Nanny Gandy's Birthday

Nanny Gandy's birthday was in mid-August.

It was too close to our trip home for us not to celebrate when we got there.

Piper was super excited to buy her a cake

and bring her some presents. 

With an over-packed car heading around the bay,

the only place left for me to place the cake

was on the floor underneath Piper's feet.

It shouldn't have been an issue,

since Piper's feet are a long way from touching the floor,

but it is an issue when she forgets that it's there

and jumps out of her seat in excitement to see her great-grandmother.

Oh well.

It may have looked a little rough,

but it still tasted good!

xo

xo

The birthday girl! 

I LOVE this photo!

And this one.
My little girls just love their Nanny!

Just look at how innocent Miss E looks here.
You'd never know that she's busy busy busy and loves getting into trouble.

Piper and Elliotte gave Nanny Gandy a few Big Turks for her birthday.

The cake was  a little worse for wear.
It wouldn't have been so bad if Piper didn't have such big feet. 

Ballet Today

We have a ballerina in the family!!!

Today was Piper's very first creative dance ballet class.

She LOVED it. 

Her teacher is amazing and so great with the little ones.

She had them bouncing around the room 

pretending to be different animals.

If you ask Piper about it,

she will tell you that she got to hop around like a kangaroo,

wiggle under a chair like a snake (she was the leader for that one)

and pretend to hide behind little bushes from a tiger.

I sat out in the hallway to wait with Elliotte.

I could hear Piper's giggles of delight from where I was sitting.

She loved it even more than I thought she would!

When the class was over and we were driving home,

Piper was quietly pondering something.

When she finally spoke up,

she told me that she didn't actually dance in dance class.

Haha.

I explained to her that even though she wasn't actually 'dancing',

she was still learning how to move her body.

I told her that we sometimes jump like kangaroos when we're dancing, right?!

She smiled at that and said that she DID learn how to wiggle.

:-D

I may have caught her teaching some of her new moves

to her little sister this evening!

xo

xo

A ballerina and a ballerina wannabe. 

Fourth position... or something like that.

Elliotte had to dance some ballet for the camera too.

Piper is one of the little ones laying on the floor.
I'm not sure if she's supposed to be or not.

Time for her solo performance!

Elliotte and I waited in the hallway with Sylvie and Caitlin.
Sylvie is in the class directly after Piper,
so it was lovely to have them keep us company while we waited.

Happy Birthday Mommy 2015

It's mid September here in PEI

and it was an amazing hot summer day!

I think the temperature reached around 25 degrees.

Though I'm really tired and run down,

there was no way I was spending this day catching up on sleep.

I feel like we must take advantage of every nice day now,

before the snow arrives.

It's just around the corner.

We all know it!

After play group this morning,

the girls and I returned home to collect their daddy

and then drive to Cheltam Beach.

We met some friends there who also have two little girls. 

It was a lovely way to spend a birthday!

xo

xo

The little friends.

The big-little friends.

Beach bums.

Our family photo with the Confederation Bridge in the background!

Jail Birds

These two can find fun in the funniest places. 

Throw a blanket over a playpen and voila, 

you have a play house that the girls will play in forever.

xo

xo

Fun house!

Saltbeef Junkie

Elliotte was born in PEI,

but she's a true Newfie at heart.

We took her to Newfoundland

where she ignored most of the toys around

and played with a saltbeef bucket instead!

She has Newfie blood in her veins for sure!

Piper liked the bucket too,

which resulted in a few epic meltdowns 

over one not sharing the bucket with the other.

Sigh.

If it's not fighting over the empty tissue boxes,

it's fighting over the empty beef bucket.

BIG sigh!

xo

xo

Pickled Pink

While in Newfoundland

we were excited to visit Costco, 

which is always a treat when you don't live near one.

I'm not sure if my girls have been in one since last November

when we went Christmas shopping in Moncton.

Not that it matters.

The point of this story is to share how excited PIPER was to be there.

Because of the samples!

My mother gets just as excited about food samples,

so she had the perfect little partner tagging along.

You should have seen those two.

Piper was riding along in the cart

scouting out each sample stand.

When she would see one,

she'd excitedly point and shout to her Nana

that another snack was ahead.

I should also point out that we were in the store

during the craziest sample frenzy that I have ever experienced.

There were sample stands everywhere!!! 

I'm not kidding.

There was one on each end of each aisle and one in the middle.

Piper and Nana were in their zone!!

After sampling roughly twenty items,

Piper looked up at me and said,

"What IS this place, mom?"

Haha.

She honestly thought it was the best thing ever.

Just ask her about it the next time you see her.

She will list off all of the things that she tried!!

