ONE YEAR OLD!

We celebrated Pyper's ONE-YEAR BIRTHDAY on Thursday. I cannot believe this little person has been with us for a whole year. What a delight she is. We love her so much. 

We started the day with opening presents. She got some great gifts. Thank you everyone! (Love the idea from Grandma Kartchner to wrap gifts in tissue paper so she can get to them more easily. Awesome!)

For dinner, we had tin foil dinners--Pippy's first time. And she loved it! She chowed the meat, the potatoes, the carrots, and even the onions. She even ate three cucumber slices--without teeth! Then we enjoyed some strawberry cake with cream cheese frosting. Mmmmm!

Sorry--that's all the pictures I got. Guess I need to work on that. But we did have a wonderful day. We love our little Pippy and are so blessed to have her in our family.

Top Ten Favorite Things About Pyper
1) I like that she plays the wii. (Summer)
2) I love her to laugh. (Claire)
3) I love her happy attitude.
4) She's a daddy's girl--he is her favorite person.
5) She lounges--just crawls over to us and flops into our lap, lays her head against our shoulders, or snuggles into our arms.
6) I like it when she screams. (Summer)
7) I like that she eats cake. (Claire)
8) I like it when she babbles and talks.
9) She does a super-cute bear crawl.
10) She loves being a part of everything going on. If the girls are wrestling and tickling dad, she has to be a part of it too.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart! We love you.

Conversation at Bedtime

Summer: "Dad, how can I get big? I'm trying and trying every day, but it's taking a really long time."

Rhett: "Oh Summer. It's sooo much fun to be little. Don't try to get big too fast, just enjoy being little. When you are old and big, you don't get to have fun anymore."

Summer: "When I get big, I WILL have fun. I'll play on your computer every day."

"I'll tell mom on you!"

I was in the kitchen tonight, loading dishes, and I heard this from the other room.

Guess who it came from . . . .

(Highlight over the white space below to see the answer.)

Rhett. 
And he was very serious about it.

See what I have to live with???

About a month ago . . .

As I entered Summer's classroom to pick her up, her teachers rushed to me and said, "Come and see what Summer did! You won't believe it! It's amazing!"

You can see what kinds of pieces she had to work with to build her name. They said she initiated it all by herself. I was quite amazed! Smart girl.

Photo Shoots

Love these girls.

School Pictures and Garden Work

First day of school picture as promised:

 Last year (2011)

This year (2012)

On another note, Grandma and Grandpa Kartchner have visited us quite a few times over the past couple months. We have been so lucky! Grandpa K helped me prepare this garden for our front yard since the back yard doesn't get much sunlight. This is a picture of about a month later. We planted everything (beets, radishes, lettuce, carrots, beans, cilantro, and basil) from seeds, so it is exciting to see it growing so well. We also get compliments from everyone who comes to our door. They think it is a great idea, plus it's "cute!" It's portable, so when it starts to get too cold, we'll be able to put in our garage during the nights. We also have a deer net over the top so the deer don't get to it. My favorite part is the hanging strawberries on the side, but still no strawberries! :/ Maybe next year.

On another visit with Grandma and Grandpa K, we decided to do some canning. We canned two boxes of pears, a box of tomatoes (into spaghetti sauce and canned tomatoes), and the remainder of a box of peaches (into peach jam and canned peaches). Many of the peaches were overripe, so we ended up throwing a lot out. At the end of the day, I was exhausted, but so proud of all the hard work. Plus, we got to enjoy some yummy peach cobbler made by Grandpa. I had a great time canning. It was a neat experience working along side everyone getting this done and learning how to do it all. And don't you think they turned out BEAUTIFUL?!?

(I have to confess . . . we've opened a few jars of pears since then. I can't help it. They are sooooo delicious. I'm afraid we won't have any left for the winter, but we sure are enjoying them!)

And here is a picture of our new lawnmower that I posted about a while ago. I also got a clip of Rhett actually running up and down the yard pushing it, but he has threatened my blogging license if I post it. Maybe I can change his mind . . . we'll see.

To Change My Mind . . .

Last night, Summer was playing and I noticed she put her chair bean bag on top of Pyper. I quickly removed it and sat Summer on the couch (a little forcefully because she tried climbing off). I wanted her at my eye level while I was kneeling so I could talk to her about the dangers of covering Pyper. I was being very firm.

Summer was upset that I removed her from her play, and she knew I was upset because of what she had done. Often times, when she's in trouble, she'll try to cut us off and say, "Mom, if you don't let me get off the couch, then I'll get down and go in the play room and shut the door and lock you out." (She started this whole "threatening" thing when we started telling her about natural consequences: "Summer, if you don't come in and eat your dinner, you will miss dinner time and your stomach will hurt and you will have to go to bed hungry." So our "natural consequences" probably just sounded like "threats" to her, and she's picked up on saying them. Now we just say when/then statements: "Summer, when you've come in and eaten your dinner, then you can go back outside and play." Hence, there is only one option to do, and it's the right choice for her to make.)

ANYWAY, I was trying to talk to her about how dangerous it was to cover Pyper and how it could really hurt her, and she started interrupting me. But this time, she was saying something new: "Mom, if you don't let me down, then I will pray--" I kept stopping her because it was important that she listen to what I had to say. So finally, when she stopped and listened and I was done, I let her speak. She said, "Mom, if you don't let me down, then I will pray Heavenly Father changes your mind."

Then she folded her arms, closed her eyes and said:
"Heavenly Father, thanks for the day. And Jesus, please help mom to be nice and kind. And not yell at me, or be mad at me, or smash me anymore (I guess she thought I was smashing her in the couch). And please bless Pyper to not cry. And the toys to not be hard. (So they wouldn't hurt Pyper??? I don't know.) Amen."

Of course, watching her there, sitting on the couch praying for me to be kind to her, my heart melted and when she was done, I opened my arms to her and we gave each other a big hug. I told her I was sorry for getting mad, but that it was important that we take care of Pyper. Then I told her thanks for saying the prayer. It was the right thing to do.

Later that night, she was coloring when I told her it was time to go to bed. She didn't want to, and things were escalating a little. She looked up at me and said, "Mom, do I need to pray for you again?"