a pretty palm sunday!

they took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “hosanna!” “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “blessed is the king of israel!” [john‬ ‭12:13‬]

i love this week, easter week!! of course i love bunnies and lambies and blooms and springtime, but it’s all symbolic, really. symbolic of what really matters… new life, new beginnings, a fresh slate! what a special time to dwell upon just how very loved we are. 🙂

on palm sunday, maddalena’s little sunday school waved palm branches and sang in church! i know she was a little bit nervous, but she practiced and was excited, and we were so proud! she was even a bit disappointed later that her group didn’t get the stage time that she thought she would [the older kids were on stage and the younger ones marched around the aisles]… but i thought it was perfect and she was the best little palm waver out there!

and rocco, for the first time, sat through the whole service [!!!] clapping enthusiastically for each baptism and occasionally shouting “BUBBLE!” for the bubble popping game i have on my iphone. haha. and then there was a little easter egg hunt! so, all in all… a total sunday success story!!

[rocco!! that smile!!! i melt!]

going through eggs in the grass with sweet little friends… pretty much the cutest thing ever!!

later that afternoon, while rocco took his nap, my mommy ended up snagging maddalena for just a little bit for some quality time at the farm. in the meantime, i gave stevo a light summer hairdo on the back porch the oooonly way i can – with the electric hair clipper shaver thing! and it looks so handsome and freeing. i love that guys can just shave the hair clean off their heads and look super great! imagine if i did that, you know? okay, some girls can look really cool that way, but me… ha! i mean, who would i be without birds nesting abilities atop my head, anyway?

then! rocco and i left daddy with his babysitter named, “the masters,” and went over to the farm to find maddo and gaga crafting away… madd was so excited to show me that they made the very same easter placemat that my mom made with me when i was 4 1/2! and! we still have mine!

i mean!!! i can’t. it’s always the simplest things that are the sweetest, right? my beautiful mommy is just theee best in the craft department. and maddalena was thrilled to point out that she cut out all of the shapes all by herself… and, of course, decided on her own to place the stone on the opposite side of the tomb as it is on mine. 😉 gosh, i love her. i love both of them so much. and please note madd’s 9 mile long legs. what! my baby!!! growing like the flower that she is!

also, i had to document the little bunners sharing popcorn with my dad because 1. i can, and 2. all three of them are just so cute. i have the best and cutest dad ever, fyi.

so, we ended with a perfect farmhome evening. i love when the daylight starts to fade and the sky gets all watercolory. it makes me look so forward to all the summer evenings ahead!!

aaaand after this whole day outside, i spent all of monday thinking i’d come down with the plague. i guess it was just seasonal allergies [which i’ve never really had in the springtime?!], because they seem to be getting everyone around here! oh well. it was worth it! 🙂