Happy Birthday to you...

Piper's birthday was last Saturday. We threw a little luau for her and some of her friends. It was fun. We blew bubbles, did the hokey pokey and the hula hoop, ate cake, and opened gifts. We had five kids over and their parents. Piper answered the door with an "Aloha. Thank you for coming." We worked on that all week but it usually sounded like, "loha, you coming."

Piper got books and puzzles from most of her friends. But her friend Tyler got her this riding inchworm that Piper loves. She's named it Sydney (yeah, do you think she's going to have a hard time leaving).

The only unfortunate part of the day was the fact that Zoey couldn't come to the party. She had had a slip in the tub earlier in the day and had to go to the hospital to have surgery. They ended up removing her bottom four baby teeth so she'll be missing them until the adult ones come in...in four years. So sad. But she's coping well and you can hardly tell that they're missing unless you look hard.

It could take me forever to write the "things we love about Piper" post since there are so many but I'll write it soon.

Good dinner...

Last week we went out to dinner with our friends Mindy and Dave. Rick picked this great Chinese restaurant that specializes in seafood. Upon entering you see rows of fish tanks for you to pick from. We decided to get the salt and pepper lobster which was a three pound lobster deep-fried, shell and all, in a heavily seasoned batter. It was a sight to see.

Piper keeps up with her funny phrases:

• Piper sometimes asks why but she answers herself with “’cause, um…”
• When we were walking back to the train station from visiting Rick at work one day it was during rush hour. Piper would wave and smile at people passing by and say “hi people.” Where did she get that from?!

Cheeky monkey

I will get to the run-down and pics of Piper's birthday soon enough but in the meantime I thought I'd share a few recent gems from Piper.

• Rick told Piper that she and he were going to go out together to run errands and go for a walk. He was trying to get her going, get her to put on her shoes, etc. He told her “c’mon” and her response was “I busy.”
  
• One day Piper and I came home and almost first thing Piper saw one of her bears on the chair and for some reason called it a “cheeky monkey,” giggling to herself. She repeated it a few times. Where does she come up with this stuff?! She's definitely our little cheeky monkey.
  
• Piper had had two bowls of cereal and part of banana for breakfast one morning. While I was getting ready Rick was eating his breakfast. He was giving Piper some cereal. I told him that he shouldn’t give her anymore and I told her that she'd had enough. Then I hear Rick busting a gut because of something Piper had said. Apparently Piper had whispered to Rick, “Daddy, please, more, shh.” And she put her finger to her lips while whispering. What a sneak!
  
• Last Wednesday we went for Piper’s 2-year old check-up. The doctor told us that she should only have two cups of milk a day as Piper has a tendency to ask for milk a lot. The next time Piper asked for milk I told her that the doctor said that she can only have two cups. So now when Piper asks for more milk she tells me, “doctor, two cups,” as if to say, “Mom, the doctor said I can have two cups.”
  

Busy weeks

With moving day looming in the next month we have a lot going on, as you can imagine. We have to sell almost all of our furniture, AND our car. We've got to cancel our utilities, return our rented fridge, book the movers, and enjoy our last few weeks as much as possible. And I need to do my visiting teaching this week.

We've got busy weekends too. This weekend Rick and I are going to the Sydney Opera House (finally!) to see the dance production of Edward Scissorhands. Then on Saturday I have a Visiting Teaching Convention that I'm still putting together. Then Rick and I are both teaching at church on Sunday. I'm betting that we're going to have a hard time at church on Sunday since Piper doesn't seem inclined to go to nursery as of late. We're also having dinner at a friend's house on Sunday. Then next weekend we're going to dinner with friends on Friday and then Piper turns the big 2 on Saturday with a full-on birthday party luau.

In February I started planning in advance for our move by putting together a cleaning schedule to get rid of stuff that we don't use or need anymore. That way we wouldn't be moving tons of stuff that we didn't need to and also to make the packing go faster for the movers. I planned for one project per week and I was pretty consistent and even ahead of schedule on some weeks. I cleaned out clothes closets, linen cupboards, arts & crafts boxes, medicine chests, etc. This week is the last week of cleaning - the kitchen. I can say that I'm very glad that I put together that cleaning schedule - and stuck to it - or else I'd be pulling my hair out more than I already am.

With all of this going on, nobody better get sick. At least my Mom is going to Tahiti with us on our way back to the U.S. Yea! I'm so excited to have her come along. I love traveling with my mom; she is a born traveler.

What a funny girl!

Recently Piper has said quite a few humorous things. I've listed a few below. It's hard not to chuckle when she's being so cute.

• At playgroup, after seeing that Mindy wanted Zoey to come with her Piper says, “Zoey, go Mindy” and gives her a little press on the back.
  
• When Piper came into our bed the other morning she told us that she was wearing jammies, pointing to them. (They have cows in pajamas on them.) After she said “jammies” she looked at the cows and said, with a giggle, “funny jammies.”
  
• As of this last weekend Piper has started having an Aussie accent but only when she says things that end in an “o” sound, like “no,” “go,” and “toe.” She says “noy” instead of “no” and it’s so endearing. It's especially adorable when something bad happens and she says, "oh no!"
  
• Piper knows my name and today she called me Misty. She was reminding me of the milk I had left in the kitchen as we sat down to dinner. She said, “Milk, Misty.” It sounds more like “Missy” but even that’s pretty good. A bit later she went to sit on the couch and said, “C’mon Misty.”

As you can see, we have quite a character on our hands.

Change of plans...

After almost two and a half years of living in Sydney, we're finally heading back home. There's a catch; when we move back next month, it won't be to New York. That's right, we're moving to...

Cleveland, Ohio!

Never thought you'd hear of Rick and Misty Johnson living in Cleveland, right? There's a very good reason for the change though, I promise. With the immense help and recommendation of our friend and cheerleader Chris Musso, Rick has scored a new job as an Associate at McKinsey & Co., in Cleveland. Musso works for McKinsey in Cleveland so we'll have some built-in-friends when we move which is a big plus for me.

Now, we had some misgivings at first about not moving back to New York. We had concerns about Cleveland too (mine were mostly about living in the suburbs). There will be a formal mourning period for New York as that was where our minds were focused. And Rick and I would still love to live there again in the future. Right now we're excited to be making some good changes for our family and for Rick's career. The amount of house we'll be able to have in Cleveland is quite alluring too. (For all of you who know Rick, you know that he loves clothes and shoes so closet space is a definite priority.)

I told Piper that we're going to be moving from Sydney to Cleveland. I was just trying to plant the seed so she's not too surprised when it happens. She asked me about Zoey. I told her that she was staying in Sydney but we'd be going to Cleveland. She then told me "no Cleveland." Poor girl, she sure will miss her friends.

We're still working with McKinsey on figuring out our moving date and Rick's starting date so stay tuned for more. Just remember: Cleveland rocks (or so we've been told.)

Party plans

With Piper turning two soon we thought we'd have a little party for her and some of her friends. It's going to be a birthday luau. We've been making invitations and flower leis. Piper is excited and wants to have it now - cake, presents, and all. She wanted to hand out the invitations before they were even done.

Now, some more experienced moms would say that I'm crazy but we've invited six of Piper's friends and their parents to the luau. Our plan is that not all of them say yes, otherwise we'll potentially have seven kids and 14 parents running around. We've indicated on the invites that the party is to last only an hour; we'll see if that's how it goes down.

Here's a snapshot of the invitations we made: