Piper turns TWO

For Piper's birthday this year, we went a little smaller. I was still recovering from Elliott's party! Also, with Josh in Greenville Mon-Fri, planning a party was somewhat difficult! We decided to do it on a Wednesday, her actual birthday, and do it in Greenville at Morgan and Jenn's house. That way, Josh could be there and the cousins didn't have to travel for it either. Just Grandma and Grandpa. :)

The night before her birthday, I woke her up for some last one-year old snuggles! Worth it.

Here she is...right before I woke her up! haha

Ever since Piper was a tiny baby, she has loved music. But of all the songs, she has especially loved Twinkle Twinkle Little Star! So that was the theme we went with! It was a great day! 

We met some friends at the zoo that morning. Piper also loves animals! After the zoo, we ate some lunch in the car and headed up to Greenville. We set up for the party, put together the last touches, cleaned up a giant poop mess (thanks Piper) and then had her party! It was such a fun night! 

Cinnamon/sugar star tortillas and fruit salsa.

Sweet girl!

 Happy birthday Piper Gray! We love you!

Toes

Sometimes we get really girly and paint all our toes! And I love it! 

Sibling Rivalry & Bike Rides

Sibling rivalry is so real. I can't tell you how many times I have thought Piper and Elliott might never get along. 

Elliott's rivalry started pretty early on. She liked Piper for the first couple months of her life, but then the jealousy started. Most people told me it would get better as Piper got older and could be more interactive. But it just seemed to get worse. Elliott started hitting, biting, kicking, punching, and pinching Piper. Most the time it was when Piper was using something of Elliott's but it started getting to the point that Elliott would do those things when Piper was doing nothing to her. Elliott would just walk past Piper and hit her as she passed. It was so hard. I felt like Elliott was constantly in trouble and I didn't know what to do about it. Somehow we survived it and it's true, it does pass! I would be kidding myself if I said they never fight because I am constantly breaking up battles still, but there are far less, thank goodness!! 

There was one day we were outside playing in the front and Elliott graciously offered to let Piper ride her bike and she pushed her up and down the street really slowly. I remember this moment so well because it felt like the first big chunk of light at the end of the tunnel. I remember thinking, "it's happening, they're becoming friends!" And it's just gotten better since then. 

Box Fort

Bronson ordered a bunch of stuff for their cleaning company this week and they came in huge boxes. We decided we had to make a fort for the girls out of them. So after they went to bed, we got to work. 

The part on the right is the main house. The left side is a tunnel that connects both ends of the house. 

Piper goes to nursery

Our tiny little Piper girl is in nursery! Which means she's 18 months old! I can't believe it. 

Her first day of nursery was a total success. She walked right in and toddled off to play with toys. I tried to get a good picture of her but she was too distracted. She loved it! We're so proud of her. 

Here's some more about Piper Gray at 18 months.

• She has four teeth. Two center top ones and two center bottom ones.
• She babbles all day long. Seriously, she's gonna be a talker. 
• She says about 20 words, with surprisingly good pronunciation.
• She weighs in a whopping 29 lbs.
• Shes 75th-80th% all the way around.
• She walks and runs all over the place.
• She absolutely loves music. You can always find her dancing or singing some little tune to herself. 
• She adores mommy and daddy. It just depends on the day.
• She is roughed up pretty bad by her big sister but she is starting to learn to defend herself.
• She eats pretty much anything, even with only 4 teeth.
• She loves to sleep and will ask for her blanket when she's tired.

We love you Piper Gray! 

Piper's Haircut

One Sunday morning the girls were playing nicely upstairs while I got breakfast ready and prepared everything for church. I felt so on top of it because I was ahead of schedule and we have 9am church. That is no small feat. 

I wandered upstairs to get the girls dressed and stumbled upon this . . .

Thanks to Elliott our Piper girl got her first haircut. Needless to say, our calm, relaxing Sunday morning turned a bit more hectic. I might have cried a little.

Christmas Girls

I bought the girls' Sunday Christmas outfits at Once Upon a Child this year. They have so many clothes, that it's really not hard to find the same things in multiple sizes! And I found these skirts that I loved in both their sizes. Score! Then I grabbed them each a red sweater and I think they looked adorable! Merry Christmas from these two cuties! 

Picking out Pumpkins

We don't know of any great pumpkin patches close by here. Utah is so great for that kind of stuff! So we just headed to the State Farmers Market and picked out some pumpkins there. Elliott talked the whole way there about picking out the biggest pumpkin ever! She of course, did not. But it was sweet. And Piper could care less, so we stuck her in with the pumpkins and handed her the first one she pointed to.

Such sweet girls.