Pinterestmas

I went all crazy Pinterest this year for Christmas!  What?  I'm horrible at crafts and DIY stuff.  I am.  But here's some stuff that even I could pull off!  

Homemade infused booze. So easy.   But so good! The Jalapino one will clear a cold up in one whiff, I swear! 

Okay, so this is actually a wrap up I just did from last year.  My dad gave me the stuff to make these shelves for Charlie last Christmas, but I just did it last week!  It's outdoor flower baskets, painted white and hung on his wall.  Charlie loves it too.  He's kinda into digging into stuff right now and the bottom one is just digging height! 

Writing on mugs and plates - I saw this last year, but then I saw that it didn't work.  The original Pin said to use permanent  marker - but what you have to do is go to Hobby Lobby and get a porcelain pen.  Then let it sit for 8 hours, then bake it.  But it's great!  

Self explanatory.  

We've had this huge frame hanging up for a while.  I like changing it for the seasons but for now we're going to try a chalk board.  It's like crazy hard to write nicely on a chalk board.  I did a new one for January and I'm not thrilled but I'll keep at it for a couple more months. 

My friend Lindsey game me the idea for this one.  We dyed kitchen clothes then dipped spoons in paint.  I really liked doing this and giving these.  

What other easy Pinterest stuff is out there?  I'm gonna need new stuff soon! 

Charlie's BEST Birthday ever!

on December 29th Savannah told Charlie that he would have his BEST Birthday EVER!  We figured that was probably pretty likely since it was his first one.
Some things Charlie is doing:
Walking
Saying "Mama" - which means "more"
Saying "Uh Oh"
Eating pretty much all kinds of foods
Drinking Whole Milk
Crawling up the stairs
Loves bath time with sister!
Plays ball.

We went to my parent's house for lunch.  My mom signs everyone in our family up for this Birthday cake drawing with a local radio station and it's awesome because we almost always win!  I think every person in our family had a free cake from HyVee on our birthday this year.  And last year.  Since Charlie is still working on blowing on things and when we tried it with Savannah on her first Bday, she grabbed the fire - we just let Savannah blow out his candle.

But little Bubs got his own cake!  First Cake!!!

Do you think he enjoyed it?

He got some gifts too.  I realized this year how hard it will be to separate his Birthday from Christmas.  But since it was his first one, we were all just happy to celebrate.  He loves this hammer toy.  He plays with it a lot every day still.  Actually, he just loves tools.

Thanks to everyone that loves and has loved Charlie this year.  He's a blast.  And I think he's going to age well with time. 

Christmas post 2013

Yet another great Christmas and Christmas season has passed us.  Having two kids this year, and a husband and daughter that have two weeks off, and a warm fire place really helped.  

Our church tried a new thing this year in celebrating Advent.  I usually put Christmas stuff up the week before (yes, before) Thanksgiving.  I figure if you're decorating, you better get all the bang out of it you can!  But the preparation in my heart doesn't start until a couple weeks before Christmas.  So not only was my home ready early, but also my soul.  My high school girls group also did a little Advent - we read through most of the Old Testament of the Jesus Storybook Bible (the best Bible out there in my humble opinion).  And Savannah is getting it more and more.  I love talking through Jesus with her.  

Here are some highlights from the season: 

Savannah went to see Santa at the mall.  That guy makes her nervous.  No one makes her nervous anywhere else in life - but this guy!  She stands 3 feet away and shakes the whole time they are talking. She had a list 2 miles long of things she would like for Christmas, but she could only remember one thing.  And when we got done she said "It's just that I don't know him very well.  I only saw him once last year and then again today".  What's not to love about Savannah?  

Here's our church on the weekend before Christmas.  They did a great video/drama/poetry series leading up to Christmas and then brought it all together. Go to www.cornerstonelife.com if you want to check it out at all.  

School got out.  Travis and I went to a wedding and Savannah and Charlie had an overnight at my parents house.  The next day we left for Oklahoma!  9 hours in the car.  The kids did great.  Savannah was very cooperative (thanks a little bit to the "prize box") and Charlie slept like a champ!  

Oklahoma was frozen when we got there. I'm not a nature lover most of the time, but it was beautiful!  

Aunt Missy came for Christmas at the Pierces.  I love this picture of Savannah and Malisa building a ginger bread (Graham cracker) house together.  Savannah is cracking up because she keeps licking the frosting and getting in trouble from Missy.  

Charlie loved Christmas.  He was supposed to be here for it last year but missed out because the stinker wanted to stay inside a little longer.  He was into everything this year!  Ripping paper.  Climbing in boxes.  Everything.  

