The Wait is Finally Over...

Dean passed the bar!!!

(I recently removed all of our pics off our computer... this was the only one I could find of Dean lookin professional like a real-live lawyer :)

Halloween... hoo hoo!

We went to Charlotte to spend Halloween with the Schrammparents...

As always, we had a wonderful time together.

The weather was perfect- cool & crisp, the trees were gorgeous- full of color, so we walked the kiddies to one of the parks in the neighborhood.

El Azteca

(YUUUMMY Guac!)

Halloween day:

Rome was a pirate.  YAARrRrRrRr.  His costume was so cute. Ragged cut-off pants, hat (which did not stay on for more than a sec), little boots, a sword, and a mouth with only 6.5 teeth in it :) He fit the part perfectly. 

It was fun to be able to go trick-or-treating again without feeling like a creep-o or totally embarassed :) I think that's one reason why having kids is so much fun- you get permission to re-live your childhood!

Rome & Amaryllis had lotsa fun strolling from house to house, taking in all of their porch/yard decos & other kids' (and parents') costumes.  AND enjoying their fave- lollipops, of course =)

But really, c'mon- 4 adults walking around the neighborhood with 2 babies who could care less?  I'd say it was more for us than them at this point!

"Halloween! (hoo, hoo!) Halloween!  (hoo, hoo!)

...We. Love. Haaall. Loow. Wee-hee-hee-heeeeeeeeeen!!!"

Fishies & Sickies

Last weekend, my dad came to visit!  It was lowsy weather, but we braved up the rain and went fishing anyway!

We My Dady and Dean caught 3 fish!  I just kept reeling in the line every single time I felt a teensy big of a tug.  Only to find my bloodworms were gone.  Boo.  I stuck to what I know best:

We've been watching Sophie for my parents.  She and Holly have become great buds.  They spend most of their days just like this:

Staring at us... probably waiting for scraps to fall.

Rome's been sick with a fever the past couple of days.  He's getting another tooth in on the bottom.  Poor guy :(  He's very snuggly though which I love!  He has also started saying Mama a lot which melts my heart.

  See the bear in the pic?  He hasn't gotten attached to anything so far, but he loves a few things:  that lovey, his stuffed puppy Dean picked out for him, and a little blue-knit blanket from Schramma.  When he wakes up in the morning or from naps, he hurries & snatches one of these before we pick him up from his crib!  I love that little guy to pieces.

Sunrise

I'm rarely awake when the sun is rising, but this morning I was just ready to get out of bed for some reason...  I'm glad I did, because it was SO beautiful.

Rome slept in extra long today, probably since he got his shots yesterday (*5 of them!).  So Dean and I got to watch the sun rise over the ocean together, then enjoy a nice warm, big breakfast of eggs, bacon & sausage and gravy on warm biscuits. Yumm...

Waves, Haircut, FAIR, Random Hodgepodge...

We've had a ton of visitors at the Lucky Leaf the past few weeks... My cousin and her fam, my parents, sister, and Sis. Alba. The day Sis. Alba left- the waves were HUGE again and goooorgeous.  Once I take my camera out there, I can't stop taking pics of them.  Here are some good ones:

(Pretty sky..)

Watching the show from the deck!

The sun came out that afternoon which made them even prettier-

The mist coming off of them would fly up like 6-8 feet.  It's hard to really tell how big they were from a pic...

As I was taking pics- a bunch of birds decided they were hungry and started diving into the ocean to catch fish-

Some dude tried to go kayaking and kept getting WIPED out- zoom in and look at his arm grasping the paddle!

These are from yesterday- it was so pretty outside so Rome was out on the deck most of the day.

He's hit or miss with the whole climbing off of furniture thing.  Sometimes he gets it right and goes backwards-putting his feet down first.  Other times (mooost of the time)... he's diving for the ground head first.

Such a happy baby!

Saying "please" to Holly.  He does this a lot when he wants the ball from her mouth.

Cute haircut! 

Nice tan-lines where his little neck-rolls are :)

Discovering HE can go in the dog crate, not just Holly.  He likes to open/shut the door over and over.

Check out those balancing skillZ! He's getting good at practicing walking, but still prefers crawling.

Climing on this couch is probably his fave thing right now.  He'll throw something up there (ball, sock...) and then go after it.

This past weekend we went to the North Caroline State Fair in Raleigh!  We drove down to Em & Jake's for the wkend- it was SOO much fun!  It was BY FAR the BIGGEST fair I've EVER been to!

