Birthday Party Extravaganza!!!

This past Saturday Roman was invited to two of his girlfriends' birthday parties! It was such a fun day! The first party was for Tessa Cason. Roman has always been smitten with little Tessa. It was at a petting farm really close to our house. Roman LOVES animals so this was such a fun adventure for him!! They had a little train to ride, a hayride and lots of animals to feed. Roman also ate "real" pizza from Domino's and a cupcake for the first time! Needless to say, his poor tummy didn't like the "strange" food later that night!

Daddy showed Roman all of the animals

Little stinker kept running away from us towards the animals!

Roman and daddy loved feeding the goats!

Mommy loved it too!

Roman loves saying, "nay" like a horse

Someone wouldn't go on the train unless daddy went with him!

This is so funny! Proof that Daddy's can have fun at kid birthday parties too!

After birthday cupcakes we all went out on a very hot hayride!

He loved it and was taking everything in!

Mommy and Roman enjoying the hayride

It was a fun group of parents and kids!

After a long nap, we took Roman to his buddy, Chloe's birthday party at Little Gym. He pretty much was in HEAVEN!!!!

He walked the beams, climbed the barrels and jumped lots!

Chloe and Roman jumping together

Such a beautiful birthday girl!

They all sat around and shook the rattles

Running under the parachute was amazing! Check out Roman's face!

Jumping on the blow up bouncer was so much fun!

Roman is a professional jumper!

It's birthday celebration time! Roman actually sat in his seat for a few minutes! I think it was the juice box that enticed him! I quickly swapped out his cupcake for crackers and cheese. He didn't know the difference. Two cupcakes in one day would have been way too much for this little guy!

The birthday girl with mommy and daddy (Lindsey and Corey)

We attempted a picture of all the kids!

I think Roman had one of the best days of his life! Poor thing slept until 8:20 the next morning. That's late for us!

Happy birthday to Tessa and Chloe!!! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you!

The boys love rain!

Last week it rained again and what does Matt do?! He let's Roman run in the rain in his clothes and socks! Oh boys will be boys!

They had a blast!!!

Labor Day weekend

We started Labor day weekend with a drive to Tulsa Thursday night after I got off work. Roman slept most of the way. Friday morning, we went to breakfast with Matt's parents and Grandma Jones. We just hung around the house all day Friday. Whitney brought the triplets over to play with Roman. They had a ball!

Will kept trying to kiss Roman on the cheek. So cute!

We had everyone join while we gave Roman a bath in Grandma and Pa's huge bathtub!

Uncle Mark!

Friday night we had Matt's cousin, Jessie, come and babysit Roman so we could all go out to dinner. Mike and Meg, Bill and Pam, and Matt and I went to sushi for dinner and then we headed to the local casino. Man, it was hilarious people watching! Meg and I enjoyed dancing to the band. Love me some Franks family fun!!

Saturday morning we headed to the lake and finally got on the boat that afternoon!

A view of the dock from our boat

The house sits on a peninsula. Here's the property. I love that the house blends in with the trees. It doesn't take away from nature!

Lovin the boat ride!

He's a professional laker!

Meg and I on the boat with all the kiddos again! Roman really warmed up to Meg!

Matt's cousin's daughter, Macy went skiing by herself! She's only 6!

Lee and Chris were there with James and Harper. He's growing so fast!

Harper and James
Big boy loves the lake!!

Meema weekend!

The weekend before Labor day every year Matt and his friends get together for their fantasy football draft. This consists of a 4 day, 3 night getaway to the lake house in Oklahoma with lots of boat time and gourmet cooked food. Every year I say this, but seriously does Fantasy football draft need to be that long?! They're so funny! Anyways, when the boys go out and play, the girls go shopping! My mom came in town to stay with me while Matt was gone and to get some quality time with Roman. We had a great time of shopping, cooking and playing with Roman!

We had lots of yummy home cooked meals!

Roman got so much love and attention from his Meema! He even called for "gandma" lots after she left!
Love those sweet hugs!


Roman isn't usually a cuddly little guy. This was such a sweet moment when he stopped and just snuggled with Meema!

We were all sad to see her leave!

We miss you Meema!!

How do you spend your summer Fridays?

We pretty much stay in our swimming suits all day! Matt, Roman, and I had the best time just playing in the back yard and goofing around.

We climbed the stairs a lot!

We had a dancing, singing party

We even did pull ups!

It all ended with my "go to" meal...

Tortillas filled with the following fresh ingredients diced

Spinach

tomatoes

jalapenos

cilantro

red peppers

cheese

topped with homemade salsa and homemade guacamole

The hatch peppers were sliced with a cream cheese mixture and then baked at 400 for 15 minutes. Amazing appetizer!

"Cream Cheese mixture"

cream cheese

shredded Gouda cheese

diced peppers from the garden


It was a fabulous day with a fabulous dinner! We ended the evening with homemade peach and blueberry cobbler.

Rice noodles

A girl at work brought me a package of authentic Thai rice noddles to try out. I got this recipe online and Matt did the rest. It was a fabulous meal! Roman didn't like it so much, but oh well. We loved it!

Ingredients
1 pound Thai rice noodles
10 med. size shrimp, shelled and cleaned
2 Large eggs
1 tbsp. coarsely ground peanuts
1 tbsp. pounded dry shrimp
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. ketchup
1/2 c. vegetable oil
2 lemon wedges
Coriander leaves
1 c. bean sprouts
Chili powder
1 tbsp. salt
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tbsp. minced spring onion
Additional bean sprouts

Directions

If dry noodles are used, soak them in hot water for 15 min; drain. Place the bean sprouts in cool water. In frying pan brown garlic in oil. Add in shrimp and cook till done. Mix shrimp and cook till done. Mix sugar, salt, ketchup, and slightly beaten Large eggs; add in to shrimp mix. Then add in noodles and fry till noodles turn orange. Drain 1 c. bean sprouts and add in to mix and dry till sprouts are cooked, about 1-2 min. Place on serving platter; arrange remaining bean sprouts on outside. Garnish top with dry shrimp, ground peanut, chili powder, green onion, coriander, and 2 pcs lemon. Serve warm.

We're not the only ones cooking

I mentioned to Matt's mom a while back that Roman would like a kitchen for Christmas. He loves to cook in "play kitchens" when we go to his friends' houses that have them. Next thing I know, Bill was in town dropping off a cute little kitchen stocked with all of the utensils and food! It used to be the triplets and now they have outgrown it. Roman was so excited! He literally played in his kitchen for 2 whole hours! Unbelievable!!! Thank you Pa and Grandma for coming through again! You're the best!

Roman loves to grill his steak in the grill just like daddy!
mmm... pizza!

Opening the oven