A cherished moment

As I was putting Morgan to bed tonight I was reminded of how much of a touchy, feely child she is & just why she is that way. I rocked & sang to her as usual & she fell asleep enough that I thought I could lay her in her crib. Just wouldn't be happening tonight...she needed some extra snuggles so I sat back down in the trusty rocking chair that I've had for 6 1/2 years now and rocked her some more. Then I tried again but she still didn't want to be let go of. Sometimes I wonder why in the world won't she just cooperate... but then I thought about it & remembered she's always been this way. It's been just a little over 2 years since we were able to bring her home & keep her here. This little girl has good reason not to want to let go. It's what I prayed for while she was in the hospital, that she'd have the strength to stay with us and not let go just yet.

So I told her that I'd rub her head & hold her hand if she'd just lay down & she plopped very quickly into position. She looked up at me with her beautiful blue sleepy eyes as if to say, "Thanks mama for not leaving me just yet." And so I sang some more & rubbed her head & pushed her hair around a bit until she was nearly asleep. I reflected on 2 years ago when she was in the hospital & all I wanted to do was hold her all day long & I couldn't. It made me appreciate my extra snuggles with her tonight & then she opened her eyes again to see that I was still there & grabbed my finger to hang on just as she used to in the hospital. A moment to cherish for sure.

I won, I Won, I WON!!!

Yup, this is my 2nd "I won" post & this one I'm totally pumped about. I listen to WPFF the Christian radio station for our area. They broadcast the Doug & Kim show each morning which is out of Nashville. Doug & Kim have a frequent listeners club that is free. You collect points for entering the word of the day, artist, etc. and you can get more points by answering trivia questions on the site. Then you can cash them in for prizes that they have available on certain days & certain times. There is usually a limited supply of the books, cds, DVDs etc. They also have raffles that you can enter. Natalie helped me collect a bunch of points & I had been checking out all the available prizes. One of the prizes was called Secret Keeper Girls set. I did some research on the set & thought that it would be extremely helpful in raising my girls & having Mama & daugther time to teach them about modesty, beauty, and similar things. I kept checking back to see if they had awarded the raffle to someone & they hadn't so I was disappointed & thought that maybe God figured someone else could use it more than me. On Christmas Eve after shoveling our sidewalk & in front of the neighbors house I saw a package in the mailbox. I thought it was a present from family until I picked it up & saw it was the Prize Center. Confused as to what Prize Center it could be from I hurried inside & opened it to find the whole set of SKG. I was so excited & thrilled that I won it. I told Adam about it when he called & called Natalie to share the news & of course everyone that was at the house knew about it too. Gabby was as excited as she could be for being sick & having thrown up a few times. Here's a photo of it all. There are devotionals, diaries, chapter books, & 2 music cds. Very, very COOL!

Punch & Coffee Cake Recipes

Heather’s Punch Recipe
1 cup sugar
2 ripe medium banana's, cut
3 cups unsweetened pineapple juice
1 6oz can frozen oj concentrate
2 tbs lemon juice
1 1-liter bottle Sprite or Seven Up

1. Combine 2 3/4 cups water and sugar until the sugar dissolves. In blender, blend banana's, half of the pineapple juice, and the oj concentrate until smooth. Add sugar mixture and stir in remaining juices. Transfer to 13x9x2 baking pan and freeze overnight.

2. To serve: let mixture warm up to room temp, about 20-30 minutes. To form slush, scrape large spoon across frozen mixture and spoon into punch bowl. Slowly pour Sprite down side of bowl and stir. Makes about 23, 4oz servings.

**Spiked**
Prepare as above, except add 1 1/2 cups rum or vodka w/juices. Let frozen mixture stand for 5-10 minutes before scraping.

It may sound like a lot of work, but it's really quite simple, and delicious!!!

~I don't know if it is a lot of work or not since my sister made it but it sure was yummy!~ Jeannette

Apple-Nut Coffee Cake

1/2 Cup butter or margarine, softened

1 Cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 medium tart apples, peeled and chopped

1/2 Cup chopped walnuts

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla; mix well. Combine the dry ingredients; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in apples and walnuts. Transfer to an ungreased 8-in square baking dish. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Submitted by Cyndi Martin, Montgomery, IL in the 2003 Quick Cooking Annual Recipes Book.

I altered it a little to suit my family. My kids & husband don't like walnuts in baked things sometimes so I left them out. I used whole wheat flour, added extra cinnamon (but not too much more), I used Braeburn apples which were delicious and lastly, I doubled the recipe and put it into a 9 x 13 cake pan & baked for the 35 minutes.

Christmas 2008

So you all know that I'm like the Queen of writiting wordy messages & this is no exception. Why, becasue I like to talk, I like to share & it's my blog so I can do what I want. Right? Yup...haha

