Tuesday, January 31, 2012

January

I often think to myself, "Boy, January is such a slow, boring month!" I guess it's because the preceding four months are so jam packed with the start of school, lots of soccer, and three major holidays that January seems so tame. In actuality our January has been just as lively as usual. The big news has been no snow! Okay, so we did get a sprinkling one morning...

but really, that's been it. David warned me not to buy all the snow stuff for the kids. Yes, Maryland, I jinxed you all on my own. The weather has been a tad crazy...freezing cold for a few days, then pleasantly warm, then back down to really cold, then up into the 60's today and tomorrow. Definitely strange!

Savannah has been keeping herself busy with indoor soccer games as well as training sessions by her own personal soccer trainer. She has two more goals to go before reaching her yearly goal of 10. She continues with piano lessons as well as violin lessons at school. She has almost completed the Governors Program at school, with only the first two verses of the poem "The Raven" to memorize. She has started on a special "How To" project at school where she will be making a gumball machine. Savannah is extremely interested in Greek Mythology and created a card game called Mythomagic. She drew up cards of all the major Greek gods and monsters, wrote down the rules and instructions on how to play the game, and has enlisted all of us to play several times. In keeping with her love of all things Greek she has been reading the Percy Jackson series and is almost done with book 4. She loves to run around the house pretending she is Anabeth (costume below).

Xander has also been having a fun month. He absolutely loves playing basketball and his team has been doing quite well. I struggle a bit as I watch him because he is definitely a beginner in the sport but as long as he's having fun, which he is, then that's all that should matter. I must admit that I am a little appalled by the behavior of some of the parents in this league. Most of the games have been so fun but the past two games we have played against teams that apparently are used to winning and it has been extremely sad to watch the parents yell and scream at the boys and the refs. They act as if this is a college game or something. Yikes! Xander is also enjoying his indoor soccer and scoring some goals. Xander loves going to school and his reading is coming along really well. He recently attended the "Eight is Great" fireside for our church; it's hard to believe that this is his big baptism year! He cheered for the Giants as David and I cheered for the Niners and was extremely excited that they are headed to the Super Bowl. I have taught his Primary class three Sundays this month and it has been so fun to spend that extra time with him and see his knowledge of the gospel grow. Xander is a pretty calm little guy but he does have his moments. We have had several emotional mornings when the only clean pants he has to wear are jeans - yes, he loathes and despises jeans, don't ask me why. It has even escalated to the point where he has missed his ride to the bus stop. In our home if you choose to not get ready in time for school then you spend the day at home cleaning. Xander has become my servant for a day twice this year and I'm hoping that he has learned his lesson. Eight hours washing walls, baseboards, and the kitchen floor, as well as vacuuming, cleaning the basement, and any other task I can find is definitely NOT as fun as being at school.

Noah continues to be so full of life. He spends hours playing with his legos and telling me all about the ones I need to buy him for his birthday. He's doing really well in school and loves being there with all his friends. His favorite part of school is when they get to go swimming. He's my special little buddy and I love having him run errands with me although he definitely raises my grocery bill with all the different cereals and treats he begs me to buy. He's started to recognize his sight words as we read and it's so much fun to see him start the whole reading process. He still loves to dress up and gets quite creative with his costumes.

He's funny and gross and crazy and says things that have us all rolling with laughter. He loves to play sports (just NOT soccer - it's boring!) and wrestle and box and show off his muscles.

He loves to color and draw and his specialty right now is drawing houses...all kinds of different houses.

David and I have been keeping busy as well. David always has many work and church responsibilities to fill his time but has made more of an effort to find some time to read. Church basketball has also started back up and the kids and I love to go to his games and cheer him on. I always have time to read as well as chauffeur the kids around, crochet, help plan the monthly Relief Society meetings, and meet friends for lunch. I continue to watch Adelyn two days a week and she continues to be a delight and a pleasure to have around. This month we have had several families in our ward move out and it has been really hard to say goodbye, especially to my dear, dear friend MaryAnn. A bunch of us gathered for one last hurrah to send her off. I'm going to miss my wonderful friend!

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Savannah's Winter Concert

This past week was Savannah's very first winter concert at school. I must admit that I was very impressed by how far she and the other students have come in learning how to play the violin. The students plucked their violins for the first few songs and then for the last three pieces they used their bows. They did a fabulous job!

Savannah with her friend MacKenzie.

For some reason they arranged it so the shorter kids were in the back, thus a picture that has Savannah peeking through from behind some fairly tall boys. It didn't help my picture taking that I also had a crummy seat.

Due to Savannah's position it made us hard to even see her and impossible to video tape. Next time we're getting there extra early to get a good seat!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Super Saturday

I have always loved those Saturdays where I get to sleep in, get chores done quickly, and then spend the rest of the day reading, playing with the kids, or just basically lounging around. This past Saturday was definitely not one of those kinds of days. No sleeping in - Savannah had a 9:40 soccer game. And what a game it was! This is the game that will always be known in our house as the 6 goal game. Yep, that's right, our Savannah scored 6 goals in this game, 3 within the first 5 minutes of the game. She played tough, was aggressive, and helped her team to a victory. Great way to start our Saturday.


No time for chores - we were home for a brief rest and snack before heading to Xander's basketball game at noon. We always enjoy watching Xander play a little bball!