Yeah - that's actually happening in this picture.  He's a Pierce boy.  What can I say? 

Poppy came and stayed with us for a week in November, but Grammy was in India then, so it was good for her to get to hang with Charlie too!  He just loves life. 

Here's Travis' cousin Clifford.  Travis says that he is a "real Pierce" in size and he's hoping Charlie will grow up to be as broad and tall as Clifford.  Our kids LOVE Clifford.  He teases and wrestles them like crazy.  

We came back home and had a day to recoup.  We unloaded all our junk and Travis and Savannah picked up a friend of hers to go sledding.  Savannah only had two play dates all break!  I thought she'd get bored of us but thankfully she loves her family.  

Here's Charlie getting into his stocking on Christmas morning number 2. BAHHH - Is he ever cute!

We took a trip a few weeks ago to a farming store in Ankeny with my parents.  They had a huge toy section and Savannah walked my mom through it showing her EVERY toy she'd like to get.  So when Savannah opened this Sophia the First set, she was pretty excited.  My mom had bought it that day and kept it a secret the whole time.  It was great because the family fits perfect into my dad's gift to her….

He remodeled and redecorated her doll house! Our neighbors gave us this house.  It was their kid's back in the 70's.  I the walls had outdated wallpaper and it was kinda plain.  My dad lifted the roof to make the attic usable, put a drawer in the bottom to store all the dolls and furniture, and decorated each room based on drawings that Savannah did one night when he asked her what her dream rooms would be like.  They got the furniture from a store in town - it makes noises and plays songs, which Charlie has already figured out.  He also put several free standing lights (not pictured) in it and drilled windows all over so it will be well lit.  Doll house perfection. 

We were very blessed by our friends and families this year.  And most of all blessed to again celebrate God with us!  He did that!  He came to be WITH US. 

freezer meals

• My friend Laura (also known as the Kitchen Tutor http://kitchentutor.wordpress.com) first turned me on to freezer meals about a month before Charlie was born.  She assured me that in the last days of pregnancy I would appreciate it - and I did!  I made all kinds of meals with her - about 12 I think.  After Charlie was born we finished them off by alternating them with the food that people brought over.  So I got out of a solid month and a half of cooking.  When the freezer meals stopped at the same time people stopped bringing food I almost panicked.  How do people cook with two kids around?  So I made more freezer meals.  I love having them on hand. I love giving them to new moms.  I love knowing that if I totally get lazy or run out of food there is always SOMETHING.  So another friend asked me a while ago to give her the run down on some of my favorites and here they are.  All via Pinterest.  
• 

  
  
  First - you must make and freeze cookie dough balls. Make dough, roll into balls, freeze on a cookie sheet and place into freezer bag. I use these to supplement paying babysitters 😊 And also to grab at 4pm to satisfy myself.

  Here: I LOVE the chicken curry on this one. Pretty sure I forgot the mango. That probably makes it cheaper to leave it out. I also never use chicken thighs, but that's just me. We are boneless skinless people. Healthy Mamma BBQ is okay, but you have to add some vinegar and sugar to it to make it decent, which makes it less healthy. http://www.mamaandbabylove.com/2011/04/05/freezer-cooking-with-slow-cooker-recipes/

  I'm pretty sure this was the first website I went to. I pretty much did what they said and it was good. I swap out chicken and beef for Fajitas a lot. I remember it all being pretty good. http://www.savingyoudinero.com/2012/06/12/1-hour-1-mess-5-crock-pot-meals/

  Travis LOVES the worlds best chicken on this one. And if you do a cilantro lime / chicken taco one ever, just know that you're gonna want to add in cheese or sour cream or avocado when you dish it up. They are good but turn out a little dry. http://www.overthebigmoon.com/freezer-meals/

  This might be my all time favorite - I like the international foods I guess 😊 http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/easy-crockpot-mongolian-beef/

  We don't really make sandwiches and I don't do anything (besides meatballs) that you have to cook before you freeze. That kind of takes the easy out of it for me. If the chicken is turning out dry, just shred it and serve it with rice, or put cheese on it. Flank steak seems to be a good player. I keep a good stash of frozen veggies on hand too for sides.

  It's easiest to start with one of the "30 meals in 4 hours" kind of things. Just scale it back a bit if that seems crazy. But that might help you get the idea of what you're going for in a system for next time. Good luck!

Remember when Charlie started sleeping?

Remember when Charlie started sleeping well?  Me neither.  

