Christmas 2009...

For some reason, I didn't take many pictures of our Christmas in 2009. I also swiftly misplaced them and because I had this 2 year belated post lingering, I haven't been able to print my 2009 blog book. Sheesh!

I only have pics of Alice's Santa stuff...she got a dog in a bag and a little mp3 player with whatever was in her stocking.

We celebrated Christmas morning with Jeff and Mary's kids...Nathan, Sarah and Jane. It was a challenge because they don't celebrate Christmas believeing in Santa like we do. It wasn't easy, but it almost worked. Nuff said.

Great Wolf Lodge...

All the kids: Ruby, Ellie, Alice, Jensen and Mia

This would have been the second annual trip to GWL with our friends the McDonald's, but last year, I refused to go at the same time as them on grounds that I didn't want to spend two days walking around in a swimsuit with ANYONE that knows me. I gave up on that idea this year and we went with our friends and had a nice time.

This little leap pad rope thing is really quite hard to maneuver, and I was so proud watching both of the girls get all the way across.

We had a better time this year, the kids were just a little bit older and more daring, and that made all the difference. It was also fun to have friends to share in the fun.

Sweet little friends, Alice and Ellie.

Ruby's celebrations...

We were in UT for her actual birthday, so we got to spend the whole day with just our little family. Wonderful!

To start out the morning, we went with Chris' aunt and uncle on a tour of the underground tunnel system connecting various LDS church offices, the conference center, temple, etc. It was really interesting! His aunt and uncle are volunteering for a year or so to run translation efforts for all the broadcasts made by the church to church members worldwide. They are over 12 languages, but the broadcasts are in many more languages than that. It's a full time job! It was amazing how many of the languages I had never heard of. I even know someone who translates in Guarani, an indigenous language of Peru and Uruguay. We had lunch with them in the church office building cafeteria, where they "work" and enjoyed their company and were grateful for the time they offered us during their busy day.

After that, we went rollerskating as a family. It was a Monday during school hours, so we had free reign of the joint, which was really fun. It was Ruby's first time rollerskating, and SHE WAS IN HEAVEN. I was loving her joy as she skated around and around to all the tween music they were playing. I was a little sad she didn't get to share that fun with friends, but she didn't seem to mind. It was also a bounce house, so Alice played in that a lot while Ruby mostly skated. The day couldn't have ended any better in Ruby's opinion. Alice fell asleep in the car and went to bed, and we watched "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe," together. She is mildly obsessed with "The Chronicles of Narnia" at the moment.

We had big plans for a theme birthday party with her friends the weekend that followed, but we came home to a ruined house and had to live in a hotel, so plans were (thankfully) scaled way back. We wound up inviting friends to the hotel, they let us use the breakfast room for the party part and we went swimming.

Ruby overheard me telling a friend that we had to nix the theme due to our circumstances, and she started to cry. I asked her, "what would make this party a Narnia party?" It turned out that she just wanted to color some Narnia pictures to put around the room, have Narnia cupcakes and play pin the tail on Azlan. Whew! Done. That was simple enough!

So we had a really nice time. I think like 18 kids came. We swam, had pizza, cake and ice cream, opened presents and played pin the tail on Azlan. Ruby had a blast as did her friends. My friend Lauri started a cupcake business and she saved the day since I couldn't make a cake and made some cute, snowy, Narnia cupcakes.

Ruby got a Lucy costume from Chris' parents and she wore it proudly...not just at the party, but for days and days!

I always forget to get a group shot before some of the friends leave. Here is a group of the kids who came to wish Ruby a happy birthday!

My best foot forward...

Ruby turned 7 on November 30th. Here are some pictures of my girl that I love. She is such a blessing in my life, I love her animal loving, gentle, soft heart and her willingness to work hard and learn new things. She's brave, scared only of an awful fictional character, Professor Coldheart (Carebear books from my childhood). She loves passionately and craves quality time, compliments, cuddles, hugs and kisses. She never forgets to pray and reminds us to be better people if we have a bad moment. She collects stuffed animals, loves to be surprised and surprise others. She calls her sister her "very best playmate, ever" and has taught Alice the art of pretend play, which they indulge in for hours everyday. She requires reminding that she's not the mom, as "good choices" come naturally to her and she often tries to steer Alice in the right direction. She's an athlete, a good little writer, and piano player. She wants to be a hygienist and a swimming teacher when she grows up. She wants to grow up fast, and loves to look like a rock star. I love you, Ruby! Swimming freestyle at a swim meet last month. She is in the same division as 9 year old children and still placed second!Ruby with a goat on a fieldtrip to a farm. She is very sensitive to animals, and can't even watch a movie with animals being pursued by animal control people. We ran into an animal control person in public recently, and I had to pretty up his job because she hates those people (I know they do a good thing, but they are really villainized in some of the kid movies, like Soccer Dog, for example, a movie that Ruby turned off after a few minutes because she didn't like that there was someone trying to catch the animals. She was only 6 lbs and 15 oz when she was born. Here she is the first day home (before she had to go back) with her proud as can be daddy.Here's her first attempt at drawing a person. I almost died when it was on one of these magna doodles where I couldn't preserve it forever!
When Alice was born, Ruby was three. She was thrilled. We were amazed that when Alice would cry, she'd go to her and say, "It's okay, sister is right here." She loved helping with everything and the transition was easy for her.
The first time that Ruby was old enough to ask Santa for what she wanted, she rattled off a list of every known princess Barbie in her darling toddler talk. She loved all things princess.

Our first Christmas with little Ruby.

Right after we walked into the house with Ruby for the first time...I look like death...and rightfully so.

Ruby at Sandy and Adam's wedding. She was the cutest flower girl ever, and was well aware that Kelly had candy for her so she'd stay in the right place. Her desire for that candy was out of control, and will always be remembered for turning around and saying, "Mow?" (more?) to Kelly and then loudly crunching away on the super loud lifesavers as Sandy and Adam said their vows.

A mother's love...

Ruby is my first, my guinea pig...as Barbara Kingsolver's character Orleanna described, "she's my best foot forward". She had a birthday, and this post was supposed to be about that, but it transitioned as I wrote...birthday post to come.

I remember what it was like to be the perfect parent. It lasted three years...maybe a little longer. I was totally turned on all the time for that first one, it was so lovely to give her my undivided attention. I remember cringing when I'd see a parent give their child a french fry or say "no" to their little one. I never raised my voice to my first little pride and joy. We took baths together for hours, I fell asleep with her for every nap, I'd read her stories we'd pick out at the library and I even returned them on time. I was a different mom then, and it was painful to let go of that part of my life, as much as we wanted to welcome another little one.

Last week, I was having fun showing the girls old pictures that they haven't seen, I was struck by that feeling that I used to have about that perfect little toddler of mine. She was so cute! I love being a first time parent because you literally can't love anything like you love that first born! That doesn't mean that you continue to love that child more than the ones that follow, but there's something so all consuming about the first born! I think of it as love divided, not multiplied. I hope that doesn't sound negative, I love my kids and know that I will love them all equally their whole lives! If the epitome of love is equal to the number 100, I still have love at 100, I just love two...and soon three.

Sometimes there are moments when all 100 are focused on one kid, I love those moments. Like today, when Alice told Ruby she could keep and eat all of the candy her church teacher gave her for Christmas "because you are always so nice to me." That was 100 love for Alice at that moment. The other day, when Alice was earning herself a spank (not common), and I swatted her bum, Ruby cried harder than Alice and told me, "next time spank me, not Alice, she's my best playmate, ever!" That was 100 love for Ruby. It's one of my life's greatest joys to have two little girls who are truly best friends.

Maybe a better analogy is that I feel like you are in the dating/engagement phase with that first one. You are high you love so intensely. I remember all the really normal baby things that Ruby would do, like rooting reflexes or that darling sleep grin or when their lips nurse in their sleep like they are sucking on something. I used to think those were Ruby-specific, I'd tell everyone about them, and I know my mom clued me in once about how ALL healthy babies do those things! For me, having more children was like entering the married stage of parenting. It is richer, it is better, but it is harder and while the love is deeper and more sure, the daily, 24/7 twitterpation is gone...thank goodness it still comes and goes!

