Putting together a new table

We bought a new table for our porch, and that means I got to help Daddy assemble it.  I got my toolbox and I was ready to help.  I kept asking Daddy if I needed to use my pliers.  He kept telling me that no, we would use the included hex wrench.  "And my pliers?"  I was very persistent!  But I got the hang of the hex wrench right away and was a big help.

We're making cookies!

It sounded like a great Sunday afternoon activity to Mommy and me, so we made cookies.  I was all set to go with my new apron.

Of course, one of the best parts about making cookies is testing the cookie dough!



Young's Jersey Dairy

It was finally a beautiful day with no rain, so we decided to go to Young's Jersey Dairy again.  It's a fun place!

Before we went, Daddy allowed me to be sneaky and gave me three quarters to put in my pocket to buy goat food with.  Once I had used up all three quarters, I somehow pulled yet another one out of my pocket.  I had put a fourth one in there too!  I was really being sneaky!  But the goats sure liked it.

"Daddy, Mommy sure is silly!"

I had a great time playing in the "corn box".  It's just a big sandbox filled with corn!  This other gil and I were pretending the corn was popping and we were throwing it into the air.  What fun!

Mommy was away this week, but she's back!

Mommy went out of town this week, to San Antonio, Texas.  She was presiding at a friend's retirement ceremony and was gone from Tuesday morning until Friday night.  I really missed her, and got really sad a few times!  But Daddy and I still had a lot of fun doing "Daddy-daughter" things.  He even came to play with me for a while at school one day!  (He actually got to hear one of the greatest compliments ever from one of my friends - "Piper, your Dad's cool!"  He loved it!)

One Friday I drew a picture for Mommy to give her when she got home.  I drew it all by myself, without any ideas or advice from Daddy, so it really shows how much I love Mommy!  There's Mommy and I, smiling, with a pretty flower, and not one but TWO suns shining, and a rainbow too.  I was really happy about Mommy coming back home!

Mommy got back home so late Friday night that I was already in bed, so it wasn't until Saturday morning when I woke up that I got to see her!

I was really happy, especially since it's Memorial Day weekend and we have the whole three days with each other.

Flying, lunch, museum, playground, exploring!

Today was really a lot of fun.  It was the first really beautiful day here in a long time - high in the 70's, clear and sunny.  So Daddy and I wanted to go flying!  We thought it would be great to fly up to Urbana, OH, where they have a restaurant and a small museum where they restore World War II aircraft.  And Mommy agreed!  So we headed out to the airport before lunch.  I helped Daddy pull the plane out of the hangar.

It has been a while since I've flown with Daddy (since last October), and I was very excited to go.  When we took off I looked down and shouted to Mommy and Daddy, "I see HORSES!  Look at all the horses!"  Daddy and I both love the good vantage point we have up there.

We landed and went into the "Airport Cafe" there, where I had chicken strips and french fries, and I ate everything on my plate!  I was really hungry.  Maybe I'm growing!  Then we went outside to look at some of the planes parked on the ramp.  There were quite a few coming and leaving, and I made sure to wave to them all.

We then headed over to the museum.  I wanted to see the big propeller on this A-26.  It's taller than us!

When we got inside the hangar, I was immediately drawn to one specific "replica" aircraft.  I wonder why?

I had fun pedaling it around, and Daddy really had his work cut out for him trying to get me to look at something else.  But eventually he told me I was running out of gas and needed to head back to land.  It worked!

We spent a little while at the museum, and then headed back.  When we landed back home, I helped Daddy push the plane back in the hangar.  I had to push hard!

On the way home we stopped by a new neighborhood playground we found out about.  I got to join in with two older girls who were being chased around by a big monster (their Daddy).  The three of us were have a great time running around and squealing!

Our next stop was a local nature reserve where they have some boardwalk trails through the forest (and swampland, with all the rain we've had).  We saw a friendly caterpillar walking along the railing, and assuming it was trying to get to the nearest tree, Daddy let it crawl into his hand so he could help it.  Of course, I thought this was pretty neat and wanted it to crawl on my hand too.  It kept going up my arm, but I just giggled because it felt kind of funny!  Daddy was able to put the caterpillar back on a nice big leave and it kept crawling on up the tree.  I liked helping it, and hoped we would find another one!

I love flowers, and made many stops along the trail to show them to Mommy.  She's pointing out a really pretty one.

I was very interested in trying to find any kind of wildlife we could.  I saw some fish, a lot of birds, some deer tracks, and Mommy even saw a snake!  I stared for a long while at this frog, and he stared right back!

Mommy and Daddy had a rule about "no running on the boardwalk" because I might trip and fall off and end up in the muddy water.  At one point, I walked super fast ahead of them.  They could tell I really, really wanted to run, but I was good and didn't.  But I wanted to!

