Another baby!

Don't worry, it's not mine.  :)  My brother and sister-in-law are having a baby boy at the end of this month, and we are BEYOND excited!!  It's a boy, and he and John will be just 7 months apart!  I have no doubt that five-years-in-the-future-John rejoices for the diversion from his life in the all pink and glitter palace.  

We know Katy and Jake will be wonderful parents and my mom and I were so excited to throw Katy a shower to getting the spoiling off on the right foot!

Hooray for Grandmas!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

Jake and Katy came to visit last weekend and we all hit up the zoo on Sunday.  The girls both had a great time with, as Marin refers to them, "my uncles".  

We totally killed the zoo, too.  We were there when it opened and stayed nearly until it closed.  We saw the dolphin show, touched the sting rays, Marin painted her face, and of course- we rode the Carousel- Marin's favorite. 

The animals were SUPER active that day!  It was a fabulous trip to the zoo.  We saw two grizzly bears playing together by wrestling in the water- they did this for about 20 minutes.  We saw black bears tearing into their food.  We saw Polar Bears up super close to the glass walking around, and we saw a male Lion and a Leopard right by the glass as well.  Emilie LOVED the giraffes.  She kept pointing at them and smiling and waving. 

Jake was hilarious as always and the four adults had a great time spending time together as well.  Jas cracked a classic joke after the otters about liking "the otter one" that made me fall in love with his goofy self all over again.

It was a great day!!

Princesses Dance on Ice!

For Marin's birthday, Uncle Jake and Aunt Katy took Marin (and Jason, Emilie and me) to Disney on Ice. Or, as Marin calls it, "Princesses Dance on Ice". They pulled out all the stops, and Marin truly had a magical evening.

We met at their house first for pizza and special fancy birthday cupcakes from a cute cupcake shop down the street from their apartment. True to form, Marin ate a little pizza and a lot of cupcake frosting. And an orange and about three bowl fulls of strawberries and blackberries. The kid loves fruit.

Both girls and all of the adults had a great time. It was a great show, and Jake and Katy got us fabulous seats! Emilie was bopping around in our laps, smiling ear to ear dancing along to the music. Marin was in heaven. Her eyes were fixated on the stage and she clapped along and pointed out all of the princesses. But the true highlight was when "Cinderllella" came out. Her mouth unhinged and she watched her every move. Then, when Cinderella danced with Prince Charming at the ball, Marin literally leaped out of her seat, and very seriously, started dancing like a princess. Arms gracefully at her sides, and then over her head to twirl around and around. It was as if Cinderella channeled into Marin's body; she truly felt that she was a princess. It was a priceless, adorable, and hilarious moment that I'm sure will be mentioned on the day she gets married. The people behind us were also cracking up. It was so very sweet.

After the show, Uncle Jake bought Marin two souvenirs that she picked out. Princess Marin was truly spoiled. Mommy and Daddy would have hit the deck, and ran as fast as we could have past the gift stands hoping and praying the whole way that she hadn't spotted them. Marin picked out a crown and a Rapunzel cup, and promptly filled it up with milk.

The icing on the cake for Marin was that she got to have a sleepover after the show at Jake and Katy's apartment. Which meant that she chased the cats around and ate more cupcake frosting before rolling out her sleeping bag and ending a great day. We all had a great time! Thank you Jake and Katy, for a magical evening for our princess.