Cabin Fever

It is cold and snowy and COLD! Mostly, I want to go to the Bahamas. We're waiting for that winning lottery ticket and then we'll be fast on our way.

In the meantime. What happens when Mommy goes away to a baby shower for the afternoon and Josie Dong Dong is left to fend for herself, alone, with Daddy and Xavier?

"YOU are NOT MOMMY!"

"I'm NOT Eating!"

"I, I, I Feel Faint . . . . . ."

On a happier note, Josie had a great time at her friend, Angeline's B-Day party.

"Happy Birthday Angeline!"

There were several other kids at the party and they all had a blast playing in the house and with Angeline's toys.

It was soon time for the Birthday Cake and we all sang Happy Birthday before Angeline blew out her candle with a little help from her Daddy.

Then it was time for yummy cake and more fun!

Josie and her friend Claire had a great time catching-up while eating cake.

Next it was time for presents. Angeline had fun opening her gifts and she got a lot of nice new toys to play with.

Josie did a really good job of watching Angeline open her gifts. I was very proud of her. Maybe she handled it with such good grace because earlier in the week, she and her siblings got a special package in the mail from their Great Uncle Earl . . .

Christmas Presents!

One of the many attributes I always loved about Uncle Earl was that he was usually late, which meant, I always still had a present to look forward to about a month after Christmas. Uncle Earl is continuing this tradition with Josie Dong Dong and her big Bro and Sis.

They were very happy to open their gifts!

In true Uncle Earl Style, none of the presents had name tags on them.

:-D

"You just wait Uncle Earl!"

So each of them opened a present and then swapped afterward.

Xavier got the Universe for his room, Gabrielle got a bracelet kit that she started in on right away, and Josie Dong Dong--- She got a great big Penguin . . . . .

"Hey, his nose is big just like 'Uh Ul'!"

Josie LOVES her new Penguin-- I think he is right up there with Elmo-- Josie keeps them sitting next to each other on the couch and she gets upset if we move either one of them. She can move-- but not anyone else. We may need to buy some more furniture.

I hope to have some dancing video as well as video of the bucking purple Llama in my next post-- Stay Tuned!

An elephant, a horse, a bunny, and a snowman . . .

What do these four creatures have in common?


Play dough!


What a great way to entertain a 2 year old on cold wintry days!





Yea, the snowman is reminiscent of an alien, but who says there isn't snow on other planets? I mean, scientists say there needs to be water and snow is simply frozen water. Little bunny foo-foo also looks like she already got popped by the Good Fairy for bopping the heads of mice, but it was lots of fun to make this scene.


Josie had a great time and was even serenading the little forest of creatures while she rolled out some snakes.

Nothing captures the moment quite as well as this video where Josie is having some fun with play dough jewelry.

Laughs between siblings also is a good remedy for wintry cabin fever. We have plenty of that going on this weekend!

Sorry there isn't much verbiage with this post, but there isn't really much to say, just a lot of laughs to share.

Stay Warm!

Happy New Year!

We had a quiet New Year's Eve at our house, Josie Dong Dong, Mommy and Daddy. Thanks to another winter storm, I was dismissed from work early in the day on Wednesday which was a nice treat.

Alas, I am sorry to say we did not win the Rhode Island only lottery for a Million Dollars, nor did we win the $80 million power ball, so it will be back to work again for me on Monday.

Our lives have been pretty active the past few weeks, so I think Josie was happy to have a quiet night with both her Mommy and Daddy all to herself. For us, 2008 was the greatest year imaginable, despite the gas prices and our failing economy AND not winning any lotteries (LOL); this past year has been the best and we are looking forward to more fun times in 2009.

On Friday Josie had a fun play date party with three of her friends to really kick-off the New Year. It was almost like Christmas all over again. It was great for all of us to get together. Most of us spent the long wait for a referral from China commiserating with each other and all but one of Josie's friends came home to her forever family in 2008. Josie's friend Angeline, was happily home with her Mommy and Daddy in 2007.

We did a pretty good job getting a few pictures of the girls all sitting together-- especially considering that at 2 years and nearly 2 months, Josie is the oldest of the crew.

We had the girls on the couch for so long with multiple cameras flashing, Callie decided she needed to call her publicist. When she was unable to get threw, she decided it was time to go.

The girls had a great time playing together, sort of. We managed to keep the boxing ring at bay and everyone had a fun time with all the toys keeping close tabs on their Mommies still being close at hand.

Last weekend we went to Wim's Aunt and Uncle's house for the big Family Christmas party with all the extended relatives. There was lots of yummy things to eat and more presents to open. Josie had a great time with her Great Aunt Sandy feeding her chips galore.

All the little Ladies of the Land arrived clad in their finest Holiday attire:

"She likes the bear, really-- she does."

Not all of them were happy to see the family paparazzi.

We were amazed yet again by little Josie Dong Dong who is certainly becoming a social butterfly. We weren't at the party long, before Josie was off and cruising around the house-- checking out all the other guests.

The younger crowd enjoyed yet another dose of presents to enhance their holiday cheer.

Josie's Grandma and Great Grandma.

Even the older crowd got in on some the present action.









Josie opening a present from Great Uncle Dave and Great Aunt Sandy. Josie has a book similar to the one the gave her that she absolutely loves! This one is sure to be a big hit as well.

"A butterfly book just like my lady bug book!"

All the cousins hanging out having fun and eating yummy treats.

It has been a good year for us. We can never be sure what Josie is thinking, but she sure seems happy. Even with all her new toys, she still has her favorites, many of which greeted her when we arrived home from China. Most notably, her rocking caterpillar. I don't know that I will ever be able to get rid of it.

Heck, I'm not sure that Josie will ever LET ME get rid of it!

Here is to keeping it clean in the New Year, one that is sure to be filled with good times and happy faces.