Easter with the family

So this Easter we went down to my Mom & Dad's house. For the past 3 years we have had Easter at my house, but my sister Jodi said it would be too hard for Mom & Dad to drive up this year (Jodi is the one who drives them, so I guess it was really her that didn't want to drive). Anyways, she said lets have Easter at Mom & Dad's house this year (she invited us prior to asking my Mom, but luckily Mom said that was fine). I was fine with new arrangement as well as it meant I didn't have to clean my house spic n span and I could actually visit with everyone as I wouldn't be in the kitchen cooking (little did I know).

My food assignment for dinner was making cheese potatoes. In our family everyone has the same food assignments from holiday to holiday. Mine is cheese potatoes for Easter. So on Saturday I went to Ralph's & bought 20 pounds of potatoes (they had 10 lb bags for $1.99). Then I went to Sam's Club & bought 2 pounds of mild cheddar cheese & a quart of whipping cream. While we were at Sam's Club we had to try all the samples. This week they were sampling fresh french green beans. They were so yummy. Now normally I don't like fresh green beans, but these were so tasty. I asked the sampler how she made them. She said she just put some water in the pan & some butter & sprinkled garlic salt over the beans & steamed them. Easy peasy. I thought, this is something I can do. So I bought some of the green beans to take to Easter dinner.

So Saturday afternoon was spent boiling 20 pounds of potatoes. There was going to be 20 people for Easter dinner & my family love, love, loves, cheese potatoes (except for my husband, but only because they don't agree with him for some reason, but I won't go into details). By the time the potatoes were cool enough to peel & grate, I noticed that The 10 Commandments with Charleton Heston was going to be on TV. I love this movie & had not seen it in years. So instead of finishing my potatoes, I opted to watch the movie instead (that's what procrastinators do).

But first I had to do something about dinner for Saturday night. Since I had pots of potatoes all over the stove, I didn't want to cook something, so we went to Subway instead. Got to love their $5.00 subs!!! But of course, we had to take a side trip to Home Depot first. I got it in my brain that I wanted to make a chalkboard out of an old frame. So I needed chalkboard paint. Plus my hubby always likes to stop at Home Depot & it's right by Subway.

So by the time we got home, it was now 8:30pm. Luckily I had DVR'd the movie as it had already been on for 1 and 1/2 hours. So I didn't even start watching the 4 and a 1/2 hour movie until 8:30pm. Luckily I was able to fast forward through all the commercials. I love my DVR. So it was 12:40 by the time my movie ended. And I still needed to peel & grate my potatoes. Needless to say, I didn't go to bed until 2:00am.

Our plans were to leave in the morning on Easter Sunday to go down to my parents house as we wanted to stop off & see our grandson, and my hubby needed to pick up an item he bought off ebay, so that meant we had to go downtown San Diego first. But because I went to bed late, I got up late. We didn't leave for San Diego until 1:45pm. But dinner wasn't going to be until 5pm as my sister Andrea wasn't getting out of church until 4pm. I'd hate to attend her ward on fast Sunday.

So when I got up on Easter first thing my hubby says is "No Easter candy?". I had forgotten all about getting the Easter Zip Lock bags ready. Yes, you heard me right. We don't have Easter baskets in my family, we have Easter Zip Lock bags. It's not because we don't like Easter baskets, it's just easier to skip 1 step & go straight to putting the candy in zip lock baggies. That way I don't have to deal with Easter grass being all over the house and where to store the baskets. Plus my kids are adults now, so they don't care. They prefer the zip lock baggies. So I had to hurry up & divide the candy between 5 bags. One for me, one for my hubby, one for my son Brandon, one for my stepson Jesse & one for my stepson Brandan to share with his wife Crystal and our grandson Gunner (you get more candy if you actually live in my household).

I did have a basket for our grandson, well it actually wasn't a basket, it was a pail & shovel (he can use this more than a basket). I put in the pail, arm floaties, a soft water football, lots of bubbles. I also gave Gunner (our grandson) lots of little books and a stuffed bear dressed as a bunny. I didn't put any candy in his pail as he is 19 months old & I wasn't sure if he could eat any candy or if his parents wanted him having any. That is why i put the candy in the zip lock for his parents to share with him if they chose to.

