What Is Up With Those Pierce's?

September has been a very bad month, if we're speaking in blogging terms. It seems like the first part of the school year kicks my butt every year. Getting into the swing of things and getting all of our extracurriculars up and going again leaves me pretty much wiped out. So, for the record, here is a rundown of what we've been up to.

Will - He is so much fun and he is everywhere! He is crawling like a mad man and will pull himself up on anything that stands still long enough. He is still a little cautious once he's upright, but I can definitely see him walking before one; if only to try and keep up with Jack. He has adorable dimples and is about the happiest baby I could have asked for. He has developed an interest in toy cars and Nerf bullets (must be related to Jack.) He is transitioning to real food and I'm trying my hardest to get him to drink from a sippy cup. His first tooth came through yesterday. He loves the dog. Watching him clap to show his approval of anything truly warms my heart. He says Mama and Dada and loves to sing.

Jack - LOVING kindergarten. Doesn't so much love the "homework." Jack is finally getting used to going to school every day again. He still loves riding his bike. He loves playing with his friends. Jack spends his afternoons playing video games, jumping on the trampoline and doing the monkey bars over and over again until the big kids get home from school. He is in gymnastics and finally gets to do all of the fun stuff like the rings, the vault, the bars, etc.... He just got back from a Boy's Weekend with his dad, his grandpa and his uncle and cousin in Dallas. They went to a Rangers game, saw the Texas Book Depository, ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, went to Rally Day at the Cowboy stadium.... got their pictures taken with the cheerleaders which made him uncomfortable because you could "see their boobs." He came home with a new football jersey and lots of stories about the fun things they did; especially swimming at the hotel.

Allie - Is so excited to be in Mrs. Braegger's class in the fourth grade. She has lots of friends and is really excelling in her work. I think she is really coming into her own; although she has started to be a bit pretentious about her abilities. I need to find something this girl is not good at to knock her down a peg or two. In all seriousness, however, my little Allie is a light in my life. She is so helpful with William; a fact I noticed after she went back to school and I found myself exhausted trying to get things done. Will lights up when she enters the room and she is all too happy to feed, change or get up with him in the mornings. He's almost as big as she is, but she'll carry him anywhere and she is the best at putting him in his car seat. She is going to make an awesome mama some day. Allie is also loving sewing. We put the girls in lessons at the first of the summer and they have just taken off and run with it. Here they are with their new sewing machines.

The girls have been working feverishly on costumes for Halloween.

Here is a picture of Allie with hers.

It's going to be awesome when we get the whole thing together. Allie is back in the Salt Lake Children's Choir for another year and doing gymnastics as well. This girl is intense, but makes life so great.

Erin - This girl has got it going on; and she seems to know it. She has really started to cop an attitude lately and is going the extra mile to be grown up. I am so not ready for us to be at this stage in the game. Erin is a good kid, however, so all I can do is cross my fingers and hope for the best. Erin is on the Student Council at her school and it has been the vote of confidence that she needed. Her teacher told me the other day that "Erin is the kid now that she's always been meant to be." For the first time in a long time, she is excelling at nearly everything in school and is even reading a bit without being prompted..... I'll take whatever ground I can get on this one. She is eagerly playing the cello in the orchestra and is so excited to be doing so. She is also singing, doing gymnastics and sewing. This girl is the barometer of the household..... if she's happy, life is good, but if she's not, watch out. Oh, and as a brief mention, here are the photos I blogged about a while ago of Erin and my Grandma Jones.... what a resemblance, eh????

The girls and I also just spent a weekend in St. George with Grandma, Aunt Shanna & Leah, my aunts Suzy & Lorelei and cousins Cassie & Sarah. We drove down and saw The Little Mermaid and Grease at Tuachan. The plays were wonderful.

While we were down there, the girls went shopping with Grandma and I got my hair done.

Not the best photo, but a new look, nonetheless. It was kind of nice to be able to sit in a chair and not worry about doing anything for a while. Which brings me to.....

