Sunday, July 27, 2014

Wheelin' and Dealin'

last week was a crazy whirlwind of activity around here.
on wednesday, my van went in for ac problems, but it never came out. instead, i have a brand new accord. i'm 37 and this is my first brand new car. i feel so spoiled. and maybe a little bit like i may have gotten some of my cool factor back. (okay, i said just a little bit)

on sunday, we headed up to charleston to pick up a couple of pieces of furniture that i had found on craigslist.

lunch with these kiddos was a nice break in between our pick ups.

one of the things i bought on craigslist was a bed for gianna. this particular bed was one that i had been keeping my eye on for a while. it is regularly from ikea, but we don't have one close and shipping is super expensive. it is a twin daybed, that has 3 drawers on the bottom. but the bottom section pulls out and you can put a mattress on top of it that lays next to the other mattress and it makes a king size bed, but you still have use of the drawers. the two mattress are stacked on top of each other when it is pushed closed into a twin, so you don't have to find a place to store the extra mattress.

so, the bed was listed on john's island (charleston) and it included the mattresses for less than the cost of the bed on ikea. so, even though i wasn't quite ready to put her in a "big girl" bed yet, the time was right to get the deal!

needless to say, she loves it! and roman can get in it too, which is a bonus because i was always yelling at him to get out of her toddler bed because i was afraid the springs wouldn't hold him!

the other deal we got on craigslist was a new porch swing! i've been wanting one for a while and when we got the new adirondack chairs, i found a guy that would make a swing in the same style as the chairs we purchased. and he was kind enough to hurry and finish the swing so that we could pick it up on the same day as the bed!
toby hung it up quickly and we have enjoyed it a lot this last week, including sitting out there in the middle of a thunderstorm with our friends this friday night.

i asked the guy to put cupholders in it too....best decision ever!

and the kiddos enjoyed dinner on it one night...

also, aunt hettie had a yard sale last saturday and roman got their ripstick. it is a two-wheeled skateboard, which I think looks super hard to ride. but, look who had mastered it by tuesday! is there anything he can't do? he amazes me!

 

so, there ya go...last week we were full of new wheels and new deals!

 

Friday, July 18, 2014

Porch Prettying

okay, so i will admit it. i hate the rocking chairs that we've had on our front porch for 7 years. yes, the entire 7 years that we've lived here, i've hated them. not they way they look, they are gorgeous. but, for a short stack like me, they are SO stinkin' uncomfortable. my feet don't touch the ground, the backs are awful and they don't rock well. so, they need to go! target had a two pack of club motion chairs on clearance, so i bought them. but, they were in a box and they didn't have a floor sample for me to sit on and test out, so of course, after toby put them together, we both decided we didn't like them either. so, at this point, i had 4 chairs on my front porch that i didn't like. so, what did we do? we went shopping for new ones. i truly wanted a glider. i just want to be comfortable so i will spend more time out there. i don't really care what they look like.

after church on sunday, we took the kids to savannah and shopped around. i mean, there had to be something different down there, right?

we ended up in world market (even though there is one in bluffton, too) and the kids were pre-occupied with hanging around in the egg chair.

and subsequently, using the egg chair cushion to fashion himself into a "fun guy"...get it? a mushroom...fungi?

well, we ended up with two of these beauties. and the foot rests. and a small table to go in between. the really are nice looking. and they are smaller than your average adirondack chairs. and because they are low to the ground, shorty can reach....haha. AND....i have already contacted a guy to make us an adirondack porch swing with cupholders....booo ya! i want to use our porch and have it be pretty too. i deserve that after 7 years, right?

toby was quick to get one put together on sunday evening and i took advantage of it. i had quite the view of our sweet g, coloring on the sidewalk and blowing bubbles. now, THIS is what i'm talking about. will someone bring me a sweet tea?

