The Pierce Family Blog

Chuck E Cheese

A few weeks ago Eugene and I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese for the evening.  That place is so much fun!  We went on a week night and there were maybe 10 people in the whole place.  We ate our pizza then played a bunch of games.  I'm not sure who played more games Eugene or Luke?  Their main goal was to get as many tickets as possible, they did pretty good but we still only walked away with a crazy straw and some little plastic spiders, what a rip off!  Here are some pics from our evening....

The kids enjoying a ride.....

 

Isn't this lovely, Caroline with her mouth pressed up against the glass on the playground.....

 

The counting of the tickets....I wish they would have had one of these nifty ticket counter machines when I was little....

 

One more.....

 

The weekend after Chuck E Cheese Eugene and I left the kids to go have some fun of our own!

 

We had a great time on our cruise!  The weather couldn't have been any better!  We had so much fun together, we jammed to Journey on the drive down to the boat, we ate lots of yummy food, we watched movies, played trivia, read books, played shuffleboard... but mostly just relaxed.  It was one of those vacations you come back from and really feel rested and rejuvenated! 

Where do I even begin???

So it's been way over a month since I've posted and I'm having a hard time even knowing how to start again!   The last month seems like mush in my head now but I'm going to try and weed through it to pull out some fun things to share.  I really can't believe I didn't blog a day by day of our trip to Disney in November.  What an amazing trip that was, Disney World is really such a magical place!  I have so many pictures to share I decided to just make a photo album.

There were also alot of great times in December to be had!  Luke had his Christmas school program!

 

Luke is just right of the center of the picture on the front row.  If you notice, Luke's good friend Ayden is three kids to the left of him and wearing a matching sweater.  These two are peas in a pod.  Just last week we met Ayden and his Mommy and little brother at Chick fil a to eat and play.  Ayden's little brother Spencer is just a tad older than Caroline so all the kids play really well together.  We got there about noon and actually stayed til almost 2pm!  I think me and Andrea (Ayden's mommy) enjoyed the play date as well!

We also had my mom's daycares annual Christmas party to go to.  Luke loved seeing Santa, he was all about Santa Clause this year, Caroline....not so much....

 

 

Caroline and I also made a trip to Savannah to visit with my grandparents in December.  I think Caroline enjoyed being the center of everyone's attention.  Here's a picture of her playing with Tori, Lauren and Aunt Staci!

 

It was also nice for her to have one on one time with her Great Grandparents.  Caroline kept going up and down these stairs, here's Gigi (great grandma) helping her down.

 

Many of you know that right now my Granddad is going through treatments for colon cancer.  The last few months I've been trying to go to Savannah as much as possible to help out in anyway I can.  I really treasure the extra time I'm getting to spend with my grandparents lately. 

Luke and I also had the stomach flu in December, he was only sick for a day or so, I wasn't so lucky.  I actually was down for almost the whole week of Christmas.  We considered having Santa visit us a little later than Dec. 25th so I could get to feeling better but luckily I got to feeling well enough and we had a wonderful Christmas, I'll post more on that later.  I'll leave you with a picture I took of Eugene and Luke sleeping right outside the bathroom door.  Luke was so sick that night throwing up, poor thing.  This particular night Luke had messed his bed and our bed up!  At this point in the night the two of them had resorted to sleeping on the floor outside the bathroom.  Oh the joys of parenthood! 

 

That's about all I have time for right now, I am starting to feel my blog mojo come back so hopefully tonight I will post some more!  It's going to take me a few days but I am going to catch up, promise! 

5 years and counting!

    Today marks five years of marriage for me and Eugene!  It is hard to believe it's already been five years!  They have flown by, but things have certainly changed alot  in those 5 years, job changes, moving...but mainly adding 2 more to our family with Luke and Caroline.  I am more excited today to be married to Eugene than I was on our wedding day!!  He's a wonderful husband and father and a great best friend.  I will really try not to nauseate you while I talk about how wonderful he is but I thought to just give you an idea of how wonderful he is I'd make a list of just 5 things that he did today that made me love him more. 

