The Rocket Project

Sebastian (well, and Matteo too, I guess) both love rockets and all things space. So for month before we even moved back to Florida we have been talking about giving them a space themed room. My mom happened to give them these adorable matching rocket pajamas and I immediately knew they'd be the inspiration. Mostly because it was simple enough for me to paint on the wall! And the fact that it was adorable was a big plus! =) As most of you know, I am very ambitious and even creative, but I wouldn't say that I have much artistic talent. So I went about this very slowly and step by step so that my perfectionist self would be happy with the results. So here is the Rocket Project journey!

Traced it out on giant paper from our move. I measured the shirt and multiplied everything by 4x to make sure I kept the scale too. (Did I mention the perfectionist side of me??) =)

Cut out all the parts.

Taped it all to the wall in the right location.

Traced all of it in pencil.

Just starting out! I didn't actually intend to get to the painting phase that day, which is why I'm wearing a white skirt. But once I got going I didn't want to stop for anything, so I didn't change.

I had a very excited little audience. This is his new bed by the way. It is so cute, more pictures of that at some point later. It's like a miniature bunk bed!

Tip and body of rocket done.

Engines ready!

It wasn't even done, but boy were they already excited!

Trying to make the fire part look cool!

Looking better!

Windows and name stripes left to do...

And now they're done!

And the finished product! The last detail was writing their names in on the name stripes. It looks sooo cool!!!!

A close up....

Two very happy and excited boys with their rocket bedroom. Now we can put up all the cool glow in the dark stars!

More Firsts!

After his busy first day of school, we drove to Orlando to go to Sebastian's buddy Michael's 3rd birthday at Sliderz. It's one of those big warehouses with inflatables and fun slides to jump on. A kids dream, right? Well, not Sebastian's. He is very frightened of them. But we'd been talking about it and I was so proud of him yesterday. He told me he was scared and I told him it was okay to feel scared. That we didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do yet. So slowly, over a course of about 30 minutes he went from refusing to enter the area, to me carrying him around, to him walking with me holding his hand, then sitting and FINALLY jumping on the inflatables. I was so proud of him. It just reinforces how even though he's little, he is certainly entitled to his own fears and feelings and I'm so glad that we gently got to a good place for him to enjoy it. So, after that discourse, here are the pictures!

Running!

Matteo had a BLAST. Even more than his brother I think. And he was running on a 45 minute nap all day. Needless to say, he fell asleep in the car and slept all night.

We all loved the big slides!

The best shot I could get of Elias, Sebastian and Michael. Emilio and Owen couldn't make it.

And our last "first" was going to the dentist on Wednesday morning! We have been talking it up and everything was going great until they wanted him to lay down. Then he freaked. But, after I laid down and they showed him all the tools and everything, he was okay with it. I could barely believe my eyes. He laid down, opened wide and they cleaned, flossed, scraped, wiped and checked his teeth, no problem. Wow. He is growing up. I still can't believe it.

Flossing.

When the cleaning was finished he got to pick a new toothbrush. He took this very seriously as you can see from his expression... He picked a Cars toothbrush.

Dentist checked him out and it was all good! Looks like he got Mami's good teeth - hopefully!

Reading stories with Papa!

Best picture ever of Papa and Matteo. So adorable.

VIDEO - Matteo says "Cheese"
(If video does not appear below, click here to watch.)

So Matteo is not a huge talker, but since his picture obsessed Mami is always making him smile, he's got the "cheese" part down. =)

Today I also started the boy's room Rocket Project. Yes, with capital letters. You see, I am very ambitious and creative, but not exactly artistically talented. So I took my moms advice and made a giant pattern of the rocket I am going to paint on the boy's room wall.

I taped it to the wall, traced it and started painting it today. I am so excited because it is 95% done and looks amazing! But no peeks at the finished Project until it's completely done, so expect a blog post dedicated to the Rocket Project very soon. It's so cool!!!!