More Birthday Photos!

The Longmores.

Piper and Nona.

Piper watching the dogs.

Brent and Magda.

Jacob and Liam helped Piper open her presents.

I loved the dress from Liam.

Ross and Ethan watching the grill.

My friend, Megan, her future daughter, and her three year old, Brenna.

Dawid, Piper's friend she met at the park.

Spencer, looking handsome.

Piper's First Birthday!

I decided to take advantage of the fact that I only have one child so far as an excuse to have a huge party at my house with all the fixin's. How big was Piper's first birthday party? Well, let's put it this way. We made so many chicken shish-kabobs that I had to go to my sister-in-law, Meredith's, the day before to pick up their brand new huge gas grill so Peter wouldn't have to spend two hours grilling 80 kabobs over our tiny tailgate-size Weber. I also borrowed six chairs from my friends and had to haul in the piano and organ benches for more seating. It was crowded, loud, and fabulous!

I did make sure to stick to the traditional creative cake. I opted for a dog face cake I saw on the internet (which also happened to be the easiest dog face cake on the internet). Piper thought it was really cute to look at, but when she had her special moment to dig into her cupcake, she did exactly as she'd done the day before when I tried to get her to eat a cupcake then; made a disgusted face, pushed it aside, and finally, threw it to the floor. Two days later we had ground turkey meatloaf that Piper scarfed down. Next time I'm going for meatloaf in the shape of a cake decorated with bits of cheese, carrots, and kidney beans. That would have been a winner. I guess I should be glad for now that she doesn't have a sweet tooth.

After the cake and present formalities, a few kiddos headed across the street to the pool. Peter took Piper while I stayed behind to chat and clean things up a bit...but really the credit for that goes to Ross and Lauren. Actually, all of these lovely pictures were taken by Lauren as well! I'm so glad they were here to celebrate with us.

So, the party was a huge success. Piper has been enjoying all of her presents and was thoroughly worn out from the event. I'm not really sure what else to say except that I'm glad I started getting things ready a week in advance! Thanks to everyone who came and also to those of you who are far away and wished Piper a Happy Birthday. Your wish came true!

4th of July

I must admit, it was actually kind of nice having a fireworkless Fourth of July this year. It's not like Piper will remember the fireworks anyway, but we still had a great barbecue with friends and family, so at least there is plenty of photo documentation. The weather was the most perfect weather I can ever remember having on the fourth. The barbecue was hosted by our friends, Lance and Rosemary Longmore. They have a really cute house that was built in the 30's (complete with a chicken coup!) with a huge yard. Rosie was wondering where to buy fireworks, so I suggested a trailor just north of our house in Wyandotte county. After she had purchased them she realized the reason she couldn't find any in Johnson county is because they are illegal. I think if they didn't live down the street from the police station we might have busted them out. Actually, I need to ask if they ever ended up going for it or not. Anyway, we ate outside and scarfed down ridiculous amounts of meat and watermelon (well, Peter took care of eating most of the meat and Piper and I filled up on watermelon). After taking Piper home to wash off her watermelon stickies Peter and I watched "The Notebook." I think I cried for the better half of an hour during the last half of the movie. What an emotional film! Now I want to read the book, but I don't know if I can take it emotionally. I need to watch a bunch of comedies and action adventures to even things out before I delve down that road again. Peter even liked the movie, which means it was much more than sappy romance.

House Guests

This is definitely a late blog, but I thought I'd mention our house guests before I start posting pictures of them on my blog! This summer we have the Terry family staying with us. For those of you who do not know them, their names are Ross and Lauren and they are from Manhattan (Kansas). They also have a little baby, Ethan. Piper has enjoyed watching Ethan and trying to imitate his squeals. Where Piper had growling, Ethan has squeals. He's super cute and chubby and has perfect skin like a little angel.

Ross is doing an accounting internship in KC. We've really enjoyed having them here and spoiling each other. They have a Wii, which we've really wanted to get, but never got around to it, so we've been enjoying playing it. Plus, we have a dishwasher--something they don't have at home...and a pool, so I guess once you add in the pool it makes it an equal spoiling venture. They also love to play games, so we fill our evenings pretty well.

Lauren is going to help me get started on scrap booking and I'm going to help her relearn knitting and maybe we'll progress together on that. Here are some pictures from an evening trip to the pool.

Peter LOVES the pool.

Ethan does, too.

Lauren and Ethan.

The Stones

Piper with Natalie.

This last weekend we had visitors. Our friends, Ray and Natalie, from Wichita came in town to attend a wedding and stayed in our basement on our luxurious futon. Our activities included swimming, beading with Aunt Allyson, a trip our for a barbecue breakfast, shopping, and playing games (Axis and Allies for the fellas and backgammon for Natalie and me). Piper warmed right up to her new friends. I'm sure it's because she attended their wedding last fall and missed them terribly (I know I did!). I think we have sufficiently reinforced baby fever in Ray and Natalie. Here are a few pictures from the visit.

Piper and Natalie.

Ray and Natalie.

In attendance at Ray and Natalie's wedding last fall.

Piper's First "Swim"

Piper testing out the water with Mommy.

Nice goggles, Aunt Meredith!

Thank goodness for Lil' Swimmers.

Now that's relaxation.

Piper, pumping foam.

The day after Piper and I came home from Arizona we decided it was time to finally introduce her to the swimming pool. Peter's sister, Meredith, joined us as well. The water was a little cold and we didn't want to freak Piper out and have her be afraid every time we tried to take her swimming, so we turned on our happiest sounding high-pitched voices as we eased her into her floatie (the floatie I got brand new at a garage sale for $1.00, thankyouverymuch!). Once she was in the water she began imitating our high voices. I'll try to figure out how to post videos so you can hear it. She did this "singing" pretty much the whole time she was in the pool.