Easter in Northern Virginia

You see a lot of my professional images and work life on the blog, but I’d like to begin sharing more of my personal home life photos here too!  For one, it’ll help you understand the person behind the business a little more (that’d be me ‍♀️) and two, it’s a way for me to be able to document life events and things I would love to look back on in the future.  Today’s post is a compilation of images taken from my cell phone and my ‘big girl’ camera from our time in Northern Virginia celebrating Easter with my mom, brother, and his boys (my nephews).  

As soon as we arrived, there were lots of hugs, back and forth unloading the car, and the kids going BANANAS since they hadn’t seen each other in over a year.  To get their energy out, my mom sent them outside with bags of cut up carrots to feed the neighbor’s horses (or should we call them ‘neigh’ bors? )

My brother Rob introduced us to Dungeons and Dragons.  Yes, I had always heard about it along with all the nerd jokes, but never played before.  I still don’t get it, but I’m impressed at how much work is involved to play the game.  It kept the kids occupied for a while so I call that a WIN!A stop at Maggiano’s in Tyson’s Corner was an absolute must!!  We don’t have one in Hampton Roads, so we look forward to going when we’re up in Northern Virginia.  I think we went through 12+ baskets of bread… at least. This was about the best photo we could get of the kids together.  #reallife The boys concocted some crazy vehicles with a moving dolly, boogie boards, and sleds so they could fly down the driveway.  It’s miraculous no one broke a bone.In keeping with tradition, my mom baked her famous Easter bread. (Note the chunk missing before I could grab a photo.)

There’s always PLENTY of food 24/7 at Casa de Grandma.When I describe my mom as Martha Stewart 2.0, I’m not kidding.Those salt and pepper shakers were half the size of my pinkie.  Cutest dinner accessory ever.Does anyone ever get a good family photo from a tripod?  No.  The answer is no.These photos are posted in order of who found their baskets.  Connor came in last clocking in at 20 minutes!!!  

When we get together at my mom’s for Easter, the egg hunt is always epic.  She has five acres and we hide 14 eggs per kid.  Four were never found. Still looking for missing eggs.At some point, a spontaneous pool noodle battle broke out and I think I lost 300 calories laughing.  This is Brandon being pummeled by five children. So Martha Stewart…AKA, my mom, is Italian therefore life revolves around food.  Her cooking and baking is out of this world.  Brandon and I gained about 5 lbs each after the weekend at her place.  LOL.  This frozen strawberry delight cake with pecan and graham cracker crust is my favorite dessert!!This frozen key lime pie was fantastic!!And she made a frozen key lime gelato.  Delicious and refreshing!Carrot pineapple cake with cream cheese frosting!Oh, just 9 deer enjoying peaceful bliss…  except a few seconds later the boys all ran out scaring them into different directions.  ‍♀️The crew.  My sweet Nora always has a hard time with goodbyes.  She falls apart when she leaves her ‘Grandma C’.  I promised the kids once we got back home that we could decorate eggs since we hadn’t done it yet…  I busted out the EggMazing mini I had bought recently and it was awesome.  Fast and clean!!  Kids loved it. Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! ❤️ ~Alanna LoGioco

psst>> check out our family Thanksgiving in Northern VA here.