For your viewing pleasure

Need a little shot of happiness? Here you go.

The first smile comes to you courtesy of our sweet Beatrice who has a real fascination with recording herself on the phone.  Here she is kissing herself (and ending with a big lick of my screen).



And here is Josie, super exuberant after her first big coaster at Coney.



And just in case that wasn't enough to make you smile, here's the video of Josie and Bea getting their new swingset. Maybe you saw this already on Facebook, but that big squeal that comes out of Josie when she rounds the corner and sees it just might be worth another view. Enjoy!

I blinked...

...and suddenly she was 18 months old.

Some random sweetness

Now that I figured out how to blog from my iPhone, I had to share a little collection of some of the sweet little moments from the past few weeks.

Free-wheelin

Here's a quick pic of the girls riding their wheels up and down our new (long) driveway. They were sending me off as I left for a parent meeting at Josie's school. Bea suddenly adores her helmet (saying "hat, hat, hat" and patting her head) and Josie is nearing successful achievement of a land-speed record on her scooter. Just one of the many many things about our new house that makes us all smile!

Testing 1,2,3

If this works, and the iPhone blogger app fulfills my wish, I'll be back in blogging business like the good ole days.

Here are some Labor Day snaps from my phone. Holla!

Labor Day Smiles

Labor Day weekend was chock-full of Austin/Johnson/Schneider smiles. The kids got four quality days together (and my sis and I got one good long night over a bottle of wine). The extra pairs of hands were super helpful, as Louie and I checked item after item off of the "Unpack and Organize" To Do List. AND the big girls got to spend a night with Grandma & DD in Dayton and go see The Fresh Beat Band Concert LIVE.  (Yup, still never posted those pics and videos from J's first FBB concert. Maybe someday.)  The big smiles in this photo pretty much sum up the whole weekend. 

Happy kids. Happy family.

A Late July Day of Play at Coney

Although we didn't make it to Coney this year for the Fourth of July, Lou & I took the girls over the summer on a day when we totally had the place to ourselves.  Everything about Coney Island screams instant nostalgia, and there's just no way to deny the pang of time-gone-by when we go there.  (The image of little Josie on those turtles all those years ago is just something forever etched into our memories as parents, and every time we go back to that spot we both tear up.)  So, Coney has a little magic for the Schneiders. Here are some photos from this year's trip - which was super special since Baby Bea can now get in on the action.

We had to start with the iconic turtles. Bea was instantly hooked!  She had the time of her life, and big sister Josie held her snugly to reassure her. As the rides ended, Bea signed "more, more" and around Coney we went, asking each time "Do you think Bea can..." and as long as she was tall enough (errr, as long as she was almost tall enough) she did!

Lou's photo of Josie and I on the frogs (ha.)

Bea wasn't the only brave one on this trip. Josie was ready to hit the big kid rides! She was "super pumped" that she was tall enough to hit the coasters. 

Here she is after she rode "The Python" - her first coaster! YES!

This one will go down as one of my favorite pictures. I took it of us heading up the hill of The Python together. At the end of the ride, as we pulled back into the station, I asked Josie what she was thinking as we screamed all the way down the big hill. Her instant-classic response: "Mama, I was thinking Um, maybe I should have waited until I was six to ride this thing."

Here we are on the ship, or canoe, or whatever it is - the swinging boat thingy! (This one kinda scared her, but she was a trooper!)

A little downtime on the carousel is always appreciated.

The giant slide was all kinds of good clean fun!

And the swings were sweet (even if Bea was a few inches too short and we snuck her right on.)

 Some playground time.

 

Those "flying bobs" felt a little too Greene County Fair for my comfort (being that she's my first born and all), but Josie had a blast despite my worries! She came bouncing off of it and demanded I ride it with her - backwards!  (No Led Zepplin blaring. Color me disappointed.)

She wanted to pose in front of it, before we rode it again.

 Turtle time, flying solo. (When.Did.She.Get.This.Big?!)

We left Coney Island that late-July day feeling absolutely giddy. We knew August (with all its craziness) was coming soon but this day was one to forget it all and just PLAY! Good, good times!

Postscript: We actually just went to Coney again over Labor Day weekend. Threats of hurricane-rain kept everyone else in Cincinnati away and it was the perfect afternoon making more Coney Island memories with the whole Schneider/Austin/Johnson clan.