Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and remembered who died for us and rose from the grave.

Grammy Janet arrived Thursday night and is staying with us until Wednesday. She has taught Ella a new choo choo game, which provides hours of enjoyment for Ella and gives Grammy the opportunity to burn off some of her Easter candy. Basically Ella runs around our house and Grammy comes after her saying “Chuga chuga choo choo!” In case you were wondering, to a 2 year old this is a lot of fun.

The Easter Bunny did make a stop at the Murray house. Ella got a Mr. Potato Head. She liked it, but her favorite part is his glasses. She carried them in the car and to church, and as soon as we got home she was asking for “glasses” again. She also got this little Easter Egg light that spins around when you push a button. Ella is fascinated with Joe’s book light and the light I use when we change her bandages, so I knew she would love this…and I was right. The Easter Bunny also knew that Ella is a girl that can’t have too many hair things, so she got 2 new bows, new barrettes and some Sesame Street hair ties. And in lieu of candy Ella got some yummy fruit strips. Joe got candy in special sports themed Easter Eggs, a Tide To Go pen, and a special stone to clean his grill. Grammy got candy and a special present that the Easter Bunny saw and just knew Grammy needed. The Easter Bunny was a bit more practical when buying gifts for mommy…I got new black shoes and black dress socks. Although the “other” Easter Bunny did surprise me with some beautiful flowers to plant in our yard! I can’t wait until we have a Saturday nice enough to get out and plant them.

Of course we went to church and got our picture taken in front of the flower cross. Every year it is so beautiful and everyone looks forward to getting a family picture. The pictures look like it was a beautiful day, but it was really windy and cold. After church we went to lunch, but in order to avoid the big crowds we went to a diner down the street from our house. Joe and Grammy Janet said that this was in honor of NJ, the diner capitol. I had incredible French toast! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Sunday afternoon Ella was invited to hunt Easter Eggs with Savannah. The parents all had high hopes that this would be a lot of fun for the girls. Unfortunately they are still a bit young to really grasp the concept. They each got a couple of eggs, then found other, more exciting things to play with. The bubbles were especially entertaining.

We had our official Easter meal for dinner, complete with ham, mashed potatoes, broccoli, cabbage and rice pudding. With all the excitement of the day, Ella skipped her nap (ugh!) so she went to bed shortly after dinner while Mommy and Grammy watched Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Daddy went to our neighbor’s house to play poker. It was a great Easter.