Happy 11 month birthday, Josie (almost a week late since xanga wouldn't let me upload this photo- so, I guess I will be more selective about my photos on here now that they are limiting them.  If you want to see more- catch them on facebook)

Hard to believe almost a year has passed since Josie Lorraine came into our lives.  She is such a sweet little girl and we are so thankful she is part of our family.  I love watching her and her sister play together- their love for each other is so special.  Josie has (finally) gotten onto a pretty regular schedule (barring sickness and other interruptions) this month.  She is down to nursing only 1x at night, and nursing 5 times a day in addition to 3 meals a day.  She loves to stand and cruise, but isn't ready to take steps on her own yet.  She no longer is content to just be held when were are "out and about"- she wants to get down and crawl and explore- whether at the beach, the playground, etc.  She is very interested in the world around her.  She is trying to articulate a few words- "Mamma" "Dadda", "Nenna" for Jenna, "Ee-OO" for Cleo....she babbles a lot and loves to make noises.  She is a good eater and is thrilled to be able to eat just normal table food!  Her hair continues to come in (very slowly) with lots of red....but the back is darker, so maybe it will be auburn?  Eyes are hazel now.  We are excited to see the changes the next few months will bring in the life of our little Josie.

Last weekend, we met some friends up at Lynx Lake in Prescott.  It was a gorgeous day- just perfect fall weather to be out for a picnic overlooking a beautiful lake!  There were some birch trees along the lake (surrounded by all the Ponderosa Pine) that had leaves changing colors, which was so pretty.  Fun day of hiking and fellowship!  This is Jenna with her 2 little friends: Danielle and Beth.

The girls and I have been busy the past few weeks with play dates, dance class, watching a ballet rehearsal, carving pumpkins, doing school, etc.  Friday, Ben got to dress up for school and he was a rock star.  All the 5th graders thought this was a super cool costume!

The girls dressed up on Friday for story time at the library....Jenna has really enjoyed story time lately, and this week it was extra special as after the book and craft, the kids got to trick or treat around the library.  Super fun (Jenna is in the back holding a fan next to her friend Bailey who is in the yellow bee outfit)

Saturday, Ben's step-sister and her boyfriend came up to visit us.  They just love the girls so much- always special to be with them....we did some fun fall crafts and then Ben took them 4WDing up the Harquahalas....and then we all went trick or treating together.  Jenna was Mulan this year (Lonnie bought her this costume- isn't it gorgeous?!) and Josie was a little bumblebee!!   Jenna was so excited waiting to go trick or treating.  Lonnie sent this costume to us about 2 months ago, and Jenna has been talking about Halloween since then.  She was super excited to have her face painted (hard to see in this picture, but it is painted white like a geisha and she has eye liner and shadow and lipstick on- big stuff!) and had to be "authentic" down to the green "jade" necklace and comb in her hair that Mulan wore.  She sure notices lots of details!

And of course, Ben was my Prince Charming since I was Snow White (Ben borrowed the costume for me from a co-worker!).  The people handing out candy got such a kick out of our costumes that they gave us candy too ;)

We met up with 2 groups of friends to trick or treat around the block.  Jenna had a BLAST!  She was so excited and smiled from ear to ear.  It was such a fun night.  Here is Jenna with her friends Brianna (from dance class- new friend she has made), Jessa and Brynlee (who was in a gorgeous Jasmine costume) peaking out from behind the wall. 

After a week of dealing with the flu, we were excited as our trip approached to have everyone restored to good health.  The girls recovered quickly, so come our departure date, we were ready to go!  Supergirl...

We drove to Carlsbad, CA and went to Tamarack Beach.  This beach is a known surfing beach, and there were some large waves that built and broke a few yards from shore.  Fun to watch surfers riding on them.

Off to our hotel.  Lonnie generously gave us a week of her timeshare points to use for this vacation (thank you so much again!)!  And the resort was awesome!  When we walked into the lobby to check in- they greeted us with gifts for the girls and a clown making balloon animals (Jenna thought this was super cool).  We had a 2 bedroom condo with full living area....the awesome thing about this is that the girls BOTH slept every night (and actually slept in till about 7 every morning)- so, for the first time in a year, I actually read an entire book in like 4 days and was able to rest on a vacation.  So awesome!  Outside, they had a kids pool area complete with a super fun splash pad.  It was a bit chilly for Jenna, who preferred to go into the "baby pool" (hot tub), but it was fun.

Monday, we went to Legoland (which was literally 1 block away- so nice to be able to just walk to it).  This was a super fun park with great rides for young kids and lots of lego statues and models.... 

Me and the girls on the boat ride seeing some of the lego models

Jenna riding on a car track....it was pretty funny as she actually had to press the pedal and steer at the same time- we got some good laughs out of it.  Her response, "Mommy, I didn't do very good on that because I am still little.  When I get bigger, I will do better."  Ha!

A cool  morning....Josie sporting her warm gear

All throughout the park were areas to play with legos or displays...Jenna and Ben shooting water at the crocodiles

This airplane ride was Jenna's favorite.  I think we went on it about 5 times.  She loved it!  It had a great acceleration going around the curves, and she thought it was super fun to go without holding on like she saw the big kids doing. 

She also was very proud that she was able to go on this ride all by herself- very cute!

Lego model of the inauguration of Obama.  Amazing!

Goofing off at the hotel...

Beach day- cloudy and cool day, but the girls still enjoyed playing in the sand....

Ben dug this hole and Josie had a blast climbing in and out of it- and eating sand in the process. 

So cute...building a castle

Sweet sisters...

Hiking at Palomar Mountain- overcast day, but we enjoyed the big trees

Back at the hotel- Jenna is thrilled with her new lego set (How cool is it that they make pink Legos now?)

Day 2 at Legoland- riding the Storybook Brook Ride...

Jenna loved seeing all her favorite Story characters out of Legos (3 Little Pigs, Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood, etc).

Riding on the Sky Coaster with Mommy

And the boats with Daddy

The amazing Lego Model of NYC- you can see how large the models are....those are adults standing next to them on the sidewalk.

At SeaLife Aquarium- the little aquarium attached to Legoland.  Love Jenna's expression here.

Josie was mesmerized by the fish....

Touching the starfish..

Lots of rays at this aquarium....and of course lego submarines and stuff in the tanks....Legos everywhere!

Jenna really enjoyed Legoland.  She said, "Mommy- Legoland was so fun.  But, Disney is better because it has the princesses.  But, I would rather go to Lisa's house!"  HA!  Guess Ohio is now the "happening" vacation spot according to our 3 y.o.

Friday, we went to a pumpkin patch and picked out a couple pumpkins.

And then off to the beach....I didn't think Josie would want to go in the water since she hadn't liked it when we put her feet in it- so I didn't put on her bathing suit.  Um, that was a mistake!  She took one look at her sister playing in the water....

And took off- straight into the waves.....

She loved it!

This was our first fully sunny day- just beautiful day for the beach!  Well, Xanga just said I exceeded my montly limit on pictures....so I guess I am done.  I have been uploading photos to facebook, so if you are on there, there are quite a few more of our trip.  I may start just putting pictures on there instead of xanga as it is faster and unlimited amount.  Thoughts??