A New Spark in Town

Piper is still having some anxiety and self confidence issues,

so we decided to put her in Sparks.

I'm hoping it will help her gain confidence

and learn how far she can go and how much she can do.

We attended our first meeting last week.

She enjoyed it, but was unsure at the same time. 

They gave us three cases of cookies to sell.

I didn't think Piper would want to sell them,

but I was willing to try my best to help her see

that she could totally do it.

She started by going to our neighbors' houses

all by herself.

She did and was SO proud!

It somehow lit a 'spark' under her little bum

(pun intended)

and she wanted to keep going and sell more.

We loaded up the wagon yesterday afternoon,

recruited her little sister for extra cute factor

and started off down our street.

At the first few houses, 

Piper made me do the talking.

At some houses, the people opening the door

actually did the talking for her.

But 99% of the houses had LOVELY people

who all bought a box of cookies. 

By the time we reached the bottom of our street,

Caitlin had joined the crew as well.

Having two "little sisters" with her

made Piper feel like the BIG BIG girl,

so she started doing all of the talking with a huge smile on her face.

"I'm a Spark.

Would you like to buy a box of cookies?

They're five dollars."

This momma was about to burst from being so proud!

And the best part...

Piper was so proud of herself!

A self confidence boost was clear!!!!!

We will be picking up more cookies to sell this week.

I love watching this sweet girl grow and excel!!

xo

xo

💕

Elliotte's First Day of PreK (Yesterday)

Watch out world, 

this girl is going to move mountains! 

Big sister would probably use

 wit, creativity and determination, 

but not Elliotte. 

She will use sheer force!!! 

Don't mess with this one!!

 🏔️

xo

xo

Piper's First Day of Kindergarten

Very first day of Kindergarten!!!!!

Piper had a great day and LOVES the bus.
(Many thank to Sylvie for being her bus buddy!)

Her momma had a rough day and could barely breath.
It truly felt like someone was sitting on my chest the entire day.

As the bus pulled away
Elliotte looked up and me an said,
"Mommy, I miss Piper."
Me too sweet girl.
Me too.

xo
xo

Tooth Fairy's Very FIRST Visit

This happened!!!!

Last Saturday we drove to Nova Scotia to spend a few days

with friends and family
(particularly Mother's Day with my sister)
before Piper's appointment with the urologist at the IWK.

On our first night there (May 13),
Piper's wiggly tooth started to bleed while I was brushing her teeth.
I told her what was happening
and then gave it a little wiggle to see how loose it was.
It was LOOSE!
Krista happened to be right there when it happened
and told Piper to pull it out.

So she did.

Quite unexpectedly.
For everyone involved.

When I saw the tooth in Piper's hand,
I told her that it was out.

She then looked at it and then asked me to,
"get it out" in a slightly panicked voice.
I told her again that it was already out.
By this time, the tooth (or lack there of) was bleeding a lot more,
so we got her to rinse her mouth a few times
to get it to stop.

After that, it was all excitement and joy!

Piper was SO proud!
She is in such a hurry to grow up
and this was a big step in her little eyes.
Words cannot describe how happy and excited she was.

Little Elliotte had no clue what in the world was going on,
but figured it out in the end.
Jack wasn't long coming downstairs and getting in on the excitement as well.

Within minutes she was on the phone with her daddy,
proudly telling him all about it!!

Soon after, the tooth was wrapped in a tissue
and safely tucked underneath her pillow.
It took what felt like hours for her to settle down
and fall asleep.
She was very worried that the Tooth Fairy would not find her
in Nova Scotia.
It took a LOT of reassuring to convince her that if that happened,
we could take her tooth back to PEI with us when we left
and she'd be sure to find us there.

Lucky for her,
the Tooth Fairy had no troubles locating our estate big-little girl.

I was curious if she would even remember it all in the morning,
or if I would have to remind her to check under her pillow.

Not a chance.

Her eyes were barely open before she looked over
and asked if it was okay for her to check.

She was very careful and a little timid,
as she lifted up the pillow and saw the tissue.
She gingerly opened it up,
corner by corner,
until she spied a five dollar bill.
At that point she grabbed it and held it proudly in the air,
yelling that the Tooth Fairy really did come!
She found her!

Her excitement was matched by her mini-me,
who is now figuring this whole thing out.
Elliotte has been asking if her tooth will fall out when she's five.
Slow down baby girl!
You only got your last two teeth 3 months ago!
Hang on to them a little while longer please!!!!

