for Spring Break and is spending much of it with his friends as we’ll let him. He went to a friend’s house for another computer gaming marathon fueled by pizza and Mountain Dew Code Red. Teacher had run to the grocery store to get a couple of things for dinner and daycare the next day. Since he’s the main cook and menu planner he also does all the grocery shopping. I’m more than happy to let him too!

I started on a new sewing project: a prom dress for Princess. We’d found satin in a delicious shade of tangerine with sparkles all over it - absolutely stunning. My goal was to get all the pieces cut out this weekend so I could start sewing it early but yardages in the pattern were way off and I ran out of lining fabric. Oh well, it would have been worse if I’d run out of the satin - lining is fairly easy to find but there’s no guarantee they’d have more satin available.

That was my quiet Sunday interlude. How did you spend your Sunday?

Warning - the photos you’re about to see aren’t my best but I’m posting them anyway. If you don’t like ‘em don’t look.

I’m not a photographer and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Back in high school I took Photography and really enjoyed it; I even remember some of what I learned. But now for the most part I just want to snap quick photos to capture a moment in time - I’m not trying to produce a piece of Art. This is why my little point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot has been perfect for me until I took it to Angel Face’s basketball game. To be fair, it was user error, not the camera. Life and learn, right?

This year almost all of Angel Face’s basketball games were on Friday afternoons and I’m tied up with the daycare until 5:30 so I couldn’t go. But they had one Saturday game scheduled, and I was there - with my camera. Of course the girls wouldn’t stand still while I took photos so I tried to pan with the action like I was taught in Photography. It probably would have worked better if I’d remembered to change the shutter speed, and if the girls hadn’t kept changing direction on me! Since Angel Face improved 100% over the course of the season I’m happy to have some photos of her in action - even if they aren’t the best.

Angel Face’s coach started using her for defense right away. She’s tall and has long arms so she’s perfect to guard and get rebounds. She started the year a little timid, but by the end of the season she was holding her ground, pushing back, and even racked up some fouls!

I swear we really do feed her, she’s just naturally skinny.

This is my favorite photo. I think it’s really cool how Angel Face’s head and upper body are relatively clear while the rest is blurry. Run, Angel Face, run!

Of course I couldn’t resist taking a shot of my two men: Teacher and Little Guy. Little Guy had recently discovered his tongue and spent several days with it hanging out until he uncovered his belly button. Teacher wasn’t thrilled with Little Guy licking him, but he endured it stoically. I love it when he’s stoic!

Keeping up with housework is hard when you have children, especially when your children are young. Little Guy and Z-Man sometimes go into Tornado Mode - whirling through the house at breakneck speed, leaving a trail of destruction behind them. When you add in the extra work, mess and lack of time the childcare brings to the mix it’s no wonder our house is always in some state of messiness. By the time I get one room picked up the children have attacked another room and brought it to ruin.

I’ve pretty much accepted the fact that we’ll never live in a June Cleaver home, but that doesn’t mean I’ve totally given up. Every morning in addition to my daily cleaning/dishes routine I try to do one extra task to work towards Cleaver Nirvana.

Today’s task was to clean out the kitchen utensil/junk drawer. This is the drawer where things that we need but don’t use very often get tossed; like the food chopper, chop sticks, straws, plastic “silverware”, etc. Since the baby lock broke it’s been one of Little Guy’s favorite places to dig for treasure. He can often be found sitting IN the drawer, happily choosing an item, examining it - including the all-important taste test, then tossing it onto the floor next to the drawer. Of course he’s not the only reason the drawer is a mess, the older kids aren’t too careful when they put things away; I think their favorite method is open-drop-slam.

I don’t mind organizing, I actually like it. I find it therapeutic to throw away things we won’t use, sort like things into groups and put each group away neatly. I know, I probably have issues. Today I started by dumping everything out of the drawer onto the floor. Not only did it give me a clean slate to start with, it was fun!

After wiping out the drawer and finding crisp new shoe boxes to replace old squished ones I got to work sorting, grouping and throwing away. It didn’t take long before I was putting the last articles in the drawer and admiring my work. Doesn’t that look tons better? Maybe it’s still not worthy of Cleaverdom, but I’m happy with it.

Now I just need to replace that darn lock to keep Little Guy out of the drawer and teach the big kids how to put things away properly… that could take a while!

What do Asparagus, Brussels sprouts and Clam chowder have in common?
Humming the theme from Jeopardy…

They’re all foods that my family has had for dinner the past three nights. Not only that, they’re all foods that most of my children like - no kidding! Angel Face isn’t fond of asparagus, and clam chowder doesn’t do much for Z-Man, but they all downed Brussles sprouts like there was no tomorrow. They also love artichoke, crab legs, sushi, calamari aka squid, raw spinach, scallops… ummm… that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.

Now you’re probably wondering how Teacher and I get our kids to eat such un-kid-like foods. The truth is that it’s not hard because WE like food - lots of different kinds of food - and from the time our kids are ready for table foods we’ve fed them pretty much the same things we eat. Of course we tone down the spices for the little ones, or make two different sauces if we think the kids won’t like our sauce, but the idea is that they eat what we eat. We encourage them to try new things but never force them to - usually what happens is that they see how much we’re enjoying something then they want to try it too.

It’s great to have kids that eat almost everything because when the family goes out for dinner Teacher and I can pick almost any restaurant and know that the kids will find something they like. And we know they’re getting the nutrients that they need because they’re not eating the same old things all the time. Best of all, we get to share the foods we love with the children we love.

So what’s on the menu tonight? Pizza - cuz I’m cooking and I don’t like to cook. Teacher is the head chef around here, and always does something special on the weekends. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with this weekend!