Bek - I want to say that I haven't been busy, but I sure feel like I have. I feel like I have been chewed up and spit back out. Trying to constantly get caught up on housework, run the errands, take care of kids.... fix cars, drive carpool, make lunches and dinners. Ughhh. I'm also working on our family costumes for our DisneyWorld trip this week (we're going as Alice in Wonderland.) I bought a bunch of fruit and have canned pears, peaches, made salsa and have to work on apples this week. I have zucchini growing like nobody's business and am trying to get the yard ready for fall. I love this time of year, but it nearly kills me. Back to school events, projects, book reports, parent meetings. These are the "no big deal" things that add up to a big deal. Add to that this new self-improvement kick I'm on (see previous post) and all I really want is a nap. I have applied for a couple of jobs to work from home. No word yet on whether they will pan out, but I'll keep you posted for sure if they do.

Matt - Always busy, traveling a ton lately. He has done so much this year. The garden is wonderful, the landscaping changes in the back yard, although necessary, are above and beyond. He built me a flagstone patio that I have been wanting since we moved here. Add to all this the Mr. Mom duties he's taken on while I've been gone and his recent experimentation with baking (pies, breads and cookies) and I'm sure you'll agree that he's got it going on!

As a family in September we went to the Utah State Fair. We looked at quilts, canned goods, art work, wood work and handi-work. We saw the animals; fawned over the chickens, loved the sheep, watched a cow get milked and a man herd geese.

The kids went to the Hands-On Little Farm, took a ride down the Big Yellow Slide and had so much fun at the Lego tent.

We ate yummy, roasted corn on the cob. Allie and her dad shared a plate of ribs. Mom got her funnel cake fix and we all danced along with the Square Dancers; although we stopped short of joining their ranks. I love the fair. It is one of the highlights of the year for me.

Life is good at our house. We are fully engaged in wonderful things, and trying our best to get along with each other. We are looking forward to our first Disney World vacation in TWO YEARS, and can't wait to see Mickey. We are also looking forward to our new deck being finished and a backyard reveal that will knock your socks off; or at least pull them down a bit.

Seven Down, Ninety-Three To Go

Here is the first diet update..... I lost seven pounds last week. Amazing? Heck ya! Can you tell? Heck no. Oh well. A couple more weeks with a few more pounds and maybe I'll begin to notice.

This post is completely for personal progress purposes. I'm sure as I go throughout this process, I will have actual information, thoughts or feelings, revelations etc.... that I believe I owe it to the world to share, but for now, I'm going to just enjoy seven pounds of water weight lost.

Now, off to exercise.

The Elephant In the Room

It has been a really long time since I have blogged. I wish I could say that I've been extremely busy doing fabulous things, but.... mostly it's just trying to kill the flies in my kitchen, can the fruit that I ambitiously bought on Labor Day, keep Will out of the dog food and make sure lunches are made and homework is done. An aside, school has been in session for nearly a month now and I am still making my kid's lunches everyday; a personal best. You take it where you can get it, right?

So, more about some of the things we've been up to will follow, but here it is..... the biggest commitment I've ever made (besides marrying Matt, having children and going red in high school) I am on a diet. Shocked? Could you at least pretend to be shocked?

You actually should be kind of surprised. I swore off dieting in 2004. I lost 40 pounds on Weight Watchers and quite honestly, just got sick of going to meetings where the group leader had lost her weight back when they held meetings in someone's living room and every one else seemed to be losing more than I was. How many times can you use the excuse, "I'm on my period" to explain that damn two pounds that just keep following you around?

I guess I thought I could keep it off. I say that, making it sound like that was the end-all goal. Nope. They way I figured it, I was about ten pounds away from my wedding weight, which was about thirty pounds more than I weighed when Matt got home from his mission eight months earlier.

A little history...

