Beautiful Spring!

I found winter in Italy to be really hard. It was dark and rainy almost every day for about four months. I was taken by surprise that it affected me so much; I mean, I'm from Michigan (and Illinois and Wisconsin). Winter in all of those states is long, dark, and cold.

But something about being here made it worse. Maybe because my apartment itself is sort of dark - without sunlight it felt like a cave. Maybe because we don't have a car and so Colton and I often were unable to leave the house (because who wants to walk around in 40 degree, rainy weather?).

But the long, dark winter has made spring so much sweeter! It's beautiful here!

Flowers are in bloom everywhere and the sky is often a cloudless blue. This is a beautiful tree in my back yard!

Leaves reappearing! :)

Cool flowers that sprung up from out of nowhere in our yard.

I bought two azalea bushes - one this color and one lighter pink. We hope to get two more, plus some flowers to plant in pots.

Last weekend we were able to host a party for our American and Italian friends. Because the weather is so gorgeous, everyone stayed outside the entire time! Colton had a great time playing for hours in the yard.

Can you spot him chasing his little soccer ball?

Colton was so proud of himself when he learned to sit on his ball!

Oops! He fell off. :)

It's so great to have room to play!

Our teammate, Matt, loves playing rough with Colton. Colton loves it, too.

Cristiano, our Italian teammate, is also great with Colton! What a lucky little boy!

Colton liked picnicing with Cristiano, Sarah, and Sabrina.

Ah, sweet spring! We're so glad you are here. :)

Easter Fun

Easter is a big deal in Italy. It's a little different here than in America, though. I didn't see any big Easter Bunnies (though I did see a few small chocolate ones), nor did I hear mention of any Easter egg hunts. In some ways Easter seems simpler here, which is sort of nice. It's a time to get together with family and friends, eat good food, and - in theory - to remember that this is the biggest day possible for those of us that believe in Christ. It's a bigger deal than Christmas! Not only was Jesus born, not only did He die for our sins.... but Jesus was raised back to life; raised from the DEAD! This is what Christianity is all about. In fact, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15,

"^{14 ...if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless... 17 ...and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world."}

Read all of 1 Corinthians 15 here - it's an amazing message of hope! It's the message of Easter!

Anyway, we had a fun Easter. We enjoyed going to the church service at our Italian church in the morning (where Pastore Andrea preached on the the above Bible passage), then we spent the afternoon lunching with our friends here in Florence. Finally we had a nice evening as a family as three. Colton enjoyed opening his Easter gifts from Gigi & Grandy, and Grammy & Big Poppy. He also enjoyed some play time with his Daddy. Pictures and video below...

Here is a pic of a typical Italian Easter display. Instead of getting big Easter baskets, kids here get chocolate eggs (some with a toy inside) or animals. Often the molded chocolate is absolutely beautiful!

We got Colton a chocolate frog. :)

Here's Colton getting his frog out of it's box.

He wasn't really sure what to do with it. He still hasn't shown an interest in eating it. Ha!

Looking for his present from Gigi & Grandy...

...cars!

Opening his gift from Grammy & Big Poppy.

He enjoyed pulling everything out. :)

This is the closest thing we got to a good shot of his Easter outfit. He was too quick and active to get a better picture! :)

Finally, here's a video of Ross and Colton playing at the end of the day. It's a little long, but I think it's pretty darn cute! Enjoy this look at their typical daddy/son interaction.

Did Ross look a little worn out at the end to you? How is it that toddlers seem to have endless energy, leaving us in the dust?! :)

Happy belated Easter, family and friends. We love you!

Colton's 1st Haircut!

Today Colton got his first haircut! He is 18 months old. It's sort of funny because if you looked at him from the front you'd think, "He doesn't need a haircut! It just grows as if it's perfectly trimmed!" But when you saw him from the side or back, well, you knew why it was time. I wasn't 100% ready to chop off C's little baby hair, but it needed to be done. He did great and he looks like such a little man now. Here are some pictures of the experience...

Ross, Mark, and Colton outside of the barber shop.

The reason we had to cut Colton's hair. It was crazy!

"What's going on?"

Matteo, the barber, couldn't believe that Colton's hair just naturally grew this way. He asked Ross, "Are you sure you didn't cut it to be like this?"

One of the last pics of Colton's sweet little curl. I'll miss it.

"Hey, this isn't so bad!"

The last picture of that curl. Bye, bye baby hair! :(

Colton liked to watch Matteo cut his hair.

There's no going back now. My baby is growing up.

"All done!" Well, almost... :)

Getting one last little trim.

The finished product. Doesn't he look like a little man now?

Matteo ended the haircut by tickling Colton with the hair duster brush. What a sweet barber. :)

What a handsome little boy.