easter weekend

Last week we enjoyed some really warm (albeit WINDY) days and, of course, we took advantage of it and played outside as much as possible. During Grace's nap one day, Stella played outside with her doll and with her sidewalk chalk. The other day, the girls also enjoyed lunch outside on the deck.

Play date with Naomi one afternoon

Naomi read aloud to Stella while she colored with chalk. These two crack me up so much.

Thursday afternoon Panera outing after I bought a brand new vacuum at Oreck (I LOVE it!)

After Panera, we made a visit to the local library where I kept having to chase after runaway Grace while I was helping Stella select books to check out.

In addition to the new vacuum, I also bought a gently-used demo model vacuum with attachments, which Grace is modeling below. Thursday night I vacuumed the whole house, and Stella and Grace played. Brett had Friday off for Good Friday, so the following morning we hung out at the house. Brett started the day off with reading some good books from the library to the girls. We lunched at Punch Pizza, which was delicious as always!

Saturday we headed out to the Minnesota Zoo. Stella seemed to get so much more out of the trip than she did just a year ago. Brett and I had fun watching her so excited about seeing the animals and riding on the carousel.

She fell asleep on the ride home from the zoo. We bought her a penguin plush. Weirdly enough, Stella refused a plush animal herself because she said she has enough stuffed animals. 

After brunching for Easter with my family at Blvd restaurant, we hung out at my parents' house for the rest of the day. My brother Luke and sister-in-law Naomi were in town all week, so it was fun to have them around for the holiday!

We were reminded of the great joy of what Easter means: Jesus, our Great Rescuer, is ALIVE and will bring us home someday.