Blessed Easter Weekend, Part 1.

On February 17th, I received an email from Brian’s mom, Donna, in which she informed me that she was already getting Bennett’s Easter basket together.  Before she could go full speed ahead, she needed to know what size diapers he was wearing, which Dr. Seuss books he had, what size clothes he had grown into and if there was anything else that he might need.

Chuckling to myself at the fact that we weren’t even in the month of March yet, I sent back a thorough response, hoping to steer her ship in the right direction.

Well, Saturday proved to be a fabulous get-together with the in-laws for two reasons:

1. Bennett was the recipient of exuberant Easter joy, the likes of which seemed reminiscent of Christmas, except with more pastel colors.  *wink*
2. My in-laws actually enjoyed my cooking and went back for seconds.

I’ll address the second point first.  You all know me by now.  I experiment.  I discover.  I create.  I see a piece of produce that I’ve never heard of, I snap a picture, do my research, find a good deal, conquer the produce and then force Brian to both try it and also confirm that I’m amazing.  But if you’ve ever read The Regular Pork Chop Incident, you know that it hasn’t always been so easy.  He used to be leery of my kitchen discoveries… And he came by that fairly honestly.

I’ll never forget the time that Donna told me that she didn’t prefer to eat something that had a hot and cold ingredient at the same time.  No one had ever told me anything like that in all my life!  So when I cook for the in-laws now (one of whom won’t even eat cheese… CHEESE! *wiping a tear*), I try to be very careful to keep the menu simple (which, perhaps surprisingly, is 100% harder for me than winging it).  But, being half Italian, the greater priority is not executing and nailing an intricate, fancy-pants meal.  No, it’s simply bringing a smile to each face that’s gathered ’round the table.

*satisfied sigh*

After our lunch (which, by the way, consisted of slow-cooked pulled roast beef sandwiches with gravy, squash casserole-ish type dish and an apple pie), we dug through Bennett’s Easter basket.  Naturally, this was no ordinary Easter basket.  Rather, it’s size was like unto a laundry basket – the lucky fellow!

Let’s just say that Bennett’s got some sweet new threads for spring, some new bedtime books, some snuggly toys and developmental toys, extra diapers and quite a bit more thanks to some extra friends and family.

Unfortunately our camera had a big, ol’ dirty blob on the lens for the majority of the afternoon, so nearly all of the pictures were 50% blurry (one of MANY blunders I look forward to admitting over the next few days).

Thanks for the Melissa & Doug Peek-a-Boo Panda, Grandma!

We had a wonderful time!

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