Sept 08 PLAN Playdate

Last Saturday we met up with some other PLAN families for an overdose of cuteness: Chloe, Taylor, Priya, SP and Josie had some fun at Piccolo Park. Josie seemed to wake up with a little bit of independence that day-she kept taking off on her own to play. Usually she makes me follow her around playgrounds so this was a nice change-I got to chat with all the other parents for a change. At one point she decided it was time to go home and tried to leave-so Shali and I had to herd her back to the playground!

We gathered (herded) up the kids for a group shot-SP's mommy (another Julie!) acted as the spotter . . . . This worked out pretty well-much better than the PLAN picnic last month where none of the pics had all the kids even vaguely looking in the same direction.








Josie loves her new Elmo shirt.


Taylor-the snacking queen.

Super-cool shot of Chloe.

Just a couple cute random photos

SHWIMMING!!!!

Great-Grandpa Joe (Papa) picks up Josie from daycare and takes her to our pool once or twice a week. And she loves it-except for the time the inner tube flipped her over and she couldn't get herself back up. Took awhile to get her back in the swing of things. She was worried about "fall!" Can't blame her really. No more inner tube unless I'm in the pool right next to her. Or maybe at all. A little girl drowned recently in 1 foot of water because of an inner tube.

Josie's first slip-n-slide encounter:






Grandpa usually swims with her-he forgot his suit this day. Our condo has a regular pool, hot tub (josie loves it!) and this awesome 2ft wading pool.

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th at the Salem Waterfront-enjoyed family and friends, some Irish dancing, music, and, of course, the best fireworks that they've ever put on before. Josie did great-stayed awake the whole time (as opposed to last year when she fell asleep in the middle of the fireworks) and clapped and clapped for the "pretties".





Look Mama! A light saber! (note to parents: a great tool for keeping a child up way past their bedtime. Thanks Lisa!)



Mama and Josie taking a picture of each other.

Josie's 2nd Birthday party AKA The Party of the ANNOYING SINGING ELMO BALLOON!

You know-it seemed like a good idea at the time. We went to the party store to get some balloons and I picked out one of Elmo's face and some latex ones and the girl filled the balloons while we paid. Then when we went to get them-she's like, "You know-we have a singing Elmo balloon. Would you like that one too?" Of course-she didn't point it out until I'd already bought and paid for the other one. . . . So yeah-I got it. Brady and Marina and I squished ourselves into the car with a million balloons (or so it seemed). Honestly-I was a little worried about Marina in the backseat-I couldn't even see her. That balloon sang all the way to Jeff and Marie's house . . .

It was just a family birthday-we had a gourmet hot dog theme and of course, green beans for the birthday girl. (Side note: we recently had a green bean canning party and when Josie saw over a hundred quarts of green beans on the counter-her eyes got HUGE! And then she was ticked cuz we didn't have them for dinner . . . She kept pointing at them, like-hey people-THEY'RE RIGHT THERE! OPEN ONE FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!)

That balloon floated for 6 WEEKS! And is still singing . . . . . Shouldn't have rescued it from the skylight. And when the whole balloon bunch came loose from Josie's highchair during dinner-we shouldn't have let Uncle Jeff climb the tree to get it out.

A few pics . . .


Look Mama-it's SINGS! (yes, yes . . .we are all painfully aware, sweetie!)


Uh, oh!





Somebody DO something!


This is the nice quiet one.

Sassy girl

Is that a new camera Mama? Let me see up close.


Scuse me? I'd like a Shirley Temple to go with my goldfish. Extra cherries, please!


I'm too sexy for these sunglasses!


I crack myself up!



I'm soooo rocking this recorder . . .

My new ringtone is "Elmo's Song"

I need to get out more.

Nuff said.

more "Yeah, I said that"

3. Josie-don't put the measuring spoons down your diaper!

4. Did you just pee on bear?

5. Did your diaper leak or is that drool? (BTW-it was drool! Not sure which is worse . . .)

What 2 looks like

Elmo's so happy to see you . . . .

Last Saturday, we attended a birthday party for one of Josie's daycare friends at cool cafe/coffeshop with a huge playroom. We'd been running around all day and it was past naptime-but Josie did really well. Especially when Elmo showed up. Now-for those of you new here-Josie is a huge Elmo fan. Huge. Elmo. Fan.

Huge.

Yeah-she asks for Elmo at least 10 times a day. A video that is. She usually gets one a day-but when she was sick-we watched probably 5 videos a day. Now she thinks that should be the norm.

Anyway-I digress. So-Elmo comes in and it takes a moment for Josie to realize he's there. The birthday girl is both freaked out and excited at the same time. She keeps screaming and laughing but won't get too close. So-all the adults are encouraging her to see Elmo first-but she won't have it. Meanwhile-Josie, completely mesmerized-inches closer and closer. I'm sure she's thinking-"heck, if you won't sit in Elmo's lap, I will!" Pretty soon she is. It really was priceless.

Josie can die happy now-because I'm not sure anything could ever top this day for her. Sad that life can peak at age 2.

Elmo was at the party for probably over an hour. And Josie was sort of like Dory in Finding Nemo. Every 5 minutes or so-she would realize she was in the presence of Elmo and her glee would start all over. I took video for the first 5 minutes or so and switched to pictures. So-even though they aren't pics of the very first time Josie approached Elmo-they really kinda are.


Josie-realizing again that "OMG! It's Elmo!" while probably messing her pants in all her amazement.



Pure joy!



Hugging Elmo . . .





Playing peek-a-boo . . .





This face pretty much sums it up!

Pics from the playground