Cracking up over eggs.

It's a good morning when daddy is home. Kaitlyn and daddy broke open the egg I made last night to see if there where any chicks inside. Kaitlyn was pretty disappointed about finding an egg inside but was still happy because it included daddy time.

Ethan cracks me up...he looks exactly like I did when I was a kid.

I should find the photo's of me...we made the same faces.

He sure is a character!

Around noon we headed over to my parents place to make Pysanky Easter eggs. 

My mom had hit up the local Ukrainian co-op and got supplies. 

The warning on the bottom of the package cracked me up. It said not to eat it,  not to get it in your eyes and not to expose your skin to it for too long. 

Then under that it said if used as directed it is certified non toxic.

Ha, ha!

After a ton of prep work we were all ready to get started.

Kaitlyn colored on hers with markers then I took over and put some wax on it and plopped it into the dye.

Ethan hung out for a few minutes but couldn't be bothered to stay if it didn't involve nursing.

Em got the hang of the kitstka really quickly and went to town waxing out her pattern.

Mom joined in and had fun making an egg too.

But then she got bored.

We sure made a mess, I would not recommend this craft for young children, it is so tedious and involves fire and hot instruments....however for the rest of us...what fun!

After doing stage after stage of waxing and dipping in the dye and waxing and dipping I finally got to the stage where you melt the wax and wipe it off. This is the most exciting part, it is like a present and a work of art is slowly revealed.

I was so excited after 3 hours of work to see the end result. I held the egg up to the flame and thought, "man it would sure suck if I dropped it now."

And then I did.

It bounced off the side of the candle, hit the table with a sickening cracking smacking noise and my stomach dropped with it. 

I gulped and went to grab it hoping it sounded worse than it really was and as I touched it it slipped away and rolled off the table smashing to bits on the floor.

I yelped and screeched and cried out a child safe string  of frustrated and flustered words. My mom rushed over and said " Oh, Anna, it's ok, we can fix it."

Ha, ha, I love you mom!

I almost cried but instead started to laugh, mom started to laugh as well and next thing you know we were laughing so hard we were nearly crying, though I think the tears were really sad ones sneaking out from behind the mask of giggles.

We made comments and jokes about such a crazy  delicate craft. To work on such a fragile object, why?!

Then to try and keep the mood light my mom told me a story about my Grandpa. (who passed away almost a year ago)

The day after Gramps died my mom and my grandma where taking the elevator from the condo down to the main level when it made a stop and one of Nana's friends got on. She is older and has early alzheimer's. She turns to my nana and says "Dear, have you heard the news?''

My nana says, "No dear, what is it?"

The lady says, "Well dear, Harold passed away last night."

My Nana just looks at her and then says, " You know who I am, I was with him, I am  Virginia, his wife."

My mom is standing there with her lip quivering and trying not to bust her gut as this lady's face falls and she is completely mortified..she backs quickly out the elevator and the doors close.

Mom splits her gut and then Nana starts to giggle. They laughed and laughed.

I can just imagine it.

So this kept us going for a while. Then I settled back into my seat. I must make another and it has to make it. It was the last unspoiled egg.

Out of a batch of 10 eggs only 5 survived.

The sound of an egg cracking now flips my stomach, making breakfast will sure be a whole new experience now.

Mom then took the kids and distracted them so I could make a second egg.

This time in under an hour. Whew.

Here is Emily's chick in a nest.

Phil's football.

Mom's verse.

Kaitlyn's pink and purple coloring became the base for this one.

And finally I was ready to once again melt the wax off. 

My fingers where cold and clammy. I was trembling inside and my stomach felt like it was in a zillion knots.

Why did we have to make these things? Too much stress!!!

But once the wax was all rubbed off I was so happy, totally worth it!

Here it is from every angle as I rotated the egg.

There are little hidden eggs in the design in all the nooks and cranny's.

And that's it. I put it in the egg carton, with the lid open of course, it must degas.

I had intended to to a traditional egg but they take so much time. I didn't have that and with the kids thought I would try to do something fun instead.

We did the traditional method but put our own spin on them.

Fun and stressful. Now they are off to be judged in an egg competition. We'll see tomorrow if any of us made a placement for an award.

I am worried since they are not traditional in either the Ukrainian way nor the pastel food coloring way either. We might just send the judges for a loop and get pushed aside.

Either way it was worth it. 

We had fun and a great family bonding time and in my books that is what matters.