mommy and me

Everyone is back to school now so it is piper and mommy time all day every day. we (mostly i) are having a MUCH better time this year. we've worked it out so we have a car every day, we clean sometimes, we do laundry, we run errands, we go to target multiple times per week, we try all piper's clothes on her, we watch elmo and mickey and finding nemo, we bake things, we take brett lunch, we go to playgroups (big source of my greater sense of sanity this year). honestly, i didn't enjoy my time at home with piper last school year as much as i could have. i felt bored, like i didn't get anything done, like i was seriously lacking in adult conversation. it was just very frustrating for me to feel like i wasn't accomplishing anything concrete. and while we still have our moments, this year is just going SO much better. we get stuff done, we have fun!
i seriously love this little girl SO Much! she is so adorable, she does hilarious and cute things every day. she says mama so sweetly, she gives great hugs and kisses, she understands most things i ask her to do (and she even sometimes does them), she goes into a nemo-induced trance when that movie is on, she brings me a million pairs of shoes to put on her every day, she always asks to try on shoes in target, she loves to brush her hair or her teeth if i am, she LOVES to put chapstick on (and sometimes thinks non-chapstick things are chapstick...pretty much anything with a cap, including an occasional dry-erase marker), she loves to draw and color (thank you color wonder for saving skin, furniture, clothing, etc. from piper's artistic destruction), she brings us the football and then stands by the front door to go outside, she waves goodbye to everyone everytime you ask her if she wants to go somewhere, she loves to push the cart and the store, she loves to sit in her little red chair and eat a whole banana while watching elmo's world, she can point out a cat or a dog from a mile away, she can point out any sesame street character (but she refuses to try to say any of their names, including elmo who she sees multiple times each day), she can point to a nose, eyes, ears, chin, hair, mouth, teeth, toes, fingers, belly button, knee on her or anyone else, she has words for (and that sound similar t0) mom, dad, cat, dog, george, grandpa, juice, shoes, clock, cup, piper, cheerios, and more that i just can't think of right now, she could drink her weight in apple juice or chocolate milk, she loves to eat ice, she loves to help feed fishy, her hair is getting so long (and is always in her face if we don't put it in a ponytail), she likes to help put things in the dishwasher, she likes to help empty everything out of the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen (oh wait, i guess that's not exactly helping...), she loves to snuggle her daddy before bed.
she definitely has her rotten moments, like how everytime she's about to misbehave she will look at you and giggle and then proceed to do whatever naughty thing she was planning, or how she spends all of church trying to escape the bench to go play with other kids, or how she sometimes hits the cat, or how she sometimes refuses to take a nap all day.
she's turning into such a little girl and sometimes she hardly even seems like a baby anymore. i can't believe she'll be 18 months old in a couple weeks!
anyway, to summarize, piper is great and we're having a pretty great time hanging out most days this year.
aaaand here are some pictures of us: