farm fun!

we visited the Center Grove Orchard yesterday. jake and i had been there two years ago with a group from church. it happened to be a "family fun day" - lots to keep roman entertained!

roman playing in the "corn pool"...

we had to reminisce about our common dream when we were young of swimming in scrooge mcduck's money bin... thought it would be similar to swimming in this corn pool. anybody else know what we're talking about?

next after the corn pool was "goat haven". roman had no fear...walked right up to the goats and stuck his hand out for a (gross) goat lick...and he seemed to like it! besides goats, the farm has horses, chickens and ducks to see. they also have a hay maze and corn maze (which we opted to skip this year)... maybe when roman's older!

jake does a great imitation of roman's stiff-armed stance when he has his mittens on...
the farm also had giant pumpkins scattered around...
we couldn't leave without visiting their store -- lots of apples to choose from, plus tons of other yummy goodies. ended up trying a sugary pumpkin donut... yum! (maybe it was too much sugar for roman? he really did seem to enjoy it, despite the expression on his face in this pic!)
...until next year!

roman's "top three" list of car literature

roman has started to very much enjoy car rides. he's facing forward and is able to look out the front windshield (if he leans to the left a bit) and can look out his side window easily. we have the front passenger seat beat just far enough that he can put his feet on the top of the chair, which he thinks is hilarious and laughs when he does it. he has some little tonka trucks that he likes to drive around for which he makes a very good "motor sound".

he also likes to read (or pretend to read) in the car. here are his top three choices to "read" right now:

• Daddy Loves Me - has some cute pictures of kids/daddies hanging out. roman smiles very big at the faces in the pages, as if they're his friends. :) (i hate to say it, but i have no idea who gave this book to roman. we must have missed writing it down... so we just want to say thank you to the beloved person who gave us this book!)
• The Cheerios Play Book, from my cousin Natalie. (thanks, Nat!) this has lots of colors, shapes, etc. it also has missing "holes" in the book where you're supposed to place a cheerio, and then eat it, i guess... but he hasn't figured this out yet. (at this point, when we give him a few cheerios, he throws his head back and stuffs them all in his mouth... so there would be very little reading going on if there were cheerios in sight.)
• the Christmas card from my cousins, the litchfields. yes, this is a Christmas card, not a book... but he loves this card. it has a family picture of their litchfields on the front (all four, plus their dog, ruby)... and then there are a few more pics on the inside of the card. i think that's the part that roman loves - looking at the outside pic (and smiling and talking to the pic) and then opening it up to more pictures/faces! :)
  

we don't have any new pics to post at this time... need to get the camera out again!

Iowa State Fair 2009

we decided it would be un-Iowan for us not to take roman to the iowa state fair, especially since we live so close! jake took friday off, so we were able to sleep in (yeah!) and then hit the fair mid-day. we knew that aunt carol and uncle eddie were going to be there until 1:00, so we wanted to get there in time to see them for a little bit! right when we got to the fair, we hooked up with ed & carol. we hit up a corndog stand right away - footlong corn dogs - yum! roman got to try his first corndog. aunt carol was very careful not to poke him with the corndog stick. :} after corndogs, the five of us went to the animal learning center (lots of "fresh" baby animals there!) aunt carol took roman around to see lots of the animals. he earned a pair of pig ears while looking at some little piggies. ed & carol took off, so then it was just the three of us. roman really liked looking at the animals - the babies and the big ones, too! it poured rain for about 20 minutes while we there, so we went into a showing ring (not sure what it's called?) and watched two kids braid their horse's hair while we ate our lunch. nice. :) roman decided not to nap at all while we were at the fair (why would he?)... and he started going downhill around 4:00... ...but we couldn't leave before trying a porkchop-on-a-stick! it was a-mazing! roman loved it, and so did jake and I -- we talked about it for at least five minutes!
all in all, a very fun day and i think we will go back next year! :)

the only good thing about humid weather...

can't help but smile when i see roman's hair! :)

backyard project - complete!

When we moved into our house last summer, we had other things on our mind (roman!) and decided we would get to "play" with our yard the following summer (2009)... which is more than half over! SO... in June, it just so happened that Travis (from Chicago) was coming to visit and also Rick (from Denver), so we decided to start our backyard project, which consisted of building a shed and some garden boxes. Over time, we had lots of helping hands -- Jake, Travis, Rick, Charlie, Josh, Derek, Aaron, and even our neighbor Larry! I think that when we started, Jake was hoping to get all/most of the work done in one day. (what an optimist I'm blessed to live with!) :) By the time the last coat of paint was put on the shed and the pavers laid in front of the shed, it was hours before Roman's 1st birthday! It did take longer than what we had thought, but we're so happy with the outcome! Here are some pics from the start to the end... enjoy!


Roman likes to help us with the gardening... we just have to guide him a bit on what to pull and what to leave in a little longer! :)

Happy 1st Birthday, Roman!

This post is getting posted a little late... just wanted to share some pics from Roman's first birthday!

Uncle Rick arrived at our house on Friday afternoon. Roman enjoyed several "airplane rides" with Rick. (I think this pic was taken after he'd had a few rides... Roman's eyes are still moving a little bit!)

Here is Roman eating his birthday breakfast... bananas! Yum!

Roman & Raefe in Roman's new wagon - fun! (This thing is loaded -- has back rests, seat belts, and even cup holders!)

Roman enjoyed opening his presents - he really got into the paper!

Raefe entertained us throughout the night, as well. :)

Dinnertime...

The "grown-up" table -- Grandpa Mark, Grandpa Rick & Kim, Grandma Rosie, Great-grandma Joan (Stotts), and Grandma Susan (who is not in this picture because she is taking the picture!)
The "kid table" -- Ross, Brittany, Raefe, Colette, Roman, Jake, Rick, and Conrad.
Roman loved his cake - courtesy of Grandma Susan!

I don't think that he got as messy as either Jake or I thought he would... which is fine, easier to clean up in the end! :)
He inspected it all before diving in...
Here is Jake, trying to coax Roman to "just put your face in it"... Roman decided otherwise.
We eventually gave him his spoon so he could enjoy it.
...which he did! :)

After supper/cake/ice cream, Raefe and Roman got to play in the sandbox -- dirty, but fun. (Note: Raefe is in his diaper and happily buried up to his waist, thanks to his dad.)
Raefe decided to lay down for a little while... must be hard work to play in a sandbox!
Smiles all around from the boys...A pic with the grandparents before they all went home!
More playtime for the boys, after a bath with lots of bubbles!

It's hard to believe how fast this first year has gone -- so many changes in such a short amount of time! Roman is a funny little guy and we are so blessed to have him in our life!!