Quick Quotes

So, it's been awhile since I shared any good Schneider girls "quick quotes" but I have a few for you today! Enjoy!

Josie to me: "Hey mom, Venus (the cat) went into the basement...just FYI."

Josie: "How long will it take those to dry?" (Referring to her panties that fell into the bathtub)
Me: "I'm not sure, but I'll probably just wash them anyway since they fell in the tub."
Josie: "Leave them hanging there to do an experiment. I wonder if they'll still be wet this time tomorrow!"
Me: "You'll be at Grandma & DD's this time tomorrow, but I'll let you know when you get home."
Josie: "Oh it's fine, just take a look tomorrow and then text me."

Josie: (in a conversation about why we refer to her giant pile of stuffed animals as "The Animal Army") "What kind of guns and bombs do they shoot?"
Me:  "Love bombs!"
Josie: "Oh, I get it! So the animal army flies over the world shooting love guns and love bombs through the sky and then all the love falls down into everyone's chimneys!"
Me: "Yep, exactly"
Josie: "And then when the love goes into all the houses...then there are no more people that don't have enough food to eat...and then there are no more people who leave lights on in rooms that they're not using!"

Bea to all of us, all the time: "Cheese...baby...mouth."  "Kefir...baby...mouth."  "Choc-choc....baby....mouth."  (This is the way she tells us what she wants to eat. Literally, put some cheese in this baby's mouth! It's too funny. And too cute. Especially as she points to the food and then to her mouth.)

The Deer

Our little family of deer have been very active in our yard this week. They've been spending most of each day here, munching what green is left on the shrubs, sauntering through the yard and casually making eye contact with two little girls through the window. Other times they sprint wildly from one yard to the next - almost like they're playing!  They're so peaceful and gentle and it really is an amazing thing for them to come close enough to the house that we can see deeply into their big soulful eyes.

Just now one of the young ones just showed up right outside by window (nudging the fountain to those of you who know our house) and then walked into the backyard and wove himself through the swingset then down the hill.  Those of you who know me well are aware that I look for symbolic meaning in everything, so I just couldn't help but to do a little digging on deer omens. I learned that deer symbolize the power of gentleness to touch the hearts and minds of wounded beings and that they represent the gentleness of spirit that heals all wounds. And well, I think that's lovely so I just had to share.

I also had to share this quick video we took yesterday of the deer out my office window. Josie thinks they are of course reindeer.  And Bea likes to guess whether each deer we see is the mama, papa or baby.  Enjoy!




And a little deer "quick quote" courtesy of Josie this morning, as we were making breakfast:

Me: Oh, the deer are back this morning!
Josie: Where, where?
Bea: Deer, Deer, Baby, Deer! (Translation: Show "Baby" the deer.)
Lou: Oh, that's the boy deer, see his antlers girls?
Josie; Oh, yea, that's the boy - the STAR-BUCK!    (No pun intended, the girl just knew the word had buck in it and Starbucks was the first connection her brain made!)

The unveiling

Over the weekend, Josie and Bea spent the night at Grandma & DD's (a first for Bea!) while Lou and I had 24 hours kid-free (for the first time since March 2011, if anyone's counting).

Sadly, I had a stomach bug but happily we had already made plans to stay in anyway. We've been collecting things for the girls' new room ever since we moved in. It was the only room in the house that the previous owners left unfinished. (Blank canvas!) And it took me about this long to get over the fact that the people who bought our old house made us leave every single bit of bedroom beauty that we put together for them (right down to the closet baskets....grrrr) which meant starting from scratch in this room.

 As an early Christmas surprise, we spent this 24 hour totally making over their room from the boring brown, curtain-less BLAH to a sweet and simple room that can evolve to suit them over the next several years.

Here are some of the BEFORE PICS:

Note boring ceiling fan with NO light, tan walls, changing table & general ho-hum

Note ugly shade and disorganized Baby Doll Chaos

And some DURING pics:

Because we know our limitations, we hired an expert

The report from Xenia: Cookies & Santa!

