Schneider Shenanigans

It all started when Josie came home from school this week and insisted that we make a leprechaun trap. It didn't take long for her to cover a shoe box in foil and stickers. She propped it up with a stick and there it sat for a couple of days. We didn't really have any plans for making a day out of it, but it just sort of happened. When I asked Josie what she thought we needed to include in the trap to snag us a leprechaun, she quickly determined that salad would be the best bait...you know, cuz it's green and leprechauns love green things. Lou & Josie made a salad and we sort of forgot about it. On Saturday morning, St. Patrick's Day, Josie remembered pretty early in the morning and ran to check the trap. There is sat, exactly the way she had left it. She was a little disappointed. I assured her the leprechaun probably just didn't want salad for breakfast, but would be back later in the day - maybe for lunch. Wouldn't you know - when we checked back a few hours later, that leprechaun had made a mess of her salad, but didn't get caught.

   

That pesky leprechaun. We talked about how quick and sneaky they are. Josie figured the leprechaun was probably mad because we tried to catch him. (And then it was on!)  

Not surprisingly, the little guy headed for our brownies for dessert. When Lou went for a brownie, he found leprechaun footprints! That sneaky thing did a jig - right on our brownies! And barefoot!  At first, Josie cried because she thought we would have to throw the brownies away. Here she is surveying the damage. Once we told her leprechaun feet are really clean and she could still eat them, it was all back to fun & games again. 

Later in the afternoon, we headed to McDonald's for our Schneider family Shamrock Shake tradition - three years running! Josie wanted to take a daffodil from the yard to trade for her shake. The sweet guy in the drive-thru was very appreciative of her gesture. It was so cute, she made us roll down her window so she could hand it to him. Then she said "Happy St. Patrick's Day" with the same enthusiasm that you'd say "Merry Christmas" and hand over a giant gift. So sweet this girl of ours!

Josie, always one to have things 'just so' insisted that we save our shakes to drink on the porch. That's what we did last year, so it had to be repeated again the same way.  

We also let Beatrice in on some Shamrock Shake action - and all cracked up about how enthusiastically she drank it! 

Upon realizing that I wasn't wearing green, Josie made me this barette - all by herself - using some glue, a clothspin and a shamrock from school.  (Who knew? Clothespins make great hair clips!)

Since it was pushing 80 degrees, Lou took the girls for a walk. I caught them just as the crossed the street - Bea in the backpack, Josie holding Lou's hand. 

I did some work in the office while they were out. (Major reorganization and room-swapping going on as a logical next step to the repairs on our third floor. More on that this point in another post soon.)

When they came home, the leprechaun had flipped over the girls' table & chairs. And he left a trail of green glitter in his wake. (Josie, impressed with his strength, determined that it must've been a team of leprechauns and not just one.)  

All in all, it was a really fun & silly St. Patrick's Day.  My favorite part about it however, didn't happen until today.  As I was putting away the girls' scarves and hats from a basket in our 'mud room' area, I found two beaters from our mixer!!  Josie, giggling like crazy, looks at me at says: "Oh that PESKY leprechaun!"

Beatrice Schneider: Equal Opportunity Cuddler

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My sweet sick sleepy girls

Hand, foot, mouth virus. All spotty & snotty but still as sweet as pie.

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Milk Coma

After waking with a stuffy nose, Bea nursed herself into a milky coma.

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One birthday, two celebrations

On Bea's actual birthday on Thursday, the four of us celebrated at home. Here's the video from her 'real' birthday.




 On Saturday we had Bea's first birthday party at our house. Thanks so much to everyone who made this such a special day!  Here's the video from her party.




Unlike a certain someone, Bea didn't really get too much into the cupcake. She wasn't thrilled about having it all over her hands - or in her eyes. She did love the idea of having people singing to her.

Baby Bea is ONE!

Here she stands at one year old - Little Baby Bea, our sweet sweet girl.  Such a long journey it was to get to Four Schneiders. And every day, we look at this darling little face, amazed and grateful. 

Happy Birthday Baby Bea! 

In honor of her first trip around the sun, check out her amazing birth story: http://fourschneiders.blogspot.com/p/baby-girls-birth-story.html

A Downtown Day with Friends

A couple of weekends ago, we hit the city with Josie's best friend Lucia & her mama to go to the "Ballet Toybox" at the Aronoff. It was Josie's first ballet show in the audience (coincidentally her first ballet performance was on the same stage but she'd never seen a show there.)  It was such a fun day with our sweet daughters.

It started with a yummy lunch at Akash for Indian food and the girls were too excited to eat. Luckily, we had the place to ourselves and they took advantage of the skipping space.

The show was very cute - an excellent intro into the "real" ballet.

Josie was very impressed by the "real ballerina's" costume!

After the show, and big tears in the lobby because she didn't want to leave, Josie convinced us to go on a Graeter's run.  The girls had great big huge chocolate cupcakes.

