A Night of Sunken Treasure!

Last night, I went to dinner with 4 of my good friends. We went to Cheeseburger In Paradise and it was YUMMY! I celebrated our reunion with a little Sunken Treasure.


It was very yummy. I had a wonderful time with the girls, but I left very sad. Very sad that I don't get to spend every "working" day with them anymore. They are simply some of the best friends I've ever had, and I sincerely hope that we continue to get together for dinner just to spend time together. :) Love you girls!

My Buddy

The most adorable thing happened last night.

Mason was excited about getting outside to help daddy cut the grass. He was getting on his grass cutting boots (yes, he already has a special pair JUST for cutting grass!) and was talking to Savannah.

Mason: "Vannah, you help me cut the grass with daddy?"

Momma: "Honey, Vannah can't help you cut the grass, she's going to stay inside with me."

Then, Mason reaches over to Savannah, smiles and gives her a big hug and says,

"Momma, she's my buddy....Vannah's my buddy."

Awwww....how flippin cute is that.

Of course, I got all weepy eyed and told Mason how awesome of a big brother he is.

Days like that make me forget all about Mason's constant "NO's!" and acting up and reminds me how much I love being a mom. :)

Tag, I'm IT!

My wonderful friend Jessica has tagged me. Oh no! :) Is it Chinese Freeze Tag or TV tag??? Nope, it's Blog Tag!

So here are the rules as to what I had to do and if you are one of my lucky 7 below then you need to also do the following:

1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog .

Here are my seven, some random and some wierd facts:

1. We were talking about the list of concerts that I have been to in my life this past weekend, and it's pretty funny actually, I'll share. In order: Debbie Gibson, New Kids on the Block, Mickey Mouse Club (the one with Justin Timberlake, Kerri Russel etc.), Boyz II Men, Garth Brooks (Indy), Garth Brooks (Evansville), Counting Crows, Matchbox 20, Counting Crows and most recently the May Day concert this past weekend featuring Finger 11, 3 Doors Down and Seether.
2. My favorite ice cream is butter pecan with the mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. YUM YUM YUM!
3. I was a Starbucks HATER until I discovered Java Chip frapuccinos.
4. This weekend, I went to a 500 lap race for radio control cars and my hubby WON!
5. My LEAST favorite chore of all time is doing laundry. I hate it. I despise it. I dread it.
6. I was a Biology major for 3 years before I switched to communications and I regret that decision every day of my life. I'm dying to go back and get my science degree!
7. My favorite TV shows are the Office, Grey's Anatomy, America's Funniest Home Videos, Desperate Housewives and House.

The lucky people I'm tagging are:

Kim
Karen
Jean
Jen

Ok, this isn't fair...I'm toward the end of the blog list and everyone I have has been picked already...hmmm....

JoAnna (although i know she's spending time with her hubby right now)
Dawn
Tamra

I dont know if you know it or not, but I'm kind of a big deal.

My husband that is! :)

Eric does it again. I'm telling you, my husband is good at EVERYTHING he does. I have never in my life seen anyone succeed at everything he tries like my hubby does. He's pretty amazing and definitely a big deal.

So, yesterday he competed in the Guynn 500. It's an annual race that is held by his Uncle John's family. His brother has a huge race track that he built in the backyard of his home just for Radio Control cars. Eric competed in the event last year and came in 2nd. This year, in a close race, he WON 1st PLACE!!!

Check him out with his car and his trophy! :)

I am so proud of you honey! Congratulations! :)

Being Extraordinary

As I sit here about to fall asleep because I had a late night last night. no, the kids weren't up. I was up until 11 watching the Grey's anatomy finale. It was wonderful.

I fought and fought with myself the whole time I was watching as to if I was actually going to stay up, but I made it, and I'm so glad I did. It was an awesome finale for all those Grey's fans out there. I highly recommend the Grey's writers blog if you haven't checked it out yet. So, Meredith finally understood that her mother wanted her to be extraordinary, not in her career, but in love.

It made me wonder about my life and the opportunities that I've been given to be extraordinary, and these are all (ok, some) of the things I'm most proud of.

• Eric and I's 6th anniversary is coming up and I truly believe that our love is extraordinary.
• I try hard every day to be an extraordinary mother to Mason and SG. It's not always easy, but I hope one day they will reflect back and know that I loved them so much and did everything possible to make them happy.
• I truly believe that my love for learning is extraordinary. I'm dying to go back to school and if I could be a professional student I would. My goal in life is to get my doctorate degree and I WILL do it! :)
• I have developed some extraordinary friendships in the past few years. For that, I am unbelieveably thankful.

