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Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Monday, January 2, 2012
Happy New Year Friends!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you from all of us!
I cannot begin to explain the enormous blessing that was our nearly two week break from the typical steady drumbeat of work, emails, voicemails, chores, school and daily responsibilities. The best gift we gave ourselves this year was TIME to really focus on being present and being together as a family.
That meant, for the first time ever, I gave myself full permission to completely unplug - from work, from my computer, from emails, from FB and Twitter, and from blogging. In fact, I didn't even load up my photos onto my computer until tonight, and wow - there are 650+ photos that walk us back through the last two weeks. And, just as important, there are perfect moments not captured on film because we were too busy living them to grab my camera.
So, with that, expect the "12 Days of Schneider Christmas" to navigate from my hard drive to the blog over the next couple of weeks. Working backwards, I will start with our celebration of New Years!
While I know Lou & I spent lots of New Year's Eve nights out drinking and toasting and smooching at midnight, they all sort of blend together into one big pre-parenthood blur. This New Year's Celebration won't get lost in that shuffle. I will never forget our 2011 "midnight" at the Zoo where Lou found the perfect perch above the crowd on the empty platform at Lemur Lookout, where Bea slept snugly in her stroller and Josie, Lou & I danced and sang and blew horns and giggled. And the shiny Happy Zoo Years ball glittered, and the fireworks exploded, and the bats swirled overhead and Bea woke up and watched in amazed silence. And Lou & I shared that "yep, this is what it's all about" smile that we have perfected. And then it was 2012.
And at "real midnight" we laughed out how funny it was that we were eating cereal in our bed while so many of our friends were out toasting with champagne, and we snuck into the girls' room and kissed them both at 12:00 sharp (in keeping with our tradition since 2007), pausing in gratitude for 2011 and looking forward to the yet-to-be-seen blessings of 2012.
Here are some of our favorite New Years 2011 photos. May 2012 be the best year yet!
One last pass through the Festival of Lights Twinkle Trail -
Another favorite moment - the family hunt for night fairies -
Cotton Candy -
Our perch above the masses -
The "Happy Zoo Year" ball -
We had so much fun!
Our little reminder of the passage of time, Bea who apparently only needs a thermos of kefir & a straw now to be happy -
Now, here is the New Year's Baby Panda. This is important because when Josie asked earlier in the day "Who is the New Year's person? You know, like Santa is the Christmas person. Who is it for New Year's?" Lou told her (and we didn't know how funny it was until it came out) that a naked baby is the "person" for New Year's. Josie cracked up and was convinced we were just joking. I pulled up New Year's baby images on my phone, but she still wasn't buying it. This big diapered baby panda at the zoo did the trick. We waited in line for a little while so she could get her photo with it, but then a very creepy Father Time came in to give the panda a break and the whole line evaporated into thin air. (There's his creepy hand and scythe which made him look way more Grim Reaper than I think we was going for. Ha, smile kids! Josie bolted.) So, no photo with Diaper Baby New Year's Panda, but she did steal a quick hug.
Later the next day, Josie insisted on taking Naked Baby New Year's pictures of Baby Bea. We couldn't resist and a New Year's Day celebration ensued.
 |
| hilarious. |
 |
| sweet josie insists on being a naked baby too. |
I will leave you with a few photos from our last day off today. Josie returned to school and we made three trips there today to hang out with her. We both were still off today but Josie insisted on going to school. We hung out after drop-off then brought our lunches and the three of us ate with Josie and her school friends and later we returned for snack-time and to play before coming home. It was such a great day!
And while she was at school getting back into her normal routine, we had some time with Bea to hang out and soak up her adorableness. These pictures really do capture her personality pretty well - her curiosity, her crazy hair, her sweet expressions. Oh Baby Bea!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Christmas, Part Three, Back Home
SO, back to our Three Part Christmas.
To review - we had 12 days of Christmas broken into three 4-day parts. Part One - pre-Christmas and our "Four Schneiders" Christmas at home. Part Two - Christmas in Xenia and adventures with the whole Christmas crew. And now, I bring you Part Three - four whole days of blissful family time back home.
Those four days are the reason we have made it through this insanely-busy month that has been January so far.
Ahhhh.... family "slow time"...
Slowing down and just... spending... time.... together.
Reconnecting.
Extending simple moments that are typically rushed and lost in the normal day to day.
Wallowing in gratitude.
Rejuvenating everyone.
What an enormous gift to each of us it was to get several days of this:
Rotating between jammies and dress-up clothes:
Cheering on the littlest Schneider who discovered her inner Indy car over the holiday:
Creating masterpieces:
Building fantasy lands:
Making music:
Working together:
For all these moments pictured in photos, there are several more that were not. Simple, sweet moments captured and stored elsewhere but not on the camera or blog.