I went on my first diet (Nutri-System) at age 12. I was more or less adult-sized but was friends with people that were more or less elf-sized. To my memory, I don't remember being particularly troubled by it, other than to say that there were always comments made about losing a few pounds (adolescent girls need something better to talk about.) Well, I lost my 15 pounds and went on "maintenance" which translates to, you can eat real food again... good luck. Before long, I'm back in the lunch room eating a Snickers and a Sprite every day for lunch. Don't think it worked!

Went through a lot of other stuff in high school, discovered boys, sleeping and depression and found myself gaining about 10 pounds a year. Fast forward to my senior year of high school and meeting Matt. I thought I was huge then, but what I would kill to be there again. Nearly everything and everyone around me had diet tips for me and I didn't want to hear it; still don't. Moving out, "cooking" or rather foraging for one's own food found me at my heaviest when Matt was on his mission. There are a few emotional exchanges back and forth and voila, I hear about this thing called Phen-Fen. Yep, I did it. Lost 75 pounds too. Then they took it off the market, I got married, we had issues and the weight came back on.

A lot has happened over the years, and I have come to some revelations about myself; some may surprise you, others may not.

• Evidently, I don't like being told what to do. Surprising? Not for me either. I think that explains my utter disdain for all things advice related when it comes to this topic. And like many adolescents, when you tell them not to do something, I automatically went the opposite direction; and whole-hog!
• I'm not sure that I understood that it was okay to fail. I don't think it was a conscious thing, but looking back, I really only participated in things that I did well in. Let's be honest, I'm pretty much awesome, so that's not hard, but........ PSYCH! Because I'm not, or believed I wasn't, really that coordinated physically, I stopped participating in any physical activity. Not good.
• It wasn't and isn't so much that I overeat, as much as the fact that I really enjoy junk food and carbs. Not exactly a recipe for healthy living.
• I would like to proclaim that I'm not an emotional eater, but it's no coincidence that I have been to all the ice cream joints and bakeries within a 20-mile radius of my house.
• I think that judging people solely on their looks and their weight is superficial. I really, honestly, don't think that way. God created all of us (how we choose to dress and adorn ourselves is totally up for mocking) but we can only do so much with what we are given.

And the last couple, gained only through the experience of motherhood.

• Even if it's fat, my body is amazing and it has given me four of the sweetest, most wonderful creations on earth.
• According to Jack, I am more comfy being fat.

Well, I am DAMN (yes I swore) sick and tired of my pants not fitting and of being someone's project, so I did it.... I bought a Body Bugg and two days in, I'm still excited about it. I know that to some of you, that might not mean much, but I don't feel "too deprived" and despite the fact that I have discovered that I'm only getting on average, five hours of sleep a night, I think it's awesome.

So there you have it. According to my web-based software program, I should reach my goal of 100 pounds lost on or around Will's second birthday. Hopefully he won't remember Jack's "big fat momma" and the girls will have a good example to look to and they won't be too screwed up.

I'm not so sure that I will go so far as posting before and after pictures; everytime I think about taking a fat picture in workout clothes, I envision The Biggest Loser and nearly black out for thinking of it.

But, by posting this, I am making myself accountable. Now you know that I'm trying to lose weight. You won't have to ask me what that gray thing is on my arm, unless you want to get hit for not reading my blog. I don't want you to comment on what I'm eating, because if you piss me off, I might just throw it in your face, and I don't want you to tell me I'm looking good just to blow smoke up my butt (right now, both my parents are hanging their head in shame because I talk like this). If you really and truly believe that you can see a difference, either in my appearance or my attitude, feel free to mention it, because I know there are days I'll be hanging on by a thread.

Thanks for reading and thanks for trying to understand. Onward and upward homies!

Too Cool for School

Okay, so I know that Erin looks really tall in this picture and she probably is, but I think I'm in denial. It's hard to believe that I have a 6th grader. Next year, junior high. This year however, was the year I dreamed about when I was pregnant with Jack.... all of them in school, if not all full-time.

We had such a fun summer that I wasn't quite ready for school to start. But things have a way of working themselves out. Mid-August I wasn't ready, and a week later, I so was! The girls have started to bicker about everything and it's enough to drive me to drink. Taking each others clothes and passing off responsibility... it's killing me.