I know there's more, but my lack of sleep is clouding my efforts to be an extraordinary blogger. :)

Bitter Tuesday

Excuse me for a minute while I vent.

So, our house has been on the market for 17 months, and 2 days. Not that I'm counting or anything. :)

I AM OVER IT!!!!

Yesterday, Eric gets the call that they want to show our house...HOORAY...from 7 to 8 p.m....BOO!!! Eric appropriately told the the agent, the lookers apparently don't have kids. What our onlookers don't understand, and I know don't care about is that our daughter goes down for her beauty sleep between 7 and 8. So, I picked the kids up from school, rushed through the drive through and got home to do some last minute cleaning on the house. At 6:55, the kids, Eric, the stinky wet dogs and I all climbed in the van for an hour of driving around aimlessly. It was great for the first 15 minutes. Following that, the constant question of "where are we going momma????" Where are we going momma? Where are we going momma?" and the fussiness and crying by SG started to get to me. At that point, Eric climbed in the back seat and tended to Savannah, who of course had a poopy diaper and needed to be changed and was ready for a bottle. The passenger seat opened up for none other than my stank dogs. UGH. It was awful.

I hate it. i hate it so much! I hate that I have to drive around for an hour, for people to sneak in and look at my house for 5 to 10 minutes. I hate that my whole van is now COVERED with dog hair. I hate that I had NO way of knowing IF these alleged onlookers even showed up. There needs to be a signal. Turn the kitchen light off. Open the garage door. Write "Your mom was here!" on my wall in lipstick...SOMETHING!

So, we will patiently wait until this weekend or later for feedback on what they thought of our home, only to hear that they really wanted a 4 bedroom or a basement or not to be on a corner lot or if we only had an escalator leading to the 2nd floor, they would have bought it.

I'm begging you, housing market, please turn around. Or, at the least show a little bit of love to Noble Drive! PLEASE! For my sanity's sake!

I've been more than patient!

I have a date with McDreamy! YUM!

So, tonight I'm going on a date with McDreamy. Ok, I know we just saw each other last night at Seattle Grace, but tonight, we have a wedding date. I know, I have issues.

I'm looking forward to my Girls Night Out with my friends tonight. We are going to dinner, and then out to see Made of Honor with none other than, Senor Pizza's delivery man (Loverboy movie reference for those who aren't up on their Dempsey trivia!) True, the story does sound the exact same as My Best Friend's Wedding (one of my favorite movies by the way) but what a fun movie to go see with the girls!

It sounds like it's going to be a quiet weekend at the Pierle house, we'll see how it turns out though. Tiger is playing in a golf tournament in the morning and the kids and I are planning to make a trip to the outlet mall, which Mason mistakenly believes is the "grocery store." No honey, the grocery store is NOT fun, but the mall IS! :) For his future wife's sake, I hope he continues to believe that the grocery store is EXCITING! :)

Works for Me Wednesday: Stationary Hubby!

I found this wonderful new blog, rocks in my dryer...you'll have to check it out. Today's Works for me Wednesday is inspired by my good friend Jenn. Her husband just returned today from Iraq. After knowing her as I have, I can only imagine the excitement that her and her children are feeling knowing that he is safe and sound and back at home.

What works for me is, having a husband that doesn't travel. Military wives and single moms for that matter are amazing women. Eric has been out of town for 3 days training for his new job and it's been crazy. I've been taking care of the kids all by myself, and consoling Mason who's been miserably missing his daddy. I can't imagine having my husband gone for months and months at a time and to add to that knowing that they are risking their lives to protect our country. wow.

So to my wonderful friend Jenn, you are an amazing friend and an amazing momma to your three beautiful children. Your husband is definitely a hero to our country. However, you and your positive attitude, your ability to handle it all alone and make it work for you.....well, that makes you one hell of a hero to me! You're an astonishing woman!

Simple Things I Find Very Satisfying

Cuddling in the blankets in bed with my hubby.

When my dogs are outside and NOT barking.

My kids laughing at each other in the car on the way to and from school.

A clean house (Ok, this isn't as simple as I want it to be!)

Driving my hubby's car and not being a minivan momma for a little bit!

The silence in the house at 2 a.m.

Opening up my favorite book and reading.

Logging into hotmail and seeing a full inbox. :)

Knowing I don't have to decide what to do for dinner.

Talking to my mom on the phone everyday.

The smell of the kids after they get out of the bath.

PJ's!

What are some of your most satisfying simple things?

My wonderful little flower!

As promised, here's a picture of my mothers day present from Savannah!

How cute is this?

Wonderful Mother's Day!

