Funny little bunnies...

I was positively giddy about Josie & Lyla in matching Easter dresses and 200 or so photos later, there isn't a single photo of the two of them both looking at the camera. So, instead I decided to take you through the "photoshoot" because it was pretty hilarious...

Chapter One: The Backdrop
Granddaddy gets out the backdrop so we can get the perfect photo of Lyla and Josie looking lovely...Lyla instanly cooperates, looking adorable...

We try to get Josie on the backdrop to sit next to Lyla, but she instantly jumps up and runs away. At this point, I'm pretty convinced this is as close as we're going to get to a photo of the girls together...

Louie gives Josie a "pep-talk" and Lyla keeps playing along...

We try one more time to get Josie on the backdrop with less-than-optimal results...

Chapter Two: The Couch

Lyla instantly cooperates...looking adorable...

We lure Josie in with a chorus of "Itsy-Bitsy Spider"...(mentally fill in the six adults singing at the top of our lungs behind paparazzi-style camera flashes)... Josie gets bored...Lyla discovers her foot...

Lyla gets bored and decides to go for Josie's hair...We switch sides and manage to capture one photo where they are almost both smiling...Chapter Three: The Yard

We head over to our neighbor Cora's beautiful yard to snap some photos there...

Josie gets distracted by the flowers...Lyla contemplates the meaning of life while meditating in the grass...Grandma gets the brilliant idea to lure Josie to Lyla with lawn ornaments...it works... They're not looking at us, but at least they're in the same frame...

Oooh-ooh, this is it...they're both looking up... Josie gets bored again and distracts herself with more flowers...

Lyla continues to look adorable...

We try one last pose...Then, Michael & Louie simultaneously decide to rescue the girls (almost as if they had a conversation between the two of them that ended with "1,2,3 Break!")

And, we end with Josie finally deciding to smile...(just after we call it a 'wrap')...

So, a few lessons learned but great pictures over all. (And Tia & Tio - let this be a reminder to snap all the photos of "LylaByrd" now that you can because this time next year, she and Josie will both be chasing each other around....)

I hope you all had a Happy Easter Weekend with your little bunnies.... :)

Fun, Family, and Friends...

I guess these photos all fall under the category of what any holiday is really about - fun, family, and friends. What could be more fun than the girls in bunny ears?And spending time with the family?

And spending time with friends that are just like family?

Thanks to everyone for visiting (Debbie, Ava, Chrissy, Kalie, Claire, Suzie & Makayla) and big thanks from Josie (who is still working on "thank you") for the great Easter baskets and goodies. As dad said, "This looks more like Christmas than Easter!" Josie loves all her new toys and we've had quite a blast with the bubbles, playdoh, and zoo train so far this week. Oh - quick story - when Carissa got here on Tuesday (after 5 days off), Josie greeted her at the elevator with every single new stuffed animal she got for Easter. I'm not kidding, I told her Carissa was here and she bolted over to her toybox and grabbed all of them then waddled over to Carissa and laid them at her feet. It was so cute! :)

Here comes "DD" Cottontail...

Hello loyal readers - sorry for the delay - you'll just have to trust me that "working part-time" rarely means "working part-time" and on top of being a "full-time mom" - well, you get the picture. Anyway, this is the first installment of the Easter photos. There were over 200 of them, so I had to break this down into several smaller posts to prevent a nervous breakdown (it's been one of those weeks). So, here are the photos of Josephine's First Easter Egg Hunt.

Grandma had everything ready and Josie was ready to dive right in. We were all surprised by how "into it" she was, because we weren't quite sure she'd "get it" yet. Well, she definitely got it...

Next was on to the actual Egg Hunt with "DD" (that's Josie-speak for Granddaddy and will likely stick forever). He made the perfect Easter Bunny, as you can see. We were amazed how good she was at finding them. (When did she turn into such a big girl??) The whole time, she dragged "DD" around by his hand, saying "Nother One" and pointing to the egg. It was so sweet to watch! We all spent the next hour hiding and seeking and hiding and seeking and hiding and seeking...

