The One With March Madness

March Madness.

No, I'm not a huge college basketball fan (although I used to be quite good at basketball myself) so this post is not dedicated to the happenings of the NCAA college playoffs. If you thought it was you may be disappointed.

But really the happenings in the Marshall household should be plenty to entertain you.

The last few weeks? Man what have we NOT been up to!

It's funny because I read back through old posts or just think to myself, I used to think life was so busy, but it is sooooo much busier now.

Like really, it is insanity.

 

I feel like there is so much to catch up on from the last time I posted, but I'm not sure where to start. If this post seems kind of sporadic and all over the place, that is why.

 

ERIC:

I think we are finally starting to get the hang of this graveyard shift thing. I don't know how nice it is to say that, but the kids and I are at least adapting and have a routine down (kind of), Eric, well I don't know how well he could ever adapt to being a vampire who never sees daylight. The plant was closed for two days over Easter so it was very nice to have him home and around and up during normal hours that weekend. Eric is still the YM secretary, I'm sure he will even be able to go to more Wednesday night activities once this crazy hectic schedule is over - supposedly he will be done with this rotation on April 22, so only about two more weeks. I think I can, I think I can! I can't complain much, on the two nights a week Eric doesn't work he tries to stay up to keep up a sleeping routine, this typically results in me waking up to some awesome things. Like he laid new flooring in our bathroom, and put up board and batten. And he laid new flooring in our laundry room. And he drew up plans for a pergola in our backyard, priced it out and ordered all the stuff for it. This man of mine is pretty amazing I must say.

 

CRYSTAL:

I am LOVING this sports mom thing. I know, I know, everyone keeps saying "Oh you'll hate it when  . . . . " And you know what? I disagree! I don't think I could ever hate going to watch these little ones of mine grow and progress in whatever sport they decide to. I may get tired of the crazy schedules and wish there were more hours in the day, but I am continuously surprised at how much more we can fit into a typical day and still survive. I can say that my dinner cooking has suffered - the majority of weeknights I have been at work or sporting events all day so it makes it difficult to make truly wonderful gourmet meals like I typically prefer. I won't lie and say we haven't eaten out a little more often then we did before - but we eat pretty healthy and still make wise decisions so it's all good, right? I was just realesed from my calling as ward librarian (seriously the best calling ever) and called to primary pianist. Honestly I haven't touched a piano in over two years, so it is a bit overwhelming, but I can do it! At first I was minimally bummed because I LOVE Sunday School and RS comes in a close second, so I was sad to miss them. But my first Sunday playing in Primary I was blown away at what I learned. My friend Jenn (the primary president) taught the lesson and I just loved it. Too often as we grow up our lessons become so huge and complex that we forget the basics, I loved hearing the basics spoken in plain language. I loved seeing Parker and the grin he got on his face when he said "That's MY mom playing the piano" and I will love having Preslie in there to watch as well.

 

PARKER:

Parker is the most amazing, studliest little big brother we could ever ask for. I just love him. Eric and I can sure be hard on him because he is the oldest and we know he understands us more than the others, but he is a great big brother. He scored the very first goal in his second soccer game. They lost 11-9, but it was still very close, and I couldn't have been prouder of how well he is catching on to soccer and all that he supposed to do. Today he had his third game (they didnt' have one last week because of Spring Break) and they lost again. SAD. Final score was 11-8. The kids in this game had obviously been playing for much longer so I was proud of our boys for holding there own. Although they didn't win, I can say that Parker played better this game than he has in any other game. I am getting excited for this little man and the places he will go. He is about ready to start T-ball here in a few weeks as well, it overlaps soccer by a week which will make things hectic for a bit for sure. I'm trying to get him to start riding his bike with just two wheels - I know he can do it, he is just a little unsure.

 

PRESLIE:

Preslie is in TWO gymnastics programs right now. We decided that as much as we loved the coach at Advanced Gymnastics where she started, we wanted her to get the experience of a more competitive team now while she was younger. We were lucky enough to get the last spot at Mountain West Gymnastics in Boise. They have three level 10 gymnasts who are ranked in the top 75 in the NATION. Unfortunately we didn't realize the bond that Preslie had already made with Coach Paige at Advanced, she was pretty unwilling to leave. Right now where most of what they are doing is strengthening and coordination based we aren't concerned about her overworking so we go Tuesday to Advanced and leave work early on Wednesday to go to Mountain West. She LOVES it. She now has two leos which she wants to wear all the time. She practices head stands and flips on our couches, and hanging from whatever bar she can find.

