Sleepless in Seattle … no really

Back in August, Piper, Mimi and I jumped aboard a Red Belly Peanut Bomber -- final destination Seattle, WA!

I had to cringe and let her crawl on that nasty PHX airport floor. This girl had to get some energy out before boarding the final leg. Piper learned how to say erhpane (airplane) this trip.

After 10+ hours of travel -- this awaited us at the LPod house. Jealous? You should be.

Silly girls

Kim & Scott loaned Piper Carter's stroller and we all walked to their neighborhood extravaganza. Seeing that this took place in August, I can't remember what it was really called ... but it is an evening where the stores stay open late or have special events inside. The streets were closed to cars and there were artists, musicians, etc.

Look at those hydrangeas!!! They have several bushes of these in their yard. Kim .. 34 weeks .. I think? She looked great!

ehrpane!!

Uncle Scott was great with Piper. He had her at hello when he brought her balloons and played silly stroller games with her. They were buds by the end of our visit.

The 4 ladies got gussied up and drove out to the suburbs for Kim's baby shower

Piper approved of Carter's toys. This toy is a learning laptop ... which naturally Carter must have since both his parents are computer smarties.

14 months .. still crawling. Cutest thighs ever.

Hello toes. Portable dvd player = lifesaver. Oh, and I should explain the title of this post - after early rising, a full day of travel and zero naps {at 14 months she was still napping twice/day for a total of about 3-4 hours} this girl was beyond exhausted. She slept well at night, but kept up her texas routine, which meant waking at 5:30am Seattle time. Hence lifesaving dvd player. Mimi and I would put her in bed with us and turn her dvd on and let her eat breakfast in bed. She skipped several naps and did pretty well ... after all we were on vacation! You can't come home rested!

The next day we popped a life jacket on the girl (she loved it - ha) and took her out on Hot Water to tour the Puget Sound (right, Kim?). Hot Water used to be my dad's boat. It was humorously named that because my dad bought it the day (two days?) before my wedding. He was in Hot Water with the Mrs.

One of the many sea planes we saw. So cool.

cool cat

The University of Washington's football stadium. This puts the Aggie tailgating to shame. Who needs an RV when you've got a yacht?

Piper practically ate a whole watermelon by herself. (and stained Carter's life jacket red in the process)

Just a few of the house boats. How would you like to park your boat here?

Watching a seaplane land. No runways ... No special bowies ... I guess they just pick a somewhat scarcely populated spot and splash land. The spots they picked always looked way too crowded for my taste! But then again .. if I were a boat in a plane's way .. I'd ski-daddle.

This is Bill Gates's house. The parts that we could see were pretty neat. His boat house roof is a million times nicer than our yard.

Hey Bill ... Need a house sitter? I'm totally available.

Well, hello there, Mt. Ranier ... nice to see you today.

Night night Seattle ... thanks again for another wonderful visit. But mostly, thanks Lpod for being such amazing hosts. We hope to make it up there again soon!

stroller stretches between flights on the way home

Praise Baby dvd to the rescue again. And the girl slept a ton this time!

Welcome back to Austin!

Why I like November 3rd

There are lots of great things about November 3rd.  Here are some of my favorites:

1. The movie ‘Wizard of Oz’ first aired on television (if I only had a brain)

2. The first animal was launched into space (sadly by the USSR)

3. People living in Washington D.C. were allowed to vote in the presidential election

4. Panama declared their independence from Columbia (that allowed the US to build the canal)

5. James Taylor married Carly Simon in NYC (only cool because his music is awesome)

6. Christopher Columbus first set sights on the land of Dominica in the new world (not so new for some)

7. Stephen F. Austin was born (God rest his soul)

8.  November 3rd of this year is the expected date that Piper will be a big sister!  Suess baby #2 is on the way….

3 stooges

July

Happy 4th of July! Sharla, Mimi and I got the 3 girls all dressed up in red, white & blue and headed to the neighborhood parade ..... only to find out the police had put a stop to it before it even started. No permit. Boo. I mean, really??? So, to the park it was!

Firecracker

Billy teaching the girls how to play the drum at Katie's first birthday party. Katie & Pop Pop share a birthday. Special. We really should have let pop pop smash cake in his face too ... don't you think? You can view the highlight of the night here.

Piper and I joined Dada for the YL Freshman Beachtrip down in Port Aransas. Hope those girls didn't get pooped on.

We used to go to Port A a lot growing up --- I admit I had turned my nose up at the brown waters of Port A as of recent. This trip completely changed my mind. Look at this water! It was so, so perfect for my crawling girl. Just the two of us would hit the water together after dinner {Piper eats with the blue hairs} because the waves were teeny rolling things and the water was shallow for yards and yards.

Apparently the sand is grape flavored.

beach babe

After the beach Piper and I headed straight to SA because Aunt Shue was in town for a visit! I decorated Mimi & Pop Pop's fridge box for the cousins.

