Just a few more days....

With the hustle and bustle of Christmas upon us, I just had to sit down and share some of the happenings around the Pierce camp....

First and foremost, we truly are feeling the blessing of Jesus Christ this season.  We are extremely grateful for our families health and happiness this year.  We are excited to watch the excitement in little Reese's face as she opens her gifts.  She loves to point out Santa in all the books and movies around, and she loudly exclaims "Ho Ho Ho" when she sees him.

We were hit hard with a major ice storm about a week and a half ago, we were without power for six days, thank goodness my parents had power after 3 days at their ranch, so we spent the night with them those few days.  My Mom and I were talking one day and I told her I couldn't help but think God was telling us "Hold up people, this season is about ME!"  Had we not been iced in, for sure we would have been running 60,000 different errands getting shopping and baking done.

We had Christmas with my sister and her family this past weekend.  Oh, what fun we had!  Of course, everyone watched Reese tear into her packages!  This only led to confusion afterwards for the poor girl, I had to keep a close watch for the gifts still under the tree, she thinks she should open everyone!!!  We ate, laughed, watched football and volleyball and ate some more!  My Mom made the Southern Living holiday cake, the Red Velvet Cheesecake cake, yeah, THAT one!!  It was fabulous!!  She is such a great cook!

Now, I must finish my wrapping!  Merry Christmas to all!!!

Enter THIS give-away!!!!!

Check this give away out!!! On, second thought...Don't, I want to win it!!!  I could totally finish my Christmas shopping with this card!!!!

Guest posting!

Hey ya'll!  I'm guest posting today over at Stafford Stories...Melissa is doing an awesome series on working moms!  Hope you enjoy!!!


And, just because she's cute......

Huggies Rewards

For all you mama's out there.....Do you keep up with your Huggies Rewards points?  (the little yellow sticker inside the wrapper of the diapers?)  I am a coupon/reward card junkie, so I started saving all the little stickers on the diapers and entering the codes in on-line.  I glanced over the reward catalog a time or two, and saw several things I wanted.  This week I got an email with awesome news!.......they now offer diapers as a reward....CHA-CHING!!!  This girl is now cashing in!!!

P.S.  You can get rewards from wipes too!

Check it out on Huggies.com

...I was not paid to write this post. (though, it would really be nice!)

HUGGIES® Little Movers Diapers Big Pack (available in sizes 3-6**)

HUGGIES® Little Movers Diapers are designed to provide a flexible fit for your active baby. •Unique contoured shape provides a comfy fit that stays in place •Flexible, absorbent pad moves with baby •SnugFit* waistband keeps the diaper firmly...

Points: 1000

Saturday

I had a "catch up" day today!  I intended to sleep in, my vacation is almost over....but, as always, I woke up about 7 a.m.  I waited to see if Reese was going to get up also, but that silly girl slept until 9:00!  That never happens!  I got tons of stuff done before the princess got up!

McKenna came home from baseball practice and watched Reese while I cleaned out the fridge and did the dishes and got the kitchen cleaned up.  For some reason, my house always seems cleaner if my kitchen is clean!  I whipped up a cookie bar recipe for the Back to School bash at our Youth ministers house tonight.  It was so good...recipe to follow!

Reese and I laid down and took a little nap this afternoon.  We all came home from Alabama with a summer cold and I personally feel like a truck ran over my face.  Ugh, I hate sinus pressure!  We got up and got ready to go to Robin and Steve's house.  We ate hot dogs and hamburgers, then watched the kids swim.  I won a game of horseshoes against Bill then we had the neatest experience....Steve set up a movie on the outside screen, it was awesome to watch under the stars.  The movie was called Homerun....it was fabulous if you ever get the chance to see it!

Here's the recipe I made:
1 yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick butter, melted
Mix above ingredients and pat into greased 13 x 9 pan.
Add a layer of coconut, then chopped pecans, then milk chocolate chips.
Pour a can of Eagle brand milk over the entire pan.
Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Danger...it is RICH!

5 on Friday!

It's FRIDAY!!  Yippee!   I'm linking up today to share my favorite things today!!  This is the last day of my vacation, so I'll try to stay upbeat!  Haha!

ONE.....I'm loving my girl even more this week!  She's is at the age where she repeats things I say, yes, I know, I have to be careful from now on!  But when I am getting her ready to go somewhere, I'll say, "let's go" and she says "go, go, go."  It's so stinking cute!  Or when I am in the house and I need to go to another room, I'll say "go."  and she'll say it then too!  I love it!

TWO....We started the Beth Moore Bible Study "Esther" in my ladies group at church.  It. is. amazing.  If you've ever attended a study with her, you understand what I'm talking about.  This is the second study in a row our group has done.  I love being a part of a group of ladies that desires to study His word and supports each other in our everyday life.


