Jolly, Happy Souls

I feel a little bad that it took us until mid-February to finally get Josie out into the snow, but when we finally did, it was perfect! It was just above freezing which meant we could play for an hour or so without getting too cold and the white stuff had magically transformed into packing-snow-perfection!  Grandma Fifi and Grandpa Bop's house provided the perfect winter playground and we ended up with the most perfect snowman imaginable.
Josie literally sprinted from the front door out into the snow...

No kidding, she dove right in and made her first snow angel...

And so did Lou...

 

And then she just started rolling....and giggling...

After her first actual taste of snow...

...it was time to start building our very own Frosty...

 

The perfect twiggy arms...

...Put perfectly into place...

 

A few finishing touches, including rocks for eyes and buttons, a tree-bark smile, carrot nose, and Grandma's scarf/hat/gloves and he was perfect!

Admiring their work...

Saying goodbye and going in for some homemade hot chocolate (yum!)...

The perfect snowy afternoon and the perfect snowman. The whole Schneider family got in on the action.  What a special memory for Josie!  As we drove away, we got one last picture of Frosty.  Grandpa Bop found the pipe that made him magical.  If you know anything about Josie's *obsession* with Frosty, then you know just how much this meant to her.

Random Shots

Here are a couple of random shots from the last couple of weeks before I put together our awesome snowman post!

Practicing for her future as an olympic ski jumper:

Enjoying a delicious baguette:

 

Making the "chapstick" face:
 

Doing that thing where I take a picture of her taking a picture of me:
 

Napping with daddy:
 

Loving that we are a co-sleeping family:
 

Sharing the bed with even Venus 

(and a cut-out picture of the new sandcats at the Cincy Zoo courtesy of Grandma Fifi):

Two-and-a-half!!!!

Last week Josie hit the two-and-a-half mark. It's so hard to believe that the march to three has begun. This is likely one of those "more for us than for you" posts, but I wanted to get down some of her development milestones since this blog doubles as a babybook/journal/scrapbook/etc.

At 2 1/2...

• Her favorite things to play with are: puppets, dolls, playkitchen, tricycle, Rody, and books!
• Her favorite things to do are: cutting and pasting, stamping and stickering, painting and coloring and "making masterpieces".
• She likes to pretend: to go to the zoo, to comfort her dolls and animals, to prepare meals in her kitchen, to go on adventures with her toys.
• She loves: dancing, singing, and more dancing!
• Her favorite things to eat are: PINEAPPLES and watermelon, sunbutter & crackers, pasta & broccoli, bagels with cream cheese, poached eggs, dried fruit, ham and cheese.
• Her favorite treats are: lollipops, candycanes and gumdrops.

Developmentally, she can...

• Name words that start with certain letters (i.e. if you ask her what words start with "z", she'll say "zoo, zebra, zipper...")
• Read common words she sees like zoo, cat, dog, mommy, daddy, Josie, Sisis, up, and.
• Break down words into parts to "sound them out" like b-u-g to figure out it says "bug."
• Draw circles and lines and attempts to draw letters.
• Identify the initial sounds in words. (She started doing this on her own.  For example, the other night she said "bath" starts with "buh-buh-buh, bath starts with a b". Tonight it was "pineapples has lots of p's".)
• Ride her tricycle (all over the condo at quite a fast clip...)
• Make-up and tell stories with a pretty good beginning, middle and end.
• Run, jump, almost-skip and do quite a few yoga poses.
• "Reads" back books that she has memorized or make-up her own stories based on the pictures in a book.
• Make up her own songs and play along on the piano, drum, etc. with the lyrics.
• Compare and contrast things - which is bigger? higher? wider? more? less? etc.
• Make lists of rhyming words.
• Identify opposites.

Things we love about Josie at this age:

• How polite she is (please, thank you, etc.)
• Her creativity and her imagination (must get video of some of her songs and stories soon!)
• Her ability to barter and compromise (a future diplomat for sure)
• How cuddly and affectionate she is (best hugs ever!)
• Her growing confidence and independence
• The fact that she can fully communicate her wants and needs with us.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but that's what comes to mind so that will have to do. :)

Penguin Breakfast

A couple of weekends ago (yea, I'm behind) Tia, Tio & Lyla braved a winter blast to meet us at the Newport Aquarium for their annual Passholder Penguin Breakfast. While we were a little disappointed that we didn't get to interact with the penguins as advertised, we were thrilled to have our run of the aquarium without a crowd. Now that Lyla's getting older, the girls have so much fun running around exploring together. Here are some of my favorite photos from the day.  Enjoy!
A pair of "Daddy's Little Girls..."

 

  

Josie probably would've been content to spend the whole day in the lobby with this guy - dancing, twirling, and hugging him...
 

  

"Randy, Paula & Simon"...
 

Lyla wasn't a huge fan of the tunnels...
 

...but she *loved* the turtles!

"Three Austins"

 

"Three Schneiders"
 

Josie, Louie, and "Kina" (long story)
 

The girls had a blast in the "Frog Bog". And check out Lyla doing the sign for "frog"...

