How Did This Happen?

I find myself at this particular point in time wondering how it is that I find myself with an almost teenage daughter.  This girl has turned into such an amazing young woman and I am so grateful for her.  Thankfully for me, she is starting to be fun again and not just a moody mess.  Over the last couple of months we have had some great experiences together.  She is not perfect, but who is?  Mostly as we approach her twelfth birthday I find myself feeling a couple of different things; regret for the times I've overshot or not done enough; and pure joy for the wonderful young lady she is becoming despite my mothering shortfalls.  This girls is compassionate, creative and determined.  She is clever and witty and is the soul of our household.  She is so excited for all that her life has to offer and I am so hopeful that life does it's best not to disappoint (too much anyway!)

A few things that Erin has been up to lately.....

Besides just the regular stuff, she has been hard at work trying to finish up her projects and requirements for her Faith in God award at church.  She only has a few more things to finish and I can honestly say that she has done it 100% on her own (or with the help of leaders) because she has not let me help with anything (although I have tried!)

In one of my last posts, I mentioned that Erin was a essay finalist for her DARE program at school.  They have spent quite a bit of time talking about decision making and friends and drugs and such in this program this year and I was thrilled to go to her DARE graduation a couple of weeks ago to hear her speak.  Her essay was really well written and delivered.  Such a proud mommy moment.  Besides, she was thrilled to win "a really cool backpack."

Sorry the picture is so blurry, but it was the best I could do while trying to keep track of Will at the same time.

The other big development in Erin's life is the fact that she has been selected as the 7th grade officer from her school.  Although the competition at her school was not especially stiff, she put A LOT of time and effort into preparing her essay and presentation.  I wish I could have been a fly on the wall, but I have it from reliable sources that "she was stellar."  The committee was so impressed and said she was very poised and clearly comfortable in front of people.  For posterity's sake, I am including the text from her essay so she can always remember what she wrote.

Why I Would Make a Great 7^th Grade Officer

By: Erin Pierce

“Far and away the best price that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”

President Theodore Roosevelt summed it up best with this quote. There are a lot of things in this world that require hard work, but the rewards gained from this work make up for the difficulty.

  Being a great 7^th grade officer is a lot of work and a big commitment. I feel that I could do this job very well because I understand what it means to work hard and follow through with commitments.

 I think that being a 7^th grade officer requires someone who works well with the others, can make friends easily, seeks consensus and can lead others in fulfilling plans. I sing in a professional choir and we are required to practice an hour every day with a two-hour rehearsal once a week. We have to learn many songs in different languages and different parts. I have been in that choir for 4 years and I have learned it takes a lot of hard work and effort.

 I am confident in my abilities to speak in front of others, and not afraid to stand out a bit. I am very creative and thorough in planning activities and I would love the opportunity to be involved.  My teacher expects a lot from me.  I learned a long time ago, if you want to succeed in her class you have to work hard; no exceptions.  I understand committing my time and efforts for the good of a group and being dependable to others. I would consider it a great honor, in fact a prize, to have the chance to work hard at work worth doing.

We are in the process of planning her birthday party... which she is very excited for.  We are having an "Erin in Wonderland" themed bash.  I hope it will be lots of fun and something she'll always remember planning with her mom.  

As we speed towards 12, and junior high, and Young Women's and boys, and all that stuff, I am so hopeful for this wonderful little girl will continue to grow and develop into the great person that I've always known was there.  Love you Erin!

Easter 2012 Was Egg-stra Special

Aren't these kids the cutest?  Even better when you consider that these girls MADE their own Easter dresses.  How did I get so lucky?  Wish we could've gotten the binky out of Will's mouth, but his brother and sisters got him up at 6:30 to look for Easter baskets and he was not a happy camper.  Thank goodness for Sunday afternoon naps.

Easter Sunday was great this year.  The kids loved their baskets.  This year, we went with themes; something new and fun.  

• Erin's basket was everything having to do with American Girl dolls.  Craft supplies, an outfit for her doll and a book about starting junior high.
• Allie's basket was an homage to her love of sewing.  Fabric, a pattern, sewing kit and a measuring tape watch.  So cool, Easter Bunny!
• Jack's basket was Super Heroes.  He got a new swim suit and shirt, coloring books, puzzles games and toys featuring the Avengers and Fantastic Four.  Super stuff for a super boy.
• Will was so excited to find his basket full of Mickey Mouse.  He got two new movies, a stuffed Mickey, a sippy cup and a new swim suit.  That boy is set.