I love being a mom to two kids. I can't wait to be a mom to three! I am so excited to bounce a smiling baby on my lap and to have a 7 month old who discovers how to make embarrassing noises with her mouth during a prayer at church (that happened today, it was so cute). I look forward to first smiles, schedules and steps...and enjoying all that with my two helper moms, Ruby and Alice (and of course Chris, but this post isn't about him).

Water issues...

I really thought I had more pictures of the water damage, but I guess I only took a few, and they are all of the kitchen, not the bathroom. Oh well.

So we had a toilet leak while we were out of town for six days, and the water feel pretty much directly from the toilet (second floor) onto the sheet rock of the kitchen below, so the majority of the water damage was to the kitchen.
We get to have our hardwood floors finished, a fresh paint job and obviously new sheet rock in the ceiling. We are also gutting the bathroom, and I can't wait to show what we are doing in there!

The bathroom is being tiled with white tile. A larger square tile on the floors and a more intricate octagonal tile going up the walls 4.5 feet. The vanity will be white, the floors and walls will be white and the countertop and sinks will be white. White, white, white! I'll have brushed nickel hardware and fixtures, and we are going from one large, trimless mirror to two mirrors that mount on each side and sit a few inches off the wall.

We are surviving the hotel with a little help from dear friends who have come to swim with us, brought us presents and food to the hotel, invited us to their homes for dinner, offered to do the work for free, etc. Of course, my mom is a huge support and she and my dad were great enough to keep the girls for two days to give Chris and I some time to regroup and celebrate out eighth anniversary for a minute or two.

Doug and Heather's Wedding

We were in Salt Lake City for Thanksgiving! Chris' little brother, Doug got married the Saturday after Thanksgiving and we were able to be with Chris' entire family for the holiday and wedding fun.

We had a toilet leaking the whole time we were gone, and my laptop doesn't get a good connection on the hotel network, so I am using the hotel computer and only have a few pics that Pam took (the official event photographer, and Chris' sister) to share for now.

It is always a thrill to be around a newlywed couple and see their excitement and adoration for each other, and these two lovebirds were no exception. Heather was a beautiful bride, and I have to say, she found herself a terrific catch.

It was wonderful to be with the family, to have the cousins together and eat out for Thanksgiving dinner...more to come when my life normalizes a bit.

Santa's lap...

I have a pretty active radar for questionable situations for children, and it was really going off the other day when I took the girls for their annual Santa's lap picture.

There was this nice lady with her three children in front of us in line and she was encouraging Santa to entice her timid toddler toward Santa using candy and a storybook. "Oooooh, Molly! Look! He wants to give you candy, what a nice man!"

It was funny, because as a fellow fan of Santa lap pictures, it took a second to think about how contrary this message is to children who are otherwise taught to be cautious around strangers, no to mention that you don't take candy from one or sit on his lap for story time!

I'm not suggesting that this parent did anything wrong, she knew she could trust (at least for a few minutes) her children on Santa's lap, and the child likely approached the man due to her trust in her mom's protection, but I thought it was funny that the scene was so similar to what you'd imagine would occur if a pedophile was trying to attract your child.

Kinda sad that this even occurred to me!

So here are my sweet daughters on Santa's lap. Ruby asked for lots of Littlest Pet Shop and Alice asked for a stuffed dog in a carrying bag and an ipod. She really shocked me with the ipod thing. We went to Toys 'R' Us to prepare for Santa and she saw an MP3 player she wanted, and didn't forget about it! What is a 4-year old going to do with an MP3 player!?

Pierce Family Travel Wisdom...

We've been doing some traveling the past two weeks! The more desirable trip being to Salt Lake City for Dougie's wedding to Heather, the Saturday after Thanksgiving (more to come). The latter, unexpected and still ongoing trip to a hotel less than two miles from our house...due to some water damage (more to come) that occurred during the first aforementioned trip. Here are some things we've learned during our "travels".

Our children have some interesting travel vocabulary:

"Duh-cation" = Vacation (Alice, though this started with Ruby)
"Soup-case" = Suitcase (Alice)
"Ho-towel" = Hotel (Alice AND Ruby)
"Pack-pack" = Backpack (Alice)
"Unpack" = Pack (Alice and Ruby)

Alice is 4 going on 80. She gets physically put out by walking short distances (only if the destination isn't desirable), carrying anything at all and doesn't like it if you walk in front of her. She likes to go first, even if she doesn't know where she's headed, and often doesn't request to be in front of you until you are way a head of her (don't worry, one parent is always close by...but she will opt for the parent way ahead AFTER you let her take her time) and she won't tolerate that you take even one more, slower step in the right direction until she is holding onto some part of you (no free hands when you travel with four carry-on rolling suitcases (I have to brag that I got three of these at a garage sale for $5 total), two car seats, a laptop and camera equipment), and she won't hurry to get to you because she knows you are terrified enough of the consequences if you make a wrong step (I'm trying to fix this, but she is a huge control freak and I would have an all day battle on my hands if I really pushed her...believe me, I've tried).

Essentials for Flying with (our) Kids:

Suckers--keeps their mouths busy, because ours don't bite, the suck.
Gum--so you have something to give them when they say their ears hurt after take off and during landing. With ours, just a promise that something will help makes it all better.
Ipods--We each share one side of our earbuds with one kid, and play their favorite songs...which sometimes leads to allowing them to have both earbuds.
Online Check-in--You know how you book your tickets online and select your seats, but they are always reassigned before you fly? Well, if you check in online 24 hours in advance, you actually get the seats you chose, and if you aren't checking any bags, you can go straight to the security lines and skip the frustrating check-in kiosks.
Gate Check--Who wants to stress out about how you will fit 4 soupcases in the overhead bins? What if you are in the last boarding group and there's no more room!? We gate checked SIX items for FREE and it's all there waiting for us when we deplane, so it's super convenient and you don't have to worry about lost bags, paying for checked bags, getting on and off the plane with all your bags, etc.
Short Flights--I can't believe that people survive 8 hour (or more) long flights with little ones. Our flight was one hour and 25 minutes long, and we heard plenty of, "Are we there yet?"

Tips for a Long-term Hotel Stay Close to Home

The Right Hotel--We wanted a kitchen, but let's face it...extended stay joints are usually pretty scary business. Given that I live 10 minutes from where four police officers were murdered, 20 minutes from a community where Chris parked his truck for lunch on a Monday at 11AM at a strip mall and had $2k worth of in-dash loot stolen and 15 minutes from the other law enforcement casualty by a gangster one month ago, I'm not that willing to stay just anywhere. let's just say that if you watch the local news here, you'll usually only hear about serious crime that takes place south of Seattle and north of Olympia. When talking to the temporary housing people, I finally chose a hotel with no outdoor entrances, no weekly rates and no kitchen. We went for an indoor pool, and stayed close to home, because I feel Puyallup is kind of a safe haven in comparison to many of the surrounding communities.
Laundry Basket--No one wants housekeeping to handle their dirty laundry. I usually have a corner where I put my dirties, but have at time come back to find that they've been folded nicely for me, and I'm horrified. We have a laundry basket, and it gets left alone and is easy to take home for washing (or use the coin-op).
Dressers--I always unpack my soupcases into a dresser wherever I stay more than three nights. If there aren't dressers, things get chaotic and disorganized FAST.
Shampoo and Conditioner from home--Let's face it, the hotel stuff only looks fancy.
Free Stuff--When you don't have a kitchen, you do need free food! The free breakfast at our hotel is extensive with many options. We also have free cookies, apples, microwave popcorn and bottled water at our disposal all day everyday. They have also given us free disposable dishes for our in-room eating with our mini fridge and microwave.

Fruit Turkey...

My mom has such cute, fun ideas for things to do with the kids. The other day, I was on a longer photo shoot and the girls were with my mom doing homeschool and playing. They had a plan to make a special lunch for my dad the next day and take it to his work. So they made this darling fruit turkey and my dad took a pic with his phone. We had a nice time eating lunch with Opa at his office. THANKS MOM!!!!!

Halloween...

The girls on Halloween

So my Ruby never ceases to be thrilled by the idea of Hannah Montana. She can't watch the show, but I throw her as many bones as I can, so when that's what she wanted to be for Halloween, it was a no-brainer.

Apparently, this is a Hannah Montana pose. I should add that Ruby literally thought I would think she was Hannah Montana. Too bad the wig always crept toward the back of her head!

Alice randomly wanted to be a mermaid, and since I knew of a costume we could borrow, we went the Ariel route.

We went to the church parking lot for thirty minutes and the kids went "trunk or treating". I HATE HALLOWEEN! I hate that my kids obsess over candy, get addicted to sugar and wind up sick until March every year once Halloween hits. I'm a believer in nutritional immunology, and literally could not imagine letting my kids abuse their bodies by overeating junk for months and months. Not to mention that I would have my fair share as well.

I don't like spoiling the fun, so I tried something I know another friend does...I bought their candy from them and they went to Toys 'R' Us and scored a new toy of their choice (under $20). It was a painless idea, they were super on board and willingly selected 10 of their favorite pieces and surrendered the rest to the kids knocking on our door looking for candy.

I have no idea why Alice's face looks crazy in this picture. Anyway, she chose this little "lovey" that purrs and what not. She names everything (her fish, dolls, the baby in my tummy, etc) "Selena" (she pronounces it "Sah-LANE-ah") after her ballet teacher. This cat was no different.

Ruby knew what she wanted a week before we went. She didn't even care about going trick or treating, she was so enamored with the idea of this Littlest Pet Shop plush toy that she named "Penguie".

Literal Alice...

Alice is very literal. Here's a good example that happened yesterday while Alice was talking to my mom...

Alice: Oma, this book is going to break (it was a baby board book).
Oma: Be careful with it because you can read it to your baby sister when she's born.
Alice: My baby is out and I can read!!!?

Two things you think she'd know for sure...she can't read and the baby is not out. I was in the room, and had been around all day. This is sooooooo her!

On another note, my mom was looking through the latest edition of our church magazine, The Ensign. Alice was with her at the table and they were on this page that has pictures of all the general church leadership. Here's how this went, and it was totally innocent, she wasn't trying to be funny...

Oma: This is President Eyring.
Alice: President Ice Cream.
Oma: This is President Uchtdorf.
Alice: President Uchtdork.

Earlier this year, someone told her the name of the Prophet, President Monson and she repeated, "President Monster."

That's three for three of our church general presidency.

Home School 2009...

So this is a new year and home school needs to be taking more time and effort as Ruby is a big first grader. She's doing mostly 2nd grade curriculum, as amazingly enough, much of the 1st grade curriculum is still just moving beyond reading readiness, and Ruby is beyond that.


So we started out using this curriculum. For some reason, my super anxious learner was totally turned off by it. I can't articulate why, but it was drudgery. I knew after the first few weeks that we couldn't use it as our base curriculum, so we switched to The Well Trained Mind curriculum, First Language Lessons, found here.


Both curricula follow roughly the same concepts in the same order, so I will still be able to utilize some of the student pages and children's lit of the LLATL course while following FLL.


I guess curriculum choice isn't that interesting to most of my few readers, so I'll spare you the rest of the specifics.

I've had the opportunity to defend my choice to home school my children recently, and I always come away from those conversations more convinced that I am doing the right thing (insert "for my family here" if you think I'm trying to say that you should be doing the same thing as I am doing). I don't think that home school is for everyone, it's a personal decision, and I don't stand in the way of public, private or whatever other options people choose for their family.

That said, home school is right for my family, today! I can't speak for a year from now or five years from now, as life could bring many unknown and unanticipated scenarios that could make home schooling impossible. At this point, with my limited knowledge of what the future holds for my family, I am planning to home school my kids to college (which will be free to them when they are 16 and they should be done with their A.A. for free before going to college).

So some interesting thoughts have come up as a result of the conversations I've had with people about my choice. Always...the issue of socialization...to me, the most ridiculous argument for the necessity of public school EVER.

I usually completely ignore the bait that people lay down about socialization because it's so crazy to me that you would ever say that every child in public school is socially well adjusted or that home schooled children are socially backwards. I went to public school, and there were plenty of awkward children there! To boot, there was social hierarchy among very young children, name calling, physical fighting, fussing over name brands. I actually had to make a conscious decision as an adult to undo much of the high school social survival techniques I'd acquired during my years in public school.

One question rose to the top for me in my recent debate with a friend of mine who works in public schools. The question wasn't asked as a part of our conversation, it was the question on which hinged our entire disagreement, "is a person done socially developing/maturing by the age of 18 or the day he/she graduates from high school?"

