Hat Trick

My friend Andi made the kids some winter hats. They turned out so cute, I wanted to try and take some pictures of the kids wearing them. She made them in the kids' favorite colors (ok, Piper hasn't determined a favorite color yet, but it *might* be purple!).

Looking at this picture and their expressions, they don't seem that unlike to me. I think Piper's laugh sounds like Lila's laugh too.

Then I attempted to get all three together.

Ben was standing behind me making faces.

But that just made Piper decide Daddy should be holding her! So she went off to bed for a nap.

I thought I'd get a couple more pictures of Lila. I told her to put her leg up against the wall. Then I had to show her what I meant.

Then she got into the posing :)

Hmm...

The blue hat really brings out her eyes.

One more, and then I told Wyatt it was his turn.

He came right over and did this. He's putting his leg up against the wall just like I showed Lila. Can't you tell? :) Ok, so it looks more like what you'd see in a chalk outline, but he gets points for style and initiative :)

Cheese!

No, Mom, don't tickle me!

His hat really complements his eyes too.

Thanks, Andi, for the hats!

ONE of a kind

I searched through my pictures and found a comparison shot of all three of my kiddos at age 1. I have had several people tell me that Lila and Wyatt look so much alike, but Piper doesn't really look like them. I've never really thought Lila and Wyatt were all that similar, but compared to Piper, maybe they are. Piper is the brunette, if you didn't know already :) 

Here are their one year comparison stats:

Lila: 19 lbs. 3.5 oz / 30.5 inches

Wyatt: 21 lbs. 15 oz / 31 inches

Piper: 19 lbs. 9 oz. / 30.25 inches

I guess Wyatt wins for growth!! But Piper wins for most hair :)

Misc. December

At the beginning of December, Grandpa Brandt came for a weekend visit (a long layover on his way home from a business trip to Alaska). I don't know why, but this was the only time I picked up my camera. Despite the lack of photographic evidence, we all had a great time!

The last day of school before the winter break, Lila's class had a party at the end of the day. Parents were invited to attend. Ben came home a little early, so I was able to leave Wyatt and Piper at home which turned out to be a good thing since the party mostly consisted of a snack and a craft.

Here Lila is working on her craft. The girl next to her is her best friend at school.

Lila standing next to her cubby.

One day during break the weather was super nice. The kids were playing outside, so I took my camera out. Lila loves to hold a "flower" when she poses for me :)

I love this girl. She was excited to find some finger nail polish in her stocking :)

Wyatt's full "cheese!" grin.

Caught him in a laugh.

Over New Year's weekend, Ben's parents flew down for a visit. I didn't do a very good job remembering to take pictures for their visit either. This was the last day. Here Grandma had gone to get Piper from her crib when she woke up from her nap.

We had a great time visiting and playing games with them.

A quick picture of Grandma and Grandpa Amey with the kids before they had to leave.

And one where Piper is looking.

Waiting at the airport for Grandpa to say his plane is ready to go.

We each had a little bag of (free) popcorn while we waited to watch their airplane take off.

We went outside to wave as they flew overhead. I think Ben is laughing because Wyatt and Lila were yelling "bye!" and Piper had been waving too.

Christmas 2011

We spent this Christmas at home (no family visiting). Janina did come up and spend the night on Christmas Eve, so she could be here when the kids woke up on Christmas morning. Because she knew it would be early :) Before we went to our Christmas Eve service at church, I attempted to take some pictures of my coordinating family.

The best shot I could get of the three kiddos together.

Family shot

Ha ha, this was a comical undertaking. This is the only picture where we are all looking at the camera. That alone I consider success. (Note to self: next time make sure you don't put the person who is as tall as the Christmas tree IN FRONT of the Christmas tree.)

Then I turned off the flash on my camera.

Lila

Janina and I worked to get her hair curly for the special occasion.

Wyatt

I think I did get one of him smiling his big cheese smile, but this just captures his personality so much better!

Piper

She just thought it was fun to sit in the rocking chair. Next to the ornaments on the Christmas tree :)

Aunt Janina and Lila

On Christmas Day, we invited our friends, Mark and April, to join us for lunch. We had a great meal and enjoyed an afternoon of playing games and playing with the kids. Lila even sang Feliz Navidad for us (she learned it in school and had told Mr. Mark at church the night before that she would sing it for him as his Christmas present!) Piper was there too - her high chair was next to Ben and didn't make it in the picture.

