We were leaving church the other day and I thought I'd take a picture of our girly since she was in such a good mood and to be honest, I really liked the new sweater she had on. What's funny is that even though they all look like the same picture, I took each one of the following pictures on different laps that she ran past me. I don't know what the deal is, but Savannah has been BONKERS lately! Just running, jumping, spinning...like worse than usual. Bonkers.
Finally, she slowed down enough that I got her face! I'm so thankful for her and her fast little legs. Even if they do totally wear me out.
Also, check out these balloon Fairy Wings that she talked my mom into buying at the art festival! Is that not the coolest balloon thing you've ever seen?
We were graciously invited to the wedding of Sarah Taylor and Preston Smith last weekend. I thought Savannah would probably love it because she hasn't been to a wedding in over a year and she really loves princesses and weddings right now.
This is kind of out of order, but this picture below is of Savannah's face when Sarah came out in her beautiful wedding dress for the first time. We were in the back row so Sav got a good first look! She did really love seeing a "real princess wedding"!
I didn't know how Savannah would do so I brought some stuff for her to do - Travis totally hijacked her Pony coloring book. So Travis colored during the entire ceremony, Savannah crawled around on the floor and I .. I'd like to say I listened attentively, but I ate the snacks I brought for Savannah. What is with us? None of the three of us can just sit patiently and listen. :)
Turns out the Pierces are not the only people who zone out during fancy things - I got this pretty awesome picture of Stan during some of the speeches at the reception. We were waiting for dinner and could smell it in other room - you can almost see the drool forming in the corner of his lip. Anyway, it gave us another distraction to amuse ourselves with since you know we weren't paying attention to the speeches. We're the worst. What can I say?
I watched Steel Magnolias the other night with Jasey.
I have seen that movie probably 25 times, and every time it makes me cry like a little baby during the entire last 20 minutes! I was trying really hard to pull it together this time since I wasn't alone and there was a poker party on our back porch with guys coming in and out, but I cannot! The first 20 minutes though is super awesome and makes me so happy. I think that's why I love it so much. It really allows you to "feel" alive in so many ways.
I was reading my Bible this summer and ran across Ezekiel 36:26 which says,
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
Now, on a scale of Thinker vs Feeler, I usually score pretty high in the thinker area. My impulse is to make decisions and live life according to what makes sense, what is logical and usually less emotional. It comes in pretty handy sometimes. I'm not easily pulled into drama and I don't usually have a hard time controlling my emotions. But do you know what this personality characteristic can easily give way to? A heart of stone. A "go through the motions - make the logical choice - get it done and don't get attached" heart of stone.
Thank you God for giving me something as tacky as a movie about the lives of Southern Gossipy Feministic woman to remind me that my heart is in fact made of flesh! Thank you for giving me a new heart.
In other news, when I was googling images for Steel Magnolias, I accidently typed in Steel MagnoliA and got this picture. I love this girl's hair. What do you think? Time for a cut???
I put the word "Tongue" into google image and let me tell you, some WEIRD stuff came up. Trust me - dont do it.... on with the story.
So here's the story of how I did like 3 really dumb things all at once last night.
So I had something from earlier in the day weighing on my mind. That got it all goin. I started boiling some oil on the stove for this stuff I was going to make called Death by Garlic. I looove Garlic. I left the kitchen and went in the other room and then forgot about the oil and started thinking about my preoccupation. When I came back in the kitchen the entire down stairs was filled with smoke. No fire, just smoke. Then Savannah walks in and starts coughing all over the place so I try to get her and the smoke out of the house!
Come back in, the oil is off the heat, but still really really hot so I throw in garlic and some spices. Then I stir the stuff in the oven. Then I think "I wonder if that was enough salt in in the garlic" so I take my metal spoon, dip it in the previously boiling over oil pan and LICK it. Yes, it hurt! I burned my tongue so bad! I realized how dumb this was and I think I might have even called myself a retard and shook my head at myself.
