Three has been a fun age. A trying, patience-testing age, but a fun age. Annabel is so easy to please – she gets such a kick out of the simplest things, it’s a good reminder for me that she doesn’t need crazy toys and doodads to have fun. I’m especially enjoying doing things with her that I did as a kid. It’s fun to read her my favorite books, or do the holiday traditions I grew up with. The best part is that she thinks it’s fun, too.
Even though my distaste for things sticky and messy is well-documented, I was looking forward to dying Easter Eggs with her. I asked Mike to pick up an egg-dying kit at the grocery store, and he called me all, “Um, there are like, ten different options, which one do you want?” Nine of them were crazy-elaborate (we’re talking gold-plated eggs!), but I just wanted the basic egg-coloring kit that I used when I was a kid. It required vinegar and lemon juice…I don’t remember that as a kid! But I never prepared the dyes, that was always handled by my grandma.
Annie was like, “What are we doing? What are we doing?” while I was carrying the cups of dye out to the backyard (I think my hate of sticky/messy is more easy to deal with when I know I can just hose everything down). I told her we were making eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide, and she said, “But I want to eat them now…OH! RAINBOW COLORS!”
She was not gentle about putting the eggs in the dye, which means we’ll have some cracked, multicolored hard-boiled eggs on our hands. Delicious!
Mike and I showed her how to turn the eggs, and she tried using the egg-dipper thing it comes with but decided it was “too hard.”
She takes egg dying very seriously.
Her reaction to seeing a finished egg is the best.
She also got a big kick out of the two of us accidentally dying the tips of our fingers:
When the eggs were dry, she and her daddy had fun adding stickers (which were just as impossible to stick on as I remembered).
She was very proud of her final product:
So now I a) have to remember to hide them on Sunday morning, and b) have to remember WHERE I hide them. Pregnancy brain will be working against me!
Amanda says:
What a doll!! Glad she had fun.
Erin says:
So cute! We tried a written list of where they were hidden (although you could also take photos), but eventually gave upand just hid chocolate and plastic eggs. Having the dog find a three month old hard boiled egg in the yard in June is just gross.
Sue says:
What an absolute doll baby!!!!!
KateB says:
Loved her reaction shot. She looked JUST like Maddie in that picture!
Becca says:
Holy crap those are cute pictures. I especially loved “intent” “rainbow fingers” and the final product. Can’t. even. handle it.
Shannon O says:
I read a tip a few years ago about using a whisk to place the egg inside for dipping. It works great! I love my little whisk that fits in my hand blender. You just push the egg between the wires, and then your child can dip it up and down in the dyes. You might try it next time you dye eggs. I don’t think I will ever go back to the little wire dipper that comes with the kit ever again. It is so much cleaner.
It looks like she had a blast though, and the pictures are adorable!
Megan says:
I bought Easter egg dye last year and had the same reaction to all the options as you. And they’re all relatively inexpensive, so you can buy like five boxes and dye way too many eggs. Not that I did that or anything.
At the Easter egg hunts I’ve been to for kids Annie’s age, the eggs were basically just sitting in the grass. Annie might enjoy a bit more of a search, but at least you’d be able to find them all.
Kim says:
The picture of Annie being suprised by the dyed eggs, she looks just like Maddie in that picture <3.
Looks like a new tradition has been born… you've given me courage to do this with my 2.5yr old!
Meg says:
That was my first thought. So beautiful.
Dannielle says:
So excited that you hide the hard boiled eggs! That’s what I grew up doing in Iowa, but everyone here in Texas looks at me like I have 2 heads when I mention that…
MichelleM says:
I’m from Iowa too and my parents hid the hard boiled ones as well!!
Christina says:
We use the plastic ones, my kids arent fans of hard boiled eggs, and I can only eat so many, so we DO dye some and they are given away with plates of cookies I make for a few of my neighbors. one year at my sisters Her and I hid over 300 eggs, then the following morning, another sister, and Grandma also brought plastic eggs, they mostly wanted Grandma’s eggs since she put coins and paper $ in them, Also the night before, there was a house up the street from my sister with 3-4 kids, whos parents dont have much, but do the best we can, they were gone for the night, so we put some “baskets” (Decorated goodie bags) from the easter bunny, and took some of the 300 eggs and hid them in thier front yard, They never found out who did it, but watching the kids get out of the car see the stuff on the front porch and then see they had eggs in the yard was priceless.
Mommy says:
Omg you hide the real eggs?? You are brave!!! We leave the dyed eggs out for the Easter bunny to admire, but then he puts them in the fridge and hides the plastic ones. Ha ha!
alexis says:
Dang, she always looks like such a happy kid. So glad you guys got a kid with so much life in her, I bet she’s a fun person to be around
randy says:
Consider giving Annie a candle or a crayon to draw on her eggs…easier and more “magical” than those sticky stickers.
Happy Easter
Lily says:
I see a lot of Maddie in Annie’s smile!!
Meg says:
The smile in that last photo is just too adorable. We dyed eggs every year as a kid, and I MAY still occasionally partake in the tradition myself . . . no children needed! It’s just fun. And yes, the vinegar kit is the same one we used. I loved pouring in the liquid and seeing them fizz to life!
memphislis says:
Number one, I wish I could sit like that- feet flat on the ground and squat- but it would be so, so bad. Number two, she gets more gorgeous every day.
Michelle H. says:
Annie’s reaction shot is so adorable! And I agree with some other posters, she really does look just like Maddie in that photo! Have a happy easter!
Jenny says:
We just found the last missing egg from where my sister hid it in our house two years ago. Luckily it was plastic, but it still had some chocolate in it. LOL!
Glenda says:
OMG!! I want Annie’s shirt! I LOVE giraffe’s!!
When my kids were little we would do all sticky/messy activities in the garage or outside as well (especially play doh)
Love all the pictures!!! Adorable!
MichelleM says:
My daughter is also 3 – it is a very sassy age but SO FUN!! I will miss it for sure! I love the picture of Annie’s reaction to the colored egg and the last pic – she looks so proud! She is so stinking cute!!
Abigail says:
Oh my goodness I thought her serious expression was the best and then I scrolled down and her reaction to the finished egg? Hilarious! She is just so expressive.
Dying eggs outside is a great idea. Not that we’d ever be able to up here in frigid Chicagoland. Ah well.
Em says:
So cute! I was just bemoaning the fact that I’m too old to dye eggs for myself… guess it is about time to start having kids.
I just wanted to say that you don’t really have to buy those kits to dye eggs. You can just mix boiling water, a spoonful of vinegar and food coloring– although then you’re stuck with blue/yellow/green/red and you don’t really get the pretty pinks, etc.
Norma says:
I love your sweet little Annie!
Expat Mom says:
3 is my favorite age. Kids are just so AMAZED at every little thing, it’s wonderful to see the world through their eyes.
We’re going to be dying eggs tomorrow or Saturday and my boys are old enough (well, two of them) to know what is coming. Every day, they ask to dye eggs. I suggest taking photos so you remember where they are. We have found a few eggs a little too late.
Dawn @What's Around the Next Bend? says:
Definitely hide them OUTSIDE!! My mom hid them inside once (due to rain) and a couple of months later we found the missing one. (Due to the stench- blech!!)
holly says:
Ummmm. If I could go outside to do our eggs I would be more likely to do them. 2 feet of snow here in Northern Michigan.
Auntie_M says:
Oh fun, fun, fun!!!! I just love the enthusiasm with which Annie greets the world!!!