My mom put these on her blog but for those of you who check mine but not hers, these are pictures of Marcelus with my dad on Phoenix blessing day. Phoenix wore his grey suit for the blessing and I had bought Marce a suit and it just so happened it came right in time to wear for the blessing. I didn't get any pictures that day because I was so busy preparing food and then eating it myself, plus I knew I had to change the boys before they got Lasagna on their suits!
These pictures are priceless because you have to know my dad. He's totally GQ. He's been the Jack of all trades but mostly a custom clothier. Basically that means he met with business men, measured them up, looked over swatches, picked out what was best for them, the style of suit, ordered it from companies he worked with, then fitted it to the guy, made alterations if nessesary, ect. Just picture my dad with his suit coat off, sleeves rolled up, and a tape measure around his neck and you pretty much got it. Needless to say, when Marce walked out of my room all dressed up and ready, my dad was practically salivating over the situation. Thank you so much mom for getting these pictures taken. I think these are going to be very special to me for years to come. They already are really.
I started running. I ran about 5 times but then I started painting Marcelus' room and needed to use up my mornings for that. Sharrid is just finishing up the corners and edges in there and then we'll be able to put all of Marce's things back in there and start up on Phoenix room. My goal for Phoenix' room is to be done by the time we leave for vacation. Sharrid's schooling starts a little before that so that should be my real goal date, Aug. 23rd I think he said. We'll see. With the Olympics going on, everything has been a little crazy. We're completely out of sorts here on our bed times, which is fine because Marce isn't even sleeping in his bedroom right now because of the painting. I haven't been doing great at having Phoenix get used to his crib, I need to be better on that one. It doesn't help that my kids are such light tempermental sleepers...Anyway, that's the plan and then after all the painting, and the Olympics are over AND we're back from our vacation, I think THEN I can start running back up and working out. Hopefully something else doesn't come up cause I'd also like to try and potty train Marce like I said in the last post.
This post was originally titled "A Wrong Turn" but I changed it. This is unperfect timing. As I said before, I'd like to try and potty train Marce in late Sep. after our vacation. That makes sense since we're staying at my grandma's house and the last thing she wants is a trainee in progress having accidents on her near white carpet and marble tile floors...BUT I feel that Marce might be making a statement. Today Marcelus sat on the toilet, like he does most days. Don't know if he actually went or not but that doesn't matter. Later, he went to play outside. He came back inside completely naked. I had him fetch the diaper he shed and told him that he has to wear a diaper. I guess he probably would stop taking his diapers off if I clothed him, but it's so hot and his dresser is a hassle to get into because of the painting we're doing, so if he does need clothes I usually just find them in the onslaught of clean laundry loads coming out. I told him very clearly as I always do that he needs to wear a diaper and keep it on. Here's where it changes from every other day. He refuses. I could pin him down and put it on but Marce doesn't cave. He'd take it right back off and pee on the floor or something, which he also did today (earlier when he took his diaper off). I decided to let him win half the battle and put a swim diaper on. That's really the only other alternative. He doesn't have any underwear and even if he did, we're leaving on vacation soon. Now is not the right time! After I put a swim diaper on him, it wasn't long before he went poop in the swim diaper and comes into the family room (where I am) and proceeds to take it off. I barely got there in time to help him not make a mess and to wipe him up and put another swim diaper on him. I hope this is not a trend that he continues on into tomorrow but rather a one time deal, or in this case a one day deal. I think he might be ready to potty train. That's good. He just needs to wait until I'm ready, which is AFTER vacation. Wish me better luck for tomorrow. Connie and her kids are coming over so he'll be distracted. Saved by cousins...but what about the next day, and the next couple weeks...
We went swimming on Sat. for my sister Tibi's birthday. Marce loves to swim and we practiced going under water and he liked it but kept on smiling and not closing his mouth. He had a life jacket but it was too big for him and instead of helping him be safe, it actually made it more unsafe cause he couldn't control his swimming with it, so I took it off and he did a lot better. He loved the tire swing and he went off this slide about 20 times! There he is coming out and I'm there to help him at the bottom.
