Trick or Treat 2015

Trick or Treating is fun.

There's no doubt about it.

My girls had a fabulous time.

First we went trick-or-treating in our little mall

in the afternoon.

After visiting only four or five stores,

Elliotte was ready to sit down in the middle of the mall

and check out what was in her bucket.

Piper was all gung-ho to trick-or-treat,

but then suddenly became a shell-shocked mute

when the time actually arrived.

I'm not sure if Piper said 'trick or treat' even once today,

but Elliotte did.

Or attempted to anyway.

Perhaps Piper was dressed up as a muted mountie?

After supper,

some friends from Kensington came to our house

to join us and Sylvie and Caitlin 

for trick or treating.

Piper and Sylvie ran ahead of the rest of us

and trick or treated like pros.

The little kids were a little slower,

but they got the hang of it. 

Elliotte even did a couple of houses all by herself.

Happy Halloween everyone!

xo

xo

Trick or treating in the mall.

Too bad most of them don't look even remotely excited to trick or treat.
Either way, this is our crew!

Off we go... 

... with the little ones in tow.

Quite the scary bunch, don't you think?

Two of the littlest. 

Storming the neighborhood.

Elliotte figured it out fast enough to go to door without stairs
all by herself. 

Post trick-or-treating waiting for more kids to arrive,
so they could be the ones handing out treats.

Checking out their loot.

And sampling it, of course.

Canadian Lobster

I'm just assuming that this lobster 

is making lobster bisque in her kitchen.

She's using Canadian Lobster,

as a Mountie is there to confirm.

Let's hope she doesn't fail the health inspection

of her kitchen!

xo

xo

This was Piper dressed up for her preschool Halloween party on Monday.

Today was playgroup day for both girls.
Elliotte was busy cooking,
while we were trying to get out the door.

Lobster bisque anyone?

This was the best photo we could get from playgroup.
None of the kids were very interested in a group photo.
We tried.

Soccer Starlette

I'm pulling a "Throwback Thursday",

since I haven't uploaded any new photos to my computer 

over the past couple of days.

Here are a few photos that were missed over the summer.

Piper was in an Active Start program, 

which is essentially an introduction to sports.

Mostly little games with soccer balls and t-ball.

To be entirely honest,

Piper didn't really like it.

She wanted me to hold her hand and stay on the field with her

the entire time.

That would be fine 

if I didn't also have Elliotte to chase.

Mark works a lot,

so I'm most often on my own with the two of them,

making this program less successful for us

than we had hoped.

In the end, 

I'm at least glad that Piper was exposed to the sports

and it may help her to be more comfortable playing next year.

The fact that we only paid $25 for the season

was also helpful.

She was awarded a medal at the end of the summer.

(They all were.)

Unless she was given the medal

for the kid that spent the most time in Mommy's arms?!

Ha.

When I signed Piper up for ballet,

I was worried that she'd have the same reaction.

Since ballet costs a lot more than $25, 

I was even hesitant to sign her up.

Thankfully it's the opposite.

Piper is the first one in that studio once the door is open!

Our family's first little ballerina!

xo

xo

Piper has a love of shoelaces and making intricate designs with them.
Daddy has less of a love for this,
as he's trying to get out of the door to go to work,
only to find his boots looking like this!

Piper receiving her medal at Active Start.

Showing it off.

Happy little family.

Her team celebrated with white and black cupcakes.
It could not have been a parent that decided on black icing. 

One Two Three Four

A couple of weeks ago,

Claire and I decided to take our girls on an adventure to Charlottetown.

Boy oh boy.

Were they ever excited!

We did some quick shopping in record time

and then headed to That Fun Place.

It is the ideal place for my little monkeys,

who love to climb more than anything.

A lot of fun was had by all!

xo

xo

A minivan full of little girls.
(You can just barely see Elliotte's hair in this photo,
but she's there!

Each little girl holding a pillow that shows their age!
I LOVE this!

In Piper's excitement at arriving at the Fun Place,
she had a little pee accident in her pants.
This NEVER happens,
so I hadn't bothered to pack a change of clothes for her.
"Lucky" for her,
Mommy had just exchanged a sweater dress (which was in the van)
and found a swim diaper in Elliotte's diaper bag.
Piper thought I was half crazy asking her to wear this,
but she didn't care as long as she was allowed to go play!

Elliotte has no fear climbing all of the big kid obstacles. 

And no fear to go down the fastest slide ever.

There is a reason they keep mats at the bottom of this crazy fast slide.
This is seriously how they land when they shoot off of the bottom of the slide. 

See.

Fast!

And of course, where ever there is a play kitchen,
you will find Elliotte.
She's cooking up a storm with Miss Caitlin here.

Elliotte and Caitlin.
In this photo, they are the same ages
 that Piper and Sylvie were
when they first met after we moved to PEI.
We thought they were such big girls.
How??

Piper and Sylvie when they were 1 and 2 years old.
Really?
They were THAT small?

Growing Like a Pumpkin

May as well measure the girls

to see how tall they are the Fall.

We keep getting asked if Piper is four or five years old.

THREE.

My baby girl is only three.

Yet at the same time I think:

Where has time gone. 

How can Piper be three already?

And where did Elliotte come from?

