Easter 2008

Our new family tradition is to spend Easter at Greg's sister's house in southern New Jersey. It's a pretty short drive for us, which is nice. On Friday James and I packed up the car (the look of shock on Greg's face when he saw what I'd packed was pretty priceless...but everything had a purpose, I swear), then we drove up to Frederick for the afternoon with my sister in law Jen and my nephews Jack and Ethan. Might seem silly to go up there but there's a few reasons: 1) Greg is already in Maryland and is pretty far north (35 miles) from our house; 2) Traffic at rush hour. 3) See # 2. So we go up at nap time and then play with the boys and Jen, then Greg meets us there and we leave his car for the weekend. It works out well on Fridays but Sundays are sometimes a bit** - we're tired and it would be nice to go directly home. But the extra time with the cousins is great for James and I always enjoy spending time with Jen. And sometimes I see my brother too.

Anyway, we headed up to NJ and got there in fantastic time - 2.5 hours. With a stop. It was our first long drive in the minivan. Again, it's wonderful. I make no apologies for how great it is. James never fell asleep in the car so we got him down for bed at 9:45 (!). Luckily he went right to sleep in the pack & play. Partially because I'd brought his crib toys, his Elmos and his books to put in there. See, everything has a purpose!! :) He slept until 7:30 the next morning, so that's when we all got up (sharing a room).

Saturday was the surprise shower for Stephanie and Igor. Nina (my MIL) and I left Stephanie B's house (Greg's sister) around 10 and got the cake, flowers, candle, and balloons, then headed to the restaurant. Wonderful place if you're ever in....West Berlin, NJ. :) Tullia's. Anyway, we set everything up, they were super accommodating, etc. Everyone else got there at 11 and it was a great surprise. We had an amazing meal, played some low key games (so the men wouldn't feel like it was too "girly" of an event), then had cake and gifts. I will post photos at some point, I swear.

The rest of Saturday was very low key - just hung around the house, got James to take a great nap, went to bed. Vince (my BIL)'s family arrived as well so it was a full house. Always enjoy seeing them, they are great people.

Sunday we went to church and then Vince's brother prepared the Easter meal. It was amazing: turkey, ham, steak, potatoes, asparagus, beans, salad, etc. etc. James missed Easter dinner as we ate at 2 p.m. - but he was tired and slept until 4. Good timing, and then we headed out.

All in all a very nice, low key family weekend. There were three pregnant women in the house - both Greg's sister and aunt (both named Stephanie) so that was fun. We took photos of our tummies. I'm the last one to deliver, although we are all due within three weeks of each other. Next year Easter could be completely insane if we all attend. Steph B. joked that it'll be a "BYOH" - Bring Your Own Highchair. She's not kidding. Can you imagine what the minivan will look like then?!