Easter Spring Surprise

Before Sofi "decorated".....



Sofi at work....

After Sofi decorated the "eggs"...

I should have posted this a week ago - LOL - but the week went by so quickly and was so busy! But I am thinking next year this may inspire some people for spring celebrations so I will put it up now. When the kids woke up Easter morning they found a picture of a spring chick with some plain eggs on the chalkboard. Their job was to decorate the eggs! Just a little "twist" on the tradition of decorating eggs for Easter. I already have next year planned - I'm going to make a really big basket filled with eggs :) Sofi, age-10, really loved the surprise and went right to work "decorating" without any prompting at all.

A Unique "Easter Hunt"

Our "Easter Eggs"....

As a healer I always try to find that "perfect herb" that fits the needs of my client's emotions, my clients physical body and my client's spirit. As a teacher I am always trying to find that "perfect task" or "perfect lesson" that fits the needs of the day, the needs of the family and the needs of the child all at one time.

Of course that does not always happen, but when it does - I get that wonderful feeling of harmony. Sometimes I feel my attempts are like the "orchestra warming up" or sometimes they are beautiful too and they are more akin to a soloist playing a beautiful instrument. However, those moments of being able to join and balance so many things at once - we have all experienced them - they feel like the orchestra playing the song. And you get this wonderful satsifaction of having been the conductor. You didn't play all the instruments, but you lead them and the musicians all did their parts beautifully, and the universe did its part beautifully and everything fell into place.

I love those moments.

Today we had a moment like that. It was a gorgeous days so we went out into the yard to rake leaves. It is a holiday but it needs to be done because our yard is very big and with only the children and I raking, we need to do a little bit each day on every nice day we can find or the tiny little spring buds will smother under the heavy leaf cover that was not raked last year.

The task started our joyfully enough because it was a nice day and raking leaves is fun if you feel like being outside and it is a nice day. I also noted that it was a wonderful opportunity for my daughter and I to spend some time together. However, the event started to take on more meaning as we continued. Sofi started talking about our spring plans for the garden so we planned out the entire garden in our minds as we raked. Then I had the idea to tie this into Easter on the off chance that Sofi might feel it was a bit unfair to work on Easter...so I mentioned that raking leaves was like an Easter egg hunt, only this time we were finding buds and new life in the ground instead of in the eggs. We talked about how the eggs also symbolize new life so it was fitting that instead of finding eggs we were actually finding the new life.

Then we decided to take pictures of each "Easter Egg" we found. Some "eggs" were not very pleasant, others were surprises of a different nature. However, in the end the event was so wonderful and joyous. We got a chore done, planned our garden, spent some wonderful time together, and even made it into a fun Easter Egg hunt so we stayed "true" to the holiday as well. All in all - an orchestra of an event :) A definate "step up" from last week when I dragged myself and my daughter out the front door and we quickly raked a bit while complaining we were cold!

Happy Easter everyone! May all your tasks today be filled with Easter joy!

PS: Note that this Easter hunt is the most fun if you have been very lazy the previous autumn and didn't rake your lawn much at all - LOL :) So now we are adding yet another accomplishment to the day - turning something negative into something positive! A very healing experience. My guilt and anger about not raking last autumn are now gone :)

Tea Tasting & Dye Party

Here is a reprint of an article I wrote last year for Easter:

http://studiocam.wordpress.com/2007/04/07/spring-tea-party/

This year we did the same thing...only we extended it to a "Tea Tasting" party and we dyed YARN instead of eggs.

Blessings & Health, Kristie

http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/

Easter Dye Ideas

There is something about Easter that just makes me want to dye everything! We do play silks, clothing, yarn and of course, eggs. Why get out the dye and go to all that work just for one thing?

Here are a couple "tried a true" tips for using natural dyes (plants, herbs, etc...)

NATURAL FIXATIVE FOR PLANTS:1. Mix 8 cups of cold water with 2 cups of vinegar
2. Put in a cooking pot.
3. Simmer your cloth (do not boil) for an hour in this solution.
4. Rinse in clean tap-water and squeeze out the excess water
5. Line dry
6. Once it is dry it can be used and washed normally
For future reference

NATURAL FIXATIVE – GENERAL RECIPE
If you are using berries for color, you can make a simple fixative of 8 cups cold water and a half cup of salt. If you are using plant materials, mix 8 cups cold water with 2 cups of vinegar. Add your item, and simmer for an hour. Rinse and gently squeeze out excess water.

Felting Without the Needle

Ever since we started working on this video the kids and I have not been able to stop making these adorable little felted figures! The figures you see in the pictures above were made by a 3,5,9 and 11-year old without needles. How? Find out by downloading the member video of the week at The Waldorf Channel. It is available at: Felting Video