 

PAXTON:

Oh this cute little snuggly boy of mine, what will we ever do with him? Pax is the most loving little boy I think I have ever seen. He will follow me around the house for HOURS waiting for me to pick him up just to give him a snuggle. The other day I was sitting on the floor folding laundry and he came, pushed everything aside, and sat on my lap. I am obsessed with his little hands, they are adorable to me. He is still having problems eating. It seems like every time we make a huge stride he starts getting teeth and we go two steps back. He just got all four of his eye teeth in at once - talk about TERRIBLE! He was a crying, drooling, mess for two solid weeks. Never would eat. Right now he will eat things that he finds around the house, but doesn't care so much to eat when he is actually supposed to. He LOVES outside. I am sure he would spend all day outside if I let him. If he sees a door open and he doesn't get to go outside before it closes he throws a huge fit - these fits are hysterical to me, he crouches down on the floor and cries in his hands. It's very dramatic. I sometimes open the door and close it just to see the tantrum he shows, shhhh don't tell anyone.

 

My Grandma Carpender came to work the Friday before Easter and helped all the grandkids dye easter eggs. They had such a blast. She's so good to do it, if she hadn't have done it my kids wouldn't have.

 

Easter was pretty low key around these parts, which was just what we needed. Saturday my sister and her kids, my parents, and my Grandma and Grandpa Carpender came over to our house for an easter egg hunt. The kids had fun, it was later in the afternoon so it was perfectly nice outside and Eric had just finished a little project in the back yard that made it spectacular. Easter Sunday we got up, the kids opened their Easter baskets complete with new Sunday clothes and we all went to church. Eris' brother Mat was in town for Easter so he snapped this quick pic for us on my iPhone - pardon the clarity, I wish I had thought about it enough to use the nice camera.

 Grammy and Papa Marshall got Preslie a Minnie Mouse vaccum for her birthday, but she no longer is allowed to use it. The vacuum has now been adopted by Paxton who vacuums every day all day, and drags it up and down the stairs, in and out of rooms, on the wood floor, on the carpet, outside . . . he doesn't care where it's at, he just loves to vacuum. I wish they would invent a little kids vacuum that actually worked, if they did that, I would be SET!

We have been up to many projects in the Marshall house. Too many in fact. Floors in the master bathroom led to a wall treatment which led to painted cabinets which led to new coutertops which led to new backsplash and all of this led to a giant paint spill in our master bedroom. I got the paint spill mostly cleaned up, but it just cemented the idea that we NEED new carpets in this house. This builder-grade carpet must go, it's been almost 5 years now, so I guess that's the next thing we save up for. In addition to the master bathroom we also laid new floor in the living room, tackled a big project in the back yard (mentioned farther down) and I had about a million little decor projects I wanted to do. I made a coffee filter wreath, which I didn't take a picture of yet, but I probably should. I painted and antiqued a side table that was awkwardly placed in our office to now work in our living room. And i made this hydrangea planter box for our kitchen table. I never thought I would get into the decorating that involved using pieces that were made to LOOK used, but man I'm kinda diggin it lately. 

The first day at Mountain West Gymnastics Preslie got to go up on the high beam! I was beyond excited to see where this little girl will end up in a few more years!

Were you super excited to find out what our big backyard makeover was? Thought you might be.

Here it is! Eric put up a pergola . . .completely by himself.

He talked to me about it on Wednesday morning before I left for work, and when I cam home that evening this was up. It wasn't stained yet for sure, but it was up. I was amazed he did it without another tall person. We stained it on the Thursday before Easter, and now we can already tell a difference in how much sunlight comes into our house. The plan is to get vines to grow up all over it and make it even more shady. It wll be spectacular when it is all done. Now that we know we have to stay here for at least another year with Eric's job literally being 3/4 of a mile away from us, we have decided to finally make this house what we want. 

 

 

You know that master bathroom remodel I talked about. We had done the countertops one evening, I went to work the next day and came home to this. In his defense, the backsplash really did look terrible with the new countertops and we have talked about replacing them FOREVER so it was no big deal. But my quick bathroom remodel ended up taking my bathroom away for about two weeks. I never thought our gues bathroom was small until I had to get myself and our three kids ready in it for two weeks.

 

And this is the finished product, new cabinets, new coutertops, new backsplash. We have all the stuff to frame out the mirror as well, but so far haven't had a chance to jump into that one yet. Maybe I will go into further detail on a different post, but for now this is just a quick update.

 

 

After Parker's second soccer game my mom and I took the kids and headed up to a cabin in McCall that my sister's family was staying at. We did a little bit of grocery shopping and Preslie fell in love with this shopping cart. I wish I could find soem in our town for her to use. 

 

Paxton finds anything and everything. One day at work Preslie had chocolate pudding. I kept finding it on the floor and would tell her to pick it up so Paxton wouldnt' fnd it . . . . sure enough, he found it.