THREE....I'm loving the approaching school year!  School is about to start here, like, next week!  With school brings schedules, routines, and fresh school supplies!  My son will be a Sophomore, so there's not a lot of supplies we buy, but for him, school means the start of Fall baseball!!  Woo hoo!  That gets us excited at the Pierce house!!!!

FOUR.....I'm in love with Gulf Shores, Alabama.  We just spent the week down there and I loved everything about it!  The water, the sand, the sun....oh, it was toatally awesome!  We ate, laughed, slept, played in the water, played in the sand.  Before we left the city limits we were planning next years vacation!

FIVE....I'm loving all the back to school sales!  I scored khaki cargo shorts at Abercrombie for my teen, for 15.00!  That's more than half off!!  Woo hoo!!

Reese's First Birthday!

Our sweet girl turned ONE on June 12, 2012....gosh, I can't believe a year passed so fast!!!

 I was so excited to wake up that morning, knowing in just a few short hours, I would meet the precious girl God blessed us with!  I wasn't nervous one bit, though I was having a c-section and had never, ever had any kind of surgery!  (and I'm terrified of needles!)

 The first picture of the three of us!  I was on top of the world!!!!

My best friend, Misty makes wonderful cakes so she came over to help me make Reese's cupcakes and birthday cake.  I wanted to do a rainbow layer cake since her theme was Sesame Street.  Misty did an amazing job!  I basically was just the gopher!  Her daughters came with her and helped wrangle Reese while we baked!

 We used my grandmothers recipe of buttercream icing for the cake....it is so good and the cake turned out amazing!

 I loved these tissue pom poms I found on Pinterest!  My friend Sherri at work helped me make the pom poms.  I had no idea how to do the pom poms, just the faces!

 I made the banner and I love it!  I wished I could have left it up for a little longer!  The colors of Sesame Street make me happy!  I love bright, vibrant colors.  In the colored sacks are the treats for the kids, I did Sesame coloring books and crayons.  My mom and I collected coloring books for a few weeks before.  Sesame Street books aren't as common as you think!

 This isn't a great picture of the cake, but it was completely gone after the party!  The cupcakes were delicious also!!

 Mom and Reese, she bought the 3 foot cookie monster balloon for the party!  It was so cute and is STILL up!

 The Birthday Girl!!!

 My Aunt Be Be and Uncle Mike came to Reese's party from Wichita Falls along with my cousins and their kids.  BeBe made Reese's smash cake...she had made my niece's cake and my nephews on their first birthday also!  Reese loved the smash cake!

 My sister and sister in law bathed Reese after the smash cake so I could get the gifts all ready to go!  Thanks girls!

 Reese and Brahm!  I work with Brahm's mommy and they are just 3 weeks apart!  He set on her Princess sofa with her...sweet!

 She LOVED all her gifts!  and was very interested all the way to the end!  We were so blessed with lots of family and friends that day!  It makes my heart swell with pride that so many people love and care about her!

 My cousin's daughter Mia entertained Reese at breakfast the morning after the party!  They stayed with us all weekend and we enjoyed getting to catch up and love on all the kiddos!

Miss Priss loved her coupe car!!!  We go for an evening stroll everyday!!!

Reese is such a blessing to our family!  I am amazed sometimes that God chose me to be her mommy.  She is so smart, loving and sometimes mischievious! She makes me smile everyday and I am so proud to be her mama!!!  Happy Birthday My sweet princess!!!!  May you have at least 100 more!!!!

Getting excited...but first...10,000 things to do

We are heading to Gulf Shores this coming week.  We are so very excited!  It will be our first beach vacation, Reese's first vacation period and the first we are taking with dear friends, the Russells.

I'm a planner...and I've been banned from planning out every minute of every day we will be gone.  Clint wants to have a beachy attitude...relaxation is our number one goal.  I'm ok with that, kinda.  I still have to have a rough idea of what I'm doing daily, I am not a person that can just role with it.  I've tried.  So, we got together Friday night to "sorta" set an agenda just so I can function!  Ha.  We are planning on leaving very early Thursday morning, visiting the Duck Commander in Monroe (and hopefully getting to see any of the Robersons!) then on to Vicksburg, MS for the night.  We will be headed to the condo on Friday.

I've scoped out lots of great places to eat while in Gulf Shores....if you have any suggestions, send them my way!
My Saturday was full of "to-dos"...

I got my hair cut and colored this morning.  It feels great to have it freshened up for the trip.  My goal is to come home with a nice photo for our Christmas cards this year!

Clint ran Sophie over to the vet, turns out Miss Priss has been sharing her food with the doggy!  And Sophies belly couldn't take it!  Glad my four legged baby is finally feeling better.

We hit up Academy for my boys some beach clothes....On the ranch, there isn't much use for shorts and flip flops.  They are fixed up now though!

