Good Morning, Sunshine!

Ok, this is weird but I have been waiting for MONTHS for Josie to do this....

Josie has decided the past couple of days that she wants to go straight to "Daddy's chair" when she wakes up, cover up with her blanket, hold her bunny and watch Dora! Josie has NEVER been a child to just sit and watch TV unless it's in the car. She will say that she wants a certain show on, but she will continue to play and not really pay much attention to the show for long periods of time. It's not at all that I want my child to depend on TV for entertainment. However, I would be lying if I didn't say it would be nice to get a few things done while she's content! I have thought how fun it would be for Josie to do this and get more into her Disney movies, etc! I know... Like I said, it's weird.

I think it's the most adorable thing to see her curled up in the chair and just relaxing. I mean... who doesn't love to do that?!?! Apparently, Josie has just discovered how wonderful that really is :) And... maybe, just maybe she will let me sit down and curl up with her :)

** Side Note --- we are totally into Dora the Explorer these days. Her "first love" will always be Barney, but she doesn't talk about him much anymore. I admit that I'm glad to move onto something else, as well!

When I Grow Up.....

I often wonder about Josie's future .....

What will be her favortie hobbies?

What will she pursue in school?

Will she want to always stay close to home or venture out to other areas of the country?

It's also fun to think about what she will be when she grows up!

Maybe she has been giving us a few clues....

a Mommy??

a hairstylist??



a musician??


a model??







I love seeing Josie's little personality develop! I do know one thing.... she will be AMAZING at whatever she decides to do in life :)

Random Thoughts (and Pictureless Post)

Just some random thoughts while they're on my mind

(and I know I will forget if I don't record NOW!)

These are just a few funny things that I don't want to forget!

* Have I mentioned Josie's obsession with the potty!??! I think this new (and very popular) topic of discussion at our house began when Josie received a few baby dolls for Christmas. She suddenly showed A LOT of interest in going to the potty and all babies must wear a diaper. She will even tell you when the baby has a "Eww" diaper! So, we have started potty training at our house. This is one of the toughest things I have come across as a Mom. We are using bribery as our strategy -- M &M's work pretty good for us! (I will have to designate an entire post on this subject... I could go on and on!)

* Josie is a snacker! The last time I really remember her eating big meals consistently was when she was first introduced to "real" food a year ago. She really prefers to snack throughout the day. I'm pretty sure she gets this awful habit from me! Also, I'm sad to say that we don't have a very good diet around here. Josie prefers pancakes, cheese, chips, goldfish and pizza. She will eat bananas but that's about the only fruit she prefers these days. I think the issue with fruit has always been a texture thing for her. She will immediately spit out strawberries, oranges, etc.

* Not only is she a "snacker", she's a DRINKER! Josie definitely drinks way more in a day than she ever thought about eating. She used to really only want milk and would choose it over juice. This has recently changed. We still do half water/half juice. I'm thinking of limiting her to only once sippy cup of juice a day and milk or water the rest of the day.

* Josie loves wipes! She's forever bringing the box of wipes around the house and pulling out a bunch to clean her baby or wipe her baby's nose. If I could only get her to focus that obsession on wiping down some counters or something! Maybe one day :) If I had a dime for every time in a day that I say, "just one wipe, Josie!", I would be one rich girl!

* Josie loves to read! She mostly wants to read at night time. The three books that she likes the most right now are: 5 little monkeys, the Dog book and Llama Llama Red Pajama. She actually even sleeps with these books at night (along with her bunny!)

Snow Day!

We woke up to snow on Monday morning! Josie just stared at it out the window. It was so fun to watch her just take it all in!

The schools were closed in our area and many businesses were closed, but we decided to open Kreme Kastle that morning for the day. Daycare was actually open on Monday. So, my poor little Josie had to go to school while many of her friends were probably home playing in the snow :( I was so glad that several of her friends (and cousin Addison) were already at school when Josie arrived. After lunch, I picked Josie up and brought her home. As soon as we pulled up in the driveway, Josie started saying "touch it!" I had no idea what she was meaning, but I soon discovered that she wanted to play in the snow! So, we quickly went inside and changed into the closest thing that we had to snow gear and went out to play for a short while!

So.... yes.... those are Dora panties that Josie's playing with in the snow! She was determined to take them outside with her.... sometimes I wonder what's going on in that little two year old head of hers :)

We had a blast! Josie didn't want to go back inside, but we had to go warm up!

