A Family Filled Easter

I always felt like I  had the biggest family in the world. Growing up with 9 people around the dinner table, with 6 of them being your siblings, can do that to you. Add grandparents and my uncle and his family of 4 to many holiday/ weekend dinners, and that table feels the fullest and loudest that one could sit at. I loved how big and loud we were, and I enjoyed it when we were all together. When Ryan and I started dating, I quickly found out that I was wrong. HE must have the biggest and loudest family in the world. Aunts and uncles, cousins and kids galore make every holiday and family get together loads of fun. There is so much I love about my family. I am so thankful that Leilani has gotten to grow up this far with all of them surrounding her. Everywhere she turns she has a friend, a playmate, a Christian adult giving her a good example, doting grand (and great grand) parents, godly men and women and strong families. What an incredible blessing.

Wow. I am so going to miss them.

Yes. Anywhoo, Easter weekend was so much fun. I managed to only take a few pictures on my phone while at church and none at all on Sunday. Thankfully, Ryan's awesome cousin did. Here they all be.

Yay for blurry iphone photos! Mom and I wore coincidentally matching saris! *note: I can now twirl and pleat myself into a sari. All by myself. This is a huge big deal. * Also, my feet appear to be on backwards... That was my one photo. Here are the rest! (Thank you acca!)

The kids got sneaky this year and were trying to spy while we hid eggs. It is getting harder every year to make this even remotely challenging for the older few. We had to handicap the boys and told them they could only find the green and yellow eggs since they blended in the best... It sorta worked.

 

Leilani was just learning to stand last year. (oh my goodness, really?) So this was her first year running around with her cousins hunting down her loot. 

 

She was quite excited. And happily, did not seem to realize there was candy involved with this venture, and was only interested in her eggs. That will not last through next year.

Be still my heart. How is she this big? Its the pigtails I am pretty sure. She is still a baby despite the hairdoo, right?

The boys held an inspection to make sure none of the littles had collected any of their yellow and green eggs. When they got to us, I was covertly removing all of the candy from Leilani's pile of eggs. Cruel, I know. So the guys made out with the "leftovers."

  

Group photo time! The range of faces in these are amazing. Have I mentioned HOW OLD AND HUGE EVERYONE IS GETTING? Slow down already everyone! 

Leilani wanted none of family picture time. The eggs were far more interesting.

At least she sat still.

The past two? (Three?) years we have tried to get all the kids on this little couch for a picture. This year, everyone was too big (and we had a new member!) and they overflowed. What a nice looking bunch they are.

Now we come to this next series of pictures. I took one look and had to caption them all. Their faces were asking for words. It was like a preview of the future to when they are all teenagers.

(R to L)
K: So ladies, here is what happened.
R: Oh my goodness. I still can't get over how dreamy he was.
D: You guys are whack. It totally went down like this...
R: Oh my goodness. Did you tell mom yet?
L: Cut the chatter ladies, two cuties just walked in.

(L to R)
L: TOLD you he was cute.
R: Oh my goodness. I think I am in love.
D: Woah. Wait. Which guy? That one over there is funny lookin.
R: Oh no. Wrong guy. The other guy was cute. Trust me.
K: Guys, I found a bug. Seriously, come check this out.

 L: Ew, a bug?
R: You know, I still think I am in love.
D: Ok, ladies, enough with bugs and boys. I'm hungry.
R: Yeah, me too. I think we should eat...
K: Well we could always eat my bug.


...So I got carried away. It was just too much fun. These girlies have such great personalities and faces. Oh, and here are the cute boys.

I remember when Leilani was the little baby, now she is the big cousin! So great to watch families grow.

Then we all went to the playground after lots of sugar. This was a wise move. 5 minutes after getting into the car to head to my parent's house for dinner, Leilani crashed and was sound asleep, instead of being wired till midnight. Hurrah naps!

So as you can see, it was a fun filled weekend. I am so thankful for all of the terrific holidays that we have gotten to spend full of family and friends.