Daddy's going to Oklahoma today

Daddy is going to Oklahoma City this week for work, and I've already told him many times how much I'm going to miss him.  He'll be back on Friday, and Mommy and I are going to have a good time all by ourselves!

Decorating the Christmas tree!

I love decorating the Christmas tree, and today we got to do it!  Before Mommy and Daddy got up, I had gone downstairs and cleaned up all my toys from the family room.  I even moved some things out of the way to make room for the tree.  I went and got Daddy up, and we put up the tree.  When Mommy came down, she was pretty surprised the tree already up and the room nice and neat!  They were very proud of me!  She said we would decorate it after church.  So we did! 

Daddy brought all the boxed up from the basement, and in one of the first ones was a Santa doll that Mommy has had for a long time.  I gave it a super big hug!

Then we got to work.  I quickly found "my" Santa hat so I could be in the right mood.  It was fun seeing all of our ornaments again.

I let Mommy or Daddy get the high branches, but we still ended up with a lot more down low than up high.  Daddy commented that every year, the ornaments make their way higher up the tree!

Once we had all the ornaments on, Daddy got out the angel and I got to put her on the top.  He didn't have to tell me how to put her on this year!

After we put on the angel, Daddy found another box with all the garland.  Ooh, fun!  I took right to this while Mommy and Daddy were in another room, and had a great time stringing it up my way!  Mommy made a few adjustments once I was done.

We also put up some other decorations around the house, so it looks very festive.  Daddy leaves for Oklahoma City for a week tomorrow, but when he gets back we'll put some lights up outside.  Then we'll really be ready.  I'm already so excited that Santa's coming, I keep telling Mommy and Daddy that I can't wait!

Zoe and Mia came over today!

Zoe and Mia's parents needed to go to Columbus this morning, so they had asked if we minded if Zoe and Mia came over to play.  Of course I didn't mind!  They were over pretty early and we ate breakfast together.  Then it was just nonstop play until after lunch when their parents came back.  We played dress-up, bounced on couch cushions and made forts out of them, played in the basement, and just had a great time.  And I even did pretty well when it was time for them to leave, not fussing too much.  I want them to come over again soon!

I love writing letters!

I've been really practicing writing my letters, and I love to do it.  I will just go get a piece of paper, and ask Mommy or Daddy how to spell something.  It doesn't matter what, I'll just look at something in the room or outside and ask how to spell it - wall, shelf, chocolate, helicopter, anything!  Then I'll write it down as they tell me the letters.  Sometimes I don't even want their help, I just write down a bunch of letters by myself.  They don't spell anything, but I think it's super fun just to write them.  I even said one time, "I just can't stop writing!"

I really have a good time with it and really proud of myself when I remember how to write one of the lesser-used letters, like "Z".  I'm getting lots better!

Thanksgiving dinner

Today is Thanksgiving and we were invited over to the Racz's house.  I was very excited to go over and had been talking about it all week.  I couldn't wait to see Zoe and Mia again!  When we got there, we played oiutside until dinner was ready.  They even have a rope tied to a tree!   I had lots of fun swinging on it, and even hanging upside down to scare Mommy.

When we were called inside, there was lots of food for us to choose from.  Mommy and Daddy have been trying to get me to try new foods, and so I turkey, mashed potatos, stuffing, and vegetables. 

I wasn't real sure if I was going to like the turkey, but as I said afterward, "I didn't think I would like the turkey, but then I tried it, and I LOVED it!" Hopefully I'll keep trying new things and find more foods I like. In fact, I ate everything on my plate, and even did it at a reasonable speed without Mommy or Daddy having to remind me to finish eating. They were super happy and proud of me!

After dinner we got to play some more, until it was time for dessert - and it was even Zoe and Mia's Daddy's birthday!  So we got to sing to him, and then had Red Velvet cake.  I told Mommy and Daddy that I didn't really like the icing part too much, but I did like the red cake part.  Of course, I had eaten the whole piece anyway!

We had a great time, and although I was a little sad to leave, I knew that they are coming over to our house on Saturday, so that's not too far away!

Is 7 a high number?

Today as we were sitting eating dinner, I looked at my placemat and saw the number 7.  I've been very interested lately in what numbers are "high" numbers, so I asked Daddy, "Is 7 a high number?"

He said, "Well, it depends.  It's a higher number than your age, so it's a high number to you.  But how old am I?"

I said "37".

He said, "So to my age it's a much lower number."

To which I began to reply, "And it's a much, much, much..."

He tried to save me by interrupting "Don't say what I think you're going to say!"

But I didn't get the hint, and kept going, "...much, much smaller number to Mommy's age!"

