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!

Memorial Day 2009

We had a fun-filled, jam-packed Memorial Day weekend. Unlike the past several years when we've spent the long weekend in Xenia, we decided to spend half of the time in Cincinnati this year so we'd have more options for family time. "Two Johnsons" and "Three Austins" arrived Friday night (after a ridiculously long car ride, poor things) and we got started bright and early Saturday morning with the festivities.
Saturday morning Louie & Josie did the 5K "River Run" with Michael & Lyla. The dads had planned on doing the Father's Day Race in Chicago next month, but since it's the morning after the Phish show at Deer Creek (yay we got tickets), they decided to do this race instead. It was the first race for both families and it went really well. It was a beautiful morning and we were very proud of our daddy/daughter teams.
Here is Louie with Josie just before the race...
And here is the only race-time photo I was able to capture of the foursome before my camera battery died (BOO!) Fortunately, Manda had her camera so when she gets her blog updated there will be more photos there (Hint, Hint)...
Saturday after the race, we all enjoyed the Westin Hotel pool (more photos from the Austins and Johnsons coming soon) - Josie is a little fish and we were really proud (and terrified) of her bravery. She's blowing bubbles in the water now, kicking her legs, and jumping off the side into our arms. She's even almost floating. I guess it's time for swim lessons.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed up to 'Run-Jump-n-Play' for the 4th birthday of Josie's little friend Katie. This was Josie's first birthday party and boy was she impressed. Here she is as we walked into the playset area with the world's fastest slides. I'm pretty sure she was thinking she had died and gone to toddler heaven.
After some quality sliding and swinging, we headed to the first of two "bounce house" rooms. Here are Josie and I trying not to break our necks in one of the many huge inflatables.
And here's a video of Josie and Louie trying to get the hang of it.


I thought I'd better get Josie's first "assist" on the blog as well, just in case she's in the WNBA one day, that way there will be evidence that she was playing b-ball since she was a toddler. :)

You can see in this video that Josie wasn't the only one having fun. Check out Louie on this insane Shark Slide. (Ha - he was eyeing it the whole party and finally went for it unapologetically once we came up with the excuse that he had to 'test it to see if Josie would like it'.) Too funny!

After some, well - running, jumping-n-playing, we headed to a party room for delicious, homemade (and peanut-free) cupcakes and got to spend a little time with the birthday girl. It was really fun and Josie even got her very own balloon, which (as you can see here) she wouldn't take her eyes off of.
On Saturday evening, we left the little ones with the Grandparents at our condo and M&M and Lou&I headed one street over to the "Taste of Cincinnati" but ended up opting for cocktails at McCormick & Schmicks over the crowds at Taste. It was a great, adult evening out and an important reminder the next morning that Margaritas at dinner and Makers Mark afterwards do not mix. So, Sunday morning plans were cancelled to allow for sleeping in and later Sunday we all made our way to Dayton to convene at Frickers. Then, some yummy chocolate pie and off to bed. On Monday we headed back to the 'Nati for a less-than-fun ending to a very fun weekend (long story short... one leaky pipe + seven holes in the drywall to find it = not a good way to leave the condo with a early morning showing the next day).
We did capture a couple of cute moments on Monday as the long weekend came to a close. Here is Josie diapering her cookie monster doll (after repeatedly wiping the nose of her teddybear but that video is on my cellphone). She's all about imagining and role-playing these days so we can't wait to get her a house where she can have a play kitchen and dollhouse one day.
And finally, we figured some stars & stripes were in order for Memorial Day...
I hope all of you out there in blogland enjoyed your long weekend. Thanks to the Austins and Johnsons for making the trip to Cincy. (Lyla is simply unbelievable. Really, she needs her own TV show or something, if for no other reason than to convince people afraid of taking the leap into parenthood just how sweet they can be...and that face...and that hair...more on Lyla at www.threeaustins.blogspot.com and more on the weekend there as well just as soon as Tia and Tio get back in the swing after an out-of-town trip.) Xoxo!

Just had to share...

I had to share this special moment with you all - it totally put tears in my eyes and I don't ever want to forget it, so here it is...

Josie: "I LOVE YOU MOMMY"

Me: "I LOVE YOU TOO"

Josie: "I LOVE YOU FIVE"

Sweetest thing ever!

Odds and ends

This weekend we have "Three Austins" and "Two Johnsons" coming into town - which I'm sure will produce *lots* of great photos. So, I figured I had better empty the camera and update the blog to make room. Here are some loose ends from the past week or so.
Josie playing with all of Aunt Paula's My Little Ponies at Grandma "Fi-Fi" and Grandpa "Bop's" house. What a treat!
Josie sitting in the grass (this girl needs a yard) and playing with Fritzy. She loves all the cats - although one-eyed Skippy is definitely her favorite.
Josie is also way into all-things six-legged. She's obsessed with ants, bugs, and anything else she can find crawling around on the ground. It took us a good 15 mins to get into the CFEC for music on Wednesday because we had to count all the ants before heading in. Here she is in her favorite pose these days.
And - here's a photo from a really exciting night. Josie got to meet Carissa's parents - Lisa and "Billy Goat" who were in town from NY to help Carissa move into her first appt. We had a wonderful dinner at Montgomery Inn Boathouse and Josie had a blast keeping us all entertained. Louie & I decided we need them to come to dinner with us every night, because we actually got to eat! (And big thanks to Lisa & Bill for a wonderful dinner.)

