Emilie's First Illini Game and Marin's Show!

Emilie went to her first Illini game this Saturday. The last game that we went to was a night game, so she stayed with Aunt Vee. But this game had good timing, and it was a pretty nice day weather wise, so we strapped her in the baby bjorn and took her with us. She slept for part of the game when it was nap time, and when she wasn't sleeping she was smiling, making friends and taking it all in.

On the way down to the game, Marin was singing her songs like she does pretty much all the time. Jason and I commented that we have to get it on video. I still need to take a video with the real video camera, but I caught most of her show here, with my camera. If you can bare with the traffic noise from the trucks in the oncoming lane, and the shaky camera work, you'll see that she's a crack up.

Don't Just Sit There... ROCK!

Yesterday, Marin and I walked to the library to attend a one man singing and dancing program called, "Don't Just Sit There... ROCK!" I am not sure who had more fun: Marin, who sang and danced her heart out; or me, who had the pleasure of watching her enjoy herself so much.

This man travels around singing songs to little children of all ages, and performs this show about reading books, having fun, being kind, sharing, etc. All of his songs have dance moves to go with them, and there were parts for the parents to participate in as well. Basically, something for everyone to make a fool of themselves. Complete fun in my book, and apparently Marin's too; she had an absolute BALL. She acted like she went to these shows and sang these songs every day. If she could be this guy's groupy, she would.

The highlight by far was when he asked for volunteers from the audience. A whole bunch of six year olds and Marin, ran up there. When he made a comment about how she was ready to rock, and everyone giggled, Marin turned around to face the crowd, beamed and cracked up. It was as if she was saying, "I know, I'm completely social AND adorable." (Which by the way, she is- not that I'm at all biased.) When she proceeded to show off her dance moves in front of the whole room of about 75, and in line with the big kids, a few moms turned around, caught my eye and asked me, "Is she yours?!" I was proud to claim her.

For a few songs, all of the children got to use an instrument from a huge box that he brought and let the children choose from. Marin was too little to nudge her way through the crowd, and came up empty handed, but she wasn't bothered by this a tiny bit. She was just as happy to use my keys, which was my impromptu idea for her "instrument". For the last number, everyone did the hula hoop. Marin has never used one before, but she waited patiently for her turn, and then stepped in the hula hoop and ran around the room dancing with it.

We had so much fun, and Marin was so well behaved, that we walked to get ice cream afterward. Marin gobbled it right up and said, "ice cream". That's my girl! We tried a new place this time, and they had all natural frozen dog treats at the ice cream shop too, so we decided to bring Norah home a summer treat!

SUCH a great afternoon!!!

Here is a video of the first song. You can see it takes Marin about 17 seconds to get into the show. She was hooked from there. (Adult Warning: This song is really catchy!)

Dancing Queen Part Deux

I had to share this video of Marin dancing this past weekend in St. Augustine.

Of course by the time I got the camera out she had stopped dancing for the most part, but you still get the idea. She was a hit. The band said that she ever wanted to go on the road, the offer was on the table. Too bad Marin is never leaving me. :)

CHEERS!

I am not sure that Jason has ever been so proud as he is of teaching Marin how to cheers. She has taken to cheers-ing at every meal and takes the task very seriously. She must cheers every single person and every single cup at the table. If we are at the breakfast table you and have coffee and a juice cup at the table, she insists on tapping both of your cups. I can just imagine how this will go over in Kindergarten.

Dancing Queen

Friday night the lights were low
Marin needed no place to go....

Because her Aunt Katy and Grandma were over and she was showing off some of her moves.

She loves to stand up on her tippy toes. Recently she has added this moonwalk type move as well as a sort of tail wag. It's much better when it's to "real" music, but she loves to dance to the music of her toys, too.

In fact, she loves to dance to all music, anywhere any time. It's especially funny when she busts a move in church.

Yo Baby is a Mess!

By now you know that Marin loves to use utensils all by herself. Rather, she insists on it. We're proud of her, and encourage her to do so. She almost never goes a meal without feeding herself now. When she eats yogurt, however, it gets a little hairy. She likes to load up her spoon with more yogurt than will fit in her mouth, making a ridiculous mess in the meantime. When you try to help her, she freaks.

