Friday, March 28, 2014

Free Entertainment

everybody has kids to do chores and provide free entertainment, right?

 

the boys were out at roman's ball game, so it was just the ladies around here. so, i recruited some help with the chores and was in turn, given a free concert after bathtime. it seems a little like an unfair trade, but i assure you, she was a happy camper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Opening Day

it's baseball season! this past saturday was opening day so we headed up to the park early for the festivities.

 

as long as she has refreshments, gianna is good to go!

there's my boy!

about to head out on the field.

soon after the opening ceremony, we headed out for roman's game. here he is crossing/hopping across home plate.

chase is on the team too. they are the best buds and of course the most handsome on the team, right?

the colella kiddos played hard, so they need some after-game sugar. you like how they look like they are being picked from a lineup?

later in the day, the boys had somewhere to go and they left me in charge of this monkey!

 

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Grandpa & Grandma {x2}

my uncle posted this picture on facebook last week. it is my father's parents and his siblings (there are actually two more that aren't pictured that were adopted, possibly after this picture was taken, i'm not sure). my dad is the dark haired fella in the front. second to youngest. the funny thing is, my grandmother looked the same as a young woman as she did an older woman. my grandfather changed a little bit, in my opinion. anyway, i had never seen this picture before, but it is really cool, i think. especially since my dad was coming to visit the weekend after i saw this.

grandpa and grandma arrived on saturday, in time for the boys to head out to baseball practice. the girls stayed home to rest. we went out to dinner and then headed to the park...sorry no pictures of that...

on sunday, we went to church and then went to ihop. these kiddos were good in church, so they earned a ringpop. of course, they always pick the most offensive colors!

roman and grandpa were deadlocked in an intense game of tic tac toe.

oooohhhh, grandpa finally makes a move!

 

gianna climbed over to get in the picture too!

and i love the side-eye...

thanks for coming to visit us grandpa and grandma!!!

 

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Mix it Up!

for my birthday, the kids and toby got me a kitchenaid mixer! what a luxury. i actually put it in that awkward spot behind my sink and just leave it there all the time. so, i've been using it more than i thought i would. it shreds chicken and pork in about 3 seconds flat and maybe we've made cupcakes and cookies more frequently than normal. is that a bad thing?

please excuse the bedhed, no makeup momma in this picture...but look at those kiddos! they were so excited to get up on the stepstool and crack some eggs!

i foresee lots of baked goods in our future. and lots of baking memories with mom. thanks for my mixer!!!

 

Friday, March 14, 2014

Fun on a Friday

last friday, roman did not have school. so, after i made the kids run some not so fun errands with me, i thought it would be fun to treat them to a little bounce house fun.

 

 

 

 

 

these kids were beat! can you tell? this picture was supposed to be a super cute shot of them, but instead, it looks like i captured some rabid monkeys and told them to smile or else...

they were a little sweaty and not too happy with me interrupting their fun!

 

Friday, March 7, 2014

Yard Sale King

after we cleaned out the playroom, got new floors and loaded the toys back into the "new" playroom, we still had lots of toys in the garage that we needed to get rid of. in exchange for paring down his toys, i promised roman that we could have a yard sale and he could keep the profits. most of the items were his. a few were gianna's and a couple were ours, but i wanted to make this offer enticing.

to my surprise, he was pumped. in fact, he said ... "i want to give my money to the poor so that they can have a warm home and good food to eat like us". okay, now that you've wiped your eyes, can i get an amen? how in the world did i deserve this sweet, giving soul named roman?

saturday was our sale. we had a pretty good team. roman and gianna, cuddling for warmth. it got a little chilly on saturday morning. and miss allie! what a sweet surprise visit we had from her. she spent the night on friday night and helped us with our yard sale. and she went and got me starbucks. love her. and not just because of the starbucks. but yeah, that too.

we started at 7am and by 10:30, most of it was gone!

and here is our proud little yard sale king, with his letter and loot.

to translate: "Dear Sister Canice (previous principal at his school, who now works with the poor), I had a yard sale to sell some of my toys. I made $167.25. I want to give this to the poor. Love, Roman Colella"

during the yard sale, i told roman how proud i was of him. how most kids would not be okay with getting rid of their toys. he looked at me and said..."i'm pretty proud of myself too".

he should be. he shows me everyday the true kindness that he has in his heart. i adore this little boy.

 

 

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

He Shoots, He Scores!

basketball season is over, but i have to share this as a last hurrah...

i was watching this in real time and just so happened to catch it on my camera. roman dribbles to just past half court, then plants his feet and launches a shot to the hoop. i'm thinking..."no way he's gonna make that".

he proved me wrong!

and holly was filming at the time and we just got the video from her. check this out!

 

Monday, March 3, 2014

Gianna-isms

gianna is at a really fun age right now and she cracks us up daily. i'm not really sure how she comes up with this stuff sometimes, but she keeps us laughing. here are some things i'm writing down so i don't forget later...

  • she has a pair of pajamas that her nana sent her (thanks nana!) that have horses on them.  but she doesn't think they are horses.  she thinks they are unicorns.  but instead of saying unicorn, she says "neocorn".  so, thanks nana for the neocorn pajamas!
  • our friend gave her a book called pajama time.  you may have seen a video that i posted of her "reading" it.  well, one of her favorite parts is where they say "they might be stripey, or polka dot, but we can all pajammy in whatever we've got".  so, she is obsessed with polka dots.  polka dot pajamas or clothes or whatever.  except, she doesn't call them polka dot...she says "popo got".  here she is in her popo got pajamas and popo got vest (also, from that very same friend!)
  • and yesterday we were headed home from an errand and she kept saying "i'm gonna be the first on the wiggle car" because she and roman like to fight over it now.  so, toby said, "gianna gets it first, then roman".  then she said "i'm gonna watch tv".  toby said, "i thought you were gonna ride the wiggle car?"  she says "oh yeah".  toby says "you're a mess!".  gianna replied "no, i'm not, i'm all clean!"  i mean, is she nutty or what?
  • we are slowly starting to potty train her and so, every time we take off her diaper, she asks "i poop on the ground?"  and of course, we say "NO, you poop in the potty".  we don't really know where she got that from, but i think it is because one time, she accidentally peed on the carpet and toby said "you don't pee and poop on the ground, you go in the potty".  i guess she just needs the confirmation each time now...?
  • she loves to sing and of course, her older brother is listening to his favorites on his ipad, so they become her favorites too.  so, when one of them comes on the radio, like katy perry's dark horse, she says "i love this song...louder!"
  • she keeps telling me that i am her "best friend.  it totally melts my heart.  i hope she still feels that way in 10 years!