Happy Easter!

We had a wonderfully full Easter here at the Murray house. 3 of Joe’s siblings and their families came down Friday night and stayed until Saturday night. That means I made Easter dinner for 13 people...I don't think I've ever cooked for that many before! In fact, all of the kids had to eat on plastic plates because I didn't have enough regular plates for everyone to have one. Thank heavens Grammy Janet was here to coach me on how to cook for that many people...and to help me make my first ham.

It’s always so much fun getting together with the rest of the kids. Joe’s sister, Katie, and her family arrived Friday afternoon. Joe got to go swimming with Andrew and Jarrod in the hotel pool while the rest of us sat on the side and enjoyed talking. Ella loves to watch her daddy swim. Later Friday Grammy Janet and Joe’s brother, Billy, and his family arrived.

We decided to go simple with Friday nights dinner, so Joe and I bought hot dogs and frozen hamburgers. Well, I don’t know exactly what happened but apparently the frozen burgers produce too much grease or something because within seconds of Joe putting them on the grill flames started shooting up. No joke…flames everywhere. For a second I thought he was going to catch our fence on fire. Joe has grilled a lot, and he’s definitely grilled hamburgers before, but we’ve never had that happen. The burgers and hot dogs still tasted good, but they were definitely on the crispy side.

Saturday was the big Easter dinner. Late Friday night Joe’s sister, Trish, and her fiancé snuck in, so they were able to join us for dinner. We had all the fixin’s to go along with our Easter ham…sweet potatoes, broccoli and rice casserole, green beans, corn, and for dessert we had delicious key lime pie (I’m not ashamed to admit that I had 2 pieces). We also had a wonderful appetizer of buffalo chicken dip…delish! All that to say, the meal was wonderful.

After lunch we all walked down the street to the park to play whiffle ball, then we came back to the house for an egg hunt. We were so excited to have so many family members come to join us for Easter. And Ella was very sad to see them leave. She started crying when people were getting ready to leave, and she kept saying, “I love my family! I don’t want them to go.” It was so sweet.

Sunday morning the Easter bunny stopped at our house. He left Ella a lot of loot, and didn’t forget the rest of us. Ella’s 2 favorite things from her Easter basket were a “Princess and the Frog” DVD and a chocolate bunny. When I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she looked at me with a big smile and said, “A chocolate bunny.” Of course that didn’t fly, but she did get to eat plenty of chocolate this weekend.

Ella wore a very special dress this Easter. I can say with almost 100% certainty that she is the only girl in America to have this dress.

Metti brought this dress back from Ethiopia where she had it hand made for Ella. I was paranoid all day that Ella would spill something on it, or smear her chocolate covered fingers across the front. Thank heavens that didn’t happen! She looked so beautiful and it was evident by the way she acted that she felt beautiful. Ella loves fancy dresses (just like a princess).

We spent Easter afternoon with our good friends the Boardman’s. They have a family with 7 kids, so whenever we go there Joe feels like he’s back at home. Janet got to join us this time so she was able to relive the big family craziness. Mrs. Boardman had an Easter egg hunt for Ella, Ginny and Lizzie, so they received even more chocolate than they already had. This girl has enough chocolate to last a until next Easter!

Fortunately I put on my "genius mom" hat that day and I remembered to bring some pajamas to change Ella into before we left. It was a good thing because the child was asleep within minutes of getting in the car, so when we arrived home I just had to carry her to bed and that was it. Yes, all of the sugar from the day stayed on her teeth all night...yes, I know how bad that is for her teeth, but sometimes it's just not worth the battle.

Here are some pictures in front of the flower cross at our church. The Easter service at church is absolutely wonderful. Ella loved the fantastic music and we were fortunate to have gorgeous weather.

Doesn't this smile just say, "I know I look good!"


Of course we are all completely exhausted. Last night I told Joe that my body was so tired it felt numb. Now it's nearly 11 am and Grammy and Ella just woke up. Today is going to be a low-key day of recovery.