Fun on the Fourth

"mama, can we do sparkle-works?"

excuse me, who said you could grow up?  not fair.

Summer Night in Bluffton

this year, the town of bluffton held their fireworks show the weekend before 4th of July.  roman invited max over and we headed downtown on the golf cart.  you can't pass ben & jerry's without stopping for a treat.  it's against the law. 

the boys wanted to watch from the dock, but it was too crowded for me and g!

we went on a search for water because all of the kiddos were thirsty and we found the giant peanut from the boiled peanut festival that had been going on earlier in the day.

the boys ended up joining us on the golf cart to watch the fireworks and we found a classmate of roman's to hang with too.

can you see all the golf carts?  this was just a small portion of them.  there were hundreds!

my sweet girl really loves to watch the fireworks, but she was SO tired!

they sure were beautiful...thanks bluffton!

Easter

Easter was pretty low key this year.  we didn't even dye eggs until that morning! 

the kids had a small egg hunt around the house and found some eggs filled with money, and some with jelly beans!




the dyed eggs looked pretty good, for a last minute addition!


we ended up with about 2 dozen people over and the day was gorgeous, so the kiddos went outside to play.  i think we attracted some neighbor kids too because i looked out there and saw some faces i had never seen before.  it's like they can smell the fun from down the street!


gianna and bryn were sitting on the sidelines, watching the action!


ry and macee came over and brought some friends...and our friends marsha and jeff came over too!




it's not a party unless toby is involved in making a bunch of noise!


these kiddos were super spoiled by miss marsha's extra easter baskets!


i loved having the whole family over, it had been way too long. 

A little love...

february is a love-ly month, dontcha think?  look at these sweet colella girls, at the ballfields...where we live in the spring. 

i still love getting the kids a little something for valentine's day.  this year, we didn't do a ton of candy since valentine's day fell on ash wednesday, the first day of lent.  and, for the 2nd year in a row, gianna has given up candy for lent.  so, rubber masks replaced the sweet stuff this year. 

toby and i couldn't resist trying them out before giving them to the kiddos!

underdog!  

and look at these sweet girls.  final basketball game for the boys, but they found their zen on the bleachers!

Christmas 2017 Recap

it's so far past Christmas, is it even legal to share this now?  

oops, i am running a bit behind.  sorry 'bout that!

this year was a first for guido, he got to come up to DE to share in the Christmas festivities.  at first, he was all "yay, i get to come this time!"...then...he was like "are y'all serious?  12 hours in the car?  what the what?  imma just take a nap".

there was a whole buncha dogs to choose from at mimi's house...but gianna grabbed her favorite, koda. 

and these two...😍

guido loves his aunt maddy!

roman got to go to the cryotherapy center where aunt maddy works...

this looks super chilly, huh? he says it wasn't that bad, and he felt great after.  😲

poor gianna got sick for the first few days we were there, but mimi took care of her and helped her put together a few puzzles.

i felt so bad for her, she missed out on some fun stuff and just needed her beauty sleep.

these two are 2 peas in a pod. 👫

the good thing about the colder weather up north is that you get to go do fun stuff like ice skating with your cousins...

and your dad...

he did really well, as long as he was near the edge.

he got pretty good by the time we had to go.

rylee got pretty good too!

meanwhile, back at mimi's, gianna found another doggie to love!

on Christmas Eve, gianna was feeling a bit better and just in time to go to poppop, kelli and aunt alex's house!

this boy and his eagles

the girls had fun decorating headbands

back at mimi's house that night, all the kiddos were excited to open a few presents

and the adults were excited to try aunt maddy's peanut butter cake!

look what aunt hettie and the girls gave miss G!

time for bed, we need to be asleep so santa can drop off some gifts for the good little boy and girls!

mimi and her grands

after much excitement, the kiddos finally fell asleep so santa could come and were excited to see what he brought in the morning. 

look in here! bath fizzies!

a new custom glove...whaaaaat?

sporting some of their favorite presents!

down to Nana's house we go! gianna is happy to see her cousins, lilah and ady.  silly girls!

gianna received this painting of her as a mermaid from aunt joyce.  it looks JUST like her!  what a talented aunt we have!!

 

silly cousin selfie!

roman gets to steal in the white elephant gift exchange

ady is so super funny, love that little girl!

josh and i were able to book an appointment to go see jay while i was home.  so, first thing the day after Christmas, we headed down to smyrna.  i have to say, after not laying eyes on him for over 2 years, i was so happy to be able to give him a hug and tell him face to face that i love him.  we got to laugh a little and talk about how he is doing and it really did my heart good.  next Christmas, he will be with us and i'm excited for that. 

meanwhile, back at mommom's house, poppop put roman to work. 

she's got a hard working woodstove and he helped poppop bring the wood around to the front porch so it can be easily brought inside when they need it.

uncle josh is always a fun guy to have around...especially, when you can't go outside to play.  he's makes a great substitute jungle gym (or jungle josh😂)

of course, he couldn't let the kiddos have a nice picture without inserting himself...haha

gianna really loved her heart of tafiti necklace that the girls gave her. 

and roman was pumped about this eagles drone!

josh always needed an extra pocket...

and doesn't cj look festive with his beverage-carry fanny pack?

i know colleen loves to drink out of styrofoam cups (just like me), so we got her some special ones with her name on them!

mommom got a pillow cover with her grandbabies' names on it.  so cute!

and poppop got the essentials...a mockneck and some gloves (12 pair to last him all winter)

one of the gifts that nana got for the girls was a trip to disney on ice...i think they liked it!

ady snuggled up the whole time.

she was mesmerized and on the edge of her seat the whole time.  😍

we had a wonderful time with family and it is always a time i treasure.  'til next year!!!