The Future Mrs. Pierces

Last night at dinner, we asked the boys to each tell us how they would describe their future wives. After blushing uncontrollably, Cody went first and said in this order:

*Nice
*Caring
*Adventurous

Then Caleb said:

*Kind
*Caring
*Adventurous
*"Risky, but I don't mean gambling."

Cody interrupted and said, "and good looking." Caleb grinned and said, "yeah, and good looking."

When Steve asked why they didn't say "christian", Cody said, "oh, I just understood that to be part of the package."

Girls and Grits

I knew this day would come. A Girl stole Cody's heart this week. He came home from school Wednesday...talking about her and grinning from ear to ear. He couldn't get enough of her...spending most all the afternoon and evening playing with her...barely coming in the house to see us. Here is the Girl...

Cody is really into skateboarding right now (be warned Kristi Paul!) and the brand of this skateboard is Girl. A boy brought it to school on Wednesday and said that he had gotten a new one and asked Cody if he wanted it. He was so excited...he brought it home and attached his Trucks (don't ask...I don't know what they are either...just what they're called) to it and spent all afternoon riding it. The next day at school, the boy asked for it back... something about losing his new one.

Cody was heartbroken. I told him it wouldn't be the last time his heart would be broken by a Girl.

Thursday afternoon, Steve picked the boys up from school and they went biking again. Caleb couldn't wait to call me from the car on the way home to tell me of the crash he had. (They love to tell me when they get hurt to see if I will get scared or not.) He evidently hit the edge of a tree with his bike and went over the handlebars and landed in a heap. When Steve found him he asked him what hurt, and he said "my arms and my legs." Steve immediately saw our Health Savings Account laying there in the heap with him. But...this boy's got grits. He got up...dusted off and came home with some cuts, scrapes, bruises...and a story to tell. And yes, I was scared.

These pictures are after he cleaned up...I won't tell you the part about him crying all the way through his shower because it burned so bad.

Throwing Myself Under the Bus

Last week I began working out with a personal trainer. 'Why' you ask? I have no idea other than I just LOVE me some pain and can't get enough of it. Really I am trying to work on strengthening and hoping losing weight will come along for the ride.

Anyway, the first day I worked out with a male personal trainer who was basically showing me the ropes before he assigned a regular trainer to me. We went to a machine where you lay down and put your feet on a lift with weights. The exercise is to lift the weights extending your legs and then bring them back down to your chest. Well, I think you can see where this is heading. There's an awful lot of pressure on your stomach as you come back down, and well...you're rear-end is basically up in the air. And you guessed it, between rep 23 and 24, I passed gas. It was the most dainty little fart you've ever heard...but a fart nonetheless.

Undeterred, I just kept going like it was totally normal to fart between reps 23 and 24...just a part of the exercise if you will. But inside, I was wondering if I could ever top that degree of embarrassment. Perhaps tomorrow I will wear my white pants and unexpectedly get my period.

The Anti-Frisbee Dog

Here is something that will entertain you...even if you are not a dog lover (sorry it's so dark).

You might enjoy these prayers from a dog also:

Dear God:
Why do humans smell the flowers,
but seldom, if ever, smell one another?

Dear God:
When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch?
Or is it still the same old story?

Dear God:
We Dogs can understand human verbal instructions,
hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's,
electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths.
What do humans understand?

Dear God:
More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.

Dear God:
Are there mailmen in Heaven?
If there are, will I have to apologize?


Dear God:
Let me give you a list
of just some of the things
I must remember to be a good Dog.

1. I will not eat the cats' food
before they eat it or after they throw it up.

2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc.,
just because I like the way they smell.

3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.

4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.

5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff.

6. I will not play tug-of-war with
Dad's underwear when he's on the toilet.

7. Sticking my nose into someone's crotch
is an unacceptable way of saying 'hello'.

8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up
when I'm under the coffee table .

9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur
before entering the house - not after.

10. I will not come in from outside
and immediately drag my butt.

11. I will not sit in the middle of the
living room and lick my crotch.

12. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when
I play with him and he makes that noise,
it's usually not a good thing.

I've actually heard Abby praying some of these...so I know they're true.

