One busy weekend

This past weekend was a little on the crazy side - packed with activities. Here are some of the highlights. On Saturday we headed to our old hangout The Blue Manatee Bookstore for a book-signing and reading by my friend Linda Sanders. You can order her adorable book "Maggie's Monkeys" from Amazon here or request it from your local bookstore. I highly recommend it. (Note to AA: Lyla has her own signed copy, so no need to order her one.)
Does Josie look enthralled or what?
Saturday afternoon we headed to Xenia to celebrate Chrissy & Kevin's 10th anniversary. It was a blast, and soooo good to see everyone. While there are (thankfully) no photos of after-hours events, here are a couple of Josie enjoying "The Dwellers." That's "DD" on the keys, long-time-friend Bill on the guitar, and you can just barely make out Kevin on the bass in the second photo. Josie (and everyone else) was very impressed!
On Sunday morning (ehh, afternoon because Mama needed some extra sleep) we headed to Yellow Springs for a hike at Clifton Gorge. Besides the fact that we desperately need a backpack better equipped to handle 30 pounds, we had a great time.
Finally, I'll leave you with one of those special moments I just happened to capture on film. No explanation needed really - except for to say that it's adorable to me that Josie has favorite songs. She regularly points to the CD player and says "Moon Mommy". And for some reason totally beyond me, she insists on wearing her fairy wings and tutu to spin around. Gotta love having a little girl... Enjoy!

Totally random

You all know it's been awhile since I've purged the camera so what I was faced with this morning was a bunch of random photos and such - so excuse the lack of organization and/or theme.

Josie's new favorite game on the swing - Blastoff! (I love the sky-diving pose.)

This was our first adventure on the bikes with Josie - appropriately enough just before the Kickoff of "Earth Week" at Sawyer Point. It went okay, but we're hoping it goes better next time...

Visiting the petting zoo at the Earth Day Celebration (again this year - my how she's grown)...Moments before I got to dance in the sunshine with my daughter to our first Grateful Dead song playing live (by the Rumpke Mountain Boys)...

Shots of Josie, "Sis-Sis" and "Jer" (who came to visit Carissa for her Spring Break)...One heckuva tea party... Josie ready for the rain...

Josie's first latte - courtesy of our pals Stephen and Paul at Starbucks - we were homeless during a late evening visit from the fire dept (water vapor in the basement triggered the alarms and the whole building had to clear). Stephen & Paul made Josie her first latte (just steamed milk) in a "real cup" to help convince her it really was going to be bedtime when she got home. You seriously should've seen her parading around Starbucks like she was the Queen. Hilarious! (And scary.)And - I'll leave you with a shot of a beautiful rainbow from our front windows recently. It later turned into two rainbows side by side which you never see in Cincinnati. Josie was amazed. It was just before sunset so it kinda just faded away. The next morning when she woke up, she went right to the window looking for the rainbows. It is not easy to explain to a toddler why mama doesn't have the power to summon rainbows. She was so disappointed. An early lesson in impermanence I suppose... Hugs to you all and thanks for your patience. More from this weekend coming soon...

Quick update

Hey all, I hope to get some recent photos posted soon. Sorry for the delay - it's been another downer week. Just found out my job will end in 10 weeks and we just lost (another) house we wanted because they got another offer before our condo sold. Add these to the sleep deprivation that comes from a toddler who hates anything remotely resembling naps or bedtime and well...Times are tough around the Schneider House my friends. So, when I return home from a late meeting for work tonight, I'll try to get things updated.
In the meantime, I do want to share the odd timing of the peanut allergy video I posted earlier this week. Yesterday at the Children's Museum, Josie had a peanut reaction. We were in a section that does not allow food/drink and she was playing with some gears and suddenly her hand started to swell. She touched her cheek and a instant patch of hives formed. I quickly realized what must be happening and scooped her up and put her hand tightly in my fist so she couldn't get her tainted fingers into her mouth or eyes (that would've lead us quickly into an emergency situation). I got her to the bathroom and scrubbed her hands and cheek and the reaction fortunately stopped. Her cheek was red the rest of the night but we were very lucky it wasn't worse. Like most situations when your child is in trouble, it didn't really hit me until after it was over. When you're the parent of a child with a life-threatening allergy, you never really let your guard down. But, I can say that I never thought that she would react that quickly to a toy that another child who had just had peanuts had touched. For us, it was just confirmation that we must always be vigilant and ready-to-act. If you haven't already, watch the link to the peanut allergy video in the post below this one. Thanks!

