Christmas is coming...You're so much fun!

Dear Josephine,

A few things from your 2-year-old life

that I want to always remember.
First, I don’t know when you started this,
but every morning when we hear you wake up
in your room and I come in to get you,
you say in the sweetest little sing-song voice,
“Is the sun up?” and I say “Yes it is!”
I hope I never forget how your voice sounds when you say that.
Maybe we’ll get it on video one of these days.

Next, you’ve really gotten into playing pretend
and dressing up. A few weeks ago the outfit you put
together was just priceless. Clothes that didn’t match
with a tutu on over them. These sunglasses that strap
onto your head like goggles, thick socks and one Cinderella
shoe (a plastic glass slipper) ‘cause everyone knows
she lost the other one. Watching you walk around the house
like that is just priceless.

You’ve also become obsessed with this game 

lately that you call “Tear.” It’s from a book 

of princess stories that the Yardleys gave you.
You love this one story called “The Mice Save the Day.”

It’s about how Cinderella’s mice friends make 

a beautiful dress for her but her stepsister Drizella 

“tears” her beads and beautiful dress to shreds.
Then she runs to a stone bench in the garden 

and weeps until the Fairy Godmother finds her 

to help her get to the ball. You always want me 

to play Drizella and pretend to tear your dress
and then you run to the stone bench and “weep.” 

I’m guessing you might be into theater when 

you get a little older. Oh, and another thing, 

you absolutely LIVE in this purple dance costume
dress that Grammi and Papa got on a garage sale.
That’s the “Cinderella” dress you wear. 

And if you keep your pull-up dry all day, 

you’re allowed to wear the dress bed over your PJs.
It’s a great potty training incentive. 

You truly believe you’re a princess
when you put that dress on.

We’ve started a few new Christmas traditions this year, 

now that you kind of know what’s going on. 

Each night (or at least when we remember) 

you get to light a candle on our Advent wreath. 

Then we read a little devotional that I wrote awhile ago 

to help families prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. 

Then, your favorite part is putting together this nativity puzzle 

that I hope you’ll be able to keep someday for your family.
Sometimes you ask if we can practice singing 

Happy Birthday for Jesus’ birthday.

And then, you get to blow the candles out 

and you’re always fascinated by the smoke.


Lastly (for now) something funny 

about your first real encounter with Santa.

It was in his new little house in Marysville 

and you weren’t afraid to go up and sit on 

his lap. You told him you wanted a pink 

princess bicycle and then Mrs. Claus 

gave you a candy cane. When we walked
out of his house, you looked at the candy cane 

and then looked up at me and said, 

“Where’s my bike?”
Guess we forgot to tell you that he 

doesn’t actually bring your gifts
until Christmas morning! I'm sure there'll 

be more to tell when the holidays are over. 

Right now,we're in Salt Lake City visiting

Uncle Simon and Aunt Cydni and just enjoying 

being together as a family!

