Livie starts ballet

Olivia started ballet a few months ago and has since turned into our little ballerina! She attends a local dance school in the town we live in. She is in a tap, ballet, and tumbling class once a week with girls ranging from 3 to 5. She gets all excited for her dance class each week. And she is going to be in her very first recital this June and I am so excited!! I took ballet and tap when I was her age and its cute that she enjoys it so much.

Medieval Times

At the end of March we went to Medieval Times with Brian's family. The night consisted of eating a Medieval themed dinner with only our hands no utensils, while watching a show complete with knight competitions and battles. It was so much fun!! Brian, Olivia, & I had gone once before while we lived in California when Olivia was around Brooklyn's age with some of my family visiting from Arizona, but Brian's family had never been there. So, we thought it would be a fun experience if we all went. Everyone enjoyed it!! Even the kids had a blast and we had awesome seats in the second row. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of all of us together with my camera (my brother-in-law Brad & I were there too), but here are some pictures....

Papa & Olivia sporting our team crowns-GO YELLOW KNIGHT!!

My sister-in-law Nicole and my niece Annabelle.

GG & Olivia getting ready to go into the arena.

Brian & Brooklyn watching the show.

Olivia got a flower thrown to her from our yellow Knight! Last time we went to Medieval Times when she was younger we sat front row & she actually got the sash for "Queen of Love & Beauty" given to her-it was so cute!! Looks like they always find her in the crowd;)

Bowling

One Friday night Brian decided it was time to introduce Olivia to bowling, so we headed to the bowling alley nearby. Olivia was so excited to go bowling for the first time!! She was so cute-every time her ball went down the lane she would jump up and down and cheer! Brooklyn & I enjoyed watching her. For those of you who don't know, Brian's dad has been on a bowling league for many years and is really really good! He has bowled a couple perfect 300 games and completes on a league. So, bowling in the Giaretta family is more than just a fun past time! lol

St. Patrick's Day

On St. Patrick's Day we enjoyed the first touch of Spring weather in Chicago!! It was a beautiful day and we couldn't wait to get outside with just light jackets on. The girls were super excited to go to the park after being cooped up in the house for the winter months. As soon as Brian got home from school we headed to a park down the block from our house with the girls riding along in the wagon. They absolutely love wagon rides, and thanks to Papa & GG we have been getting a ton of use out of our wagon that they bought for Brooklyn as a gift last year. This park trip was especially fun, because it was Brooklyn's first time getting to play at a park (since she is a winter baby and was too little last year). She loved every aspect of the park from going down the slides to riding in the swings. It was so cute to see her explore the outdoors and follow in the steps of her sister. After playing at the park, we went back to our house and enjoyed some much anticipated Shamrock shakes. Olivia was very excited to have one all to herself:-)

Starve Rock

At the end of February we went on a little family vacation to Starve Rock with my family. My Aunt Susie was so kind to let us use her cabin up there, which is on hotel grounds. It was so much fun swimming in an indoor water park and going on rides at the indoor amusement park while snow accumulated on the ground outside. The cabin had three levels made up of a bunch of rooms and a full kitchen. Between my Mom and I we cooked all of the meals, which was nice so we didn't have to eat out. We stayed up late playing board games and snacking on goodies. It was the perfect getaway to get us out of the winter cold.

Uncle Denton & Brooklyn @ the indoor water park,

which had a lazy river, wave pool, and a variety of different water slides.

Olivia went on every ride she was tall enough to go on!

Brooklyn was only big enough to go on the carousel, which she loved.

This picture isn't the best quality because I only had my small camera,

but Olivia looks so little on the ride. She had no fear! She just wanted to go on everything as many times as she could.

We had such a great time and it was fun to getaway for a couple nights and just relax.

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's day we stayed in and enjoyed a whole day of heart treats!! I made heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast, heart-shaped sandwiches for lunch, and Valentine's cookies for dessert. We watched Charlie Brown Valentine and enjoyed hanging out. Aunt Kate & Uncle Denton also slept over the night before Valentine's day so they could celebrate with us. Olivia especially loves Valentine's day, because of all the treats she gets to eat:)

The girls opening a few little Valentine's Day surprises....

Toy Story 3 On Ice

At the end of January, my Mom took all of us to see Toy Story 3 on Ice! When we were kids my parents took us to see all kinds of ice shows, plays, and musicals. I have always enjoyed going to them and I look forward to taking my girls to many more in the future. Olivia has been crazy about Toy Story 3 ever since she saw the movie in theatres when it first came out-so we couldn't wait to take her! It was nice that my sister Taylor came home for the weekend from college so she could attend the show with us. As an added bonus, we only live 1o minutes away from one of venues in Chicago where they had the show. It was a lot of fun being there with my family and it brought back many happy childhood memories. Both of the girls really enjoyed the show:-) I think that Olivia's favorite part was getting her first very own snow cone!!

Getting ready for the show to start....

(sorry Denton I didn't get you in a picture)

....Intermission....

And for old times sake....lol!