Later in the morning,
I asked Piper if she remembered asking me to,
"get it out"
when she first pulled her tooth out.
She explained that when she first looked at it,
it looked much smaller than she expected.
That made her think that she had only pulled part of it out
and she just wanted the rest of it out right away.
We did a little chuckling about that when we talked about it.

Ohhhh.
It's so fun to watch the girls be so excited and proud.
Thank you so much Piper Cee and Elliotte Paige!

xo
xo
💕

There's the tooth in her hand.

And there's the gap in her mouth.

The excitement of putting the tooth under her pillow.

This is one of my favorite photos of all time.
It was the morning after and Piper had just found her $5 from the Tooth Fairy.
Elliotte looked at Piper and said,
"Piper, show me your...
show me your...
show me your DON'T HAVE A TOOTH!"
Oh my heart!!!

Jamaican Braids

The first time we visited Jamaica, 

Piper was only 18 months old and got the cutest 

Jamaican braids ever!

My only request for this trip was that Piper would get the braids again

and Elliotte would get them for the first time. 

THEY DID!

And we all loved it. 

Well, sort of. 

Piper did.

Elliotte did too... for 3 hours.

After that she asked to have them taken out.

Sorry baby girl. 

For what we paid for them, 

she was keeping them in for a week -

NO MATTER WHAT!

xo

xo

💕

Four years ago.
I kept her distracted with licorice... which she later threw up. 

Braids!

And 4 years later.
No licorice needed, though I'm sure she would have liked some.

My grown up beauty.

It's the little one's turn!

Just as beautiful as her big sister.

Getting braids is exhausting!

Before we left, Nanny Gandy gave each of the girls some money
to buy anything they wanted in Jamaica.
They each chose this little hand sewn dolls that reverse
into another doll when you flip the skirt upside down.
I LOVE them!

Ya Mon! To Jamaica We Go

On April 30th our little family 

set out on a vacation to Montego Bay, Jamaica!

As usual,

the girls were excited about flying

and were the most amazing little travelers you could ever dream of!

xo

xo

Bubble Guppies Live

Last night we decided to take a trip into Charlottetown

where the girls could see the Bubble Guppies Live musical show.

We really couldn't afford it,

but my conscience got the better of me

and I convinced Mark that we had to go.

My reasons stemmed from a couple of things. 

First of all, when Piper was the biggest Dora fan ever

(and still is a little bit),

we took her to the live Dora show TWICE.

Elliotte has always been a Guppies fan,

so I felt wrong not giving her the same experience. 

My second reason is that I've been feeling guilty

about my parenting lately.

Piper has been sick with a urine problem again this year

and it has been ongoing since January.

That means less sleep, 

less patience,

less energy

less happiness in our family.

Elliotte is definitely getting the raw end of the deal here

and I feel like I owe it to her to do something special.

I'm glad we did.

She had an amazing time.

She was in absolute awe when the show started,

but she did get a little shy and starstruck.

Nana had asked her to wave to Nonny for her.

She did.

And he waved back.

WOAH!

(He was waving to the audience, 

but she doesn't know that!)

Her little world was rocked.

It was worth every penny and more.

Miss Piper had a fun time too.

She's still struggling,

but for what she's going through,

she's pretty amazing.

To give a short example, 

Piper peed at 3:45 while we were at the Vet with Blue.

Then peed again at 4:00 when we dropped Blue off

and hit the road for Charlottetown. 

By the time we reached Charlottetown 

(roughly a 45-50 minute drive)

she was crying again that she needed to pee.

We arrived at the venue and she peed (5:30 ish). 

Then 20 minutes into the show, 

she whispered to me that she needed to pee again. 

Thankfully intermission started and I took her to the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, 

the show was over and she peed again.

By the time we got home,

she was asking to pee again... 

which she did twice before going to bed. 

Then after I tucked her in and read two stories,

she said she needed to pee again. 

I told her to go ahead. 

She crawled halfway out of bed

and whined that she was too tired,

but needed to pee.

She fell asleep like that. 

Just like that. 

Halfway out of bed and halfway in. 

Piper whole little life is consumed with needing to go bathroom. 

It's been a long three months,

but we hope to get some answers next month

when we head to the IWK in Halifax to see a pediatric urologist. 

Wish us luck that they find something minor

that can easily be treated!

xo

xo

💕

My silly guppies! 

Enjoying a snack at the show.

GUPPIES!

Our tired girl is sound asleep... trying to go to the toilet AGAIN.