March is the New January

In my line of work, January is notoriously a busy month…so much so that I start hating the month of January beginning in November… and the past few years February is starting to get on my nerves too. Thus the reason my blog posts have been few and far between. When you’re knee deep in payroll returns and journal entries, really nothing your kids do can give you enough momentum to actually take the memory card out of the camera and plug it into the computer…oh, the tremendous labor that takes. So I thought I should recap our big moments in January and February for the books.

I flew to Nashville for business meetings in the middle of the month, and this was the only actual proof that I got on a plane.

I take that command very seriously.

The day after I returned, the boys were in their school's annual talent show. This year Caleb danced with 4 other boys to Stayin' Alive...and it was sooo cute. We finally got to see Caleb do his sweet dance moves (he's the one on the far right in every picture)...

...and what he would look like if I had married a black man.


Cody performed with the same group he was with last year and they danced to "Bad" with a West Side Story/street gang vibe. Totally awesome...and Cody (he's the one in the white t-shirt up front) also showed us his sweet dance moves...

...and what he would like like if I had married Michael Jackson.

Then in February, like everyone else in this flu city, our house spent the last half of one week and the first half of the next week like this...

which caused me to break into an early Valentines gift...

The boys got over the flu just in time to celebrate Valentine's Day.

Normally if our boys got clothes for Valentines they would have totally booed me...but these aren't just any clothes...they're bicycling shorts with a thick layer of padding on the booty. Nothing says love like...well you can probably finish that line.

They obviously think they are "all that" while wearing padded undies.

On Valentine's Eve, Mr. McRomance had arranged for us to go on a date... securing child care (Thanks Tam!) and picking a secret place for us to go. He took me to the Italian Inn, and we sat in one of their private booths... evidently a much sought after treasure. The booths have doors on them so you are literally sitting where no one can see you...oh, but they can hear you because we heard the juiciest things coming from the booth next to us. Not really...they were pretty boring in fact, but just think of how much more exciting this story would be if we would have overheard a marriage proposal, or a lover's quarrel...or a planned bomb attack. Okay, I'm sick...I know this.

Anywho, this restaurant has been around since the 60's, and they have singing waiters and great food. The other cool thing...which I'm sure is a little less cool now to the owners of the establishment, is that they let you write on the walls and doors. So we claimed our spot of history in the first private booth on the east wall...or was it west? I know Mr. McSmartypants will let me know which is correct...and also the exact time we were there...in military time language.

Mr. McRomance had also planned ahead and arranged for the waitress to bring flowers to my table and the gift he had purchased me. Which brings me to a point of annoyance in my marriage...there is no way I can out-romance this guy. I have tried to think of ways to be more romantic than him...because it is a competition...but he is so good at it, the things I do seriously look like a bad attempt at a first date. Thank you babe for all the thought that goes into nights like this.

The rest of the month has been fairly uneventful except for Upwards Basketball...for which I will devote an entire blog posting when it's over so I can document which awards my sons will most assuredly earn...but likely not for Bible memory. Is there an award for hiding your uniform in the bottom of the dirty clothes hamper until midnight the night before games? Because if there is...both my children will win this trophy hands down.

A Boost of Self Esteem

One of the teachers at my kids' school does this exercise during the 4th grade year, and I have to say I think it's one of the most precious things they do at school...period. They pick one student per day and have every other student in the class write something nice about that student. They bring the strips of orange self-esteem home in a lunch sack...and I can't tell you the pride in the look of Caleb's face when he read to me what everyone in his class said about him.

And this is his favorite...because he knows to a boy his age 'wicked' is really a good thing.

And then yesterday, he came home with a letter from his school saying "I am pleased to inform you that your child has been identified as one of a select group of students qualified to participate in the Duke TIP." After I read it and soaked it in...I talked to Caleb a little about it. I asked him if he wanted me to register him, and he got tears in his eyes and said, "No, not really." I asked him why, and fighting back tears he said that really none of his friends got the letter and could go with him, so he really didn't want to go there. Evidently he thought he was going to have to go away to Duke right now. Precious. After I assured him that it was just an honor, and he would get a certificate saying so, and a newsletter and some other things, he smiled real big and said "Oh, okay, then yes!"

I refrained from telling him that as parents we will be hounded by Duke for the remainder of his school years wanting us to spend his inheritance for the opportunity to go there.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Here is proof my mom is greatness...and always puts fun with family and making memories at the top of her priority list. She also pretty much watches my children any time I need her...and that is double greatness!