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have LIGHT!

Organization means "some assembly required"

And now for the AFTER pics:

Organized! Verdant! Lovely!

It was only a matter of time before we found somewhere to put Graham & Brown wallpaper. 

YAY - lovely light coming through the windows!

I've had these since the bedrest days before Bea was born!

Let me explain: We are getting the girls bunk-beds as the next step, but for now this is the solution. Bea still sleeps in her bed, but often falls asleep first reading books in Josie's bed. We moved the crib back in after the big reveal, but expect Bea to be completely over it soon!

I can't get enough of the curtains! 

And now for the video:



Oh, one last side by side:

It's still autumn...technically

So in the ongoing struggle to keep up with the blog, I'm giving myself a pass on this one. It is still technically fall you know, so posting pics from Sept, Oct & Nov isn't all bad.  Have no fear, there is plenty of Winter Wonderland in the blog's future. But for now, let's take a little journey back to some good ole' blog-worthy randomness from the past several weeks. Enjoy!

The girls are super awesome. They have sooo much love for each other. Some of the only conflict is when Josie wants to give Bea too much love (or when they're fighting over prime real estate on my lap).

Here they are in all their sister sweetness:

 Bea is just as sweet as pie. So many people remark on her gentle nature and easy-going spirit. She's our little zen being, just happy to be wherever she is at any given moment.

Except for when she isn't.  So, Little Bea has embraced her inner "going on 2" with all the assertiveness that comes with that. (Pardon the blur; I was fighting off a sassy miss.)

The pout

The Read my lips..."noooo"

The "If looks could kill"

 I actually don't mind those little pushes for independence, having the perspective of a second-time parent.  We had a tantrum-free toddler hood with Josie (our reward I think for surviving what was a really challenging year as an infant!) so it's been interesting to watch the subtle differences with Beatrice. Human development really is just so fascinating. And, alas, we know that the push for independence as a toddler eventually gives way to a daring, brave, fun and fearless kindergartener. 

And here she is now. Josie is always trying to do things faster, higher, longer, etc.  Everything is a race, a challenge, an opportunity to push herself.  On this day, she jumped off our wall at least a gazillion times. After each she ran over to my camera and insisted that I show her the series of photos so she could beat her record the next time.  Look at her go! (Insert your own "oh my word that child is jumping off a rock wall, next to a tree while her mom takes pictures. She's lucky she didn't break her neck." Then be comforted knowing she did it the first several times with me by her side until she finally did convince me that she could do it without breaking her neck.)

The first on-camera attempt:

 And the last...

 And the "just one more please" where she set her personal best record:

In other acts of bravery as of late, Beatrice summoned up the courage to ride the pony at our (sadly, former) neighbors' house last month.  

Sweet Sweet Esme turned FOUR, and we all celebrated with corn dogs and pony rides through the back yard. We love this family and miss them so! 

 Josie was on pony cloud 9!

 Zo-Zo is getting so big!

 Bea made it half way through the ride before abandoning the horse for Muno. (You can bet Santa will be bringing Bea her very own Muno. She carried the Chacon-girls' Muno around for the entire party and wouldn't let him go.) Leave it to one of my girls to cling to a one-eyed creature from GabbaLand. :)

So, what else? Well, Grandpa Bop had a big birthday several weeks back! (And Grandma Fifi had a birthday just this week!) We celebrated Mr. Bob's big 75 in perfect fashion - at Lunken Airfield with an airplane cake. 

 The girls were eager to give Grandpa some birthday cuddles!

And now for the totally random portion of the catch-up post... autumn by instagram. (Here's my wish: I could just import my instagram pics with the dates and captions included directly to Blogger. Are you listening instagram???)

Anyway, here goes...and whoa are these massively out of order...