Noah and I left Xander's game a little early for a ninja birthday party for one of his friends. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of Noah practicing his kung fu moves but I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show them off to any one who might ask when they next visit. Hint, hint, grandparents, it's definitely time for a visit!
No reading, playing with the kids, or lounging around - Noah and I then headed back to the soccer arena to meet up with the rest of our gang to cheer Xander on in his soccer game where his team won and Xander scored a goal. My kids are definitely chipping away at their personal goals of scoring goals.


From Xander's game it was a hurried drive home to watch our Niners play against the New Orleans Saints. For those of you who follow football you know that our great Saturday was made complete with the 49er victory. What a spectacular game! David and I spent the last 5 minutes of the game in happiness, then utter despair, and then back to shedding tears of pure joy - it was quite the roller coaster of emotions and quite the amazing game!

I definitely don't mind these busy, fun Saturdays!

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Character Day

My kids LOVE to dress up so Character Day at school is always an event they look forward to. This past Thursday the kids at their elementary school were allowed to dress up as one of their favorite literary characters. Xander chose to be Mr. Klutz, the principal in the Weird School series, a series of books that I absolutely despise. Oh, well, Xander seems to enjoy them.

Savannah made a cute Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter.

Thank goodness the costumes were nice and easy!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Welcome 2012!

New Year's Resolution: update the blog at least twice a week. Twelve days into 2012...my first post. Well, I'm definitely not the best at sticking to those goals I set for myself at the start of each new year but the blog one being blown right out of the gate, now, let's just pathetic! As the kids and I thought back to 2011 and reviewed how well we had done with accomplishing the goals we had set for ourselves last year, we remembered all the many wonderful memories and good times we had. Some highlights from 2011 included visits with family, including both sets of grandparents, the Hill Cumorah pageant and Palmyra with family, a Super Hero party, a Harry Potter party, lots and lots of soccer, soccer camp, T-ball, field trips, Keepers meetings, Book Club, a Louisville getaway for me and David, attending the temple, the beach, Dutch Wonderland, fishing, kitties and more kitties, lunch with friends, and the pool, just to name a few. We're looking forward to 2012 and all the exciting things it holds for our family.
Now, onto goals for the new year.



Noah did a great job last year completing most of the goals he had set for himself. His goals for 2012 are:



  • Learn to count and recognize numbers 1-100

  • Complete a season of T-Ball

  • Memorize 3 Articles of Faith

  • Memorize the Primary monthly scripture

  • Stop crying when he's mad

Xander struggled a bit with his goals last year so he has recommitted himself to his new goals for this year:



  • Learn how to cook a soup and pizza

  • Score 9 goals in soccer (he already has 1)

  • Score 4 baskets in basketball

  • Read 30 books

  • Memorize the Articles of Faith

  • Memorize the Primary monthly scripture

Although we reviewed our goals throughout the year Savannah also struggled a bit with a few of hers. This year she knows that she can get them done!



  • Be kinder to her brothers

  • Memorize the Articles of Faith

  • Earn the Governor's Program at school

  • Score 10 goals in soccer (she also has 1 already)

  • Read 100 books

  • Work harder with math and bring up her grade

  • Earn 15 Keepers awards

As for myself I am quite proud of all I was able to get done last year. I think the only personal goal I set for myself that I totally bombed on was playing the piano again. I was able to read 100 books in 2011 so this year I'd like to up that to 110. I want to continue with my exercising and eating right. I want to improve my personal scripture study; my motivation for this goal was pumped up after last night's Relief Society Scripture Study Workshop. Although my goal of twice weekly blogging hasn't gotten off to the best start, I'm still keeping that on the list and recommitting myself to do better.


Welcome, 2012 - the Pierce family is ready for ya!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Christmas Vacation

This past week I had to send my kids back to school and my husband back to work and all I can say is it was a bummer!!! We had such a great time together as a family during Christmas break. The last week of December consisted of:




  • sleeping in every morning


  • lounging around in PJs all day if we wanted


  • lots of reading


  • LOTS of playing our new Wii


  • a morning at Chuck E. Cheeses (what we do for our kids!)


  • watching movies: The Smurfs, Kung Fu Panda, and El Cid


  • riding new bikes


  • finishing The Book of Mormon as a family



  • game night with friends


  • cheering our Utah Utes football team to victory in their bowl game


  • practicing basketball


  • going down to DC to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Riding the Metro down to DC.

Family picture in front of the Washington Monument.

We thought that the Museum of Natural History would hold the interest of the kids the best so that's where we spent the day. There were so many fascinating things to see but the day after Christmas was definitely NOT the day to go...it was packed!

We still had a lot of fun looking at the exhibits. We all enjoyed looking at the animals;

Noah liked the skeletons;

and all the kids enjoyed looking at the small insects and sea creatures through these bubble holes...we spent almost half an hour just in this one spot!

Noah was obsessed with the mummies, especially the one of this small child.

Xander measuring up to an elephant's leg bones!

Savannah and her rocks and minerals. Savannah and I also enjoyed our time looking at the Hope Diamond along with all the other amazing jewels they have on display.

Although there were too many people and we spent Savannah's first year college tuition on lunch, we enjoyed the day and all the many interesting things we got to see. We are so blessed to live close to DC!