Mommy said, "Thanks, Pumpkin."  Daddy just put his head in his hands.  What??

"Mommy, look at that!"

Today Mommy decided to make some smoothies, which to Daddy and me means we get to sneak lots of whip cream! Of course I like it when Daddy squirts it right into my mouth, but we have to make sure Mommy’s not looking first. So Daddy came up with a clever new way of getting Mommy to look away. As we were sitting at the table, he said “Mommy, look at that strange bird out the window!” Mommy turned and looked, but I didn’t quite understand at first, until he held the whip cream up right in front of my face. Then I caught on really quick! From then on, Daddy didn’t have to say anything, because I came up with my own things to get her to look at!

My first attempt was “Mommy, look at that white thing on Mr. Bill’s porch (our neighbor)!” But I got better each time. My next try was “Mommy, look at the elephant on Mr. Bill’s roof!” And the last one was “Mommy, look at the camel on the ceiling!” I think she might have been a little bit suspicious by this time, and she caught us on the last one when Daddy had a little too much whip cream in his mouth. Silly Daddy! I’m sure she’ll forget by next time, though, so we’ll get to trick her again!

The "Magic Castle"

Today I got to meet up with Shobhana at this new fun place called the Magic Castle!  It has a great big climbing/play area inside with lots of slides and tubes and high places to climb up to.  Shobhana and I ran all around it and got pretty worn out.  But then Daddy even came in and chased us around some more.  It wasn't really made for Daddy-size people, so he was really worn out!

They also have a lot of games to play.  We got to play a bunch of them, and even challenged each other to some air hockey.  Neither of us really understood that you are supposed to try to keep the puck from going in your goal, but we had a great time anyway.

We were there for a couple of hours, and by that time we were getting tired and Mommy and Daddy knew it was time to leave.  But they said we could definitely come back again!

Veteran's Day

As today was Veteran's Day, many local business were offerring specials to military members.  So we all tried to take advantage of as many as we could!  For lunch we went to Texas Roadhouse, where we ate completely for free.  A local car wash was also offerring free washes, so we ended up taking all three of our vehicles through.  It was super fun, and I was so excited each time when the car went into the wash!

After lunch we went to Steak and Shake, where they have "happy hour" specials from 2-4 PM on their milkshakes.  Although it wasn't a Veteran's Day special, we don't often get to go since Mommy and Daddy are at work.  I really liked the milkshake!

We were going to go to another free dinner, but the place we were going to go to was way too crowded, so we just stayed home.  But it was a super fun day being together!

I bumped my head today

I was playing at school today and wasn't looking where I was going as I was running inside (which I know I wasn't supposed to be doiong anyway).  I tripped on the leg of a table and hit my head above my right eye.  It really hurt!  My bruise swelled up fast and there was some blood too.  The teacher called Mommy, and she called Daddy.  A few minutes later, Daddy came over to see how I was doing!  Since it was after 3:00, he asked if I just wanted to go home and maybe have a treat to help me feel better.  Sounded good to me, so we headed out.  I was really good about keeping an ice pack on it most of the way.  As we were driving, Daddy made me an offer I couldn't refuse - would I like to stop by "Ritter's Frozen Custard" on the way home?  Yes! 

Of course I wanted to keep it a secret from Mommy that we had a treat.  I told Daddy, "So Mommy doesn't know we had Ritter's Frozen Custard, I have a plan!"  When he asked what the plan was, I giggled and said, very sneakily, "We'll wipe off our faces!"  I was very proud of my plan!

I ordered a "Kid's Crunch" and Daddy had an "Oreo Glacier".  Since it had rained earlier, the outdoor seats were all wet (they don't have indoor seating).  He suggested we sit in the car, and I could sit in the front passenger seat while we ate.  I thought that was a super big deal!  Once Daddy and I were done with our little date, we headed home, and Mommy was already there.  She guessed where we went!

Although it hurt a little bit this evening, I was back to playing like normal really quickly.  Must have been the frozen custard!

Making a birthday card for Grandma

Thursday is Grandma Roslewski's birthday, so Daddy asked me if I wanted to make a card for her. Yes!  He told me I could decorate it however I wanted.  I started off by writing "Happy Birthday Grandma.  Love, Piper" inside.  Daddy helped me spell some of the words, but didn't have to help me with any of the letters.  Then I got busy decorating it - I drew a rainbow, some flowers, the sun, a picture of me and Mommy and their dog Shadow, and even mountains on the back - a lot of mountains!  But I thought it was a lot of fun to do and I know Grandma liked it!

I even added a few Dora stickers for fun!