This year was a little different. We were blessed to have Grammy Cheryl & Papa Blaine, & Sasha spend Christmas Eve with us & enjoy our tradition of fondue...we had a chocolate fountain again this year with strawberries, pineapple, grapes, & pretzels. Morgan walked around all day saying in a very mesmerizing voice, chooocolate, chooocolate! The Grandparents spent the night & in the morning we ate scrambled eggs & waited for everyone to wake up. After presents we had Jesus' birthday cake. This year I made an apple coffee cake. When I asked the kids if they wanted some apple coffee cake none of them had a very cheerful answer. I worked hard, okay, it was really easy to make but I still took the time to make it & didn't want them to not try it. Then I realized they thought it was made of coffee & didn't want it because they don't like coffee. Haha LOL. When I explained what it was & showed it to them they were a little more eager to take part of the cake tradition. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus & then dug in. I served it up & then got everyone something to drink & hadn't even had a chance to taste it when to my delight every one was saying how yummy it was. Recipe to come in next post. I finally sat down & tasted it & had to agree. It wasn't like a traditional coffee cake but it sure was good. Opening presents....My favorite was Adam's present. I bought him a nice winter wool dress coat. We tried finding one in the land of leather, camouflage and flannel patters (otherwise known as the U.P.) but didn't find anything to our liking. So good ole' Kohl's online helped me out. I also ordered him an ipod Nano which came by FedEx. It's the only time I was happy that I didn't give UPS business because then I could keep it a surprise. I tried to come up with a way to disguise that little apple box & finally thought of putting it inside the coat pocket. It worked beautifully! Adam opened it up & tried it on & started to pat the coat to show how it fit & that he liked it a lot (I was counting on this since he's done it before when trying on things), and he felt something in the pocket. It took him a second to figure out whether the pocket was on the outside or inside of the coat. He pulled it out & smiled even bigger....an ipod. Beautifully executed!!! And a HUGE smile on my face. :D The kids finished opening all their loot & throwing it all over the living room floor and then off to play with things & open boxes & plastic like crazy. Braly seems pretty thrilled with his Indy Jones fedora & whip (complete with sounds & Indy theme music). Gabby got lots of Hannah Montana stuff & books. I'd say her fav so far is her new scooter that lights up (it will after I install batteries haha). And Morgan was so adorably cute. "For Me?" she'd say when we'd hand her another present to open (note, don't call them packages in front of Adam because by the end of December he's tired of hearing about packages). She loved this light up spinner thing that I found at the Family Dollar for about $3 each. It was a big hit with all 3 of them (great stocking stuffer). And Morgie's fav toy was her new kitchen. There seemed to be a Star Wars theme too for some reason in our house. Braly got this super cool book that has a little computer attached to it & it asks over 2000 SW questions & keeps track of your correct answers & your percentage correct while you play it. Then it shuts off & clears your score so someone else can try. I stunk at it & only had 40% correct after playing for about 10 mins. You might be wondering what I received as presents...I got a beautiful popsicle stick tree that Gabby made at school, along with a penguin whose feet are Gabby's hands & it has a cute poem on it. I also got a scrapbooking recipe book kit that I look forward to making & sharing with my children for years to come. Some bath & body lotions & soaps, and admission into a class I've been wanted to take for almost a year now...LOM from Big Picture Scrapbooking it's the Library of Memories class that Stacy Julian has put together. It's a system for organizing & categorizing photos that aren't necessarily in chronological order. She encourages one to scrapbook photos along with meaningful memories, or to find old photos of a particular something & relate it to a new particular something. It's a way to scrapbook without the guilt of being behind. I started putting the system together but had to put it on hold for awhile when things started to get busy around here & I am looking forward to getting back to it on a weekly basis so I can start scrapping more. I'm also taking an online how-to class so I can better understand how to use Photoshop Elements to scrapbook. I'm pretty pumped for furthering my education with these classes about my hobby.

After presents, Auntie Nat & Uncle Todd showed up. Auntie Nat made punch from a recipe I got from my friend Heather & it was delicious. Thanks Heather L for sharing the recipe. I'll post that one & the coffee cake in a separate post.

We played Papa's Wii for awhile, set up the new car race track & then ate Pizza for lunch after reading the Christmas story in Luke 2. Gabby & Braly still had one more present but they had to solve the riddle that Adam came up with. He's so clever...I just love him!

Gabriella's clue: A Wise person travels to the Place where Jesus was born. Go there Kindly to find a great reward!

Braly's clue: You have a mission. Should you choose to accept it, the reward will be Great! Go to the Place where Jesus was Born!

The answer of course is Bethlehem Town. My parents gave us this remarkable Bethlehem Town scene & last year was the first time we had a place to set it up. It is on our fireplace mantel & is sooooo cool. They found their reward of a new leapfrog Didj for each of them complete with 2 games each (courtesy of good deals on eBay about a month ago).

After lunch, a nap for Morgan, & a Disney trivia game for Nat & myself we made birthday cards for my Great, Great Aunt Pansy whom is turning 100 years old on Dec 31st. There is a group of family & friends heading for a nice lunch on Saturday with her to celebrate her many years. Our family thought it would be cool if everyone made her a card in hopes that she will receive 100 cards for her 100th birthday. I hope it happens. She's a remarkable woman & just a few years ago stopped making her favorite holiday meal, Thanksgiving, for a pretty decent crowd.

To conclude our very special Christmas day we took the time to get all 9 of us in a family picture on my mom & dad's camera (so I don't have a copy of it yet to share with all of you but when I do I'll post it). It took a lot of coercing to get Braly to be in the picture & it took only 2 times to get a great shot of all of us. Talk about cooperation & patience on everyone's part + a really nice camera helps. ;) Our celebration was mostly over. Grammy, Papa, Auntie Nat, & Uncle Todd left & we were left with a pile of toys to play with & clean up. It was a very blessed day. Not too crazy, not too long, nor too short. It was just very nice.

Hope all of you enjoyed your day. What was your favorite part of Christmas day? Or of the whole holiday season in general? Mine was getting to spend time with my family celebrating Jesus' birth. I also enjoyed decorating, reading our many Christmas books (can you tell we are a family who loves books?) and my favorite part has got to be singing Christmas songs & listening to them on the satellite since I don't have copies of all the old records I used to listen to as a little girl.