One of many zoo trips:

Some silly time photo-bombing Josie who was taking pictures of herself on my phone to kill time while we waited for carryout:

 A little "latte" with Jo-Jo (her "special milk") for some one-on-one time before I had an out of town trip:

A post-Thanksgiving trip to DC:

 Well hello over there Mr. President and family:

 Jeb Bush Keynote at the FEE Summit I was attending and helping to staff:

The highlight of my week was interviewing some of the leaders in the field of education policy & reform - in this case Gov. Bob Wise of AEE - for a video series to accompany the papers we are writing. Fun (and exhausting)!

 I love DC. How fun are these mirrors?

 I returned to happy girls, with treats in hand:

And we celebrated with Zipburgers (although I couldn't eat with both hands busy cuddling):

 Sweet silliness (towel fashion):

 And just plain sweetness from Josie (I love you because you do show love):

 Deer in the backyard by the fire pit:

In not-so-cool wildlife news, we found a big gnarly, glowing-eyed monster in our basement:

And while we're sharing horrific images,  poor Baby Bea had an absolutely horrible reaction to Amoxicillin after taking it for an ear infection. It was truly one of the worst week's of our lives (and we've had some bad ones, let me tell you). The poor little thing didn't sleep for a week. Like didn't sleep. She was a total zombie from exhaustion. 

It lasted a full seven days and it was awful. We are actually *still* undoing some damage from that week, and it was a couple months back now. Honestly, I get tears again just seeing this and thinking about it. Nothing worse than a child in pain that you can't help.

Whew - back to good memories. Like impromptu Eden Park picnics!

Did I already post these? If so, they're worth posting again. We crack ourselves up!

More deer pics - this time out my office window while working:

We went to XU Soccer night with Josie's school. So fun & we just LOVE her school families. 

Josie and I found ourselves in the Blue Manatee parking lot - *the* parking lot where I used to park with infant Josie and wrap her in too many blankets and carry a diaper bag that could've kept a family alive for a week, and sit among hypno-mama friends and swap tales of first time motherhood. It kind of took my breath away on this trip. Something about helping big Josie out of the car and it all going back to teeny tiny infant Josie in a flash. Where does the time go? (And boy do I miss those girls and our mornings together!!!)

 Coincidentally, here's a dress-up pic before a birthday party of one of those little girlies turned big girly that we used to play with at the CFEC! So glad we're all still friends!!

Josie spent an evening drawing in her nature sketchbook from our dear sweet friends in Florida! (xo)

And then she had her first real dentist appointment where she had NO CAVITIES! (And I kid you not, as I type I think she has one. Or she bit something and broke her tooth. Either way, something's up back there so back to the dentist we shall go!)

 What would a blog catch-up be without some cuddly pics?

 And some yard playing pics?

 And some co-sleeping pics:

 And a visit from our favorite:

And lovely days in the city we love:

And Josie being sweet: 

And a sun shiny moment of gratitude for our new home:

 Let's the randomness continue...

Josie working beside me one day when home sick from school:

Beba Gooba (and her "caught climbing" face):

 The last bike ride before Winter:

 Wishing upon the first star of the night:

 Being old enough to sit quietly at the big table and do puzzles (what the what?):

 Oh and I don't think I did blog yet about our Mother/Daughter Book Club Field Trip to Cincinnati Ballet production of"Alice in Wonderland." First we dine on Indian food!

Oh and my goodness JOSIE HAS HER FIRST LOOSE TOOTH!!!! Can you believe it? It's getting more and more wiggly by the moment but she hasn't lost it yet. The one next to it is starting to wiggle too. (Um, this is probably the thing about parenting I am looking forward to the least. I hate wiggly teeth!!!!)

 Whew - back to happy thoughts for me. Like quiet moments of daddy-daughter love:

 And Bea's first attempt to draw a train (not bad, eh?):

And her little tummy poking out of her shift - where I found her - in the rocking chair reading, having abandoned her broom and dustpan for a book:

So if any of you actually made it to the end of this post - a hearty congratulations to you!  Chalk this one up as evidence that, while I love having you all around, that the blog's top purpose is logging Schneider memories for the Schneiders.  And now I'm all caught up to December. YES!!!! Wooo-hooooo!

Stay tuned for more seasonally-appropriate posts coming soon....