She was pretty much saying that children who are at home in their cushy, "every body loves me" environment their whole lives missed the chance to ever confront rejection or controversy or diversity or confrontation.

I have to say that not only do I wholly disagree with the notion that we are finished beings by the age of 18, but so does relevant research. Let's put research aside for a moment though...

If at the age of 32 I were to think about some of the most pivotal experiences I've had that have shaped who I am today, I'm going to have to say that being made fun of for having big boobs in the fifth grade does not rival the lessons I learned as a 21 year old missionary with a companion who hated me. My maturity at 21 did not allow me to become small because one person (really, she's the only one, lol) didn't like me! At 21, I had to think long and hard about why in my future I would never want to presume that my opinion of another human being should ever really matter to that person. I learned that it doesn't feel good to be given a negative (not constructive)evaluation by a peer, and not to let it define me at all. This experience of peer rejection was entirely different as a 21 year old than as a 10 year old, and I'd say more worthwhile and productive. I don't know if I'd say that I gained anything from my fifth grade experience, because immaturity didn't allow me to do anything but want to be a different person entirely to please my peers. This is one example of MANY.

My point is that there are many, many formative years from which we learn socially and we experience rejection or social hardship. We could be fired, have a spouse betray us, have a child hate us, lose a loved one...and those things can change and mold us at any stage in our lives. Being made fun of, not making the basketball team, not getting asked to prom or being the chesty girl in 5th grade aren't necessarily essential to our adult life, as we have our adult life to continue to process self love and the meaning of success.

I'm not saying that those experiences in public school ruin who you are either, I'm just saying that you aren't a finished person the day you graduate from high school, and therefore if you don't experience the hard cold world until you are the young age of 18 years old (which is really presumptuous to say that a homeschooled child won't experience rejection or squabbles with peers...we aren't holed up in the house all day!), you aren't going to be a basket case when things don't go your way.

So now, the research...there are many things you can read about comparisons of homeschooled students and public schooled students, but the one that applies to this subject focuses more on what happens to these two groups once put in a college scene. Dr. Laura (generally I'm not a fan, but she presents the findings of research in this blog post and it's more interesting to read than the actual study, which is only available in summary unless you pay money) presents the research here.

Basically, students entering college scored virtually the same, with one exception. Children educated in the public schools had more anxiety about classes, grades, social pressures than homeschooled children. Otherwise, this study on social transition from high school to college found the two groups congruent.

So does that make a huge argument in favor of homeschooling? No! However, if at the very least it could make a case for people to back off the socialization argument as a reason to oppose homeschooling, mission accomplished! I promise, I have the well being of my children as a top priority...just like you do yours.

Advice for very full term pregnant women (not me, yet)...

It really made me laugh to read the following on my cousin Kaitlin's blog. I don't know who wrote it, but it is really funny...

Inevitably your husband will come home to find you unable to move under the weight of this gigantic fetus you are carrying and will want to know why the house is a mess and dinner isn't made and then you'll want to stab him because this is all his fault but you don't have the energy to find a clean knife.

And you'll want to explain how completely exhausting being pregnant is but men never understand so whenever Victor would say "How can you be tired? You hardly did anything today!" I'd respond, "I made someone's ear canals today. Inside my stomach. Without even using my hands. What did you do today? Paperwork? Gosh, how exhausting. I MADE SOMEONE'S NERVOUS SYSTEM."

Then my husband would walk away, suitably impressed. Or scared. Either way he left me alone. And this is how you have a successful marriage.

Something I'd like tethered to my couch...

A hair brush. I have two little girls who sometimes (way less frequent than I expected from daughters) agree to brush my hair. Unfortunately, there is rarely a brush handy. If I send them for the brush, a singing mermaid fairy barbie with detachable hair will lure them in and the brush will be forgotten. Sometimes, I jump up in search of the brush, and return screeching to a halt, brush in hand like I'm a dog ready to play fetch. I get a few unenthusiastic strokes, and the fun is over. I try to make it more enticing, "pretend you are the hairstylist and I am going to pay you." Three more strokes. A half stroke...

"Money please!"

