Shamu - my fave

I love Shamu.

(and baby Shamu, and mommy Shamu & all the other Shamu's)

But Steve would not permit this hat to leave the store on my head.

Wise choice?... :: sniff sniff ::

Here they come...

I have over 600 pictures and videos to edit from our best Christmas ever vacation to Disneyland and SeaWorld. I'll start with the videos of Piper's favorite event....

:: Dancing with Princesses ::

{the new princess fairytale land is a little girl's dream come true}

-here is the Royal Walk with Ariel, Belle, and Minnie Mouse...

- Then the coronation ceremony and royal ball, with Cinderella, Snow White and Princess Aurora... (they teach a couple dance steps, then bring out the may poles)

- the first time we did this, Cinderella handed Piper a ribbon and Piper was so overwhelmed that she just stood there in amazement, then dropped the ribbon and watched as everyone walked around her...

Happy Birthday Piper!

Piper turned 3 today!

We've been celebrating all week, so today was pretty mellow. {She did have to stick a candle in her muffin this morning and blow it out several times while singing 'happy birthday'.} We actually were on our way to McDonald's ("megan donalds" as Piper calls it) for a birthday dinner (Piper's choice), when she fell asleep at 7:30pm tonight. So her happy meal is in the fridge waiting for her to eat it as breakfast tomorrow, I guess.

::update:: She then awoke at 10:30pm (she didn't have a diaper on & therefore wet the bed) and started crying hysterically because we didn't go to McDonalds. We tried to explain that we did go, but she fell asleep, and her food was in the fridge. The explanation didn't go over well. And, to make a long story short, we headed back to McDonald's at 10:30pm on very icy roads to satisfy the birthday girl.

At 3 years old, Piper is 40 inches tall and weighs 30 lbs.

She loves her doggies, Georgia & Zoei.

She also loves "fries & Coke" (Sprite actually).

She is constantly singing and dancing, and has just discovered the Disney Princesses.

She is always talking, many times just rambling on and on about nothing.

She hates going to bed and is really trying to end daytime naps. But in her prayers she always says, "bless that I'll go to sleep."

She still isn't a good eater, but loves the minestrone soup at the Olive Garden.

She despises most breakfast foods and sandwiches, but will usually eat a a few bites of a hot dog or pepperoni pizza. She is somehow surviving mostly on milk.

Her favorite food is "treats".

She is getting to know most of her colors, but not letters, and can count to about 14 before jumbling up the numbers.

She is a tv-aholic, but loves to read books too.

She is really into using scissors lately, and has cut her hair, a brand new dress, and one of her doll's outfits.

She likes to use the phrase, "Don't worry 'bout me, Mom." when about to do something naughty or dangerous, or "Go into the office and work, Mom."

Another favorite phrase right now is, "I have a good idea..."

Piper, we love you!!

Celebrations

Cake #2 - half 'castle' for Piper / half 'tire' for my brother, Ryan (he owns an auto repair shop).

Piper has been asking for a train for her birthday since she saw one at IKEA a month or so ago. Steve said we should get her something more princess-y. So we got her a princess/ballerina dress up. She loved it (along with new slippers from Ryan & Momi).But Grandma K. got her the train.And Grandma S. made her this cute pillowcase with her name cross-stitched on it.On the way home I asked her if she liked the train or dress better. The train!This was her first reaction to the princess castle when she saw it for the first time.

(I only took video at party #1 - I may or may not get it edited and posted this week.)

Prepping for the long-awaited birthday

Piper thinks it's her birthday a lot. She often wants something from the store telling me it's for her birthday. Mostly she just wants to blow out candles, over and over. So with her birthday less than a week away, and Grandma & Grandpa in town, let the celebrations begin.

Cake #1 - for Sunday dinner with Steve's family {also celebrating Uncle Mike's birthday}. The ice cream cone turrets were a hit with the kids who just wanted to fill the cones with ice cream - no cake. However, Piper is finally having a piece of cake now - it's 9:30pm - that seems about right. {and yes, this is the reason I was late to church today}

Cake #2 - check back tomorrow - dinner with my side of the family...

Pumpkin Patch Shoot

Kudos to Katherine *Wallin Photography* for her skills {the photography as well as the amazing editing job}

(and to Piper for actually smiling this time)!
I love these {and a bunch of others - it was really hard to choose which ones to order}.

