Piper is 11! (Montage)

There are so many sides to Piper!  Even three years ago, I even could have honestly added “and some of them are good!”.  But she’s turning out way better than I expected.  Here’s a montage of some of her personalities.

Piper Language.  She communicates through beeps, purrs, growls, hisses, and words she just plain makes up.  Here, she and Kyla are putting together a puzzle (snow day activity!) and working together across languages.  Kyla lovingly interprets and translates Piperese when called upon.



Last week, I was in a line all the way back to the end of the grocery store (it was the brief period between snow storms when even the 2 wheel drive could make it out of the garage) and used the time to call one of my sisters-in-law.  Finally, I had to tell her I would have to talk later, because the kids kept calling me and I probably shouldn’t ignore them any more.  (I leave them at home to go out a lot, but they feel free to call all the time, about the smallest things.) This time, it was Piper.  When I got off the phone with her, the couple ahead of me sad something about kids always calling about stupid things, and I agreed, but then had to admit, in a bit of a daze, that I had just hung up with my almost-11 year old who had called to ask it if was okay if she started dinner for me while I was gone.  Delicious tacos were waiting when I got home from shopping and picking up Wesley.  

 I trust all my kids with knives (though still waiting for Wes to remember to use a cutting board and not the granite countertop…bad for the knives, though the counter doesn’t mind!)  As always, the local grocery store made her birthday cake.  

Piper got her letter of acceptance to Hogswarts for her 11th birthday.  Well, to be more accurate, it arrived one day late.  Turns out owls are a little slow in snow storms…but still way faster than moms, it turns out!

Piper also got me to start making homemade bread again, something I haven’t done for years.  She and Wes are both excited to do almost all the work…except the clean up.  Oh, goodness, I went for a long time without eating carbs, and then the snow hit (for two weeks), and I. Cannot. Stop. Eating. Bread.   

Yep, this kid is pretty unique.  And so damn loveable, which is probably why I’m still head-over-heals twitterpated with this complex human! Happy birthday, beloved Piper!

Gestating another Chocolate Baby

What is it about snow that makes me want to scarf carbs? Dwayne went to the store tonight and brought back ice cream.  But because I do not eat ice cream 1) outside of summer and 2) that wastes calories with vanilla or other non-chocolate flavors, he brought me back a little chocolate Bundt cake.  I held it to my belly just to see what putting those 10+ pounds back on.  

Fortunately, the cake actually didn’t taste good, so the chocolate baby will stay an embryo a little longer.

Snowderday

It all went as forecasted! The snow started by 1pm Friday afternoon and it snowed all evening so the kids woke up to great sled runs.

Piper was already back in the house to warm up when I went to investigate the shenanigans.  Sure, they look darling, but that is just their picture pose.

Because then they went a wee bit nuts!

Of course, that may be because they all lost brain cells doing this for hours:

The Zombie Sledders return for more…


Piper and Abs made chocolate cake and all the girls designed glorious plans for decorating it. And then the cakes fell apart promptly after being taken of the oven, so everyone just put down the icing plans and grabbed forks!  Today, we called that “lunch”.  

Snowpocalypse II: Day 1

And this is why I don’t take my Christmas, ahem, Winter lights down.  I can’t take down the snowflakes when there’s real snowflakes to light up! I was so glad that schools were out really early today, including the secondary schools.  The school I work at on Fridays was probably the latest to get out at 12:30, and I was home by 1pm.  That’s the last outing for the minivan for a few days, I predict!  


Snowpocalypse I: Day 3

Let’s not even discuss Day 2.  The house is too big to clean, too small to get away from the kids.  Let’s just admit I was snappish that day, and move on to Day 3.  

We woke up to no bread, milk, or apples, so I planned a Me & 3 outing: walk down the back forty to downtown, have breakfast at the local café, and then go to the grocery store and pack it all home.  

A veggie omelet for me and different versions of carbs with extra syrup for the kids, with a side of bacon.  A good way to start the day.

The streets were clear in town, but my front wheel drive minivan stays in garage–the ice on our shaded private street is only beat out by the ice on the two hills that get us off our hill.  Hence, the lovely walk down the ravine to tow.  Dwayne had no problem on his commute, but I’m chicken with precious cargo.  

Snowpocalypse I: Day 1




On Saturday, Kyla brought me the first bouquet from the garden. 


On Sunday, it started snowing. 





On Monday, we woke up to this:


So, so beautiful!  Today was one of my favorite days, period (in spite of a second period in 10 days, TMI).  The house always looks a little eerie with the skylights covered, but extra light reflecting off the snow into all the other windows. 



I moved my little desk in front of the window overlooking the backyard, and actually got a little work done.  We had walked over to friend’s house, and left the 10 year old girls there and took the middle school girls back to our house.  The snow was so light and fluffy, and not conducive at all to snowballs….or even sledding!  That didn’t stop the kids though.  They made paths through the orchard and probably hit about every tree they could…and at least one I didn’t think they could.




The day ended even more beautifully than it began.  Thanks Mother Nature!