Much ado about Peeps

We love Peeps. Ok, Cole and I love Peeps. Shawn will eat one or two but only after it's sat out for several days and gotten good and stale and hard. I think I can trace my addiction for the stuff back to a day when my Dad brought home a huge (think lawn and garden size) bag of Peeps (still in their box). I can't recall the event or why, I just remember having Peeps around for weeks and months -- nirvanna.                                                                                       Cole and I can (and do) eat Peeps fresh from the package, a few days old, and after having sat through the long days of April. Although, I have to admit. I'm a bit of a purist. I know First Born (the name of the company that produces Peeps -- can't believe I know that) now produces Peeps and Marshmallow-shaped goodness all year in a variety of colors and shapes. They have hearts for Valentines day, Flags for Independence Day, Pumpkins for Halloween, and Snowmen for Christmas -- and a bunch more.                                                                                                         But I prefer the little chicks (in any color, although yellow is the best) and won't typically partake except at Easter. (I'm trying to bring Cole over to my way of thinking) Although I make up for it during the season, so don't worry about me.

                                                                                                   In my love for Peeps, I stumbled upon a few web sites I thought I would pass on.

                                                                                                                                                              PeepShow - This guy is amazing. You've got to scroll down the page and at a the very minimum, check out ** Real PEEPS® Vote ** (both the final version and the making of)

Also, if you've got some extra time and Peeps on your hand, you may want to consider entering the Washington Post's Peep Diorama Contest. Be advised, they had over 1100 dioramas entered this last year -- 1100!! 

Here's the winner -- Nightpeeps

Based on Nighthawks ... (look familiar)

But don't stop there. You've got to check out the whole gallery (40~ or so). Perhaps it will give you some ideas and I'll be able to post your entry next time!!

                                                                                               If you love Peeps, this should get you excited about the next Peep Season. If you're closer to Shawn's end of the spectrum and only occassionally enjoy some puffed & shaped marshmallows or worse yet, don't care for the stuff, hopefully you'll at least be amused if not impressed.

                                                                                                    By the way, this year I saw a new variety of Peeps - no sugar. Come on! I'm sorry - that's just wrong. I'm sorry for those of you who are on some special diet requiring you to limit your sugar consumption (which better be the only reason you would choose these over regular Peeps) but it's still wrong. They looked awful and not nearly as happy as they're little counterparts. And unlike being all connected together in some kum ba yah - handholding moment - they're all separated into their own individual slot in their box. How could they be happy? !

Enjoy your Peeps! 

Easter isn't so bad afterall!

For those of you who might remember, Cole was not the happiest camper last Easter. He was shy one nap. And about the only time Cole really cries is when he's really, really tired or when he doesn't want to go to sleep, because either he's really tired or afraid he'll miss out on something good. It was certainly a little of both last year. And while Shawn tried to get him in the 'mood' for hunting eggs - he was legitmately irriatated. Once we acquisesed and he had his nap, he was his usual loving and happy self ... silly mom and dad.

So this year, having learned our lesson -- see we're pretty quick learners -- he had a nap after church and before the hunt. Thanks to all the aunts, uncles, grandparents, and respective cousins for waiting long enough for him to wake up.

We had a nice meal at Uncle Jim and Aunt Kris' house and then went outside on one of the first really nice days of the year (a week earlier it was cold, raining, and miserable).

Luckily we waited just long enough to let the 'rabbit' finish hiding all of the eggs. Unlike his counsins who had dozens, and dozens of eggs (plastic and real) to track down, the Easter Bunny was merciful and only left about 4 eggs for Cole (and Dad) ... see that bunny gets smarter each year too!

Uncle Jim decided to use the day and impending activity to blend a little bit of fun with a little bit of learning. Good news, he had a captive audience since the kids were all plastered to the doorway waiting to bust through. Those that tried to peak through or make an escape were threatened with picking up all of the "treasures" left by the dogs over the long, long winter months in our yard - if they kept it up. No surprise -- it worked great (drats, I was really hoping to escape that fun task!!)

The other big hit at the party was the trampoline. It provided for some 'adventure' in both retrieving the eggs as well as celebration afterwards.

We had a great time and Shawn promises to let me in a little more on the hunt next year. :-)

They Gave Their All For A Few Good Hens ...

I found a cool new trick on several other blogs and websites this Easter ... using silk to dye eggs ... specifically, Shawn's old ties.


Regrettably, my camera was not the best at capturing how cool these turned out. (I admit, it could have been user error - I was SO excited when we unwrapped these.). So I've included links to other bloggers (Scribbit -- thanks!! and Martha) with better camera skills than mine.

They were really fairly easy. But the best part, relatively no mess and only a little reliance on vinegar (which I swear always disappears or runs out the week before Easter). The trick it wrapping the eggs with the silk pieces, securing them on the eggs, and boiling the whole thing all together.* Some of the recipies also suggested wrapping the individual eggs in an old sheet, muslin, etc ... eck -- too much more work. And it worked fine without. Perhaps if you're doing a lot of varied colors and they were delicate you might get a little bleed through. So wrap or not at your own risk!!

Let them cool, unwrap, and express glee in your craftiness & success. In the spirit of full disclosure, we did four different colors of silk ties, some more elaborate than others. Three of the four turned out spectacular. The light yellow with blue polka dots was almost non-existent. I read all kinds of reasons why this might not have occured, but I was pleased with our overall success ratio so I chose not to get all hung up on it. The instructions suggested I could have tried again -- but I wanted to eat these eggs afterwards. And the idea of boiling and reboiling an egg conjured up notions of turning it into a Superball instead.

Also in the spirit of full disclosure, there were a handful of references about some of the dyes used in ties in the silk being potentially harmful for consumption. But the references were mixed. And frankly given the amount of diet coke I consume on a daily basis, the amount of time I've spent near a microwave, and the amount of air / rail / road travel in a year vs the amount of silk dyed eggs - I'm thinking it's not much of a worry.

* Typically, the method we follow to boil eggs involves very little boiling per se. In fact, once the water comes at all to a simmer, we take the pot off the heat for a period of time. It allows the eggs to cook through without letting the yolk become all rubbery. Given it was Saturday night, we didn't experiment to see if this method would work with the eggs -- watch for updates next year.