Autumn Adventures

Can't let another month go by without an update on your life. First of all, you're totally into Disney princesses. One of your favorite things to do is sit on our laps and look at princesses on the computer. You love hearing stories about Belle, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel. In fact, we recently moved you into your "big girl" room with princess sheets and princess decorations. Your daddy spent a whole afternoon decorating for the big move and surprised you and your mom! You're also really into the characters from Disney's "Cars" -- another favorite computer activity. Other favorites of late: meatballs, STILL peanut butter toast, dum dum suckers, broccoli, graham crackers, M&M's, juice boxes and rice. You have this thing with snacking in the car (probably get it from your mom.) Whenever i pick you up from school or we get in the car to go anywhere, you say, "What do you have for me in the car?" Speaking of cars, we've taken some great road trips and have more planned for November. Close to home, we joined Gma and Gpa DeRuyscher, Uncle Doug & Aunt Sue in Leavenworth for Riverfest in September. You loved walking around and playing games to win candy and other little prizes. We went to Minneapolis in early October to see the Royals close out the baseball season against the Twins in the Metrodome. They were the last games the Twins will ever play in the Metrodome, so it was cool to be there. Some nice guy sitting behind us made balloon animals for you and some other nice guy gave you a foul ball, which will be a real keepsake. You loved getting to stay in the hotel and visit the pool with your Dora swimming suit on. You still aren't sure about getting all the way in the water, though. You were officially "potty trained" in October, always getting excited to add another sticker to your Potty Chart. However, in the last week, you've decided to ditch the potty and go back to diapers. We're told we should not panic about this -- that you'll come around. We're waiting patiently and trying not to nag you too much! We took you to World's of Fun on a very cold day for mommy's Camp Quality reunion. The three of us walked around for a bit, took a train ride, shared a hot pretzel and headed home. It was SO cold but fun to be bundled up together! You got your 2-year shots (a little late) and you were VERY brave! You are now a healthy 30 lbs. and full of energy. Instead of walking or running to go places, you sort of skip and hop around. It's very cute. We think this might be influenced by the dance classes you're taking at Fairy Tale Ballet. You and your new friends Emmy, Aubrey, and KiKi are so very cute in your tutus, dancing around with Miss Bobbi. You wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween, so Daddy bought you a Cinderella dress and won you a wand at Chucky Cheese. You were so excited to wear your costume. We went trick or treating with the neighbors a bit. Daddy carved us some pumpkins. You enjoyed some candy. We made a great memory. Oh, a couple more things -- you are really excited to be a big sister in February and you've named your brother Grommit. You like to pat him and you sometimes try to feed him through mommy's belly button. You also request his help in brushing your hair and teeth and other things like that. You're going to be a really helpful big sister! You continue to LOVE to read and Thomas the Tank Engine is a new favorite. You like reading books that your mom and dad loved when they were little. You are still hooked on Diego and you're allowed to watch him in the morning and sometimes at night if you've made good choices during the day. Your daddy is delighted that you've taken a liking to the song "Angel Eyes," which he used to sing to you in Mommy's tummy. You can sing along now and it's so cute listening to you two and your 80's music. Probably our favorite thing you do right now is to say out of the blue, "Mommy" or "Daddy" -- "I love you." November is going to be a fun-filled month. We're traveling every weekend! Having you around makes everything an adventure!

Summer Memories For Josi-Bear

Things you say that make us smile:

"Nice to MEET you!"

"Mommy, can we pray for that guy?" (when passing random people in the car)

"Do you want to join me?"

"I got a “froat” in my mouth." (instead of “frog in my throat”)

"Put your heart over your hand." (in a patriotic moment)

(in a VERY intense, quiet voice) "I'm gonna tell you secret. When we wake up from our nap, we're going to...." (various destinations)

"I have another option." (when given the choice between two things that you don't like)

Favorite songs to sing:

Itsy Bitsy Spider is still your most requested song.

Joshua fought the battle of jerichO, jerichO jerichO…(your favorite on the bible tape we listen to in the car)

Old man river, that old man river…he must know somethin’, but he don’t say nuthin…(papa sings this to you. you sing a short version, daddy gets a kick out of how hard you try to hit the high notes)

Names you've given your animals and baby dolls:

Sylvia (raggedy ann doll)
Noni bear
Lion
Bear
Grommit (this is one of your favorite names -- you've suggested it for your baby brother or sister)
Nonnit (a close second to Grommit)
T-Shawn

Summer happenings:

We had lots of fun on your 2nd birthday! Mommy and Daddy’s gift to you was a big inflatable princess castle bouncer in the backyard. You weren’t too sure about jumping in it, but you let daddy and papa hold you and jump in there with you. The kids all had fun, but the adults seemed to enjoy it even more! Grandma Jeanne made a cute baseball bat cake and you requested pizza, so that’s what we had. It was a nice 4th of July celebration with lots of family and friends.

We entertained guests from france in early august – mommy’s French teacher from college, Meg, and her family – Pierre, Jeanne (B.J.) and Ann Ducom.we took them to the Deanna Rose Farmstead and you, Gammi and Papa took them to the Royals game on a Friday night where everyone had a blast and didn’t get to bed ‘til midnight! You and the girls had so much fun playing dress-up and blowing bubbles together, too.

