Bike riding!

Today was a beautiful day - January 29th and 70 degrees!  (Yes, it was wonderful, but when it's 90+ degrees and 80% humidity for 3 solid months this summer, you won't be so jealous!)

A friend down the street gave TJ a bike.  He was (almost) a natural.  Michael helped him for a while, and he was having a great time. 

Brielle didn’t have a bike yet  and was really disappointed.  She said, “Eli – cycle.  TJ – cycle.  Me – no cycle.”  So I HAD to go get her one. ..  I couldn’t let her go very long with “no cycle.”  It took her a little while to get the hang of pedaling, but by the end of the afternoon they were both doing great! 

(So you don't have to watch the entire videos, I've put a few of the highlight times beneath each one.)

Part 1 – TJ riding (sort of…)

0:35-0:50 - TJ falling with style
2:40-3:00 - TJ falls, blames Dad
3:25-4:05 - TJ runs into car AND house

Part 2 -

0:40-1:00 - TJ falls, blames Dad again (a scenario that was repeated many times today!)
1:45-1:59 - crashes into house AGAIN

Part 3 -

0:50-1:15 - Brielle on bike, TJ tries to hog camera time
5:20-end - Wyatt's crash (background)

Part 4 -

 1:11-1:13 - TJ helping Brielle ride bike
3:30-4:40 - Brielle getting better
5:55-6:40 - Brielle riding
7:10-7:50 - 2 new bike riders

When I got up this morning I never would have expected that we would have 8 bikes in the garage by the end of the day and two more riders, but, wow, what a great day!

Dinner time!

Dinner time is always an interesting time at our house.  Here are a few of our experiences from Jan 8th and Jan 22nd.  The Jan 8th videos cover the entire dinner - 30 whole minutes - but I have noted some of the "highlights" below.  If you only watch one part of one video, be sure to watch "Brielle, beans, carrots".  On the Jan 22nd videos, I only recorded a few portions of our dinner.  Here is a glimpse into dinner at the Pierce home.  It's sometimes wild.  Sometimes crazy.  Always real. 

January 8, 2011

Part 1


0:00-1:00 - “no photo”, blessing

2:30-3:15 – “Deke, you’re driving me crazy

5:10-7:00 – Brielle, beans, carrots

8:30-8:40 – “How are you?”

9:40-10:00 – “English, please”, “How are you doing?”



Part 2


0:00-:010 – winking

0:40-1:50 – Deke takes Brielle’s glass, winking, dancing

3:00-4:00 – Eli and Deke take TJ’s glass and hide it

5:30-6:30 – TJ tries to put food he doesn’t want on Dad’s plate

8:00-9:08 – “No sleeping!”

9:50-10:00 – dance beginning


Part 3



0:00-1:02 – dance/song cont’d

2:15-5:00 – Did you like dinner, carrots? Days of week. “We go to church.”

7:15-7:42 – Do you like church?

8:20-10:00 – Dance and hand-jive

January 22, 2011

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Part 4

Hair!

I've admitted from the beginning that the whole "hair" issue has been a big area of fear for me.
"I am SO unqualified."
"What if I really mess it up?"
"I have no idea what to do!"

So for the last four and a half weeks I have avoided doing anything but washing, conditioning, combing and putting a headband in Brielle's hair.  It looked pretty cute, but I knew I couldn't stick with that plan forever. 

So last night I mustered up the courage to "do" Brielle's hair.  I am so thankful that she is such a sweet and patient child.  It was like she knew I was clueless and she just had pity on me.  She sat amazingly still for a LONG time (much longer than that hairsyle should have required!), and here are the results!

 

Even though it's not perfect, it will do for now.  Of course, I used every bit of knowledge, creativity and skill that I have so I'm not really expecting to do much better than this.  I posted the photos on Facebook last night and someone jokingly asked if I could write out the steps... so I did. 

Here they are:

Wash.

Condition.

Condition again.

Wipe conditioner off your hands.

Drink some tea.

Comb. Comb. Comb.

Drink some more tea.

Try to make a straight part.

Try again.

Try again.

Take a tiny ponytail holder and open with your teeth.

Try it again because that one broke.

Finally get that tiny thing open and work like crazy to get it around the teeny tiny pony tail.

Say, "Just a few more minutes, okay?"

Go back to the "Comb. Comb. Comb." step and repeat all following steps about 15 times.

Voila! You're done! EASY as that!

I plan to research some other options and probably go find some "professional" help, but this will have to do for the next several days. 

3 weeks...

3 weeks together. Wow. Here are some thoughts about the last 21 days…

Some moments of the day it’s hard to believe we’ve been together 3 whole weeks already.

Some moments of the day it seems like we’ve been together forever.

Some moments of the day it seems like that single day has lasted (and probably will last) forever.

I know God has miraculously brought all of us together on this journey, and I am so thankful for that. God brought us kids #1, #2, #3, and #4 each in their own way, and it has been the journey to # 5 and #6 which has reminded me of God’s intricate plan to join people together for His glory and for their own benefit and blessing. It was HIS plan. It IS His plan.

God certainly chose TJ and Brielle for us, prepared us for them and prepared them for us. Mr. TJ’s little tricks and schemes have all been seen before by these two well-seasoned parents, and Little Miss Brielle’s pouting spells just don’t work with us. TJ actually seems glad to when he gets “caught” trying to pull things over on us. I think it makes him feel safe to know that we’re not just some ignorant people he can fool all the time. We’ve been through it all before, and we’re not fooled or swayed by drama, crying, or blaming others. And Brielle will try to get her way by pouting and being pitiful, but when we ignore it she just does what needs to be done and is over it in a few minutes. God’s been preparing us for these battles for years, literally years! We’re ready for ya, baby!

One of the things I was most concerned about beforehand was Mattea needing her personal space and “alone time” and how sharing a room with a 3-year-old sister would affect that. Thankfully, that hasn’t been an issue so far. Mattea loves Brielle so much, carries her around, asks if she can help her get her bath, etc. I am so proud of her for stepping up and being such a big helper. Mattea has been able to be alone in her room some, so that has been good, and so far things have gone incredibly smoothly. Praying that continues.

Mattea doing her school work with Brielle in her lap

I was also concerned about Wyatt adjusting to not being the center of attention anymore. Wyatt LOVES being “on”. That’s where he is most comfortable. He is a true baby of the family personality who expects everyone to give him all their attention all the time. I knew he would have some issues with having to share his “attention” with his little brother, but I completely misjudged how much it would affect my sweet baby. He has had such a hard time with it. It is so sad. I have cried several times just watching him struggle with trying to figure out where he belongs now and what his place in the family is. Yesterday was the first day that he actually played with TJ – it took 3 weeks for two boys who have been together 24/7 to play together. They just haven’t connected very well. I have confidence they will, though. God can handle it, and I’m praying for Him to join their hearts together in a miraculous and beautiful way.