We had to go to our DIL's mom's house to see our grandson. We got to spend about an hour with him. Last time I saw him was at Christmas. He has grown about a foot since then. He has gotten so tall. He is also starting his terrible two's (according to his mom, my DIL). Fun times for them. While we were visiting, Gunner was on the go, go, go. He didn't only stop just for a second or two. It was hard getting a photo with him.

Here is Gunner. He hair has grown out since his Dad shaved him bald. I guess he fell yesterday & skinned his nose.

Grandpa was blowing bubbles & Gunner is trying to catch them.
Grandpa Mike & Gunner doing bubbles.
Gramma (me) trying to get a photo with Gunner. He didn't want to hold still for photos. He wanted the bubbles.
Grandpa saying goodbye to Gunner. Gunner just cried & cried when we had to leave. I guess I neglected to take photos of his mommy & daddy. Oh well!
We finally got to my parents house about 4pm. Just in time to put my cheese potatoes together & get them in the oven.

Here is Mom. She was in a pretty good mood for having 20 people invading her house. For some reason I never got a photo of my Dad. Probably because he hid out in the TV room for a little peace & quiet.
My brother Eric on the left & Nate on the right. Nate is my sister Andrea's 2nd oldest son. He doesn't like getting his picture taken (most of my sisters kids have this problem).
My hubby Mike on the left. My sister Andrea's hubby Jamey on the right. My nephew Simon (Andrea & Jamey's 3rd son) in the front. Always being goofy for photos.
A close up of my hubby. See our family photo on the wall in the background?
Nephew Simon being goofy again.
Andrea's oldest son Zak had his 19th birthday on Wednesday. So for dessert she brought a birthday cake. Notice the skull Easter egg?
My nephews Zak, Nate, Simon & Noah have a punk bank called Jakked Rabbits. Zak was wearing one of their t-shirts. They are going on a countrywide tour this summer with about 5 other punk bands. How cool is that?
Here is the birthday boy Zak & his mom, aka: my sister Andrea.
Boys being boys. My nephews from left to right: Zak, Noah, Nate (3 of Andrea's 4 boys) & Cade (Eric's youngest).
This is Taylor. She is Eric's 3rd child. Isn't she a cutie?
Here is my nephew Jase on the left (Eric's 2nd child) & my son Brandon. He hates getting his photo taken too. I never got a photo of my stepson Jesse. I think he must have been hanging out with my Dad.
From left to right: My niece Danica (Eric's oldest child), Laura (my sister in law's sister) and my sister in law Jeannette (Eric's wife).
And one final picture of my nephew Simon. I told you he doesn't know how to take a normal photo. I kept trying, but he always somehow managed to do something goofy.
I guess I also forgot to take a photo of my sister Jodi. Don't know why, but she must not have been hanging out in the living room with us. She was probably in the kitchen. Hopefully the others in my family will post their photos of the day as well and give their perspective.

I also didn't take any photos of dinner. But it was pretty good. We had ham with the glaze. My sister Jodi didn't want to put glaze on the ham (I think she just didn't want to make it), so my hubby Mike came in & made it and glazed the ham. So glad he did, makes the ham taste so much better. We had the cheese potatoes I made (everyone had a ton), a killer green salad my sister in law made, corn & the fresh green beans that I also made. Everyone raved about how good they were. I was pretty impressed with myself as I had never cooked fresh green beans before (I know, I live a sheltered life). The only left overs we had was the ham bone for my sister's dog and some cheese potatoes (but only because I made a ton & everyone ate too much). Luckily I bought a ham to cook at my house so we can have leftovers.

Everyone left about 8:00pm for their respective homes. We got home around 9:30pm. Just in time to watch The Amazing Race on the DVR. Did I tell you I love my DVR?

And in case you were wondering, we do celebrate the true meaning of Easter. The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

What did you do for Easter?

Kim

P.S. I thought I would leave you with a little Easter decorating humor