Before we get to the actual day, a couple of pre-school events. First the MAC Barbecue.

Last year, Erin started in a program called MAC at her school. MAC stands for Multi-Age Classroom. Basically, there is a 1,2,3 grade split (the Mini-MAC) and a 4,5,6 grade split (the Big MAC.) This program has been a godsend for Erin and we have loved being involved with it. Well, they like to have a back-to-school barbecue for students, their families and the teachers and their families. We eat, we play, we get to know each other. Since I'm a big proponent of the program and friends with the teachers thanks to my stint as PTA President, I find myself in charge of this. Park reserved, food assignments made and beef brisket for 150 people. It was a lot of fun to have this party and to watch Erin with her friends. Being the oldest in the school this year, it's amazing to watch the leader she has become. She always goes out of her way to include others and is so fun to be around (if you're not her mother!)

The next before school event is Allie's Spectrum Orientation. We go, meet her teacher for the year... get the teacher's disclosure (sounds a lot like college, huh?), volunteer for classroom assignments and see friends. Allie is a hugger and watching her see all her school friends is like watching some cheesy 80's high school movie; they run together, they hug and they squeal. She is so different from me, but so alike it's strange sometimes. Her teacher this year, Mrs. Braegger, is a real go-getter. She has those kids going, but Allie loves everything.

Now to the first day of school.... One of the things I LOVE about my neighborhood is the fun little events we have throughout the year. One of my very favorites is Back-to-School morning. We all get together at one house for breakfast and then walk to school together. This year was my turn to host and it was so much fun. I made German Pancakes (thanks Heather) and scrambled eggs (what else?) Everyone else brings something to share. We take pictures and chat and then we're off. Here are the awesome pictures...

We had so much fun. Then we were off to school. Matt took Allie to her first day at Centerville Elementary, and Will and I walked Erin AND Jack to their first days of school at JA Taylor Elementary. It is so fun to watch the kids on their first day of school. They are so excited.

Without further ado, here are the individual stories. First, my big boy Jack. So excited for his first day of "Big Kid School" at Erin's school. He is in Mrs. Oborn's class with his friends Nate, Landon, Clare and Arden. They will have a great year.

Jack and his best buddy Nate about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime.

The first day of kindergarten.

Waiting for the principal to welcome everyone to school. Notice that my little guy still likes to suck his thumb when he's nervous. Maybe I'm a bad mom, but I still think it's so cute.

They're singing the school song. Jack's looking at Nate, like he knows the words. They got every third or fourth word a couple of beats late, but it was priceless.

Looking at this picture, do you think Jack is used to having adults undivided attention?

Here he's explaining something to his teacher and his entire class on the rug.

Jack is having to remember all the stuff he learned in preschool, like how to form his letters and write his name the "school way."

Jack and Clare eating their treat inspired by Chicka-Chica-Boom-Boom. A note about these two.... because their mothers have both been heavily involved in the PTA,

these kids think that there's nothing off-limits to them at the school.

Time will tell how they do with boundaries and they're established.

The day after the first day of school, we went for Jack's kindergarten evaluation. Mrs. Oborn asks him about letters, numbers, shapes and colors and some basic math. When he gets to the math portion, the teacher reads him a problem that goes something like this;

"Mary had three apples and then found two more, how many apples does Mary have?" Jack answers five and then the teacher goes onto the next problem. As she starts to read her "story," Jack raises his hand and says "I'm good, I don't need any more of your stories." Ughhh. This little bugger has no confidence issues. Fortunately for Jack, Mrs. Oborn has taught kindergarten for 30 years and has just about seen it all.

Jack has been riding his bike to school and is doing really well. He wears his helmet and walks it across the crosswalk just like he's supposed to. I really am so proud of him.