Attempting a Family Picture

M&M's Christmas Story

As we celebrate this glorious season may we remember what it is really all about. The birth of Jesus Christ. He came to earth in the form of a small helpless child so that He could grow up & sacrifice all He had....He gave His life so that we can know Him as our personal savior and go to heaven to be with God when we pass from this earth.

Merry Christmas to all our family & friends. Look for late Christmas cards & a letter sometime in the near future. I'm trying to put together an address list since mine got wiped out from being on the old computer when it crashed.

Mall Thoughts & gift wrap cutter promo

Today after getting Braly on the bus the girls & I (Gabby is off of school for 2 weeks, Braly has 2 days this week) went to get Morgan's prescriptions filled. First we stopped at the medical supply to get the Nebulizer machine and then we went to Shopko to get the albuterol & pulmacort. We have to have them on hand from now on because Morgan is being treated for asthma. They don't actually call it asthma since she is so young but I think that has to do with insurance junk. Anyway, while we waited for the prescriptions to be ready, we went & exchanged some lotion at Bath & Body Works and then stopped by the food court to get something to eat. As we sat there & ate there were other shoppers that bought food & sat down to eat. Most were very quiet but there was one group of a woman & 2 girls that sat down. This woman seemed quite on edge to me, like she was stressed about having to do shopping & being in the mall when it was so busy. She was sort of snippy with the girls. One asked for a bottle of water & she said "I'm not buying that for you." Then she started putting another table with the one the girls were sitting at & one fo the girls asked why she was doing that. She snapped, "we have other people joining us, is that okay with you?" Read with great annoyance. Gabby, Morgan, & I finished & headed to the restroom to wash up. As we got a little farther away from that group Gabby said, "I sure am glad that I wasn't in her belly & born to her." I asked her why and her response was, "she's not a very nice mom, she's so crabby, and mad." I said, "well maybe she's having a bad day." Gabby's response was. "I love you mom, and I'm glad you are a good mom & not crabby like that all the time." I felt bad for that mom & for those girls. That very easily could have been me if I had way too much stuff to do. I'm glad that my Christmas shopping is done & now all I have left is wrapping. I have the coolest tool to use too. Anyone else have one of these gems?

This thing is waaaaay cool. Great for coupons too if you do that kind of thing. Super safe, has a ribbon curler built right in & so much smaller & easier to use than scissors or a big knife to cut the wrapping paper. I'll be using this beauty tomorrow after Braly goes to school. I highly recommend this thing. Wish I would have gotten a 2 pack.

Seizing the day...with Morgan

Watching Morgan play can be very entertaining in and of itself. She's been playing with her dolls and singing quite a lot lately. Jingle Bells is a favorite and she has picked up on Happy Holidays as well as the beloved Dora theme song. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.

Seize the Day

Gabby's school has foster grandparents in the classrooms that help the teacher so the kids get the help that they need since the finances don't allow for them to pay a teacher aid to help out. Well a few weeks ago Grandma Chris' husband passed away. We were going to make a card for her but Gabby came home yesterday & said that Grandma Chris died over the weekend. I burst into tears, after asking if she was serious. Not that she'd joke about something like that but I was shocked to say the least. Then Gabby said, "mom, we're too late in making a card for her." Tears here from both of us. And then I apologized for delaying the card making & not taking the time when it was so very important. Seize the day comes to mind. I am reminded by this event that life is short, precious, and that we need to Seize the day & the moment. I must remember to put aside some of the mundane tasks of cleaning & enjoy more special time with my family. Thank you Grandma Chris for teaching me a lesson even after your passing. Tomorrow is the funeral and Gabby insists on attending. I'm currently trying to make arrangements for Braly & Morgan to be watched for about an hour so I can take her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB0oPgCexh0

Not my kind of sledding or sliding

Time for snow, time for sledding, but I prefer not sliding with my car into another car & someone into my car. This is video is crazy. Had to share though since Adam shares this with me after he gets it at work & shares it with his drivers. After all he is the On Car Supervisor.


I wouldn't go that way next time either. I would also say that section of the road should have been plowed & sanded FIRST. Those people are going to be there for quite a while.

Thanks Traci

Thanks to my dear friend Traci, I now have a cute & stylishly festive blog. Hooray!!! And it was SUPER easy. Even I was able to follow the directions & have it work on the first time.

It's Winter

Braly has been sick for nearly a week. I mean, running a fever on & off of 103 or close to it. Tells me that the weather has changed & I'm mostly ok with that except that I hate the sickness that seems to come with the change of weather. He's finally feeling better & should be able to go to school today. We'll see though since he's still sleeping (he's my early bird, up at 7am or soon after, dressed & ready for the day all on his own if his clothes are laid out).

Gabby on the other hand is not my morning girl. Don't get me wrong, the tonsil surgery really helped, and I mean REALLY! But she's still not the one to jump out of bed & get ready all on her own like Braly. She needs lots of help in the morning....except when she sees SNOW! That's right, this girl is totally in love with snow. You say the word snow & her eyes light up like 100 Christmas trees. I got her down from her bed & carried her into the bathroom just like I do every morning & was holding her when her beautiful brown eyes spied that white stuff on the neighbors roof. She jumped off my lap & started to climb into the bathtub to get closer to the window to take a better look at the snow. With great excitment in her voice, she said SNOW mom, there's still SNOW! I said I know & if you want to get outside in it to wait for the bus you had better get ready. That girl started dressing herself & had a glowing smile on her face the whole time. So I guess if I want her to get out of bed when there isn't snow, like in summer, I have to climb a ladder, sprinkle fake snow on the neighbors roof & tell her there is snow. LOL The way Gabby says SNOW reminds me of a song from one of my favorite movies White Christmas. I told Gabby I'd try to find the song so she could hear it so I didn't have to take the VHS out. Yes, I haven't upgraded to DVD yet (forget Blue Ray for now) but perhaps that will change this year. Enjoy. Gotta love You tube & someone who found the time to upload the video clips to it. Looks like I can't embed this one so you'll have to follow the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QsTtRETfNg

Right Now...