To review - we had 12 days of Christmas broken into three 4-day parts. Part One - pre-Christmas and our "Four Schneiders" Christmas at home. Part Two - Christmas in Xenia and adventures with the whole Christmas crew. And now, I bring you Part Three - four whole days of blissful family time back home.
Those four days are the reason we have made it through this insanely-busy month that has been January so far.
Ahhhh.... family "slow time"...
Slowing down and just... spending... time.... together.
Reconnecting.
Extending simple moments that are typically rushed and lost in the normal day to day.
Wallowing in gratitude.
Rejuvenating everyone.
What an enormous gift to each of us it was to get several days of this:
Cheering on the littlest Schneider who discovered her inner Indy car over the holiday:
Building fantasy lands:
Making music:
Working together:
For all these moments pictured in photos, there are several more that were not. Simple, sweet moments captured and stored elsewhere but not on the camera or blog.
Part Two & A Half, Christmas Adventures
So, back to the holidays....
Part One was Christmas at our house. Part Two was Christmas in Xenia, and we are calling the adventures while we were staying in Xenia "Christmas Part Two-and-a-Half". Enjoy!
The holidays are great for lounging, eating and soaking up family time but it is also really hard to "do nothing" for too long. I get this weird brand of anxiety if I don't have something going on for too long. Anyway, that's the long way of saying that we had to plan some adventures out of the house!
First up - we ventured out to BounceU to bounce some sillies out. And while there is a really good chance that this insane hacking coughing funk originated there, it was still really fun.
Here are my two darlings making there way through the "American Gladiators" style obstacle course. Josie was SO proud of herself.
And, a touching little moment here, courtesy of Josie pleading to "please please let Bea do it with me" and the quarter I had in my wallet. Who knew 25 cents could make such a memory? I give you, the girls' first ride together...
After BounceU, we headed over to Graeters in Oakwood because their Peppermint Stick ice cream is my favorite and I hadn't had any yet. SCORE - Graeters next to Starbucks!! It was a great little getaway. We totally had Graeters to ourselves. It snowed for about 10 minutes and we sat at stools in the window. There's was definitely a little Christmas magic there that afternoon. The four of us had a quiet little adventure, perfect after the insanity of BounceU and the flurry of Christmas itself.
On our last day in town we decided to venture out to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Okay, I am going to say it - I think Boonshoft is actually better than the Children's Museum in Cincy. Maybe it's because we've been to the one in Cincy at least a zillion times and Boonshoft was brand new to us, but honestly I think it really is better. We are going again in a couple of weeks, if anyone is interested in meeting us there on a Friday. (Oh and btw if you have a Cincy Museum Center pass it is totally FREE to get into Boonshoft with the reciprocity program. FREE.)
The whole crew headed to Boonshoft on our last day together and here are some of my favorite photos from the day!
Bea looks in the window of the space shuttle longingly at big sister Josie. (All in good time Bea; you'll be running around with your big sister before we all know it.)
Moments before I yelled "Lou, seriously?!" across the room as I saw Lou climbing a 2-story rope net with Bea in the Ergo -
A little brother project for Michael & Stevie -
And I was almost convinced that we need a giant pegboard wall in our house -
Josie camouflages herself, save one little pink detail -
"Robot Zoo" - Josie controls a frog tongue to catch flies -
Bea gets a good nap -
And Josie decides she wants a platypus -
Isn't she lovely?
Meanwhile, Josie decides to climb on top of the hot rod in the "Auto Shop". Two funny things happened. 1) Lou & I broke into "Grease Lightning" - hand motions and all - and Josie has never been so confused in her life. It was hysterical.
2) Josie decided to take it for a drive and all these little boys piled on the hood and roof and it looked exactly like a scene out of ZombieLand.
Bea enjoyed the H2O exhibit -
Jack enjoyed the rented stroller -
Lyla & Josie made a Baby Bea sandwich -
Super Bea zoomed through the galaxy -
And Josie posed in her new tutu from Tia -
The kids had a blast in the Hurricane machine (with Lyla and Jack's 'other cousins') -
And then a group of very worn out little ones called it a day -
Oh - here's a Schneider family memory for you - Josie actually "went missing" at the museum. I was feeding Bea in the cafeteria and Lou came running in screaming that he couldn't find Josie. She was supposed to go in a tunnel and come out the other side where Lou was waiting, but never did. Every parent's worst nightmare, right? My mom took Bea and I sprung into action. The employees (obviously having done this a zillion times before) had a whole protocol in place. They directed me to guest services where I had to write down a description to be radioed over the walky-talky system. It was SO unlike Josie to disappear because she makes it a point to never let either of us out of her sight. So, we were a little panicky. To this day, we have NO IDEA where she actually went. When we found her, the answer she gave us was that she just wanted to go play by herself. Knowing Josie, there is definitely more to the story and she will tell us when she's ready. We had a long talk about what happened, and to add some lightness to the story, the little stinker told us after the whole ordeal, "I was really really scared too mommy. I was so scared because I was lost. But I do think I will feel better if we go buy something at that gift shop." Oh Josie.
