Holiday Farms

we may live close, but we sure don't get to see our family as much as we'd like since everyone is SO busy all the time, so we planned a trip to holiday farms in ridgeland, sc with holly, aj, chase and gage.  since gianna and chase were out of school on friday, we picked roman up right after he was finished and headed up there.  we got there around 3:45, so the kids had some time to play around before we took the hay ride to pick our pumpkins. 

we tried to get the obligatory kids and pumpkins shot, but as you can see, there is always one that won't cooperate.  and her name rhymes with brianna. 

time to hit up the field maze.  it was kinda skimpy on the field, heavy on the maze.  but the kids thought it was great. 

chase and roman stick together like glue and gianna just wants to be with the big kids. 

after the maze, the boys got to bouncing.  

gianna tried to get in, but hated it, so she just ended up jumping on the entrance part.  

there were these really cool horse swings made from tires.  gianna wouldn't get on one, but gage took a turn. 

the big boys played a little cornhole while the littles took a turn on the swings.  

look at my sweet little pumpkin face.  

...and my precious pumpkin pie...

roman had to get in chase's picture too!

the boys took a few laps around the Haytona 500 track.  

and aj pushed gianna around a few times too.  

all the colella boys took a break because they were tired (get it..?)  

stuck like glue, i tell ya...

it was getting a little chilly on the hayride...

finally!  we made it to the patch.  the boys headed out to pick out their pumpkins. 

searching for the perfect one. 

gianna found the perfect gianna-sized pumpkin. 

i think roman found his!

oh yeah, this is the one!

...and gianna found another one!

but she still keeps searching...maybe there is another perfect pumpkin out here...

roman was so proud of his pumpkin pick...

even gage got a perfect little pumpkin.  such a cutie pie.  

who knows what they were talking about, but they talked the whole ride!

when we got back from the hayride, there was a pig race.  the kids found the perfect spot to watch.  

all the swine in a line...

AND they're off!

we think it was a tie between pinky and mean green.  who knows?  but those oinkers sure were fast!

we had a great time.  roman has been talking about it ever since.  i'm hoping that we make it an annual tradition to go with the kids.  they love it and it is sure is nice to head to the country once in a while.  

Busy Busy Busy

most of the time, i love getting art from both the kids. but seriously, guys.  this "car" with gianna driving?  i mean, did they take baby's first mugshot?  it looks like she just woke up, no barrette in her hair, circles under her eyes...

ya'll know i love her with all my being, but this is a BAD picture, folks.  i'm sorry g, but this one isn't gonna make it to the fridge.  at least it was good for a laugh. 

one night after dinner, the kiddos got special cookies.  they ended up more fascinated with the fact that they had a hole in the middle. 

speaking of cookies, i made a pinterest recipe for lemon burst cookies.  um, seriously folks?  there were 21 cookies on friday night.  there were only 5 left on sunday night.  i'm the only one eating them.  bad news.  real bad.

roman has really hit his rainbow loom stride.  he can make a ton of different designs all by himself and even designed one himself called the "saturday surprise".  he will sit at the table for an hour or more and just crank them out!  

(p.s.  yes, i feed him.  i know he looks like a skeleton.  he just works off every calorie by running around playing soccer and football.  beast mode. )

on saturday, gianna was invited to her very first birthday party for a friend from daycare.  lucy is her best friend and although she has moved up to the next classroom, gianna will join her soon.  they just love each other.  so cute.  

they kept dragging the vacuums everywhere.  gianna is trying to get it inside the gate, here.  it took her about 5 minutes, but she finally did it. 

sorry for the bad pictures, girlfriend was moving!

gianna and lucy pushing the vacuums in sync. 

it took her a while to warm up to the ball pit/jumpolene, but once she was in it, she didn't want to get out. here she is with her friend, colton. 

these are the 3 girls that are always the first ones at daycare in the morning...lilly, gianna and anara.  pretty little things!

pizza lunch with lucy.

how cute are they?

saturday night, the kids got to eat dinner on the couch and watch a movie.  roman puts his plate in the little cubby and cranks up the lights.  too funny. 

on sunday after church, the kids got lollipops.  they are super crazy...see?

on sunday afternoon, roman had a party to go to for a school friend.  he was super excited to give shane his present...an ironman mask.  boys and superheroes.  they go together like peanut butter and jelly.

toby wouldn't give up the tv on sunday afternoon, so the kids camped out in the playroom to watch disney.  i love this.  they are so happy together...

we experimented with the rainbow loom and made some new bracelets.  minion stuart and jack'o'lantern.  cool, huh?

roman is so thoughtful.  he wanted to make his soccer team bracelets in their team colors for their last game on tuesday night.  so we got to work on making them.  look how many he got done!

we were trying to make him laugh to get a "real" smile, but i ended up with a real closed eye laugh.  still love it. 

and then there's this. 

last night was his last soccer game.  it rained the whole time, but they played their little hearts out anyway and had a great time.  AND, they won!

they each got a cupcake with their number on it.  cool, huh?

this was the best team picture I could get.  these little boys were lots of fun to watch all season. 

a blue icing mustache and a new soccer trophy in the bright field lights.  that's my little guy!

