Shobhana's birthday party

Today Shobhana invited us over for her 4th birthday party, and we went to "Bounce U", a fun place full of bounce houses!  It's a pretty sad day, too, because this is the last time I'll see Shobhana before she moves to New York.  Her and her mom will be moving there so they can finally be with her dad.  I know how much I missed Daddy when he was gone last week, so I'm happy that Shobhana is going to get to live with him, but I'm still sad to see her go.  She and I have been great friends and always played a lot together at preschool.

We got there a little early and had to wait a few minutes, but that was okay because we got to play on the toys in the front!  I took Shobhana on a little drive.

When they let us into the play area, it was reserved just for us!  There were only about 15 kids at the party, so we got to do everythign over and over again.  I really liked the slides!

I got to play with my friend Avery a lot too.

And do you know what was even more fun?  Almost all of the inflatables there were made extra strong so that adults could go on them too.  Which meant that Daddy could play with me!  Mommy couldn't do much playing because of her shoulder, but she did try a litte.

We had a great time playing, and then it was time for dinner (pizza), birthday cake and presents!  Too soon it was over, and I gave Shobhana a big hug before we left.  I'll miss her!

 



Mommy's birthday!

Daddy and I let Mommy sleep in late today, since it's her birthday!  Then when she woke up we got to sing to her, too. 

Grandma and Papa Roslewski had sent a package to Mommy, with Grandma instructing me that I was NOT to let Mommy open her presents until her birthday.  I was really good about that, and reminded Mommy often!  When she did open it, in addition to her presents, there were some Christmas decorations that Daddy had made when he was a kid.  I decided to hang them right up on the tree!

That afternoon, we had lots of friends over, and that meant lots of kids!  Zoe and Mia, Alex and Tori were there, and Shobhana came later.  We got to play a lot and even decorated some cookies!

When it came time for the dessert, I was very excited.  Instead of the "big chocolate cake" that we usually get for Mommy's birthday, she saw a sale at Cold Stone and we had ice cream pies!  We put one candle in each one and I helped her blow them out.   

We sure had a great day and too soon, it was time for everybody to leave.  Earlier, I had helped Daddy put out luminaires so our guests could see where to walk.  I think they looked super pretty!



Mommy got to open her presents early

Mommy's birthday may not be until tomorrow, but Daddy and I couldn't wait to give her her presents.  We tried to wait until tomorrow, but just were too excited (especially Daddy)!

So today when she got home from work, we decided to let her open them up.  I gave her a Christmas ornament with a picture of me in it.  She really liked it!

Daddy had been really sneaky and took her car to work yesterday.  He got a coworker to help him, and dropped the car off to get a remote starter installed so Mommy could be warmer this winter.  Mommy had no idea, and was super surprised!

Movie with Shobhana

Today is my best friend Shobhana's birthday, she is 4 today, just like me!  She's having a party on Sunday, but today I got to go to a movie with her and her mom.  Daddy and Mommy got to have a date by themselves!  Daddy took me straight to the movie after school and we had a great time.  I even got to have popcorn and a drink!  We watched a silly movie about dancing penguins called "Happy Feet 2".  I didn't really watch much of it, but Shobhana and I had a great time anyway.

When we got back home, I had a present to give to Shobhana.  I helped her unwrap it right away!

I gave her some nail polish, sparkly headbands and a watch that helps you learn to tell time.  The fun part was, I got the same headbands and watch, so we could wear the same things!

She had to leave right afterward, as it was getting pretty late.  I was sad to see he go, but we sure had a fun time tonight!

When Daddy came to bed, he came in to give me a kiss like he always does.  He found me cuddled up with his teddy bear and thought it was super cute!

Daddy's home!

Daddy came home tonight!  He came up to the front door and rang the doorbell.  I was with Mommy in the kitchen, and when I heard the bell I looked at the front door and saw Daddy looking through the window.  I yelled "Daddy!" and ran as fast as I could with a big smile on my face to open the door for him.  I jumped in his arms and gave him a big hug.  I am so happy he's home!

He said that if it's nice tomorrow, he'll put up some Christmas lights outside, and I can help!

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!

First Halloween in Ohio

I was very excited about going out for Halloween this year.  It was our first one in Ohio, and I'm old enough now where I could go to lots of houses!  We were ready to go right at 6 PM.

