A Whirlwind Trip

you know how it seems like you don't have anything planned and then BLAM, all of a sudden, you are slammed with things to do and places to go? well, enter july. we've been having tons of fun with visits from family and a quick trip up north, a work party and i'm looking forward to a visit from a friend i haven't seen in a long time later this week.

here's some pics from our trip home. the whole reason we went was for my nephew CJ's surprise 16th birthday party. i really can't believe he is 16! my brother and sister-in-law organized the party and my grandmother hosted it at her farm. it rained (well, it poured), but that didn't matter, we still had fun!

we stayed the first night at josh & colleen's new house in PA and, oh boy, is it nice. super comfortable and there is always a breeze outside. wish could have spent more time there. uncle josh took ro on a tractor ride in the morning (notice the woody pajamas!)

how cool are they?

then, after a 3 hour trip thanks to MD beach traffic...we were at nana's. time to set up for the party and cool off in the pool!
i think he might have been having a little fun.

aunt colleen joined in too!

ooooh, pass me the ball...

this was the card for CJ from all those that pitched in for his truck...notice the face...we cut out a pic of him from when he was little. i think it fits quite well...hee hee

colleen and krista trying to keep cool while we were waiting for CJ to arrive

this is how roman was waiting for CJ to arrive

sorry nana, there might have been a little drool on the couch!

finally! the birthday boy arrives!

biting his nails...he was embarrassed, i think.

he took roman for a golf cart ride down to the pond

and here he is when he got back...he had just spotted his new ride!

checking out the truck

paparazzi shots. those are his older brothers in the background

coming back from his first ride with uncle josh

oh yeah, he's cool

finally, he realizes what is on the card...

nana is so crafty

mommom got ro a buzz lightyear bubble gun

nice hat

letting lexi catch the bubbles

proud to be awesome

more presents

roman watching the boys play ping pong

uncle dale's got skills

the original ping pong king, uncle gene

toby's showing some table tennis moves

stick 'em up...

well, that went too quick...i'm ready for another visit. can we make it longer next time?

Some Finishing Touches

so, tonight was the first night that roman has ever spent the night away from me. his mimi wanted him to spend the night over at aunt hettie's while she is in town, so i had a little time to kill tonight. and, since he wasn't in his room, we could finally get around to hang up some of the finishing touches. check them out!

we had this photo key hanger thing. the middle section was a mirror, but i spray painted it with chalkboard paint. bring on the goofy messages from mom! photos to be updated later and i'm going to make him something for his birthday that will hang from this. stay tuned for that in september.

you know his father had to show some philly pride in here!
a shot of the corner with the blackboard hangy thing.

thanks to toby's careful letter hanging in the nursery, we were able to quickly hang these again in here with little trouble...

view from the closet corneri think this would look a lot better with the bed under the letters, but that really isn't an option yet at his age. plus this leaves more room for him to play.

i still have one more project in the works. i'll be sure to post that when i'm done! thanks for bearing with me while i show off his new room.

I Couldn't Wait...

okay, so it's not totally complete, but i couldn't wait to show it off! (remember that patience thing that i don't have) we totally busted our you know whats this weekend to get this paint job done! started friday night and just finished in time to put him to bed in his new room sunday night. the good news...this was the last room in the house we have to paint! what what?!?

step 1: paint the room green. check!

step 2: paint the white stripe. check! step 3: paint the blue borders on the white stripe. check! step 3 1/2: knock over a container of white paint all over the newly painted wall and all over the carpet. check! oh wait...that wasn't on the list, but we inserted it anyway. the good thing...it was on the carpet that was going to be under the bed anyway. sweet.

step 4: fill the room with all the fanfreakingtastic stuff that i've been buying for a month now to make his big boy room my favorite room in the house. check!

i love this!

i found this picture online and then copied it and painted it on a canvas. i'm not a talented artist like my mom and brother, but i sure can copy! this was easy because i didn't have to paint the face, hands or feet. i think it turned out pretty good if i do say so myself.

the corner where the bean bag chair will be his reading corner. i still have plans to add some shelving.

we also need to add his name and some other things to the wall, but i couldn't wait for those things to get done to show you! but, you can be assured that i will re-post when we get those up!

Party Time!

this weekend was a busy one. we were planning on painting ro's new big boy room, roman was invited to his friend's birthday party, we were having toby's fam over sat night and so, needless to say, i am totally beat right now. but, i feel so satisfied that we accomplished so much in one weekend. yay!

ro's friend bryson has the best backyard. full of fun stuff to do and completely covered by trees. his mom was smart enough to have the party in the morning. coolest part of the day, get it done and over with so that the rest of the day is free to do other things. no missing naptime. yay for bryson's mom. she rocks.

roman spent the first half hour chilling at the top of the slide. he loved it up there. it was like a little tree house.

finally, he slid on down! bryson came up to hang out with him for a while...

i love this look. i know he looks sad, but i think he is the cutest when he is just staring into space like this.

hey there!

he drove the police car around for awhile

this cracks me up. someone else got in the police car and he wasn't mad, but he was seriously checking out the situation. hands on the hips. he's serious folks. here's the birthday boy, bryson. isn't he super cute?he had fun crawling back and forth in this tunnel here are two of his best buds at daycare squeezed into the cop car.the girls. roman LOVES when they come over to play

rylee imitating erkel. it's pretty scary how much she sounds and looks like him when she does it.

he entertained himself while i set up his tent today peekaboo! seriously? what is wrong with this child? after we put on these shoes, (no pants necessary for this outfit), he kept walking back and forth from toby to me saying "what think?, what think?" well, little man, i think you are super goofy and amazingly cute! that's what i think!