Oktoberfest 2009

I gotta say - as much as I whine about being "stuck" downtown - living here definitely has its perks. Tonight we randomly found ourselves at "The Midpoint Music Festival" on Fountain Square where MTV was taping "Taking the Stage"- and we were enjoying Graeters ice cream for dinner - and Josie was splashing in the fountain and playing air guitar to a band of pre-teen rockers who blew everyone away. (Seriously, check the "Trouble with Boys" website and scroll down to their video. They're adorable.)
AND - last weekend OKTOBERFEST (second in size only to Munich) was right in our backyard. So, as I say A LOT, there are worse places to be "stuck". Here are some photos from our afternoon celebrating our inner-German.
Here's Josie with her "Weiner Dog" balloon animal that she absolutely could not believe that she got to take home!

This is actually during "The Chicken Dance" (another Cincy tradition) - which Louie did a stellar job of performing with Josie on his back. (Yes, there is video that I will only share with his permission.)
And here are the scenes from the "Berry Go Round" aka "Josie's first spinny-ride" (post GIANT-pretzel).

Trying to convince her this will be fun... She's feeling a little bit skeptical (and holding on before the ride even begins)...

"Weeeeee....this is fun"... "Umm...wait...what's happening?" "I feel funny..."

"Why is everything spinning?"

"Is it over? ''Everything is still spinning..."

Not gonna lie, there was a minute there when I was sure she was going to "spill" giant German pretzel all over that giant berry. And to those of you wondering, we actually didn't spin the wheel, we just rode around in the giant circle. All in all, it was fun but she definitely didn't beg to do it again.And we'll just call this last one: "Maybe we should've been focusing more on what Josie was doing and less on taking the photo" because as you can see - we're smiling away and Josie has her mouth wrapped around the wheel that's been touring the globe - one county fair and festival out a time. All together now.... "Ewwww!"
I'll end with a video of Josie enjoying her balloon dog once we were home. I was so bummed that I missed the LOL moment when Josie pulled on the dog the wrong way and the whole balloon animal unraveled into one long piece. I thought she was going to cry, but she just looked at me with a huge smile and said "Look Mommy, I made a snake all by myself!" While I was lamenting that I didn't capture that on video, this transpired - which is even better. We just love her imagination & creativity! Enjoy!

Autumn Improv

Fall is my favorite. I love the crunch of the leaves. And the smell of it all. And the cooler days. All of it. One of the images I've always envisioned is raking and playing in the leaves with my kids. So, this week I've been a little depressed because Autumn has arrived, another season has passed, and we are *still* in our condo... desperately yard-less. So, I'm moving on now to hopes of building a snowman with Josie in the frontyard I really, really, really hope to have this Winter and trying to bring a little Autumn into the house to compensate. Out of nowhere this afternoon, we found ourselves on the couch - each with scissors in hand, cutting fall leaves out of construction paper. (Josie saw us cutting and went to her play-doh box to get her plastic scissors, then situated herself between us and "cut" her own leaves.) Minutes later, we had leaves of all shapes & sizes and sang & danced, pretending to toss, rake, and jump in the leaves.

A little improv goes a long way! :)

Artist At Work

Josie is starting to get more used to the idea of getting messy, and frankly we've decided to quit limiting our fun just because the condo is for sale. This has added up to lots more artwork around the house. (Which reminds me...I've gotta get a photo of her new "gallery" posted soon!) Here are some photos of the budding artist at work - creating one masterpiece at a time. ;)

This is a "pig". We play a game where I draw a circle and she turns it into something. I drew the circle and she did everything else. See the ears, body and black "snout"?

This was another "quick, where's the camera?" moment...she was coaching "Baby Stella" through how to use the markers.

It really is amazing how children model what they see and know. It seems like just yesterday that I was holding Josie's hand showing her how to make marks on the easel paper, and here she is repeating the process with her doll. Too sweet.

Animal Army (We salute you!)

So, you remember "Animal Olympics" right? Well, that has somehow morphed into a new game that Louie & Josie play called "Animal Army" (you won't be surprised to hear that they're a peaceful army that spreads love and happiness throughout the world). As you saw in the Olympics photos, she has a ton of little stuffed friends. Louie & Josie love lining them up and "saluting" them, and "Play Animal Army Daddy" is usually the first thing out of Josie's mouth in the morning. There's even a song that Josie sings regularly. Anyway, the other day Josie was in her little "corner of the world" behind the couches, keeping herself very busy. I snuck behind the couch to see what she was up to, and this is exactly what I found. She had taken all of these animals and lined them up herself. Then she sat down on the monkey's lap and drummed a song to them. You can see she was quite proud of herself. Gotta love these big grins!

"Super-Nanny" and MORE!

As you all know, Carissa has already earned the "Super-Nanny" title, and I don't know what the level is above that, but whatever it is - she reached it when she swooped in to save the day and give Josie her first "real" haircut. I cut Josie's hair about a year ago, but just the sides. Carissa on the other hand did a totally pro-job. And Josie looks adorable! Here are some photos from the big event - which started in a dry bathtub fully-clothed but quickly turned into a full-bath for Josie and Carissa & I with our jeans rolled up and our feet in the water. Oh - I should mention...we took Josie to "Cookie Cutters" for a proper haircut, but she *flipped out* and wouldn't let the lady near here. I figured she was just going to have crazy, uneven hair forever. Thank goodness for Carissa. [Really Sis-Sis, you are too good to be true.]