All bundled up!  It was very chilly- I got some $1 mittens at Target, guessing Rome would just tear them (and his hat) off in 2 seconds.  He actually kept them both on the entire day/night!  I think since both the mittens were on, he didn't think he could get them off.  Or maybe he just knew they were keeping him warm?  I was surprised.

CUZ Amaryllis-

Okay, you know how the best part of a cruise is the food?  Welp- we learned that's true for the Fair, too!  But in a greasy, oh-my-gosh-I-can't-believe-I'm-eating-this kind of way...

That day we had:  john-deere tractor-churned Strawberry Ice Cream, a SCRUMTIOUS Caramel Apple, mmm, a giant dog bowl of Cheesey Cheese Fries, a deep-battered and Fried Snickers, (with powdered sugar on top, of COURSE) Cotton Candy, and Homemade Caramel Corn (from Schramma :).  OH, almost forgot- tons of Candy from the "Candy Castle" there.  It. Was. AWESOME!  We did so much walking around, but were still surprised our tummies were growling by the time we got home!  FATTIES!

(PS. Jake got the Giant Turkey Leg and Chocolate-Dipped Cheesecake (from the Cheesecake Factory, of course!  Only the best!) I would have gotten that if I'd seen it.)

Love that sign below. 

Rome liked staring at (not feeding fingers to) all the animals in the petting zoo. 

After getting stuck in a "traffic jam" (of people) for about 20 minutes, we thought we were too late to meet up w/ the fam at the Ferris Wheel.  We made it JUST in time!  And my dad gave up his seat for me.  Aw, how sweeeeeet!  It was so fun!  I couldn't remember the last time I'd been on one...

View from the Ferris Wheel above.

Where's Waldo?  Can you find Dad, Dean, Rome, and AV's stroller?

I paid 3 bucks to go into this "FREAK SHOW," take pictures, and show them to my fam so we ALL didn't have to pay.  HAHA!  Some of them were good/gross/freaky, some were lame...

That sheep up above with the leg coming out of it's chest- was disgusting.  I should post a clip... it was all dangling around and GROSS!

On my way out of the "Crazy House" I wasted our last 2 tickets on:

Man, I had ALL the fun!

Chick-fil-a was even at the fair!  Wish I'd known before I ate all that junk!  Chick-fil-a's my FAVORITE!

Walking back to the car- Rome FINALLY had had eNOUGH of his stroller.  I tried to hold him, but believe it or not, he didn't want me and threw a fit.  Of course he went to Schrammpa just fiiiine.  He's extra tall, so maybe Rome thought it was a funnner ride :)  He was back to squealing and smiling and growling at people.

(Love how he was sticking his foot in my dad's pocket :)

So as you can see, we've had a very fun past few weeks!  I think the NC State Fair should become an annual tradition for us :)

More Lucky Leaf Pics

K, I have to brag about my photografriend AGAIN.  She got some really great pics of the backyard view at the Lucky Leaf...

And some fun ones of us on the Pier-

I love this one:

Can you believe this was in the middle of the night?

The full moon was SO bright and gorgeous.

TNO! Reunion #1.

The Lucky Leaf

Topsail Beach, North Carolina

It was SOOOOOOO much fun having all my friends here!  It went by WAY too fast, & I still don't believe it really even happened...

Rome had to be woken up a few times to go to the airport (*while Sebastian (Dean) drove to the other airport...) & was pretty scared/confused.

How many hands can be touching him?

We did a lot of chatting, and a lot of beachin.

We saw dolphins, collected shells, saw the full moon light up the ocean...

Jumping shots are a MUST when we get together... we never seem to get one with all of us in the air, tho...

AH! It was SOOO much fun boogey boarding with Nic!  She's the braavest one out of those 5.  It was awesome!

JJ comes in 2nd on the bravery scale... she was so cute, getting all knocked around by the waves wondering why they weren't stopping after she'd fallen.  She can't swim, so that could make her a tie for 1st.

Looka that cute lil baby wave!  HAHA!  Aw...

Nic did amaaaaaaazing on the longboard for her first time!  She got up a ton!  Dean only got a few pics tho.

Love this:

She made a DELICIOUS Korean dish for us!

We went to Jacksonville, Steph got sick and froze us all, ate at Olive garden, zombed/yawned out in Wal-Mart from lack of sleep, saw Em's real daughter in the bathroom, Nic "bumped" into something one night ...

