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

Latest Masterpiece

Profile Photograph

This is a profile photo that I took today of Piper. I'm still not completely happy with the background, but I can't easily access Photoshop, so I did what I could with Office Picture Manager.

Piper Likes to Read

See the post below this one for a video of Piper "reading" By the time she was finished, she had dragged out and "read" about 12 books. Albeit some of them were upside down, but she got a few concepts about print that can be lacking in older children.

Piper Reading

At the Mall

As I am typing this my daughter is yelling over the balcony at the dog she saw earlier. The dog is not longer there, but she thinks he is somewhere but can't figure out where. I keep hoping she'll learn the word dog soon, but so far no luck.

Today we went to the mall and I did a little bit of shopping. She had fun playing on the indoor playground, crawling through tunnels and mostly watching the other kids. Towards the end she kept stealing this deaf lady's water bottle, which the lady found humorous at least. I told her I was sorry and surprised myself by remembering how to say it in sign language even.

Riding a Giraffe

So it wasn't a real giraffe. We went to the Scion dealewrship today to find out about getting the sunroof fixed. Everyone was in love with Piper and thought she was just the cutest. She had fun playing in the kids' room where they had several oversized stuffed animals. Suddenly she has this thing for stuffed animals. The other day she drug a stuffed horse around Meijer that was three times the size of her. Today there was this 5 foot tall stuffed giraffe that she was infatuated with. I let her sit on it and she thought it was the best.

The Facination with Shoes

Dear Child,
You have been blessed with a ton of toys and a mountain of books. There are cabinets galore in the kitchen and bathroom for you to explore. Did you notice the fish swimming in the aquarium today, or look out the window at the world below? No? By all means please feel free to play with your parents' shoes, especially the dirty boots your daddy left lying on the living room floor. Maybe next week you'll be excited about your toothbrush. **sigh**
Love,
Mommy

Sleeping Beauty

My little girl is so much like her daddy in many ways. When she sleeps is one of them. Just like daddy, when she lays down to sleep, she kicks her one leg several times until she gets comfortable. She looked so sweet sleeping in her crib I went to get the camera. Of course the second I went to snap the picture, she woke up and looked at me.

Birthday Baby

I guess when you're little and don't even understand what a birthday is, it doesn't much matter when it's celebrated. We finally had our little one's birthday party last Wednesday. A little late, but still fun. She enjoyed playing with her cousins. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when the twins are older and can actually play with her. We definitely think she's going to hold her own against all the boys.
Here are some photos from the celebration.

Bubble Bath

We had our first bubble bath the other night. She enjoyed it at first, but the tub was too slippery for her. She is not used to being in the big tub and is usually in the baby tub. I still got a couple of good photos, but we will probably wait a while until we try it again.

Finger Painting Video

Piper's First Time Finger Painting

Tonight we finger painted for the first time. She seemed to have fun making a mess. At least it's washable! It was all over the floor, her face, and everything else. I lost count of how many times she stuck her fingers in her mouth. I'm glad it can't hurt her, but she did look awfully funny! I'm working on uploading a video, but it's taking forever. Look for it to be posted soon.

Birthday Girl

It's hard to believe she's one already. It doesn't seem so long ago that she had only just arrived and we were amazed to finally be meeting her for the first time. She's made us laugh and cry many times over the last year, fortunately most of the time we were smiling. Now she thinks she's a big girl and is sooo independent. She's such a little person, but she sure doesn't act like it. Some of her favorites:

Favorite food: bananas
Favorite person besides mommy and daddy: Grandma
Favorite song: Do Your Ears Hang Low?
Favorite toys: balls and anything that makes music
Favorite book: Where's Maisy?
Favorite pastime: dancing

I can't wait to see what the next year brings. We love you Miss Piper!

Here are some photos I took when we went to play frisbee golf up in Noblesville. We were not particularly impressed with the new course. Sahm's Park is closer and better. It's also prettier with lots of trees.

Another Zoo Trip

Today we took Piper in for her 1 year old check up. She weighs 21.4 lbs. and is 30 inches long. She got 2 shots today, and wasn't real happy about them, but she barely cried. Afterwards we went to the zoo.

Early Birthday Present

Raul and Candice visited yesterday and brought Piper her early birthday present. She wasn't quite sure what to do with it. She still had fun ripping the paper and was excited once she figured out it was a new toy. Yay! Another toy that plays music for her to dance to.

Fall Photos

Today I took several photos both inside and outside. It was a great day to be outdoors, and reminded me how much I love fall.