I'm watching and being quite entertained by my sweet little girl. She's watching Dora & totally participating in the show. Answering the questions, repeating after them what they say & it is a-DORA-ble. LOL I'm impressed with her ability to remember things that they tell earlier in the show & she answers correctly when they ask later. She claps & laughs & everything. She's so doggone cute that I took a video of her last night. Out of nowhere she asked for a slice of pepperoni. Braly has been snacking on the stuff for about 2 weeks now but he wasn't up when she asked nor did he have any yesterday so she came up with it on her own & it was really cute how she said it. Maybe I can post the video. hahaha this should be funny & perhaps will actually be on here in an hour or so when I figure it out. The light wasn't very good but its how she says pepperoni that got me. The funny thing is this is her whiny voice. She normally has a lower pitch to her voice.

Kindergarten & First Grade Photos

For some reason I never took the time to share Gabby's Kindergarten pictures. So sorry my little muffin. And now I have her 1st grade pictures to share as well. May as well do them together right so you can see how much she's grown.

Isn't she adorable???!!!

Work Day

Yesterday was a scheduled work day here in the Pierce house. We just didn't expect to have to clean up sewage along with the projects we had planned. My parents came over to help get a few things taken care of while Adam had his week of vacation. We had installing the garbage disposal, installing a new outlet in the kitchen, fixing the cutoff cupboard in the kitchen and fixing the outside light that doesn't work on the to do list. What we didn't know was that 2 of those things would come off the list b/c we had a backup of the sewer pipes. A load of laundry was put in, the shower ran, the toilet was flushed and the sink was run a bit. All of that ended in a flood in the basement, many trips up the stairs to dump the water outside (all drains lead to the sewer so no where else to dump it or we'd be cleaning it up again), several phone calls, one to insurance company to possibly start a damage claim, calls to get prices on plumbers, several trips to Menards for parts and a trip to the rental store for a power auger. Adam cleaned the sewer, found that we had roots growing in the pipes that ended up catching things & backed the whole thing up. Talk about a stinky job. Thanks ADAM for your hard work & dedication to fixing the problem. Big thanks to Adam's mom & my parents for helping out with the whole situation of cleaning & watching the kids while Adam & I cleaned. Now we have some chemicals to dump down the toilet to kill the roots so this doesn't happen again. I have a mostly dry basement, a garbage disposal that works, and another outlet. And today will be another work day, only this time to do some disinfecting & cleaning out of the basement. Whew!

Feature I just found...let me know!

If any of you want me to add you to the email list let me know. It will generate an email when I post anything new to the blog so you can know to come over & read it. It may even send you the post in your email. Not sure if it will be a partial one or not. Just a feature I found when I was exploring my blog stuff (instead of cleaning the junk drawer LOL). Now back to work for me.

Party Time

I had a Mary Kay Party that my friend Wendy did for us and it was a lot of fun. We did the color class and though it was a small party, we all enjoyed it. I forgot to take before photos of everyone but here are the after photos. BEAUTIOUS women!!! Thanks for coming over for a makeup party!

Know your Vehicle

Adam sent me this video from work. It doesn't have anything to do with UPS except they use videos like this as teaching moments. This one drives home the point that it is important to know the height of ones vehicle. A few things come to mind when watching this. OUCH, that's gonna cost some money, and how embarrassing.

I Love Fall!

On Sunday Braly, Gabby & I went outside to play one of my favorite outdoor games: Crouquet. I started reading the directions & never realized it could be such an intense game. My sisters, cousins and I never played it with all the rules I guess. We had some basic ones & were good with that. I found a nice set on clearance & decided to introduce the game to the kids (while Morgan was napping). We set up the poles & wires & picked our colors. I explained how we were going to play (very simply). I went first to demonstrate how to swing the malets. I never realized how hard that might be when I have 2 short kids & malets that are made for adults. We practiced a bit & then Gabby got the hang of it. By the end of playing, Braly was showing improvement though he was still having some trouble. He kept bonking himself in the chin with his malet when he'd swing. Braly was bored with it & dismantled as much of the malets & stuff as he could & Gabby said, "Let's do it again Mom!" I think she shared my passion for the game, which was fun. After that, Gabby & I went for a walk around the block and got to walk & kick our way through some colorful, crunchy leaves. It was funny because both of us walked off the sidewalk in order to do it & laughed & enjoyed ourselves the whole way through the pile. There was a teenage boy & girl walking the opposite way & after we had gotten through the leaves & were down the sidewalk a little we could hear them walking through them & laughing too. It hit me that people young & old really do enjoy the crunchy, fun leaves at this time of year. Not just for looking at the colors but because they can be fun to play in. I just love the cool crisp air, the smell, the beautiful colors, the crunchy leaves & my birthday coming up. I LOVE FALL!!!