And last thing on our list...attending the 6th birthday of our dear friends precious girl, Emili.  I'll never forget the day she was born.  She was the first baby I had witnessed the birth of and it was amazing.  Her mom, Misty has been my best friend since we were 4, and Emi and I have a very close relationship.  Misty swears its because we bonded that day she entered the world!  She is adorable and Reese loves her!  McKenna took Reese down the inflatable water slide!  It was so cute, but she wasn't fond of it!

Ok...now I think bed is on my list next!

Happy trails.....

Finish the sentence.....

I thought it would be fun to link up today!! I like reading random questions/answers about people...its fun to see what others think!


If I had one extra hour in the day..I would probably clean house!  That's seems to be what I do if I have an extra time!

I wish my name...I'm fine with my name....:)

I think anything chevron is... absolutely adorable!!!  So in love with the pattern right now!

My last nightmare...made me feel scared....it shouldn't be repeated.

Sometimes...I daydream about being a stay-at-home mom, carpooling my kids to school, baking them treats, and having a spotless home! 

My last meal on earth would be...My mom's fried steak, mashed potatos, gravy, red beans, biscuits, sweet tea and red velvet cake.

I would much rather...be happy than rich.

Mayonnaise...is gross.

10 years ago, I didn't think...I would have a child of my own!

Selfishly...I plan my Sunday afternoons around a nap!

My favorite show on TV right now...is currently off season but its DALLAS!

And, George Zimmerman...so glad that's over!

Confidence in Motherhood

Kelly wrote a wonderful post on being confident in choices you make as a mom.  I literally could have written that post myself...it was like she was reading my mind!  I wasn't ready to be a mom until my early thirties....what I didn't know was that God wasn't ready until I was 37!  It was such a painful few years.  A few years I was just assume forget about.  BUT, I have the sweetest, most beautiful baby girl now and I do have a hard time remembering all the painful stuff.  It was a season, and I believe God sends us through different seasons to make us stronger and more thankful.

The choices I made with Reese are mine.  I am mostly confident in them.. Now, I'm not saying I don't ask friends about what they did in certain instances but I still decide for myself.  Breastfeeding was my first choice I made...but I went into it with the mindset, if it worked, it worked.  If it didn't, I'd switch to formula.  Luckily, Reese nursed wonderfully until 7 months.  I tried not to be consumed with "breast milk is best" because I was a formula baby, and turned out fine.
Kelly made a point that she could not let her girls "cry it out"...I was so relieved to hear that!  I CANNOT do it either!  I loved to rock Reese as a baby, and I still do!  That is part of our routine that I love!  I will rock her when she's 13 if she'll let me!  Ha!  She sleeps pretty decent, goes to bed around 8:30 in her crib in my room, she wakes up around 12 or 1 for a little "swig" of warm milk and she's out again.  At this time, she may or may not end up snuggled up next to mama in the big bed!  I know, I know, most of you are shaking your head but as a friend put it to me, "you only have her for 18-20 years then she'll be gone."  So basically, if she wants to sleep with us until then, we're fine with that.  The biggest thing about that is that Clint is fine with it too, if he didn't want her in the bed, we'd figure something else out.
Taking the bottle and sooby (pacifier) away is something I haven't faced or thought too much about, to be honest!  I dread the day.  She gets so excited when she sees me making her bottle and  I just can't stand that thought of her having to give up something she loves so much.  I am confident we won't go to Kindergarten with it though!  HA

Girls Clothing Sale, 0-12 months

I'm linking up with Kelly's Korner today for her clothing sale.  Kids grow out of cloths so quickly and Reese is small enough, most of what I have she only wore once or sadly, not at all!

Comment on this post, list the # of the picture you want, first come, first serve.  

Shipping will be 2.00 for first item, add .50 per item after that.  Leave paypal email also please!

SOLD

SOLD

Gymboree...6-12 mo....3 piece set...15.00

SOLD

SOLD

#6  Baby Gap.... size 0-3 months......worn once......5.00

#7  Baby Gap.......size 3-6 months.....5.00

#8  Children's Place......size 12 months......8.00

These boots are made for ALMOST walking!

Miss Priss is SOOOO close to walking! She has taken 2 steps two different times!! I figure it's just a matter of time before she takes off!! I can't believe it's that time already! I love watching her learn and experience new things but I want her to stay a baby a little longer!

I could just eat those little fat baby thighs UP!!!!

Plans are underway for her 1st birthday extravaganza!! I want her day to be so special! At Reese's 9 mo check-up, our pediatrician made the comment that the next time she sees us, Reese will be one. She said it was time to start planning the party and to remember, keep it simple, because I would be doing one a year for the next 18! Clint piped up and said, "Oh, we're way past simple ALREADY!!" Such a comedian!