Easter day with Oliveeka

Our soon-to-be 2-year-old comported herself beautifully this past Sunday. First, we went to St Ann's Catholic Church in Annapolis with friends only to find it truly brimming with people standing in the aisles. So we shoved our way past everyone (reporters learn to act like that - else we'd never get to write our stories!) to find several kids seated on the front steps leading up to the altar. We too sat on the steps with them but were presented with a problem: How to keep the moppet quiet for the full hour while the Mass was going on. Well - I dug out every item in my purse for her to go through and examine. When the music began she'd stand up and sway, much to the amusement of onlookers. Amazingly, she hardly uttered a peep.
As a reward, I took her to a nearby playground afterwards, then to a bakery on the city's waterfront where she quickly consumed a whole pastry - what we used to call an elephant's ear. Then it was off to a lovely waterfront restaurant called Sam's on the Waterfront where the whole Vuoto clan + friends (these are my Canadian/Italian friends) sat around and ate and chatted for 4 hours. Like I said, they are Italians. Miss Veeka sat at the head of the table and amused everyone, including local patrons. Doing without a nap was a hardship, so she got testy around mid-afternoon. But, dressed in that darling Polly Flinders-style dress that Becky bought her, she was a true belle of the ball, albeit, covered in stockings and long sleeves because of the freezing weather. Jeff Kuhner (who has married the middle Vuoto daughter, Grace - pictured here in blue) pronounced Veeka his "little tzarina." That's because my daughter's heritage is Tatar - she comes from the Crimea region south of Moscow where, unfortunately, Stalin did his best to massacre every Tatar he could find. The remaining Tatars still wish to be independent of Mother Russia but do n't hold your breath!
Coming up: Veeka's open house this Sunday from 4-6. If you're local, come by...