  

 

Back at Grandma & DD's house later that afternoon.
 

The "play park" never disappoints (especially after it thaws out).

Our little sweeties playing peek-a-boo in the window between the dining room and family room. I'm not sure which girl led the other in here but it is a sure sign of sneaky-cousin fun in the future.

 Thanks to the Austins for making the super-snowy trip to Cincy. Thanks to Dr. Suzie for the special TLC for little Doogie that brought the Austins here in the first place. Thanks to Grandma for the yummy bday cake and to Grandma & DD for babysitting the girls so we could go to Marions and the movie. 

Quick Quotes

Josie to me last night while watching the first night of Olympic pairs figure skating...the Chinese male half of the pair (dressed in a very fancy bedazzled get-up) lifted his partner, and Josie shouted: "What is that King doing?" (Who else but a King would wear such a fancy outfit?)

Josie to Carissa, in trying to explain that we are old ladies and she is a young lady:  "You are an OLD lady, and I am a NEW lady."

(I've got lots of blogging to catch-up on and hope to do so soon. I was very sick over the weekend, so thanks for being patient.  I still have photos from the visit from The Austins two weekends ago.)

Quick Quote

Carissa was just talking to Josie about Tia having a baby and giving Josie a new cousin.  Here's the conversation that followed:

Carissa: Do you want Tia to have a little boy cousin or a little girl cousin?
Josie: "I want her to have a baby tiger. A big tiger. A big tiger cousin. With a twin giraffe cousin. And a zebra cousin.  I want Tia to have animal cousins for me."

Good luck with that one Tia. ;)

Dolls, Dinos, Dough & Diamonds...

Josie has been pretty sick. Oddly, she's been all fever and little else except a bit of a runny nose, a whole lot of drool, and a couple of complaints about her ears.  It's really slowed her down, but I think she's finally over it today.  She even started eating again this morning, which is a welcome change from last night when she said to her mac & cheese (which she never turns down): "I can't eat. My belly has a fever." Here are some photos of her the past few days, keeping herself busy while not feeling so well.

This first one makes me smile. Here is Josie switching back and forth from her dollhouse and her dinosaurs.  Actually, she had just finished making a delicious "dinosaur salad" in the salad spinner.

Here she is admiring what she called her "magic playdoh wand".  

She yelled to me, "Come check THIS out..."

 

I think this one is the one where she is most obviously sick - poor little thing.  She gussied herself up in her "diamonds" and said to us as she walked out to model from behind the couch, "Wow, I look wonderful!"

And, feeling extra sick yields lots of extra cuddles.

 

Even though she was feeling yucky, she still had her trademark silliness.

  

Finally, I'll leave you with Josie's first "garden" courtesy of Tia, Tio & Lyla.  While our plants have certainly peaked and only the basil remains (such is the case when you have no yard for transplanting your zinnias), we had so much fun watching and learning about seeds, plants, etc. over the past couple of weeks.  

(Have I mentioned how badly we want a house?!)

Four Austins!

Ladies and Gentleman...
I'm going to be an Aunt again! And Josie's going to get another baby cousin!
Tia, Tio & Lyla are expecting baby #2!!! Woo-hoo! Congratulations!!!!
The fourth Austin is due on August 26th.  You can post your congrats on their blog - www.threeaustins.blogspot.com

33 looks pretty good to me!

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday and thanks to my fabulous family, 33 is off to a great start!!! Thanks to everyone for all the calls, emails, cards, etc. 

While I had meetings most of the day yesterday, Lou & I managed to sneak in a great birthday lunch at NADA while Carissa secretly took Josie all over town to get everything for my surprise party!  While I was at my meetings, they decorated the house, colored cards, blew up balloons, etc and I came home to a really fabulous surprise!!!  This is what I found waiting for me when I walked in...

 

Here is Josie's card - check out the coloring and where she "signed her name" on the bottom right.

 

And, thanks to my wonderful husband, I had a super awesome new camera to capture all these moments!  Here are some photos from last night.  After such a big, delicious lunch - we had nothing but Graeters for dinner.  What better way to top off an already-perfect birthday than by sharing a pint of black raspberry chip!

Here is Josie lining up all her dinosaurs for a birthday-cookie feast!

Cuddling with Josie...

 

 

Replanting the flowers in her cheerios...

 

 

Rolling around in all the balloons...

 

This is hard to explain, but I'll just say it started with reading about the new "sand cats" in the Cincinnati Zoo magazine and ended with Louie holding Josie's pet sand cat which she determined only eats red balloons.

 

She was laughing hysterically at the story she invented!

 

By the end of the night, she was definitely over having her picture taken. But, hey, I have a new camera and she's the perfect model.  But, she came up with a creative solution...

All in all, it was a great birthday - starting with our night out on Saturday while Carissa watched Josie gratis (thanks Sisis) and ending with what will be another special day this Saturday that will include a penguin breakfast at the aquarium and a night out with family and friends.  33 is certainly off to a great start. Let's hope this is just a preview of all the wonderful things this year will bring!