I wasn't going to color eggs with the kids this year. They colored some at a party at story hour last Thursday and I thought that would be enough, but it only whetted their appetites. So I promised First Son we could color more at home. With trepidation.
I thought it prudent to note a few things to remember for next year.
1. Two layers of newspaper are better than one. Three layers are better than two.
2. When we have four kids coloring eggs, we're going to put them in shifts. I could barely cover three at the same time.
3. If you want pictures of the actual coloring of the eggs, recruit a second adult.
4. Paas tablets, when sitting in the cupboard for a year (or two) loose a bit of their vibrancy.
5. Anyone between the ages of one and two will be more interested in dabbing color on her own and the attending adult's hands than in the egg. How wonderful for the parent planning on attending the Vigil mass later that same day.
6. The same toddler will also be more interested in hopping the egg around (like a Veggie) until it cracks than in coloring the egg. She will, though, be happier hopping it around after it has a bit of color on it so she can watch the color splatter a bit onto the table, which is thankfully heavily covered in newspaper (see number 1 above).
7. In one of the two or three seconds you turn away from that same toddler (while still sitting next to her and holding her cup) to glance at the other two children, she will taste the coloring. Luckily, it apparently is not very appetizing.
8. With many prayers (mine) and admonitions (also mine) to carefully move cups with two hands, the three year old who spills her drink at every meal can manage to color six eggs without dumping a cup of color all over the floor.
9. The kids will all have fun and will all have hands covered in as much coloring as the eggs when finishing up fifteen minutes later.
