Have you checked your calendar lately? It may be closer to Halloween than you think. A Piper has already begun planning. Don’t let those innocent rainbows fool you.
Spring flowers make perfect costumes. That’s how you hide from rainbow ghosts when you’re finished bouncing in the new grass. Tall, green grass? It’s bouncy. Just like a Piper.
Need more? We aim to please:
I apologize for leaving you, dear reader, with quite the cliffhanger in Breakfast in Bed. You’ve spent the day wondering “Did Sissy invite the Piper to partake of her birthday breakfast? Did she forgive Piper’s snotty ways?” Of course she did. She even awarded Piper two mini muffins for good behavior.
It was a delicious way to start the Sissy celebration. There was cuddling. There were stories from birthdays past. Then we each told Sissy our favorite thing about her and gave her a dollar (a weird and welcome family tradition).
The yummyness continued with cupcake decor.
And we watched home movies starring Sissy as a baby. Piper was mesmerized. How could her heroine have ever been so tiny and full of drool? There’s hope yet.
Then on to the good stuff: gifts. A Piper isn’t known for keeping secrets. She told Sissy about her gift five minutes after we bought it, and she reminded her every day leading up to the birthday. “Guess what I got you!” Piper said, but there really wasn’t much to guess about. Still, Sissy played along. She put on her best look of surprise. “Yes! I was hoping for some duct tape!”
“What’s your first project, Sissy?” Piper asked.
Sissy unrolled a reel of neon yellow tape. “I know just what to do,” Sissy said. “Let’s tape your mouth shut!”
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom in our neighborhood. They’re losing their petals fast, though, and shower us with pink snow on our walk to the park. Piper says they look like cotton candy trees. She’d like me to raise her up so she can lick one, but I won’t. A girls got to learn to climb her own tree and claim what she wants. Sorry, Piper. I will cheer you on, though, and I promise to clean up your knees if you fall.
We’re preparing for Sissy’s birthday soon. Double digits. That’s big.
On your birthday in our house you get breakfast in bed. You place your order like room service by writing it up the night before and leaving it outside your door. Then your family gets up early to make you the perfect breakfast on a tray and delivers it while you lounge around in your pajamas. It’s as awesome as it sounds.
Last year Sissy invited Piper to get in bed with her and nibble off the edges of her tray. It didn’t go so well. This morning on the way to church they were debating whether Piper would be invited back for breakfast in bed when the birthday morning arrives.
“I don’t know, P,” Sissy said. “Don’t you remember what happened last year?”
“It was awesome?” Piper asked.
“Not exactly. You spilled my juice and sneezed all over my muffins.”
“Seriously? Why are you still talking about that? Just let it go, Sissy.”
I can’t say yet whether another birthday breakfast in bed will be extended to the Piper. If she’s that lucky, I’ll have the tissues ready.
Piper fell in love yesterday. The object of her affection was a “fairy dress” at Kohl’s. We were shopping for summer sandals when Piper came around the corner and saw it. “OMG!” she shouted. “There it is! The dress I’ve always dreamed about!” She ran to it and embraced its lavender taffeta goodness on the plastic hanger. Then she danced with it. She and her lavender love twirled about knocking into other racks of inferior clothing. The relationship was already to second base by the time I reached her. “Can I try it on? Please!” Piper begged. Her Sissy had an arm full of shorts and t-shirts by then so I figured the dress would keep Piper occupied. I assessed the sparkles and the flowing cut aways. She wasn’t serious, was she?
“You can try it on, Piper, but that’s it. We’ll play dress up,” I said.
Piper ran to the dressing room, shedding her beloved pink tutu as she went.
She’s fallen in love with items of clothing before. Remember Sissy’s blog about the Rainbow of Fruit Flavors? Then there was her love of the one ballet shoe in Homemade Magic. A Piper is always fashionable.
Piper spent the next thirty minutes admiring herself in the dressing room mirror. The dress transformed her. “I look like a grownup,” Piper claimed. “Duh.” Apparently, all grownups do is say “duh” in a sarcastic voice. Piper could use a few better role models.
