I got a call from my parents tonight.  Apparently, Mom has started vermicomposting.  She's referring to herself as a "worm farmer."

I'm so proud. <3

My parents wound up coming through town last week.  As it so happens, it was Easter.  Over the last several years, the way we've observed it has fallen into the "Oh, hey, it's Easter" category, rather than any particular rituals.

Growing up, we'd do the Easter basket thing, but that was about it.  Greg, being Jewish, never even got that far.  He and I have talked about "doing Easter" before, but it's not been a priority by any means.

With my parents coming in and it being kind of a family tradition, we decided to go ahead and dye eggs and the whole ball of wax.  Mom even brought a small Easter basket; she'd been involved in some sort of community thing and one of the women she knew had made an Easter basket, but didn't have anyone to give it to.  So Mom passed it on to us, complete with basket, neon cellophane "grass," jellybeans, and little chocolate eggs.

The night before, I snagged a Paas kit from the store and boiled up some eggs.  Somewhere around mid-morning, we got started with the dye.  Mom and I were disappointed that Paas no longer includes a white crayon in their kit, so I scrounged up an old candle and we used that.

Dad, of course, kept to his traditional Easter-egg dyeing role. 

Peabody thought it was a great idea, too.  Then again, that's pretty much his typical MO.

After the eggs, for some reason I decided that it would be a good idea to dye the dog's feet.  (Don't ask me why; all I can tell you is that alcohol was NOT involved.)  I went for purple and wound up with a lovely shade of lavender.  Purple puppy piddy-paws, as I kept saying to him. 

I planned on redyeing his feet again the next morning, before our Heeling Friends volunteer shift, but Mom threw out the purple and I had to make do with green.  Hardly anyone noticed (all of one person, I think), but I had a grand time doing it.  With it being non-toxic, it wasn't going to hurt him, and the water-soluble aspect meant that it washed off very easily.

I think we have a new family tradition. *grin*


Later in the day, Greg and I had to make a run into town.  When we came back, we discovered that the Easter bunny had been there and had hidden all of our eggs.  Being a practiced hand at this, I spotted three within the first ten minutes of walking through the door, but waited until Mom was out of the tub for us all to go searching.  I beat Greg 8 to 4, but considering that he's never done it before and, as Dad stated, seemed to think the Easter bunny was smarter than he really was, Greg didn't do bad at all. 

We had a lot of fun and some good family time, which is what all holidays should be. :)