mhalebusiness: Easter at Our House

This Eastertide, our family was blessed to have some very good friends and family join us. Katy, our cousin from Orlando came on down, and brought two of her - and our - friends, Megan and Jess. Since we've been here in FL, we've gotten to know both Megan and Jess pretty well - so it was a fun gathering!

So having a Polish feast is no small feat. At least not a Carly-style Polish feast - and knowing this, we kicked things off bright and early Saturday morning. Carly had her list all made out and each of the ladies worked and slaved through the morning. What was I doing? Watching Cecilia, of course. Oh, and packing our house into boxes (did I mention that we had just found a new place a week ago, and 6 days after our ridiculous feast we had to be completely moved out of our house? And that a day after that I was taking a (work) trip to OH for a week? And two weeks after that, our new little one was due to be born?)

On the menu: Kielbasa (polish sausage, flown from Chi-town), Kugela (polish potato casserole), Sauerkraut, Kolacky (jelly-filled cookies), Polish Lamb Cake (it looks like a lamb), and then some other odds and ends (like green beans, jello, etc).

Megan, Carly, and Jessica getting ready to dive in...

Cecilia, our little helper...

So after working through the morning, I gave Carly her B-day present - because it was her birthday (30th)! It was a note - with a gift card for a pedicure, redeemable right then. So the girls all packed up and headed off to the spa, leaving Cecilia and I to hold down the fort. Little did Carly know that she would be out for the rest of the day...

About an hour later, I headed off to the spa, and met the girls as they got ready to leave. In a pre-coordinated child swap, Katy, Jess, and Megan acquired Cecilia while I escorted Carly to my car and we wisked off for a movie, dinner at Mimis (our first date restaurant!), and then home. Meanwhile, the girls headed back home....

Pierogis!

No, they go like this!

Did I mention we got a picture cake from Publix? This is an awesome pic of young Carly. It was cropped from a larger pic where all of her sis's and bro as well ask Katy and her sister are sitting bored in downtown Chi-town as kids, waiting on their fathers who are having a great time at some museum, I think. Good story, huh?

Carly and I came back - to a surprise cake!