Friday, July 31, 2015

These Faces

it doesn't matter if we go to the pool for an hour or 10 minutes, the kids always want to take a break for a snack. goldfish like to be near the water anyway! love these cuties.

remember back when i mentioned the breakdown at recital picture day? well...here it is for everyone to see. i did not purchase these pictures. gianna's friend, emma (pictured here) had her mom send me this little sweet reminder of that lovely memory.

i'm glad she's not normally covering her face, because just look at this beautiful girl. i can't believe she's mine.

 

Saturday, July 18, 2015

Yard Sale!!

every time i hear someone say yard sale, in my head i hear it like this guy we knew in Ohio would say it when you fell skiing. your skis and poles would be all over the mountain and he would yell, YARD SALE!!!

anyhoo, enough of that.

we (and by we, i mean i) decided to have a yard sale (and everyone else didn't have a choice in the matter).

toys, household stuff, clothes...they were starting to take over. normally, i donate. on a very frequent basis. but as i started to collect things, the piles didn't end and i knew that the "stuff" was decent. so, ahem...YARD SALE!!!
 
the kids were great about gathering items (with some guidance) and i told roman he could have a lemonade stand and keep the money he made. he was in!
so, we recruited another family to join our sale and marketed it as a multi-family sale. i think we marketed a little too agressively because as i was in the yard at 6:45 setting up for an 8am start time, we had our first customers. i mean, we didn't have everything out yet and our friends weren't even there yet. so ridiculous. but, it went well, nobody got into a fight over the legos and kitchenaid mixer (mainly because the same lady bought them both and literally left out my back door so no one would see her), and we both had minimal donations at the end of the day. win win!
also, there was a time where the yard was so full of people, i just looked at toby with a look of panic on my face. it was insane! i wish we had a picture of that!
and the kids had a blast at the lemonade stand and made some money too. look at how handsome these salesmen are!
my favorite sales tactic was gianna's though. the boys were on their "lunch break" inside playing video games and gianna was running the stand, a.k.a. pouring lemonade over and over and giving it to us. thenshe poured a glass and just walked up to a man at the sale and gave it to him. i mean, he had to pay her for it, right? dear me, she is a sales lady just like her poppa!

so proud of his first lemonade stand. he made $46 dollars and gave some of it to his employees.

and this pile is finally gone from the corner of our dining area. toby posted this picture on facebook 2 weeks before the sale, saying that he was concerned that i was prepared 2 weeks in advance! i like to call that preparedness.

 

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

A Visit from GG!

look who came to visit! she was only here for a quick stay, but she came over and spent some time with us, which we loved!

 

 

that boy is too much!!!!

 

Monday, July 13, 2015

Happenings

it's summer. so, there hasn't been too much going on. which i like.
 
we went to the pool one night after dinner. the water was warm (really warm), but the kids had fun, and so did i!

it started to rain one night while we were on the front porch, so gianna asked if she could catch it in her mouth.

this boy and his dog...

toby and i were going through some stuff in the garage, so the kids set up their own "picnic" in the yard. i heard lots of giggles and came over to find this...

such silly siblings!

we got a new (to us) rug and re-arranged the living room furniture.

we built this shallow shelf to hold all of our pictures.

we built this hat rack for roman's room.

the kids have a chore chart that they have been sticking to all summer. they have the opportunity to earn extra money by doing "extra" chores like vacuuming. i'm simultaneously excited and depressed that roman vacuums better than me.

we painted gianna's nails and toes for the fourth of july.

too bad we didn't get to see fireworks (it was storming with lightning off and on and we didn't risk it), but we did light up some sparklers. i'm sorry i don't have a picture of ro with his...a spark jumped back on his hand and burned him, so i didn't think that was a good photo op.

 

roman has been working out and gaining a lot of strength. that kettlebell weighs 70lbs! that's more than he weighs.

who orders fruit loops at cracker barrel? this guy!

love the concentration lip biting.

sherriff G cuffing her perp.

 

this picture cracks me up. she was watching a show on the iPad while taking a bath. but she likes to lay down, so this is all i see when i look down the hallway at her.

 

Sunday, July 5, 2015

So Close, But So Far Away (the beach)

we technically live about 20 minutes away from the beach, so why do we never go? and why do we get so excited to drive 12 hours to the beach? it's strange, but true. the de/md beaches are SO much different than the hilton head beach. we love the boardwalk (and all of it's yummy foods and stores where you can buy almost anything you never needed but have to have!) and the rides and the games. and if we are staying in a condo (that isn't ours and we don't have to clean), and we can walk to the beach (not load up the car with stuff and head home with 5lbs of sand). that's why!!!

the view from the condo balcony is pretty sweet! you can see the pier to the right...

and straight ahead it's sugary sand for days, then the beautiful blue atlantic!

games...games, and more games!

rides too!

 

again...just like last year...here are my adventurous boys...

and look who we found on the boardwalk...arrrrrgh matey!

the first night of many where we all got a cone from kohr bros.

 

we found mickey mouse too (although i'm not convinced that he had permission to leave disney) and of course, gianna was hesitant (not too sure i blame her).

we found some really cool stuff that we wanted to buy (but didn't)

and played on the beach in the sand. i'm pretty sure that gianna said "this is the best day ever" about 15 times while we were there.

beautiful girls...

and boy, are we lucky to have mimi and popo here to share all these memories!

i think gianna would have liked to keep roman buried all day!

 

 

 

 

so happy to call this crazy crew mine!

i don't really go on many rides anymore. it scares me to be jerked around on the roller coasters because of my back...and the older i get, the less daredevilish i have become. but, roman asked me to go on the ferris wheel with him and of course, i told him yes. he knows i am not a big fan of being that high in the air for an extended period of time. but, for my boy, i will gladly do it. he kept telling me it was okay and was taking care of me the whole time. i may have said this once or a million times before, but he sure is going to make a great boyfriend/husband some day. (just not too soon)

the worst best part about the ride was that we got on first, so of course, we were stuck at the tippy top for quite a bit of time while they loaded the rest of the ride. boy, are we lucky!

but, that meant that we had time to take in this view. i mean, really? how beautiful is this?

tell me you can't see the fear on my face! and ro over there, all cool as a cucumber.

maddy and macee went with us and macee shared my fear, so i felt comforted that i wasn't alone in my insecurities.

p.s. look at how beautiful they are.

another ice cream cone? don't mind if i do! gianna went with no sprinkles this time. she said they kept dripping on her before!

mommom and poppop wayne came down one day and hung out with us at the beach too...how fun!

and roman got buried again!

 

 

i know my hat is ridiculous, but i can say that i am sunburn free! and no squinting!!! (am I 85?)

more rides? don't mind if i do...

 

gianna insisted that we all ride the "callapillar"....which is actually called the wacky worm, but i didn't want to burst her bubble. and we all had so much fun! can you tell?

 

silly boy out at breakfast.

she's warming up to him. i think it's because he hangs out next to the ice cream shop.

our final night we like to ride the tram all the way to the end and back. it is what we did on our last night last year and again this year. a little tradition, if you will. i love it. we get to see all the shops and the people and everybody is together and its a nice time to relax.

 

 

 

 

 

and then, when we got back, the kids were allowed to choose 2 more rides before we headed home and packed up to leave the next morning. guess which ride gianna chose? that's right...the CALLAPILLAR!

and the "whip it" cars. they aren't really called that, but i call them that because they whip you around at each end. i have a video, but can't put it in here (check out my YouTube channel for all videos)

and guess what roman chose? of course! the tidal wave roller coaster!

there he is. no fear, i tell ya!

and that wraps up our time at the beach! til next year...