You probably know how the dress saga ended. I really did go in with the best intentions to indulge her fantasy but to be practical in the end. But could you say no to this?
The lady in lavender found her new home.
…she’ll want her Sissy turn it all into a story.
…because after a hard day hunting down bad guys in a galaxy far far away, you need to relax with a little bounce. Once she sees the bouncy house, she’ll ask for a place to store the other broken Star Wars toys…
…in case Obi Wan shows up and needs a ride…
…or tools to defend himself. Yoda’s Weapon World meets all your basic jedi needs. And once you have your weapon and your transportation, you’ll need a place for all the leftovers.
Once a Piper sees Jabba the Hut’s Junkyard, she’ll ask for another box of her daddy’s Star Wars toys.
Piper’s daddy returned from California today with tales of his gorgeous hotel accommodations. It’s never really what you want to hear about as the partner that stayed home, but Piper was only concerned with one amenity. At dinner, Dad shared all the grueling details of his trip.
“The hotel was amazing. You would have loved it, honey,” he began. “There was a beach promenade for running.”
“Was there a bouncy house?” Piper asked.
“No bouncy house, but there was a yoga studio in the hotel and a Starbucks.”
“Was there a bouncy house in the Starbucks?”
“No. There wasn’t, but there was a beautiful wine bar on the balcony and outdoor cafes. Oh, and there was a frozen yogurt place in the lobby.”
“Did the lobby also have a bouncy house?”
“It didn’t, but you could walk on the beach anytime.”
“Was there a bouncy house on the beach?”
You already know the answer. It seems that a good hotel really only needs one thing. A little bounce.
According to Sissy, I have a brown thumb. I can kill grass on our front lawn just by looking at it. I’ve somehow managed to keep two children alive, though, which probably matters more than herbs. Fortunately, Nana is visiting this week and she knows her way around a garden. One of their projects was to plant pansies in our front beds.
They couldn’t find gardening tools because I don’t have any, so they resorted to digging holes in the soil with ice cream scoops. It worked. Nana started the holes and the girls dug the good stuff. There were worms and grubs crawling around in the dirt, which pleased the Piper. “Look, Nana! I got one. Those worms are fat!”
Then came watering time. Again, my lack of gardening tools was apparent. Nana brought out pans of water with soup ladles for distribution. Piper loved this part. She was a bit zealous with the water. Maybe more of it got on Piper than on the flowers.
“You know what these flowers really need?” Piper asked. “Songs.”
So gardening went opera style and the flowers perked right up.
I’m a working mom. Who isn’t? But sometimes I leave my house and work outside the home, too. After a long day of teaching, I like to kick off my heels, peel off my suit jacket, and sit down with a Piper.
Tonight Piper decided that there really wasn’t much to this Professor gig. It looked pretty easy. You just need a jacket, red heels, and cool black sunglasses.
I assure you that I almost never wear a pink tutu to work, but I’d consider those tights with the silver hearts. I might be able to pull that off. I doubt my students would take syntax and diction seriously if I were dressed like a ballerina, though. They have a hard enough time all ready.
“Oh my,” Piper said. “Listen to this!” Apparently, that’s how I lecture in my classroom. I would actually say something like that if I found an awesome sentence on a student paper.
And sometimes I dance. Tap dance. That part may be true.
Piper loves a good holiday decoration. If it were up to her, our house would be one revolving party complete with balloons and streamers. When you’re a Piper, there’s always something to celebrate.
This afternoon we decided to get our house ready for spring. The cherry blossoms, tulips, and azaleas are blooming all over town. It’s enough inspiration to make me want to clean a closet. Almost. Apparently, though, spring had already sprung and the three stores we went to were clean out of your usual Easter fare. Piper came up with her own solution.
She turned herself into a flower for the rest of the afternoon. Then we printed out some Easter eggs and bunnies for coloring and made our own window decorations. Oh, and I’m pleased to introduce you to the latest addition to our menagerie. Meet Nick and Sally:
They’re noisy little chicks, but they fit in well in our house, if you know what I mean.
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