Yogurt,

caesar salad,

guacamole,

fruit juice,

pancakes,

honey,

ham,

roast beef,

granola bar...

She will gladly tell you.

She will also tell you that there was only one thing that she tried

that she didn't like.

That was mozzarella cheese dipped in balsamic vinaigrette. 

She wasn't a fan of that one. 

:-)

Elliotte wasn't as impressed. 

She just wanted to get down, run around and climb on everything.

Her usual!

xo

xo

I gave Elliotte a pickle and she decided to do this before eating it.
Silly girl.

It's usually Elliotte who is copying everything that Piper does,
but this day, after seeing us laugh so hard at Elliotte,
Piper was the copycat!

First Day of Preschool

I interrupt blogging about our trip to Newfoundland

to post about Piper's very first day of preschool.

She was pretty darn excited.

And for all of her excitement,

her mommy matched her in worries.

Piper is 3.5 years old and has only ever been out of my sight

a handful of times.

That's what happens when you move around a lot

and are not fortunate enough to have family close by.

With Piper so used to being with me,

I was terrified that she would get upset when I dropped her off at her preschool.

There are days when we attend playdates or playgroup

where she will not get out of my arms,

so I was really worried that she would be shy and scared on her first day.

Silly me.

I had nothing to worry about.

She did great!!!

On the way there,

she asked me if there would be a lot of people there.

I said, "yes, but mostly kids and a few teachers".

Then she asked me if there would be enough room for everyone. 

Me: Of course!

I then told her that if she felt sad, frustrated or even happy,

that she could tell her teacher.

She seemed pleased with this.

We arrived at her school and she announced,

"this looks just like playgroup".

Me: That's because this is the same place that we have playgroup,

but this time it's only for kids and teachers, 

not for mommies and babies.

She was okay with this.

We found her name above her coat hook,

hung up her backpack

and changed into her indoor shoes. 

(Elliotte instantly sat down on her little bum and tried to take her shoes off too.

She was determined to stay and play with her big sister!)

By this time Piper's little friend, Nola, arrived 

and immediately ran to Piper saying, "Piper! My best friend."

Soooo cute.

A few minutes later, Claira arrived and embraced Piper 

in the smallest, yet cutest bear hug ever.

Yea. 

Piper was going to be just fine here!

When it was time for me to leave,

Piper was holding on to my hand quite tightly all of a sudden,

so I started to worry again.

I lead her into her classroom where I noticed Nola starting an art project...

with PAINT.

Piper LOVES paint.

As soon as I pointed out what Nola was doing,

Piper threw her arms around my neck,

gave me a huge kiss,

did the same to her sister

(without me asking)

and then ran for the art tables. 

That was it. 

She never looked back. 

What a trooper. 

My big little girl is really growing up.

I'm not going to lie,

I was quite emotional as I walked out of the school and to our van.

I probably would have cried...

but Elliotte decided to do that for me.

She was NOT impressed with not being allowed to stay and play,

so she made that VERY clear.

She screamed.

She arched her back and refused to get into her carseat.

She was NOT a happy camper.

Two more years until your turn, Little One.

Two more years.

xo

xo

Our big Preschooler!

And her mini-me.

All ready to go.
Goodness, I can't stop looking at this photo.
She looks so grown up to me here!

A very sad little Elliotte.
She wanted to stay at Preschool and play too.

Three best buds all smiles after a great first day at preschool.

FYI:

I arrived at the scheduled time to pick up Piper to bring her home. When I arrive, one of her teachers is cleaning up from snack and I ask her how it went. I was told that Piper did great and that she was currently sitting in the back room all by herself. ??? Of course I ask why she's back there alone. Her teacher laughs and says that she's STILL eating. Right! That makes sense. Piper is the slowest eater that I've ever known. It takes her FOREVER to eat every meal. As a result, she was the last one in the snack room on her first day of preschool. Her teacher laughed and said that she must have been hungry because she told her that her mommy only gave her beans for lunch. Hahahah. True. I gave her a bowl of beans and a slice of bread with butter for lunch, thinking that the beans would help keep her feeling full until she came home. Problems was that she was eating two beans at a time, so was only able to finish half of the bowl before it was time to get ready for school. Silly little girl. Otherwise, I was told that she did wonderful for the rest of the afternoon. She was a little shy and wanted the art teacher to go with her to explore the other learning rooms. That teacher explained that her job was to stay in the art room to help kids there, but that there was another teacher in the other two rooms that would be happy to show her things in their rooms. Piper was reluctant at first, but did venture into the two other rooms and wasn't long coming out of her shell. Hooray! On our way home, she told me all about her afternoon and says that she's excited to go back again on Monday. Way to go, Piper Cee!! You really are our big girl now!