1.  I woke up to the sound of him grinding coffee beans this morning.  I'm usually the first one up but today since it was our anniversary and since I have a pinched nerve in my neck he said he thought he'd let me sleep a little longer than usual.  When I walked in the kitchen he greeted me with a cup of coffee, a hug and a "Happy Anniversary!" 

2.  I ran a few errands this morning and what I thought would take about 30-45 min took me about 2 hours!  (I did score some fabulous new Euro pillows for our bed, but that's beside the point).  I called him a little before noon very apologetic, I told him I'd stop and get him and the kids something to eat but he said not to worry, he'd already fed the kids and they were getting geared up for nap time.  

3.  We hadn't discussed if we were getting each other anything for our anniversary but I really assumed not since we're going on a cruise next month to celebrate.   Well, this afternoon while the kids were napping Eugene gave me the cutest little ornament for the tree!  It was perfect, so suiting for me!  I presented him with my new drivers license with Pierce as my last name!  (Something he's been after me for awhile to do).  Then he pulls out a little jewelry store box.  I opened the box and there was a perfect little pair of white gold ball earrings!  It was probably one of the best things he's ever given me because it was exactly perfect for me.  I am the queen of ball earrings, I understand that they are not in style anymore but I love them.  I lost my pair a few weeks ago, they were just cheapy ones.  He said he figured I'd need a new pair now!  I know that seems so little but to me it's such a big deal.  It tells me he listens to me, he knows what I like, he just gets me!

4.  Tonight we went to dinner and a movie together.  Eugene and I have so much fun together still and he's my favorite person in the world to have a conversation wtih. 

5.  Tonight as I was making candy in the kitchen he walked in and just starting unloading/loading the dishwasher.  I asked him why he was doing it and he just said "Well I figured with your neck hurting it might be hard to bend down and load the dishwasher"

I hope I didn't bore you with the details of things.....but this is how my life is with him everyday!  He is my center, he grounds me and makes me calm.  When I met him when he was 18 all I knew then was that he was just alot of fun to be around!  Now, 9 years later having fun with him is the tip of the relationship iceberg! .....

okay, I'll stop now, I really could go on and on but I don't want to embarrass him anymore.....oh, and I made him an anniversary cake!  Like it?

Yeah, yeah.....

I know I'm way, way behind on posting!  We've been having so much fun gearing up for Christmas this week, lots to share!  And I haven't even posted about Disney World!  I will get to it all, promise, but for now I'll leave you with a few pictures from tonight.

Caroline is "almost" off the bottle......we're trying really hard!  She has greatly reduced the number per day though, so that's good.  Anyway, she's really really started enjoying eating at meal time, she gets such a kick out of feeding herself!  Can you tell?  Could she get any cuter than this?

She's also officially out of her little bathtub chair, she loves the freedom now at bathtime!!

Disclaimer: Eugene just came in here and told me I cut Caroline's head off in the first picture....just FYI, I meant to do that!  And actually, according to the rule of thirds, I probably should have chopped it off a little more so her eyes were the focal point.....but that's a little too much info for you!  Just know I totally did it on purpose!   

Our week!

I can't believe it's almost Friday already, this week has flown by!  I'm sorry I've been absent from blog world lately.  Honestly, I haven't given it much thought at all.  My mind has been focused on Christmas!  I love Christmas, it really almost makes me giddy!  All this week at night Eugene and I have either been adding to our decorations around the house, or I've been making Christmas candy. 

Monday night T'ville had their annual Christmas parade.  We met the fam downtown and enjoyed it together.  Here are a few pics from our evening!  Both Luke and Caroline really had a good time this year!

I took this pic of Luke before we left the house, he was so proud of his Santa hat!

Caroline hit a milestone this week, we finally have her off the bottle!  She's been without it for two days so far and she's doing just fine!  As for Luke, he's his usual crazy self!  The other night after Caroline went to bed Luke, Eugene and I laid beside the Christmas tree on the floor and had a very long conversation about Christmas.  Luke is full of questions about Santa, baby Jesus, the reindeer.....everything!  Every time we ask him what he wants Santa to bring him he says a telescope and a violin!  Where does he come up with this stuff?  We were trying to explain to him that we need to really try and think of what we could give or do for others at Christmas time.  He looked at me like I'd just said the stupidest thing ever.... "We don't need to give presents to other people, they get presents from Santa....(laughing) ..you're so silly mommy!"