As Mommy stayed home to hand out candy, Daddy and I went way down our street, up a side street and all the way back.  I ran almost the whole time between houses.  Daddy couldn't keep up!  I remembered to always be polite and said "thank you" when I got candy.  I even got candy from a fire truck that was in our neighborhood!  Daddy and I were pretty sneaky too - we stopped about half way through and had a little "snack".  I said I wanted to keep it a secret from Mommy, and I did - all the way up until we got home!

On the way back up our street, as we got closer to home, Daddy asked if I wanted to go home or go down another street.  I just wanted to go home, so I could ring the doorbell and say "trick or treat" to Mommy.  She was pretty surprised!  Then Daddy and I sat on the stairs, waited for more kids to show up at our hosue, and ate some of our candy.  What a great night!

Trunk or Treat!

Tonight we went to a "Trunk or Treat" at church, which meant I got to wear my Halloween costume a few days early!  Mommy and Daddy had asked what I wanted to be, and there was no hesitation - I wanted to be a princess, just like last year.  I sure have grown though!  Last year my dress went almost all the way to the floor, but now it just goes to mid-calf.  And I decided to wear the tiara I got at the birthday party last week too!

Update on Mommy and flying with Daddy

After Mommy's surgery on Tuesday, Daddy took the next few days off to help her out, but I still went to preschool. I was a super big help to Mommy each day, got things for her, and even learned how to help put on and take off the sling she has to wear for two weeks.

Every night since I was born, Mommy and Daddy have sung "You are our sunshine" to me in bed. But this week I've often insisted that we go in their room and Daddy and I sing to Mommy! They both thought that was really sweet. I love Mommy and Daddy!

Today Daddy and I went flying to Cincinatti for lunch, which gave Mommy a chance to get some rest.  She took a nice long nap which will hopefully help her get better quickly.  As we were on the airport, someone said to Daddy, "I see you have your copilot there", to which I replied, "I'm his engineer!"  Daddy asked me about this later, and I said I can't be the copilot, because the copilot sits up front like Mommy.  Instead, I'm the engineer.  Well, yes, he thought, Flight Engineers did sit behind the pilots back when airliners had them.  But how did I know that?  We don't know, but now it's settled, I'm his Flight Engineer!

I've also really started to like it when Daddy does "roller coasters" in the air.  He'll go up super steep and then pitch over so that I feel light in my seat.  It's just like a roller coaster and I lift my hands up and scream just like I'm on one!  I keep asking him to do it again and again.  I love flying (one day I told him I made a wish, and that wish was to fly with him in a jet and go upside down - he said we might have to wait on that)!

Kid's festival and doggies in costume!

There was a "Kid's Festival" today down at The Green Town Center, and Daddy and I even picked up Shobhana on our way there (her mom need to get a few other things done)!  We were mostly really good girls for Daddy, and he definitely appreciated it.  They had some big inflatables, unfortunately there were some long line to get in them!

They also had a dog Halloween costume contest going on at the same time, which meant there were lots and lots of dogs around for us to pet.  I always asked their owners very nicely first, and only a couple said that their dogs really weren't good with kids.  We petted so many dogs, Mommy was really sad that she couldn't come!  There sure were a lot of silly dog costumes.  This one has a cowboy riding on his back!

And this one is dressed as one of the "Fruit of the Loom" mascots.

This one was a super big dog!

There was even a parade for all the dogs.  Kids were allowed to walk in it too, so Shobhana and I made sure to get right up front and lead the parade, right behind the wagon with the band in it!

It was a great day, and Daddy managed to not go crazy with us two girls running all over!

Princess Party!

A friend of mine at church had a birthday party this evening.  It was a princess party!  Daddy dropped me off and came back a few hours later.  When he came in, he couldn't find me at first - I wasn't wearing what I came in!  All us girls (about 5 or 6) got dressed up in princess costumes and did our hair and nails too.  Daddy thought I looked absolutely beautiful! 

I had to show Mommy and Daddy how well my dress twirls!

Mommy had surgery today

Mommy's right shoulder has been hurting a lot lately, so she's been seeing a doctor and they did some surgery on it today, involving reattaching a bicep tendon and shaving a bone spur. It went well, but she was pretty well drugged up the rest of the day!

Here is Mommy this afternoon. No pain yet, the nerve block was still effective!

Two kites at the same time!

It was so windy today that Daddy and I knew we'd have no problem flying a kite.  In fact, mine took off as he was handing me the line with it resting on the ground.  We didn't have to do anything!  After helping me let out all the string, we thought he should fly his own kite.  So he just stood there, held up the kite, let it go, and it was flying.  Easy!  He really had to work hard to keep the strings from getting tangled, though.

