Our Easter, in an egg shell.

Looks like a party...

I even stayed up very late making my own little wine charms,
or champagne flute charms, as the case may be.

Please brace yourself for a RIDICULOUS amount of photos.
I have a hard time making decisions,
sue me.

Here are a few of the table decorations,
we ended up with 22 guests.

Pretty much the exact amount of people that will fit in here with out us killing each other.

Really the story of how we came about hosting Easter is pretty funny.
I have been begging John for YEARS to let us do it. But really it is more like 40 people so I sort of understand his hesitation. He says NO!!! each year and believe me, he is SERIOUS.
But this year we had a different plan. Easter was going to be EASY. We were not going to do the whole normal song and dance, and by song and dance I mean 40 main dishes cooked and balanced in a kitchen never quite big enough.

This year we were joining a new club. It was called The Lazy Bunny Club.
We were all going to grandpa's for a brunch,
NOT COOKED BY US.
What??? Are we allowed to do that??

Well, we would of been if Grandpa didn't pull out all the stops.

He was pretty much:
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!!!!"
Maybe not quite that dramatic, but I assure you, it was close.

We were going to just sneak in at the last minute with little excuses and just do it our way anyway but as the days got closer he made it even more clear (if that was possible) that he would simply DIE if we did something as horrendous as showing up and having brunch downstairs instead of finding a location, cleaning, everyone cooking, blah blah blah. Never mind that HE has never been involved in ANY of this process, EVER. But he has chosen this year to act like the whole event is too much for him, to have down stairs in his resort where no one has to cook or worry about anything, that would be sooooo stressful.

I tried to tell him I understood.

I tried to be understanding.

But then I began to realize there was no rationalizing with this man,
Easter needed to be planned somewhere else.

Then it occurred to me, maybe this year is MY YEAR!! I always wanted to host and this year there are far less people coming then usual, this year we are going to want to be closer to Grandpa to help him attend or go visit him if necessary.
This year might just be MY YEAR.

So I gently approached the subject with John.
He jumped right into his prepared script, "Oh hell no! Our house is too small!"

I almost lost it.

I got real close to his face and said "look, I am dealing with enough from my grandpa being resistant to EVERYTHING I don't need you not being supportive right now!!!"

And it was done.

We get to host Easter!!! YAY!

Oh wait?? Did I say you were going to be overwhelmed by photos?? I know you think I was lying but really, NOW, brace yourself.

We started our day with Ava getting up way too early, so it was pretty much like any other day. Except I had stayed up really late the night before, oh no scratch that,
EXACTLY like any other day.

The first thing she noticed was the bowl of jelly beans I had put out,

if that wasn't thrilling enough we sent her on a search for her Easter basket.

A basket full of candy and plastic eggs, YES!!

She liked how we decorated the house too.
Each table had a basket and bunnies on it,
she could barely resist ruining each one.

Out comes the apron.

See? Does this look like someone stressing about hosting Easter?

With my little side-kick I can do anything,
oh except cook, can someone entertain her please??
She is clinging to my leg, rrrr. : )

Thank God for my husband, he did so much cleaning and yard prep.
The house looked great!

Here are Linda and Kim,
two of our favorite people.

Grandma Julie brought a little Easter basket for Ava.
It was filled with hair clips and bath toys, good job Mom.
I promise she needed no more candy.
Everywhere we turned, candy and more candy.

This is Abby, Linda & Kim's beautiful daughter.
We love her but I think Ava is her biggest fan.
When Ava was throwing a fit before our guest arrived it was Abby
I used to bribe her back into good behavior.

Here is my Mom and Linda, these two ladies make my life a hundred times easier.
They are wonderful.

This is my brother Chris and my evil sister-in-law D'Auna.
She is not really evil, she is fabulous and perfect.
I am just mad at her because she decided to make The Best Dessert Ever
and then leave it at my house.

It WAS a chocolate raspberry Oreo cookie cheesecake that she made in a 9x11 pan,
yes you read that correctly, not a normal small round innocent cheesecake pan but a HUGE 9x11 pan filled with irresistible deliciousness that haunts my every thought.

I will have to think of someway to get her back.
Let me know if you have any ideas.

I love this next shot:

Colton & Ava are always so fun to take pictures of.

They were really eying these jelly beans, begging to have some.
In good parent-bribing-fashion I made them repeat after me
to get their grubby little paws on a jelly bean.

I made them say they loved me, happy Easter, and you are our favorite!!!

My sister wanted one too, so I made her jump through my hoops too...

Next I was sent into Ava's room to see the damage that had been done...
Easter basket grass....EVERYWHERE.
It may be hard to see in the photo but I promise, it was everywhere.
Who do you think did this???

I have my suspicions...and yes that is Easter grass in Colton's mouth.

We had called Grandpa and asked if he was ready to come over. He told me to check back several times, saying he wasn't feeling very good. Finally he called and said he was ready, red rover, red rover, send someone right over.

In his words, "Send someone like Linda..."
that cracked me up.
I told her not to worry, he didn't say "send Linda" he said send someone LIKE Linda.
So we sent Kim, her wife, close enough, right?

My favorite moment of the day was when Grandpa walked in.
He looked so sharp, so well, so perfectly himself.

It was like all the weeks of working to help him were paying off.

Take a look for yourself:

That is a beautiful man.
I am surprised he didn't get up and do The Don.
Maybe next time,
I think he is on a comeback.

Our weather was questionable at best.
Ava NEEDED her umbrella to go outside.

But then again she needed her umbrella to sleep the other night
so that might not be saying much.

However it was down pouring.

There is nothing like a perfectly matching umbrella to make you appreciate some rain.

Aside from running out there to take a few pictures and pretend like I was hunting for my egg, we mostly stayed inside where it was warm and indulged in a little Pinochle,
a family favorite.

I adore watching Grandpa play Pinochle,
he just seems so "himself" during those games.

Sisters!

Here is Ava getting her Abby fix.

She managed to manipulate Abby,
I mean play with Abby most of the day.

I think it is soooo cute how much she loves her.

The party started at noon and around 5:30 most people decided to bail.

Except the die-hard few,
the Ticket to Ride Addicts.

We played until about 1:30AM

Perfect Easter, if you ask me.