Erika's shower

Last weekend we went up to northern Virginia to celebrate my sister-in-law and the impending birth of her daughter. This will be the last time she comes out to Virginia prior to the birth so her mom hosted a baby shower. Notably, my sister is also pregnant, due with a girl about a week after Erika, so not only will I become an aunt in December, god-willing, but I will become an aunt twice over! My cup runneth over. There are likely not two other babies whose existence I've prayed for so much!

Anyway, back to the shower...we all went up for the day because everyone wanted the chance to see Erika while she was here. The girls were especially excited to celebrate their soon-to-be cousin. I had warned Erika that they start out pretty well behaved but then get increasingly involved as things go on, and sure enough, by the end of present opening they were practically crawling into her lap. Sorry!!

There were 3 sets of twins under the same roof - taking this picture will probably never get old!

All of the Stratton ladies:

And for the first time, we realized the female side of the Stratton kids (which will probably need another name as the next generation is growing already) is complete, so we took a picture to commemorate it! The male side still has a couple additions to go.

The girls were thrilled that Erika's other niece was present and available for play. She's a couple years older and the girls were in heaven.

The kids did pretty well all day and Ben and Rosie even slept through the shower completely.

All the female side of the family that was at the shower (plus Ben, which I didn't realize at the time, but he is surrounded by girls always, so this is his life):

Happy shower, Erika. We were really glad for the opportunity to see you, very excited for this baby's birth, and thankful for you in our lives!