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.)

Family Picture {Outtakes}

Over Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to try and get a group shot of the cousins while we were all together. I had letters that spelled 'FAMILY', so I gave one to each of the older kids. It was a comical undertaking to get a picture where everyone was looking, AND we could see all the letters! This whole process lasted less than 10 minutes, maybe even less than five. Here are the outtakes:

Notice Wyatt is using his 'Y' to prod Piper.

One is trying to escape!

Probably the best one of this pose. In retrospect, white letters against white shirts weren't the best (not that I did any kind of prep for this other than calling all the kids over when they were playing in the backyard.)

She was determined to get away, even if it meant losing her shirt!

So then I had them all sit down and just set the letters behind them.

Love Wyatt's face in this one!

The babies look like they're both getting the squeeze.

And the one I decided was the best, even though Nicole still wasn't too happy:

At least we could see all their faces! (I really like that we could see their varying heights when they were standing, but the 'FAMILY' was just too hard to read.)

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving, we drove up to Wichita to spend the week with our Amey family. The weather was nice and mild while we were there, so we played outside quite a bit.

Piper enjoying the outdoors.

Lila and Kaelyn

I had an easier time getting her to look at me when she was standing.

Unlike her sister, who requested to pose with the props I'd brought along (for the family picture I took).

We played some games, like "Mother May I".

Piper wasn't quite ready for "Mother May I", but she was happy to watch.

My turn to be the Mother :)

Then one day we went over to the church/school (where Ben's Mom teaches and Ben's brother, Brian, is the Youth Pastor) to play in the gym and on the playground. Here Grandpa has his hands full.

Grandma and Piper

Brian blew up the little bounce house for the kids to enjoy.

Nicole wasn't sure she liked Grandma holding someone else.

Brian and Mark, shooting some hoops.

Wyatt was having fun running around the gym.

Only a dad can get away with this.

Piper was well loved :)

She didn't seem to mind!

Practicing walking with Daddy.

Someone was excited to crawl around such a big floor!

One with Mommy (proof I was there!)

Whee!

Dogs sniff. Babies finger each other.

(L-R): Nicole (15 mos.), David (3), Lila (5), Wyatt (3), Britton (8), Kaelyn (6), Rachel (5), Piper (11 mos.)

They had NO problem giving me their silly faces :)

Then we went outside to the playground.

Ready, set, go!

I think this was the point where Ben got stuck!

Maybe he should have gone down this way!

Thanksgiving day was also nice. In the morning, Grandpa hooked up a little flatbed trailer to his riding lawnmower and gave some rides around the yard.

The girls were waving and yelling "Happy Thanksgiving!" like they were in a parade.

Piper said "I can wave too!"

Followed by, "Ooh, what's this?"

The girls were seated at their own table for the Thanksgiving meal. They were excited about that! We made some cute leaf name cards, so everyone would know where to sit.

More rides after lunch.

Then they came inside, and I got out the finger paints we'd brought along.

The day after Thanksgiving we went out to the family farm to visit with extended family. We went outside to see the animals, starting with the kitty cats. (Right after I took this picture, this cat pooped on Lila. I thought her meowing was to say she didn't like the way Lila was holding her, but apparently she *needed* to be put down!!)

Wyatt, watching the cows (the other animals we saw).

The dog was also interested in the food.

We also played with some bubbles.

The two girls on the right are Ben's cousin's daughters. The next day we went home. We had a great time playing with our cousins, playing cards, eating good food and just enjoying being together!