Trick or Treat (woof woof)

Our cute little puppy, she was not feeling so secure on the trunk of the car. We took her trick or treating at the down town North Platte 11th annual Halloween trick or treat around local businesses. We really liked the money tree idea and wished we had one with some real cash on it :)

Crossing the street to find the fun.

Piper couldn't say trick or treat so we had her say woof woof instead, so cuted she said it out the side of her mouth. If you look close you can see which side was her bark.

Meeting the big black cat

Hello Big Bird

This is Sparky the fire house dog.

They even let her sit in the drivers seat of the fire truck.

We went sledding that night rather than trick or treating because we didn't feel much like knocking doors to people we don't know. This is basically the ONLY hill in North Platte. She loved the sledding and always was the first person to sit on the sled when it was on the ground. It was dark so the pictures didn't turn out the best.

Grandpa going down with Piper.

The Jones Family ready to go!

Halloween and Nebraska

Piper's first experience with snow. Piper's first step into some "deep" snow, she stopped there and cried because it was cold.

Then she tried to pick it up and learn more about it.

Building a bucket snowman with Grandma

It is getting taller

A finished snowman who promptly fell over :(

Piper driving her John Deer tractor in the snow, she loves vehicles that move!

After one night of snow this is what we ended up with. Piper is 31 inches tall and you can see the snow was pretty high up on her. We shoveled for a while to get cars out.

The start of the pumpkin clean out. Piper tried to use a spoon...

She quickly figured out her hand worked so much better.

Each time she picked up a handful she would say eww or yucky.

We did not get the end result of the carved pumpkin but this was the last of the goop pulled out. Piper had a blast and I think her Dad enjoyed it aswell. Wes found a power tool for pumpkin carving. Proof that he knows how to use it. Grandpa Joe made this rocking horse for Wes when he was a little boy. Piper loved it! She also found the glasses to be very entertaining.

What has Piper been up to?

See how tall she is now? At her 18 month check up she was 31 inches tall and her weight had not changed. She was still 20.5 lbs. This put her in the 3rd % for her weight. I don't remember what % her height was I think it was around 17. Anyway, they suggested putting her on pediasure to help her gain weight. I have not done that but I think she is gaining a little here and there so hopefully she will get upto 22 lbs some day. Her carseat says to put her forward facing at 22 lbs.

Growing Pics, we try to get pictures of the "kids" with Piper at least every couple of months to compare how much she has grown. I remember when they were bigger or the same size as her.

At Walmart waiting for a antibiotic perscription, she had another ear infection. This is what she did with her sticker from the pediatrician's office. That is the ear that had the infection, her own little band-aid.

We had to stop at Cabela's and she loves trying on hats.

Piper found Adam's chex cereal down stairs. He usually lets her eat some so did not think much about her carrying the box. Then we found her at the bottom of the stairs and she had dumped out the entire box. She started eating it then changed to crushing it into the floor.

Happy girl going to "school" daycare. It is on the high school campus and students come over each period to learn about taking care of kids and helping with the daycare. It is such a great set up and she is learning so much. We are truly blessed to have the opportunity to have her in this program since she has to be in one anyway.

Piper going to "school" She loves walking into daycare with her backpack carrying her lunch.

Piper after finished with her cereal she put the bowl on her head to let us know she was done.

I might have already uploaded this one but it has been so long I thought I would add it again. She is the little mother, driving and taking care of baby. We were in the store the other day and she loved the entire row of babies.

We were at a fabric store and Piper decided it was time to pray! So cute!

little mother

Piper has suddenly taken to babying her baby dolls. Last night, sorry no picture, she was shushig her baby while putting her to bed. She would pat her back and say sh sh sh sh pat her a few more times and then drop her over the side of the crib. Then reach in through the side and pull her out to repeat the process. It really was adorable, then she needed her blanket to wrap the baby in. This was happening just minutes before we put her to bed so we just sat in her room watching her do this.
Earier this week she was out side playing with the little neighbor girl and she took her baby patted the baby's back and sat down in the car. She held onto the baby and was "driving" the car. I did get a picture of that!

