The Weekend

Last week was a crazy week, last weekend was a crazy busy weekend and this week & weekend are proving to be more of the same!  Last week Joy flew in on Thursday afternoon and Courtney went to pick her up.  We had a little going away party for some of Courtney's co-workers, including one that Joy graduated high school with that Courtney's been teaching with for the past 4 years.  Courtney & Joy went straight to the party & Cael and I joined when all the daycare kiddos were gone.  I couldn't leave him somewhere else when Joy was there and he hadn't seen her in 6 months!  So we hung out for a while and then came home.  Cael earned some ice cream for going "tinkle bells" in the big boy potty AND saying he needed to 3 times that day!!!  Yay Cael!!!  Oh my he's growing up too fast.  He wanted a cone....which he had never had before.  He decided that he needed to bite into the side.  Needless to say he was a mess.

It wasn't long after the last picture that the cone broke in half and he quit eating.  He then got a fresh cone and ate it plain.  Crazy kid!!

Friday we got up and just relaxed for a while.  I had taken Friday off since it was our Anniversary.  Courtney & I went to lunch...by ourselves...for the first time in forever.  Then mom, dad & Joy took Cael to Minneapolis and we went to stay at Chateau Avalon.  Chateau Avalon is basically like Great Wolf Lodge for adults.  Theme fancy pants rooms.  Beautiful!  We had a great night.  We stayed in the Castaway Isle room since we were supposed to go to Puerto Rico to renew our vows but couldn't make it. 

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Minneapolis to help the parents clean out a storage unit.  We are in the process of getting a storage building 2 storage buildings here at the house so we will own them and not be throwing away money on rent.  We were going to get 1 big one in our backyard but because of the size of the one we were going to get it would have been considered a garage.  And because of that we would have needed to have a paved driveway back to it.  Um, no.  I'll pay the permit and I'll spend $$ for the next 3 years or so to own it but I will not pay someone to pave a driveway back there.  So now we're going to get 2 smaller buildings: 1 in the backyard and 1 to replace the metal shed we have beside the house.  I'm pretty excited about it.  I'm hoping to be able to clean out our "hobbit room" under the stairs at least a little.  I would love to be able to put Cael's crib mattress in there for "just in case".  You know, tornado, nasty storm, etc.  It would be nice to have a place to take the kiddos that isn't scary.  I see a project coming on!!!  Anyway...Saturday we were able to clean out 1 of mom & dad's units completely to get it down to 2 units back home.  Saturday evening we had our 15 year high school reunion at a restaurant in Minneapolis.  After that we went to a friend's parent's house to hang out.  It was a fun but long night.

Sunday we got up and drove to Salina to go to breakfast with mom, dad, Joy, Graunt Kim & Bogum after church.  We had family day at the park to continue our 15 year reunion...yeah, okay.  Barely anyone showed up!!  There was a handful of people there.  Sooooo many people that claimed they were coming never showed up.  Oh well.  We had fun anyway!

 At first Cael didn't want to go up the big silver slide but then he did it by himself!

Just a little bit of static coming down 1 slide!

Then he saw the big winding slide and was scared to death.  He was NOT going to go up there!  Next thing you know he's going up.....

 .....and down.....and he kept doing it over and over and over again!

Look at that big boy!!!

Cael with Haley.  She is the daughter of a guy we graduated with and a girl I cheered with.  Cael was hugging her and then when the camera came out he got all Courtney Marsh on me and refused to smile.



 Jolie and her son Justin.

Uncle Travis & Aunt Nicole can't make it this weekend so they brought him his present last weekend.  He now has his own BBQ grill!  Complete with a hot dog & hamburger.  I'm hoping to get him some more food for his grill soon!

 Cael was having a temper tantrum so Auntie Sharon decided to jump into his grill box.

 This weekend is Cael's birthday party because Aunt Joy is here.  I cannot wait!  I have been working so hard on decorations and things to make it special for him.  I know he still is too young to remember but there will be pictures so I'm excited!!  On the cricut I have made cupcake toppers, a birthday banner and signs of all kinds.  We got him a Cars bike with training wheels....O.M.G.!  I cannot believe he's old enough for that!!  I can't wait to bring it out to show him at his party.  I put him on the bike at Wal Mart one day to make sure he could fit on it.  Now whenever we walk by the bikes there he says, "I need a Cars motorcycle!!"  Well son you will get your Cars motorcycle very soon!