Actually, he had a few Golden,…. nope, we'll call them Bronze weeks.  He was taking TWO 2 hour naps a day and sleeping from 7:30pm - 4:30am, eating, and going back to sleep until 6:30am.  Still not ALL night but close enough.  

The last few days he's been napping 30 - 45 minutes and waking up at midnight or two and then at 4 and then at 5:30…. Am I dying here?  I think maybe this is how zombies really started.  Sleep deprived parents with no other way to cope and when they died, their bodies were so used to functioning with no real energy that they didn't realized that they should stop now.  I don't know.  You decide. 

Peacock Princess Dancer and Pajama Party

Still catching up here folks! 

Halloween was a few weeks ago - did you know that? :) Savannah came up with this grand idea of a costume to be a Princess Peacock Dancer thing… I think she just saw several things she wanted and put them together.  She's pretty smart.  I bought (what seems to be) an old dance costume from a second hand store and my mom did the rest.  She sewed real peacock feathers on the back and then found and added to the mask.  If you can't tell by the pictures, Savannah felt pretty awesome. 

Since it was almost bed time by the time trick or treat started, Charlie went as "Pajama Party boy" - which means he wore his PJs and tried to stay warm/awake.  We have some real party goers around our neighborhood when it comes to Halloween.  Several of our neighbors had dressed up and put out yard displays. There was even a fog machine across the street that filled the entire street with a cloud.  It was pretty amazing. 

My parent's neighbors, Mark and Roy, had a pretty extensive display also.  Those giant spiders were hilarious.  Savannah was walking up the side walk and they jumped ON her.  She freaked out.  This picture was after when she had decided they were cool.  

Savannah came in with a truck load of candy for sure, and yes, we let her eat it.  All of it.  Not right away but over a few weeks.  Because we're like that.  

My Journey into higher learning

I've been doing youth ministry at Cornerstone Church for almost 10 years, 6 of which I have been employed there part time.  I love my job.  I was once challenged to think through the kinds of things I am most fueled by and to think of my dream job in relation to that - what I came up with was Tour Guide!  That's a kind of funny dream job - but when I think about what I do at Cornerstone, it's pretty similar.  Through out my week I get to host people at our church at in our home.  I get to teach them about things that I have learned and open their eyes to a new view.  I get to solve problems here and there and I get to be a part of where we are going.  Pretty amazing.

In the last few years Cornerstone has begun to offer Masters level theology classes.  Many of the men I work with, and some of the woman have taken these classes and already received a Masters in Theology.  Yay for them! It takes a lot of work to do something like that.  Recently, it has been put in front of me that I too ought to consider taking these classes.  There are several reasons that have been brought to my attention by co-workers, superiors, and Travis that I agree with and I'm not going to go into - but overall I am getting the feeling (spiritually and logically) that I will soon be enrolled in CLASSES!  I am 32 years old.  I have no undergrad degree.  I have never liked school and even dropped out of Kindergarten for peat's sake!  And here I am, about to take Masters level classes.

I've been working through some pretty significant insecurities the last few weeks.  I wasn't aware that those were still laying around in the depth of my soul.  I'm a ridiculously secure person over all.  When I think of reading books and comprehending them and having a dead line and writing a paper…. I cry a little.  Not always outwardly, but always in my heart. I am a terrible reader.  I'm not illiterate.  I just can't just read and get it.  Not at all.  Most adults I know can.  They talk about the books they are reading for fun or entertainment or to better their parenting.  I try.  I do.  But when it takes me 10 minutes to fight through 3 pages….. So here are some truths I've discovered about this:

Truth #1: Satan wants to kill and destroy me.  He wants me to believe that I am Dummy McDummerson.  He wants me to quit.  To think that I cannot understand what others can and that I cannot do anything that is hard or would require something more than I personally can give.  Satan wants nothing good for me and will do anything to bring me harm.

Truth #2: It is not up to Wendy Sue Pierce to figure out the key to understanding the depths of wisdom that explain the Word of God.  That's the role of the Holy Spirit.  I have no business worrying about how I will get myself to do something that only He can do in me.

Truth #3: I have a great husband who is willing to love and support me.  Jesus is totally on my side and one way He has shown that is by giving me a husband, Travis Pierce, who is also on my side.  He has already championed for me with encouragement and grace.  In actuality - he is the student of the house and he would much rather be the one enrolled in a class of any kind.  But by his servanthood and love for me and for what God is doing in and with my life - he's giving this to me.

So I'll keep you posted.
 Back to school, back to school to prove to dad that I'm no fool.
 - That's a movie quote for the older crowd - I don't actually have to prove anything to my dad.  :)