So yesterday wasn't so cool & crisp, though the weather was exquisite & in the 70s. Today it has dropped to 42 and the heat kicked on again. And instead of following the voice inside of me to work outside moving my flower beds around, I worked on the playroom for the kids. It was in need of an overhaul. The kids quit playing with certain toys at times, as if they've been forgotten about so I take a few days to revamp everything. Yesterday I moved the Barbie house to the girls' closet (with some help from Adam), I moved the house/doll stuff to the playroom & hauled Braly's trucks & boy toys upstairs to his 'Book Nook' (the extra closet area he has in his room). I'm still not done but today we head to Iron Mountain for Gabby's follow up with the ENT. I'm sure he's going to tell her "lookin' good!" Her throat has healed nicely. I am surprised that she didn't have ANY bleeding, even with all the emesis she had from the pain meds & empty tummy. So happy to have that all behind us. THank you to everyone who has prayed for her & for us to get through this. It was worth it. This morning, she woke up before her wake up time & was in a pretty good mood. SHe's been getting on the bus in the morning without a fight. her only complaint now is that she's freezing in the mornings waiting for the bus. We may have to buy the petite girl some long johns & she may have to start wearing her boots to keep her warm. Oh the joys of that cool crisp weather. LOL

I'm off to get Morgie up & ready for the day. Braly has been ready for a few hours already. he's my morning boy. Much love to all!!!

What's new?

Hey family & friends. Sorry it has been so long since I last blogged. Nearly a month if you can believe that. Most of you probably don't check here on a regular basis since I haven't been blogging regulary but I will try harder to do better.

Gabriella had her tonisils & adenoids taken out on Monday & is in recovery mode. Our biggest issue is not bleeding as one might think but rather getting her to eat & keep it down. It seems as though the Vicadin that they gave her does NOT agree with her little tummy. I have stopped giving it to her & have been using reg Tylenol & reg Motrin to combat the pain but I did give her a few doses of Tylenol with codeine & that has helped. Except on an empty tummy it is not good. So I'm going to have to make a trip to the store to get some more liquid motrin & tylenol for her today.

Morgan was sick the other night & running a low grade fever but seems to be doing much better today. She was up a few times in the early morning & couple that with Braly waking me up....I'm sort of a half walking zombie. Hopefully I am able to snap out of it b/c I've got lots of stuff to catch up on & I'm taking an online scrapbooking class that starts today.

Braly's last day of school this week is today & though he enjoys school, he looks forward to just playing all day on Fridays. I've got to work with Gabby to get some homework done before next week & I'm not sure if she's really up for it. We did some but just not enough yet & I have to pick some more up tomorrow for us to work on over the weekend.

I just ordered some super nice shoes in hopes of helping my plantar fasciitis to get better. It has been worse lately so I'm hoping that this will help.

100%

That's right....Gabby came home today with her 1st spelling pre-test and had 100% on the top of her paper with a sticker. I think the list was very easy for her (wasn't sure about the word "the" since she was having a little trouble with it) but she definitely knows the -at word family (bat, hat, cat, rat etc). And her reward, she doesn't have to take the actual spelling test on Friday. Woohoo Girlie!!!

I just purchased a turbo twist spelling by leap frog on ebay along with the mind station & cartridge that you can actually hook up to a computer & type the child's actual spelling list for her to practice. It's on its way & I'm hoping to have it before I leave for CA on Tuesday.

On a side note, Gabby will be getting her tonsils & adenoids removed on Sept 29th. She'll miss 1 week of school & then return the following week with activity restrictions. Her surgery will be outpatient as long as everything goes well & we'll be back home about 7 hours after we check in the waiting room. Pray for us all. Gabs is very nervous & I must say I am a little too. But I've got a list of foods & beverages to shop for so we'll try to make the best of it. Pray this takes care of her sleep problem so she feels rested after her 11-12 hours of sleep each night & then maybe if she's rested she'll get on the bus nicer at least a little more than she does now. Just be strong Jet, just be strong.

Oh my! Time warp here...I just lost an hour to blog reading & internet surfing. Gotta get to bed. Night all!

As BIG as the sky!

I have gotten so much done today it is unbelievable & great. I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, finished up the laundry (not for long of course since I don't recommend running around naked in such cool weather), the kitchen floor has been swept & scrubbed. The carpets cleaned & returned to their spots to warm the kitchen up a bit, the kitchen window washed & the screen of the window sprayed clean with the hose. I am even contemplating dragging the ladder outside so I can finish washing the outside of the kitchen window since it isn't like the rest where I can flip them inside out & wash them & put them back. I patched the holes & cracks in the walls of the girls' room & I'm waiting for it to dry so I can finish getting it prepped for the primer that I am hoping to paint on Wed.

And it has been a good day so far despite Gabby having trouble getting on the bus. I've decided that I'm not going to acknowledge her lack of getting on the bus today unless she brings it up. I always tell the kids that I love them as BIG as the sky & I mean it. I want her to know that despite her trouble in the mornings, I don't care, I still love her no matter what. So this is my new approach (oh & buying her some warmer socks tomorrow. She said her feet were freezing & when I touched her ankles she wasn't kidding. Sometimes it amazes me how one thing like that can throw her off. At least her bus driver is understanding. He told me that she's fine by the end of the block or at least the next block so that makes me feel better.)

Morgan's vocabulary is amazing! I recenlty read that, on average, kids her age (21 months) say about 20 words. Wouldn't you know we sat down for lunch shortly after I read that & she used about 10 words just during lunch. This girl has been learning so much from Gabriella & Braly (some undesireable behaviors too ;) but she is amazing.

Tomorrow we head to the ENT to see if Gabby needs her tonsils removed. They are very large & we think she has sleep apnea, thus causing her to not be rested even after 11-12 hours of sleep almost every night. We're praying for a quick & easy fix/recovery.

Braly starts school next week, same day I leave for a 1 week trip without Adam & the kids. He is so excited. I'm hoping to capture his first bus ride on Tuesday when I go with him for orientation b/c I won't be able to see him get on the bus on Wed without me.