Other fun Royals games: We took your favorite priest, Father Tony, on a Friday night with Gammi and Papa
and we were invited to join Uncle Carl in his awesome suite on a Sunday afternoon!

You took a little vacation to Gammi and Papa’s for 3 days while mom and dad chilled out a bit. You played with your “camper” (a favorite toy that includes two little girls going camping with their sleeping bags. you named them “charli and suzie.”) You made great gram smile. You also spent hours in the swing papa hung up for you, as usual.

You had some nice visits with Grandma Jeanne and Grandpa Carl too! They're still among your favorite babysitters -- always bringing you fun socks from their travels and entertaining you for hours. We visited LV when the Haas family was here and you warmed right up to Aunt Kathy and Uncle Raleigh. They brought a Dora memory game for your birthday, which you instantly loved.

Other favorite summer activities have included hanging out with neighbor David and his mom Gerilyn, picking tomatoes from mommy’s lame tomato crop in the garden), getting to know Logan Vanecek (his family just moved to town – his mom introduced your mom and dad to each other a long time ago!), visiting the Jessups in Blue Springs to hang out with cousin charli (of course!) , playing with your “gator golf” set and playing with any kind of ball outside. You love to collect sticks and acorns and give them to people.


We're planning to go to Riverfest this weekend in Leavenworth and have a slumber party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. You're sure to have a blast with your Aunt Sue and Uncle Doug, Gma and Gpa D.


Favorite books right now:
The Princess and Fairy books Uncle Doug and Aunt Sue gave you.
Each Peach Pear Plum (from our French guests)
Dora’s Sharing Day
Blue’s Clues (something about tomato soup)
Dr. Seuss books at Gammi and Papa’s

Daddy has taken you on quite a few TCBY dates. You two are definitely ice cream buddies.

You’ve really gotten into princesses (and your mom was a tomboy!) You like to use your magic wand to turn mommy into a princess and then have me turn you into a princess. Here’s a typical conversation:

Josi (as fairy godmother with wand): Bibbity-bobbity-BOO!
I turned you into a princess!
Mommy: Can I have a purple dress?

Josi: No, I’m sorry, we’re out. We only have pink.

You love to be helpful. Offering people water bottles, tissues, or a bite of whatever you’re eating.

You are just starting to use the potty, but we have a little way to go.
Your incentive is always that you can wear a princess “pull-up” if you go.

You’re not really into swimming. We haven’t visited a pool all summer! Hopefully next year. We DID go miniature golfing for the first time. Daddy showed you a few things. You used your putter for about 3 holes and then just ran around and picked up our balls while we were playing.

You have an incredible memory and an ability to recognize things you've only seen a few times before.
You are a definite observer - often stepping away from the others in a group to just watch and soak things in.
You're quite independent and you have a sweet nature. One of my favorite things you do is to spontaneously tell us you love us. We couldn't feel more blessed.

Dear Josephine...(an update on your life)

