Parenting....WIN!!

This is not something you'll hear from me very often: "Parenting: win!", but in this case I think it applies.  I want to share with you my feel-like-a-GOOD-mom story, because I think that I often tend to focus on the situations that could be considered parenting: fail(s)!

This summer I told the kids that for every 100 pages they read, they could choose the menu for one meal.  Gregory read 100 pages in one day, and the next night for dinner we had his favorite -- beef stroganoff.  I had to increase his required reading to 200 pages.  It took Ruthie a few days to reach 100 pages, and I made pizza for her dinner.  Soon, Gregory read 200 more and we had grilled chicken...etc...

Here's the deal, I'm not a great cook!  It would be easy to think of all this requested cooking as a hardship, but it wasn't and here's why: during these meals, the kids gave me all kinds of wonderful loving props for making the food they love.  The compliments were flying!!  Also, the kids were proud of themselves for earning it!  Win-win!!

The clincher, though, was this:  while eating one of his favorite meals, Gregory said, "Our mom has the best summer reading program in all of St. Louis!"

I Survived...

....Birthday season in the Pierson house!!  Between April 19th and June 18th, we had the birthdays of one adult (not me) and three children! That means:

Three special birthday meals at home and one birthday meal at Dewey's Pizza...

One birthday cake and three cookie cakes...

Four dozen sugar cookies for classroom celebrations...

Three kids' birthday parties, complete with two dozen cupcakes (each)...

And lots and lots of planning, shopping, wrapping, preparing and cleaning up!!

Whew!!!

Thankful for Mary

Three months

Yesterday was Mary's 3rd birthday.  I don't even know where to start when it comes to describing Mary.  She's so different than my other kids.  She is just her own person!  Gregory is so much like me, and Ruthie is so much like Gary, and Mary is just so much... well, like Mary!!  She's energetic and out-going.  She's independent and stubborn.  And she's funny!  She is seriously so funny!  Gary likes to describe her as, "the star of her own show".  I'll give you a few examples:

One year

* When Gregory and Ruthie were in a school performance, they were on stage with a huge group of kids.  Mary couldn't find them on stage.  She turned to me, very worried, and said, "Oh No!  Our kids are missing!"

*Mary and I went to Gary's office to meet him for lunch.  On the way, we talked about what we were doing, but when we got off the elevator, Gary walked toward us, and Mary said to him, "Hey!  What are YOU doing here?"

*We met a dog at the local coffee shop.  Mary said, "Hi Doggie.  Do you do tricks?  Because I do tricks." She then proceeded to spend the next 5 minutes showing the dog all her tricks!

*Her favorite expression is, "What the heck?"  I have to tell you, it's so funny, coming from a 2 year old.  Sometimes now she shortens it to "What the...?" and that's even funnier!

Two years

*When we ask her to do things (like give us hugs) and she doesn't feel like it, she says, "No, I can't.  My batteries are broken."

*When the sun is in her eyes, or water from the bath gets in them, she'll squeeze her eyes tight and scream, "I can't see my eyes!  I can't see my eyes!"

*Yesterday she wanted to go to McDonald's for dinner, and she said, "Can we got to Old McDonald had a farm?"

Mary's a hoot and we all adore her!  I'm so thankful that she is the child who completed our family!

Almost three years

Happy Birthday, Mare-zee Pie!  You make my heart swell!

Thankful for Ruthie

Six Months

Two Years

(May 23rd was Ruthie's 8th birthday.  I was having trouble with this blog, so just today I'm posting my gratitude post from last Friday.)

Monday was Ruthie's birthday, and I'm so thankful that the Lord saw fit to give her to me!!  I'm not sure if you read my post about Gregory, but as much as Gregory is like me, Ruthie is not.  Ruthie takes after Gary to an unbelievable degree!  She's quiet and pensive.  She's long and lanky.  She prefers vanilla over chocolate, and she calls Mary "honey", just liker her dad and grandpa! She's also as low maintenance as the day is long (a good balance to the other two!!)!  She's a beauty in every sense of the word, and I am so blessed. 

Happy Birthday, dear sweet Ruthie!!  I love you!!

Eight Years

Five Years

Wisdom from Oprah

Today I watched the final episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show.   You can say what you will about Oprah – this post is not about whether she is a national treasure or a mountain of hype!  This post is my opportunity to share with you some things I’ve taken from her show that pertain to my parenting. 
 
Today, while watching Oprah, these thoughts and questions came to me regarding my children:
 
*I have the great privilege of being Mom to Gregory, Ruthie and Mary, AND
 
*The greatest gift I can give them is my love, SO
 
*Do I make them feel loved, and worthy, and smart, and pretty?
*Do my eyes light up when they enter the room?
*Do I bring positive energy to my family? AND
 
*Do I constantly communicate these important encouragements to my 3 precious kids:
  “I SEE you!  I HEAR you! Who you are, and what you say, MATTER to me!”

Friday's Gratitude

Gary was gone this week from Sunday morning to Wednesday night.  The last time he was gone for that long, I realized when he got back that I hadn't had a meaningful, face-to-face conversation with another adult the entire time he was gone!!  Those of you who know me, know that not having real conversations with people regularly is just not ok.

This week was different, though.  I enjoyed meaningful conversations with friends over coffee or lunch every day this week!  What a blessing, especially for this interaction-starved stay-at-home mom!  Today I am thankful for friends, and for precious time spent with them!

It's Friday, and I'm Thankful

I'm trying to keep up with blogging about gratitude on Fridays.  I haven't had time until now to sit and write, so I'll make it brief.

1) Mary: I'm thankful that in the midst of all her feisty stubbornness, she still makes me laugh on a regular basis.  This week she looked at me and said, "Mama, Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  The thing is, Mary can't say the "th" sound, so it actually sounded like this, "Mama, Are you finkin' what I'm finkin'?"  It took me a minute to figure out what she was saying, but when I did, I laughed!  Who knows where she gets this stuff??

2) Gary:  This is going to be an expression of gratitude that comes in through the back door, so just bear with me.  Gary was gone Thursday night until pretty late.  I got the kids from school, quickly made dinner and got them out the door for soccer practice.  Came home from practice, got them all showered and pj'ed and tucked in bed.  I was exhausted!  That's when I thought about how very thankful I am for Gary!!  There are many reasons, but this week I was reminded of how great it is that he comes home almost every night, eats with us, plays with the kids, and then gets them all to bed.  Sometimes it takes having to do all that myself to remind me how blessed I am to have Gary helping me along on this journey called parenthood!

3) Caren:  My dear friend, Caren, and I went to the movies this week.  It was such a nice, unusual thing to be out at night with her, going to the movies!!  Words cannot express all the ways in which I am thankful for Caren!!  I also probably can't express (in words that would make sense to you) how much I love the movies!!  Thanks, Caren!  (And thanks, Water for Elephants!)

4) The Cupid Shuffle:  One of my favorite moments this week (maybe this month) was watching Gregory and Ruthie teach Mary the Cupid Shuffle.  They learned it at school.  After they taught Mary, the three of them sang and danced together until I made them go to bed.  I loved every precious minute of it!  "To the right, to the right..... to the left, to the left.... now kick, now kick..... now walk it by yourself, now walk it by yourself...."

What are you thankful for this week???