The pile is growing

Most of the leaves have fallen off the oak tree out back {it's always the first to lose its leaves}. So we had one more romp before we mulch them up...

Fall Fun

Piper had a blast this afternoon playing in the leaves in the backyard with the dogs. She danced and threw leaves around, and of course made 'piles' {this is one of her favorite things lately - piles - usually dumping over the laundry, toy baskets, etc. to make 'piles'.}

Dancing.

Tackled - then chewed on.

Follow the leader. {This is the pecking order at our house, followed by Steve & I.}

Throwing the leaves up in the air.

Burying Georgia.

She caught one in her mouth.

Sitting in her pile waiting for me to shake down more leaves.

Dancing.

Listen to these giggles...

"Choices"

Last night Piper pulled her usual shenanigans not wanting to go to bed. Steve & I were on the couch watching TV as she was wailing from her crib. At first, she was crying that she needed to see her Daddy one more time. After a few minutes, she cried out "Mom, I have two toys for you." {At least that's what we thought she said.} She was sobbing, and Steve & I were really trying not to laugh too loud. But Steve thought that wanting to 'give me some toys' was just too adorable and I'd better go see what she wanted to give me. (Really, I think both of us just really wanted to watch the first "Office" rerun of the season that we missed last week and we couldn't hear the tv with her wailing, so we gave into her shenanigans... score one for the kidlet... **Piper 638, Parents 2**.)
But I digress.
So I went in to see what 'toy' she wanted so badly to give me. She gave me the saddest face she could muster and repeated, "Mom, I have two choices for you. I can stay in my crib, or I can come on the couch to see Daddy." Of course, I had to choose choice #2.

(and The Office was pretty funny too)

Warning: Do not get in eyes...

Piper obviously did not read the label when she sprayed this in her face this evening. I was cleaning dog doo out of the puppy's crate and Piper was standing beside me. Next thing I know Piper was screaming. She had picked up the bottle of '409' and sprayed it - but it was pointed directly toward herself and she sprayed herself in the face. So I read the label which stated to run water gently in the open eye for 15-20 minutes - easier said than done with a squirmy toddler. After a few unsuccessful minutes of trying to hold her face under the shower sprayer, we just went to the KidsCare up the street, soaking wet. I think we got water everywhere except in her eyes. It took three of us to hold her down to rinse out her eyes - she's a strong little bugger. As it turns out, the '409' only 'etched' two scratches in one of her eyes and it wasn't on her cornea, so no worries. Whew. Can't wait til this puppy is housebroken!

Dance class

Check out these moves! They'll be professionals in no time :)

3 Crazy Girls

I don't think Piper has pulled out one toy to play with since Tuesday - why would you when you have a dog on a stick to play with!

More cuteness

My mom called earlier tonight telling me she's been waiting all day for the videos of the new puppy that I promised via the blog last night! It's late, so I'll post one real quick and hopefully get to more tomorrow.... :)

Almost Belated Birthday Wishes

Happy 39th Steve! We love you!!

Piper and I put together a HUGE surprise for Steve today....

Her name is Georgia. She's a 12 week old English Bulldog. How wrinkly can a puppy get!

Piper helped by not telling her dad that we had been searching for a puppy for weeks. {I had to feed her a few stories - like "Piper, wasn't that fun going with Grandma to her friend's house to see some horses?" And when she told her dad that she had petted doggies that day, Steve thought we had gone to Grandma's to help her with a computer problem and just thought she was being silly and told her "Grandma doesn't have dogs, silly".}

We made a 'fake' appointment for Steve at his office, and showed up with the puppy. He was truly surprised! It was great. And this puppy is to die for!

Georgia is Piper's new best friend - they were inseparable all day. Piper cried herself to sleep whining "I just want to play with Georgia. Georgia's my best friend!"

Zoei seems to love the new pup too. When I put the puppy in her crate to nap, Zoei sat next to it and whined because she wanted to play. She finally went to her own bed to sleep.

And oh yeah, we had ice cream cake too {no, I didn't make it - but I did throw on a Homer Simpson to jazz it up}. Piper decided on 3 candles.So just a fair warning.... The Anderson blog will be overloaded with puppy pictures for some time!..... Starting with videos tomorrow :)