a few things i want you to know about yourself when you were two..you can recite the pledge of allegiance and sing all the words to "grand old flag." in fact, whenever you hear anyone say "heart", you tell us all to put our hands over our hearts. you've undoubtedly learned this at school. you can also sing all the words to both verses of "you are my sunshine." i can't begin to count how many times we've sung that song together.....................so, about june...so much happens in a month!
early in june, we had our first annual neighborhood block party. you had a blast running with all your new friends and eating popsicles. you met your new best friends on the block, brooke and abby. they're 9 and you think they're the cat's meow. (so does your mom, cause they come over and play with you sometimes and i get a little house cleaning done!) we've discovered IHOP, you and I, and i don't mean the pancake place. It's called the International House of Prayer and it's a place where people sing and pray together all day and all night long. tonight we went for awhile and you joined the other kids in a little section they've created for dancing to worship music. you danced your heart out and i have a feeling you'll want to go back...we also went to homer's coffee shop "pickin' on the patio" where they play bluegrass and gospel music and have an open mic outdoors on monday nights. you enjoyed it and even requested a few songs. they had you come to the mic to sing "twinkle twinkle" and afterward you wanted "itsy bitsy spider!!!" so we sang them together. ..this month we visited des moines, iowa to see your great grandparents, great aunt and uncle sue and doug. i think ggma marge and ggpa oliver really enjoyed having us. you always make them smile. ggpa oliver even went to the zoo. according to the rest of the family, this was a miracle as he doesn't like to get out much. we all loved watching you run around and get so excited about the animals. speaking of zoos, we took you and your cousin charlize ( you call her char char) to the omaha zoo last week. it was a great family vacation. you girls got to swim in the hotel pool and we all shared a room. we spent the next day at the zoo and then drove to marysville that night for a fly-in and memorial dedication at the airport for one of my old classmates who died when we were younger. there were lots of people there and you sat in cousin chris grauer's helicopter. we saw skydivers too and ate free hotdogs. then that night, we went to hanover, ks for one of the greatest fireworks displays any of us had ever seen (even your daddy!) you weren't sure what to think about the bright lights and loud booms so you snuggled up to daddy and just peeked out every once in awhile. afterward, though, you decided you'd liked them. you and charli loved swimming in the pool that grammi had waiting at their house for you. (at one point you went all the way under water accidentally. but you were a brave girl the next day and got back in!) grammi and papa weren't home, but jenn, alan and charli, your daddy, you and i took over the house and had a lot of fun together. you continue to love hanging out with our little neighbor, david, and you two are always looking for each other when we're outside. he got a swing set which you LOVE to play on. you can see it from our porch and you remind me often. you know that you're going to be 2 on julyyyyy fourth (that's how you say it). you also know that's the day we say "bye bye to sassy." your mom had the brilliant idea to have you let you of your pacifiers that day. not really looking forward to it. we've told you they're going to live at another house like the kitties did. in a nutshell, josephine, you are an absolute joy.

You have your own voice now...

Well, Josephine, we've reached the point that I can't keep making up a blog voice for you. You've definitely found your OWN voice, so from now on, these entries will be from your mom to you to help you remember the first years of your sweet life. It probably won't be as much fun for everyone else to read, but i hope it will be a keepsake for you one day. So much has happened since our last entry. We took you to your first carnival (in downtown Mission) and you rode what you referred to as the "steering wheel" (ferris wheel). After riding the carousel and a little car kiddie ride twice, you went home and threw up in your crib. What were we thinking?!? Anyway, it's a memory we'll always chuckle at...You've fallen in love with the stadium, Slugger, the carousel, and your favorite player -- Billy Butler. You talk about all of them quite a bit...You also love Dora the Explorer, which you watch faithfully every morning...You love to play pretend games -- pretend to drive to sonic and order a drink for everyone, pretend to drive to Hyvee, pretend to serve us all kinds of interesting concoctions from your kitchen - most frequently coffees of all sorts (which is what you always hear mom order-- my favorite is your term for decaf -- "de-coffee") You also serve chocolate, peaches, medium diet cherry coke, pancakes (of course), birthday cake, salad, and countless other favorites. You continue to develop an extensive vocabulary that now includes things like "are you SERIOUS?" -- "i'll come back to see you!" -- "pat me, mommy" (when you want your back patted) -- "i go to hyvee and ride in the SPECIAL cart!" (the one with steering wheels) -- "my birthday is july fourth" -- "there's a tiny little bit in there" (referring to the milk in your sippy cup) -- the list goes on...We've been spending a lot of time with Jenn and Charli. You girls get so excited to see each other and then you bicker just like aunt jenn and i did when we were little. But at the end of the day, you love each other. What a blessing to grow up together! You're now going to Little Sprouts only 3 days a week and staying home with me for 2 days, which we both love...You're really into "pretend" calling people and you love to sing all the time. You've become quite independent and you say "do it myself"a lot...You had your first "official" skinned knees today. You cried for about 20 seconds and then decided you'd much rather stay outside and play than go and get a bandaid. We went to the Morrises house for a little Memorial Weekend get-together this evening. You, Izabella and Isaiah have a lot fun together. Oh, and we've been visiting your old babysitters Miss Peggy and her daughter Missy once a week. You've gotten to reconnect with your old "buds" which has been great. You've grown up so much since you used to go there. Daddy took us to St. Louis this weekend to see "different stadium" where the Royals played the Cardinals. Even though the Royals lost, we had a blast together. Well, that's all for now. Going to post some pix!

