SURPRISE!!

Mike and Erin and their two beautiful boys came in for a surprise visit last evening. Marianne's face says it all! She was in shock and could not believe she was seeing our sweet Baltimore family in her very own living room. Andrew was very sleepy and didn't join in all the action of the night. Baby Joseph, however, was ready for the party!



















Kate, Luke and I were in on the surprise so we could orchestrate everything. We planned a Halloween party to cover up the surprise visit. Emmie was so excited to meet her new cousin Joseph. I love this picture. Kate is such a sweet, gorgeous aunt.























I was THRILLED to see Erin! She looks amazing after having Joseph only 3 months ago. She and Mike were so great to fly in this weekend and spend time with family before beginning their adventure in Malaysia next week.























Still in shock.....! Mare's boss at work was so great to get someone to cover for her on Saturday so she could spend all weekend with her family.

























Mare adores her grandbabies. They are lucky babies to have her.

























Gug and Bumps were in on the surprise too. Bumps is always so great to pick up the Mike Feathies from the airport. This time with both babies in carseats, there wasn't room for Guggie in the car. Jon faked a call from work to go and pick her up. They had to stall for 45 min. in the car in order to show up at the same time as Bumps and the Baltimore clan. Thanks for being such a good sport Guggie!















Bumps and Gug are so amazing. They love their great grandbabies! Also, Joseph was named after Bumps---his name is Gordon and baby Joseph's middle name is Gordon. I love how Joseph is smiling in this picture.























Luke and baby Joseph. Luke was going to miss our Halloween party to go fishing in Idaho. We told Mike and Erin to fill him in so he would stay. Thanks Jama and Scottie for thinking our party was cool in the first place so we could still surprise you! Next time, don't question our parties Luke! ha:)




















Emmie was so excited to hold baby Joseph. It was so late but both Joseph and Emmie were wide awake and happy to be there!




















Emmie was having the time of her life watching Cinderella. She took this picture and was proud of it!


















Emmie stayed up until 11pm, got to spend time at GraMares, got a darling birthday present from Gug and Bumps, and got to munch on Halloween treats. What a dream night for a three year old! The real surprise came at about 10:30pm when Emmie came and handed me an unopened Reeses peanut butter cup. She was eating a carrot and wanted me to have the candy instead.....what??? I could only conclude that she was delirious because I have never seen anything like that before :)














Emmie and Luke dressed up for the Halloween party as a prince and princess. Jon was so great to orchestrate everything for the surprise to work.



























We were all pretty wiped out by the end of the night. We are so happy to spend the weekend with the Feathies. The pumpkins in the background were going to be carved but we were too excited for the visit so we kept stalling. Finally, Marianne said "Luke, come with me to the garage to scout out a place to carve the pumpkins." There was no stopping her. She walked out right when Bumps' car pulled up. We heard a scream and ran out to the garage. We had all missed the initial surprise but Mare's reaction was priceless. She couldn't have been happier.













Joe had gone to the Jazz game. (Our Halloween party wasn't cool enough to convince him to turn down a friend who had offered him a front row seat......Come on, Joe----carving pumpkins and watching Cinderella or sitting in a $1,000 seat to watch one of your favorite sports games? I don't see where the toss up was :) He was a bit taken back when he walked in and saw Erin sitting in the kitchen.


















We love you Mare and Joe! And we couldn't be happier to spend time with Erin, Mike, Andrew and Joseph. Come surprise us more :) I wish we could surprise visit you in Malaysia. I'm afraid we would get lost in South East Asia and that is just downright scary.

Emmie is THREE!

Our little Princess is three years old. I still cannot believe it! As you can tell, one of her favorite things to do is play "Dress ups." She makes a beautiful Aurora.


















The night before her big day, I made her request: a Penguin cake. Random, I know! She has loved Mary Poppins lately and we always sing the Penguin song about Mary....hence the writing on the cake. I got into decorating birthday cakes when I would see the amazing cakes my sister-in-law, Diana, would make for her kids. Both her and Rach have made some darling ones. It is a fun tradition. My mom was always so great to grant our requests for birthday cakes too. She was amazing and would actually draw the picture instead of piecing it together. I remember my favorite cake was a "My Big Sister" cake. The doll she drew on the cake looked just like my own doll. It might just be my favorite from pictures though because I think I was only turning three, right mom?




















This was Em when she first woke up.





















It was a cold morning and I was rushing around getting ready for the day's activities. I couldn't find anything warm for Luke to wear (he doesn't have much, poor guy!) so I put him in one of Em's sweatshirts......needless to say I did NOT read the lettering until later and I couldn't help but laughing out loud at my amazing choice of shirts:












Yes, it does say "Girls will be girls" and Luke's expression is priceless!







We made sure to put the sweatshirt on Emmie before Daddy came home and saw his son's masculinity slowly diminishing.





















We went to Discovery Gateway for a daytime activity. It was a lot of fun.




















That night we surprised Emmie with a family party at Jungle Jim's playland. The Merry-Go-Round was her first ride.























Charley, Em and Brittana were the threesome on all the rides.




















The Featherstone look of surprise....you knew it would be somewhere on this blog post!



















I hardly got any pictures of the Feathies or the Marsdens (Rach usually takes care of those photography details.....we love you Ray!) Here is cute Kate to represent the Feathies (and Scottie looking creepy in the background).




















And here is my mom riding with Lukie to represent the Marsdens :) We were laughing because as adults, when you go up high on the airplanes, it looks like your head will hit the ceiling! We all enjoyed going on the rides with the kids. (well, minus the spinny ride which we convinced Jon to take the kids on)




















The spinny ride....all passengers survived without throwing up which I know hasn't been the case in the past for Jon's side of the family!


















And of course Charley to represent the Alexanders :) She is the best buddy to Emmie.




















Nice nose shot Em! She insisted on wearing her new high heels. It was so cute!

























Lukie's moment of fun came when he got to ride behind the wheel! Charley was so sweet to make sure he stayed sitting straight up. So classic to see this little guy on such a big kid ride!























Emmie chose the wild roller coaster to be our last ride of the night. I was grateful I didn't get sick :) Her smile says how she felt about the night. Thanks for everyone who came. We love you and Emmie has been in heaven with all your fun gifts! We missed Spen, Nana, Mitch, Sam, Mike Erin, Luke, Scot, Parker and families.
















Em fell asleep in her new Princess tent after a fun, exhausting day.





















She woke up bright and early the next morning (always too early) and went through all her new stuff. I loved watching her put on all her accessories.
























I snapped the earrings on a little too hard and the alligator tears were cute only because she was all dressed up!




















After seeing Shelby and Hannah dance a lot this year, Emmie has come up with some pretty amazing dance moves! She loves to show them off so next time you see her, tell her you want to see her famous princess dances :) (She broke off two heels from her new shoes the day after she opened them if that tells you anything about her intense dancing!!!) WE LOVE YOU MISS EM!!