Easter in Pittsburgh!

Despite my swollen feet from travel, I had an amazing trip to Pittsburgh to celebrate Easter with my family. I got in on a Wednesday and spent the evening with my siblings and parents at home with a homemade apple pie to finish off the day. Thursday was a day spent with Gramma Irene (my dad's mom) who is on her way to recovery after having hip surgery a few months ago. She came to our house to make traditional Italian Easter bread- pasca. It was an incredible process to take part in and the little details were so important! The eggs had to be at room temperature, the milk had to be warm-but not too warm, and a small pinch of sugar had to be added to the yeast. The most amazing thing was how she mixed the ingredients- she did it right on the countertop with no bowl or mixer needed. Since the amount of ingredients (3 pounds of flour, a dozen eggs, etc) would overwhelm even the biggest bowl, Gramma formed the flour into a bowl shape and added the ingredients slowly while bringing in small amounts of the flour. After the mixing, we had to let it rise 3 times before braiding and baking it. I must say that it turned out very well and it was one of my favorite parts of our Easter brunch.

After taking Gramma home, we stopped by to meet the newest cousin on my mom's side of the family: Ryan Thomas. He is beautiful and such a sweet baby! It was great to meet him when he's still so tiny- only 6 days old! His big brother, Patrick, is precious to watch since he's only 2 and still a baby himself. My Aunt Annie is recovering well after her c-section and Uncle Tommy is doing a good job as husband and dad as well as host- he treated all of us to soft pretzels while we visited.

Friday was a pretty quiet day since it was Good Friday and the family doesn't do much between the hours of 12 and 3 in the afternoon. However, that evening after a dinner of Juliano's pizza (my absolute favorite!) we were joined by Aunt Annie, Uncle Tommy, Patrick and Ryan to dye Easter eggs. Gracie and Patrick had a lot of fun. Gracie enjoyed dying her eggs in multiple colors and to Patrick, every color was "Blue!"

Saturday was spent cleaning the house to get ready for hosting Easter brunch but I wasn't too much help since I was still sporting Fred Flintstone feet. After sweeping downstairs, I cleaned something else that didn't require being on my feet- the computer. I uninstalled lots of stuff that was unnecessary and slowing it down. Now it runs smoothly and without annoying programs that pop up whenever you log in. After a busy day, we all got dressed up and headed to the Easter vigil at my home parish, Holy Trinity. It was a beautiful service and I got to see some friends from home which was great.

Sunday was another gorgeous day- blue skies and plenty of sunshine! Looking for Easter baskets was fun though I had some trouble locating mine.... the bunny was tricky this year. Aunt Nancy came early to help with the cooking and by noon, the whole family had arrived and it was a great time to catch up with everyone. I finally got to meet little Penelope Ann (born 3/15/2010) and she is just precious! Her 3 year old big sister, Lilly, told me she helps mommy with the baby- even with diapers. Lilly and Grace enjoyed playing dress up and grocery store while Penny got passed around and Gramma gave orders in the kitchen. It was a delicious meal and a relaxing afternoon before we said good bye to dad's side of the family and headed over to Grandma and Pap's house to see mom's side of the family for dinner.

My cousin, Mary Kate, definitely had the best reaction to my surprise visit and it was so good to see her and the rest of the Kelly clan. The little kids enjoyed a wild egg hunt in the backyard and I enjoyed catching up with my aunts, uncles and cousins. I'm so glad I got to travel home for the week- it would have been hard to go for more than 6 months without seeing everyone. I am planning on bringing the baby to Pittsburgh this summer during Daniel's first couple of weeks of academics of UPT (undergraduate pilot training) since it's very rigorous and he could use the calm and quiet as he begins his pilot training..... and because I don't think I could go more than a few months without having Juliano's pizza!