10 years ago

This picture was so much fun to take!  Had to make sure she wasn't going anywhere....she being the dress.

 The girls!  Me (obviously), Joy, Amanda, Molly, Aunt Kim, Danelle & Gabrelle

The sisters!  Fabiana flew in & surprised me the night before college graduation and stayed until after the wedding!

 Me & Nicolas!!  I can't believe that he was the age Cael is now in this picture.  And now he's 13.  One day I will turn around and Cael will be 13 - time is FLYING by!

 The guys!  Courtney was pissed because he had to take his sunglasses off!  Curtis, Travis N., Travis D., Calvin, Daddy, Alex, Jim, Buddy & Jared.  Andrew, Dustin, Courtney (obviously), Scott & little Nicolas.

My side of the family!  Uncle Jerry, Aunt Sandi, Fa, Daddy, Joy, Mom, Me, Courtney, Grandma Butler, Grandpa Butler, Aunt Nila, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Almeta, Aunt Kim.  Aunt Jeanette, Jeret, Auntie Margaret.  Jacque & Jessi.

 Courtney's side of the family!  Curtis, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Wilbur, Grandpa Hoard, Rick, Grandma Hoard, Shirley, Me, Courtney, Donna, Calvin, Grandpa Harry, Russ, Dustin, Anthony.  Travis, Aunt Sharlene, Rachel, Abigail, Johnathan, Danelle, Gabrelle, Andrew, Grandma Parsons, Aunt Margaret, Glenda, Aaron.  Benjamin, Coby, Marissa, Estelle & Shayla.

 The wedding party!

 The Marshes!

Mr. GQ

Jimbo had to walk Nicolas down the aisle!

 The Bridges family

 Dustin lookin' good with the flowers!

Sweet little Nic!

 The Noon family

 Everyone's favorite wedding picture!

Love this picture of Nic!

My favorite picture of my mother-in-law ever!

 One of my favorite pictures of us ever!  Taken in Las Vegas on our honeymoon!

Good-bye Dale & Donna!

So a month or so ago our neighbor Dale's dad passed away.  They are getting ready to have an estate sale & then sell the house.  Dale & Donna are moving to California to live with their son, Rick, and his family.  Courtney has spend a few days helping them pack & load a U-Haul.  Last night they came over to eat pizza & then they were headed out bright & early this morning.  Isn't that the cutest picture of them & Cael?? 

They were talking about how their son, Roger, was supposed to have been by to pick up their dog Max to take with him to Texas.  He was going to keep him for 7 months & then air freight him to California.  They hadn't heard from Roger in a week.  The house they are leasing until November doesn't allow pets.  Courtney & I talked and we offered to keep Max here until they can have him.  So, as of today, we have more pets in this house than humans!!  3 humans to 3 dogs & 4 fish!

We will really miss Dale & Donna.  Donna would come over & watch Cael if he was sick or if we needed a little break.  He LOVED going over to their house to run around.  He knew EXACTLY where they kept their food, too!  He would knock on the door & go right to their cabinet with snacks and come out with a bag!  We will definitely miss them and wish there was a way they could stay.  It's hard to try to explain it all to Cael.  I was crying when we said good-bye to them last night and Cael said, "Mommy sad?"  So I said I was.  He said, "You no need be sad, Mommy.  You need be a big boy!"  So mommy will be a big boy.

I'm Cael Ryan Marsh!

I think Cael is really enjoying having other kiddos around the house.  He loves to play with all the other kids.  This has been a little bit of a rough transition but I do think it was the best decision for our family for me to stay home.  Cael occassionally likes to climb into the baby exersaucers.  I will say to him, "Is that my baby??" and he always says, "I not a baby, I Cael Ryan Marsh!"



I promise this is it!

I just thought Cael's face was funny!

We got some great pictures!