Easter Weekend, Harried Style

You know what happens when you try to squeeze too much into too little time? You get really tired! :)

I got the skirts done! Of course, this involved being up until 12:30 or 1am two nights in a row, but they were finished in time! We were leaving to visit family for the weekend Saturday morning so I had a definite deadline; I'd done Evie's earlier in the week & finished Sarah's up Friday evening, then I ended up adding a row to Evie's skirt as it was a bit on the immodest side. So if you decide to make the Can Can skirt, make sure to check the length before you hem the bottom. I shortened the 3 middle tiers on Sarah's skirt by 1/2" which worked out just perfect for her height (she wears a 3T); Evie's skirt needed an extra 3" wide tier (she wears a 7/8).


After being up until 11:30 pm on Friday finishing skirts and desserts for Sunday, after a week of many late nights, I wasn't in any hurry to get on the road Saturday morning; by the time we'd packed the van & hit the road it was a bit after 11am, and we had a 3.5 hour trip ahead of us.

Notice how I just said I wasn't in any hurry to get there? Good thing! We'd just gotten on the interstate near the Pennsylvania border when we hear 'BAM -bam bam' - "What was that?" queried Harried Mom - Harried Dad said he didn't know, and by the time I'd asked him if we should pull over, the tire warning light was on and Evie said "My side is getting really low"! Yes, flat tire. On I-70, in the middle of nowhere at the Maryland/PA border. Thank God for sunny days, wide medians, and handy husbands. If I had been alone when this happened, well, I don't even want to think about that. I was a bit of a wreck as it was :)

Now, Matt was perfectly willing to ride the PA turnpike to Pittsburgh (2.5 hours away) on a donut, however I was not comfortable with that idea. So we creeped to Breezewood (town of motels and gas stations, and not much else!), grabbed lunch, & tried to hunt down a tire shop. Long story short, we limped our way through the Pennsylvania countryside and made our way to Sears in Johnstown!

We had an hour to kill, so we wandered around the mall and had some ice cream....

They didn't eat much lunch but sure had room for ice cream!

and then, LOOK WHO WE RAN INTO! I spotted Edward from the upper level in the mall and suddenly the day didn't seem to be going so bad! Matt was kind enough to take our picture together :) And yes, I realize this sounds completely crackers to most of you but no judging!

He wanted to join us for Easter but there wasn't room in the van.

After our celebrity sighting and an hour's wait, the van had new tires and we were on our way again. 7 hours after we left home, we arrived at my sister's house! After some dinner, the kids dyed Easter eggs. Did you know there are 11 kids between my two sisters and myself? 5 eggs each = a lot of boiled eggs to cook. Thanks Becky!

Sarah, John & Jason

William and Gary

Joey (almost 15) , John (2.5) and Sarah (3.5) - oldest cousin and 2 of the youngest

The next morning we managed to get 3 adults and 8 children dressed and out the door to church by 9:15 - an Easter miracle! The family service at Becky's church was very child friendly & the kids had a good time - Evie said it was the BEST church service she'd ever been too! After church it was photo shoot time...

Evie, Emma and Anna

Us

After a light lunch it was time for a show for the little kids, followed by nap time!

Jason and John, the two youngest - 3 months apart

Daddy and his girl

After Easter dinner there was some tree climbing...

Lilly, sitting pretty in a tree

...followed by an egg hunt! Matt and my BIL Steve filled all the plastic eggs I'd saved from last year with coins and hid them for the kids, who hunted in shifts - youngest, middle, then oldest. There was some wonderment from the little kids, and pouting from my older two who didn't feel they'd gotten their fair share. Figures mine are the pouters :) And we're classy - we use plastic bags to collect our eggs!

Gary, Anna, John, Sarah

Matt & Jason

Evie, Greg, Emma, Gary

Evie and Greg, game faces ON!

Sweet Sarah

Jason's ready to go in

After all was said and done, we had some tired little people peacefully sleeping but the excitement wasn't over yet - Jason rolled out of bed at 2:45 am and managed to get a 1/2" cut on his forehead - I can not believe how much blood there was! Nurse Becky got him all cleaned up, and a sip of apple juice later he was back to sleep.

Easter was a beautiful WARM day here & I'm so glad my sister let me impose my family on her for the weekend! I must say, though, it was filled with just about all the excitement I can handle and I'm glad to be back at home - there really is no place like it :)