Fishin' with Daddy

Josey loves her Daddy. No doubt about that. She loves to do things with him and spend time with him...like any little girl her daddy is her hero. Today we went fishing. She was so excited. She went around saying, "I go fishin' with daddy!" We got the poles together and some snacks, stopped and got minnows and went to the river. It was around 50 degrees here today so it was a great day to go.

We got there and started out with feeding the ducks. She runs up to the river, bread in hand and begins yelling, "here guys! Here is bread." The ducks of course go running and swimming the total opposite direction. They are scared to death of this overzealous toddler. Animals sense excitement from children as potential pain for themselves. :) anyway, she fed the ducks for a bit while Daddy got things together.

We began to fish and she was just having a blast. She loved helping daddy cast, and helping to hold the pole. She enjoyed being able to help reel in the fish. She touched all of the fish that we caught and would just giggle with glee at the chance to touch a fish. I love that unbridled excitement and genuine enjoyment that children have with everything in their world. They just love to be and that is so fun to watch.

It is so amazing to be with her. She is so real. Tells you how she feels and notices how others feel. It is really great. When it was time to leave today she was quick to let us know that she was not happy about leaving. She still wanted to go fishing with Daddy. We told her that we were going to go feed the geese at a separate park and she says..."OK." We went to that park and went to feed the geese. Now i must interject here that as a child, a little older than her, I was bit by a goose. I have NEVER forgotten that. As much as I like to feed the geese I am still a little bit scared of them biting. I try to put on a brave face though and not let her see. Well, we go to feed the geese and she picks up a chip and holds it out and sure enough a goose comes right up to snatch it out of her hand. The goose gets little of her finger in his mouth too. Josey looks up at me, very startled, and says, "Ow. Goose bite." I said something like ok, are you all right, trying not to make a big deal of it and sure enough she says, "yeah." and then goes on her way. Not a tear shed. If I remember correctly I shed many tear when I was "bitten".

So proud of my girl. She is also more than happy to handle minnows and touch the fish when we catch them...she loves all of that. Good thing. I have a feeling her and her daddy will be doing more fishing together in the future. I remember fishing with my dad too. We would go out on my Uncle's boat at like 5:30 or something in the morning. I would sleep on the boat and then would wake up sometime in the morning and then start to fish. But I could not stand the idea of them going with out me. Josey will be the same way I imagine. Actually I think that Brad may not be able to leave the house to go fishing without her anymore. She has had so much fun that she may pitch a fit if he tries to go. We will see how that works out.

Anyway, I am going to close for now. I could go on and on about my girl, she is just so great. I am so proud to be her mommy.

Merry Christmas!

So today is Christmas. Josey had a blast. Santa brought her a few things and between Mommy and Daddy and Grandma Bucky, Pa, John-o and Katie she had a pretty good Christmas. She got a new table and chair set from Santa. This was perhaps the largest item she got. And the one that Santa was the most excited about. She also got a stuffed Grinch doll and the book too. She loves the Grinch. Thinks he is pretty funny. She has watched the Boris Karloff animated version over and over this Christmas Season. I think we are going to have to try and find that on DVD for her. She got some other toys and stuffed animals too. One of her favorite things is the new Tigger that bounces on his tail. She pushes his button and then bounces with him. With the biggest smile on her face the whole time. She sings with him too. It is so much fun to watch. We made cookies for Santa last night. She got to cut them out and then put some sprinkles on them. Then we went to look at lights. This is a tradition in my family that I want to pass on to her. I love to drive around and look at Christmas lights. I did not get any up this year on our house but hope that the rest of the world never stops because I just love them! She enjoyed them too. She loves all the blow up characters too. Thinks that is pretty neat. We came home and left a cookie for Santa and some milk. I have a Santa cookie plate and mug set that has Pooh on it. Very cute and very much something that she likes too. Santa drank his milk and ate most of his cookie too. She thought that was cool. Christmas was as I thought, a very exciting time for her. I loved her face when opening presents and the determination to get into them. I loved her enthusiasm also when she got something. I was watching the video I made of her coming in to the living room this morning and her reaction to the things that Santa left. She was surprised and grateful....almost like she could not believe it was for her. and really we were modest. We did not go overboard and get her a ton of stuff. She had enough toys that she could play with everything. I am hoping that she stays that grateful and excited. I truly hope that we can raise her not to expect a ton of stuff for Christmas and help her to remember others in need. As she gets older I will look for opportunities to give back that she can participate in.

Overall it was a fantastic Christmas. I hope you enjoy the pictures that I have included.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Sleep Tight...

