We heart Madison (Part One)

Meet the crew...Molly, Cat & I lived in the same dorm freshman year at Miami U (even though said dorm has now been bulldozed, RIP Reid Hall). Long story short, after years of "growing up" post-Miami we've all kept in touch & this weekend was the first official big reunion - in Madison, Wisconsin where these two girls currently live. It's really not possible to summarize all that this circle of friends means to us, but I'll just say this - we've visited our Molly all over the world (you may remember NYC pics from around J's first year) & I've come to rely on Cat as a like-minded Mama who has offered lots of support during J's first two years.  Cat and her now husband Brandon and Louie & I all lived together 'Above Bagel & Deli' in college and later ended up getting married a week apart from each other. Now we have kids less than a week apart in age. And it gets even funnier - Lou & Brandon drive the same car and until recently so did Cat & I.  Anyway, suffice it to say, this reunion was looooong overdue.  Add to this that Miss Molly Moore is now engaged to the super-wonderful Mr. Dave Hamm and this was a weekend destined to be fantastic! Here are some of our fave photos from the weekend. I have about 50 "favorites" so bare with me.

I gotta say - the best part was that Josie & Ronan finally got to meet!!!!  And they really hit it off. They were so cute together (as dozens of photos will soon confirm as you scroll down) and one of our favorite moments was Josie going in for a smooch.  Really, as you scan through the photos take notice of the little looks they are giving each other. Adorable! 

 

 

And before I get too much further, I can't forget the gorgeous Miss Isla - Ronan's little sister - who we were also super excited to meet. She's an angel & always has this same sweet little look on her face. 

It was a gorgeous 70 degree day in Madison and we had a blast exploring downtown, campus & the Farmers Market. What a city! Truly a liberal-family's dream!

 

 

After a busy day, hanging out at Chez Runyan couldn't have been a better way to relax and catch -up. And it made for some great moments watching Josie & Ronan together - like sharing their favorite youtube videos -

And books -

Really, Ronan is one of the sweetest little boys I've ever met. We couldn't believe how good he was about sharing his toys and how gentle & kind he was with Josie. He even let her wear is boots (above). He's a total "go with the flow" HAPPY kid and just so much fun to be around!

On Sunday morning we headed to "Lazy Jane's" for breakfast which is pretty much heaven on earth - awesome scones, hot coffee, couches & tables to dine AND tons of cute toys, books, and games to entertain the kiddos while you eat.  They even had a big trunk of dress-up clothes, which you can see kept Josie busy - although Ronan clearly thought she was just a little bit crazy.  All in all - who knew breakfast with a big group and a bunch of kids could actually be enjoyable and not insane? The rest of these are from "Lazy Jane's"- almost worth the 8 hour drive itself. ;)

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you've enjoyed Round One.  Even better than these are Round Two - which includes an absolutely beautiful lake-side afternoon and lots of "Awwww" photos of Josie & her future husband. I'll try to get those up tonight!

Quick quotes

Josie to Venus as she chased her around the house..."Hey Venus, Let me smooch ya!"

Josie to us from inside the McDonald's Playplace when we had to stop there for a roadtrip break..."Well how cool is this?!"

That's a wrap, October.

Well, another month has come and gone. Here are the last photos of October 2009.  Enjoy!

Josie is increasingly opinionated about what she wears.  Here she is with Carissa after helping to pick out her clothes. The last picture with the really wide mouth is her response to "Smile big Josie."  Gotta love it!

This is the other night. I told her she could wear whatever she wanted to dinner at Dewey's and here is the outfit she put together (she's kinda obsessed with tights at the moment). I love her "Punky Brewster" sense of style - right down to the rainbow hair barrettes. 

The more colors the better! ;)

 

Welcome to November! Boy did we start it off with a bang. Last night about 10pm we returned home from one of the most perfect weekends on record after spending the weekend visiting good friends in Madison, Wisconsin.  I promise that seeing those photos are going to be worth the wait. And I do hope to start getting them up tonight!  Until then...

Forgot to mention...

Another quote...

Josie to my parents from behind the wheel of her DD's 54 Chevy: "I'm driving to see Lylabird!"

And, I can't believe I failed to mention that Josie has created an alter-ego.  She regularly & enthusiastically refers to herself as...brace yourself..."Ruby!"  My personal favorite is when she does something sillly, let's say stands on her head, and then looks at us and says "What is Ruby doing?" :)

And I quote...

Just had to share some more recent quotes, because we are constantly cracking up at the things Josie has to say...

