busy, busy, busy

We've been from funerals to weddings this past week. Our friend Ray Smith died this Sunday, May 21, after battling a horrible bout with just about everything you could think of. I guess it was a bittersweet emotion...knowing that he wasn't suffering anymore, but yet mourning for the family that he left behind. We were involved with the events of that for a few days at the beginning of the week.

Then on to weddings...On Friday, I attended a bridal luncheon for my cousin Marshall's fiance, Lindsay. I had a great time! Shannon was such an angel and kept the boys for me so I could go! Thanks Shannon! Here's a couple of pictures from that...

Here's Lindsay and Marshall's sister Maddie. She was so excited to be with all the big girls. Lindsay gave Maddie a bride Barbie as a gift and she thought that was the best thing ever :)




Here's the bridal party...On the left are Lindsay's friends and her sister in law and then on the other side of her is Jenny, her sister, and Audrey, Marshall's sister.








Lindsay and her mom :)






Me and Jenny




And if you go to Shannon's blog, you can see a couple of pictures of Eli, Spencer, and Katie playing while I was at the luncheon. Spencer had such a blast. I'm glad he's starting to find joy in spending time with other kids. Andrew on the other hand, has a long ways to go. I think he cried just about the whole time :)

After the bridal luncheon, I picked up the boys and headed to Harbor Inn Seafood restaurant to celebrate Ethan's graduation. I still can't believe he's already graduated!! Here's a couple of pics of that occasion...













Ethan and Addison, their dad, his
wife, Donna, and their little girl, Ivy






Grandmother and Grandaddy with Ethan







Then...Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner for Lindsay and Marshall at Damon's. The boys were a little hard to handle, but for the most part we had a great time. Sorry no pictures.

Saturday was the wedding and it was beautiful! Lindsay was a beautiful bride! And Marshall looked handsome as well. We took Andrew and Spencer with us to the ceremony, and the whole time I was so nervous they were going to make a scene during it. Why do I do that to myself?? At the reception they were a little rambunxious...however you spell that word...just being little kids...but I looked to Shaun and mouthed across the table...BABYSITTER ...next time... Darla (another cousin) was sitting at the table right beside us and she understood what I said while Shaun did not, so she was cracking up. She has 5 kids of her own so she completely understands where I'm coming from. I love my boys, but there's just some times when Shaun and I need to be without them.

Here's Spencer is trying out his new expression. I think he tries to copy Andrew sometimes.





Then there's the fam...we couldn't get everyone to look at the camera at the same time. Oh well...

Then here's Andrew...He was the most serene one out of the two...at least at this occasion. He behaved himself for the most part. During the ceremony, I just kept feeding him smarties to keep him quiet. And thank goodness for the ribbons hanging out of the hymnals...he loved for me to rub them on his arm.

If you look really closely...yes that's Spencer cutting a rug on the dance floor. He was a wild man. All the shyness left him once he realized he could dance. He wouldn't "slow dance" with the other little girls that were there...he wanted to "dance" by himself...which included flailing his arms and skipping around :) He was fun to watch!

And here's me with Marshall and Lindsay...

Well...that was just about it for the weekend. Sunday was a LAZY day...I slept 3 and a half hours Sunday afternoon. Everyone else in our household did too so that made it even better. It was partly a mistake because Spencer didn't get to bed until after midnight. Oh well...

For Memorial Day...nothing too spectacular. Shaun grilled hamburgers for just me, him, and Mom around lunchtime. We spent just about the whole afternoon in the yard doing some kind of yard work. I had gotten some window flower boxes that morning that I wanted to have as my project for the day, and once I finished them, I thought they turned out cute. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow and post it.

One of the highlights of the day was that Spencer got his new potty. Tonya had given us a little toilet seat you put on the regular toilet but Spencer wouldn't use that so we decided to get him his own.He was so excited! He would sit down on it...and it played music...so he would get even more excited. Then after a little bit, this contraption would say something about toilet paper so Spencer would run to the bathroom, get some toilet paper and put it in the potty. I'm not sure if you can see all the accumulated toilet paper in the potty. He and Andrew had a blast playing with that thing. A little later, I put on some Thomas the Train undies we had bought him a little while back and thought we would try that. He did good for a while, then we went outside to see what Mom was doing, and he started using the bathroom. It ran down his legs and I quickly shouted out ... "Spencer...stop! You're going pee pee." He stopped and we took him inside so he could try to go in his potty but with no avail. I put a diaper back on him and thought we would just try again today. I probably gave up a little too easy...you think...but this has been something I haven't been looking forward too.

We had a service project activity this morning that we went to, and when we got home this afternoon, I tried the going to the potty thing again. I left him with just a t-shirt on to see how he would do and I was utterly surprised! After a little accident at the beginning, he stopped himself and shouted out that he needed to go "pee pee potty"...and he went...3 times this afternoon all by himself. For those of you who have been through potty training, I'm sure you know the excitement that you and your "baby" feel as they take that step into being big. I know I sure was excited. And I'm sure all of you want to know about our bathroom experiences...but it was a milestone for us today and it was something I wasn't quite sure how to get through...but I think we will. :)

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!