Happy Easter Part I

I haven't been blogging lately, I guess because we've been pretty busy. Plus, the weather this past week has been pretty horrible, so any blog entries would have been far too grumpy. Will and I have been faced with a lot of big questions about my employment next year, too, so it's been a bit stressful. But Will's on Spring Break now, and it's Easter weekend, so we're all in good spirits.

I've posted some recent pictures and two new videos. I'll label the not so obvious pictures. The videos feature Ethan's newest trick, getting to a standing position on his own. He is currently going through a phase where he LOVES to stand, meaning he really doesn't want to be in any other position. (This fact made church rather difficult this morning.) But since he is not too steady yet - and has taken more than a few spills - we need to stay near him when he is standing up against something. Hence, my days of leaving him down in the basement play area for a few minutes while I make my breakfast, brush my teeth, clean up some dishes, etc. are over. The other day, I went upstairs to use the facilities and came back down to him standing up against his table. He pulled himself up all on his own. I have never been in a hurry for Ethan to start walking, but now I'm kind of hoping it happens sooner rather than later because at least then I won't always have to lean over to make sure he's steady. My back is killing me. But I also know that walking comes with a whole new set of issues for us. Ah...development.

Enjoy the pics and videos. I'll post some more hopefully tomorrow so you can see him in his Easter best. Happy Easter everybody!

Just like daddy, Ethan loves to gnaw on a carrot. It feels great on his two teeth.
He's stolen daddy's carrot, too.

My mom made us this Chiwawa, er, I mean Lamb Cake. Will said he's saying, "Yo quiero Easter."
Probably my most favorite family tradition is that of Easter Pizza, or calzone, on Holy Saturday. I cannot remember one year of my life when we did not eat this homemade deliciousness on Holy Saturday. Mom and Grandma are up early, making the dough on Great Grandma Theresa's wooden pasta board. It's in the oven early enough to be ready at noon.


Here is a view of the inside of the calzone, not your typical one. The filling is ricotta, romano cheeses, crumbled Italian sausage, hard boiled eggs, mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper, and red pepper. Eventually, I'll start making my own family calzones on Holy Saturday, but, for now, I'm very happy for the small one my mom gives me every year.

You can't really see that these are dyed, but they are...sort of. Going along with my constant urge to be as green as can be, I tried to dye my eggs naturally. One set I boiled with orange peels, making for a very light yellow egg. The other set I boiled in cranberry juice. I got more color from those but some came off while they were still hot, giving them a speckled look. I have to work on my natural egg dye recipes!

Here is Ethan going from kneeling to standing. And, yes, his toy shelf is anchored to the fence so it won't fall on top of him. He does flip the toy bins out and bonk himself on the head. Thank goodness for his helmet! We love it now!

How he was able to get up while wearing his sleepsack we'll never know.