The morning after she heard her daddy say "There's a freakin' worm in this pear"...Josie said to Carissa, "There's a freakin' bean on my placemat....It's gross...It's Ewwww....It's Freakin." (Because if freakin' is used to describe a worm, the definition of freakin' must be "gross".)

To her Grandma when asked if she was dressed as a Bengal Tiger for Halloween, "I'm not a Bengal Tiger Gramma, I'm a ZOO Tiger." 

Josie to me before bedtime, "Will you sing me the song that says I'm your sunshine?"

Josie to our waiter at Acapulco Mexican Restaurant (with Grandma & DD as witnesses)..."I want a burrito...no a cheese quesadilla ...por favor!" (after Lou told her to say please)

Josie to Lou & I with a very full mouth of food, "I just ate out of the trash." (And she had! Luckily it was just the rest of a turkey sandwich Lou had just thrown away that he thought she had finished eating. Obviously she had not finished eating.)

Josie to Louie as he got out of the car to go into to Starbucks, "Hey Louie, Get me a special milk!" (And we can't deny her the little box of Horizon chocolate milk because how do you explain that we get a daily Starbucks treat and she doesn't? And yes, she did call him Louie.)

Okay - that's all I can remember off the top of my head. Can't keep Tia waiting any longer on these... :)

Halloween on Halloween

As you can see here on the blog, we kinda celebrated Halloween for a couple of weeks. Personally, I did this by design. I wanted Josie to have the Halloween experience because I feared she wouldn't get the typical trick-or-treat fun due to her peanut allergy.  But, as trick-or-treat actually arrived, we decided to head out with our friends Fred, Liz & Joey and "borrow" their neighborhood for some Halloween fun. As it turns out, Josie ended up going "trick-or-treating" afterall. She was so cute. And something about walking our daughter up and down the street on Halloween really made me feel like a parent.  People were very polite when they offered something nutty. They just grabbed something safe from their bowls. Then when we got back to the house, we removed the occasional Snickers and let Josie have her first real candy. She loved the Nerds the most! And, long story short, she finally went to sleep that night at about 10pm cuddling with her two glowsticks that she refused to let go.  All-in-all it was a night of making special family memories.  Here are a few photos.  The first ones are of Josie marching down our block with her special cookie from a neighbor in our building.

 

And here's a video of her running around very excited before we left.  She really loves dressing up in costumes.  Enjoy!

 

Halloween @ The Zoo

Oh - the Cincinnati Zoo. We just love it there. And HallZOOween is just one of the many great reasons we do. Here are some photos from our afternoon there last weekend.  We were very lucky to be joined by my best friend Suzie, Kenny & her little Makayla.  What a perfect way to spend an Autumn Sunday.  Enjoy! 

 

 

 

And I can't go without mentioning the fact that the cheetahs spotted Tiger-Josie and *totally* made eye contact, raised up the fur on their backs, and starting inching toward her. It was scary, although everyone laughed at me because I thought they were actually going to leap 30 feet out of their valley to come and get us.  Still, pretty crazy.

FYI: I know I'm a little behind, but it was a busy summer. I just got Josie's Shutterfly collection updated for August.  Check out all 400+ photos (including her second birthday) at www.josiemarie.shutterfly.com !

Halloween @ The Aquarium

So the combination of Josie's serious peanut allergy and our lack of a trick-or-treating kinda neighborhood means that we must seek out alternate ways to celebrate Halloween. Today we started by visiting the Aquarium.  They have a lot of Halloween-themed activities and even set up a little pumpkin patch. Here are some photos from today's trip - which I should mention - also happened because we had two showings on our condo.  That's right, it's still for sale. But, it won't be for long! We've decided that if it doesn't sell by the end of our contract (in two weeks), we are taking it off the market and seeking out renters. So, one way or another, we will get our house...and our yard...and our neighborhood...and friends who will come to play because they don't have to pay for parking...and leafpiles...and snowmen...and all that we are dreaming of.  Now, back to the aquarium. 
Sure, there was a little "yea, yea, yea - I've seen the otters before..." but mostly she was all smiles (with a few yawns).

 

It's great because Josie discovers something new everytime we go. This time, it was the jellyfish that piqued her interest.

 

 

 

As you can see, after a trip to the bookstore, Josie was wiped out. I love this photo - Louie & Josie on the bench waiting for the bus to take us all back over the river, enjoying a good book after a great morning. What a nice way to kickoff a week of Halloween!

The Cow Dance?

We captured this little gem just before bedtime - no music playing,
Josie just felt like dancing. Enjoy!