R is for Rebro!

I have a BIG family. Well, actually, it's my husband's family, but they are my family too. To give you an idea of just how big, I could rattle off a bunch of numbers, but I'll start with a picture taken by Becky Kasun, the daughter of my husband's cousin Lori. Because, as we all know, a picture speaks a thousand words!

Yep - these are all Rebros. Minus the 25 that weren't there. And half of that group is my husband's immediate family. He is one of 10 children, and altogether we have... 40 nieces and nephews. My mother-in-law (who was not present since she is still recovering from having back surgery two weeks ago) has 13 great-grandchildren, and counting!

My brother-in-law Ed and his cousin Dave started planning this a year ago. Lori added another bit of fun by having each family wear a different color shirt. There was some contention among my husband's brothers and sisters about being chosen to wear yellow, so some of them wore white instead, but it was amazing to see it all. A big part of making this a success was that everyone brought a dish to pass. I, of course, made cupcakes. I thought of making a sheet cake, but when 5 other people signed up for desserts as well, I figured cupcakes would be better. I made 3 dozen and in the end, with all of the other desserts there, 3 cupcakes were left for my husband and kids to have the next day.

They are funfetti cupcakes - made with a box mix that I added some ingredients to, to stretch it out to make 36 instead of 24. And then I added more sprinkles too, to make them even more colorful. I topped each one with a vanilla buttercream swirl and a fondant letter R in the various colors that everyone was wearing. Here are some of them -

Just want to add one more thing - when I was carrying the cupcakes in to the picnic site, I started to get this weird deja-vu feeling. Turns out, this picnic site was the exact location of the Rebro Family Reunion in 2002. The family reunion that my husband, who was at that time my boyfriend of only one month, had taken me to on our fourth date. To meet his entire extended family. I didn't realize how big the family was at that time. I could have easily been overwhelmed and ran for the hills, but they were all so kind and welcoming. I got so many hugs that day from people who barely knew me, I just knew myself that this was a family I wanted to be part of. And the rest is history.