Sometimes you just need an 'Ode to Grandma'

I realized that I hadn't posted many pictures of Holden with his Grandma (my mom), so I thought I would remedy that -- especially since we have some nice photos from the past 5 months. So I'll let this be more of a "photo essay"-style post, and let the pictures speak for themselves (it also gives me another excuse to post more photos of Holden when he was such a tiny fella -- the first picture is still at the hospital).

The shower that disguised itself as a party

If the first shower was a classic Iowa bbq, and the second a sophisticated brunch, then the final one last Saturday can best be described as a shindig! Our dear friends Chris and Imran hosted what Mike has started calling the "unshower," because it was the kind of event that a stranger could stumble into and not know the ocassion for hours. That said, it did feature some tried-and-true "baby shower" themes, including a fabulous cake that the grandma-to-be brought, and the ceremonial opening of presents. The other fun aspect of this particular party (I mean shower), was the diverse array of guests--from the parentals and their friends, to employees at SLAM, to dear old college friends, to a dog named Willow.

We have so many great pictures from the event that I thought in only best to present the details in pictorial form:

The scrumptious food spread that Chris and Imran prepared. Suprisingly, one of the big hits were the vegetarian bacon-basil-tomato sandwiches. At least a couple of guests couldn't believe the bacon was vegetarian.





Above it the cake--a chocolate flavored teddy bear with vanilla cupcakes.

And here's Mike's mom cutting the cake. According to her, the best way to cut this Teddy Bear in blue was to decapitate it.

I think we can agree that she'll be one hardcore grandma!





Mike enjoying the company of the host Chris, and me with Katie.

Present time! The Baby Bjorn was definitely the most popular gift-giving item. We've now received 3 of them! Our friends and family definitely know us well.

And last but not least...

Willow! The canine vacuum cleaner.