After the treat, the spent a good amount of time running around Fountain Square playing "pigeon chase."   It totally took me back to those first two years of Josie's life calling Fountain Square our "back yard."  We do miss living right in the city and, no matter where we end up, Josie will always have a little city kid in her.

Aren't these two girls just the sweetest things ever?

Mama's girls

Both girls sacked out while curled up next to me tonight. Josie came in to kiss us goodnight when I was nursing Bea and before I knew it they were both sound asleep. I have the best life ever!

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Videos!!

Two little videos of the girls.

First up -  Playtime inside the big Amazon box that delivered our shipment of toilet paper, paper towels, diapers & wipes. Don't miss Josie's awesome question "We're twins, right?"


(We could also call this "The Origin of Bea's Claustrophobia")


This second video highlights Josie's latest dual-obsession. Equal parts obsession with The Wizard of Oz and The Fresh Beat Band. Soooo - when the FBB did "The Wizard of Song" - she just about had a four year old heart attack. I found the perfect "Dorothy Dress" and, no joke, she has had it on every day for a over a week!   I caught her here trying to learn the dance moves - in this case skipping around the yellow brick road.   The paper strewn out across the floor is the "cyclone" she made.  I tried SO hard not to crack up, but you will see I failed miserably. In just two days we are going to see the Fresh Beat Band LIVE.  And I must say, we really are all very excited!

Baby Bea's first words

This morning, just before 6am, sweet Baby Beatrice uttered her first 'real' non-family member words.

Let me set the stage for you.

Bea woke up crying last night with a fever about 1:00am.  We kept her between us in our bed. Just about the time that Bea's medicine kicked in and we all drifted off to sleep about 2:00, Josie woke up from a bad dream and insisted on sleeping with me.  Lou put Josie in bed with me and took Bea back into the girls' bedroom. Sick Bea wouldn't go back into her crib so Lou had to hang with her until Josie was asleep enough that I could sneak out of my bed and return to Bea in the girls' room. That happened at about 2:30. Lou came in and tagged out and I took Bea and he crawled in our bed with Josie.  I took Bea back into their room and had to lay down with her in Josie's bed to get her back to sleep. At about 3:00 everyone was sleeping...finally!

Then, just before 6:00am, sweet Bea woke up coughing and threw up on me - obviously waking me up. I yelled for Lou, who brought a towel and a clean t-shirt for me to put on.

The shirt was this one:

 

Bea, delirious with fever since the 1:00 meds had worn off, takes a break from her big sick tears, points at the shirt and clear as day and goes, "Dog, Woof. Dog, Woof" and then goes right back to crying.

And that is the story of Bea's first words.

'Round the house these days

It has been busy, busy, busy around here. And I have been slacking like crazy on the blog. Here's a little catch-up in the form of random photos over the last month of the chaos that is life as the Four Schneiders these wonderful, silly days. 

Josie is 4 1/2 - through and through. She constantly tests every limit of human capacity and tries daring feats like eating apple sauce with two spoons instead of one.

Bea eats off the floor most days.

Remember what I said about Josie being four.  Yep, this proves it. Lovely.

There's my sweet girl.

And like that we're back to being four.

Bea's favorite past-time is emptying and filling things. Such a fun age!

Josie spends a great deal of time dressing up.

Bea doesn't always cooperate.

Bea's real mission is to crawl or walk over to my leg and look up at me with those big doe eyes and tug on my pants until I pick her up for a cuddle. That second kid perspective reminds me this is fleeting, so I pick her up. Every time.

Josie is just as busy as ever. Creating.  On this day, we made a helicopter (which she loved so much that she cuddled it.)

The helicopter later morphed into a T-Rex that Josie named "Flexy Rexy."

Lou is just as crazy as ever. And this scene happens more often than you can imagine.

Josie and Bea play more and more together. In this case, Josie made a 'cage' for Bea out of toys.

And then a zip-line.

Another day, another adventure with Super Dad and two kid-carriers.

One night we got out the sewing machine. I knew it had been awhile, BUT I was enormously surprised to find I had left off on a project I was working on when I was pregnant...with JOSIE.  Ha, something must've happened in those last 4.5 years that made me too busy to sew. Hmmm....

We made some fun projects and have big plans for some new ones coming up.

Bea's little mind is developing more and more. She's staring to do "real" things that she sees us doing. Here she is using a baby wipe to clean the table. (Thanks Bea!)

She has also perfected "the look" and she's not afraid to use it. I got this one when I tried to get the wipe out of her mouth. (Sorry Bea.)

She's getting SO big - and now has 8 whole chompers.

In other random moments, here is a morning eating breakfast fireside.

And a centerpiece Josie made out of random stuff she found around the house.

More Josie-dress-up silliness.

A sweet moment when Josie helped Lou with some Volvo repairs. What you don't notice here is that Lou is also wearing his Bengals hat. When he invited Josie to help him fix the car, she insisted that their outfits match. 

Overall, life is grand. There are loads of silly times that make me smile. Like Mariah and Josie and Bea all coloring together. 

And Bea's sweet face/

 And wacko hair.