Piper Learns to Ride a Bike

Piper is only 21 months old and knows how to ride a bike with training wheels. I am so impressed. I thought Pennington was physically advances, but now I have been proved wrong. Piper is the one that is really physically advanced. We would like her to start riding Pennington's blue balance bike but she is still a little to short so she has been riding her pink bike with training wheels.
I love the fact that we are turning into a little biking family. Everyday the kids ask to ride their bikes. Everyday they ride their bikes around the block or down to the tot lot.

I would like to add that Pennington did ride his push bike from our house to Powells in Bown Crossing tonight. That is approximately 1.5 miles from our house. That my friends is also very impressive.

I have a video of Piper riding her bike but it will not upload. If I can get it to work I will update this post.

Main Street Mile

Tonight Pennington ran his very first race. As part of the Main Street Mile (fundraiser for Prostate Cancer) there is a childrens half mile race. The race goes through downtown Boise. The kids follow an ice cream truck and get ice cream when they finish. Pennington ran the race with Johnny and finished in 7:30. I was so impressed. Johnny told me he only stoped running twice for about 5 seconds. Below are some pictures from the race.

Walking with Piper to get his race shirt.

Pennington, Avery, and Piper before the race.

 Racing

 More racing

 Just finished the race.

 Showing off his ribbon.

 Watching the other races.

Side note: It's offical. Pennington is potty trained. Wahoo!!

Father's Day 2012

For Father's Day this year the kids and I made homemade cards and cooked dinner. As most of you already know, I really suck at cooking. I tried my hardest to make dinner but inevitably, Johnny stepped in and made dinner taste 100 times better. Johnny wanted a dutch oven and cast iron skillet so that is exactly what we got him. I am so lucky to have married a man that LOVES to cook. After dinner we headed to Goodies in Hyde Park for dessert. Below is a picture of Johnny opening his gifts.

Potty Training Almost Accomplished

It has been at least 4 days since Pennington has worn a diaper. I think every night he has been dry all night. He has had a few accidents during the day but he is well on his way to being potty trained. Johnny and I finally realized that we just had to tell Pennington (NO MORE DIAPERS). That is all we needed to say. He has been almost potty trained for what seems like 6 months. He has been potty trained at school and consistently going potty at home 2 to 3 times a day. All he needed was for us to push him to do it. I'll keep you posted but I think we are almost there. Just a few more days and we will have this child diaper free just in time for his 3rd birthday.

Memorial Day Weekend - 2012

Uncle Ben came to visit us over Memorial Day Weekend. Johnny had to work but the rest of us headed up to the cabin for a few days. The weather was not spectacular but overall we had a fabulous time. The kids haven't been to the cabin since December so it was exciting to see how much they remembered from 5 months ago. This time both kids slept much better than they did before which made it a lot easier on me since Johnny was not around. In addition to Uncle Ben coming to the cabin, Grandpa Jess and Grandma Melba came as well. Grandpa Jess and Grandma Melba are my father's parents. The kids really enjoyed getting to spend some time with their great grandparents. We went over to Tamarack so Uncle Ben could play a round of Frisbee golf. The kids enjoyed getting to hike around outside while Uncle Ben played Frisbee golf. Along the hike it started to rain and then hail. Of course the sun came back out as soon as we got back to our car. The kids also spent time climbing up to the top of the bunk beds in the Cowboy room and going for walks around the cabin with Domino. A weekend at the cabin would not be complete without making smores. Below are some picture of the weekend.

Piper 21 Months

It has been a while since I have given you all an update about Piper. So here it is.

1. Piper is doing well sleeping in her own big girl twin size bed. We are going to be putting her into her queen size bed within the next month. At that time I will post some pictures of Piper's room. She consistently takes one 2 hour nap each day in her bed. She also sleeps over half of the night in her own room before she comes walking into our room to sleep with us for the rest of the night.

2. Piper is still our super eater. If there is one thing that I can say totally paid off with breastfeeding it is that Piper is an amazing eater. She honestly eats anything and everything. It is so nice not to fight with her about eating like we do with Pennington. It is totally worth the time and money to breastfeed your child so that when they start eating they will eat well.

3. Piper continues to be very active at school. Every other week she comes home with around 30 mini work books with stamps, stickers, ect and about 5 large paintings. This is way more than her brother ever did. She is also starting to learn how to sew. Piper never cries when I drop her off at school. In the mornings before school she even gets herself dresses and makes sure she has everything she needs before we leave the house. Oh Piper, how I love the fact you are so easy to get out of the house on school days.

4. Piper has been going on the potty for us several times a day. This includes going both poop and pee. I have 2 more full work weeks before I start working around 25 hours a week for the summer. My plan is to start pushing the potty training thing in about a month. I have to get Pennington potty trained by September and it will be just as easy to do them both at the same time. Piper is just as ready as Pennington is.

5. Piper loves to get her hair done. She enjoys getting to pick out what color hair tie to wear and how many pony tails she is going to have.

6. Piper is getting close to being about to ride both the balance bike and her bike with training wheels. If only she was an inch taller she could probably do it right now.

7. We have a lot of imaginative play going on in our house right now. Piper is doing a good job of joining in but some times has this completely confused look on her face when Pennington is calling Mom - Pig and Piper - Arnold (two characters from Kipper). Not sure if she is just totally confused or if she just thinks her brother is crazy.

8. Piper is so fun to be around now that she is no longer dependent upon her mother for breastfeeding. She is becoming much more independent. Like I mentioned above she can basically dress herself now and definitely tells you . . .  "I can do it MYself". I really need to get a video of her tearing through her dresser looking for something to wear. I swear it is like watching a 13 year old.

Overall Piper is doing really well. Life is so much easier now that my 21 and 33 month olds are almost like twins. I got really lucky that they both enjoy doing a lot of the same things. It makes our lives so much easier. While I haven't seen Piper show as big of an interest in sports as Pennington does, I do think that Piper will enjoying playing a sport or two when she is older.

Ring Bearer

Last weekend Pennington and Johnny where in our dear friends Aubrey and Nick's Wedding. I was a bit nervous about Pennington being in the Wedding since it was at 2:30 and I wasn't sure if he would need a nap or not. We had the rehearsal dinner at our house the night before. Pennington was able to meet Brooke the Flower Girl and practice walking down the aisle. Pennington adored Brooke. He was really excited about being the Ring Bearer and getting to wear a special outfit. Below are a few pictures of Pennington the Ring Bearer.