Savannah's "party themed" party

Savannah had been planning her birthday party for about a year.  Sometimes it was going to be a super hero party where everyone dresses up like heros and we shoot bad guys.  Other times it was a princess and prince party where we all dress like royalty and dance like at a ball.  And other days it was a pirate theme, or a pony theme, or a musketeer theme, or a mermaid/ocean theme.  Each one with extensive details on what everyone wears and what we do.  Travis was playing along and dreaming with all of this, but me being the realist in the family could not.  So when we finally went shopping for invitations for Savannah's party, you can imagine how relived I was when I convinced her that we should have a "party" theme for her party.  We got cupcake themed invites and glittery party hats.  I told her we could do all kinds of games and any kind of cake.  It worked!  

It was raining on the day of her party, but that didn't stop the 11 kiddos and 9 adults from partying on.  We had a piñata (and yep, someone got hit with the bat), and we played a few other games.  Then we had some cake.  The kids had gotten these funny face glasses from the piñata and Savannah insisted on leaving hers on the rest of the party.  She served all her friends cake, telling each one "My name is Craig" or "My name is Charlson".  Guess she felt like my dad in those things :)  They were all cracking up the whole time.  She really values being funny. 

The last game we played was "throw water balloons at the dad".  This is a classic for birthdays in our family.  On my 5th birthday we had just moved into a new house and I guess my dad didn't have much time to plan (or so the legend goes) so he just got a bunch of water balloons and let us throw them at him.  I still remember that as one of my fondest childhood memories.  So even though it was cold and rainy, Travis manned up and let the kids throw balloons at him.  My dad had to get into the game too - kind of a way to pass on the torch. 

Thanks everyone that came and thanks everyone for loving on our sweet Savannah for another year! 

The day she turned five

So I'm a few days behind here.  Big weekend!  You were probably  checking my blog every day for updates, weren't you.  Nah - you were having a great weekend too!  

It happened.  My  baby girl turned FIVE.  I have told her over and over that she will always be my baby - which usually ends up with me breaking into song doing my best Mariah Carey.  

Savannah had school on her Birthday this year.  She loved that she did.  She brought Zebra cakes (by her request) because she knew all her friends would like them.  I went in to see her during her recess and she was having a blast.  Some people would be bummed that they had school on their Birthday but this girl loves school so much that she'd rather have it that way!  

(The picture is her running away from her two friends.  They play monster every day. )

 Last year we started a new tradition of birthday photo shoot.  Having an iphone that takes great pictures and has awesome editing options makes this easy.  

Anyway, I noticed that she was much more serious about the whole thing this year. Maybe because it was later in the day and she was a little tired, but partly because she's starting to have more sense of what she likes and her image.  It was only a matter of time before it happened.  We are trying to teach her to not take herself seriously.  Growing up in this house you just can't! 

After the big shoot we went to dinner at Hickory Park.  She wanted pink pop and ice cream.  They sang their Birthday song to her.  She was kind of funny about that this year.  Every time people sang to her she got kind of embarrassed.  She told me it made her shy.  I understand.  It's hard to know how to respond to that.  

Oh, and look who sat in a high chair for the first time?  Charlie baby loved Savannah's Birthday too.  He loves loves loves her already.  They both look a little grumpy here, but it was a rare moment.  We had her party a few days later so I'll post on that later.  Makes me a little to sentimental to post it all at once! 

Can you even believe it!??

THIS GIRL IS TURNING FIVE TOMORROW!!!!!

My sweet little Savannah girl is such a big kid.  We are so blessed by having her in our lives.  

She's so creative and hilarious to be with.  Not to mention she keeps things interesting.  We never know what kind of out fit or costume will come down the stairs next!

For her Birthday we have a big PALOOZA (as my friend Laura would say :) 

Birthday party with some family tonight, Birthday dinner at BK tomorrow and bringing treats to school tomorrow, Grammy and Poppy arrive on Wednesday, and a big birthday bash with HER friends from SCHOOL (eeekkk!) Saturday.  I'll keep ya posted on all that as we go!

