1 year with YaYa

Today marks Mariah's one year anniversary with our family. We celebrated this morning with surprise flowers and enough Dr. Pepper to stock the basement fridge. Yay for "YaYa!"

the weekend that was

This weekend was pretty great, too. We spent a pretty big chunk of it in the kitchen. We made a pumpkin pie for Josie's school feast that ended up getting eaten by two little watering mouths and replaced with a pie from Whole Foods.  I succeeded in my November project of finally getting pictures hung back on the walls.  We had a yummy dinner at Buca de Beppo. The three Schneider girls collectively lost almost a foot of hair - with me chopping about 6 inches and Josie and Bea losing a couple each.  BEA'S FIRST HAIRCUT was made possible by a very stealthy Lauren (with going on  like 10 years of Schneider haircutting under her belt) who snipped and snipped while Bea sat on my lap being distracted by fruit rope and iphone apps. On Saturday night Josie and I had our monthly Mother/Daughter Book Club where we focused this month on Alice in Wonderland (connecting back to our ballet field trip, did I blog about that yet?) and we had a great time with all our girlfriends eating a yummy dinner and enjoying a mad hatter's tea party.  On Sunday, Josie's fave teacher and son came over for a playdate and we all enjoyed the crisp sunniness of the backyard while the kids spent time blurring the lines between work and play by building a fire pit.  In other exciting news, Grandpa Bob surprised everyone by leaving a big plastic container full of Lou's old Brio trains in our driveway. Looks like that train track is going to be a permanent living room fixture for awhile.  (Bea's obsession with trains has spilled over into a rekindled interest in them for Josie.) In all the weekend goodness, very little 'real work' got accomplished - hence the letter that my laundry mysteriously wrote to me. Here's the weekend by iphone.

MUNCH:

CHOP:

FIRST HAIRCUT!

PLAY:

Lou's boyhood trainset makes it back to its owner

CHERISH:

My grandma's copy of Alice in Wonderland found the week of our
Mother/Daughter book club  dedicated to that book!

PAINT:

COOK:

GO MAD:

WORK/PLAY:

LAUGH:

What a weekend!!

It was the stuff Ohio Autumns are made of! 68 degrees, sunny. Fall colors. Freely-wandering, pumpkin-munching deer. Slow.

We kept the calendar clear and did what we wanted. Turns out that was a combination of baking bread with Mama and from scratch mustached buttermilk biscuits with Papa, a morning trip to the zoo, an impromptu play date with new neighbor friends, leaf-jumping worthy of an Olympic event, some grade-A cuddling, one epic bubble bath and plenty of the usual Schneider family silliness. Here's a little snapshot scan of the weekend that was. Enjoy!

Ballet Observation Day

Twice a year we get to visit the CBA studio during class. It's always such a treat. Josie is learning so much now that she's moved up to Children's Division II. (Less play, more ballet.) Grrrr...I forgot my camera so phone snaps will have to suffice.

Look who's talking

Despite the fact that Bea has spent the better part of the last month sick, her language has really blossomed. Last night, somewhere around 4:45 am when I was taking my two hour shift with a super sick, super sad baby, she uttered her first sentence. We were watching TV to take her mind off the cough and when Daniel Tiger cut away to the PBS sponsors, she let out this little sweet "Tiger back...Tiger back." Dear sweet girl. We're also noticing that some of her first words are getting more clear. Most notably, "bubbas," which grew out of her early obsession with washing her hands and splashing for hours on end, just transitioned into a full "bubbles!" Little Bea just grows and grows. Here's a quick snap of her last night after finally giving in to sleep.

The last time

Baby Bea has weaned. She was just over 18 months old.  Here's the photo I took on what ended up being the last time.

Being a mother is the most amazing job on the planet. Period.

Saturday in Chicago

On this quick trip to Chicago, we somehow achieved the perfect balance of lazy, family chill-time and get out and play-time.   Here are some photos from Saturday.

(An afternoon trip to WonderWorks:)

Oh and a little bonus from the drive up on Friday night...

Sunday in ChiTown

Quick trip to Chicago this weekend, wrapped up by a fun first trip to Oz Park. Here are a few phone snaps from today.