My New Fish & Other Happenings by Josi D.

Lots of exciting things happening around here -- most notably, I adopted a fish! Mom and I went to Petsmart yesterday and she let me pick out a fish and I named her Dorothy (just like Elmo!) This morning, Dorothy was floating at the bottom of her bowl. Mom says she was sleeping in so we were really quiet and didn't disturb her. When I got home from school today, I noticed that Dorothy looked really different. I pointed and said, "DIFFERENT Dorothy." Did mom think I wouldn't notice that it was another fish? I guess the other one went on vacation... Daddy's been working so hard preparing for opening day, but he calls and comes home whenever he can. We know his hard work will pay off when opening day comes in 3 more days! I'm pumped about checking out the new stadium! A few other thing i'm excited about...I love to make "towers." This usually involves pulling all the clothes out of my dresser drawers and piling them up really high. I'm also really into pancakes--eating them and pretending to make them. Been saying some silly things. For some reason, I keep telling mom: "No clothes for YOU." I went to my very first official "playdate" with 4 boys! Their moms marveled at how much I talk. Like a typical girl, I was the chatty cathy of the group while the boys just wanted to throw balls and run around. I've been enjoying some great visits from the grandparents. For awhile there, they were staying a lot and mom was acting really lazy. Now she feels better and she's chasing me around again. We had a slumber party at the Jessups last Friday and went to visit Miss Peggy too. Gotta sign off for now. More soon...Night Night!

springing forward

i've decided to take time out of my busy day to write this for uncle carl. dad says he actually reads our blog, so he deserves a shout out! THANKS, UNCLE CARL! we've been having some awesome spring weather so me and the Little Sprouts are playing outside a lot at school. daddy and i play in the yard with the ball. i'm getting pretty good at throwing. On chilly evenings, mom and i invent things to do until daddy gets home. Most recently, mom turned a cardboard box into a playhouse for me. i think she's WAY more into i than i am. she has fond memories of the one she had when she was little. i have to admit, it's pretty fun to have my own place. had my 15 month check-up the other day (even tho i'm 20 months...we've been slackin'). got 3 shots but i was brave. papa came in with us, so he helped me feel better fast. i'm officially 25 pounds, and in the 75th percentile for height, so still considering athletics or maybe i'll just be a tall ballerina. the doctor asked if i have at least 20 words in my vocabulary. mom laughed cause i'm so chatty, they've lost count. did i mention that mommy has a baby in her tummy? sometimes i ask daddy if he has one too. i'm going to have a new brother or sister in september. not sure what that means, but i'll understand soon enough, i guess! i'm really starting to talk on the phone to people. before, i would just stare at the phone when they talked. but now, i chat them up. also, if you come over, it's likely i will want to read to you. yeah, people used to read to me, but that was soooo last year. now, i pick up my favorite books and just string together snippets of words i remember. guess it's pretty entertaining. we went to Taste of Leavenworth last weekend. It's a benefit auction that grandma and grandpa d. help with every year. they had great food to sample and so many people to watch. my favorite was a little coin funnel. it kept me mesmerized all evening as i mooched pennies and nickels off of people so i could drop them in. plus, my buddies aunt sue and uncle doug were there! yesterday, we had breakfast with the shums -- karmen,justin and kathy. they're so much fun. they always pay attention to me and there's always a lot of laughter and story-telling when they're around. here are a few photos. oh, speaking of photos, check out what mom caught me doing the other day. she said i could take ONE kleenex, but i just enjoyed pulling it out so much, i couldn't stop. going to close for now. we're getting ready to head out for a mexican dinner. until next time...

where did january go?

