Very well read and loved . . .

Our gal is at the perfect age to be loved by all. She can't get into their lego creations, really doesn't care for the wii and most often is the perfect captive audience.

After a hesitant approach to this girl's arrival, Harrison has really been most interested in all that is her sweetness and light these days. He loves to be one to get her to smile.

Livia's sat through readings of Fireman Fred, Super Weasel, various Star Wars epics, Trucks, Trucks, Trucks, Wolves, Five Little Monkeys and more. It'll be something if she's ever interested in princesses and the like.

I mean, how sweet is that??!!

O.K., Let's redeem ourselves here . . .

Awww, now there's that two-month old we know and love!

She almost always has smiles for mom

(-:

And she sure has kissable cheeks!

She is soooooo even tempered.

And maybe a wee bit coy?

(-:

p.s. Kate you can steal one of these if you want (-:

I'm not sure what to say Livia, except . . .

SORRY!

Turns out the kids had a little fun with the baby and Lara's new Build-A-Bear glasses while I was off to choir Monday night.

(trying to determine which pic to post just wasn't possible, had to put 'em all up!)

And, zip . . .

another year just flew by and this girl turned eleven!!!

Had a fun ("this was my best birthday ever!"), friends sleepover party Friday night.

It was 10:00p.m. by the time we got to these cupcakes!

My favorite part of the night was when one of the girls offered to carry this cake plate with leftovers back into the kitchen. Quote, "I'll take those for you Mrs. Pierce." "Oh, thanks." I said thinking what a nice, helpful girl she was. Then, as I followed her into the kitchen, unbeknownst to her, I enjoyed watching her take a big finger dig into the frosting of that yellow cupcake!!!

(-:

The latest rage among these 11 year old girls are Build-a-Bears

(none of which are actually "bears" it seems)

Lara's is the WNBA player on the far right

Then tonight, between Lara arriving home from basketball practice and me running off to choir, we had Grandma and Poppie over for Lara's chosen birthday dinner of nachos and layered jello. She was thrilled to receive lots of Build-a-Bear accessories for her new "bear" which is a leopard. (-:

(check in soon to see one of the accessories on one of her siblings...poor kid)

Still to come she gets to go on a trip downtown (Detroit...yes, there are some cool places there!) this weekend for a birthday meal with Grandma and Grandpa!

I certainly don't recall this kind of treatment when I turned 11!

Happy Birthday, Lara!

Brothers

Had some great family time with the Pierce side of the family at a house on Crystal Lake last weekend. The boys took a side trip over to Lake MI one afternoon and came back with some great pics.

This is the hand . . .

of a 13.5 lb two-month old!

Hangin' around in the sling while I make dinner.

Already a high achiever,

she's between the 75th and 90th percentile in weight!

(she hit two months on Weds...same day Poppie hit 69!)

And proud of it . . .

Uh...Bob . . .

Someone's trying to get ahold of you!

Found this note on my desk/counter when I returned from choir the other night.

And . . .

Another message I found weeks ago before I noticed our trend starting.

(This note is not addressed to Bob. (-:)

Score!!!

O.K, so, yeah...I shop at Value World. There you have it! That link doesn't do it justice, mine has never had anything in there that looks that good. (-: Anyway, I think they're a Purple Heart resale shop because I give to Purple Heart and I once found an old coat of Lara's there (had her name on the tag and everything!). I go there for games/comics, snow gear ($2.50 for a brand new-ish snowsuit!!), school uniform clothes and boys pants (I'm sorry but they go through their knees like there's no tomorrow). Today I was looking for any remaining gloves of the season (no luck) and I stumbled upon the score of the decade (hey! it's the little things these days). Check this out:

A brand new lego set for $2.82!!!

Went online to check the regular selling price...can you see that clearly???...yes, in fact it does say, $124.99!!! (Amazon.com)

SAY WHAT??? I thought.

I checked some more...here we are at Ebay with a starting bid of $75.00!!!

Did I mention I got ours for $2.82???!!!
(-:

One more toy site and again, $124.99!

All the legos were in their original plastic packages, the serial numbers were the same, everything. I, the bargain hunter, am simply beside myself!

Did I mention?
$2.82!!!!

(-:

Finally, a little baby talk:

1. Oh how I wish I could bottle up the smell of our sweet baby. Is that odd that I just stop every now and then to inhale her sweet little baby smell?

2. She is SUCH a good baby! So full of smiles and I'm certain that was a laugh yesterday. Sleeps and eats very well and is most often quite easy to soothe.

3. Though our energetic three year old is truly VERY fond of Livia (no "new baby" jealousy or anything), his love for her is often a bit extreme. You remember the "Close Talker" from Seinfeld? Well, William puts him to shame. Whenever he talks with her or shows her something that he's certain she's going to find hysterical, he's usually about a half inch from her face!

Chow!

This sweet boy . . .

...started his second year of "learn to play" hockey yesterday.

And no...he didn't loose that tooth on the ice. (-:

We're not huge hockey people over here (as a matter of fact this class starts in Sept. (hockey people seemed to know that, it surprised me), but as with last year, we started him in Jan. (goes through March). Seems like plenty enough of hockey time for an eight year old.

Still have a goal of doing a rink in the yard some year. So far this would have been a great winter for it with all our teens and twenties temps. But alas, two important ingredients for making a rink are eluding us right now...time and energy.

On January 3rd . . .

we had Livia's baptism.

Isn't that the sweetest thing?

Back at the house for brunch afterward she was just loving Aunt Kate.


Glad Grandpa got a picture of these four in their fineries and with happy smiles.
Had clothes laid out a 2p.m. Saturday, everyone showered the night before, we were ready and I was determined not to be late (for once). But just as we walked in to find our seats, a certain three year old decided this was going to be the most difficult service of his life and nothing went well for him (and us) the entire service. Livia however was the sweetest, engaged baby taking in all that was the joy of the blessing of baptism.

Here's one of my favorite verses:
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worth of praise.
Phil. 4:8

According to William . . .

You're lucky if:

1. You have TWO, large brown garbage cans - we only have one )-:
2. You have lots of snow on your roof - I guess we don't )-:

(He made these observations while out driving yesterday).

AND

from around the house . . .

Pretty sure this mystery note writer is the same one interested in the Muffin Man.

Nice!
Big kids got home before I put William's paints away and someone evidently needed to practice their penmanship (3rd gr, everything needs to be written in cursive now!).

41 is no 40!

You see, last year this fella turned 40 with much fanfare at a local concert house. Just about a year of thought and planning went into that celebration. But, 41 is no 40 after all. This year our fella enjoyed two large bags of peanut M&M's, and left over baptism cake with a Superman candle.

Happy Birthday, Super Dad!

Last night, sleeping with the babe so I could take a hot soak.