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Gianna loves Lucy

gianna has a really cute little friend in her class at daycare. they have been in the same classroom several times and are only a month apart. lucy is super sweet, and i just love her little personality. lucy's mom emailed me and asked if they could have gianna over for a play date. at first, i thought she might be too young, but then i thought that we could give it a try. to be honest, she really hasn't ever had any play dates of her own, she always gets to tagalong with big brother, but never by herself. so, this was a really special occasion.

we bought cookies to share (the really yummy kind with the frosting on top...blue, of course!) and gianna wanted to hold them on the way over.

when we got there, lucy was sitting on the front step waiting for gianna. she started to jump up and down and was so excited for us to be there, finally! gianna was a little shy at first, but that faded quickly.

i love gianna's face in this picture. such a sweet little friendship between these two...

they were really great at playing together and sharing. lucy already had a tutu, so we brought ours and some tiaras and wands to share. so, we had a pink princess and a blue princess.

they danced and ran around the house for a little while before we decided to take a walk and then head to the park.

gianna was always sideways about halfway down. the face is too funny!

the girls were worn out and were sad to say goodbye to each other, so there were some tears, but we promised to return the courtesy and invite lucy to come over soon. can't wait for "Nonna & Lucy" part two...

since the boys had taken advantage of a girl free afternoon and headed to the movies, gianna and i extended our girl time together and had dinner and a sweet treat at DQ before we headed home.

 

i think she had a good day, whaddya think?

 

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Little Things

last week, we took a ride on the golf cart up to sonic for dinner. on the way back, we stopped and took a picture of the kids in this big adirondack chair in front of a local store. it reminds me of that movie, "honey, i shrunk the kids"!!

gianna loves bubbles, and always wants to do it herself, so i used a pinterest trick and taped the bubbles to the porch so there is no spilling and she can dip the wand all by herself. genius, i say!

the kids have really been into the cups song lately, can you tell?

 

Friday, July 11, 2014

3 Hour Tour (supposed to be)

on saturday, we headed out on the boat with our friends, sherri and greg for a little cruise. on the way to the dock, we saw the barge with the fireworks from the night before still on the deck...

we saw this really friendly dolphin. it was hanging out near us, hoping for some food. it hangs out in the path of a couple of dolphin tour boats, so we think that it gets fed so that they can guarantee dolphin sightings. of course, we didn't have any fish to feed it, and you really aren't supposed to anyway. so, it would swim over to another boat and see what they had for it. and then back to us...

 

 

we docked at freeport marina at daufuskie island and had a snack and some drinks at an open air bar, near this cool metal bull. of course, there was no bull sitting allowed.

once we got back on the boat, we noticed some dark clouds hanging out back near hilton head, so we tried to avoid them and move around them, but it didn't work.

we were really lucky that we were close to this dock and docked the boat as quickly as possible and took cover under this pavilion for about 45 minutes. we heard a bunch of thunder and toby saw some lightning, so we were lucky to be out of the water...whew!

of course, we were soaked, but we made the most of our time waiting out the storm.

meanwhile, back in bluffton, the kids were safe with aunt hettie, having fun at the pool with rylee. i am so glad that they weren't with us for that little adventure!

 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Celebrating our Freedom

we got in the spirit of the holiday and put a little star in gianna's hair!

roman helped and loved pointing out his handiwork.

to celebrate the holiday, we had aj, holly and the boys over for some slip and slide action and a cookout before lighting some fireworks and sparklers. someday, maybe we will go see the real fireworks, but for now the kids are happy with this plan and we don't want the hassle of fighting the traffic and keeping the kids out too late.

 

 

 

i'm not really sure that gianna was in motion in this picture, but, that girl had no fear. she was running and jumping right on and then hopping right back up to do it again.

 

 

of course, there was some Colella 2 on 2!

and the youngest ones patrolled the party...

we had some little fireworks that were fun to watch...

 

and the boys got to light up some sparklers!

 

our neighbor had some pretty legit fireworks too. see, we really didn't have to go anywhere to have a good time!

 

 

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Help a sister out

this is a sweet sight for me. it shows how sweet roman is to his little sister, helping her get some yogurt. it also allows me to sit right where i am and not get up! woo hoo! i think we are entering what is commonly referred to as the "sweet spot".

 

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Get Your Ticket Here!

don't have the time or the money for the movies? me neither! no problem...grab some popcorn and settle in to watch these goofballs. they are all the entertainment i need!