Then I went to the freezer for some relief. No ice. What else can I use...Oh - there's a frozen spoon in here that I was going to put on a bug bite - That's cold, right? Yeah. It was cold alright. So I grabbed the spoon and no sooner did I stick it to my tongue as I remembered that scene from A Christmas Story so I PULL IT OFF! What was I thinking!?? The entire top layer of my tongue did come off on to the spoon. It was sick.
After all this, of course I never did eat dinner. Had to rush out the door to make it to Escape. Travis brought me a milkshake, which was great at the time but gave me a stomach ache soon after. I had a pounding headache all night from the above mentioned scenario. Crazy how just a few minutes of absolute chaos can ruin the next 5 hours of your life. And I'm still suffering from it today. Ehck.
Here's a little Savannah picture that I may or may not have posted before. It was cute. Thought it might balance out the sickness and dumbness of my tongue story!
Shhhhh.... Don't tell Savannah yet, because I don't think she realized it - but she just slept ALL NIGHT with out her Pacifier! And she hasn't asked for it yet today. You might not realize how big of a deal this is. She has had her "Cier" during sleep, car rides, and movies since she was 1 month old. It's been something we've talked to her about over and over again. We've told her that only babies have them and sometimes she gets brave and says, "I don't need one, I'm a big girl" but that last minute at bed time I've heard her say "Daddy, I'm still a little little and I need it".
A couple weeks ago I started cutting a sliver off the end of it ever couple of days. When she noticed it had a big hole in the end I told her that she could keep it or throw it away....she didn't like the hole, but she choose to keep it. She hasn't mentioned that the hole keeps getting bigger.
But last night she did it! "Cier" free! We'll see.......
Savannah got tubes put in her ears today. We decided to make a big deal about it, so I've been calling it "Surgery Day". I knew that she wasn't really going to have any on going pain today so I figured we could easily turn whatever uneasy times she had into some good fun! Here's the run down:
5:45am - We wake up. Still dark outside. We make a big deal about all of us getting up before the sun and how silly and fun that is. Savannah wears PJs to the hospital. Glad I did that because they let her just keep her own jammies on instead of wearing a hospital gown.
She seems pretty good with it all - huh?
Oh, and she brought these McDonalds coupons so that she could "try and see how much pop she could get" - I have no idea where she got that, but it was cute.
6am - Check in at hospital. We had to meet with a business person to sign the papers agreeing to pay for the deal. We have really good insurance because Travis works for the state, so no biggy. Savannah got her Surgery Day bracelet that had her own name on it!! (aka, a hospital band)
6:15am - We get a room. Savannah got all checked out, made friends with the nurse, and they even gave her a little stuffed animal!! I was impressed. It was waiting on her bed. It's a super nice, super soft little raccoon. She loves it. We named it Brave.
I tried to get a picture of it, but she wouldn't take her arms off it!
6:45 - 7:30am - Got a little long. We watched cartoons in the room. Savannah was tired, but then started getting bored. Maybe a little nervous too. But we made it! And a nurse came and got us right at 7:30am.
7:30am - Roll Savannah in her bed to a PreOP room. It looked like an operating room. All kinda of doctors and nurses back there. Through a looooong white hallway, past two double doors, curtains, IV cords, machines.. it was a little weird. That's where the Doctor and the Anastasiologist ( I have no idea how to really spell that) talked to Travis and I. They let Savannah color during that time, they gave her a little hair net to wear, gave her raccoon a hair net, gave mommy a hair net, and gave Savannah a handful of stickers. That was when she changed her mind. She wanted to go home now. She kinda started to cry and whine but we told her how brave she was and that we'd see her in a few minutes after she made some new friends. She bucked up, and quietly played with her stickers as they rolled her away. No crying.
7:50am - Travis gets us coffee. I read an Ikea catalog.
8:10am - The Doctor comes in to tell us that it went fine and that it was good we did this. He said he sucked out tons of yellow thick snotty stuff that had probably been there a long time and that she'd probably be sensitive to sound for a little while. As he was talking, a nurse brought her in. It was supposed to take her at least 20 minutes to wake up, but our resilient little girl wouldn't wait no 20 minutes to see her mommy! She was a little out of it, but had MORE stickers in hand. And we gave her a stuffed Pony for being so brave.