Painting Playdate

Josie was invited to a "Painting Playdate" on Saturday. How fun and what a perfect playdate for a cold winter day! I was picturing a very messy playdate but it ended up being much "cleaner" than I thought. ha! All of the little ones came up one at a time and had their little thumbs painted with white paint and the helper had them put 3 thumbprints on the canvas to create the snowman's body. Then, the sweet and talented helper did the rest for them!

This is the finished product! How cute!

While all of the kids were taking turns doing their paintings, we let the rest of the kids run around the gym (we were at a local church). They had a blast playing with the toys, balls and Josie ate a BUNCH of snacks!

Josie enjoys talking on ANY phone these days and I think can spot a phone from a mile away :)

Her conversation always goes like this....."Hello!"..... "Yeah!"......"Hey JJ!"

It cracks me up!

Little Izzy doing her "thumbprints"

Izzy and Josie.... big buddies :)

My little "painter"... too bad I cut her head off in the picture :(

We had such a great time! It's always so fun watching the little ones get together and play!

Josie's 2nd Birthday Party!

We had a small family birthday party for Josie on the night of her birthday. We had one of Josie's faves... pizza! And, of course there was cake and ice cream, too :) We had a great time!

The birthday cake :)

blowing out the candles!

JJ, Grandmommy, Josie and Nonni

Josh, Josie, Addison and Matthew

playing with her baby dolls (of course!)

Barney birthday card from Grandmommy and JJ!

Josie LOVED the balloons!

Josie, Granny and Addison

The Birthday girl was getting sleepy.... Uncle "Machew" reading her a book!

Josie's Birthday Breakfast and "School" Party

January 5, 2011:

Josie's 2nd Birthday was full of celebrating!

We started with birthday pancakes (and you can't forget the birthday hat!)

I love this "You are special today" plate that I found at a local gift shop.

Josie's Birthday cupcakes that we took to her "school"

-- Made by yours truly (as if you can't tell! ha!)


Josie and friends at school
It was hilarious to watch the kids sitting quietly in their seats and some diving (literally) right in to the cupcakes and some were just playing with the icing! I think Josie liked the Minnie Mouse plates and napkins the best!

Josie and teachers Miss Mary & Miss Holly

Josie was still licking the icing from her fingers :)

Cousin Addison was in the classroom next door. She wanted to join the birthday fun!

Josie's TWO!!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little girl I know!

Josie Elizabeth Shearon is TWO today!!!!

I cannot believe my precious girl is two years old! Time is just flying by. It seems like just yesterday that we were going to the hospital to meet that precious girl :) Josie was born at 9:30 am on January 5, 2009. Two years ago at this time, Josh and I were sitting in the hospital staring at our sweet little baby not having a clue how much she would change our lives FOREVER. I can hardly remember what life was like before her... Well, maybe... but it was certainly not as exciting :)

January 5, 2009 : Josie's BIRTHday!




January 5, 2010: Josie's ONE!

January 5, 2011: Josie's TWO!!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner last night with some close friends. We had such a great time!

As the "old people" we are these days, we were home and in the bed well before the New Year :)

Josh and I are looking forward to a new year and all of the wonderful things that God has in store for us. I haven't set any "real" New Year's resolutions. I just want to try to slow down and enjoy all of our blessings and be the best mother and wife that I can be. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. Praying for much happiness and MANY blessings for all of our friends and family in the new year. Cheers to 2011!!!

Breaking in the Christmas Toys!

I think we MAY have finally recovered from Christmas!

Whew! What a fun, exciting and busy time of year!

Josie has been one extremely busy little girl for the past week. She has been so excited about all of her new toys. She has even had trouble sleeping at night this week. I truly think it's because of all of the excitement. Josie has never been much about playing by herself or being content without one of us pretty close by and watching what she's doing, BUT........ This girl has been totally content all week with all of her new toys! It's been a lot of fun to watch her excitement!

Side Note: I love that she loves all of her new toys, but this week after Christmas has been a true test for my Type A personality/OCD-ness about being organized :) Our house looks like a war zone (I should have included a pic of that... I'm sure that would have provided a good reminder/laugh about this chaos one day in the future!) However, I am VERY grateful that I have a sweet, healthy and happy little girl in this house that is blessed with all of these wonderful toys. There WILL be a day when she's older and out of the house that I will truly miss the messiness of my house!