I can’t remember the last time there was enough snow to go sledding over Christmas Break, so this year we took advantage of it. Teacher, Uncle Jon, and I braved the Wisconsin cold to take Jo-Bear, Z-Man, and Little Guy sledding. We would have taken the older kids too, but they’d been up most of the night playing computer games with friends so we knew we wouldn’t see them until after noon.

Instead of the legendary hills of Plamann Park we decided to sled the more moderate hill near Teacher’s school. This was Z-Man’s first sledding expedition and we didn’t want to scare him. Besides, I remembered how tall the Plamaan Park hills are, and how much I hurt after climbing back up over and over the last time we sledded there. I was more than happy to sled the smaller hill!

The temperature was a moderate 18 degrees - moderate for a Wisconsin winter that is. There was a brisk breeze on top of the hill that had me curling my fingers inside my gloves and wishing I’d worn a hat. But it was a good hair day and I didn’t want to ruin it. I didn’t end up taking a lot of photos because I needed to take my gloves off to work the camera. Looking at the photos now I wish I hadn’t been such a wimp, and that after sledding down the hill I’d stayed to take some pics of the boys sledding down. Maybe next year, but until then I hope you enjoy these photos…

Teacher loves cold, snow, hockey and pretty much everything about winter. Don’tcha love that hat?! It was a Christmas present from me - I figured he needed a crazy hat for recess duty. I think I may get him a crazy hat every Christmas.

Uncle Jon loves sledding, skiing, shoveling, and just plain winter like Teacher does. I think they’re both nuts since I don’t like being cold. I’d much rather go swimming somewhere sunny. Uncle Jon has a pretty cool hat too, doesn’t he?

Jo-Bear just plain loves being outside, no matter the weather. Yes, I know his coat is filthy. I’m not the one who bought a 9 yr old a white coat - blame his grandma for that. I’d wash it if he’d ever let me have it for a day, but he’s outside every chance he gets so it’s gonna have to wait until spring.

Z-Man is thrilled to go sledding, he’d been begging to go for weeks but our weekends were so packed we didn’t have time until Christmas Break. Isn’t he just adorable? If you look at his little finger you’ll see me wrapped around it. Well, not really, but he does get away with a lot.

Little Guy hates his coat, despises his hat and absolutely loathes mittens. He isn’t sure why we brought him out here in the middle of the snow and you can see on his face that he doesn’t quite trust us.

Z-Man gets ready for Uncle Jon to push him off. You can see Jo-Bear in the background about to jump onto his sled too. Z-Man is sometimes a little timid when it comes to new experiences so I was concerned he’d be afraid to go down the hill by himself. But once down with Teacher and he was ready to go solo.

And Z-Man’s off! He laughs so hard each time he goes down that I don’t know how he manages to hold on.

Little Guy was right to be suspicious… I’d been pulling him in circles on the top of the hill as the others went up and down and he seemed to like it. Then Teacher decided that it was time to take Little Guy down the gentle side. Teacher settled Little Guy securely between his legs and grabbed the rope. Little Guy doesn’t know what he’s in for…

I snapped a quick photo before they took off… then I was so busy watching them go down the hill I forgot to take a photo of it. I know, I’m such a dork.

My biggest fear was that they’d wipe out and Little Guy would be terrified of sledding afterwards, but they made it! Jo-Bear went down right after them and had just glided to a stop as Little Guy got out of the sled and tried to stand up in the snow. This was only the second time he’s worn his boots and he hadn’t quite figured out how to walk in them.

Teacher couldn’t see Little Guy’s face to tell if he was scared, excited, or something else, but he wasn’t screaming at the bottom of the hill, so I think he had a good time.

The biggest “kids” had a good time too!

I washed my diapers today and am a little nervous about it. Yeah, technically they’re Little Guy’s diapers but since I’m the one who loves them I get to call them MINE. Since I wash diapers about every other day it’s usually not a big deal, but today I used a different detergent - that’s why I’m nervous. Detergent choice is a big deal when washing cloth diapers. You can have the perfect washing routine but if you use the wrong detergent, like one with built-in fabric softener, your diapers could be ruined. Or at least really messed up for a while. Just a little pressure there, right?

For the past three years I’ve been using Arm & Hammer Free on the diapers and it’s worked really well for us - the only time I’ve had stinky diapers is when I was lazy and didn’t wash them for 3-4 days. I hadn’t been looking to switch detergents, but when I was doing research for my diaper detergent page I discovered that Arm & Hammer makes a more environmentally friendly detergent with plant based surfactants: Arm & Hammer Essentials. I mentioned to Teacher that I wanted to try it and the last time he got groceries he remembered to buy some. Yep, not only does he do all the grocery shopping, he remembers things like this. He’s SUCH a keeper!

I tried the detergent on our clothes first and really like it although it’ll take a while to get used to the scent. We’ve been using unscented products for years because when I’m pregnant I get queasy from strongly scented products. The Essentials isn’t strong so I think it’ll be OK, but I do plan to contact Church and Dwight Co, Inc (makers of Arm & Hammer) and suggest they make Essentials unscented.

When the diapers came out of the dryer they looked as clean as usual, and didn’t have much of a scent to them. But only time will tell if the Essentials will work as well for us as the Free did. Cross your fingers with me that it does!

It’s been “snot-freezin’ cold” for the past few days and I’ve had enough already. You know snot-freezin’ cold, don’t you? When you walk out outside and feel the snot in your nose freeze as you breathe. Yeah, that’s snot-freezin’ cold.

Spring, where are you?!

Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com