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!