I Can't Drive 55.....

Jason and I realized this afternoon that we haven't bought Paul any new toys in quite some time. Thanks to the generousity of our friends and family, we have really had to buy Paul very little over the last 6 months.....it's crazy really.

Soooo.....we swung by Toys R Us and picked up the Classic Cozy Coupe.....Paul really enjoys this little car at school so we knew it would be a hit. He went down for an afternoon nap and Jason and I worked on putting the car together - jeepers, I am concerned about Christmas this year after seeing how long it took us to put this car together!

When Paul awoke from his nap, he was surprised with the car sitting in the family room. He was SO excited!

Thanks mommy and daddy....this is cool!


I just need to turn this key and off we go! My new car is the coolest.....

Look how I can get in and out.....I'm a pro!

I'm having too much fun here!

Later dude.....I'm outta here!

There's nothing better than the joy on a child's face with a new fun toy!

Go, go, go!!!

Paul has been talking so much more lately - his vocabulary is definitely growing by leaps and bounds and we are having so much fun listening to his newest words. He's recently started saying "go, go, go" and "hot, hot, hot"....every dog that we see is Maya (which is our dog's name)....and we hear Elmo quite a bit now too. His other newest talent is the art of copycat behavior. He will try to mimic much of what we do - from snapping his fingers to the hand motions for itsy bitsy spider! Too cute.....and such a smart little man!

On Saturday, we decided to head up to Chicago to see Jason's brother and his family. Dan was home on leave from his deployment in the Middle East for a few weeks (we were lucky that he was home for Paul's baptism). Unfortunately, he had to leave this week to head back and finish his deployment. So, we loaded up the car on Saturday morning, drove to Gram and Pa's to pick them up and we all hit the road.

We hit Portillo's for lunch and the it was off to Jake's football game! It was a beautiful day to spend outside and Jake's team played a great game! We stayed until late afternoon and then hopped back in the car to head home. Long day, but nice to see them!

Cousin Jon was having fun blowing bubbles for Paul.....

Hey Cousin Jon - it's my turn to stick the wand in the bubble bottle!

Paul was checking out the big bubble that Jon was blowing with his gum.....

And the biggest hit of the football game for Paul was sitting on the bleachers playing with the dirt and rocks. It was quite entertaining for him - not to mention DIRTY!

Here's a sweaty Cousin Jake after his game hanging with Paul......

Life seems so crazy these days - I am spending a few days a week in Des Moines and work a few days back at home. We are anxious to get our house sold so that we can move and get settled into our new life in Des Moines.

On an exciting note - we have a scheduled court date to finalize Paul's adoption....October 14th will be a big day for the Marchik family! Our final post placement visit with our social worker was on Monday and we go to see the attorney appointed as guardian ad litem tomorrow morning. It's exciting to think that it will all be official in a few short weeks. The last 6 months have really flown by!

Jason's 20 year high school reunion is this weekend with lots of activities planned. We are both looking forward to spending some time with his former classmates - it should be lots of fun!

Hope you are all having a great week......one more day until the weekend!

Paul the Builder!

So, Paul had the opportunity to show off his management skills today.....he was the honorary foreman today for the concrete crew at GranJo's house! My mom was having a concrete driveway poured yesterday and today and she thought it might be fun for Paul to come check out the heavy equipment. We weren't sure if he would really get into it, but it turns out that he really DID enjoy watching the concrete mixer and the crew pouring the concrete.


Hey guys - you need any help down there?

GranJo must really love me a lot - she is letting me stand on the part that they poured yesterday!

Hey GranJo - check out the big truck!

I am happy to be home - I spent Wed/Thursday in Des Moines this week. Jason is enjoying his first week of unemployment....he's been doing projects around the house, taking the dog for long walks, etc, etc, etc. What a blessing to have him home full-time for a while. He and Paul are looking forward to a full day of Daddy/Little Man time tomorrow! Maybe they will come to meet me at work and take me to lunch??!?? hint, hint, hint Big Daddy!

Much love from the Paul the Builder and the rest of the Marchik's!

Paul's baptism.....

What a glorious and blessed day for our family.....we threw a big bash and surrounded Paul with our friends and family to celebrate his baptism - what fun we had! Paul was SO great during Mass including all of the up and down in front of the entire congregation. I had bets that there would be some major screaming when Father poured the water over his head, but he really only slightly fussed rather than full-on screaming....and then the cutest part of the day....once his hair was wet, Paul wouldn't leave it alone. The congregation was laughing at him trying to wipe the water off and in the process making his hair stick up even more - too stinkin' cute!

After Mass, we had a big bash at the house - thank goodness we catered as there were probably 40-45 people that came over to celebrate. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family - everyone is so supportive and loving. The food was great, the weather was nice, but the company was even better.

