The Bossy Boots and the Eggcellent Color

Every year it’s the same thing, “When are we going to color Easter eggs?” As soon as I bring home the kit, it’s an endless quest by the kids to wear me down and give in. Yesterday was the day, egg coloring day. I decided to get crafty this year and try using food coloring instead of my beloved Paas. I was quite impressed with the results. (The color of the egg, not the doneness…whole other nightmare).

The end product (after some were eaten)

Let’s begin.

First of all, I have the worst time hard boiling eggs (9 and a half times out of 10 they come out awful), so I tried baking some of them. They came out WAY better than the boiled ones. They did come out with some mystery shmutz (of course they did why would they come out the right way), but it wiped off and they get colored and peeled off, so I didn’t care.

Boiled some (those didn't come out well)

Tried baking these (came out very well)

See the mystery shmutz

I gathered my supplies and got ready.

All the needed supplies

Can't forget my assisstants

Not using a store bought kit, I didn’t have the nifty pop out circle doohickeys to put my colored eggs in so I was wondering where I was going to put the eggs after they were dipped. I didn’t want to put them back in the carton because I didn’t want the color to smudge. Then I was stuck by genius (I’m overachieving here, watch out); I cut the bottoms off the egg carton with a bread knife and used it that way. Move over Martha, I’m walking by.

My genius idea

They fit quite nicely

Here’s my egg coloring concoction:

½ cup boiling water

1 ½ Tablespoon white vinegar

20 drops food coloring (red will need more to be brighter)

That’s it.

I put them in coffee mugs because I knew they wouldn’t break or crack with the boiling water.

I let the water cool of a little bit (I didn’t want a cold egg going into hot water). Then we were good to go.

Our assortment of colors

I gave each Kraus kid a spoon and told them to GENTLY put their egg into the cup of their choice. I put mine in purple and within 15 seconds, I couldn’t believe the color.

Only about 15 seconds in the cup

She's sad she couldn't do it too

All was going well until the two Bossy Boots started. So what if Teddy wanted to keep his egg in one cup the entire time? Is he hogging the table with his fanny? You didn’t even want to use that color anyway. Then the 2 BBs started telling me I was doing it wrong, really? I don’t see long ears and fur on you two.

The girls always feel it necessary to sit ON the table

I think that may be the only egg he did

Whatever, you girls want to be queens of the eggs, knock yourselves out. Teddy left his egg in the mug and went to watch Ted play videogames, I went back to Pinterest. By the time I got back to the kitchen, the BBs had finished all the eggs. Then the BBs wanted to frame the “beautiful masterpieces” they ended up creating (the paper towels). Those two have a mind of their own sometimes.

The "masterpieces" they wanted to frame

Overall, we were successful in our Easter egg experiment.