Please take 5 minutes...

Please take five minutes to watch this short video related to peanut allergies - for Josie's sake and for the sake of all kids with life-threatening food allergies. You never know when you might be the person to help save someone's life...

http://thenuttyvideo.com/

Thank you!

Funny little bunnies...

I was positively giddy about Josie & Lyla in matching Easter dresses and 200 or so photos later, there isn't a single photo of the two of them both looking at the camera. So, instead I decided to take you through the "photoshoot" because it was pretty hilarious...

Chapter One: The Backdrop
Granddaddy gets out the backdrop so we can get the perfect photo of Lyla and Josie looking lovely...Lyla instanly cooperates, looking adorable...

We try to get Josie on the backdrop to sit next to Lyla, but she instantly jumps up and runs away. At this point, I'm pretty convinced this is as close as we're going to get to a photo of the girls together...

Louie gives Josie a "pep-talk" and Lyla keeps playing along...

We try one more time to get Josie on the backdrop with less-than-optimal results...

Chapter Two: The Couch

Lyla instantly cooperates...looking adorable...

We lure Josie in with a chorus of "Itsy-Bitsy Spider"...(mentally fill in the six adults singing at the top of our lungs behind paparazzi-style camera flashes)... Josie gets bored...Lyla discovers her foot...

Lyla gets bored and decides to go for Josie's hair...We switch sides and manage to capture one photo where they are almost both smiling...Chapter Three: The Yard

We head over to our neighbor Cora's beautiful yard to snap some photos there...

Josie gets distracted by the flowers...Lyla contemplates the meaning of life while meditating in the grass...Grandma gets the brilliant idea to lure Josie to Lyla with lawn ornaments...it works... They're not looking at us, but at least they're in the same frame...

Oooh-ooh, this is it...they're both looking up... Josie gets bored again and distracts herself with more flowers...

Lyla continues to look adorable...

We try one last pose...Then, Michael & Louie simultaneously decide to rescue the girls (almost as if they had a conversation between the two of them that ended with "1,2,3 Break!")

And, we end with Josie finally deciding to smile...(just after we call it a 'wrap')...

So, a few lessons learned but great pictures over all. (And Tia & Tio - let this be a reminder to snap all the photos of "LylaByrd" now that you can because this time next year, she and Josie will both be chasing each other around....)

I hope you all had a Happy Easter Weekend with your little bunnies.... :)

Fun, Family, and Friends...

I guess these photos all fall under the category of what any holiday is really about - fun, family, and friends. What could be more fun than the girls in bunny ears?And spending time with the family?

And spending time with friends that are just like family?

Thanks to everyone for visiting (Debbie, Ava, Chrissy, Kalie, Claire, Suzie & Makayla) and big thanks from Josie (who is still working on "thank you") for the great Easter baskets and goodies. As dad said, "This looks more like Christmas than Easter!" Josie loves all her new toys and we've had quite a blast with the bubbles, playdoh, and zoo train so far this week. Oh - quick story - when Carissa got here on Tuesday (after 5 days off), Josie greeted her at the elevator with every single new stuffed animal she got for Easter. I'm not kidding, I told her Carissa was here and she bolted over to her toybox and grabbed all of them then waddled over to Carissa and laid them at her feet. It was so cute! :)

Here comes "DD" Cottontail...

Hello loyal readers - sorry for the delay - you'll just have to trust me that "working part-time" rarely means "working part-time" and on top of being a "full-time mom" - well, you get the picture. Anyway, this is the first installment of the Easter photos. There were over 200 of them, so I had to break this down into several smaller posts to prevent a nervous breakdown (it's been one of those weeks). So, here are the photos of Josephine's First Easter Egg Hunt.

Grandma had everything ready and Josie was ready to dive right in. We were all surprised by how "into it" she was, because we weren't quite sure she'd "get it" yet. Well, she definitely got it...

Next was on to the actual Egg Hunt with "DD" (that's Josie-speak for Granddaddy and will likely stick forever). He made the perfect Easter Bunny, as you can see. We were amazed how good she was at finding them. (When did she turn into such a big girl??) The whole time, she dragged "DD" around by his hand, saying "Nother One" and pointing to the egg. It was so sweet to watch! We all spent the next hour hiding and seeking and hiding and seeking and hiding and seeking...