Notice all the stickers all over her shirt. This is how she came back to us :)
8:35 - We leave the hospital. Savannah is totally fine. Wants me to sit by her in the car, but is looking forward to the rest of Surgery Day - which includes popsicles or ice cream at will, a happy meal for lunch, and presents from Grandma and Grandpa!
Showing us how a cat walks because she's wearing her hat that has cat ears.
My mom went crazy with the Surgery Day presents! Dress up dolls, sticker books, magic wand, cheetos, rice crispies, animal crackers.....
I really thought she would sleep all day but she didn't. I laid her down for a nap at 1:30pm, but she wasn't even acting tired at all. I think she IS asleep now though. She hasn't demonstrated that she's in any pain at all. In fact, she's been super fun and happy and playful!
Now that everyone around here is back to school, it has left a little more time for us to hit up the parks and play! I can't believe the Savannah even has friends in school now! Twice in the last week I had to tell my baby pumpkin pie that the friend she wanted to play with was in school.
I took this one (maybe a little too early in the year) as a comparison to the picture that was at the top of my blog. Savannah has gotten so much bigger and stronger.
Here she is at the Roosevelt School playground explaining to me why I can't start counting for hide and seek yet. Let me just say, I am REALLY good at hide and seek at Roosevelt. Try and find me there, I dare you.....
Here's Savannah with my her friend Elise - who happens to be my childhood friend, Meghan's daughter. (Meghan Ritts for those old timey readers). I was going to wait to post this until I had a picture of Meghan and I together to post next to it because both of these darlings look JUST like their Mommas. Maybe my mom can help me out with that.
Here Savannah is explaining to me how to ride on the Fire Fighter Fruck - Yeah, when she says it out loud it definitely sounds like a cuss word cause she doesn't really pronounce the "r" in fruck. She'll get there.
Over the weekend we had a little visit from Travis' sister, Malisa. She hasn't been up to Iowa since the year we moved here (2003) - but that's okay because I can't remember the last time we went to her house either. It was really fun to see her and spend some good quality time with her. Savannah really had fun too.
Saturday morning we took her to the Pufferbilly Days Parade in Boone. Travis had his doubts about the parade at first but it really ended up being the best parade we've ever taken Savannah to! The weather was AWWESome - especially compared to the 20 degrees we sat through at VEISHA and the 102 degrees at the 4th of July Parade. They had tons of cool floats and soooo much candy and STUFF. We sat next to this crabby old couple and this lady in a HUGE camping chair. Really wish I would have taken pictures of either of them. Dang.
Here's the loot.
SOOO much candy, two twinkies, and cupcake, string cheese (thanks Fareway float!), water, toothbrush, toothpaste and case (from different dentists), frisbee, coosie, dog food and dog treats (different vet clinics), pencils, pens, fruit snacks, and a hat. Oh - and a bonpop popsicle!
** You can kinda see the GIANT chair in the back ground of this picture. It was SO big! ***
After the parade Malisa fell asleep in the car. Savannah was kind of playing with her and kind pretending to sleep too. Aren't they cute?
We also too Missy, Malisa, Sis (all the same person, and never called by the same name twice in row) to one of our hot spots - the Story City carousel. Thanks Aunt Missy for the tickets!!
We ended our little weekend with church all morning today, a cook out with our Connection Group (much missed!) and some chores in the afternoon. The fall season is truly in swing! In a few months it will be hard to believe how much I missed this crazy schedule!
- What's up for the week ahead??? Plenty of lunches, after school meetings, trying out BSF, Savannah's pre- op appointment, Tubes :( , Escape22, and this weekend - BROOM BALL!
So, I've had a lot of requests lately for the granola bar recipe I use. I started making them about a year ago, and everyone everyone loves them.
So I just use this recipe from Ashley's blog. Sorry you have to go to a whole other site for this one! I change things out a lot - like lately I used quick oats cause that's what I had. Or I'll use tons of peanuts one time, and tons of raisins the next time... totally depends on what is around. I'm thinking about throwing in some coco powder the next time. Whatever you want!