Next, my Allie-Bear. She's a big time 4th Grader. She is loving school. Mrs. Braegger is something of a task-master in the work department, but these kids love her. Allie has been having a ton of fun working on her ABC Geography and reading. We've only had a couple of math assignments since school started. I am so glad that she is enjoying herself so far this year. Happy students make a happy mommy and a happy home.

Oh my goodness, I think I may cry. It's so hard to believe that she's almost done with elementary school. She is the BMOC (Big Man on Campus). She is relishing being in-the-know about everything at school. She has some really good friends and is enjoying walking to school with them every day (honestly a first for us.) I have noticed that she's been really moody since school starts, almost in a worrisome way. I'm hoping that it's just a period of adjustment and that it will dissipate as the year continues. I'm not ready to face the fact that it might be hormones. She came home so excited on the first day to tell me that she's applying for the student council. She has to give a presentation and had to have someone write a letter of recommendation for her. Because I thought the letter was so sweet, and so true, I am including it here, if you'll pardon me.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing this letter in regards to Erin Pierce, who is running for student council at Taylor Elementary. I am so honored to write this recommendation.

I met Erin three years ago, when I moved into the area with my family. I have been impressed with how responsible, fun and enthusiastic she is about life. Just recently, I have had the opportunity to have Erin babysit our three children for an extended period of time. Here are just a few of the qualities I observed from Erin:

• Ready on time: I picked her up and she greeted me with a great big smile!
• Prepared: babysitting bag in hand, with several activities ready to go for each of my children.
• Friendly and Energetic: Erin walked into my house and immediately began talking to each of the children and asking about their interests and getting to know them. She also had them engaged in several activities and games while I was gone.
• Responsibility and Clean up: I was extremely impressed when I returned home and Erin had immediately started to put away all toys and items brought out during babysitting time. She even had my kids cleaning up with her!
• Considerate and Respectful: She demonstrated respect with my children by following their interests as well as with me as an adult, thanking me for the opportunity to help out!

Erin is an amazing person who, in my opinion, would accept this leadership position with ambition and with the interest of students and peers in mind. She is genuinely kind and friendly with and has an ability to stand up and take action. I look forward to seeing her as a role model for my two children who currently attend Taylor Elementary!

Good Luck Erin and Taylor!

Sincerely,

Alison Adams (mom of 3 and preschool teacher)

How proud am I? Erin is a wonderful girl who is full of spunk and is committed to making the world a better place; even if she doesn't clean her room :)

Here's hoping for a happy, healthy and productive school year.

"I'm Sorry, Do I Know You?"

It has been FOREVER since I last posted. Life has been a little nuts, and consequently, so have I. We have gone back to school (separate post to follow) and we are back into schedules and all the crazy running around that they entail. For posterity's sake, here is the run-down of the last month.

So... Grandma died. As Jack said to my girlfriend while I was gone, "that's too bad for her." All kidding aside, it has been a great opportunity to reflect on my Grandma Jones' life and her legacy. She was a wonderful woman who knew how to do all kinds of things. It's funny... growing up I spent a lot of time with my dad's mom and who I am today reflects those experiences. What's crazy is that as I have grown older and more experienced (like that?) I find myself trying to gain the kind of knowledge and wisdom I would have gained from my Grandma Jones if I had been able to spend more time with her in my formative years. Two weeks ago, for Sunday dinner, Allie and I made fried chicken and mashed potatoes, with what my Grandma would have called "milk gravy." Fried chicken was my Grandma's go-to meal, and one that we would always request when we would visit. Boy the taste of that gravy took me back. One thing we discovered while on our vacation was the uncanny resemblance between my Grandma and Erin at roughly the same point in their lives. I'll have to post the picture another time, as it's in my van which is in the shop..... wait for it later.

One of the best things about the time we spent dealing with Grandma's sickness and death was the time we were able to spend together as a family. For whatever reasons, neither of my sister-in-laws came with their husbands to Washington for the weekend, and Matt stayed home with my brood, so it was just my parents, my brothers and me. It was awesome! I have intended to blog about this experience separately, but obviously, it hasn't happened.