I have a permanent tooth coming in!

Look at my new tooth!  It's my first permanent, grown-up tooth.  I'm very excited about it!

Shobhana came over to play!

Today when Daddy came to pick me up from preschool he had a big surprise for me.  I was playing with my friend Shobhana and he asked both of us if we would like him to take Shobhana home with us!  At first we didn't really understand what he meant, but then as it dawned on us we both got super big grins on our faces - Yes!  He had called Shobhana's mom earlier and even brought an extra car seat for her.  So we got to ride home together, eat dinner, and play for a few hours until her mom came to pick her up.  It was great!  Of course now we ask Daddy almost every day if he can take Shobhana home with us again.  Maybe soon!

Car types and road names

I am getting really good at telling different types of cars from their logos.  Whenever I see a new car, I ask Daddy or Mommy what type it is, and I remember it right away.  Then as we drive down the road, I'll say the car types we see - "There's a Kia, and a Chevy, and a Toyota ..."  One time Daddy heard me talking quietly to myself - "There's a Chevy, and a Chevy, and another Chevy, and a Chevy, and more Chevies... Daddy, why are there so many Chevies?"  We were driving by the dealership!

I am also very interested in road names.  Every day I name all the roads leading up to our house as we drive by!

More leaves!

Daddy and I saw there were even more leaves on the ground today than yesterday.  So we raked those up into the pile we already had, and look at how big it was!

Even Mommy joined us and jumped in.  All three of us even jumped in at the same time!  I liked how deep the leaves were, and thought it was great throwing them around.

It was supposed to rain tomorrow, so Daddy and I went ahead and bagged all the leaves.  At first I thought we were going to keep them and spread them out later after it was done raining!  When I found out that wasn't what we were doing, I was a little sad - until Daddy reminded me that our tree out front is still green.  We'll get to do this again! 



Nature walk and raking leaves

Today was a holiday, so Mommy, Daddy and I all got to stay home together and had a great time.  We went out for lunch, then did a little shopping.  When we were done that we went to Steak 'N' Shake for their "happy hour" milkshake special!  I got a double chocolate fudge milkshake, but ended up liking Mommy's mint cookies and cream milkshake better, so I "helped" her a lot.

Later we went to a new nature walk area near our house.  We got to see some frogs, a beaver dam and some super big leaves!

When we got home, Daddy put me to work.  Look at all the leaves I had to rake up!

Actually, I wanted to help, and I did a super good job too, raking up at least 1/4 of all those leaves.  I even said to Daddy, "I'll rake some more so your arms don't get tired."  He liked the sound of that!

When we were done, I couldn't wait to jump in the big pile!  But I knew we had to wait so Mommy could come out and watch.  Hurry Mommy!

I knew I had to get a big running start!

After a ccouple of jumps by myself, I told Daddy I wanted to jump in with him.  So we held hands, ran super fast and jumped in.  Mommy got this picture right as we landed on the pile!

This is fun!

Playing at Tori and Alex's house

Mommy and Daddy's friends Heidi and Aaron invited me over today at lunchtime to play with their daughter and son, Tori and Alex.  That sounded like fun, and Mommy and Daddy were happy about it too - they went on a date!  We had a great time playing for a few hours.  Mommy and Daddy, of course, came back to pick me up right as we were making some cookies!  But that just meant they stayed and had some with us.  Daddy even sat at the table next to Alex!

They have three dogs, and it was fun playing with them too.  Later, I told Mommy and Daddy, "I like lickable dogs!"

Daddy swaddled me!

Daddy told me a story on the way to school today about how he used to swaddle me up in the little blanket I was using to keep my legs warm.  I told him I wanted him to try it when we got home.  Well, he knew he couldn't do it in that tiny blanket, but we used a bigger one, and sure enough, he remembered how to do it.  I'm just a bit larger than I used to be!

I also thought it was funny when he told me I always used to sneak a hand or a foot or both out of my blanket when I was all wrapped up.  So I did it again with a big smile on my face!

Almost flying a new kite

It seemed pretty windy today, so we all went outside to fly some new kites Mommy and I had bought a week or so ago.  I chose the fancy biplane kite.  We tried and tried, and I ran as fast as I could, but the wind kept dying right as we'd get it up in the air!  Oh well, we'll try again when it's a little less gusty.