Unfortunately my computer is now being stubborn and not allowing me to upload pictures, sorry!

Big News

I got a job. It is at the same school district but obviously different from what I have been doing. A week ago Friday I got called for an interview with the Bonneville School District for an interpreting position. Things looked good, I was excited/anxious for the change, and ready to give notice to the part time job I started at the beginning of the month. The one hang up was they had to keep the position open for 10 days before offering a job and it had only been 3 full days. Ten days was Thursday and schools starts tomorrow. that did not give them alot of time to find someone or me if they offered me the job to give notice at the other district. We would have to find Piper a new daycare facility and I was not ready to give up the place she has been going to. Then later that same Friday afternoon my old boss called. She had an interpreting position just open up and my name was on the top of her list. I guess my constant emails all summer and asking about interpreting positions was a good thing. The job is working in a self contained classroom with students I have worked with in the past. I have been at this school for 3 years and know most of the staff. I of course accepted the position and called Wes to tell him I got a job. Now Piper can stay in her daycare and I will be going to a school that I at least am not completely the new person. Know i find out that though my title is interpreter the real position is class room aide. This student they say does not need an interpreter all the time so I will be doubling as aide. This ought to be interesting. I am still excited about the position but I have a feeling I am going to be explaining something to the teacher about legal service time on an IEP. If the service time says all school day then legally I need to be with that student all school day.

It is finished...

So the last bedroom in the basement was set aside to finish for an exercise room and guest room. We have been working on it now for a while and I have finally finished putting together the weight machine given to us by my mother in law. That was the last piece of equipment needed in the room so can move the daybed out of Piper's room and into that room. We are thinking with the daybed down stairs it is another bed for guests and Piper will have more space in her room to play and to put the glider rocking chair in there. The room is finished and the equipment is placed, now starts my official work out schedule. I have been walking daily for most of the summer but now along with my walks I will be lifting weights and other fabulous exercises to help improve my well being and hopefully my waist size. Please excuse the water spots, we took the camera swimming and have not gotten the water spots cleared up completely.




Since the closet is not being used in this room we have decided to use it as a food storage closet. so far I have gotten the buckets of flour moved in and Wes carried down a shelf we had in the garage.
This is the corner that the daybed will go into. It has a trundle under it so we will be able to have even more people come visit and sleep on actual beds.

Today I walked with Leslie and the kids in the hottest part of the day. We figured we walked about 2 miles and then let the kids play in the sprinkler. I also had to try out the weight set and did some reps of presses, pull downs, butterflies, crunches, and a few other things. Yesterday we walked twice, Piper and I went into town to get the mail and then when we were almost home we ran into Leslie and Mark just coming out of a meeting so we walked for a bit and put the kids down for a morning nap. Later that afternoon we went for another walk and let the kids play at the park. Monday we walked around the long way and went about 3.5 miles

videos of Piper learning and having fun

We had FHE at the Stevens' house and Piper found out how Philli likes to play with her toys.

Learning about down hill slopes and riding a bike.

Piper and I this summer

We have had some fun this summer. Wes and his dad are here working on fixing a sprinkler next to the road after someone ran over it. We just had to get a laugh out of the sight of the two of them.

Here is Piper in the swing at Mom and Dad's house during the Ellis reunion.

My first rose bushes, Wes gave me one for mothers day and the other one we bought to put some color in the yard. These pictures are the first of the many flowers that have bloomed. Gotta love the color!

Piper really enjoyed her first goober, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, then of course she wanted my camera.

Every time we go out side or walk around the community Piper finds the neighbor kids bikes. We bought this one for her at a yard sale for $2.00. she has figured out how to make it move but her legs are to short she can't reach the pedals yet. I keep telling her when she can prove that she can ride her current bike we will see about getting a bigger bike with training wheels.