Adam is down in Addison, IL for nearly 2 weeks of 'new' full time orientation for work. Not exactly sure what it is called but he had a nice rental to drive down there. We are missing him already. But I tried to soften the whole thing with breakfast for dinner. THe kids love when I make some kind of breakfast for dinner thing. Last night we had pan-e-cakes (its what the kids call them) and then they added some fruit, whip cream, sprinkles, applesauce, etc. It's almost like dessert for dinner. They ate quite a bit & then cleared their dishes & put them into the dishwasher (so happy its fixed).

Got a few more things done while Morgan napped & Braly watched Thomas. I think I will play a game or something with Braly now & then get things ready for our trip to Iron Mtn in the morning.

Some days are just better than others

And yesterday was one of those days compared to today. It's like a big game of hit or miss and we're at 50% for getting on the bus nicely. I have some more research to do today in hopes of helping find the right things for me to do to enable Gabby to have the tools she needs to get on the bus nicely each & every day. I'm currently checking out a site called shakeyourshyness. I have to read and re-read the portion on Parenting a shy child. I know I can be kinda shy and sit back & just observe and sometimes watch fun things pass me by. And sometimes there is just something inside of me that says, look, ya missed out on X, Y, and Z last time and you were bummed, get over it & go do something about it even if you don't feel like doing it. So I kinda have an idea of how she's feeling but I think it is even more debilitating at times in her case. And that's not ok with me. Not because I think that there is something wrong with her but more of the case where I don't want her to have regrets for not getting to do something b/c she was too shy. I know this is who she is and don't want to change her completely (there is a little voice inside that says, if she's too shy to try some new things, perhaps she'll leave the not so good stuff like, drugs, alcohol, etc alone). But then there is another voice that says, if you don't teach her & provide the tools she needs, how will she be confident to say no to the things that she shouldn't try. So I guess it is a balancing act that I am trying to discover what is too much, what is too little & where we'll all be happy somewhere in between. Of course Adam is helping on this front but since he's not the one home nearly as much as I am, plans & strategies are left up to me to execute. I feel like sort of a strategist as well as a scientist but this is definitely something I don't want to "blow up" in my face.

On the other hand, Braly is asking me if he gets to start school yet. He goes to the bus stop each morning with us and then waits with anticipation for Gabby to get home. He keeps begging for his turn to go to school. It's not that he doesn't love being home (just like it isn't that Gabby hates being at school) it's just that these kids are different & crave different stimuli to keep them going. Hopefully Gabby will come home today & say it was a fantastic day like yesterday was for her, despite the rip her out of my hands at the bus stop we had today. Perhaps a video of what she looks like could put things into perspective. I may have to borrow Braly's expertise in holding a camera or I may have to borrow a video camera with tripod to see what we can see. Hmm....some ideas are coming to me as I share my thoughts. Thanks for letting me unwind and think.

I am soooooooooo over-tired right now its unbelievable. Natalie usually comes to stay Thursday nights with us so she can save a little $$ on gas & spend some time with us. Well, we almost always stay up late and last night was just one of those nights, except this time Morgan woke up around 4 am & wouldn't go back to sleep until almost 6 am & I have a hard time sleeping when I can hear my kids awake. Definitely a mom thing. Needless to say, Gabby isn't the only one tired today. I don't think I mentioned lately that we think she may have sleep apnea due to her enlarged tonsils and we see the ENT on Tuesday & think that he'll recommend her having her tonsils out. I'm praying that will help solve her being tired despite sleeping between 11 and 12 hours most nights.

I'm off to check on Braly & have him help me load the dishwasher now that its fixed. I love getting kitchen help. A built in dishwasher would be my dream come true but for now I'll settle with our portable one being fixed. Can't win them all eh?

School Started

Yesterday was Gabby's 1st day of 1st grade. I just can't believe my little girl is already in 1st grade. The time seems to have just slipped by. She did so great getting ready for school & getting on the bus. I was so proud of her! The first week of school the buses are late picking up & dropping off the kids as they learn their new routes. So we spent quite a bit of time waiting for the bus which made me nervous. I thought that all the waiting might make her not want to get on the bus. But she did fantastic!

When Gabby got home from school yesterday she said, "boy was that a long bus ride." And she kept saying things like, "guess what Mom?" We did this, and that, and this, and that. She was so excited to tell me all about her day. She said that she wished lunch would have been a little sooner since she was hungry so she ate almost all her lunch & saved a snack for waiting for the bus. She has a few kids in her class this year that were from her old class which is nice. Makes it not quite so 'new' for EVERYTHING. When I asked her about her teacher she said, "Mrs. Fisher is FUN!" I like the sounds of that. Gabby likes to be a little goofy now & then so I think they will get along just fine. I took some pics but haven't gotten them onto my computer just yet. I will do that soon & add them here.

Today.....has been another story. Gabby had a bit of a tougher time getting up this morning. She was also a little slower at eating but seemed just fine for going out to wait for the bus. It was a little chilly so I kept picking her up to warm her up & then I set her down when I saw the bus coming. The bus pulled up and she tried to run the opposite direction & told me she wasn't getting on the bus. I had to lift her up & set her on the steps of the bus so the bus driver could hold her backpack so she wouldn't try to get off the bus while he closed the doors. She stood there & cried. He tried to get her to sit down on her own but ended up having to unbuckle & put her into a seat. I think he even had to have another child move so she could sit down. What a mess! Anyone have ideas of how to get her past this? I am at a loss. This has been going on to some degree for the last 4 years now. She would get on the bus in preschool & cry & fight but was calmed down before they even left our parking lot when we lived in the apartments. Then last year she would sometimes get on the bus just fine & other times she'd fight & try to run away. I don't know how to find out what's going on in her head because I'm not sure she even knows. I think she does fine once she gets to school but today I am having my doubts. Last year she did refuse to get off the bus once & her teacher took snack time away from her. She earned it back but she never refused to get off the bus the rest of the year. Only trouble getting on. I know she enjoys school. I don't have doubts about that but it has something to do with leaving home. That separation from home to school, and sometimes from school to home is what can be difficult. What's a mom to do?

