Trip to Chicago

Justin was in Houston and Chicago all of last week, and Roman and I decided to go stay with Justin in Chicago for his birthday this weekend! But first, Roman and I detoured to Manteno, IL to visit with my Papa and Grandma on Thursday night.  I had to laugh as I brought in all of our luggage - Roman's pack-n-play, his bumbo seat, his diaper bag, a bag of his food and bottles, a bag of my toiletries, a suitcase of our clothes, my computer bag, and a bag with Justin's birthday presents in it!  You'd think we were moving in with my grandparents!  Roman and I had such a good time...we I had my Grandma's homemade meatloaf Thursday night, then we sat around and visited for a couple of hours.  Friday morning we got up and spent time in my grandparents' basement.  I spent 22 Christmas's in that basement, and going back down there brought back some fun memories...performances on Christmas, stealing peanut M&M's from the gumball machine, seeing a video of Santa climbing out of the fireplace, and sitting at their bar on Christmas and feeling so grown-up as a little kid.  It really was fun trip down memory lane -and I'm so glad we got to spend that time with them!  I won't wait another 7 years to go back to their house!

Friday afternoon Roman and I headed to Berwyn to visit with my Aunt Jayne!  Roman was in the best mood, just laughing away as Aunt Jayne sang "Ol' McDonald" to him!  He also got his first taste of a popsicle - and he couldn't get enough!   Roman and I loved the short-time we spent with my "Buddy" (what Aunt Jayne and I started calling each other when I was 4 and I lived in Florida), but then it was time to head to Chi-town to surprise Justin with our birthday present!

We got to the hotel and gave Justin his gift...an I-pad.  He had been talking about getting one for about 6 months, but I knew he didn't think I'd get him one, so he was so happy and surprised!  We then went to dinner and called it a night!

Saturday, Roman and I headed to Lincoln Park to see Jen (my college roomy and friend since 4th grade). Two other college roomies,  Sarah and her two kids and Emilie and Duke and their daughter Audrey all met up for lunch and to catch up!  It was great to see my old roomies and their kids (and pup Murphy)!   Roman and I took a walk over to Nordstrom  to look around, and then just hung out with Justin that evening!  All and all it was a relaxing weekend in Chicago, and I got a couple of pictures of Roman just being sweet and cute!  I'm mad at myself for not getting pics of Roman with Papa & Grandma, Aunt Jayne, and the IU kiddos, so I just took some solo ones of Mr. Roman!

Loving the soft, plush bed!

He loved standing by himself using the
ottoman that was just his size!

Just playing the in the sunlight shining in our room!

Trip Down Memory Lane...

In the midst of our ice storm winter wonderland, I was doing a little house cleaning this evening.  For whatever reason, our bedroom gets pretty bad.  We pretty much keep the downstairs clean and presentable, but our bedroom always get neglected.  With the laundry room upstairs - my bed becomes the folding table, the dresser becomes a quick place to put all of my jewelry when I take it off at night, and the nightstand will have 3-4 empty bottles on any given day (currently 3 bottles, baby lotion, about 12 books I've never read, a thermometer, blah blah blah, you get the picture).

When I was trying to clear away some of the clutter tonight, I came across a cd case that said, "PICTURES" on it.  At first I thought it was our engagement pictures - but I wanted to pop the cd in to see exactly what was on it.  I was so excited when I saw pictures from when Justin and I first started dating almost 8 years ago!  Just for giggles, I thought I'd post a couple.  We look so young!  Brings back fun memories of college and all of the fun we had together!

Excuse me...notice my nose ring and Justin's earrings - oh,
and the one shoulder shirt was a staple in 2003!

Our Halloween costume for the annual 518 Halloween Party!
Look at my cute little Gangsta' hubs!

Great backdrop, huh?  What's up with my earrings - and my hair?
This pic is a hot mess!