In the rude guy's souveniour shop!

We were looking for a place called "Crabby Patty's," but ended up finding this cute little bakery instead.  The food was SO good.  Homemade, huge, soft but crunchy potatoe chips.  Mmmm.

Below:

My FAVE pic of the wkend- top right.  I have my t-shirt purchase balled up in my sweats to give me a ghetto booty, JJ, cute as always, Steph looks like Yzma from Emporer's New Groove, Nic always has an arm in the air, Em with her invisible chair pose, and Mich... see for yourselves!  BAHAHAHAHA!  We laugh. A LOT...

Out on the pier:

Oh my goodness, it was the funnest trip ever.  It was so good to see my friends- too many good memories were made...

I can't WAIT for our next reunion!

Family Pictures 2009

My cute photografriend gave us a Family Pictures sesh for a graduation present before we left wacko, Waco!  She took us around to a few spots that are recognizable only to local Wacoans, so it was the perfect way to end our adventure in Texas and have something to always remember it by... 

Here are a few of my faves:

(If Rome looks SUPER drowsy as if he is about to fall asleep with eyes glazed over, he is. I promise I didn't drug him.  It was kinda nice, tho- he was past the point of cranky-tired, and to the point of well-behaved, do what you want with me, tired.)

 

It was GORGEOUS outside.  Perfect weather, the sun shining on the morning dew... totally peaceful with the birds chirping...

Beautiful flowers...

This was on the big bridge... we have many good memories on that bridge!

I LOVE Rome's smile in this one- I think it's my fave!

Thanks, Nic! We love & miss you so much!!!

2009-10-05 Family Pictures 2009

Proud Parent Moment

I don't know if it's the "1-year-milestone" or what, but the past few days, Rome has been doing things he's never done. Our fave is the sign for "PLEASE."  After all of these years (it feels like) of teaching/showing him/making him do it,  it finally clicked!  Without hint or help, my baby says please. :)  Tonight I was doing dishes, & I picked up an empty water bottle (Rome's obsessed with those).  He was standing in front of the sink next to me, and *without whining or grunting, he looked at it and patted his chest. Aaawwwwuuuhh!  Heart-melting!  It is such a fulfilling feeling to see him learn & try to communicate. 
I love it.

One Year Older & Wiser, Too

Happy Birthday, Roman!

We went to Charlotte to celebrate Rome's bday, it was tons of fun!

We watched movies...

Check out the creepy doll on the rocking horse.

Dean stealin a swig-

Rome had lotsa fun playing with Amaryllis and the doggies.



Here he is stuffing his face on the way home from church- Schramma has the best snacks!

Rome had a Pirate Party- YARRRRR,

Matey!

First time eating cake and frosting- he wasn't so sure about it in the beginning.

It kept sticking to his fingers, and he didn't know what to do.
But he soon dug in and enjoyed every crumb- see that happy stuffed face?

Rome got lotsa good BOOTY, too. YARR! Thank you!

The night before his REAL birthday-

The sunset was GORGEOUS.

See the moon?

The next morning, we had Mickey Mouse Pancakes... mmmm.

Enjoying them out on the deck whilst watching

HUNDREDS of dolphins freckle the ocean...

It was really amazing. The ocean was calmer than a lake, & the dolphins were having fun jumping and splashing & putting on a show for us.

I swam out on the longboard after we saw some REALLY close to shore, but I got a little freaked out once I started seeing fish and unknown shadows in the water... I was completely sitting on the board. Not a TOE in the water. I paddled with my hands (still sitting with my knees up) back to shore- freaked.

Dean decided to make a "net" out of his old mesh laundry bag he used in college.

Um, yeah. Didn't work too well.

Aahhh... the life of a 1-yr-old's birthday... Or just the life of a 1-yr-old, period. Lucky!
Dean's "net" didn't work, but a piece of raw chicken (substituded for the sandfleas we'd been using w/ no luck) DID!

Our first catch of the year! HAHA! I'm not a seafood girl AT ALL, but it actually tasted good with potatoes & grilled up in some olive oil & spices- Italian style of course. =)

So that pretty much sums up the birthday boy's first birthday!

We love you, Rome!
Can't believe you're 1!

Here's a short clip of us singing to him- check out his ROMAN candle! =)

(Mom, you really need to get normal ones... popsicle sticks for Dean's, GIANT ones for Rome's...)