She was doing this last night with her Yo-Baby yogurt. Yo Baby - Yo Mess, is what they should call it. Watching her antics was just too funny; we had to get a little of it on video. Note how she sucks the spoon dry, how she gets so excited when she realizes there is a bit more in the container and how she gives us the "all done" sign at the end.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

I took the day off on Friday and Marin and I headed downtown together on the train. We met Auntie Molly and Uncle Bri and Brian's sister Jessica, her husband Jay and their three children, at the Rainforest Cafe for lunch. The children loved the dancing animals on the walls and the rainforest sounds, plus Jack and Remy got light up cups that about made us all blind, but were festive and fun. Marin ate like a champ but didn't save enough room for the volcano brownie and ice cream that came literally on fire at the end of the meal (the waiter yelled "VOLCANO!!" as he brought it to our table). I helped her out by eating her share as well as my own. Hey, I couldn't let that go to waste- think of all the poor starving children who don't get a volcano cake! It was great to see the Herold Family and catch up. And of course, it's always a treat for Marin to get to see her Auntie Molly and Uncle Bri.

After lunch, Marin and I headed to Daddy's office for a visit. Marin ran around the halls saying hello, and every time she saw someone new she would lift her dress over her head and giggle. Not sure if I should be concerned about this??? In any case, after Marin had well flashed half of Jason's office, we headed out for Marin's first el train ride and a sleepover at our friends Ross and Emilie's place. Ross and Emilie live in our old building, right across the hall from our old house. So it felt a little strange sleeping in their guest bedroom instead of in our own (old) house 5 feet away, but we decided we like it better that way! Sleepovers are too much fun! Friday night we had some cocktails and then headed out in the old hood to one of our favorite spots. Marin slept in her stroller the whole time, and we took advantage by having a nice, lazy dinner over a few bottles of wine and lots of good food. When we got back to Ross and Emilie's the girls got into their jammies, Marin went right to bed, and Emilie and I stayed awake talking and snuggling with their puppy, Charlie, until I had to hold my eyes open.

Saturday morning, we headed to brunch at one of our favorite breakfast spots, Over Easy, also in our old neighborhood. Fueled by our favorite egg dishes, from their we headed for the Lincoln Park Zoo. We met Aunt Lindsay on the way there and we all enjoyed watching Marin's face as she saw the animals live for the first time. She stood at the fence peering at the animals in amazement, and then she would get so excited she would dance her little feet up and down and then she would go to the next part of the fence and do the same thing. Marin loved the giraffes and the monkeys. She climbed up the little step at the giraffe cage, and learned to say "oo-oo-ah-ah" like the monkeys say. A few of the gorillas were right up against the glass, so Jason took Marin over to them to have a closer look. The gorilla took one good strong look at Marin though, and she decided she'd rather not be so close to a 400 pound furry thing with big teeth. Fair enough. Marin got to see the itsy bitsy spider, (although it was neither itsy or bitsy), and she really liked the exhibits where the fish were right at her level and she could watch them swimming under water. She stood at the glass for so long, until she found a step that was just her size, and she decided to sit there for a while and watch the fish. We also walked through the farm in the zoo. That was old news; her Uncle Bob and Aunt Vee have a farm much bigger than that one, but Marin enjoyed it all the same. What she especially loved at the farm zoo were all of the animals; specifically, the ponies. She waved to them and said, "Iiiiiiii!!", which is her way of saying "Hi". She loved sitting with her daddy on the tractor for the first time.

After a great long day at the zoo, we headed back home Saturday night. Marin made a friend on the train- only problem was that he was about 21 years old than she. Marin was sitting on my lap facing me, with her head on my chest when she caught this boys eye. She darted up as quickly as she could to wave hello. When he waved back, she blushed and hid her head back in my chest again. Then she darted out waving again about 30 seconds later. And then back into my chest as soon as he waved back. This flirting continued for about 15 minutes. Luckily, this young man was nice and didn't mind being hit on by a one year old blond with a how-can-you-resist-me-smile and killer blue eyes. :)

Sunday we caught up on a few things at our house. Marin and Norah played in the yard a while before we went to my parents house for a belated birthday celebration for Aunt Katy. We loved chatting with my family. Aunt Katy let Marin help her open all of her birthday presents, and Marin delighted in ripping the paper off and then stomping on it afterward.


