A few oldies from the backlog of Piper's first year...

One day, I took Piper's amber-beaded necklace and swung it like a skipping rope to entertain her while she ate. A few days later, she surprised me by trying it herself! This was about 4 months ago now (at age 9 months), but she still enjoys trying different bead tricks!

Piper loves all the boys at church. These are our friends Nathan, Jocelyn, and Michael who sit with us in the kids corner during service.

Mikey, their son, loves vegetables and not so much meat, much to the chagrin of his ex-Kiwi dairy farmer grandfather. Nov. 2013

 

 We made it out to the beach near Chris's sister Liz's house a few times this summer. Piper loved the waves! Here she is trying out Liz's stand-up kayak-SUP. Liz and Jeremy have two boys--Noah and Tyler. Dec 2013

I hope to post a few more from our trip home in November and December 2013, but here is just one funny portrait of Piper sitting with Santa at Macy's in Philadelphia. Chris saw that the children in line to see Santa were being directed to differently numbered rooms. He asked the cheerful, Victorianly-bedecked assistant: "Hey, how many Santas do you have operating in this place?"

 We try to get as much sun as possible in the summer! Feb 2014
 

Piper had a whale of time at her cousin Leo and Charlie's birthday parties earlier in the year. She is only about 6 or 7 months here. Here, the kids are playing the popular British game "Pass the Parcel," which is virtually unknown in the US! Sister Liz and her son Noah are to the left of Chris.