Hammin' It Up!

Easter 2009 was a great day shared with my family! It was also my nephew's 5th birthday and I hosted Easter lunch and a birthday party yesterday. I love to entertain in my home and in my kitchen especially. I love the whole process of planning a get-together, but the best part is cooking for everyone. My immediate family members, with the exception of my 10 year old, are very picky eaters. I do not get the pleasure of cooking "normal" meals for them, let alone creative, interesting meals... so I'm always happy to have a house full of appetites. I tackled my first Easter ham, thanks to the food network website and Tyler Florance's "Citrus Glazed Ham" recipe. Found here : http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/tangerine-glazed-easter-ham-with-baby-carrots-recipe/index.html . It was very easy and delicious (unless everyone was being polite and feeding it to our dog, Annie, under the table).

My parents, my two sisters, their husbands, my three nephews, my mom's sister - Aunt Shishy and my cousin, her husband and two teenage daughters were all here. I told my husband the fam would probably be here for a few hours, but true to form, they were here almost 9 hours. That man I married was a real trooper, I must say. I'm very close to my crazy, large family and he never complains or fusses about their involvement in my life. He knows I'd choose them over him, probably... Just kidding!!!

My baby sister (8 years my junior) baked and decorated a spectacular Super Man cake for her Super Man, Dukie. Her husband had the exact same cake as a kid, so she found the cake pan, face and "S" on ebay from the 70's and spent hours piping the frosting. We were all quite proud of her efforts. Of course, it wasn't as impressive as the ham!

The men mostly sat in the family room and watched the Masters on TV. The women shared a few brew's and talked about how crazy we all are. We delight in our disfunction, after all. It's what make's us unique and fun. It's one thing to strap on an old June Cleever apron and whip up a glazed ham and pretend to be the brady bunch - anyone can do that. It's another thing to show eachother our true colors and still want to see eachother the next day (well, maybe a couple of days later, anyway). We own our insanity and wear it on our sleeves for all the world to judge us.

Part of our pretending to be the Cleevers included an Easter Egg hunt, whacking a pinata until it burst with candy, and a family photo op.

Background: Our family (MeMaw, PawPaw, my family of 4, my sisters family of 4 and my other sister's family of 3 - plus one on the way) have wanted to get a family picture for about 20 years. It's IMPOSSIBLE!!! When we all get together and look half ways decent it's like a nut house and even though it seems like it would be easy enough to grab a camera and snap a few shots... it NEVER happens! Well, I was determined to make it happen yesterday! I told the gang to come looking fine (which meant my middle sister and her family were 1.5 hours late because she had to iron) and ready to pose... TOGETHER! I set up the tri-pod in the neighbors yard because it was the only place I wouldn't have cars, houses or crap in the background. So there we all were - adorable and saying cheese... and just as I was about to hit the timer button and run into the picture - the neighbors giant golden retreiver comes running out of their garage and into the frame. The kids all got out of line to play with the dog, my mom's foot started bleeding when the beasts claw dug into her skin - all hell broke loose! So what did we do? What any fine photographer would do - we took the picture with Sophie - the neighbors dog - as part of the family!