As you can see, Josie even had fun!

Good times around the Condo

We're officially in WEEK THREE of Josie having a super nasty cough, random hives that come and go, and a nose that runs like a faucet. The doctor's diagnosis is "Daycare" and he's right. We knew it was coming but it doesn't make it any easier - especially on poor Josephine who hasn't slept through the night in over two weeks. (Although now that the ear infection has been diagnosed and she's on antibiotics she's doing much better.) She's definitely on the mend now, but we haven't done too many exciting things lately because we've been trying to give her time to recooperate. So, these are the photos from over the past week or so - just some silly, sweet, and sick moments around the condo. Enjoy!

Here's Josie posing with her new "Everyone Poops" book (thanks to her older cousins) and new potty. Like everything else, we're totally letting Josie lead this process. So despite what "everyone says" we "should do" we're just letting her use it when she wants and not use it when she doesn't want. So, we're getting there, but until we have a few days in a row to totally go diaper-free - it's just in the experimental phase at the moment (in case you were wondering).

Here is Josie on her sickest day - complete with her feet propped up and her favorite cuddling bears - watching Elmo.

(Oh and most of the remaining photos are from my cell phone so please excuse the poor quality!)

These are some scenes from "Stuffed Animal Olympics" that Louie & Josie like to play. This is the awards ceremony from the first event.

And setting up for the hurdles event -
And some carpet bobsledding (complete with a pretty serious rugburn injury on Lou's foot - the things a dad will do for his daughter) -

And a super-sleepy, not-feeling-well Josie who passed out right on Carissa's lap!

So, I finally caved and let Josie play with the markers. And wasn't I lucky to capture this experiment on video?



And here are some photos from all the fun -

Finally - I'll end with this one of Josie passed out during Bengals season opener. If you watched it, you'll agree that sleeping through it would've been better than watching it too. (Sorry Grandma. 15 more games to go! )

Saying Goodbye Stinks!

This is Aoife. (That's "Ee-fah" to those of you who are just meeting her.) Aoife is Josie's first and best little girlfriend. They've been hanging out together since they were about 6 months old. Aoife was born here but she's from Ireland. Her mom Ciara and dad Gareth moved here when she was still in her mama's belly and spent the last two years here in Cincinnati. Today, as I type, they are driving to Chicago where they will soon fly home back to the UK. And we miss them already. Here are some photos from their "Farewell" party.

The little smile we will never forget...
And a big hug...
Just hanging out, having a drink in the end-of-summer sun. (Although I had to laugh at the thought of them drinking a juice box and a water bottle because when they first met they were still nursing. These girls have truly grown up together.)
And here's Andrew - their partner in crime. The "Three Amigos" have been playing together just about every week over the past two years. (Although a lot of that 'playing' in the early months was in the form of them sitting on our laps at the Blue Manatee while all us moms tried to figure out what the heck we were doing!)
Here are Ciara and I with our girls - including Aoife's sweet baby sister - little Sophie. We are sad we won't get to watch her grow-up in person, but we're looking forward to watching her learn to walk and talk via Skype! [Ciara - I can't tell you how much I'll miss our chats, texts, talks about motherhood and everything else, and knowing that I always had someone willing to meet at the park. I think it's safe to say that you helped me figure out how to be a mother and for that I'm eternally grateful. And thank heavens for Aoife and Josie sharing all the traits that made them so similar - and so challenging - it was always so nice to know it wasn't "just me".]
Here are some other fun photos from the party of Josie with all her little friends. (That's Aoife, Andrew, Lily, Josie, Norah, and Wes.)
(Oh & big congrats to Miss Lily who became a big sister to little Olivia just yesterday!!)
And reason #456,719 that I desperately want a yard...
Goodbye to our dear friends! We *PROMISE* to visit and will see you soon online! Thanks for two years of great memories!!!! As Louie said, "It is the end of an era." But, let's hope the end of this era marks the beginning of a wonderful new one!

Zoo Par-tay!

So, while you all know Mr. Schneider is one busy boy, what you may not know is that he's on the Board of the Young Lawyers Division of the Cincinnati Bar Association (remember all those conference trips to Montreal, LA, SanFran, etc?). Anyhoo - the CBA-YLD party at the zoo was the other night. So, we got to go party at the zoo after hours (that's 5pm to be exact). Ya know, the Cincy Zoo is great, but the Cincy Zoo with hardly anyone there is incredible! Yea, we saw the animals but the real fun was riding them.
And, grabbing a quick cuddle while watching the red pandas.
Oh and I should probably introduce all of you to "Chompy" because he's Josie's best friend on the planet. (Thanks Grandma!) He was a souvenir from our Florida trip and you never quite know what's gonna stick. Honestly, I think it's the fact that she can literally drag him around by his tail, but whatever it is - he goes everywhere with us - including the zoo.
And I'll leave you with this adorable video of the new baby cheetah at the zoo. Besides the fact that Josie thinks Mama Tigers give birth to the baby cheetahs, it was really cool! Enjoy!