Mother's Day

On Mother's day we went to the early service at church and then headed straight to the zoo for the afternoon along with Great Gram Sandy, GG, my sister-in-law Nicole, our brother-in-law Brad, & our niece Annabelle. Brian's parents bought us a Brookfield Zoo family membership that we are planning on getting a lot of use out of this year. The weather was beautiful and we had fun walking around the zoo and seeing all of the animals. We took our wagon and it was awesome for the girls to be able to get in and out throughout the day at different exhibits. And the children's zoo was really cool, because the girls could feed the goats & even brush them!

Olivia feeding & brushing the goats.

Family photo....

Group photo....

The girls :-)

After the zoo, we drove to my Mom's house for dinner. She had her family over for lasagna & stuffed shells, which were delicious! Brian & the girls bought me my very first pair of TOMS that say "TOMS <3 Moms" all over them. I love them!! (and I am totally hooked)

My sibilings & I made my mom a book basket, because she loves to read.

So, we each bought her a really good book &

I found a cute basket that said "inspire" to put them in.

Big smooch for Nana :-)

Easter

Over Easter weekend this year we decided to make new traditions in our family. This was our first Easter living in Chicago with the girls so we were excited to spend the weekend with family celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. On Saturday we went to the evening service at our new church Willow Creek and joined our church family in worship & the celebration of Easter.

On Sunday we awoke to find the Easter Bunny visited our house to hide eggs and fill the girl's baskets with presents!! Their little faces were so adorable when they entered the living room on Easter morning to find the bunny or as Olivia calls him-the "Easter Beagle" (from the Peanuts gang) came. However, instead of tearing into their baskets the girls went exploring for Easter eggs first. They both seemed to really like finding the hidden eggs more than anything!! After egg hunting & present opening we all got ready for our "guests" (as Livie refers to anyone coming over to our house lol) to arrive. We decided to host an Easter brunch for our families, because we wanted to just stay home and relax instead of running from house to house. We are so fortunate that both of our families get along so well and enjoy each other's company. We chose to do a brunch, because some of our favorite foods are breakfast food & the girls love eating breakfast foods at all times of the day. It is not uncommon for us to have breakfast for dinner, which happens to be my favorite! So, we served homemade waffles (on my new waffle iron I got for Christmas), scrambled eggs, homemade sausage patties (from the family deli S&T), breakfast potatoes, fruit & veggie pizzas, toast w/various jams, orange juice, & mimosas. And for dessert I made cupcakes:-) We enjoyed an afternoon of delicious foods, prayer, & great company.

The girls finding their eggs....

And opening their Easter baskets....

Easter brunch....

Family pictures....

Beninato family photos....

Giaretta family photos....

(we never took one with my sister-in-law & her family but they were there too)

Opening more Easter baskets from all the Grandparents....

Little miss Annabelle (our niece) had fun opening her baskets too!

And we had to end the day in bunny ears & pj's!!

This is my favorite picture of the day :-)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter <3

Painting Easter eggs

The week before Easter we colored eggs as a family. Olivia enjoyed coloring eggs so much last year that she talked about it for the entire year. So, when it came time to color eggs again she was ecstatic!! And this time around I bought a dozen & a half so the fun would last even longer. We put the girls in some of my old shirts and let them get creative with their Easter eggs. This year Brooklyn got to join in the fun too & seemed to like throwing the eggs into the coloring cups!

Daddy helped the girls paint their eggs while Mommy took pictures.

Let the fun begin!!

Never too busy to stop and give kisses to her sister :-)

The finished product!!

Here is a video of the Giaretta family egg coloring....

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:-)