Where oh where...

Has the time gone? I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I posted. LOTS to catch up on but won't be able to do it in this post (I've got to get dinner ready soon).

We headed out east for a family wedding & really enjoyed our trip. We drove through Canada to make the trip shorter than it could have been. Crossing the borders was pretty painless. Answer a few questions, show licenses, & sometimes all our birth certificates. The kids did fantastic for the drive. They really were troopers for the whole trip, especially being such homebodies that they are. This was an adventure we embarked on & I think we mostly enjoyed it. There were a few snags like the wailing (sp?) that Gabby & Braly did after the wedding on the boat & we headed back to the car without Daddy (he rode in the Hummer limo back to the hotel). Morgan had just woke up from a nap & was fairly quiet while Gabby & Braly cried so loud that got lots of interesting looks/comments. As I unloaded the stroller full of stuff into the car I let the kids cry it out to release all their built up emotions from being tired & controlling themselves on the boat for so long & it really was a very long day for them. Then I told them they had to be quiet so I could drive down the mountain & after a few more minutes, they calmed down & both fell asleep. Morgan stayed awake with me jamming to some music (courtesy of Lilo & Stitch soundtrack haha) & then she finally fell asleep. It was about 1 hour 45 min drive back to our hotel. Like I said, long day for all. We changed & packed some stuff up & then went out for another gathering with our Pierce family (minus Steven & Kate since they were gone already & Carol & family since they were unable to make it out east, they'd have an even longer drive than us). Oh the other mishap was the next day when we left Vermont to head to Niagra Falls. Morgan got car sick & was she ever a 1st class trooper. She didn't cry, she didn't fuss, in fact, I don't think I would have known what had happened if Gabby had not blurted out "Mom, Morgan just puked!!!" Morgan even grabbed a wipe & tried to clean herself up while I was wiping everything as much as I could. Needless to say, Morgan started getting the anti-nausea herbal things we have just like Gabby. No more trouble with car sickness after that.

Off to make a quick dinner & get the cookies cooled. The kids & I made them this afternoon as part of our 'play week'. Next Tuesday Gabby starts school so this week is have fun in the Pierce house as well as get some appointments taken care of.

Is writing the same as talking?

I started taking this online class to help me with my journaling on my scrapbook pages and I am enjoying it so far. But I got to thinking, is writing the same as talking? I love to chat with friends & family for a long time and I enjoy writing so much too.

I decided to take this writing class b/c it sounded fun. Yup, I'm probably a nut job but hey, at least I'm doing something I like right? I remembered how much I enjoyed English writing class in high school & that I missed it as well as the writing I had to do in college. It was a lot sometimes and coming up with a topic for a paper, no matter how long it had to be, was sometimes a challenge. But one I was usually up for. Well this class has me doing some of the same things and I LOVE it!

Each day we get a topic and have to think about it for 1 minute and then write nonstop for at least 4 minutes. Would you believe that I have gone over my 4 minutes each time so far? Ok, it probably isn't hard to do with the way I like to talk (I'm sure most of you would agree haha) and write. I'm having FUN!!!

I think I'm way too tired to be posting on here and actually making sense so have a good laugh at my tired expense and perhaps I'll be able to compose something a little less wordy & writing in circles tomorrow. Lots to do though so might not get to post till late again & then it would just be goofy again.
Good night all!

Slump-be-gone!

Have you ever tried getting in shape & healthier? Or for that matter tried anything that you haven't really been very good at? Well, I am currently working on trying to be healthier & fit but it seems I've gotten into a slump. I can't seem to get the scale to move and that is so frustrating but I just read a very inspiring quote from the sparkpeople website and I think it may help me get out of my slump. That and I talked with a friend and she advised me to change something I'm doing. Thanks!!!

Slump-be-gone!
So, I'm yet to be the runner I aspire to be BUT I'm a better runner than I've ever been.
I don't have a flat tummy BUT I've discovered my collarbones.
I don't always order the healthiest thing on the menu BUT I no longer make my choices blind.
I'm not going to be on the cover of a magazine BUT I'm starting to think that maybe I look good in certain clothes.
I don't always roll out of bed and throw on my sneakers BUT my sneakers are not collecting dust.
I haven't developed an ego BUT I am proud!

I must be crazy!

I can't believe that I decided the other day to start tearing the wallpaper off the walls in the girls' room. It has taken me several days to get as far as I have & I am hoping to be finished enough to patch & prime the walls by the end of the week. I may save the actual painting with colors for another time. I think I forget that every time I start a project like this the rest of the house falls apart so to speak. And I have been letting the kids play far too much PS2 so I've got to hurry up & finish before their behavior changes in the way I don't like. On the other hand, getting rid of the nasty, grimy, ugly wallpaper is really nice. And we found a little treasure of wallpaper underneath. Not sure what the people were thinking but it appears that they were trying to use a border as wallpaper. Gabby & I thought they were cool looking ships so we snapped a photo to remember. We also got the not so pretty flowers underneath & then finally the salmon colored walls. I'm sure that paint is filled with lead so that's another reason I'm trying to hurry & get it primed to seal it in. All 3 of the kids have been sleeping in Braly's room for the last few nights & I think that is getting old to them. So I'm off to get back to work & get as much as I can before lunch time is here.

