Home Piglet

Camping, a New Ride, and a Mini-Staycation

Last weekend we loaded up the pop-up tent and headed to the coast. The weather was incredible, almost too hot even at the beach! We had zero wind, and a ton of fun in the sun. We camped with Match’s sister, who is expecting a baby girl in October. She has the cutest baby bump, and it was so sweet to watch Piglet get excited to feel her kick.

I took the plunge and upgraded to a 2013 Toyota RAV4. I’m so excited to have an SUV again. We got rid of my Jeep Cherokee when Match got his truck back in 2014, and I’ve been driving his old ford commuter car for 3 years. I like being higher off the ground, and I love having all-wheel drive again. I test-drove, haggled and purchased this car all by myself, which felt both terrifying and empowering all in one. Match likes it too, which is a bonus. Also, the girlie side of me just thinks it’s so pretty!

I’m on a mini-staycation this week. I was able to take 3 days off work, but Match has to work. I had a stay at home chores day, which felt like more work than when I’m actually at work. Yesterday I took Piglet to the zoo with a few of my dear friends from high school and their kiddos. Today we had 8 kids with us. Whew! We had a blast but I’m exhausted.

Today we’re having a stay at home, relax in our jammies kind of day. I wish preschoolers got the vacation memo. This kid does not sleep in!

 

Piglet’s 4th Birthday

This past Saturday, Piglet turned 4. FOUR! I know I say it’s flying by, but seriously, he’s just one year away from going to school.

He’s our combination of sweet, wild, sassy, smart, silly, talkative, loveable, amazing little boy. I can already glimpse the teenager he’s going to be, and I think, wow we’re in trouble. He’s going to be a little heartbreaker.

We celebrated at the bowling alley, and he had a blast with all his little friends. My youngest brother showed up, and serenaded him with an accordion song in the parking lot. My little brother is a goofy, but awesome uncle.

The kids played, bowled a little, but mostly just enjoyed running around together. The adults had fun, and I loved that we didn’t host and have a trashed house to deal with.

Piglet, you’re such an amazing kiddo, and you have so many people who love you. I can already tell some of your friends are going to be lifelong pals, and we’ve made wonderful friendships with your friends’ parents. We are having so much fun watching you grow up, and turn from a toddler, into a preschooler, into this incredible little person with your own hopes and dreams. We are so grateful you chose us as your family. We love you to the moon and back, little man!

Music Time

Did I tell you all that we have a keyboard now? It’s a fun addition to our musical instrument collection. I love giving Piglet the opportunity to make his own music. I’m sure one day his tastes will change to something like http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/epiphone-hummingbird-pro-acoustic-electric-guitar, but for now, he really enjoys plunking away on the keyboard.

I’ve always wanted to learn to play piano, and I hope to sign Piglet up for lessons someday. He loves singing with me, and my family is pretty musical. I even got him to sit still for a lesson a youtube. I need to make a playlist and start doing it every few days.

Anyone out there teach their kiddos music? How did you keep them interested? Is 3 too young to start?

Leprechaun Shenanigans

Happy belated St. Patty’s Day! Piglet’s daycare is so good about sparking the kids’ imaginations. They made a leprechaun trap, and they have this little cutout of a leprechaun that the teachers move around the room, and pretend he moves on his own. I was inspired, so I dug out our stuffed leprechaun that MIL gave to us a few years ago.

We treated it kind of like Elf on a Shelf, except he doesn’t cause trouble. Anyone else seriously annoyed by the idea of a lookout for Santa that makes trouble? I don’t really understand it. But I love the idea of capturing a bit of that magic, and the way Piglet’s little face would light up when he realized his leprechaun moved. We started out having “Happy” (Piglet’s name for his leprechaun) leave chocolate chips in his trail, but quickly I decided that had potential to cause a huge mess. So later in the week, I grabbed a box of Lucky Charms.

We ended the week with Happy leaving Piglet a note and the big box of Lucky Charms. We’d move him all over the house One night he even helped make dinner!

 

At his daycare party, the kids got to check their trap for the leprechaun. They didn’t catch him, but they did get lots of gold coins and rolos!

They also had the kids tell them what they’d do if they caught they had the leprechaun’s gold. Their little answers were so cute. Apparently, Piglet thinks Match and I need new wardrobes, lol!!

He also got an adorable green bowtie to take home. We had a birthday party to go to that night, and he cracked me up because he insisted on wearing his bowtie. Happy St. Patrick’s Day from our little leprechaun!

Zoo Lights and Christmas Vacation Recap

This has been an amazing Christmas vacation. We stayed home, and I didn’t have to deal with Christmas traveling, traffic, or the stress of staying with family. Instead, Piglet and I enjoyed leisurely mornings at home, and then he spent shorter days at daycare, while I worked from home doing my data entry job, and then also got a bunch of house projects done around here.

I repainted the master bedroom and the guest room. I also swapped out electrical outlets I’d missed, did touch up paint on the baseboards, and repainted my dresser and ceiling fan. I even learned how to use the nail gun, and made a reading corner for Piglet’s room. I love that he has so many books! It looks like a library in there. I will post pictures soon!

Piglet and I both took care of routine health check ups, complete with a super sad flu shot and then blood draw for Piglet. He was such a brave little boy, and he was rewarded with a cookie the size of his head, followed by sushi. I love that I can bribe this kid with sushi! He’s an expensive date, but he’s worth it.

Match was able to get the day after Christmas off, and we met up with Old Married Couple for a trip to the Oregon Zoo to see the Zoo Lights. They were everything I remembered from when I was a kid, and more. I loved seeing the zoo at night, and it was even better experiencing it with Piglet.

The two weeks went by super fast, and I went back to work on the 3rd of January. I cannot believe an entire month has gone by and I forgot to submit this post! Yikes. This new year I feel like we’ve been in constant motion, and it hasn’t stopped!

There’s even more to recap on, but I’m exhausted and I have to hit the ground running again tomorrow. I miss you, any of you out there who still read this!!