Church was great.  We had great lessons and testimonies of Christ and his Atonement.  Our Bishop gave an awesome talk about doing our part to help the Lord, even when we may not understand what our part is or why we have to do it.

We had my folks up for dinner because they are in the middle of a kitchen remodel and although dinner was a little crazy, it made me very grateful for my family.

We also have some Easter activities from Saturday to report on.  We were excited to host the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Easter Bonnet Party.  That's a fancy way of saying that we invited all our neighbors to come over with food and hang out for a couple of hours, wearing super cool hats.  The kids had a great time drawing with chalk, playing with hula hoops, playing on the tramp and the swing set, and of course, creating their hats.

Thanks to great neighbors who are always game to drop by for a fun time, and for a husband who supports my social aspirations and tries to help me not freak out when I'm getting ready for said event.

So glad that spring is finally here and that the smell of lilacs in in the air.  So grateful that the tomb was empty and that I can be with my family forever.

Move on Down, Move on Down the Road

Be honest, did any of you just invision Diana Ross and Michael Jackson?  The Wiz?  Anyway, I have been moving more, and eating considerably less and am seeing great success.  The scale is moving down and my energy levels are higher than they've been in years.  How awesome is that?

Here's the photo for the month.  Not my favorite because it seems like I'm all boobs and I think I looked better last month, but oh well.

I will tell you that the pants and shirt are both a 1X which is down from the 3X I was wearing at Christmas.  I have bought new clothes and am looking forward to shopping at places like Target and Costco..... there you have it, the dream of a fat girl.

I have lost 32 pounds since my surgery and 47 since the beginning of the year.  From this point forward, I will be referring to weight lost as the number from the beginning of the year because that is when I started this whole process.  I am happy to report that I have lost 5 inches off my thighs, 3 1/2 inches off my waist, and an inch off my arms and neck.  See, writing this down makes me feel awful about myself, but this is documenting the journey, right?

Well, so now you have the numbers, I'm going to talk about some the NSV (non-scale victories) I have experienced in the last couple of months.

• Wearing a belt.... something I always found laughable when I'd go to Lane Bryant to buy pants and they'd ask if I needed a belt and I wanted to say, "no, this pooch of tummy fat will hold the pants up for me."
• Better sleep.... for myself and my husband.  My sleep numbers were awful... like averaging 65% sleep efficiency nightly.  Now I'm regularly up in the 80's and even 90's and I'm not snoring like a freight train anymore.
• Being able to cross my legs and not having my feet go numb, or looking like a man in a dress.  I think you know what I mean.
• Having my sweet neighbors tell me how good I'm looking; like stopping as they're driving down the street to share their opinions.  I have a hard time hearing it, but it's nice.
• Not sweating like a gut-shot hog every time I move.  I swear that I have pig sweat glands.  It comes from my Homer side.  Any amount of movement, stress, or effort would cause me to sweat.  Not that the actions themselves were difficult, but there was something in my body that liked to sweat, A LOT.  Especially as I was getting ready for church.  It's hard to explain if you haven't had the experience, but I often would arrive at church looking like I sprinted there.  Not so much out of breath, but dying for a headband, and hand towel and looking like I needed a Gatorade.
• Riding bikes and walking for miles without feeling like I need a nap afterwards.  That has always been my hang up with exercise.  What good does it do me to kill myself to get in shape if I have no energy for the other stuff in life that I have to do?
• Going shopping, buying clothes a size smaller than I wear and then getting them home and discovering that they're TOO BIG!  That was pretty much awesome.
• Being satisfied with less.  Half a chicken breast is just enough.  An M&M gives me my sweet fix and water is my new drink of choice.  Okay, so not completely satisfied; still miss the burn of my morning Diet Coke, but I'll get over it eventually.
• Getting through an Easter season for the first time in 25 years without those DAMN Cadbury Mini-Eggs.  They are like crack!  I love them and I didn't have ONE this year.
• Not having feet or knees that ache the way they used to.
• Being able to swing on our new swing set with my kids.
• Working in the yard for Spring Break with my family.  Feeling like I'm contributing to the great things happening in our family instead of watching them happen.
• Having a dear widowed friend ask me at Relief Society if Matt is chasing me around the bedroom.  Made.My.Day!
• Setting a better example for my children and those around me and knowing that it's only going to get better.