A side note: Alice is very interested in causing pain to others in innocent ways. I get really violent brushing from her, and she'll ask, "Does that hurt you, mama?" When I say "yes!" She'll say, "I'm sorry" and give it to me twice as rough as the first time. Hmmmm.

Three of a kind...

We had our ultrasound today, and our hunch that we were having a boy was WRONG! We are going to be the proud parents of another little girl!!!! We all laughed when she told us!

Ruby said, "Alice, you wanted a boy, right?"
Alice said, "No, I wanted a girl!!!" (Not true)
Ruby said, "Me too!!" (Not true)

It's funny how any news is fantastic news! We are all super excited to have another little sis...the only drama being that Chris immediately started calling her "Lucy", and that will not be her name!!! Ahhhhhh...

The girls kept making me laugh during the ultrasound, which was making it harder for the tech. One of the things I remember was Alice watching the screen and declaring, "The baby is NAKED!" Lol.

Camping Therapy...

After the rainiest camping experience of this northwesterer's entire life, I needed to heal. Camping can't go, I'm the sister of four Eagle Scouts who always went shopping when they all went camping (so fun!!), so I totally push the camping thing on my husband, and we'd go more if he didn't loathe so much the whole doing and undoing of a camping trip.

Anyway, so when we got dumped on over Labor Day, I could feel the camping debate potentially heating up for next summer so we started shopping...and we got this tent trailer for $950! Not bad, right? The canvases are like new, and the people who owned it have recovered all the upholstery and took really great care of it.

Now, we just store all our stuff in there all summer long, grab a cooler and some groceries, hook it up to the truck and go camping! Every weekend, right?!
We'd barely had it a week and Chris and the girls slept in it two nights in a row (in the driveway, it was pouring down rain).
The above pics were from Alice's birthday party. It was on a Sunday, and the girls planned all kinds of funny things they wanted to do. They wanted to have a "pajama party" in the tent trailer, so that is why they are in pj's. We played some of the math games Ruby has been making at co-op and Chris read them books and they just loved it. Such little party planners.

Three special days for my four year old...

October 10th, day one, 3 years and 364 days old: Alice's birthday fell on a Sunday, so we wanted to celebrate on Saturday. It was a really nice weekend, and we planned to go as a family, with my mom to NW Trek, a zoo-like (but much more animal friendly) outdoor habitat for native animals. So we were driving from my mom's south to our house, and Alice puked. Nooooooo! We changed our plans and decided to take it easy at home. We did open presents with Oma there, but no cake that day, as Alice was iffy (she never threw up again though, and was 100% by late afternoon).

Alice loves, loves, loves Playdough. She literally cries every time it is put away, even if she's had an hour to slice, dice and mold it. This playdough factory was put to immediate use by she and Oma. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa Pierce! My kids are suckers for soft, cozy things that you can sleep with. Can you tell? Alice wrapped this blanket from my folks right around her.

October 11th, day 2, 4 years old: We went to church, and then had cupcakes after lunch. I have a love hate relationship with Tom and Jerry. I love watching the show, I can usually laugh out loud within a few minutes. I think it's funny when my girls make screeching to a halt sound effects or roll around on the ground together like Tom and Jerry. However, our several months of watching the show every day (it was always Alice's pick) have ended because the girls were totally getting out of hand. There was talk of killing, strangling, etc. AND they never stopped wrestling the whole time they watched the show. They were possessed by T and J and it got old and concerning. Anyway, Alice wanted a Tom and Jerry theme and I think the cupcake lady did a cute job with the idea.I took a really nice nap, and the girls and Chris started the pajama party in the tent trailer (previous post). I joined them after a bit and they made use of the new swings Chris installed in the garage... To finish off the night, we carved pumpkins and enjoyed some more party fun before bed.
October 12th, day 3, 4 years and 1 day old: Alice invited two friends, Braden and Ellie to come to Build-a-Bear with us. Mimi came too, which was more to intervene if Alice and Ellie were trying to call off their love/hate relationship, but turned out being mostly for me, because I so enjoyed having her company and another adult around...and the girls got along famously. It was a fun time, they all got something cute and cuddly and all the pictures turned out horrible because I couldn't get the white balance right in that joint. Oh well.

So that's my girl, she's getting so big! I can't believe my baby is four! Happy Birthday, Alice.