Colella Family Happenings

ok, mish mash time again.  we have just been so busy these last few weeks and i haven't been real good about taking pictures, but i have a few, so let's take a look, mkay?

roman's soccer games are fun to watch, but gianna needs to be "pacified" so that she will sit down for at least a part of the game.  she wanted her "gasses" and a "loll lop".  i tried to put her "gasses" down, but she just pushed them back up like this.  what can i say?  she's got her own style.  

click on this picture to make it bigger.  you can zoom too.   check out roman's face.  he's no joke.  also check out the opposing teams' coach.  whistle in his mouth, on his cell phone.  nice.  they lost...

we facetime'd with the millers. lilah had her hand in her mouth, so gianna had to do it too.  and then, uncle josh did it too.  he's so mature.  

can you believe she has enough hair for this?  i've been waiting patiently!

i love it...two little french braids.  

i had to let her play with my coffee pitcher to get her to sit still. 

it's almost no shave november, so roman was practicing growing some stubble. 

i asked gianna to smile and this is what i got. 

girlfriend loves her crackers.  and headbands.  in love with headbands. 

ok, so this one is better. and isn't my boy the most handsome?  these kids make me gooey inside. 

the boys went for a run and we followed, but couldn't keep up, so we took a shortcut.  gianna saw them coming and got roman's water ready for him.  she was like "i see dem...here dey come".  it is so weird, she is basically talking in complete sentences.  

and then, she wanted to jog with them.  go ahead family, you run.  i'll stick with walking.  

Dress-Up Wardrobe

for a while, i've been thinking that i wanted to convert gianna's dresser into something else. i had an idea.  and, of course, i've seen little ideas on pinterest.  i knew that once my dad built her shelving and toybox in her room that i wouldn't need the dresser for storage.  to be honest, all of her clothes are in a hanging organizer in her closet and one drawer of her changing table.  this dresser is older.  it was a hand-me-down from toby's sister, madison.  my mom painted it brown for when roman used it and white for gianna.  so, it's been painted twice. so, the drawers weren't really sliding easy any more. 

time to flip it.  make it new again.  something that she can use.  i would call it a dress-up wardrobe. you see, roman loved to play dress up.  he still does.  i can't even tell you how many costumes he has.  it's insane.  so, i'm thinking that if a boy likes to dress up, what is a girl gonna do?  i need to get ready for all the girly costumes and dresses and accessories.  

so, i wanted to do this for her birthday, but didn't know how long it would take me to do it.  i emptied the last things out of it last saturday morning and got started.  

this is what it looked like.  i removed the top three drawers.  actually the drawer that i kept was the top one because i liked it best.  it had two knobs instead of pulls and is meant to look like two separate drawers.  i had plans in my head, but it was definitely a "fly by the seat of my pants" project. 

i had a helper.  she was happy eating her crackers. 

and drinking her juice.

i put these decorative jeweled knobs on one side for her to eventually hang some necklaces or bags. she saw them and said "oooooh, pitty!"

i attached a new piece of wood in the back to give it a nice even back and worked from there.  i added braces to each side above the drawer so that i could add a shelf.  i also changed out the knobs on the front.

we took a break and refreshed our lip gloss.  i mean, diy is best done with pretty lips, right?

i added new side pieces and covered the bottom, top and sides with contact paper that i already had.  i painted the back of it with the same paint from her room.  i had it already, so i figured i would use what i had.  i added trim to the front to cover up the ugly edges of my new inner frame and the gaps where i removed the brace from under the top drawer.  it definitely isn't perfect, but i used some wood filler because i didn't have any caulk.  it filled the nail holes and made my corners look a lot more clean.  then, i gave it a coat of white paint.  

in the end, this is what it looked like.  i added a tension shower curtain rod for her to hang her pretty dress up clothes.  also, i had some pink vinyl in my stash, so i made a sign that says "You are Beautiful" on the back.  i mean, who doesn't want to be told they are beautiful, right?

before/after

i can't wait to fill it up with stuff for her birthday.  i hope she gets lots of enjoyment out of it for many years.  

For Your Viewing Pleasure

just a couple of quick videos from this week...

she's counting...

it's never too early to start them on drills...

her legos are a bit bigger than his legos...