Finally you guys.

We finally got Azalea a freakin' riding toy. (Thanks Grandma Nina)

It's clearly the greatest toy ever and it makes lots of noise and sings songs and has a piano on the front and it has this secret compartment where she can hide a bunch of her toys and she can ride on it or push it or be pushed on it and iiiiiit's sooooooo awesooooooooome!

With a blankie and a riding toy, her little one and half year old life is complete.

Okay so can we please go back to being happy now and not crying and being cranky all the time because we may or may not be cutting two teeth?

Oh.

So much for that...

Oh hi mom, it looks like you think you're going to take some pictures of me.

Hmm...that's interesting.

Oh hey, what's this that I've found?

Aaaaaand you're done.

There's still 45 min. left of our anniversary.

Five years ago today Nate and I got married.

The most exciting part of marriage for me was the fact that Nate and I got to live in THE SAME HOUSE. Two years of long-distance dating made marriage feel like a permanent slumber party in my opinion.

Dating in separate states meant lots of talking via IM, too many red-eye flights, and a crazy last-minute road trip where I may or may not have almost killed all of my roommates by driving us off the road.

And now, after five years, I still never get tired of hanging out with Nate.

I love you so much. Here's to five years of slumber parties.

She even picked out the costume.

The other day I had Azalea with me down in the basement while I was trying to make sense of the giant mess we keep down there. I was playing some kid music on Pandora and dancing around a little to keep her entertained. I quickly realized that her "dancing" has graduated from moving her hips and arms back and forth--to full on choreography with steps and turns and jutted hips. We danced around the basement and by the end of the song I realized that I was tearing up! You know...because I was sharing this little moment with my daughter who was getting so big and oh yeah because I'm SUCH A SENTIMENTAL SAP. (lovely alliteration Miranda--Oh why thank you!) Honestly I don't know how anyone could live with me.

Anyway, on to the tape.

:: Please note the excellent use of the stage.

:: I'm pretty sure she was trying for an awesome lift at the end, but her partner's hands were full.

:: Also, forgive the poor camera angles. The camera crew was apparently dancing while taking the shot...so unprofessional.

Z-cakes Dancing from Miranda Walker on Vimeo.

How Can This Be?

Ahem.

Dudes...



That is hair.

And it is curling.

Something tells me it's all happening...

AT THE ZOO!

That's right folks, we took Azalea to the zoo for the second time in her little life. The first time I went with my friend Serin because she had a guest pass and Azalea was way to little to know or care what was going on but not this time! Nope, this time she was mezmerized by the animals. Whether or not she thought they were all "puppies" is another story.

She really enjoyed looking at the elephants. We even got to see a demonstration with the elephants and learn that the two there were 50 and 40 years old, and that they frequently get tested for TB which can be transferred from trainer to animal and vice versa. Huh. Crazy.

There was a lot of this happening all day.

Azalea was so good the whole time we were there even though it was hot and we didn't let her run around with the lemurs like she really wanted to. She held our hand when we wanted her to and any crying was usually remedied with her cuppy. I honestly have no idea where we got this obedient child.

I'm quite a sucker for the giraffes so that is where we had a quick family picture taken (thank you Brian).

Azalea was pretty sure she could take on a Polar Bear and was planning a sneak attack. We told her she should probably wait a few years.

It was too damn hot for penguins. (You're welcome Jenny.)

In the end we decided to get a zoo pass so that Azalea and I can go to the zoo WHENEVER WE WANT. Hooray zoos!

P.S. You can check out more pictures of our zoo trip on our flickr set.