Mommy's Little Helper

My wonderful mother had to help me decorate the the tree this year...for those of you who really know me - you know that I am not a "Christmas person" even when I am not 8 1/2 months pregnant. In a true effort to overcome the Scrooge in me - I ordered a "real" tree a few wreathes. You may recall our last encounter with a real tree (just 3 months after moving into our new house our beautiful real tree had a slow leak in the stand which ruined our perfect hardwood floors) and my vowed to NEVER had another real tree. I should have listened to that little voice in my head that told me not to do it again - but I didn't. I will save you the extended version of the story and tell you that the 9 foot tree I ordered somehow grew into a 12 foot tree - back down to a 9+ foot tree that would not fit into the NEW stand....and NO record of my wreathe order....long story short - after an entire day of tree drama which included me and my huge belly laying on the hardwood floor under the tree trying get the tree to stand up straight and once again vowing to never have another real tree- it is up and honestly - really pretty....thanks to the my patient loving mother! Meanwhile

Josie discovered the new roll of paper towels in the laundry room and enjoyed tearing them off one at a time.
She also helped MeMe decorate the tree by attaching herself
to her leg every time she climbed up the ladder.
Josie's reaction to me Turing the lights on each night almost
makes it worth it - haha. She seems to really love the lights.

Family Photos

We recruited my Mom and Dad to help us take a few family pics by the pond in a effort to capture the perfect image for our Christmas card....I now know why professional photographers charge so much...it is impossible to get a good picture of all three of us . Especially when the photographers assistance...my Dad...was fishing instead of helping. Josie was much more interested in the fishing than the camera. Oh well - at least we had fun!
My fav is the one of the three of us - doesn't Josie look so happy?!?!?! She was watching Pop catch a fish while the wind almost blew all of us over! In the end we got one picture the made the cut....I will post it after I send out the cards...

Daycare

Josie is going to start going to daycare two days a week beginning the Tues after Thanksgiving. Here she is all dressed and ready to meet her new friends!

She is looks like a "little girl" now - it happens soooo fast!

The Chicken and The Egg

Kevin has always called Josie his little chicken (no real reason- but it stuck) so we thought the chicken costume would be perfect. We even say we are doing a "chicken check" when we peak in on her while she is sleeping. Of course we couldn't leave out the "belly" so I threw the egg in for my own amusement. At least now we know in the Walker family which came first, the chicken, not the egg!

Wonder what they will be next year???

Josie's New Room

Josie moved into her "new" room a few weeks ago!
Kevin's Dad helped with the move and repaired my
old table and chairs that Mom kept all these years.
Josie loves her new room! I cried, but Josie was fine! She helped move her clothes and toys and was really excited about her "new" table and chairs. We only had one meltdown - when I took all of her books and put them into a bag Josie began to cry - and she cried until she saw that I was putting them in her "new" room. Of course I had to read EVERY single book once we put them in her room. I have to admit it was hard to move her out of the nursery- she was ready, but I was not.

Pigtails

How cute is she?? Josie will let me put them in just so she can pull them out - but it's worth it!

Potty

I turn my head for a minute and she found the
toilet paper! We have introduced Josie to the potty - but she is not too sure about it yet. She will tell us she has to "pee" and will run to the bathroom but does not like the "bare" bottom yet. At least we are moving in the right direction.

Daddy Let Me Drive

Josie has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger! She loves to blow the horn. Of course she is only allowed to "drive" to the dog pen - where she loves to call the dogs. She is growing up so fast!

Dancing with Dada

Who Me?

Our little girl isn't so little anymore! She is a little over 14 months old, 26 pounds, 33 and a half inches tall and 8 or so teeth. Josie is saying a lot of words and tries so hard to tell us what is on her mind. She can show you where you most of her body part are- toes, eyes, ears, hair, belly, nose and loves to find Mama and Dada's belly buttons too. She says "woof woof" or "woo woo"when she sees ANY dog, and can tell you what the cow, horse, and chicken say. Bye Bye is her favorite right now - she says bye bye to everything - when she is finished eating, when you leave the room, when the phone rings, when you ask for kisses, if you put on your shoes - to Josie any reason to say bye is a good one. She now follows Kevin to the door each morning when he leaves and says "bye, bye Dada" which of course makes him melt - especially when she follows it by blowing him kisses! Josie LOVES for you to read to her and will sit through the same book a hundred times - so we rotate books so I don't get bored. She can point out some things - like the mouse or moon but HAS to point out EVERY dog or baby. Food is Josie's friend - she is not a picky eater -but definitely has her favorites - bread (esp bagels), fruit, honey bees graham crackers, yogurt and anything that crunches. Not a big meat eater yet, but still loves green beans and butter beans. She will beg for food and has learned the art of "please" which sounds more like peas - but works every time. In the picture she has found the hiding place for her pacifier (which she is only allowed to have when she is in bed) and she couldn't resist - she took all 5 and quietly sat in her chair. She is a lot of fun!