Cousin Eden
Connie, Tibi and her cupcakes for her 14th birthday!
Landon - I love his mustard yellow shirt!
Marce scratching his knee...?
Cute little Levi, my happy nephew was sick this weekend but he's on the mend now.
It was an exhausting weekend and this is not the first time I've found Marce like this.
Tibi loves the grandkids sooooo much! She's the best at taking care of them, holding them, and entertaining them.
These guys are sooooo loud when they get together, true Packards and Willards...the Shirley side isn't that loud, and the Hill side is even quiter, but these guys together can break an ear drum! All the grandkids minus Phoenix.
Thanks mom and dad for coming. Darn these quick trips. They are so bittersweet. We had a good weekend. It felt like I was caught in a tornado though. It was so fast, I could barely keep up with myself! Marce wore his new suit I got him and grandma and grandpa were smitten with him. They told him he looked ready to go on a mission. I was trying to prepare food so I didn't even get a picture of him! He looked so cute. I'm happy I got it for him.
P.S. Mother, make sure you send me those pictures of Marce in his suit! I'll take some of him before church this Sunday though...
Can anyone say blue tape?...Yes, it was our first time painting in our house. I decided to do the boys' rooms first. Marcelus' room here is a royal blue color with a navy blue accent wall. I let Sharrid choose the blue color. I wanted a more dull, not so bright blue but he liked the royal color and as long as the two blues matched I was ok. You gotta let the husband pick some things I've learned. He did help me paint a lot after all. The paint is semi gloss, and after being schooled a bit by my sister, I realized I would have gotten satin had I known the differences. I thought they were the same thing. I like it though and these are the pictures of the process. As of now we are just cleaning up the edges and corners. "After" pictures will come soon.
Phoenix' room is next and it will be a dark blue color up from the floor about 3 feet, then about a foot of red, and the top half of the room will be a light blue, not baby blue but just light blue. It's hard to explain so I'll have to post pictures of it as well once we get it underway which won't be til Marce's room is done and all his stuff including his bed (which is now in my room!) is back in his room! I'm sick of his stuff spread all around the house but we're almost done! After both rooms are done we go on our trip to CA and afterwards, if I can I might tackle the rest of the house one gallon at a time. We also want to focus on our food storage a little more with any extra money we might have. It's so overwhelming to think about and especially trying to collect food into our tiny house but we've got to just do it. Get this, I have decided that I MIGHT try and potty train Marce after we get back as well. I think he might be ready. Before, when he was just over 2 I knew I couldn't because our communication was not there. Now that he is 2 1/2, he is talking in phrases and sentences! We communicate well and he "gets it". He has been showing signs I guess for awhile that indicate that he might be ready. He often takes his diaper off. He sits on the toilet and has gone pee on the toilet before. He locks himself in his room to go #2, and does NOT want us to come in during his private time. He loves to use toilet paper and flush even at the times he doesn't actually go. He says "poopy?" everytime Phoenix toots. We'll see. I wanted him to poop in the toilet before we dove into it but that might not happen so I think we'll give it a try late Sep. Any suggestions or good tactics are welcome.
Late again, sorry. This weekend was Phoenix' baby blessing so Friday I had to clean the house and then the whole weekend was a big whirlwind. By the time we hit Monday I was bushed and slept in forever and then couldn't shake it still and went back for another nap. I was dead. I'm still pretty worn out but I better get myself together because Connie is coming over tomorrow with her kids and I don't want to be so lethargic. When Eden and Marce get together, you gotta have your A game on!
Anyways, for Friday's footage, there is a bit of an array of videos but seriously isn't it that every week? This first video is to get everyone as excited as I am for Track & Field (Olympics of course) I am loving the Olympics! The men's gymnastics was last night along with more swimming. We did really well in a lot of our routines and races. One of our Men gymnasts looks like a cross between my cousin Levi and Prince Harry. So it was fun to watch him. Beach Volleyball was also on. It's all been so great. This video is from one of the recent previous summer games and we don't win but boy it's exciting, especially the last exchange coming down the stretch. Anybody who ran track in HS, especially if they were part of a relay team speaks this language, or in other words, it's just part of who they are now. I was on our 4X8 team most of the time but here is a clip of the 4X1! I can't tell you the amount of excitement that this produces for me! It's a little rainy on the clip.
