Marlee's 2nd Birthday

We can't believe Marlee is already 2!  The time really does fly by!  We had fun celebrating, and I had fun planning Marlee's Minion party!

 Of course you have to have balloons for a party.  Can you see these little guys all smiling at you?!

Daddy made Marlee chocolate milk and chocolate chip pancakes for her birthday!  And we wondered why Marlee was so crazy after breakfast!

She's ready to open her presents!

Not sure what she thought the watering can was for, but she really enjoyed using it like a microphone! 

One of Marlee's favorite gifts was Dora and Boots!  

 

Sam and I made minion cupcakes for the minion party!   I thought they turned out cute.  Marlee knew they were minions that was really what mattered!

 

Marlee loved having all the attention as we sang to her!  

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

 

WI Dells

Apparently only three hours away from us is the worlds largest water park.  It's call Wisconsin Dells or for the native Iowan, The Dells.  It is a whole city that is just indoor and outdoor water parks, and hotels.  Our friends convinced us to go with them over the Palmer break to check out this crazy place and it was pretty awesome! We stayed at the Atlantis Hotel and had free passes to go to the Chula Vista water park.  

 




 We were amazed at how brave Marlee was.  She would just walk off on her own and go exploring.  She tipped over once and after she caught her breath she wanted to be back on her own. 

 

Marlee loved the kiddie pool.  It had a zero entry and lots of things that shot water out at you.  The kiddie slide was another favorite. Ironically the "safe"  kiddie slide is the only place the adults got hurt :)

  She did not want to hold still for a picture! 

Marlee loved it so much, this is what happened anytime we tried to take her out of the pool!  

 

This place also had four adult tube slides, a roller coaster type water slide, head first on mat slides, an adult sized splash pad with slides, and a laaaaaaaazy river.  We loved it and would definitely recommend a visit!

Messy Face

For Valentines Day, the grocery store down the road did this thing where kids could come frost a cookie for free for a valentine and buy a carnation for 50 cents. Sam took Marlee to frost a cookie and get a flower for Mommy.  What Sam and Marlee brought home was so funny/cute I wanted to share it.   

 The first thing they brought home was a very messy Marlee!  I didn't really expect her to leave the cookie alone, but I didn't expect this cute messy face :)  

 Marlee really enjoyed the cookie!

They also brought home was what was left of the cookie.  It was originally a big heart cookie. She ate 3/4th of it! The flower made it home just fine, but then again it isn't made of sugar :)   I just love that cute messy face!                  

Superman Date

Sam and I had planned to go on a few dates when we were home for Christmas.  Since Marlee got sick that didn't happen.  So I planned a stay at home date once we got back.  Sam got the latest Superman on Blu-ray for Christmas so I took my idea from that.  I made a Superman themed dinner and then we watched the movie.  Some of my food ideas were cheesy, but I think cheesy can be fun too!  

Here is our Superman dinner:  

 

(sour cream and onion so they have green flakes)

These are grilled cheese sandwiches, but this was the one I was most proud of :) 

 

 

In the spirit of the themed date, Sam changed into his Superman shirt! 

Marlee joined us for the dinner part of the date.  She wasn't as impressed with the meal as Sam was.  She also didn't eat the sandwich where it was red... probably because it looked funny.... picky girl!  

Quick disclaimer... I looked up most of these ideas on the internet.  I'm creative when I have the help of other creative people! Thank you Google and Pinterest :) 

Monkey Joe's

Marlee was invited to a birthday party for her friend Addison. The party was at this play place that has blow up bouncy toys.  Marlee absolutely loved it!  We only got her to leave because she was exhausted from bouncing for 2 hour straight!  Thanks Addison for inviting us to your party!

 Marlee had no fear!  This big, fast slide was her favorite.  Sam and I went down it with her the first few times. Then she wanted to go by herself and she loved it!

This is the toddler play area.  We brought Marz here when we needed a breather!

The Alligator Slide was another favorite spot.  

I cannot remember Marlee ever falling asleep in her high chair in her almost 2 years of life.  After Monkey Joe's, she lasted about 10 minutes.  

Christmas Vacation

Our trip back home was definitely adventurous.  Although there were some bumps in the road to get there and back, I'm so glad we were able to go visit family and see everyone again.  We loved spending time with family. 

This was Marlee's first plane ride.  We were worried how she would do, but we shouldn't have.  As the plane was accelerating for take off, Marlee yelled, "Weeeee!"  I knew then she would be alright. 

 Our first stop on the vacation was Aunt Amanda and Uncle Benj's.  Marlee had tons of fun playing with her cousins and her cousins had fun jumping on Uncle Sam!  

We flew into Salt Lake in the middle of a snow storm.   We were actually lucky to get in.  There was a fresh 4 inches on the ground so all the kids went outside to play in it.   Marlee borrowed some snow clothes and they didn't all fit, but that didn't stop her.  She LOVED the snow.   

This one below is my favorite picture of getting ready to play outside!  

She isn't throwing a fit.  She just fell down and couldn't get up!!!

We didn't take too many pictures of our vacation.  I'm kicking myself for not getting some of Marlee with her grandparents and aunts and uncles!  I like to think we didn't take them because we were having too much fun.  That's part of it.  The other part is probably because Marlee got sick and was a grumpy pants for most of the time.  
     Here are a few that we did take:

  Grandma and Grandpa Croft let us use their sled.  We took Marlee over to community park.  She had fun sledding, but mostly she just wanted to swing!

Relaxin in the high chair at Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Rod's.  

Playing with cousin Ellie.  Her Rapunzel hair got so static-y!

Sam was pretty proud of this shot!  

On the return trip, our flight out of SLC was delayed 2hrs.  Thank goodness for Dora on the ipod.  We could only chase Marlee up and down the terminal for so long until we were exhausted!  Pretty soon, though,  Marlee even got tired of waiting for our flight :) 

After we got back to Iowa, my mom asked if I would come again knowing all the crazy stuff that happened.  At the time I told her no, probably because the 13hr drive was still fresh in my mind.  Now, however,  I think I have changed my mind.  I would do the trip all over again, even with a cancelled flight!   It was great to be with family again.  We had so much fun seeing everyone!