I had a WONDERFUL mother's day! :) On Saturday night, we took my mom and grandma out to dinner to celebrate! We had a great time despite waiting an hour to eat. On Sunday, Mason woke us up at 7:30, and then Eric got Savannah Grace up and she came in with a Mother's Day card. i got a beautiful card from Eric and from the kids, and I got a full day spa gift certificate! I'm so excited!!

We then went over to mom and dad's for a mother's day lunch! We had a great time and the girls weren't allowed to do anything. The boys did a great job!

I got the cutest gift from Savannah from her teachers at daycare. It was an adorable pot with a flower and a picture of her adorable face in the middle. On the outside of the pot, it had "You are my sunshine" printed on it. ADORABLE. I immediately started crying when I saw it! I'll have to take a picture and post it.

Eric is on his way to CO today. I'm going to miss him. I know Mason's going to miss him. He's obsessed with his daddy right now. This morning he asked where eric was and I told him he was at the airport. Mason said, "Daddy's going to be flying in an airplane! I go with him." I said, "yeah, we'll go with daddy on an airplane soon." He said, "no momma, not you. Just me. Just me and daddy." The boy LOVES his daddy!

What I'm thankful for!

Mother's day is coming and I want to pay tribute to the people that make me a better mother.

• Thank you to my wonderful husband for getting me into this situation! :) hee hee


• Thank you to Savannah and Mason for teaching me something new everyday. I never thought I could feel so much love and pride for anyone in my life!


• Thank you to my mom. You're the strongest woman I know and I've learned so much from you. You're one of the few people that are constantly telling me how I'm a good mom and I need to hear that so thank you! I love you!!!


• Thank you to my in-laws (my other parents!) You are always willing to help out and spend time with the kids. That means more to me than anything! I'm so excited that Mason and Savannah are lucky enough to have grandparents like you. I love you both so much!


• Thank you to my friends for constantly giving me advice and guidance as I go through this amazing experience!

I took these pictures the other day and everytime I look at them I think how lucky I am to have a wonderful family!

Letting Go and Being Brave

I'm amazed everyday as I watch my kids grow up. Everyday there is something that I am in awe about. SG has definitely caught my attention these last few days. Now, I watched Mason grow up and it's funny how I don't remember him doing this.

Savannah's started letting go. She'll stand up and lean against me and then she pushes off to stand on her own. She's testing the water and seeing how far she can go. Sure, sometimes she falls right on her butt (kinda like her mom) but then sometimes she just stands there tall and amazes herself AND me. I hate that she's growing up. She's getting so brave and independent and it's fascinating to watch. I guess it's nice that she's still leaning on me for support, but she's growing up so fast!

It's funny, we all get so comfortable with our day to day lives, but my daughter's lack of fear has prompted me to question myself. What is there that I need to step out and be bold and brave about?

Thank God for wonderful people!

As I was driving home yesterday after a lunch with friends, I got to thinking how important friendships have become in my life lately. A lot has changed for our family in the last month. I got a new job, Eric got a new job, Savannah's getting tubes, Mason's growing up and just being himself. Without the support of my IRL (in real life) friends and my wonderful online friends (many of whom I haven't met yet) I don't think I could handle all the day to day changes in my life.

In the past, I was one that would consider myself having just two or three really close friends, but I feel like things have changed and I have so many people in my life to be grateful for.

My OneAmerica friends
Thank you to my OneAmerica friends for lunch yesterday. I miss you and the laughs we all have together every day! Each of you means a lot to me and I'm grateful that we've been able to stay in touch as I changed jobs!

Susan, E and Melissa especially...thank you for your friendship. I have never been so close to my friends at work as I was with you 3. I love you girls!

My Vera Vixens
Thank you for sharing this unique obsession with me! I love that I can be myself and we can all be crazy together!

My Online friends
I must say that a lot of people don't understand this relationship that I have with these wonderful ladies. We all met on a message board some 3 or 4 years ago. The group of us has become extremely close through e-mail and thanks to them, I usually have between 300-400 emails in my inbox everyday. We talk EVERY DAY! We share everything, the good, the bad and the exciting changes in our lives. We've been through a lot and we support each other through the everyday ups and downs in our lives. Honestly, I don't know how moms can make it without friends like you. I love you all and your children as if we get together every weekend for dinner or to hang out with our kids! I respect you all more than you'll ever know and I can't imagine my life without you in it. I can't wait until we finally can meet!

My best friend
Eric, I love you more than you know. Thank you for always keeping me laughing. Thank you for sharing my sense of humor. Thank you for all of the support and love that you've given me in the past 10 years! I adore you.