It's December Again!

I haven't had time for blogging lately, but I have time to repost my post from last December! Enjoy!

Ode to Borders

**I went to my blog to start a parenting/marathon post, but found this one that I started a few weeks ago.  I decided to just finish it and publish this one first.**

I know I'm an MIA blogger!  My life is crazy busy right now.  If I had more time, I'd blog about the fact that I just moved, or that my husband is traveling overseas and I have a renewed appreciation for single parents, or that I'm turning 40 in less than two weeks, or that I'm planning to run a marathon (the day before my 40th birthday), or that soccer is taking over my life, or that parenting a three-year-old who thinks nothing of throwing fits all the time and refuses to potty train is exhausting....

Instead, this post is about my how very sad I am that my neighborhood Borders is closed.  This is my letter (my ode) to Borders!

Dear Borders,

THANK YOU!!  Really, thank you SO MUCH!!  Your presence in my life over the last 7 years can only be described as priceless...truly priceless!

In the early years, parenting two young children was incredibly challenging, to say the least.  There were days when a trip to the children's section of your store is what helped me keep my sanity.  Before the kids could read, I sat on one of the circular stools (you know the ones that can be used individually or pushed all together to form a circle?) while the kids pulled books that looked interesting from the shelves.  We read those books together-- sometimes for an hour or more.  When they became independent readers, we all found books we liked, and enjoyed sitting next to each other and reading to ourselves!!  Those were precious, precious (sometimes sanity-saving) moments.  Thank you!!

Date nights often included a trip to Borders.  My husband and I loved to go out to eat and then go hang out at your coffee shop.  We usually browsed the books (I liked the clearance section best!!), and then settled down with magazines or books and enjoyed time together, doing our own thing! Sometimes we took travel books off the shelves and talked about vacations we might take one day!  The date night that is most significant for me, though, and the one I must thank you for the most is the date night we had the night before I went into labor with my third child, Mary (I wish you could meet her, she loved you too!). I had decided to have Mary naturally (you know, no drugs!), and on that particular night while Gary was on his way to the second floor bathroom of your store, he stumbled across a book called, The Birth Partner -- a book written for him!  He and I spent the rest of date night looking at that book. I read the rest the next day.  He spent the next evening reading the important parts, and that night I went into labor.  Your book changed our experience significantly for the better -- the extent of which we'll never know!  Thank you!!

I can't tell you how many trips I made to your store by myself.  Your coupons came to my email, and gave me a wonderful excuse to come see you!  I bought books, cookbooks, gifts for friends and family, stationary, cards, magazines, coffee and treats....!  I enjoyed myself immensely, believe me!  Thank you!!

I miss you already, Borders!!  I drive by your empty store and feeling the sadness creep over me!  Thank you for the impact that you had on my family and me.  We have some beautiful memories of time spent together, while inside your walls. Goodbye, dear, dear friend!  Thank you!!

Very Gratefully,
Laura Pierson

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!”