Aren't those handsome folks? As I spent the weekend with these people that I love, I was reminded of all the fun times we have shared. Over breakfast one morning, we figured it has been nearly 20 years since it has just been the five of us and although getting married and having children has definitely changed us, we are still the same goofy people we were before. On a couple of occasions, we all crammed into one car and drove to our various destinations. Ben and Greg, winning the "tall contest" found themselves in the front controlling our destination and the tunes we listened to, and I found myself squished in the back with my parents. It has been a long time since we all have laughed that hard. I'm talking tears and side aches people. It was so nice. We did all the things that it's a pain in the butt to take kids to do... which translates to eating where we want, when we want. If you missed it in my earlier posts, we like to eat, which honestly speaks volumes, but that may be for another time. Anyway, one day, we had breakfast at the Cheesecake Factory, lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Ugghhhh. We were stuffed, but it was so much fun. We went to Pike's Market and walked around... we went to the mall and bought matching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hats.....

We went and saw a memorial for Jimi Hendrix....

And screamed for the chocolate volcano at the Rainforest Cafe......

We sat in the gorilla section, by the way. Sorry the pictures suck... the light was bad and all I had was my cell phone.

Anyway, we didn't have to stop anywhere unexpected for a potty break the entire time. We stopped at McDonald's on the way to a wedding because we weren't sure whether they were going to have food at the wedding. Greg ordered a Happy Meal and we got Farmer Smurf! We relived the days of classic wrestling; mourned Macho Man Randy Savage, Andre the Giant and sang the Hulk Hogan theme song and tried to decide what the right event would be for the Undertaker's anthem. Everybody laughed at me when I turned retarded and dropped my $7 Cold Stone ice cream for no apparent reason and we had fun at the Seahawks and Mariners team stores.

It was so much fun and it was just what I needed.

On to the next event..... my new nephew! Dave and Holli (sibs on Matt's side) had their first little guy a couple of weeks early on August 15th. Grayson Paul Pierce was 7 pounds 4 ounces and 20 1/2 long. What a cutie!

That means that the Pierce family has had three little ones added this year and they will all be the same year in school.

Aspen Joy Pierce

January 9, 2011

William Homer Pierce

January 16, 2011

Grayson Paul Pierce

August 15, 2011

We are so blessed!

This is good; to be counting my blessings. Things have been a little tense at our house lately. We have been working hard on our back yard, trying to get things in order. We built a little stone patio for our fire pit and are working on having a deck built. Matt has been drawing plans and looking at materials, and the crabgrass is FREAKING out of control! I hope to have pictures of the progress to post in a couple of weeks. On the plus side, we finally got our gopher. We hired a "wildlife specialist" (read, varmint hunter) to come and kill the thing and her trap worked. Matt wanted to put his head on a pike in the garden, but the smell was too strong. Hopefully my flowering pear will come back and we can finally grow beans in our garden unmolested.

Will has started to crawl, finally. I say finally, because Aspen is a wonder baby and has been crawling for a couple of months now. It's not the prettiest crawl I have seen, but it gets him where he wants to go and nothing is off limits anymore. We have had to lower his crib mattress because he has figured out how to pull himself up and I was worried he was going to take a nose dive. He is still such a happy baby and although he has no teeth, as of yet, he is eating food and loving it. We are so happy that he is part of our family, although I think he really misses the big kids while they are at school.

We got a new couch. Now we can all sit in the basement and watch a movie together. Which is awesome! We've had so much fun hanging out, eating Daddy Popcorn and watching shows since the couch was delivered that it might just be worth the money we spent!

The van, the mother ship, the home base and my everything.... she is broken. She needs a new transmission, to the tune of $3800. I think this repair about wipes out her residual value, but we are not resigning her to the scrap heap just yet. She is being fixed, which is good, because we can no longer fit our whole family in Matt's car, putting a damper on our Labor Day options.

I think that about covers it. I'm sure there is stuff I missed, but hopefully it's mostly back to school stuff, which will be covered in my next post. Here's to a great September!