Mommy and Me

Josie and I had fun at our photo session....she a cutie isnt' she!!!

Cousin Hayden

Courtney, Darrell and Hayden came over Sunday for a long overdue visit! (Hayden is 5 weeks older than Josie) The top picture is from Oct 06 - when they were calm sweet children.....the other pictures are from Sunday when they couldn't slow down for the flash! It was so much fun watching them play. Josie was more than a little obsessed with Hayden's shoes (which I thought I was going to have to buy before he left since she would not part with them and had chewed on them all day) Hayden really liked Josie's little rocking chair and they pushed and pulled each other out of it all day. All-in-all they had a really good time together. I think they will grow to be really good buddies as long as we keep two of everything handy! (haha)

Family Reunion

Yes, that is a drumstick! Only the best for my daughter!!

The Walker family reunion was lots of fun - but I failed to take pictures this year - so our memory will be Josie's first piece of fried chicken!

My Buddy

Issac Hite and his brothers (and parents) came down for the weekend. Josie LOVES Issac. He is just her size! Issac is on the verge of crawling so he spent a lot of his time on his belly - after his visit, we noticed Josie was acting like Issac and doing what we have named "the Pete Rose" - she slides on her belly! They shared toys and hugs and kisses - so sweet!

Daddy's Little Helper

Josie is so much help! She can pick up the one thing you need and hide it. She hid one of her shoes at my Mom's house in the juice pitcher - which JF found several days later when he wanted to make some lemonade!

Happy Birthday Josie

Good Morning Birthday Girl!

You have to have a Luau at the beach right???


Yes she is wearing a coconut top!!!















She loved her cake but didn't make as big of a mess
as I thought she would.
But she did eat A LOT of icing and cake (and kept waking up during the night looking for more)!












Half the cake later - she is on a sugar high!

More B-day party

The kids all gathered for party!

Josie's first telephone - lucky she can only call Pooh!

We had the cutout for the "kids" but you see who really enjoyed it!

Where did everybody go???

Walker Family Beach Trip

Josie LOVED all the attention during the Walker family beach trip. Aunt Cholly's shades were perfect!
Aunt Dolly's Blowpop was tasty!


Living the life - Josie played in her own personal pool under the tent! The gang filled the bottom of the boat up with water (and John added a few fish) so Josie could play all day! We started off with the big boat and downsized! It was a life saver for me and Josie had a ball. It doesn't get much better than sitting on the beach in the shade surrounded by family!

Few More Beach

Josie really enjoyed Hannah John and Eliza!

Cole is such a sweetheart!!! He said that he needed to hold her hand cause she was in the water and might get scared!

Big Girl!

Hard to believe she is so big! Walking everywhere, into everything and so curious. Josie loves for you to read to her but seems to enjoy "reading" to herself just as much. I enjoy every moment with her - even the tear filled ones. She has 6 teeth now (four top and two bottom) and knows how to use them! She is about 25 pounds and 34 inches or so. Josie is up at 6 AM and Kevin goes and gets her our of her bed. Each morning Pop comes over around 6:15 and cooks us breakfast, Kevin leaves for work by 6:30 and Grandma comes in around 8:00. With a big hug, kiss and "Bye-Bye MaMa" I leave her to go to work. Josie LOVES Grandma and Pop. She whispers "Pop" - she will NOT say it loud - it is so cute. She wakes up saying "DaDa, Mama, Pop" It is the best alarm clock! She has all of us wrapped around her little finger!

What Icecream?

Josie's first taste of chocolate ice cream!

It's A Party!

Andrew turned the ONE! It was so fun to see the little ones play together!
Josie's new best friend!
Janay's sister Stephanie and Josie make the perfect pair - Steph likes the icing and Josie likes the cake!

The Birthday Boy!