Lately we have been reminded all too poignantly how precious and short life can be. I have been holding Marin a little tighter, hugging her a little longer, leaving the dishes and the laundry for tomorrow. In the end what we will remember is not how clean our house was or how tidy we were, but how many times we laughed with our children over nothing at all. At the times we set everything aside to be together and live life as fully as possible. Hug your babies, let the dog kiss your face. Go to the zoo. Get down in the grass and play with your kids. You will never regret the memories that follow.

And now, for a video of Marin showing us what the monkey says. Nevermind that Jason and I make complete fools of ourselves in the meantime. :) (I remembered half way through to turn the camera, so stick it out...)


Here are a few more pictures of our weekend:

Itsy, Bitsy Spider!

By far, Marin's favorite song is The Itsy, Bitsy Spider. Which is funny, because who likes spiders?! I certainly wouldn't be as excited if that pesky spider kept climbing back up my water spout despite the rain doing me a favor and washing him away. Have you ever listened to some of these kids songs? Rock a bye baby is down right dangerous! In any case- we have been signing this song for a long time now, and in the past few weeks, Marin has started imitating the hand motions that I do as we sing. She does these (or her own version) all on her own now. I took a video of it yesterday. I hope it makes you smile.

Outside!

We have been doing a lot of playing outside since the weather has been nice.

This morning Marin and I played outside in the front yard for a little while before her nap. When it was time to come inside, she let it be known that she was NOT happy about it.

I took this short video of her on our front porch because like any bad mom would do, I thought we could all laugh at her expense.

After her lunch, she went right to her coat and pointed to it, asking to go outside. And, since she had a good morning nap and a good lunch, we walked to the park. No temper tantrums since. Fingers crossed.

A Hoot and a Howl!

Marin got a little red piano for Christmas, and has been playing it ever since.

Norah, our dog, who never barks or makes a peep at anything (we joke that if someone broke into our house, Norah would walk up to the burglars with her rope, hoping they would toss it to her before they carried out the silver), howls up a storm when Marin plays her piano. She has been doing this since the Marin first got her piano. It's hilarious.

I caught her "singing"on video Wednesday night. I hope it is some good mid-day entertainment for you. The two of them might take their act on the road. You can say you saw it here first.

Snowbaby!

Last night, Marin and I decided to make the most of the snow and headed out to make a snowman. Except that, our intentions were greater than Marin's willingness to stay partially immobile in her marshmallow snowsuit, or mine to get my designer jeans soaked and muddy- so we ended up mostly just making a snowbaby. She's a girl, of course. We named her Suzy Snowgirl, and she is just Marin's size.

When I handed Marin the carrot for Suzy's nose, Marin put it in her mouth to eat it. Really it makes sense; how is she supposed to know that it was for the nose? In the song, they use a button.

After we built Suzy, it snowed about 6 more inches, so now poor Suzy Snowgirl is blind because her mud/leaf mixture eyes are covered in heavy snow. We had a good time, and have grown quite fond of our pint size snowbaby, Suzy. Still, as much as we enjoy visiting her in our front yard, I can't say I would be too terribly upset if a warm front came through and melted little Suzy away until next year. Bonus points for Suzy if she left budding daffodils in her place.

Suzy was the perfect end to a great weekend we spent together, with our friends the Minick's who visited us for the weekend. We had a great time with them, and loved when the Kucharski's joined us on Saturday! I love when our house is full and buzzing with laughter. And 6 adults, 4 children, one dog, and a healthy dose of wine (for the adults) and candy (for the kids) was just the way to make that happen!

We are so blessed. Thank you, God, for good friends with great kids, weekends, wine and snowbabies!