One Year

Here are some pictures I attempted to take of my on-the-move 1 year old. 

These pictures give her hair a reddish cast that is not there in real life. Her hair has lightened up some, but it is very much brown, not blond or red. The light from the window was casting a warm glow, I guess.

She likes to make the "Indian noise" (not politically-correct, I know) but you know where you pat your mouth while saying "ahhh":)

I gave her some Christmas ornaments in an attempt to get her to sit still.

Trying to pick them all up.

A couple days later it was warmer, so I attempted to take some outside shots. This is a much more accurate picture of her hair and eye color.

But I had to put her in a bucket to keep her from crawling away!

She was not happy about being in the bucket until I started tickling her.

I don't even remember - I told her 'no' about something. Life is hard when you don't get your way.

But she recovered.

This was taken on New Year's Day. She got this dress for Christmas. I think I had to put that headband back on her head about fifteen times. She would ignore it for a few minutes, but then she'd just reach up and pull it off. 

She is full of spunk. At one year old, she likes to be where the 'big kids' are and will crawl toward their voices. I have heard her say "Dada", "Mama" and "Lila" (sounds more like Lala). She definitely says Dada the most. She still likes peek-a-boo. When I play hide-n-seek with Lila and Wyatt, she will look for me too. She is a great eater and will make the more sign if she sees something she wants to eat. Or reach out her hand and beckon for it. She is gaining more confidence in her walking; she will walk if I'm holding just one of her hands. She will often let go of things to stand on her own and then give the biggest "look at what I can do!" grin. She has only taken a couple unassisted steps, but it won't be long before she is running, I'm sure. Both Lila and Wyatt like to hold her hands and help her walk. She is happy-go-lucky usually. If she starts to get fussy, that is the signal that it's nap time. Or the aforementioned big brother or big sister are trying to hold her down :) She is the only baby I've ever held that gives great hugs (at this age). She wraps her arms around your neck and gives a big squeeze! She LOVES unloading the dishwasher - whether it needs unloading or not - and she has a sixth sense about the back room gate (the one gate we have in our house). If it's open, she is through it.

She brings such joy to us all.

Piper's 1st Birthday

Hello. It's me again. Wondering where I've been the past 3 months? I think this time of year (Oct-Dec) is going to be busy for me from now on. 2 birthdays, 2 holidays? Yep, busy. But, I haven't given up. And yes, there are several posts that I need to put up, and I will go back and add them later. I decided to just start with December rather than feeling overwhelmed with how far behind I was :) So with that in mind, here is my baby at one year:

This was taken on December 17th (her birthday). She is a pro at standing (especially if she can lean against something!)

Displaying her dimple for us all to see.

Here she is making the face that she makes A LOT. I always want to quote Sebastian from The Little Mermaid when I see it... "you've got to pucker up, like dees" :)

And showing us her mouth full of teeth - 8 in the front plus now she has 2 molars coming in. Originally on this day, we had invited friends over for a Winter "One"derland birthday lunch. Unfortunately, that week a stomach bug managed to find its way into our home and it affected Piper, then myself, then Lila (the morning of the 17th). Bummer. We wanted to spread joy, not germs, so we canceled our party. The good news was the bug was very short-lived, and we all felt better within 12 hours of getting it. But, since we canceled so last minute, I already had the decorations up. I took some pictures to document the would-be celebration.

Photo collage of Piper's first year.

Lila thought I should take a picture of Piper in front of the 1, but Piper wasn't so thrilled to be held in place.

She wanted to take my wall decorations down instead.

The party table

The birthday girl's cupcake (yes, I had made those already too).

A close up of the photo collage. You can see in the middle row the pictures of Piper I took in her pink hat... top pic was on her birth announcement, then at 6 months and then the bottom 2 were at 1 year.

We went ahead and enjoyed the cupcakes. Here she's getting her first look at it.

She didn't really do anything though, so after a minute, Ben put a bite in her mouth.

Now she knew what to do! She didn't go at it like I thought she might, but this was after lunch and she HAD eaten a pretty big lunch. I thought maybe she wouldn't like sweets, but she has since made it known that it is not acceptable to leave her out of any dessert-type enjoyment!

And, notice the pucker again. Seriously, she makes that face ALL. THE. TIME.

So not what we originally planned for her big day, but still an enjoyable time. Aunt Janina braved the threat of illness and joined us for a casual dinner that night (thereby creating a "party" for Lila, who was concerned that Piper wouldn't have one.)