The Many Faces of Romeo

Unfortunately, I haven't captured his super cute big smile on camera yet, but here are a few expressions that he shared with us over the course of a few moments the other day. Enjoy!

Love, Us.

Our Thanksgiving

We had a splendid Thanksgiving yesterday! We had TONS of wonderful good food, made it to Mass, had a dear friend join us, and the kids even got over their recent illnesses for the occasion!

What we did NOT do, however, was make a turkey! I'm very thankful that Joe was OK with this. I, simply put, am no good at cooking turkeys (or any large piece of meat, in fact). So, I stuck with what I knew I could "hit out of the park". We had three main courses: Country Style Ribs, Primal Lasagna, and Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts. We also had tons of french bread, squash, roasted veggies, applesauce, and cranberry sauce. We topped off the meal with pumpkin pies and apple bars. We were STUFFED!

Our friend, Mr. Williams, was wonderful to have join us. He even entertained Patrick and David - playing with cars and army soldiers while keeping up with conversation.

We burned off some of the sugar with a quick dance break after dessert.

And these two tackled the dishes as a great team!

Love, Us.

Bath Time War Paint!

Thérèse was gifted some bath tub coloring crayons a while back with which the kids once in a while created beautiful masterpieces on the shower walls. However, the other day T and P realized that they could be colored just as easily as the walls! Luckily, they were washable.

Love, Us.

Sick Day

The eldest two kiddos have been down with a mysterious energy-sapping illness for a couple days now. Just now it has shown it's true face after David took 2 bites of breakfast - thus, the newly-cleaned-out puke bucket by his side.
Poor kids!

Love, Us.

The Little Ones Playing Cars

This has been a more and more common happening around the swing recently - Patrick teaching Romeo all about playing with "Car-Cars". Romeo has been completely enthralled.

Love, Us.

He Gave Us a Giggle Last Night!

Yup! The giggles have begun! 

Last night he was NOT interested in food... only smiling, cooing, and even a giggle mixed in! 

He eventually got down to business, but just this once I guess I didn't mind the delay.

Love, Us.

Fuzzi Bunz!

I had the great blessing this time around of being gifted with just the right amount of disposal diapers to ease my first 2 months wonderfully! Right when he was starting to squirt out of the newborn size, I ran out. Then, right when he was starting to squirt out of size one, I reached my mental goal of 2 months cloth-free and switched over to the good-old Fuzzi Bunz! Don't get me wrong, I like cloth diapering and HATE paying for disposables, along with the waste. However, as long as they were gifts, I could easily live with the waste in exchange for one thing being easier for two months! 

But now... let the Fuzzi Bunz days begin!

Love, Us.

For His Aunt-T(s)!

This shirt was a gift for David almost 5 years ago, but it still fits the bill! Thanks, Aunt-T! 

And all of you other aunties out there as well - we love you tons and wish you were MUCH closer!

Love, Us.

Romeo is 2 Months Old!

Wow! Time Flies! Here are some pictures we took on his two-month "birthday". 

He is getting bigger and prettier every day.

His baby push-up is getting better!

Romeo and the Gang!

Love, Us.

The Chin Pacifier

So, if any of you know my mother, you know that she views some of the images of Jesus and Mary in a unique way. You and I may see a picture of Mary holding Jesus near her face. My mother sees Jesus "eating His Mother's chin out of LOVE/AFFECTION" (capitalization and slash mark in the original).  Well, around the Librandi house, Romeo is the first to take up this practice, but so far he has only really gone for his sister's chin... and I really think it was out of HUNGER, but that is just my humble opinion. Oh, and by the way, T had a nice (and obvious) bruise on her chin for several days following this episode. So, although it was good for a laugh, she has decided not to let Romeo repeat it in the future.

Love, Us.

The Kids Got Bigger!

We are prepping for a garage sale around here - getting rid of all of the excess before the big move to NC! While going through my huge storage a girls' clothes in the garage, I realized that the kiddos running around me were running around in shortish pants! So, after I finished sorting, I dug out their new sizes, and by the end of the day every kiddo had been officially graduated as a bigger kid! T is now in 7/8, D is a solid 5T, P is a 3T, and I even moved Romeo up a bit early to 3-6months, because we all know how fast the little ones grow, and I don't want the hassle of switching sizes in the midst of our move!

Here are the smallest two that became bigger kids yesterday.

Love, Us.

A Return to the Womb

This was by far the best nap Romeo has ever taken (and he is such a good napper normally!). I think he assumed that he was back in the womb for a time. Cutie! Oh, and you can see his balding spot in these pictures, which is growing rapidly. I think he may be getting a Thanksgiving hair cut to try and make it not so obvious!

Love, Us.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Here's to Our Favorite Vet! We love you, Joe!

Love, Us.

Pictures to Remember Them By

When we had a chance with them all together, I took advantage and took some pictures of two of our close families of friends. There are several more families to capture, but these were two great ones to start with!

Hopefully the kids will always easily recall these cuties, but just in case...

Oldest to youngest - Meghan, Aubrey, Ryan, Sullivan, and Kalmon

Maybe we'll be back in MN with these guys some day!

Leyton, Amara, Damien, and Simon

Love, Us.

Lots of Love for Romeo

If anyone out there is concerned that this little boy doesn't get enough love due to him being physically separated from extended family... take a look at Romeo's life whenever we leave the house!

Love, Us.

Getting Out the "Chilly" Gear

We now have a stash of "chilly" gear by the door for the kids to put on for their outside play. We haven't turned on the heat yet, but our Minnesotan blood has thinned, so I think we won't last much longer at night without it!

And, as you can see, it must not be that cold by midwestern standards... T is still sporting her flip-flops with ease.

Love, Us.

David on the Monkey Bars

David wants me to document this for the family records. He is pretty much a monkey, so we were all aware that he could do the monkey bars long ago. But, he finally got over his fear and found it out for himself! Good job, Dave!

Love, Us.

Last Day of Summer?

The kiddos had to dig out long pants and long-sleeved shirts this morning for the first time since last winter. Yesterday was the first day that our air conditioning wasn't on since last winter. Winter is approaching! Yay! To celebrate that... here is Patrick enjoying some splash park fun over the weekend, on possibly that last day of "summer fun" for the year!

Love, Us.

Who Knew?

As you may know... Patrick turned 2 a couple weeks ago. He got some wonderful presents and cards. He even got a present inside one of his cards! Were you aware that an exam glove makes a splendid balloon? It's true! And as a balloon it is so much easier to get a hold of than the average balloon. It is also VERY fun to whack around the house with a sword! Thanks Uncle Adam and Aunt Hayli!

Love, Us.

Silly Patrick

For today, here is Patrick in his current favorite get-up. He gets up on the table where we have a bowl of "outdoor" things and gets on (at least one, often two, pairs of) sunglasses and grabs an empty (thank God!) squirt gun. This makes him happy for quite some time... squirting invisible bad guys while looking really cool.
He thinks it is absolutely the best!

Love, Us.

Pumpkin Faces

Dad and the kiddos ran outside before supper Thursday night and cut out these cuties!

Love, Us.

Our All Hallows Eve

Happy All Saints Day!

Here are our Halloween pics! The kids had many elaborate plans over the last few weeks concerning their costumes. Many of those plans included Romeo dressing up as an Ewok! However, I am a super simple Halloween mom. That means that the day before Halloween (or the morning of) we dig through our costume box and make something happen - no sewing or purchasing of costumes here! 

Well, here is what we came up with...

Stick 'em up!

We were a group act: Cowgirl, Cow, and Sherriff!

Oh... and baby.

Celebrate BIG today!

Love, Us.