I will fly..

My good friend, who I spent far too little time with, Bettina Carrocetto (in the middle wearing a chocolate colored dress)was killed in a car accident on Wednesday. She was an amazing person, a smile that would clear the skies of a hurricane, and a spirit that will always give me the encouragement I need. We didn't have enough good times together and I will miss you.

Christmas 2009- better late than never!

The Frohnerath Family Photo shoot produced these great pictures. We love how Jocelyn likes having her picture taken. She even goes to the camera after she smiles on cue so she can see how it turned out!

Here is the Maus Family

Jocelyn wearing her cute monkey PJ's and her new hat from Guatemala.

Playing around with Pop-Pop

Auntie Erica- I know I am a gift but you don't have to put a bow on me!

Catching Up!

Jocelyn and Grandma playing around at Christmas time.

Jocelyn and her first exploration of the Christmas tree.

Here Jocelyn is at her friend Myla Belle's 1st Birthday party.
She loved riding the pony.

Here is Jocelyn smashing the cake on her first birthday.
She didn't really even eat any of it.
Perhaps she doesn't have her mother's sweet tooth.

Here she is checking out one of her new toys.
It's a fridge toy that she loves to push the buttons on.
--(the same button) over and over and over-

Frohnerath Family Halloween

Here are some snapshots of this past weekend. Rick and Deb Frohnerath (Ricky's parents) took all of us to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween and the Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. It was SOO nice of them and we had such a great time. As you can see the Frohneraths were Star Wars Characters. Jeff and Erica (Ricky's Sister and Brother-in-law) were a delightful pair- Snow White and Prince Charming. Jocelyn was a perfect little girl- she enjoyed the whole weekend and was smiles almost the entire time. Between Epcot during the day and Magic Kingdom Halloween night I think we ended up wearing her out and she started to fuss around about 10PM-- but we had definitely challenged her endurance all day. She is so much fun. I think I need to purchase her a girly hat though instead of wearing her cousin Ben's hand me down- a lot of people confused her for a boy- and looking at the pictures I can see why. Her Halloween shirt had ruffles on the sleeves though!

Meet Me in St. Louis

This was our first adventure in St. Louis. We went to Grant's Farm which was the home of the United States president. It was purchased by August Busch many years ago and turned into the Busch Family Estate. The Anheuser Busch family has opened their "Farm" up to the public for many years now. They have a variety of animals there - waterbuffalo, longhorn steer, zebra, many varieties of deer, mustang, antelope, kangaroo, giraffe, elephant and a few other I can't name off the top. Grant's Farm is also the breeding location of the World Famous Clydesdales. We got to pet a couple of 6 month olds that were as big as a full grown horses!
Jocelyn liked the goats. She was giggling, laughing and kicking the whole time in Ricky's arms.

We went up into the Arch. I hadn't done that since I was a little kid.

It was a breezy day and let me tell you...I knew that without looking out the windows. Here is Ricky pointing out how far the arch would fall if the wind were to say...blow us over.

It is beautiful when the sun hits it!

Here we are at the St. Louis Cardinal's Stadium, Busch Stadium. We had seats that let us see quite a lot- I guess it helps if you want to get a birds eye view to get the very last row in a stadium.

A view of the Arch at twilight.

This is a happy child is it not? We went to the zoo this day. Jocelyn loves quite a few things but she really likes being outside and looking around and she really loves to have her picture taken.

This is Jocelyn and her 2nd cousin Claire sitting on some chairs that her Great Grandpa Dohm made for Connie, Leah's cousin. We thought it would make a couple of great pictures, and it did.

This is Jocelyn and her godmother Sarah- Leah's cousin and Claire's mom. We had a great time in St. Louis. PS- If you ever go to St. Louis do not miss out on going to the Zoo. It is a really great place, beautifully landscaped, well designed, beautiful animals AND it is FREE!!! In fact, almost all of the public things in St. Louis are free i.e. Grant's Farm, the art museums, and the parks. It is a great city.

The Petitt Family Visit Florida

Many of you know The Petitt and Ogles Families. Here are some shots of a get together we had at Leah's Mom and Dad's. AKA- The toy house! As you can see there was no shortage of toys for the children to play with. Jonah is the little guy in the blue onesie- he is 1 month older than Jocelyn. Cali and Jim's older son Luke is also in the shots as well as John and Alyson's son, Austin. It was a lot of fun to get together with everyone. Our friend Stefanie Alt, who is expecting in January, also made it all the way over to Seminole for the afternoon and so did our friend Richard.