She's not ALWAYS in a swimsuit.

... really, I promise. I DO put her in other clothes.

We took a trip out to Teague earlier this month. That's actually where she currently is, too, since Sean has a forum in Chicago, and I think it's challenging to keep her here by myself for more than a few days at a time. So I dropped her off with her Mama Jo and came back home to get some work done. These photos, though, are from our first visit.

This is her game face... contemplating the pending joy as the pool gets set up... waiting patiently...
Let the games begin! We also made a side trip out to Sean's land...

Her Mama Jo and Grand Favog came, too, with Badges.

And lastly, here's a clip of Grand Favog entertaining Josephine with some guitar music, while she entertains the rest of us with a few of her subtle dance moves. Before this clip, she astounded me by sitting attentively in the little chair for pretty much an entire song. The guitar was definitely a hit.

Two Peas in Pease

Zanna and her mom, Sarah, introduced Josephine and I to the sprinkler pad at Pease Park last week! It was PERFECT for little toddlers, and free!

Stopped for lunch at Central Market afterwards. The girls were both wonderful the entire time, and it was great to catch up with Sarah!

Josephine having a good phone conversation on the meal-ready buzzers, while Zanna delicately holds a flimsy plastic cup and drinks without spilling a sip...

update - May posts added

I have added pictures of Josephine from May. I set the dates of the posts so they would be stored in the correct month. In order to see them, just click on the word "May" over on the left-hand side and you should then be able to view the three entries (First Third, Second Third, and Third Third-- yes, I was feeling very creative during the titling process!)
Enjoy!

Happy Fourth of July!

Our neighborhood parade was this morning. Sean, being a bigger fan of soccer than his country, opted to watch the World Cup game. (booooo! the shame!!!)
But Josephine and I hit the park in polka-dotted, patriotic style! Here she is waiting for the parade:
... waving at the parade...
... pointing at the parade... She walked in the parade, too, for about half a block. Then we met some nice people, so I carried her the rest of the way so we could chat. We spent a little time at the park with the new neighbors we met, while festivities carried on, then eventually headed home.
It was incredibly muggy (although, thankfully, the sun wasn't out), so Josephine faded pretty fast. To spare my arms, I tried to get her to walk home, but the child was literally collapsing every time she tried to stand up. Which was REALLY sad! I have more pictures of her sitting or crouching than I do standing at the end! :-) She did manage to stand for about 5 seconds before another collapse.
So I carried her home. An enjoyable time (and good workout) was had by all. :-)

PS: I HIGHLY recommend the musical "1776." AWESOME. It will definitely make you laugh and REALLY gets you in the right mind frame for Independence Day! Samantha Boyd, you rock! :-)

final weekend in June

Too much time has passed, so now I can't remember why Sean's parents were passing through at the end of June, but Josephine was treated to a brief visit from her Mama Jo the weekend after St. Louis. Definitely a good remedy for her missing the relatives she'd been surrounded by earlier.

Mama Jo brought a beach ball, which initially, Josephine rarely got to play with because Sean kept hogging it in a slightly reckless indoor version of soccer-wall-ball. Eventually Josephine chucked it into the fireplace. I should admit that in my eternal state of distraction, I've actually never taken it back out. So periodically she points to the ball sitting in the ashes and tells me, "dirty, dirty, dirty." I'm always tempted to point to myself and say "busy, busy, busy" and then every other corner of the house and say "unfinished, unfinished, unfinished" but goodness knows I don't want to teach her to criticize EVERYTHING she sees!
Before she left, Mama Jo successfully taught Josephine how to saw the handle of her toolbox. I've seen Josephine do it several times since. It seems all her other tools work best when they're being banged against the coffee table.