What a wonderful girl we have!

Giver

We recently started paying Savannah for doing small chores around the house. She can earn 25 or 50 cents at a time depending on the chore.  When she gets them done she has a little magnet board we keep track of them on.  I saw the whole deal on Pinterest - it's working out great.  She gets paid about once a week and the most I have paid her at one time is $2.50.  When she wants something now - like candy or dumb toys or stuff at garage sales - we are trying to make her spend her own money. 

A couple weeks ago our church took an offering.  This has never been done in Cornerstone history!  We asked Savannah if she wanted to participate and she was pretty excited.  She ran to her money box (a pink princess plastic container) and got out HALF of her money.  It was only 4 quarters, but all she knows at this point was that she had 8 moneys, and she wanted to give 4.

A couple days later I remembered that we still needed to send money to our friend for her missions trip to India.  Savannah had asked me something about being rich - like she thought it was a really bad thing to be rich.  I explained to her that it's okay to be rich, just not greedy.  I don't remember the conversation (I'm sure it was incredibly spirit lead and impressive) but we ended with her wanting to send money to our friend for her trip to India too.  So I told Savannah she could give whatever she wanted.  She went to her money box and got out 6 quarters - leaving herself with 3.

I was really proud of her for so easily giving so much both times and was beginning to be challenged by her generosity.  The. I thought "we'll of course she can give so much.  She knows her parents will always make sure she has everything she needs - and still get her some of the things she wants. What does she have to worry about?"

And then it hits me - childlike faith.  There it is again.  Thank You Jesus for continuing to use this girl to teach me your ways and your heart.  May I have the same faith in You, the King of the universe and my Father, that she has in me, a sinful creation! 

The girl

Now, Charlie is constantly changing and growing, but we can't let him have all the blog love! 

Savannah is going to be five this month - she's so so so much fun! I think these pictures say a lot.

She is pretty thrilled with herself for being able to go down poles all by herself.  I'm pretty thrilled too.  It's kind of awkward standing under the pole helping her do it. 

She dresses herself every day.  She's pretty creative. 

Another first this year - pumping on the swings completely alone.  She can get on, get going, and keep going for a LOOOONG time.  All by herself!

I think she took this one by herself.  I don't know why that face :) 

Other note worth Savisms:  Loving super heroes right now.  We watch Xmen almost every day.  She'd love to have a super hero birthday party.  Savannah dresses herself up like a super hero almost every day.  It's always a different outfit though. She is talking a lot about cutting her hair short - but we're going to sit on that for a while.  

This is her - always finding something new to do where ever she is. 

Four big months

Charlie Baylor Pierce turned 4 months old this week!  Crazy! Relieving!  There is something momentous about his being 4 months old now - I feel like we can all relax a little.  He can sit up in a baby chair and hold his head up by himself.  He can grab toys from in front of him and put them in his mouth.  He can lay looking at something for several minutes straight.  So much independence! And boy does he laugh a lot!

We had his 4 month check up and here's the stats: 

15.10 pounds (52%), 25 inches long (45%) and I don't remember how big his head is, but it's in the 72nd percentile for his age :)

Here's our monthly monkey picture: not quite as adorable as last month but they can't all be winners. 

Look at the chubs on those legs!

Here's something noteworthy - we were given the okay to start giving him rice cereal so we did!  It's pretty optional at this age, but since we've had so much trouble with him as it is, we thought it was worth a try.  He loved it.  So much that at dinner he was getting visibly upset watching US eat and not giving him any.  AND....are you ready for this? HE DIDN'T EAT ALL NIGHT!  He slept from 10:30pm until 6:10am!!!!  First time ever!  It could be the cereal, or the probiotics kicking in, or the fact that we were outside almost all day yesterday or maybe the vaccines messing with him.  But we'll take it.  BIG FINGERS CROSSED!!!!  Let's do THAT again!