Happy Birthday to the best mom in the whole world...I love you!

And Six To Go...

Last night was a big night. It was the parent information night at the local Jr. High…the same Jr. High School where my oldest will go in a few months. This day has been looming for a while, but I can usually swallow hard and manage to forget it for a while. It wasn’t quite as easy to forget last night as I listened to all the opportunities and responsibilities that lay ahead of him in the next couple of years.

He’ll be 12 this year. Which doesn’t mean 12…it means we’re two-thirds done. There are plenty of reminders that our work is two-thirds done. He is wearing deodorant without being told now, he is somewhat conscious of wanting to wear matching clothes and we haven’t bought him a kids meal in quite a while. But there’s those nagging thoughts…have I taught him enough? Have I told him at least two-thirds of the things I want him to know…about family, about life…about God?

I didn’t cry last night…oh, those tears will come soon enough…at the end of year party and the clap-out where he will walk the halls of his elementary school for the last time…and when I drop him off for the first day ‘there’…that place that will turn my little freckle-faced, rosy-cheeked, lanky boy into a teenager.

I will brace myself for those days…but right now I don’t want to dwell on the fact that time is flying by…I want to soak in every precious minute with this great kid. He likes Survivor Man and Myth Busters…but can still recite almost every line of most Sponge Bob episodes. He doesn’t like ice cream, but loves chocolate chip muffins. He likes books about history and shooting guns. He loves swimming and baseball and riding his bike. He’s picky about the way clothes feel…not the way they look. He’s almost as tall as me. His room is usually messy with nerf darts, candy wrappers, and socks. He loves hangin with his daddy. He’s nice to his brother…most of the time.

So go away ticking clock. I want to enjoy every last minute of this…

I'm a Little Bit Rock 'n Roll

I grew up with the Osmonds...watching mostly Donny & Marie. I even had a dream where I married Donny and he wore purple socks. I wish I could say then I got up and played with my Barbies...but I was twenty-something when I had that dream.

So imagine my delight this morning when on the way to school the boys were discussing the phonetic alphabet. This is the alphabet cops use when reading off letters so that there is no question about what letter they are saying. Believe me, in this family we are required to learn the phonetic alphabet...just in case we're ever in an emergency where I have to yell to Steve..."call my MARY OSCAR MARY!"

The boys are still learning what all the letters are and when Caleb said the "T" was Tyrannosaurus, I knew he was in trouble. But when Cody said the "O" was Osmond, I knew that boy is gonna do just fine.

There Might Be Something To This

Caleb has been coming home from school the past few weeks telling us about the movie he is writing with a friend from school. I know it has something to do with Bunny Foo-Foo and Sprinkles Land (which I think is totally adorable), but when he starts in with all the aliens and different kinds of gun they use in Sprinkles land...frankly, I lose interest and do what all mothers do during times like these...nod, pretend I'm listening, while all the time thinking about what could possibly possess all those girls to go on The Bachelor?

Anyway, he's totally serious about this movie...and I think he might even have a promising career after seeing this in his room...

All I know is any land called Sprinkles is a place I want to be.

Pics of the Week

Larry Boy thinks he smells freedom...but he would be oh so wrong.



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Music Monday - 33 Miles

You really need to check out the group 33 Miles. Our family loves them...they kinda have the Rascal Flatts vibe going on.

We love (and know) every song on their newest release "One Life", but we really love and sing really loud on #5. It just says what you want to say to some people...

Apologize

It’s been going on for so long
All the words we said wrong way back then
And I still hear them all in my head
It keeps playing over and over again
I can’t run, I can’t hide, it don’t matter how hard I try
To move on, but

I don’t want to leave it, bury it and forget
I’ve already wasted so much time
Can’t wait another moment, am I all out of chances
For you to believe it’s on my mind
I’ve gotta let go of my pride and apologize

I thought I would never let go,
never thought I could know what it’s like
To wake up, holding what I gave up,
After all this time still trying to find
What it is to forgive even when it isn’t that easy
so please believe me, cause

If I caused you pain, I will take the blame
You can put it on me
if I broke your heart, if I left a scar
let me say I’m sorry

*See...I do listen to other music besides MercyMe, but I make sure to listen to a MercyMe song before and after every other group I listen to just to be fair.