Birthday Festivities

oh man, was this day fun! roman has been so excited about his birthday for weeks now. he actually ended up in our bed early this morning and i didn't think he would be hard to wake up, but for some reason, he was out of it. he kept those sweet baby blues closed no matter what we said to get him to wake up. the final thing i said to him was "well, i guess i will have to wear your birthday hat then". those eyes immediately popped open and he was sitting straight up within seconds. he loved wearing a birthday hat (they have a special one at school for the birthday kids) all day and getting the attention. i couldn't wait to go pick him up to start the festivities this evening. we had our usual tuesday dinner, chickfila and then quickly moved on to presents. we had some sugar and then back to playing with all his new presents. he is currently laying on the couch watching Cars. it's his birthday and he gets to stay up late!

this video cracks me up. he coaches himself on how to put up three fingers by putting his pinky down first. too cute!


opening his first present. he's so excited!

race cars for the track!

the presents that mommom sent have lightning mcqueen on them. he named all the cars on the wrapping paper. (i love how duke is eyeing up the present...you know he wants to tear into it!)
yay! doc is his favorite...
finally! his own umbrella. a buzz lightyear one.

2 new Shrek movies from mimi, popo and aunt maddy!

a phillies hat and an eagles football too...thanks mimi, popo and aunt maddy!

going fishin'

biting his lip in concentration

caught one!

...and another one...

getting some glue from his arts and crafts spinner

using his scissors

ooooh, another race track! thanks mommom!

time for cake!

full of hot air...

mr. wil taught him how to lick the bottom of the candles
face first into the chocolate icing
what? do i have some on my face?
poppa gets one too!

this is what i was blessed with three years ago today and he has filled every day since with joy and love. amada roman colella, i love you with all my heart and soul. happy birthday punkin!

Three

yippeeeee, i'm three!

Mady's Birthday Party

most of you (all 5 of you) know by now that mady is roman's best friend...sometimes he even calls her his girlfriend. well, we are so grateful that he has such a sweet little friend. and, they were born only 3 days apart. we actually met her parents, wil and kelly, on our tour of the hospital. we think that they were leaving the hospital when we were coming in. we realized a few weeks into roman attending daycare that mady was in his class. they have changed classrooms several times since then, but always, they are together. here are a few (and by few, i mean a gajillion) pictures of her party.

the birthday girl and her best friend in the recliner.

they couldn't wait to get in the pool sitting back, taking it all in
mady headed straight down the slide happy girl lovebirds splish splash
oh how i love this little man...pretty babies (yes, still babies...even though they are 3 and almost 3) oh how fun woo hoo! chasing his girl ...time for cake ha ha, funny face
trying real hard to blow out her candles

icing, yummmmm

licking all the icing off first then the chocolate... not super happy about her birthday hata little better... moving on to presents check out her new book! what's in this one? a vacuum!! mady seemed to have a great time at her party...i hope she's ready to party again next weekend when we have roman's party!

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

so, these were the final project that i wanted to complete in his new room. i've been putting it off because i was kind of intimidated, but of all the bloggers that featured them on their blogs, nobody said they were hard. in fact, everyone raved about how easy they were to install. these are actually vinyl rain gutters, easily cut to size with a hack saw (i say easily because i didn't do that part :). i actually installed them myself ... yes, folks, that's right, i can use a level and a drill, contrary to popular belief.

as you can see, he started reading before they were even filled up with books. hopefully this continues...that was the point, after all.

thank goodness for premade corner pieces

the main benefit of these is that kids can see the front of the books (the most fun part!)
i think they are a hit! well, they are with me, anyway.

hopefully, this is it for the "big boy bedroom" posts!