Today....well, I guess technically yesterday.....I met my friend Andrea downtown for some lunch and shopping!  We had a good time as usual!  I really got to thinking today about how incredibly wonderful it is that I have my mom so close and how she's always there for me.  I really don't take her for granted, I realize that most mom's with small kids don't have someone on stand by all the time that is more than willing to babysit their children.  It's so nice to be able to meet a friend for lunch, or catch a movie with Eugene without having to worry if the kids are being taken care of.....anyway, was just really thinking about that today, thanks mom!!!!!  You're the best! 

We're home!

We just got home from a great trip to Disney!  We had a great time and made alot of wonderful memories.  The kids are now asleep......Eugene just flipped on football, and I have a big pile of stuff to sort through and clothes to wash!  It's nice to be home, I feel like Christmas season is officially here. 

We are big Disney fans!  This was our second trip since having kids and I can hardly wait to go back already!  The place is so magical.....we just love it!  Check out Cinderella's castle.....the lights were amazing!

 

I'll post more pictures later, for now I need to get our house back in working order! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're having our thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  It's funny, I kept thinking I need to make sure we have everything for it because stores will be closed tomorrow....then I remember the rest of the nation is celebrating Thursday, not tomorrow! 

I'm usually pretty indifferent to Thanksgiving.  I think because I've always imagine thanksgiving much like the old Norman Rockwell painting.....

but that's not how my family celebrates.  Both my dad and mom's side of the family view it as a big family reunion.  Don't get me wrong, I like the fact that I'm surrounded by 50 plus of my closest Aunts, Uncles and cousins....and a few folks I've never met!  It's just that it's not the traditional American Thanksgiving, it's just really a big covered dish kind of family reunion. 

Well this year Eugene's parents and sister are coming to our house and we get to have a real life sit down at the table meal like the rest of the good ole US of A does!  So.....today I got all ready!  I'm so thankful my mom kept the kids for me this afternoon!  I got a few dishes ready and set the table!!!   How do you like?  We don't have a formal dining room, but I tried to dress it up as good as I could.

   

We had to do place cards of course!

   

and I love me some monogram!!

 

We'll be married 5 years next month and this is only the second time I've ever used my china!

 

This morning was a little hairy but turned out just fine.  I went to get my oil changed and my battery died.  The guys at the place charged it up for me but I had to swing by and buy a new battery to get put in the car, which made me late to Luke's school thanksgiving feast.  Luckily my dad's office was near so I walked and drove his truck to Luke's school.  When I walked in his class the kids were just settling in to their seats.  Luke's teacher asked each kid what they were thankful for.  Some said siblings, mom's and dad's.....Luke said he was thankful for fish! 

thirty minutes later.....

Luke just woke up from a bad dream, he said he dreamed I was trying to put him in the water with Jonah and the whale....I'm guessing that's the story Eugene read to him tonight!  Too funny!

In need of an update!

I feel like I have so much swirling around in my head I want to talk about! 

I have to talk about Twilight first!  I have been so excited about the movie coming out this past Friday!  I was actually in the party store here in town last week and they had a life sized cut out of Edward Cullen I really wanted to buy!  I didn't though, first it doesn't really go well with the decor in our house, and second, I'm sure Eugene wouldn't like it hanging around!  I've been planning for a few weeks to go to the late show here in T'ville with my friends Andrea and Kim.  Friday Andrea calls me and says she's heard they're sold out!!!  I'm not one to get worked up easily but when I heard the news I almost had a panic attack about how we were going to see it!  Luckily they weren't really sold out but I did have to go wait in line for our tickets!  And I promise you there were alot of mini van driving mom's up there, it wasn't just teenagers!

I really liked the movie, of course it doesn't compare to the book (no movie ever does) but I still liked it.  It was also just lots of fun to hang out with the girls.  After the movie I decided to go onto Walmart to do some grocery shopping.  After midnight is my favorite time to go to Walmart.  The shelves are stocked, the lines are short, it's great! 