We are SO thankful that Jason's brother Dan was back on leave from the Middle East - he is the God Father and was actually able to BE at the ceremony - we originally planned to have Jason's dad stand in for Dan. It was so nice to see him, even if only for the day. He's home for a short while and then will return to the Middle East to complete his assignment. We can't wait for him to be back stateside for good!

Jason and I are pooped to say the least - we are sitting in the family room in our Bears jerseys watching the season opener. Man, I hope the first quarter of this game is not an indication of what the whole season will look like - ugh!

Check out the little man in his special outfit!


Hey daddy, check out that BIG tub....but there aren't any bubbles like we have at home??


Our baby during the baptism.....

The happy family with Father Levitt.....

And without Father.....

And, of course we can't have a posting without SOME reference to food.....here's one of the cakes we had today - Olde Towne Bakery of course - they did a great job on the cakes!

What a busy, but wonderful weekend! I think I need a day to recuperate....but alas, that is not in the cards. Jason is done with work now, so he can get the house back to some sense of normalcy tomorrow which is nice.

Have a great week everyone.....

He's an EATER!

OK, so before we get to the good stuff (aka the PICTURES and VIDEOS), I have to try to explain the shear magnitude of the food ingested by our little man today. I often hear from healthy adults that he eats more than they do in any given day....and this will prove it.

6:45am.....breakfast #1.....bowl of oatmeal, cinnamon apple NutriGrain bar, raspberry yogurt
9:45am.....snack during church.....banana
10:45am.....breakfast #2.....6 silver dollar pancakes, cup of diced peaches, 3 orange slices (equivalent of 1/2 orange), 4 Ritz crackers
3:30pm.....snack at GranJo's house.....4 Townhouse crackers
5:30pm.....dinner.....2 slices turkey, asparagus, potatoes, carrots

Holy smokes.....he's such a great eater! It's surprising that he doesn't weigh 50 pounds already!

We had a great day today and a great weekend overall. We hit church this morning - wasn't one of the better ones as Paul was fairly antsy, but we made it through. We then ran to the Windmill for breakfast - we have to hit our local favorites while we still can! We came home for a while and then decided to hit Rocket Park - it was quite busy, so we only stayed for 30 minutes or so. We called GranJo to see if she wanted a Paul visit - which of course she did! So, we ran out to her house and spent some time - went to another park there too! It was such a nice day that we couldn't spend the day in the house. We came back home and grilled out a nice dinner, had plenty of time for a bath and lots of pj playtime. And, since tomorrow is Labor Day, we can do it all again tomorrow if we want!


Who says cats and dogs can't get along?? Maya jumped up on the couch RIGHT next to where Dylan was laying....too cute!


Paul was checking out daddy through the port hole.....

Let go daddy, I'm ready to SLIDE!

1, 2, 3.....go!

Paul has been enamored with the cats - more than usual - over the last few days. We have to really watch him as he gets VERY excited and doesn't always pet them nicely. The cats are extremely tolerant of him - he is trying to give Rascal a hug in this picture.

And, not to be outdone, here he is giving love to Maya......every dog that we see is "Maya" in the eyes of Paul.....

Our new fun game is to pull the cushions from the couch and put them on the floor so that Paul can flop on them - he giggles uncontrollably at this game. In this picture, he is hugging his stuffed German Shepherd while laying on the pile of pillows.

Here is the funniest video of this new pillow game...it's long, but I promise it is totally worth it. What a funny little man.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Ho Hum....nothing going on around here....NOT!

It has been a flurry of activity around our house of late.....I have been busy trying to wrap up as much as possible at work before my move to my new position. My last day was yesterday and I start my new opportunity on Tuesday.

We spent last weekend looking for houses in the Des Moines area - we saw 22 homes in 2 afternoons....and we took Paul along with us! It was crazy, but we had a good time. We narrowed it down to 3 homes with 1 being our absolute favorite! We have also been busy preparing our house to go on the market. As of yesterday, it's officially available for sale! And, we had our first couple through to look at it last night.....we are hopeful that the house will sell quickly.

Jason has 1 more week of work left and then will be home full-time while we prepare to move. I think he's excited to have some time off - more time to spend with Paul as well!

Only a few pictures to share this time - we've been too darn busy to take many pics! These were all snapped while we were in Des Moines. We were visiting with my boss and his family.


Hey mom, you want a lick of my popsicle?


Superman (aka Paul) giving R some love!

And more love from the little man....he had a lot of fun playing with R.

Big thanks to our parents for ALL of their help over the last few weeks. Everyone is pitching in to help us get the house ready - whether they are watching Paul while we are getting projects done or actually DOING some of the projects or making dinner or whatever.....we are so lucky to have such wonderful parents! We will definitely miss having them so close.

Hope you all have a great long weekend....the weather here is beautiful and we plan to get outside to enjoy it!