Parts of the trail were washed out due to all the rain we've had the last few months.  In addition, some beavers have been busy redirecting the water, so they had some temporary walkways set up.  We didn't get much farther along this trail, but after I held Daddy's hand the first time, I wanted to do it all by myself come back. 

What a fun-filled day!

Silly hat and Princess dress!

I thought it might snow today so I should wear a hat with my Princess dress.  Mommy and Daddy thought it was a pretty funny look!

Laundry head!

"Daddy, you can't find me!"

Auto maintenance with Daddy

Daddy has been working on the Honda a lot since we got the new car, since we now plan on keeping it for a while.  I really wanted to help!  Of course I ran out to see him in my Princess dress and carried a couple of tool to him.  He thought his "Princess mechanic" was pretty cute!  But he said I couldn't really help while wearing my pretty dress, especially since he was doing some really dirty jobs (he has the valve cover off the engine here, and it was pretty oily.

But when I was wearing other clothes, he let me help him replace the cabin air filter.  I removed some screws all by myself - he just told me which ones to remove, and I went ahead and did it!  He was very proud of me.

Surgery today - ear tube removal

I have had my ear tubes in for a long time now, and the right one just doesn't want to come out.  The left one came out of the eardrum a while ago, and has just been laying in my ear, held in by earwax.  A  month ago I saw the ENT doctor who said that she would need to go in an surgically remove the tube in the right ear or I was at risk for the eardrum never healing properly.  She would go ahead and remove the left tube as well.

It was an early morning as we had to be there at 6:15. But I was mostly a good girl even though I couldn't have anything to eat.  I didn't really want to get on the gurney at first, so Mommy came up until I got comfortable.  We got to play a lot!

I also didn't want to put on the hospital gown at all, but curling up naked under some blankets was fine. Eventually the nurses came and got me and I had to leave Mommy and Daddy.  I was a little sad, but did pretty well trying to be brave!  

Twenty minutes later, I was done.  But I was NOT happy as I came out from under the anesthetic.  I was very disoriented and let everybody within earshot know it, screaming and crying and not being able to use any words for about 20 - 30 minutes.  Mommy and Daddy did their best to comfort me, but I was just not interested!  And then, all of a sudden, I decided I wanted some milk.  After I finished it all, you'd never have known I had surgery!  I got dressed and smiled and laughed just like my normal self.  Mommy and Daddy were very happy about that!

We then had a long wait in the recovery room while the nurse kept coming in and checking my temperature and heart rate before they could let me go.  But no rush, I was having a great time.  When Mommy left the room for a little bit, I wanted Daddy to show me how to operate the gurney.  So we figured out how to raise and lower it, and I found out I could pump it up all by myself by stepping on this pedal.  Daddy was so proud of his little engineer!

After a while we were allowed to leave, and I ran down the hallway like nothing happened.  We went home, and since Mommy and Daddy both had taken the whole day off to be with me, we got to do a lot of fun things together.  First to rest a little I watched Sleeping Beauty.  Then we went to lunch at Chick-Fil-A and I played in the playground there for a long time.  Then, since it was such a nice day today, we went to an outdoor playground and played THERE for a long time.  On the way home, we passed "Ritter's Frozen Custard", and Mommy asked if I'd like to go there and we could sit outside.  Yes!  So Daddy swung the car around and I had a yummy frozen custard with chocolate chips.  Then we noticed there was a small playground there too, so of course I got to play a little there too.

We got home and Mommy started reading me a story (Aladdin), and I fell right asleep in the middle of it!  They let me have a good hour-long nap, after which I helped them clean the car outside, had dinner, and took a long bath with Mommy.  After that I was really ready for bed.

What a day!

Happy Mother's Day Mommy!

I made a present for Mommy in Sunday School today, a flower with my picture and my handprints as leaves.  She loved it!

Daddy and I tried to make sure Mommy had a relaxing day today.  She's sure earned it.  We love you Mommy!

We got a new car!

We bought a new car today!  It is a 2011 Hyundai Elantra (I've been practicing saying Hyundai and am getting pretty good at it), and I like it a lot.  Mommy and Daddy say that's a good thing, because with the way they keep cars around, it's likely to be the one I'll be driving when I get my license in 12 years!

Mother's Day card for Mommy

I made a Mother's day card for Mommy in school today, and just couldn't wait all the way until Sunday to give it to her.  So when she got home from work, I went and got it.  When she took it out of the envelope, she really liked it (and you can tell she started to tear up right away).

It had a cute picture of me inside too!

Happy Mother's Day a little early, Mommy!