Saturday morning we hung around the house and chill-axed with the kiddos.  Here are a few cute pictures of Caroline walking around with Eugene's hat on.  So adorable (when she wants to be)!

I also had another photo shoot Saturday afternoon.  You can check out more of that on my photography blog. 

Saturday night we went out to eat "at the chip place" as Luke likes to call it.  Most folks just call it a Mexican restaurant.  Then it was back home for the kids to go to bed.  They have been going to bed so early lately!  Most nights they are down by 7:30pm.  With the time change I think their little bodies just associate it being dark outside with sleep......we're not complaining though! 

Well, I think that's enough of a post for tonight.....lots to do.  Tuesday Eugene's family will be in town and we're hosting an early Thanksgiving dinner!  I'm really excited about that.  Then Wednesday we are all leaving on a trip to DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We can't wait!  I told Eugene last week that with Twilight coming out and going to Disney World I think I might burst out of my skin in excitement!!!!  

Still here.....

I know the last few days there has been so much about the kids I've wanted to post but now I'm behind and I can't remember them all!  I guess I'll just try to hit the high points!

This past weekend I felt like Caroline was an only child!  Luke was gone with Mimi and Pop Pop having a great time in Columbus so it was just me, Eugene and Caroline at home.  I hate to say it but it was so nice and quiet around the house without Luke!  The boy talks non stop!  I really feel like we got a chance to get to know Caroline so much more.  She was sick most of the weekend but she was still sweet.  Saturday night we went to her little friend Ethan's birthday party!  I think that was the best 1 year old party I've ever been too!  It was a nice kids party but it was a very fun adult party as well!  The kids had a bouncy house and the parents had a great dinner, nice mix! 

After we got home from the party Saturday night Caroline went onto sleep.  Then, Eugene watched football and I had a sewing night.  I'm attempting to make a restaurant high chair cover for Caroline, it's still a work in progress but it's coming along. 

Sunday evening Luke arrived back home!  We were really missing him by then.  He had lots and lots to tell us about his trip.  He met Santa, saw Christmas lights, went to Monkey Joes and he kept talking about the "real soldier" he met in the lobby of the hotel! 

Monday....let's see...what did we do yesterday?  Is it sad that I can't remember!?  ....well I do remember today!  The kids and I had a nice day at home.  Luke and I put together a 100 piece puzzle today, then this afternoon me and the kids went outside.  I really needed to rake some leaves, our yard has an obscene amount of leaf bearing trees!  I didn't get very far with these two!  Here are some pictures!

Tonight I went to a candy making class at Miss Myrt's store!  I learned alot and bought a bunch of candy making stuff I'm looking forward to using over the holidays!  I really can't believe Thanksgiving is next week and Christmas is just a little over a month away!  I'm getting so excited!  I love this season of the year! 

Friday!

It's a rainy rainy day today!  My hair looks like a brillo pad but I don't care, I still love the rain!  Caroline is napping now and Luke is gone for the weekend with Mimi and Pop Pop.  My parents took Luke, Grace and Claire to Columbus again, they are going to see the Christmas lights at Callaway Gardens.  Luke is so excited, I'm sure they'll have a great time.  Caroline didn't go with them this time, she is still very much a baby and a little difficult to care for.  She also had her checkup appointment today and got 4 shots!  She was very cranky in the doctor's office, hopefully after her nap she'll be in a better mood!

Last night Eugene and I took the kids to Cheehaw park to see Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Margie who were camping up there this week!  We visited with them in their camper and ate a yummy meal.  After wards Uncle Ronnie pulled out his banjo and played a few tunes!  Caroline loved it so much, she kept dancing and clapping!  Here's a little video clip, I took several if you want to see anymore just check out more videos.....

Untitled from Mindy Pierce on Vimeo.

We also recorded a little Happy Birthday message for Aunt Liza, sorry it's a day late!  We recorded it on your birthday so does that count?? 

Untitled from Mindy Pierce on Vimeo.