Monday, May 28, 2012

The Many Faces of Piper


 

Piper has been working on her zilling...


I pulled mine out yesterday and after watching me for a moment she stuck her fingers out wanting to wear them herself!


She's been doing some rearranging. Using her activity table as a step stool.
Then turning it over...


To crawl through it


Resting long enough to catch a book in her chair


The following photos were taken by Aoife today, I love how she captures the many faces of Piper.
Oh and the goat. Love the goat!








Thursday, May 24, 2012

Life Lessons


Another year, another Shumei Anniversary.
This one was the 10th 
And thanks to the family force of Grammy, Grandpa and Dad, I survived and Piper had a blast.
G&G had her the first day and overnight and then Dad took her the rest of the weekend 
(with a little help)
and even took her to see Taiko.
I was too frazzled to think to take photos, but she loved it!
And the fountain...a big big hit.


Contemplative Piper...


Cleaning up the hiking trail with Daddy after the winter storms 








 Piper's first drawing. 
No help on this one from anyone. She totally knew what she needed to do.
Including eat the eddible chalk between masterpieces. 






She is cracking me up lately. So many new things...
She makes her horses gallup. She was running around the house with one this week and then later I asked her if she could make her horse gallup and she went and found one and did it.
She seems to be playing pretend a lot more. Which means I actually get to make dinner (in stages).







This morning we went and visited our friend Ann. She has a lovely property along the San Isabel creek and had been saying we should come over before the bugs get bad.
It was stunning.



So then there's the gnome...
saved for last.


May he rest in peace...



Piper has been obsessed with him for quite some time.
He was a gag for the garden from years ago, but she would run to him carrying him around the yard, not really knowing where to put him but not wanting to put him down.




She was having a melt down over the gnome


So I let her take him to the store, I mean hey - why not?
Then I let her take him in the house...
and then he died.
It wasn't pretty and luckily Piper was just confused by the situation.

Holding his hand in hers while the rest of his body lay in pieces at her feet.


Made me more sad than her.
I mean she was so so in love with this gnome. I had never seen her so completely consumed by anything else like this little guy. And now he's gone.


Rest in Peace sweet gnome...you will be missed.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Big Girl


Piper's been taking on some big stuff this week!


For Mother's Day we started getting a little playground together across the street.
We inherited it from Fisher 
(Thanks you guys!!!!)
  Getting it ready included clearing out some wood and making a safe space.
Grammy and Grandpa came by and helped and in a short amount of time we had a good start.


In moments Piper got the hang of the whole slide concept. She had gone down it, she had gone up the back - but she hadn't yet put those two things together until now.


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Dragons and Fairies Oh My!


 Today was the First Annual Dragon and Fairy Festival



This is how most of the day was spent today...
Piper running from me.


And Very happy.


Playing with Giselle.



 Discovering hula-hoops




 We were there early of course and set up was still under way


 So Piper tried using the hula-hoop how she saw another girl doing it


 After a nap we returned for the parade


The head of the dragon



 The tail of the dragon


 And after a moment we realized wait - we're part of the parade, not watching the parade.


 So we went with it.
There were drummers and dancing along the way


 At the end of the parade there was a unicorn with treasure for everyone! (oranges and trinkets)



 And lots and lots of dancing. Piper was so into it - she danced and tried to join in with the African dance troop, it was hard to hold her back (she would have been trampled) but she was patient and happy to dance on the sidelines.




 Earlier in the week Aoife took Piper to see the new baby goats at Atalanta
Though it was their Momma's that really got her attention.







  And to the stables to see the horses