Ok WOW. Next I couldn't get the men's swimming 4X1 relay that we took Gold in a couple nights ago and totally shocked the French who were favored to win and talking trash about us. It was priceless to win and if you missed that race, that comeback was amazing! It is so far the stand out moment for me with these games. Next though is a clip of my favorite part in the Care Bears Movie, which me and my sisters grew up on. I own it now and Marce watches it all the time. I just figured out that Mickey Rooney narrates it. And...who knew but the Care Bears are canadian! They all have that accent as well as the kids and Nicolaus. Anyway, if any of you are around my age, you will most likely have seen or even grown up on this movie. This is for my sisters especially Michaela and Kira who hated Lion. In the song it breaks into like 3 or 4 parts. The Care Bears having one, the animals from Forest of Feelings, and the kids. The Lion is one of the animals of course but he gets his own special part for some reason and this is why my sisters hated him. He sounds so stupid and sings the dumbest parts, we all couldn't stop laughing when we got a little older. If you are interested I would Netflix this. It's a great movie. Carol King sings the theme/opening and it's brilliant of course. Like I said Mickey Rooney narrates, it's basically about a boy who needs friends and gets taken over by the devil at a circus. He ends up possessed with magic, making everyone "stop caring", then the Care Bears use these two orphan kids to get through to him. He turns out ok and ends up running his own orpanage later in life...if you see the purple racoon in the clip....I had that as a stuffed animal growing up.
After thinking about it for a few minutes, I decided that Lion reminded me of Hum Bear, which is this big dumb bear in another movie we grew up on called Wee Sing Together. Does this look familiar to you? It had to be the worst movie ever and the lowest budgeted film to date.
Let's not forget Wee Sing in Sillyville. Michaela grew up on this but we all watched it and made fun of it. I still think Pasha reminds me of Aunt Debbie, especially in the 90's. And Sillywhim looks just like Jennifer Clayton. I hate to say it but for anyone who knows Jenn,...sad but true ha ha. We always hated her whining about her ankle and thought the most annoying part was Sillywhim's big face starting the song "make new friends"...
SYTYCD - I am so sad it's over! This show is the BEST and I always looked forward to it every week. Until next summer....I loved a lot of dances this season that mostly involved Joshua and Katee, Twitch, Gev and Courtney some and Mark and Chelsie a few, even Matt. Season 3 was just as good so let's keep it going with a great season 5! I was happy Joshua won. I'd been rooting for him for quite a while. Here are just a FEW of my favorites from this season.
My sister Connie posted favorites on her blog. Most of you probably read her blog as well, so I am posting some favorites that she didn't, ok but I have to post this one on mine anyway...
Ok, I'm going to stop right there. Watch next season!
Painting - Almost done, and it will be such a relief when it is! The times when Shar took BOTH kids to the store and I was alone were the best! Painting with no kids is so easy! Pictures of it all are soon to come! Next week, it's on to Phoenix' room.
Phoenix' baby blessing is this Sunday and my parents are coming into town tonight! Yay! I can't wait! Better start cleaning up around here! I was sick of not finding the kind of church clothes I wanted for Marce so I broke down and bought him a full on suit off of Amazon. He is going to look so smashing! I hope it fits well. I'm going to try it out on Phoenix' special day and pictures will come. Phoenix also has a suit remember the one I bought at the second hand store with the rocking chair! Since he's so huge, it already fits him! Two little boys in suits, so cute! Can't wait!
Olympics start tonight! I'm thinking of taping some of the opening cerimonies. But most of all, I'll be taping the awesome Track & Field, my sport baby! We (America) are so good at T&F. No one ever really comes close, especially to our relay runners and sprinters. I can't wait for the long distance also. I'm also excited for swimming, diving, oh gosh so much! LOVE the Olympics!!