I just had to post this about Josey....so cute that little girl!

I have memories of my dad saying to me, "Good night, Sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." so of course I say this to Josey. Well lately she has been saying, "Sleep tight, no bugs bite." when I put her to bed or nap. It is too sweet! She is so funny. The things she says and does. Both Brad and I are so looking forward to Christmas with her because she is just going to be so much fun. Watching her come out and see what Santa leaves her, I cannot wait to see the excitement on her face. Oh I can barely wait.

Ok...she is waking up from nap now so I am going to go. I just wanted to quickly post that.

Happy Holidays to all!

Are you kidding me?

Josey is becoming quite the daredevil and really likes to climb on things and test her physical boundaries. I think this is probably quite common but today she got herself into quite a pickle. She climbed into her "baby" stroller, the stroller for baby dolls, and had quite a time. The picture of her smiling at the camera as she sits in there quite proud of herself was taken moments before she fell backwards and smacked her head into the tile entry way floor. Poor thing cried and looked so injured. As though the tile floor and the stroller had conspired to hurt her! She did this one more time and again fell backwards prompting more cries and calls for "kisses" to make it better. I thought that she was done and went into the kitchen to finish dinner. What an amateur I am! Not two minutes later the little stinker starts crying again because she had.....you guessed it. Climbed in there again and fell over backwards. I thought about taking a picture but was worried that someone might think me mean for taking a picture of my crying baby girl. It was almost funny though; her determination to "beat" the stroller and sit in it without falling backwards. The stroller is now put away so that she can no longer attempt to win this battle. In the bath tonight I noticed some marks on her back that will most definitely become bruises from her falls. Poor thing!

As I continue to "grow" into being a mom I have begun to realize that I can have a pretty bad potty mouth. Josey of course has hit the age where she repeats everything we say. And I mean EVERYTHING! This has led to me coming up with new phrases or substitutes for things that I used to say that are no longer appropriate. One of these "new" phrases is "Are you kidding me?". She has picked up on this and gives the most adorable rendition of this when prompted. Even cuter though she says it at other times too. Times when it actually seems appropriate too. It is really cute!

Well, she is sleeping and I should be too. There will be more later. I will have to post a picture of her wall of cards....I put all of our Christmas cards on the front door and she just thinks that is pretty cool. Likes to stand and look up and identify everyone in pictures and who the cards came from. She has been getting cards from Grandma Bucky, thank you!, and she just thinks this is wonderful. She LOVES to get cards in the mail and then read them. It is actually just adorable to watch her read them. She still has a card that she got this summer from a friend of hers. One of her little play dates bit her while they were riding in a grocery cart together. This was Josey's first experience with being bit so Jack sent a card apologizing. Josey still has that card in her play purse and knows who sent it to her. Too funny!

Good night to all....and to all a good night!

First Official Present of the Year

So yesterday Josey got her first official present of the year....well the first one that she could open anyway. Grandma Bucky sent her presents but those are waiting under the tree until Christmas morning. This one came from a friend of mine who came over yesterday for some Christmas fun. We get together every year to watch White Christmas, yesterday was our day.

She gave Josey a My Little Pony. Josey thought that was pretty cool, the pony came with a brush so that was really cool. All afternoon Josey would go behind her "play" door and the snowman ornament she has taken hostage and the pony would talk to each other. I am not sure but I think that they may have been plotting to take over the world! She was really cute about the whole thing; bobbing them up and down so that they looked like they were talking and saying things for them the whole bit. When I asked her to show them to me this was the photo I got.

It should be noted that this small snowman is not the only snowman she is lugging around this year. I believe I said before that she is obsessed with them and she is! Her other favorite though has 2 foot long arms and legs, this came in the box of presents from Grandma too. When you push a button it sings Frosty and she thinks that snowman is her new best friend. She is so funny!

well more about today coming tonight. many cute piuctures to show too, she went to play with her friend today so...they had a blast. Have to go cook a turkey breast now....

let's try again!

Ok...so I created one of these last night but obviously was too tired and typed something wrong or forgot something. I tried to log on today and cannot get to the original page.....well I can see it but cannot edit it or get back in to post again so here is try number two....please please let this work. :) I know that this will be a great way to let you all know how she is doing and also what we are all up to. This will mostly be about Josey, since I could talk about her all day long, but will also be an outlet for me to share what we are up to etc. Let me post this and then make sure I can get back in to it...more later.

I have included a picture of my sweet sleeping baby. Sleeping with her new snowman. she is absolutely obsessed with them this year.