That's just the few that I can think of right now.  I really do need to write them down, but they come often.  I am so glad that I made the choice to have this surgery.  It has not been the easiest thing I have ever done, but it makes the hard things I'm doing really count.  I'm still waiting to see if I'll lose some of my hair, but I'm hopeful that I won't because my nutrition and vitamins are better now that they've ever been.

Life is full of possibilities, it seems to me.  I realize that I can't start over, but I can start now and make a new ending.  I am really feeling alive for the first time in a long time and I am so grateful for this experience.  Looking forward to the future.

Okay, if that made you throw-up in your mouth a little bit, you're not alone.  Sorry.  Thanks for caring enough to read my blog.  Peace out!

Life Is What Happens When You're Busy Making Other Plans

I wish I could say that I've been busy changing the world and curing cancer over the last couple of months, but I can't.  I've just been busy with life.... and I have neglected my blog.  Sorry Terri!  Blogging, I have decided, is a lot like dieting.  Sometimes, you just have to face the music, get on the scale and start from where you are.  So with that in mind, here is the overview of what we have been up to for the last little while.

William.... the littlest Pierce.  He is getting so big.  He turned one in January and in all honesty, this is where I got hung up.  Somehow, all of the pictures of his first birthday got moved to some weirdo directory on my computer.  Anyway, he is such a cutie pie.  We had a farm themed birthday party for the little guy and did "breakfast for dinner" for all of our family.

Here's a view of the awesome cupcakes that we made for the party.  They looked a lot awesomer online, but you know, I'm not exactly world renowned for my baking skills.

Or my cake decorating skills.  Obviously, the black icing got a little carried away 

and this little pig has a runny snout.  Oh well, it tasted fine.

Here are all of the Homer cousins posing with the cake!

Here's a great picture of my little man with my mom.  

He is such a happy baby and he LOVES both his grandmas soooo much.

Like the haircut?  Yeah, me neither.  This little bounder cut his own hair literally 10 minutes before I was taking him for his 1-year-old pictures.  He was in the bathtub, grabbed my razor, and took out a patch of hair two inches up his forehead.  Unfortunately, this was the best fix we could manage.  Luckily, as I write this, it has almost grown back.  Ugghhhh.  I wish I could post the pictures that we took, but unfortunately, those are the ones that are giving me fits.  They're on my Facebook page so that's just going to have to be good enough for now.

Will is now walking, if not running, nearly everywhere he goes.  When he's out the door, he makes a beeline for the street, which is going to make for a hard summer.  Recently, he has begun to take notice of the TV.  While TV is a battle I am constantly fighting with my older kids, I am thrilled that Will likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse enough to clap and sing along, and most importantly, let me have 20 minutes to take a shower or load the dishwasher without "help."

Bottom line with this boy is that he's wonderful.  I am so happy he is in our family.

Jack, or Jacko as he likes to be called.  This boy is still doing his best to trudge through kindergarten.  He's really looking forward to first grade because he gets THREE recesses and gets to have lunch at school.  Jack has become hooked on video games this winter, so it's so nice that the weather here is finally starting to get nice and we can spend some time outside.  Jack is so excited to be able to ride his bike to school again and play on the swingset outside.

Jack also had a birthday in January.  I wish I had a better picture, but Jack's birthday fell on Day 2 of my pre-op surgery liquid diet, so needless to say, I wasn't too thrilled to be taking pictures of birthday cake.  We also had a friend party for Jack this year that was dinosaur themed and a good time was had by all.  I was so busy trying to keep 12 6-year-olds entertained that I neglected to get any pictures, but we played games, decorated cookies, ate dinner and watched a movie.  The kids were running carefree through the house when their parents came to pick them up, so I guess it can be considered a success.

