Another quote

(So Josie just grabs my Macy's card and walks over to the elevator.)

Carissa to Josie: "Where ya goin?"

Josie: "Buy something."

Me: "What are you going to go buy?"

Josie: "Buy new playdoh."

(Poor thing, she'll be so disappointed when she realizes Macy's doesn't carry it.)

Oh - and one other thing - I'm sure you've noticed the absence of new pictures. Well, both of my cameras are out of commission. My big Canon is at the shop getting repaired for an overexposure problem and my little one's battery is totally dead (beyond recharging). So, all I have is my cell phone. I'll try to get at least one of those posted soon.

And I quote...

Carissa: "Josie, how do you spell your name?"

Josie: "J..O..Z"

(Get it... Jo-Z). Hahaha!

Josie on Kiwi Street

Check out Josie's cameo on the blog for "Kiwi Street Photography" - just click and scroll down.

http://www.kiwistreetstudios.com/blog/

Maybe next summer...

Louie and I went with my dad and Bill (old tour buddy) to see PHISH on their first summer tour since reuniting earlier this year. As many of you know, we are total "Phish-heads" and spent many-a-night seeing Phish in our pre-parenting days (this was show #69 for me to be exact). Anyway, while we thought about taking Josie, we decided to wait until she's a little bit older - and thank goodness we did! (More on that in a minute.) But, I had to share these videos taken before we left for the Phish show, because as it appears here - she's ready!







I just got the photos from Grandma who watched Josie while the rest of us went phishin'! Promise to post those soon. For anyone interested, here's the review of the Phish show - including the epic rains, unbelievable lightning storm, and amazing music!

http://www.jambase.com/Articles/18548/Phish-06.19-Noblesville-IN

Josie's Greatest Hits, Volume 1

Shutterfly Updates

Until recently, I was woefully behind on Josie's Shutterfly collection. But - yay - it's finally all caught up. So, head to www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com for three new albums (April, Easter, and May). Enjoy!

Findlay Market Fun

Two weekends ago, we met our friends Fred, Liz & Joey at Findlay Market to kick-off the summer season at the city Farmer's Market. Here are a few photos from what I hope will be a regular even this summer.
This is Josie drumming along with a few Rastafarians...
Here is Joey politely sharing his flowers with Josie. They were both so intrigued by them. What's not to love about a fresh bouquet?
And, who can pass up a shot of their little girl sniffing a daisy in the sunshine?
For those of you in Cincy who haven't made it down to Findlay in awhile - get your buns down here. It's better than ever! :)

22 months old!

It's hard to believe that Josie is going to be a two-year old in just two months. But, when I look at her, it's increasingly obvious that she's just not a baby anymore. Here are a few pictures from the last week or so that I had on my camera of Josie just clowning around.
These are actually poses following "Mommy, picture Josie! Picture Josie!" which is what she always says when she sees the camera or cellphone.
Here is Josie in the sweet little dress from Mexico that Katie brought back for her last summer. It finally fits! And it's adorable! (Manda - we'll have to pass this one down to Lylabird for sure! Notice too how well the red sandals you got her match this dress.)

Oh, and in other exciting new, Josie's hair is long enough to french braid. (This is the handywork of Carissa, Mama is still working on this skill.)

VIP treatment at the zoo

Last Friday was "Member's Night" at the Cincinnati Zoo. Although I wish they would've done a better job of promoting it (we almost missed it), it was a great night. Josie had a very good time getting to know some of the animals up close and personal.

There were friends of the cute, tiny, fuzzy variety (have you ever seen anything more adorable than a 9 month old wallaby)...

There were friends of the big and furry variety (aptly dubbed "Mr. Cheetah and Mr. Rhino" by Josie)...And there were friends of the not-so-cute and not-so-fuzzy variety, like these giant mantises (is that a word) and this huge snake...
Once again, we were impressed by Josie's bravery (although she was a little leery of the snake) and she really does love animals!
The zoo also had lots of other fun activities - like the carousel (her first one since SanFran all those months ago)...
And this great mural that allowed Josie to "make her mark"...
I will say though, that the funniest thing to happen (although a close second was Josie chasing the peacocks screaming "Come Here Peacock!") was Josie doing her impromptu cockatoo impression. If you've ever been to Cincy Zoo, you know they have them just hanging out in a tree. This one was particularly 'squawky' so Josie decided to chime in. Here's Josie in her debut as a cockatoo (and the real thing in the background, plus the giggles of passers-by). Enjoy!

Camping

So, Josie had her first night at Grandma & DD's house all by herself, and Louie & I borrowed his brother's VW Camper for a night under the stars at John Bryan in Yellow Springs. I can't tell you what 24 hours of relaxation did for the two of us. We had plans to hike, bike-ride, explore, etc but that was quickly abandoned for just relaxing.
I even managed to snap this quick photo for evidence on my cell phone. If you know how stressful our lives have been lately, you'd realize that getting this on film is akin to photographing 'Big Foot' or 'Nessy'. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...Louie Schneider actually relaxing!
Here is the hardest work we managed to do all evening. It's nice when your only responsibility is keeping your drink fresh and the fire burning...

Say it with me now.... Ahh....
We've definitely spent our fare share of nights curled up in tents, so we were more than excited to have this awesome camper for the night. It was GREAT!
There are actually no photos of the real highlight of our camping trip. In a total moment of spontaneity, we walked over to the amphitheater at sundown for an astronomy presentation. Long story short, we ended up spending about 2 hours stargazing through some ridiculously powerful telescopes. We even saw Saturn - rings and all. And the big, bright full moon up close. And we were able to see stars with such detail that you could actually see their color (who knew there were actual big blue sapphire like stars up there twinkling down on us). All in all, it was a great weekend for your 3 Schneiders. Thanks to everyone who made that possible!

A weekend retreat

On Saturday, Josie spent her first night alone at Grandma & Granddaddy's house in Xenia. And boy did they roll out the red carpet! Louie and I had 24 blissful hours camping in Yellow Springs and Josie had 24 fun-filled hours of playtime! To check out Grandma's Shutterfly album from the weekend - Click HERE - and I will get some more photos of the weekend posted later today! :)

P.S. Thank you very much to Grandma & DD for the awesome pool, Kangaroo Climber/Slide and everything else you cleaned up and got ready to transform 224 Edison Blvd into Josie's-Dream- Come-True!

A not-so "mini" session afterall

1) Go to http://www.kiwistreetstudios.com/

2) Click on "entre"

3) Click on "clients" in the bottom right.

4) Enter Password: carri

5) Enjoy these photos taken a couple of weeks ago at The Spotted Goose in Oakley by photographer Gina Wethersby. Josie participated in a special promotional mini-session that was supposed to yield 10 photos, but we got about 70. (And we adore them all.) Woo-hoo!

This just in... check out "Three Austins" for more excitement from Memorial Day weekend. www.threeaustins.blogspot.com Enjoy!