Silly Pop Pop ... enter through the door and please wipe your feet!

what's so funny?

Summer days are the best.

Roughing it.

girl talk

love you like a sis

I just found this in some of Kim's photos from July 4, 2009. Isn't this so sweet?

If you’re happy and you know it

Here is Piper’s version of If you’re happy & you know it. I think its much better than the original! At one point you can also hear her sing “hi ho the dario” and  my families’ “Seattle Song” which I posted about here.

If you’re happy and you know it clack you’re hands AMEN!!!!

Go Clackers?

or Packers? Either way, the Packers have someone to thank for their victory ….

Piper’s tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby your baby

How can someone go from this...

...to this in one short year?

Piper’s first birthday was June 18th and I still can’t believe she is not a baby anymore. Though George Strait was not talking about a tiny, chubby infant-baby … I think he was on to something when he said:

“Better baby your baby

With a love that’s strong

Hold her and tell her

You’ll never do wrong

Better baby your baby

‘Cause if you don’t

One day your baby’ll be all grown up gone”

Thanks George.

Click the collage below to zoom. That’s my baby … growing into the toddler she is today.

This year Piper celebrated her birthday with family at Mimi & Pop Pop’s house. Sadly, Billy had to miss her party. He left the day before for YL camp with 80something kids & leaders. Thankfully, due to all the chaos excitement, Piper didn’t seem to mind too much that dada wasn’t there.

The whole family was there – including Carter in Kim’s tummy! We swam and had burgers just before the cake smashing. It was such a fun night. Billy & I couldn’t be more in love with or proud of our sweet & spunky one year old.

the girl loves her balloons!

This only child used to be overwhelmed by her cousins zeal for life... but now loves them & asks for them by name constantly.

Ahh, the adventures in photographing tiny-humans. All you can do is laugh.

birthday kiss from Abby

birthday "love pat" from katie-bug

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Cutest rolls on the planet. Hey! I was talking about Piper! And, by the way, when did a giant tummy & rolls stop being precious?

Isn't my parents kitchen stylin'? They were in the midst of a remodel (that my dad is doing completely himself) and still graciously hosted Piper's party. Those are part of the old cabinets that my dad left up until the last minute to leave some storage for my mom.

Speaking of kitchen remodel ... have you ever baked a birthday cake in a toaster oven? It's all the rage! My mom could surely author a cookbook titled: Cooking Under Construction - One thing Martha Stewart can't do.

toaster oven cake = success! (a near disaster)

 

By the time we got around to the cake Piper was pretty pooped. She pretty much sat there with a blank stare on her face and shoved handfuls into her mouth. Insert Nemo: “just keep eating”. It took a good 10 minutes for the sugar to kick in before she realized that mama was letting her eat a cake the size of her head all by herself.

For the first time Piper enjoyed opening presents. Of course, her favorite part was just tossing everything over her shoulder without even looking at it. The one exception, as the video below will show, is the new baby doll she got from Aunt Shue.

Holy moly our girl is growing up so fast.

May

I, Piper Caroline, am here to tell you

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that my mom is officially the planet's worst blogger.

But, friends, don't let your diaper get twisted. We had a very serious mother/daughter chat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She promised to be much better at posting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

regular updates on my very busy life! Let's begin, shall we?

I am quite the social butterfly these days. I even let others, besides my mom hold me!

My parents' friends are all very silly and love to hug on me.

I am a sweet, sweet girl. At least, that is what my mama says. I really like learning and I love being outside.

At the end of May we spent one long, sleepless night on the road to Colorado for YL Work Week at Crooked Creek Ranch. Billy's grandmother lives in Denver so we dropped in to say hello! I did mention it was a long, sleepless night, right?

Trying to capture a photo of these two was quite comical. Grandma couldn't take her eyes off Piper and combine that with an 11 month olds' typical photo cooperation....you get shots like these. Which are actually beautiful and real. Love it.

Grandma is no rookie. She knew just what to do.

Piper thought Grandma's mole was pretty neat-oh. Ahh, the innocence of a baby.

We are so glad that Piper was able to meet her great-grandmother!

Work Week was pretty grueling.

All work. No play.

I got sand-sifting duty.

It was a real bummer.

Somehow I managed to survive.

And, I guess you could say I had an okay time.

My new best friends. NW Austin YL leaders are bueno.

The best part of the week was that Gams & Grandpa came to work too!

I can't wait to go back to Crooked Creek! I love Young Life camp.

Dada went backpacking in Boulder after Work Week so Mama and I flew home on an airplane. But first, Aunt Shue took us to dinner in Denver! I love my Aunt Shue. (Everyone else calls her Sue .. not sure why)

Oh yeah, and I got to see my friend Lily Yantis in San Antonio. Isn't she sweet. Her mama laughs at everything. I like her.