Sweet Little Allie -- I'm telling you, this kid is awesome.  She has finally started to make the connection between success in school and finishing her homework.  I am so proud of her that for the last several weeks, we have received an "Allie has no missing work" email instead of the horrendously long lists we were receiving at the first of the year.  Allie made it through the science fair and her project on photosynthesis.  She has read two really big books so far this year; The Invention of Hugo Cabret and the first Harry Potter book.  Her anxiety is getting better, her wit is razor sharp and we are even hopeful that she may start to grow soon.... she is feeling a little left out by her sisters recent growth spurt.  Allie is LOVING sewing and made her Easter dress this year.  She is also really enjoying starting to cook more. She is always eager to help and is still so great with Will that it just makes my heart sing.

Erin.  Where has the time gone?  I have less than a month until this little girl turns 12.  She is growing up so fast.  As mentioned, she has grown almost  a foot since school started.  Her feet are nearly as big as mine and when we went looking for Easter shoes last week, the best pair we could find were 3-inch heels.  Yikes!  In January, Erin got braces.  She was so excited and she has actually done really well to take care of her teeth.

Erin has finished registering for Junior High next year and is very excited to be able to take French and Honors Science.  She is looking forward to new friends and is excited to have a social life.  She has started wanting to "hang out" with her friends and wants to know if I'll "drop them off" at a movie or the mall, or whatever.  Shocking to me, she has decided to run for 7th grade class officer.  I think she would be great, but I am so nervous for her.

Erin is also busy with her sewing.  She made her Easter dress this year (which I will post about next in the Easter edition of the blog) and she also made her dress for the 6th grade Valentine dance.  This kid is awesome.

She has also been working hard in school and trying her best.  I am happy to report that her essay for the 6th grade DARE program is one of three finalists.... way to go Erin.

Bek.... well, obviously, life has been different for me over the course of the last couple of months.  I will also be posting today on my diet progress; so tune in later if you're interested in that.

After the end of last year that was decidedly "no bueno," things have really started to look up.  I have begun to quilt more, and although I have a long way to go before I would consider myself a "real quilter," it has given me something new to focus my energy on.

I've got a couple more in the works and hope to have pictures of those soon.

In February, we celebrated Valentine's Day with our 2nd Annual Pierce Family Valentine Dinner.  It was soup.... because I was still on liquids, but it made the day awesome.  The kids got their new Valentine jammies, aren't they cute?

And the girls got Valentine's flowers from Grandpa.  What a guy!

It was so much fun to celebrate with the ones I love this year for Valentine's Day.

The last month or so has also had lots of opportunities for fun times with friends.  I went to the Opening Night Gala of the new City Creek Center and shopped until I dropped.  I went to H & M for the first time, bought stuff at Sephora and reveled in the fact that Salt Lake City again has a Disney store.  It was a fun night with my friends Amy & Michelle.  

Another fun thing in March was the midnight showing of the Hunger Games.  I loved the book series, so I was thrilled to be able to see it with friends on the night it came out.  However, I have to say that returning home at 3 am really made me feel my age.  I don't think I'll be doing that again any time soon.

I am really enjoying the nicer weather and have been working in the yard like a mad woman.  Our backyard is barely recognizable compared to what it was a year ago.  In a few weeks when the garden is planted an our water feature is in, watch for a blog update.

Matt, the MAN!  He has been spending more time at home lately and I am LOVING it!  I really do like the fact that he gets to travel for his job, but I have loved having him home hanging out with us.  He is working hard and has finished more things off the "honey-do" list in the last week than he has in the last year.  He is training for his first full marathon on May 19th, and is spending his Saturdays on long runs between here and Farmington Canyon.  We have fired up the grill a time or two already this year and Matt has been hard at work with me in the yard.  I am so grateful to have a man like him who pays attention to the details of our lives.... I am much more of a broad stroke kind of girl.  He is always trying to make life better for all of us.

We have been dating.... doing some really fun stuff.  We have been reading books together, attending concerts, going out to dinner, exercising together and doing family history.  I know, we sound like we're 70, but it has really been fun to make time to do things together this year.  We are planning some fun vacations for the summer and I'm sure that it'll be an adventure.

Well that, as they say, is the rest of the story.  I'm sure there are things that I have forgotten and will be reminded of as the day goes on, but life is good.  We are busy trying to figure out our new normal with four kids, a mom that needs to pay attention to herself and a dad that travels.  Not to mention the chickens and the dog.  We love our families and love the time we get to spend with them.  We are loving springtime in Utah and looking forward to being outdoors more and making the most of this life that is ours!