Ask Savannah what she wants to dress up as for Halloween and you'll get one answer - JEM.
So, for anyone out there who is unfamiliar with the 1980's cartoon superstar, here is your education:
Jem was probably my favorite cartoon growing up. It's about a girl band (Jem and the Holograms) and their rivals (The Misfits). They play shows, get record deals, and teach valuable lessons about life. They've been showing reruns of the show at 1pm on The Hub network. We are soo thankful! We've also found some episodes on Youtube. So, is Savannah obsessed? Yes. Will we let her dye her hair pink for Halloween? .... mmmm don't know yet.. pink wig might be the way to go ;) Here's all the online Jem stuff you might want to see:
Let me know if you have a pink dress or wig or microphone we can borrow!
If you had a snapshot of my everyday life you would probably think that we live with a lot of clutter. Actually, you kinda do have a snapshot of it if you look on here regularly.... but we're gonna get even more real here.
Example one: So, Sav doesn't have a shirt on here because she just got out of the pool. But we're making pizza dough, and coffee, and fishing for goldfish with peanut butter, and you can see the kleenex box hanging there - that's to keep it out of our way. Also the pot hanging there full of pens, coupons, and the check book. You can see just a little of the ipod dock there too. And that white thing on the wall, it has cork board in it - if I'm awesome then i pin my recipe in there and get going. Cooking, eating relaxing, paying bills, dancing, singing, playing, coloring, ...so many things happening here. It's how we roll.
Here's proof Savannah is catching on. We were getting ready to go for a run (a ride for her) and she brought - a snack, her "ipod", a drink, some make up, make up brushes, plastic bowls and lids, and her cell phone. What you cannot see is my cell phone, i pod, memory verses and water. All in the stroller. We're gettin it all done!
This right here is our all in one family scheduler, ice chest, alphabet and spanish learning center, and dress up play zone. Whateves...
Labor Day - Labor da-wah?
So I started typing this post and realized I have NO real clue what Labor day is suppossed to be about! I mean, we all know that whatever it is, we don't really do it because let's get real - no one does any real LABOR or Labor day. Anyways - this is what Wikipedia says about it ..... (just skip over this part if you really don't care or already know...)
The first big Labor Day in the United States was observed on September 5, 1882, by the Central Labor Unionof New York.[1] It became a federal holiday in 1894, when, following the deaths of a number of workers at the hands of the U.S. military and U.S. Marshals during the Pullman Strike, President Grover Clevelandreconciled with the labor movement. Fearing further conflict, legislation making Labor Day a national holiday was rushed through Congress unanimously and signed into law a mere six days after the end of the strike.[2]The September date originally chosen by the CLU of New York and observed by many of the nation's trade unions for the past several years was selected rather than the more widespread International Workers' Daybecause Cleveland was concerned that observance of the latter would stir up negative emotions linked to theHaymarket Affair, which it had been observed to commemorate.[3] All U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and the territories have made it a statutory holiday.
So like I was saying, no one really Labors on Labor day - including us. Here's a list of what we've been up to the last 3 days:
- Watched Legend of the Guardians (that owl movie), The Delama (with Kevin James), Little Fockers, Finished season 2 of Damages on Netflix, and got some Robinhood, The Prince of Egypt, The Sword and The Stone, and Barbie movies in too.
- Cleaned the church office (still not REAL labor), worked on my Blog for like 3 hours, painted the house - Travis - okay, that is work.
- Went to the Animal Shelter, the Animal Shelter, Church, running, Cafe Milo, Target, running again, boating, IFC hayride
- Ate Pizza, chicken salad, McDonalds, Hot Dogs, Eggs
- Gave everyone in my family at home hair cuts
Okay, so you get the point. Labor day should probably be called "Lay around Day" or maybe Laaazy Day" or maybe "Slack off Day". You decide.
I've been in Ames almost my whole life. Love it here. I've been a wife to Travis since 2002, and a momma to Savannah since 2008. Love it here. I've been following Jesus since 1998, and working hard in ministry ever since. Love it here.