She seemed to appear out of no where 

and immediately become a three year old,

since she refuses to let anyone convince her that she's only one. 

Slow down little girls.

xo

xo

We should nickname her Stilts!

This one is still our pork chop!

My three loves.

Mini Mountie - Mini Monkey

We sent our Mini Mountie off to her preschool Halloween party today.

She was so proud to go dressed like Daddy.

When I dropped her off,

she wasn't sure if she wanted to keep her costume on all day.

I told her that it was okay to ask a teacher 

to help her take it off if she wanted to.

When I went back to pick her up,

she was even still wearing the hat.

Then, after we arrived home,

I asked her if she'd like to take it off again.

"No thank you mom. 

I'll just keep it on."

It's so cute now,

but let's hope this is not foreshadowing for the future.

I worry enough about her daddy

when he leaves our house in his uniform.

I could never handle her wearing it too!

As for Elliotte,

well that one needs some law enforcement.

She is SUCH a climber.

She cannot keep her little feet on the ground.

(Unless she's dancing, of course.)

I'm not exaggerating when I say

that I remove her from climbing on my bed and/or the red armchair

no less than fifty times a day.

They say that kids really need consistency. 

How much more consistent can I get?

Oooooh. 

Little monkey!

xo

xo

Mini Mountie

Mini Monkey

All Aboard the Too Cute Train

Piper is forever making TRAINS in our living room.

She'll use what ever she can find to add as a train car.

She made one last night, 

which I didn't tidy away before bed

because I actually had a girls' night out

and wasn't home for my girls' bedtime.

When my girlies woke up this morning,

we all decided to cuddle in my bed and read books for a little while

before getting up and starting our day.

When it was time to get up,

we found that the train had picked up an unexpected passenger.

My two little hams weren't long jumping on board,

with their babies in tow, of course!

I love these three!

xo

xo

Would he be considered a stowaway? 

These little hams weren't long jumping on board.
Choo choo!

The dollies couldn't get where they were going by train,
so needed a ride on Butterscotch to finish the journey!

Phone Home

Who needs a fancy smart phone or Siri

when you've got a skipping rope and a sister?

xo

xo

Hello. Hello.
Are you there?

Yes. The weather's the same over here!

The Great Wall of Piper

When Elliotte naps,

we often find something new to do.

A few days ago,

Piper decided that she had to make a wall

that stretched from our stairs to our fireplace. 

It became a three man job,

but we got-er-done.

When we were done,

I got Piper ready and took her to preschool.

By the time she got home,

Wreck-It-Ralph had demolished the wall.

Thankfully Piper is pretty laid back about her little sister

destroying everything around her!

xo

xo

The wall.
As a Game of Thrones fan,
I was thrilled to help build The Wall!

Piper was pretty pleased with herself!

Elliotte is still having a rough go after receiving her 18 month vaccinations.
He's a photo of one of her injection sites.
I drew around it with a marker so that I could be sure
that it's not getting bigger.

After quietly observing me draw on her upper arm,
Elliotte pointed at her forearm and grunted,
meaning "draw here too, mom".
So I did.
She was very happy with her smiley face!

Future Passengers

This is a follow-up to yesterday's post.

Piper fell in love with buses when she was only one year old.

The love continues.

As does her love for tractors, garbage trucks, dump trucks,

ambulances, police cars, fire trucks, etc. 

Elliotte gets excited when she sees one too,

but if you really watch her, 

she's watching Piper more than the truck.

I think she thinks that she's SUPPOSED to get excited,

so is doing what her big sister does.

Whether or not she actually likes them,

we'll have to wait until she's old enough to tell us herself.

xo

xo

Waiting for the school bus to drive up our street.
This bus driver always waves!
How exciting!

Speaking of Elliotte speaking, we visited the public health nurse yesterday for Elliotte's 18 month needles. She passed all of the developmental milestones with flying colours and is 26 pounds.

The only thing that we were curious about, was her speech. Given that Piper was saying more than 200 words at 20 months, we feel that Elliotte is quite far behind. She is only saying about 35 words consistently. She repeats a million words, but to actually just speak them to you, it's only around 35. 

When the public health nurse asked me if she was talking yet, I said, "Yes. Around 30 words."

Her response was to look surprised and say, "Wow. That's wonderful. She's ahead."

REALLY?

I was so happy and relieved to hear that. Not that I was concerned about her speech, it's just that it's hard not to compare my two girls. So yes. I was more than pleased to hear that she's doing just great and is on her way to talking just as much as her big sister. If that is the case, then I guess Mark and I will have to wait until they both move out to talk to each other again. We won't get a chance while they're both at home! Haha

LEAVE Me Alone

It may have snowed here a couple of days ago,

but after the wind died down a little bit today,

it was a lovely mild afternoon.

The best weather for jumping in leaves!

xo

xo

Piper was beside herself with excitement as her daddy raked up the leaves.
Elliotte stood back watching with a,
"what in the world are you doing" kind of look on her face.
Piper bounded into those leaves like crazy woman!
Elliotte wasn't long following once she realized what fun was to be had!

I guess it looked like Elliotte needed leaves on her head. 

And a hug.

The rules are: You jump until you can't jump anymore!