Ladybug, Ladybug Fly Away Home

Today was a pretty warm day, and we could see many insects outside flying around. There were dozens of ladybugs right outside our door, and Piper was intrigued by them. I tried putting them in her hand for her to hold, and she would pick them up with her other hand. I was afraid she was unintentionally hurting them, but they were "playing dead" and would push their legs back out and fly away when left alone. It's ironic how they appeared on Halloween since she is dressing up like a ladybug this year.

Falling Asleep

I wish it were only this easy to get her to fall asleep at my house. Grandma has the magic touch.

The Blue Dress

This was a case of really bad lighting, but I wanted some pics of her wearing her blue dress before I took it off of her yesterday. She wore this to her cousins' baptisms, and it is already getting too small.

Pretending

Here's my girl feeding her baby doll. I can't tell if she really thinks she's feeding the doll or what. She gives her kisses and hugs too. I think it's funny that as much as she obviously loves her dolly, she carries her around by the hair.

Dancing Fool

She loves to dance and has quite a few moves!

Obama Rally

Yesterday we went to the latest Obama rally downtown. We've seen him speak a couple of times before. Nothing new, same old talking points. It's still pretty fascinating though seeing all the people wound up and excited. They played some good music too before he started his speech. Evan Bayh was there too.

Erick went around and sold his political t-shirts. Grrr! I HATE those shirts. I can't even stand to look at them anymore. If we ever get them paid for and have any left over, I swear I'm going to burn them in a bonfire.

Anyway, here's a picture of my funky munky on the lawn in front of the flag after the rally was over.

Yum, Cherrios!

This is what happens when I'm on the computer and stop paying attention to her for a minute. I didn't actually let her sit there and eat them. Even though the floor had been swept that day, I still threw all the cereal in the trash. She was not happy!

Zoo Boo

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We went to the zoo for Zoo Boo and dressed Piper up in her ladybug costume. She really did have fun, although you can't really tell from the pictures. She wouldn't smile in any of them!

My First Meme

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?
1. Produce: raspberries
2. Dairy: organic milk
3.Meat: marinated salmon
4. Frozen: bbq chicken pizza
5. Dry goods: Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal

Let’s say we’re heading out for a weekend getaway this weekend. You’re only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what’s in your bag?
black stretchy capri pants
t-shirt
comfy jeans

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 3 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?
Yay!
No, that's yucky!
I love you!

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn’t get to do, you probably wouldn’t be in the best mood?
shower
eat
sleep!

Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We’re talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 3 activities might we find you doing?
sleep!
read
catch up on DVR'd shows

We’re going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it’ll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?
Oceans
Petting Zoo
Monkeys

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on T.V. of your choice. You can pick between 3, so what are you deciding between? (I know some of these don’t have live tapings!)

Oprah
Bill Mahr
David Letterman

You’re hungry for ice cream. I’ll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?

Cookie Dough
Strawberry
Coffee Mocha

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what’s in there?

cell phone
camera
copy of Piper's birth certificate
Driver's license
tampons

You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let’s pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 3 careers would be fun for you?

photographer
children's author
teacher (sorry I really like my current job!)

Fall Pictures

New Family Dog

Well I finally gave in and said yes to a dog. We found one in the paper that was free. Apparently someone abandoned her on the side of the road between Lafayette and Indy. She is a German Shephard mix of some type. It appears that she has had some dog training as she will come on command and do other tricks. She's very good without the lease too. The family that rescued her has been calling her "Ginger" so we kept the name. Erick joked that our next dog will be named Marianne or Gilligan.

Piper is just fascinated with her, as we expected. The first night she chased the poor dog around the house, and I'm sure drove her nuts. I think she's getting used us and becoming attached already.

Stacking Blocks

Piper has learned how to stack blocks. She started with some smaller plastic ones, but we only had four of those. I got out some cardboard ones this morning and she has stacked five so far. In this video the stack was higher than she was and she hadn't figured out that she needed to stand up to stack more. Later on she did discover that she could stand up and stack them. I'm not sure if the weight of these blocks is making it harder to stack since they are a lot lighter than the plastic ones. They are also a lot bigger, but she seems to be doing fine in picking them up. She definitely loves knocking them down too.

Lately she's been really obsessed with her nesting cups too, although she hasn't expressed any interest in stacking them. She will sit for 20 minutes or so putting them inside each other and taking them out. Her concentation amazes me sometimes. She can sit and look at her books for 30 minutes at a time. She's very self reliant and independent.

Great Times

We went to Great Times with Grandma the other day. Piper had a lot of fun playing in the ball pit and riding rides. She always loves to play with her cousin Colin.

First Time Feeding Herself

We went out to eat at Ponderosa Wednesday night since we were on the south side. I don't know if there are even any close by on the north side of town. This was the first time we had let her try eating by herself with silverware. I had tried before, but she didn't seem to have any interest in holding them. We were pleasantly surprised to see how eagerly she took to using a spoon. She made quite a mess but managed to feed herself pretty well.

Note that this was not the best video since it was taken on my phone, but at least I documented it.

Chuck E Cheese

Erick took Piper last night to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. He said she mostly had fun running around "helping" the other kids who were playing. She did like this one game where she got to ride a horse. He was disappointed that they didn't have more rides like they used to have.

An Eating Machine

I couldn't believe that my little funky munky slept for 12 straight hours last night. I'm used to waking up and feeding her in the middle of the night a couple times per week. Usually she will at least wake me up early- no later than 7am. Amazingly, she slept so well last night, and then when she got up she was ravenous. I nursed her and then as I was making breakfast she got in the refrigerator and got out her sippy cup of milk and drank it too. I've been keeping it on the bottom shelf for her so that she'll grab it and not one of the other items in there. So she drinks all of it and then is demanding more to eat. I wasn't ready with breakfast yet, so I microwaved two waffles from the freezer. She gobbled those up and then ate three pieces of bacon. She ate another waffle that I made for breakfast and another piece of bacon her daddy gave her. Oh, she also drank a cup of water too. Growth spurt? I don't know. I just hope she sleeps as well tonight.

Boo Boo

See my bump on my head? Daddy let me get that out in the parking lot playing with my pink princess car. Boom! Down I went. He said I didn't cry, but Mommy isn't sure she believes him.

Happy Day

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Piper Laughing