REAL Preschool, not EARLY Preschool!

Riley went back to school on Friday, and he's loving it!  His buddies Ty, Tanner, and Vaughn are in his class again this year, so he is super excited.  When we dropped him off Friday morning, it was like he hadn't just had an 8 week break!  He found his cubby, dropped off his lunch and backpack, and then it was off to the Science center without a backward glance.  He barely had time to give us a hug and kiss!

Marsh, Party of Four!

We welcomed Carter Lee Marsh to our family on Friday, August 8. He is so beautiful, and it's hard to imagine our family without him already! Big Brother Riley is becoming such a big helper! He loves his little brother and is very protective of him.

There was no way to upload just a few pictures of Carter, so I put together a little slideshow of some of my favorite pictures from his first week!

Hey, hey, I wanna be a Rock Star!

Anyone who knows Riley knows how much he loves music!  His instrument of choice is the guitar, so when he won an inflatable guitar that's as tall as he is at the County Fair, he was in heaven!

Here's my little rock star rockin' out on his "American Guitar!"  Check out the facial expressions.  

'Scuse my language, but my kid is a little bad ass!  He was cracking us up with how serious he was.  And, he's got pretty good rhythm!  F'Uncle B would be proud!

Practice Makes Perfect!

Riley and I read a book called "What to Expect When the New Baby Comes Home," which Nicole gave us.  In it, the little dog, Angus the Answer Dog, suggests that big brothers and sisters should practice holding their baby brother or sister using a stuffed animal.  Ri immediately ran off to find Snoopy so he could practice!

Not bad technique!  Yes, he has a hot cocoa mustache.

He's going to be a great big brother!

How cute is this??

Melo loves his new chewy bone.  This is supposed to be keeping him from chewing on other things, and it's helped a bit.  Today he chewed on his bone until he fell asleep, evidently!

Adams County Fair!

Saturday night we decided on a whim to go to the Adams County Fair.  We invited Rick, Kathie and Owen to come up and join us.  The weather cooled off, finally, and the boys had a blast!

Here are the cousins on the airplane ride!

Up, up and away!
Time to ride some motorcycles!

The last ride of the night was the Dragon roller coaster with Grandma Kathie!
The boys also got lots of prizes and played games.  It was a fun night!

Good Times, Good Times!

We opted not to go to the Springs this weekend, figuring it's smarter to be WITHIN 90 miles of my hospital at the point in time.  I was bummed because I was looking forward to getting out of town and hanging out with my folks; and it was forecast to be only 95 degrees in the Springs as opposed to 103 in Denver!  Woohoo!  But clearer heads prevailed!

So last night we drove the whole 4 minutes over to Brandon and Laura's house for Tapas and games!  Their friend, Betsy Kipperman (we always say first and last names with Betsy, it just flows so nicely!) is in town visiting from Annapolis, so they had a little shindig to introduce her to the gang.

Of course, wine was flowing, and I even had a glass of red wine that I quite enjoyed.  Here are some pics.  They're not the greatest quality, but what I get out of them is this: Good, good friends are such a blessing!  If I can't be with my blood family, I sure want to be with this adopted family!!

Here's Zach and Brandon!

Laura has this thing where she plays with people's hair.  It's niiiice...  Betsy was lovin' it!
Yes, I am actually wearing a shirt in the picture.  How embarrassing that it looks like I'm topless!  
I don't even want to know...  Brandon is always trying to get Steve to try out and at least appreciate wine.  Steve humors him from time to time.  I believe Brandon is checking out Steve's tummy to see how the latest tester is doing, but of course, Steve had to take it one step farther...

This is the electrocution game.    The object of the game is to hold onto a handle.  A light flashes and this ridiculous horror film music begins.  When the music stops and the light turns to green, you're supposed to press the button on your handle.  The last one to do so gets a shock.  Don't worry, the part Riley is holding was not activated, he just really likes being one of the guys!  Isn't that about the stupidest game you've ever heard?   Can you believe Brandon paid money for it!?
Betsy Kipperman likes to double-fist her wine!  At one point she had 3 different wines going that B insisted that she try!  BK is a wicked cool chick, she should totally move to Colorado, because she fits in like a glove!
I held the camera w-a-y out so my shirt was visible!  
At the risk of sounding all sentimental...again...thanks everyone for a great evening of delicious food, laughter and fun!!