You are cordially invited...

And I quote...

Now that Josephine is talking non-stop, we thought it would be fun to share some Josie-quotes with you. Here are a few to start your week and I promise to get some video of her chatting away soon...

Josie to Lou when we dropped him off at work... "BYE HONEY, HAVE FUN."

Josie to me when I put on her pink sneakers... "PINK SHOES OFF, JELLY SHOES ON!"

Josie to Carissa mid-morning... "SIS-SIS, SNACK...CHIPS...DELICIOUS!"

Josie to me when I gave her the remainder of the full set of "tiny horses" to match the one she lifted from Target a few weeks ago... "WON'T BELIEVE IT...SHOW GRANDMA...SHOW DD...TINY HORSES!"

Josie when she sees a cellphone or camera... "PICTURE JOSIE, PICTURE JOSIE."

I'll post more as they come to me. :)

Our budding artist

Ask and you shall receive loyal readers...

Here are the paintings that Josie created for Mother's Day - with special assistance (and patience) from Carissa and encouragement from Daddy.
(Obviously, Josie didn't write the "I LOVE U"...)
But - here is the elephant Josie drew all by herself this morning. Can you see it?
Here's a close-up. The funny thing was she drew the body and ears first and said "elephant". Carissa and I were like "WOW, JOSIE." She pointed out the ears to us so we knew we were looking at the same thing she was. Then I asked her to draw a trunk (those are the little lines to the right). Then, she took the crayon and started scribbling across the bottom and I said "What's that Josie?" And - no kidding - she looked at Carissa and me and goes "GRASS" like "Duh, what else would the elephant be standing in." We cracked up!
The easel was one of the best investments we've made. We just keep it up all day with thick toddler-appropriate crayons and she literally just goes and draws whenever the mood strikes her. Aren't children amazing?!

Just a quick update - our little Josephine is now 21 months old! WHOA!

And - I'm miserably behind on the Shutterfly collection, but I did just get her March album posted. There are some really cute ones there, so if you need a Josie fix, check it out here.


By special request, I'll get Josie's recent artwork posted soon! :)

Mystery Solved!

So, I think I've finally solved the mystery of why my picture production has majorly declined! We've had lots of fun adventures and outings lately - but very few pictures to prove it. Why? Because I'm too busy chasing Josie and making sure she doesn't break her neck to get any good pictures. She is an absolute daredevil and you simply always have to be prepared to swoop her up out of harm's way. So, while we've had some good times over the past couple of weeks - the zoo, the aquarium, the derby party at Grandma "Fi-Fi" and Grandpa "Bop's" house, two parties/cookouts, and LOTS of trips to the park, etc - these are the only photos I have from the last couple of weeks.
Josie's first lollipop - first piece of candy for that matter - (because I'm a total sucker and fell for the "Organic" lollipops at Trader Joe's) - gotta love this first lick - and OH BOY, you wouldn't have believed the mess!
Here's Josie climbing on the frogs at the aquarium "Frog Bog" - (Lou & I were talking on our way in that we could pretty much track Josie's development by trips to the aquarium. In those early days, she was just snuggled in the sling looking up and cooing at the lights and now she runs in and points to everything..."Clownfish"..."Seahorse"..."Big Shark"...) This was the first trip where we didn't even bother taking the stroller or backpack and just let her explore on her own two legs. She had a blast!
And finally - here's Josie with her first adventure with an insect. Somehow we ended up with a ladybug in our condo and it let Josie play with it for a good 20 minutes before it finally flew away. (Trying to explain why I couldn't fetch this ladybug was kind of like trying to explain to her why I couldn't make the rainbow come back.)I hope all you mamas out there had a HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! Josie surprised me with three beautiful paintings that she, Louie, and Carissa painted while I was at the Governor's rally in Columbus on Friday. They were Josie's first paintings and I will cherish them forever!! :)

...Because sometimes you look up from your computer and realize your daughter is quietly reading "Three Little Birds" to herself in a tutu and butterfly wings and just need to share that with the world...

6 Silly Minutes

Here's a video from the other evening. Josie hadn't napped and she was soooo wound up. So, I decided to see if she'd do her ABCs for the camera and then just let it keep rolling while she went through a bunch of her other tricks - the yoga section is my favorite. Anyway, this is was one of those videos that's more for us than for all of you but I hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do. She cracks us up! (BTW - for those of you with infants this is a good glimpse into the life of a toddler. For that reason, we could've just as easily called this "Six Minute Snapshot". And, for that matter, we could also call it "School with Josie" because as I watched this back, I realized we hit all the major subjects - LOL - there's even a little geometry and physics in there, not to mention Phys. Ed.) Enjoy!

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!