Success!

The party was a success and the boys finished the deck and bar in time. I think they put the last nail in around 12:15, and the party started at 1. I was starting sweat! It looks great. Here are some pics of the end result.



Unfortunately I didn't think to take pictures during the party of people on the deck. The whole day is pretty much a blur. It did come together well. Here is a picture of Pam by her cake.


There was a great turnout. We had over 60 people here through the three hours. I will check to see if Cara took more pics. If she did I will add more later.

I put a dab of frosting on Caden's nuk to let his try it. He seemed to really like it. Just like Mommy!

The school year ended well. It still hasn't sunk in that it is summer break. I am enjoying every minute of it. Caden and I went for three walks yesterday. Two of them were by ourselves before Ryan got home from work. We went again then when Ryan got home so we could take the dogs with us.

Today Caden and I are heading to the zoo here in Oshkosh. I haven't been there...ever I think. I was going to take him to Green Bay to go to the New Zoo, but I think we might go there next week. I'm not too sure what they have here at the Oshkosh zoo, but we will check it out and get back to you.

Caden still is in his pirate smile phase. His little smile was so cute before; I hope it come back. This little sneer is cute too. He is helping Daddy work on the deck in this picture. Notice that he is holding his hammer!


There is this toy I got at a rummage sale, and Caden has been playing with it a lot this last week. He likes it because it is tall. He uses it to pull himself up to a standing position. At first it made me nervous that he would fall, but as long as he isn't close to anything it doesn't matter if he falls back. That little diaper protects the tush!


I think I may start posting a little more often to the blog. I know quite a bit of family checks in to see new pics of Caden, so I think I should update more often. I think I may start uploading the pic of the day with a little description. I could do that every couple of days. What do you think?

Have a great week!

Deck update

I thought I should keep putting daily pics of the deck on the blog leading up to Sunday. The guys are getting a little concerned about getting it finished by Sunday. I think the progress is pretty impressive considering they started it one week ago tomorrow. Here is what it looks like tonight.


They were not able to work on it last night. So this is how it looks after only 6 days of work!

Here are also a few more pics of Caden. This is how he likes to lounge when he eats somtimes. Notice the foot up on the island.



He also has started to scrunch up his face when he smiles. I think he looks like a little pirate in this pic!
Here is a pic of him after he ate a teething biscuit. I was holding him and trying to take a picture. I think he was maybe trying to eat the camera!

Busy...Busy...Busy!

***Make sure you scroll down beyond this post. I have a post from last week on there now, and a video of Caden laughing too.

I did meet (kinda) my goal of getting my Project 365 album up-to-date. I will take some pics of it and show you what it looks like. I would describe it, but I think showing you would make more sense.

I have been pretty busy planning Pam's retirement party. Yay! I am still so thrilled that she is retiring. Caden is so lucky. She already said she will be taking him to story time at the public library. He is going to have so much fun. Her party is going to be June 14th at our house. We are going with the Hawaiian theme. I can't remember if I posted about this already, and I am too lazy to go back and read to see if I did. The party leads to the new exciting news at the Ames household.

Last Sunday Danny and Ryan were talking about how it would be nice to have a deck in the backyard. We joked that we shouldn't say anything to Dick about it, because then he would want to have it built in time for the retirement party (two weeks to the day). Well..Sunday night at dinner the men decided that the could build an entire deck in two weeks. Since we are talking about Ames males, we are not talking about some boring deck. Ours is even going to have a built in bar. Here is a pic of Caden helping the men with some of the measuring.



This is what the deck looked like when they marked it on Wednesday.



Thursday:




Here is a pic from Friday's progress.




Here is one from Sunday night. That's progress!



I am not nervous anymore about them finishing. I think I should be more nervous about Ryan and Dick being able to walk after the deck is finished.

Danny and Sam headed to Ohio last night. They got into Toledo around 2 am. They are staying there through Monday morning and then heading to Cincinnati. Since some people have been asking to see Sam, I will post this cute pic. Here she is holding Caden on Memorial Day at Pam and Dick's house.


Caden just adores her. He smiles like a fool when he sees her. Pretty much the same thing that Danny does when he sees her.


Next week is the last week of school. Tuesday begins the exam schedule. This will be a fast week. I am kind of sad that it is the end of the year. It hasn't seemed long at all for me since I was gone for almost three months after I had Caden. At the same time I am really excited because I am going to be able to spend all day with Caden. Yay!

I hope everyone has a great week.

Here are a few other cute pics of Caden.

Was there ever a shirt more appropriate for Ryan's son?


Here we are on the new yard toy that Ryan got for Caden. (Thanks to Linda for finding it!)


Here is the little guy taking his medicine for his ear infection. He never complained once!