My Young Women

On Sunday I was able to attend Relief Society, something I haven't done in almost 2 years. I must admit that it was nice to be able to just walk in, sit down, and listen without being the one running the show. About 5 minutes before class was over the new Young Womens President called me out and had me come into the Young Womens room. When I walked in I saw all of my beautiful young women and leaders, as well as the Stake Young Womens President, sitting there, all with white roses in their hands. They each took a turn bringing me a white rose with a personal note attached to it and gave me a hug, thanking me for my time as Young Womens President. They also presented me with one of my favorite pictures, Christ with the Young Women, so that I would always remember my time with them. It was such a special moment, one that I will treasure always. My favorite calling is in the Young Womens and I will miss spending time with them.

The Truth!!!!

Now you can see that both Ryan and David had the dolls......Ryan does look more satisfied with his new gift and I will note that he was the first to start playing with his new Barbie. Notice the loser jersey Ryan is also wearing......
You can also see Ryan with his favorite treat, Summer Sausage.....

Our Weekend

Friday night is usually movie night at the Pierce house but we had a late dinner and, since I am a stickler for bedtime and a movie would have pushed us back on that, we decided to have a game night instead. The kids each picked a game to play; Xander chose Hungry Hippos. David was the champ in that game though I think he was hiding some of the white balls under his legs to pull out when we counted to see who won. Savannah really struggles with losing and so we're really trying to work with her on being a good loser...this can be hard when David is shouting his praises as the winner. We also played Go Fish and Old Maid. Playing card games with Xander is hilarious. He shows everyone his cards, announces what card he just drew from the pile, and always, always lets us know when he has the Old Maid.




Saturday Savannah and Xander went to a birthday party at a local swimming club. The party was for a boy, Gavin, that had been in Savannah's preschool class and for his younger sister, Eva, who is a little younger than Xander. Savannah got right into the pool and started swimming...she obviously has missed our days at the pool. Xander had fallen asleep on the ride to the party so he was being his grumpy self at the start and it took a little longer for him to want to get in the pool. Once in the water he sort of forgot that he knows how to swim and a mom in the pool had to grab him as he struggled to keep his head up. But after that first bad moment he did just fine. The kids had a great time and it was so nice for me to see my preschool mom friends.



Saturday night we had our movie night - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was the new one, the one with Johnny Depp. I absolutely love this movie and so did the kids. I love the old one with Gene Wilder but I like this one even more. Johnny Depp is absolutely amazing as Willy Wonka and I find myself going around with the song "Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka" in my head. If any of you have not seen this movie I would highly recommend it. It's wonderful and Savannah and Xander gave it two thumbs up.

Finally...Success!

What a cute Shrek bum!!!

This summer Xander was potty trained...and then decided that that wasn't the life for him. So, rather than get mad or frustrated, I just let him be, realizing that he was only 2 and we still had some time. But about three weeks ago I decided that I had had enough of changing two pairs of diapers. I knew that Xander knew how to use the bathroom because he would use it when he felt like it. To Xander it was more convenient to just go in his pullups rather than interrupt his playing time and head to a bathroom. So, I decided enough was enough and took away his pullups. I put him in underwear knowing that we would have a few rough days but hopeful that Xander would realize the time had come to be a big boy and use the bathroom. Well, the first day he had two accidents...and then after that it was only 1 accident every couple of days. And now it has been over a week of no accidents so I feel confident in saying that we have success! As a special treat to celebrate his accomplishment I took Xander to Chuck E. Cheese, his favorite place on the whole earth. All I can say is two down, one to go.

Another 1 Done In

Juice Williams' Illini beat Ohio State on the ground and through the air.
Like its rivals before them, the top-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes got caught looking ahead. What a sight for one-loss teams' eyes.


My favorite college football teams are UTAH, BYU and anyone who beats OSU!!!!! I love it when the bucks lose....YEAH!

Getting Ready to Crawl

For about the last two or three weeks Noah has been getting on all fours and doing the rocking back and forth thing. He can move backwards easily but hasn't figured out how to move his hands to get him forward. Last night as I was reading to the kids I glanced down at Noah and he was on all fours...next thing I know he's sitting. He had this humongous grin on his face, like he knew he had accomplished something big and was feeling pretty proud of himself. I am definitely not ready for him to be mobile. I am not one of those moms who eagerly awaits when her child can crawl but it looks like it should be happening in the next month or two. I did have some video of Noah but I can never get my video to work on the blog. I'll keep trying though. Not quite the form that Ashlyn had but Noah's doing the push ups too!

Green Eggs and Ham

This year Savannah is learning how to read which is very exciting for all of us. She learned a bunch of sight words in preschool last year so the first batch of sight words she's been given in kindergarten has been review for her. We bought her some little readers and have been reading those but a few days ago she decided she wanted to tackle an actual book. She chose Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss and, despite a handful of words, she was able to read the whole book on her own. David and I were so impressed with her and I could tell she was very excited. One has to love those Dr. Seuss books...all the rhyming and sight words and short words that are easy to sound out. In honor of Savannah reading Green Eggs and Ham I made green eggs and ham for the kids' dinner last night. I abstained from the green eggs myself but Savannah and Xander gobbled theirs right up.