1 to 20...(almost)

Translation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 20! :)

I love you goat!

Last weekend we made our first trip to "Parky's Farm" at Winton Woods Park for the "Easter Extravaganza." The bad news was that the Easter-themed events were for much older kids, but the good news was that we discovered one heckuva great place to hang out any day of the year. Josie loves animals as you can tell by this video of her getting up-close and personal with what we later found out to be a 14 year old goat. Yep, that's her saying "I love you goat" at the end...



Here she is in the shadow of the guys on stilts... And sneaking into the stable to see this police horse taking a break...or the "Bunny Horse" as Josie appropriately named it...
And finally mustering up the courage to go see "Parky the Raccoon" (which she talked about the rest of the day)...Here's Josie embracing her Xenia roots on a John Deere...And, taking a break from the Easter madness to play on the slide...This is when she discovered a slide is for more than sliding... I kid you not, she is part monkey...

Finally, I'll leave you with this random shot from Lunken Park last week. Here is Josie blowing her first bubbles and looking adorable in her Elmo shirt from Grandma. (Mama Tip: We bought these non-spill bubbles to take with Josie to distract her during her 18 month doctors appt. And, it worked for at least half of the time, so maybe considering picking some up for your kiddo in prep for their next appt.)

Oh - one other funny thing about the bubbles. I think I joked here months ago that Josie's first word was "Yeti". When we had that long flight to Hawaii, we caved and let her watch like 6 hours of the kids programming on the TV in her seat. That led to watching a show called "The Backyardigans" about a Yeti at least 10 times. By the end of the flight, she was saying "Yeti, Yeti, Yeti". That was November. Fast forward to April, I'm at Target looking for the spill-proof bubbles (of course you can't buy anything without some licensed character plastered all over it) and there they are, "Backyardigans" bubbles. Josie looks at them at goes "Yeti, Yeti, Yeti!" She's never seen the show besides the airplane, so this is insane that this resurfaced 4 months later. Even funnier, although they actually have names on each bubble wand, Josie refers to them as "Orange Yeti, Blue Yeti, and Pink Yeti". (Mental Note: Be careful! Who knows what Josie has heard over the last several months that might come popping out of her mouth any day now?!)

Holy Toledo, It's Flying...

Josie showed a lot of interest in a kite at Ault Park last week, so we decided to walk down to The Freedom Center one afternoon for a little family kite flying by the river. Here is the sequence of events -

Who knew the kite would be so much fun just getting set up?Here it goes - The answer to the question, "Do you think Josie can fly it?" Yes!


Correction...Maybe Not!


And here is our beloved kite flying itself over the Banks Project where it got tangled in some bushes.
So, on one final note, I'll be totally surprised if anyone knows the obscure movie quote in the subject line, but I couldn't resist the urge. "Holy Toledo, It's Flying..." always pops into my head when I see a kite, probably because I watched the movie "Electric Grandmother" at least 50 times growing up. (Does anyone else remember that? Manda?)

18 month Appt

Today was Josephine's (one month late) 18 month appt. Here are her stats:

Height: 34.5 inches (99th percentile)
Weight: 26 pounds (60th percentile)
Weight-for-Height: 25% (which means she's lean for her height)

Just for Fun: Supposedly, whatever a girl's height is at 18 months is exactly half of what her adult height will be (the same is true for a boy at 2 years). So, if this is the case, we're looking at a 5'8" or 5'9" full-grown Josie. :)

Splish, splash (but not in the bath)...

So the playdough was a little bit messy and we were looking for another rainy day activity, so we decided to have a bubble party in the kitchen. Josie was very impressed with Louie's antics, as you can see from these photos and video. Sometimes there's nothing like having some good clean fun...

And, since the three of us were already covered in soap from the kitchen, we decided it was time for Josie's first shower. Every morning she watches either Louie or I from the outside of the glass, but on Saturday she got to step inside to the magical world of the shower herself. Here she is from the inside looking out...

And finally getting brave enough to stick her face in the water...

And, just being adorable in her birthday suit...

Who would've known you could have so much fun playing inside?