Happy Anniversary!

Today is our 9th Anniversary and Adam bought me a bouquet of flowers with a sweet note on it. I can't believe that it has already been 9 years.

Love is not blind-- it sees more, not less.

But because it sees more, it is willing to see less.

~Rabbi Julius Gordon~

Thank you Adam for being willing to see less of my faults & more of the good things I bring to our life together, our wonderful family! I love you so very much!!!!

If there is anything better than being love, its LOVING!!! ~Author Unknown~

Catching up on photos

Morgan has been drinking from a bowl for a long time & I just finally got a chance to capture it with the camera. She's pretty good at not spilling the milk.

Braly loves playing the PS2, especially Lego Indian-ana Jones.

Here's Gabby after she did her own hair & then she decided she should do Morgan's too.

So this is the magazine pic, a witch but we thought we could make them into princesses without much trouble. We laughed & joked about it all but the truth is, I have a new found appreciation for people that decorate cakes & cupcakes. That's a lot of work & takes a lot of talent. Now I just wish my friend Tammy lived close by so I could hire her for all these cupcake ideas that I'm not so great at.

Gabby's Tea Party

For Gabby's bday we decided to do a tea party theme. We kept it on the smaller side & asked the guests to wear their favorite hat or they could wear one of ours if they wanted. The girls showed up with some cute hats.I attempted to make cupcakes again (hey, that reminds me I forgot to post a pic of the silly princess ones). You can kinda see a glimpse of the tea cup cupcakes in this pic. The girls & Braly enjoyed them. Here is the table all set for our guests. Gabby picked out saucers & tea cups at the thrift store along with the vases & we made the flowers out of toilet paper rolls. And I made the little goody bags for the picture frames & a bead necklace.

Here is Gabby with her friend Olivia. I took pics of Gabby with each of her guests and then we printed them & put them into small picture frames for thank you gifts for her friends. They turned out really cute too! Gabby & Braly
Gabby & Ari.
The tea party part. The kids ate some crakers & cheese & enjoyed some punch (tea) that they got to pour out of a tea pot that Auntie Nat found at a garage sale. They enjoyed the punch. (who wouldn't? it was yummy & simple)

Gabby got a Hannah Montana shirt & head bands, a fairy felt doll making kit, a penguin iflops (its a stuffed penguin that has a hook up inside of it for a MP3 player & has speakers on hits head so she can listen to it for bed & not have the wires from headphones for mommy to be worried about her getting tangled in).

Then on Gabby's 'real' birthday, I took her to Iron Mtn for a scrapbooking/card making day & she had lots of fun. Auntie Nat worked with her on some stamping & cards & then gave her a no sew fleece throw for her to use when she goes camping with Auntie Nat & Uncle Todd.

We had to celebrate her 'real' birthday with a cake so we got a small one that we could finish off in one sitting. And she got an ipod shuffle for her iflops penguin. She's pretty happy about that.Little Miss Morgan enjoying the Happy Birthday song & candles.

Mostly Gymnastics

Here's Miss Morgan taking food out of the cupboard b/c she wanted to eat. Isn't she sweet?
Gabby getting ready to do a tuck and roll at gymnastics. She attended basic gymnastics for an hour M-F last week and she really enjoyed it a lot plus she improved quite a bit for just a few days of the activity.
On the super tall balance beam.
I think she said the uneven bars were her favorite out of everything they got to try out. She loved hanging from them and flipping over them. The older girls that were helping out were just wonderful. They worked great with the kids and thought Gabby was totally cute & kept telling her so.
Mid-air flipping over the bar.
Braly was pretty good waiting for over an hour each day while his sister got to do all the cool stuff. He really wanted to be in the class too but the youngest kids allowed were Kindergarten. He's trying to wait patiently for his turn but it is so hard for him with all the cool stuff that is offered around here. Soon my Braly Boy, soon. At least he made some little friends to play with while we were waiting. Mostly other little brothers.

Braly's Last Day of School Photos

Braly helping clean up so he could play with his class outside. We stopped at Braly's school for his field trip to the athletic field but it was cancelled due to the cold weather that was threatening to rain.
Can you believe that we were outside for about 10 minutes and it started raining so we had to head inside to play in the gym.
Hula time for Braly. I bought hula hoops for us at home & the kids and I are learning to hoop dance. Gabby is actually pretty good at it. Braly is getting the hang of it and decided to do some practicing at school.

Graduation Photos

Graduation was really very nice. Grammy Cheryl was able to join us for the ceremony. I ended up tearing up but I didn't cry like a big sobbing crazy mom. So that was good. They put together photo slideshows to share with everyone as people were still coming in. After the slideshows of each of the Kindergarten classes, the kids sang a few songs and then the teachers handed out diplomas to each of them. My sister loaned me her camcorder so I was able to video tape the whole thing. I'm not very experiences with video recording and I'm sure it shows. Above are some of the photos we took with our camera. Starting from the top photo you'll see Adam with the girls after the ceremony. 2nd is Gabby with her good friend Olivia. 3rd is Gabby with her good friend Tanisha 4th is Gabby with her teacher Mrs. Johnson And lastly is Braly sitting off on his own enjoying a cookie from the refreshment table. I just had to take a pic of him on his own b/c it is so him. He has taken to walking up to people (when he's with Mommy or Daddy) and asking people their names to try to be friendly.