Looks like it was a lovely day for an Easter egg hunt & what adorable kids!! The kids stepping stones are a wonderful idea & great project for kids & grandparents! Love all the neat things around the fountain, what a great place to look for eggs. Looks like nobody fell in!! Grandma looks like she is having a ball! I'm sure GD thought she had prettiest egg of all, what a sweetie she is & so proud of her find!! Thanks for the pics & story! loved it! Jan

Kathleen, you are correct... the Ukranian eggs are blown out. The Ukranians that I know decorate them raw (intact) so that they can get them down into the dye baths, and they blow them out after they're decorated. I was surprised that they use RIT dye for coloring! they said it gives more intense colors. I guess so! Since we eat ours decorated this way, it's essential to use food coloring. Thank you all for the kind comments! It's really not amazing... gosh, I think I started doing these when I was about 5 years old. :O) Eating (or ultimately destroying) the decorated eggs isn't a big deal at all! They usually only take me around 15 minutes per egg like this, and it's very relaxing and fun for me... sort of like doodling. I remember going with my grandmother to the church yard on the day before Easter to have the priest bless the decorated eggs. Growing up it was imperative to do the e.egg hunt and then have babka and decorated eggs for Easter morning breakfast. :) Wish you were all near here... I'd decorate one for each of you! including writing your name on it in wax. :)

Sissy, any of the recipes that I mentioned came from someone specific are posted here somewhere. I have to tell you, though, that the search is impossible. It's easier to just ask for specific recipes and most of us don't mind posting them again. So, here is the recipe for Sol's honey rolls, they are sweet and light and yeasty and the grandkids eat them without anything on them at all, not even butter. Yes, they are that good. Honey Rolls 1 cup milk 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup butter [1 stick] 2 teaspoos salt 1-2 tablespoons granulated sugar* 2 pkges. dry yeast 1/2 cup warm water [110º-115ºF] 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 6 - 6 1/2 cups AP flour Heat the milk, add butter and salt. Set aside while butter melts. Stir in the honey. In another bowl, combine the warm water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit until yeast is completely dissolved, about 6-7 minutes. Combine milk mixture with yeast mixture. And stir in the beaten eggs. Beat in 4 cups flour. Add enough remaining flour to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to coat both sides. Cover and allow dough to rise 1 hour. Punch dough down, and allow to rise another hour. Punch down again, and shape dough into rolls. Let it rise again 45 minutes to an hour or until doubled in volume. Preheat your oven to 375ºF and bake rolls for 25 minutes or until a deep golden brown. For a very soft crust, brush rolls with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Note: You could omit the sugar from this recipe altogether. I sometimes use about a teaspoon of the honey called for in the recipe to feed the yeast instead of the sugar. I also have to admit that I don't follow the directions exactly, I put all the wet stuff into my bread machine, add the dry stuff and let it finish on the "dough" setting. Then I roll it out, cut it into rolls and let rise, then bake. I've done it both ways and they both turn out about the same, so choose your technique, they both work! Annie

I already posted, but really, the age or address of one's children makes no difference--at least not to me! Mine is 32 and has been out of the house for 6 years. It's just not Easter for me without Easter Eggs. As to colors--I used some of the paste (for the unusual colors like lavener and peach) and some of the regular food coloring for the pink, yellow and blue. You don't need expensive egg dying kits--they're just regular food coloring like you buy to tint frosting, etc, but they cost many, many times more. To keep fingers cleaner? Use your slotted spoon for dipping. Keep a glass of water handy to dip the spoon when changing colors. I put my cups of colors on an old jelly roll pan lined with several layers of paper towels. That saves drips of dye on my counter or table, and you can put the dyed eggs right on the paper towels to dry. If by any chance an egg or two crack during the cooking process? I dye them yellow--that way you don't notice an odd shade running through your egg salad. Guess these tips are a little late for this year, but maybe they'll help for next.