So, would I recommend BounceU? - Yep, in a pinch if you are in need of some serious bouncing action and don't mind that the average age is close to 10 when it should be closer to 6. Oh, and it smells like Junior High in there. Trust me.
Would we recommend Boonshoft? Enthusiastically and then some!!
Part One was Christmas at our house. Part Two was Christmas in Xenia, and we are calling the adventures while we were staying in Xenia "Christmas Part Two-and-a-Half". Enjoy!
The holidays are great for lounging, eating and soaking up family time but it is also really hard to "do nothing" for too long. I get this weird brand of anxiety if I don't have something going on for too long. Anyway, that's the long way of saying that we had to plan some adventures out of the house!
First up - we ventured out to BounceU to bounce some sillies out. And while there is a really good chance that this insane hacking coughing funk originated there, it was still really fun.
Here are my two darlings making there way through the "American Gladiators" style obstacle course. Josie was SO proud of herself.
And, a touching little moment here, courtesy of Josie pleading to "please please let Bea do it with me" and the quarter I had in my wallet. Who knew 25 cents could make such a memory? I give you, the girls' first ride together...
After BounceU, we headed over to Graeters in Oakwood because their Peppermint Stick ice cream is my favorite and I hadn't had any yet. SCORE - Graeters next to Starbucks!! It was a great little getaway. We totally had Graeters to ourselves. It snowed for about 10 minutes and we sat at stools in the window. There's was definitely a little Christmas magic there that afternoon. The four of us had a quiet little adventure, perfect after the insanity of BounceU and the flurry of Christmas itself.
On our last day in town we decided to venture out to the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton. Okay, I am going to say it - I think Boonshoft is actually better than the Children's Museum in Cincy. Maybe it's because we've been to the one in Cincy at least a zillion times and Boonshoft was brand new to us, but honestly I think it really is better. We are going again in a couple of weeks, if anyone is interested in meeting us there on a Friday. (Oh and btw if you have a Cincy Museum Center pass it is totally FREE to get into Boonshoft with the reciprocity program. FREE.)
The whole crew headed to Boonshoft on our last day together and here are some of my favorite photos from the day!
Bea looks in the window of the space shuttle longingly at big sister Josie. (All in good time Bea; you'll be running around with your big sister before we all know it.)
Moments before I yelled "Lou, seriously?!" across the room as I saw Lou climbing a 2-story rope net with Bea in the Ergo -
A little brother project for Michael & Stevie -
And I was almost convinced that we need a giant pegboard wall in our house -
Josie camouflages herself, save one little pink detail -
Bea gets a good nap -
Isn't she lovely?
Meanwhile, Josie decides to climb on top of the hot rod in the "Auto Shop". Two funny things happened. 1) Lou & I broke into "Grease Lightning" - hand motions and all - and Josie has never been so confused in her life. It was hysterical.
2) Josie decided to take it for a drive and all these little boys piled on the hood and roof and it looked exactly like a scene out of ZombieLand.
Bea enjoyed the H2O exhibit -
Jack enjoyed the rented stroller -
Super Bea zoomed through the galaxy -
And Josie posed in her new tutu from Tia -
The kids had a blast in the Hurricane machine (with Lyla and Jack's 'other cousins') -
And then a group of very worn out little ones called it a day -
Oh - here's a Schneider family memory for you - Josie actually "went missing" at the museum. I was feeding Bea in the cafeteria and Lou came running in screaming that he couldn't find Josie. She was supposed to go in a tunnel and come out the other side where Lou was waiting, but never did. Every parent's worst nightmare, right? My mom took Bea and I sprung into action. The employees (obviously having done this a zillion times before) had a whole protocol in place. They directed me to guest services where I had to write down a description to be radioed over the walky-talky system. It was SO unlike Josie to disappear because she makes it a point to never let either of us out of her sight. So, we were a little panicky. To this day, we have NO IDEA where she actually went. When we found her, the answer she gave us was that she just wanted to go play by herself. Knowing Josie, there is definitely more to the story and she will tell us when she's ready. We had a long talk about what happened, and to add some lightness to the story, the little stinker told us after the whole ordeal, "I was really really scared too mommy. I was so scared because I was lost. But I do think I will feel better if we go buy something at that gift shop." Oh Josie.
So, would I recommend BounceU? - Yep, in a pinch if you are in need of some serious bouncing action and don't mind that the average age is close to 10 when it should be closer to 6. Oh, and it smells like Junior High in there. Trust me.
Would we recommend Boonshoft? Enthusiastically and then some!!
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