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!!

A really good day.

I don't have any pictures to post of my day today, but I just have to say how happy I am to have spent the day with my BFFs, Charline and Brandon!  Riley got to have a day with Grandma Kathie, just in the nick of time since baby's coming soon, and I believe I am beginning to bore my wicked smart 3 year old.  I'm just not quite as exciting as 12 other 3 year olds, 2 teachers, centers, art projects, playgrounds, walks around Horizon High School...especially since it's like Africa hot!

Anyway, today we reinstated the annual Brandon and "Work Wife" (that's me) back to school shopping trip!  Laura asks me to take B shopping for work clothes because she hates shopping with him.  After a 2 year hiatus, we were excited to get going!  We picked up Char and our first stop was at Shane Co. to help B pick out an anniversary gift for Lovely Laura!  Then we had a yummy lunch, thanks B!

Truly, the point wasn't the shopping, although that was fun.  The point was having a fun day with my buddies.  I needed it!  Brandon had to drag Char and I away from the baby section at JC Penney, and we did talk B out of a hideous fluorescent green and blue striped dress shirt at Macy's, where we also offended a salesman with our disdain for the overabundance of white linen suits.  Seriously, who wears these?  Don Johnson? 

 There was also a run-in with a floral dress at Target that inspired Brandon to want to order tacos at Casa Bonita...not sure what that's about, but I do know that I laughed so hard I nearly peed. 

I sure am glad I have such amazing friends to be silly with!  The world needs silly these days.

This evening we had a nice little family outing to Target to get all the last-minute baby gear we needed and Riley's school supplies.  I know, suburban bliss, right?  Well, we finally feel "ready," and are getting more excited by the day!  We tested out the new monitors, set up the bouncy seat and CD player, and got all the diapers and wipes loaded up...just a week to go!  

So Cute!

Our little guy is going to be so stylin'!  Check out some of the cute little items that some of our friends and family have given us...

Uncle Keith and Auntie Holli got the first pair of shoes!  I love these, Riley wore shoes like this up until and even after he started walking, they're the best for little developing toes!

All set for the Bronco season, thanks to Ann!!  Ann is my former teaching partner and will be subbing for me from August until October.

Charline saw these and couldn't resist!  I think Auntie Char Char is going to spoil our little guy rotten!

Auntie Peachie (My cousin Michelle) sent this clever little outfit back in December when we announced the upcoming bundle! 
Too cute!  I love it!  Thanks everyone!

My how he's grown!

Today I pulled out the baby tub for the little guy.  I can't seem to find the little padded headrest/sling thingy, but I'm sure it's around here somewhere.  Riley was intrigued, and decided he needed to test it out to make sure that it's going to be ok for "his baby."  I had to take a picture and compare it to when he was a tiny guy!

Below, one of his first baths at home!

And now!  Just a slight difference!

Our last quiet weekend...

We realized that this past weekend was going to be our last low-key quiet weekend for a while!  Next weekend we're off to the Springs for the U.S. Senior Open, and then the weekend after that is baby time!  Here are a few pics from the weekend:

Riley and Steve did some yard work.  Riley likes to help water the garden.

Then it was time for a little baseball...



Last night the Laura and Brandon invited us over for dinner, always a gourmet choice!  We were excited because we hadn't seen the Lanes in a while and they live right down the street!  Brandon grilled up some fabulous steaks and asparagus, and opened a lovely bottle of wine.  Steve even liked the wine, which is rare!  It was awesome!

After dinner Brandon showed Ri his new guitar.  Riley was mesmerized!  He used his baseball bat to imitate his talented F'Uncle B!
Riley even got to test it out!
It was nice to relax just before life is about to get crazy again!

T-Minus 2 weeks!

Eeek!  We have two weeks until new baby Marsh is scheduled to make his arrival into the world!  For those of you who don't know, we are scheduled for a c-section on 8/8/08, what I'm told is a most auspicious number if you're into numerology!  Wow!!!