well, i'll tell ya. for starters, i spent the first month of 2009 getting adjusted to my new "school" (see previous blog :0) much to mom and dad's delight, i went from crying when they dropped me off to crying when they pick me up cause i don't want to leave. a good sign, indeed. i love to say the names of my new friends there: miss natalie, mr. david, miss laverne and all the kids. i'm learning to walk in my green rubber boots with the frog faces on them. when we play outside, we all wear boots. it's my first boot experience. i'll post a pic for you. i'm learning so much -- always coming home singing a new song -- jesus loves me, twinkle twinkle, i'm a little teapot, wheels on the bus, and other things mom and dad can't quite make out yet. other things i'm saying a lot: c'mere pleeeeease!...cutie patootie...amen, ALELULIA! (i shouted this at church with grammi and papa last week)...what happened?...kittie food, daddy said "NO" (indicating daddy's preference that i keep my hands out of the catfood)... MY mommy (as in, not YOUR mommy)...where'd mark and kim go?...mommy be back, daddy be back (when they drop me off at school)...right here!(showing mommy where to put something)... move please!...sit down here...go see OLD PEOPLE (mom says we need to start calling them seniors)...walk AGAIN. i like to put on mommy's stocking hat and grab my purse and other random items and pretend i'm going to mexico. i've decided i like baths cause mom and i always play with letters and numbers in the bathtub and dora and boots take a bath with us. today a package arrived in the mail. it was "helen" -- our dear friend sarah tripp's cabbage patch kid. sarah's husband jack sent helen to me to raise since sarah went home to be with jesus. we became fast friends, helen and i. i was delighted to discover she has a belly button too! oh, i also love serving people from my play kitchen--food and drinks of whatever sort. i often ask mom to get the coffee pot out (which i call a teapot) so that i can offer the good stuff. oh! i've fallen in love with the moon. tonight mom got the cutest picture of me reaching for the moon. she and dad think its cool that i think i can actually reach it. they say if more adults were like that, they would dream more and doubt less. whatever. too deep for me at this point. i'm just reachin' for the moon.

I'm a Lil' Sprout!

Announcing my first official week at Lil' Sprouts Montessori Daycare/Preschool. I'm not gonna lie, people -- it has been rough. Well, mostly in the mornings as i cling to mom and dad and cry "don't like it!" as they run out the door feeling guilty. However, the truth is, Miss Natalie says i'm happy most of the day, learning and interacting with the other kids (who are all different ethnicities --a bonus point with mom and dad). I've learned to sleep on a little mat at nap time. We all have our own spot that we sleep in every day. Miss N. turns the lights down low and plays soothing music and makes it smell really good. The only problem is,i can only have my pacifier and blanky during naptime, and it's been like quitting smoking cold turkey when she takes it away. I'm adjusting, but dang, it's hard. Mom says i'll thank them one day when other kids are still trying to quit. Whatever. So how did we find Lil' Sprouts school? Mom and Dad had been praying for a long time to find just the right little place to continue loving care i received from miss peggy during my first year of life. They were feeling like i was ready for the next step. One day, Mom was at our favorite coffehouse (Homers) and she found a business card for Miss Natalie Nelson's Lil'Sprouts Montessori Preschool -- Nature Based, Christ-centered, a little urban farm in the city -- mom and dad loved the sound of it! So, we visited and found a beautiful log home with a huge backyard that has raised garden beds, a green house, a big tree house, little fish ponds and best of all CHICKENS!! Miss Natalie is a really neat lady. She, her new husband, Mr. David, and her housemate Miss Laverne are the teachers. There's a neat little kitchen where we learn to cook organic foods and even to recycle! (mom loves it that this place is granola!) We kids have an "egg business" that includes collecting eggs from the chicken coop, putting them in cartons, and selling them to our parents. We have "circle time" where we sit cross-legged on mats and Miss N. says i'm good about sitting still and paying attention. We learn praise songs, things like days of the week and months of the year. Unless it is bitter cold, we go outside for awhile in the afternoon. We wear slippers inside and rubber boots to run around in outside. Mine are green and look like frogs. Well, gotta run. Week #2 is coming up. We're enjoying spending the weekend as a family!