Books For The Girly Girls

Both my kiddos love to read. Jensen doesn't sit still for much but he will sit down for a good book. This makes me over the moon happy because I have always been a big reader and think it is such a big deal to cultivate a passion for it at a young age. It definitely helps that we have a super cool library here in Midlothian that my kids love to go to and play at then hunt for and check out the perfect books...its seriously awesome!
Lately, Gianna has expressed interest in only one type of book...her type of book...girly girl books. So, this post is for all you mommas out there with girls who are looking for more books for your girly girl. Gianna is, more than ever, into dressing up and her newest obsession, accents and acting things out. So, not only do I need to read her a book nowadays but she gets to pick the accent that I read it in and she acts it out. (Watch out Oscars...this mother daughter duo is a force to be reckoned with!)
When Gianna was born, our dear Aunt Nancy bought Gianna the book Fancy Nancy and Her Friend Bree. It was my first time seeing this book and over the years it has absolutely become one of Gianna's favorites. It wasn't until about a year ago that I realized Fancy Nancy was a series of books so we started reading all of them. Gigi's friend Aubree recently turned us onto the Pinkalicious series and there began the obsession. So here is a brief list and description of Gianna's favorite girly girl books and we would LOVE to hear yours to add to our collection...happy reading!

Fancy Nancy by, Jane O'Conner and Robin Preis Glasser

We are definitely partial to Fancy Nancy as she was our very first girly girl book but also because she like to use cool fancy words. Gianna LOVES to try and incorporate Fancy Nancy's vocabulary into her vocabulary which is just too awesome! Some of the books, like the sticker books are also really fun because they let the child dress up the character in the story. It says ages 4-8 but Gianna has been enjoying these books since she was about 2 1/2 and the brightly colored pages definitely kept her attention.

Gigi, God's Little Princess by, Shiela Walsh

When Gianna was dedicated at church, her Auntie Nikki and Uncle D got her this adorable book and DVD series and the very fact that the little girls name is Gigi is just too awesome! It has an amazing spiritual message for little girls that they are all princesses because they are daughters to the greatest King of all God! Not to mention it incorporates all things pink and pretty! Its the perfect book for any little girl 3 and up.

Pinkalicious by, Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann

The Pinkalicious series is newer to us and we are having a great time reading this series of books and there are a lot to choose from. What we love best about this book series is that there is always lesson tucked in, she has an amazing imagination and she LOVES all things pink just like Gianna! There are also books called Goldilicious, Purplelicious, Silverlicious and Emeraldlicious. We haven't got to them all yet but Gianna's favorite is Goldilicous because its about Pinkalicious' imaginary unicorn Goldilicious and Gianna's favorite animal right now is a unicorn because, "even though they aren't real, they are the prettiest."

Shoe La La by, Karen Beaumont

Now this book is just plain fun to read! This is easily a 2 years and up book due to the colorful illustrations and fun rhyming, "Shoes with zippers, Shoes with straps, Shoes with buckles, Shoes with taps," but definitely fun for the older girly girl too because it's about 4 friends getting ready for a party and getting to go shopping and try every type of shoe. It's fun for any girl...even us BIG girls! lol

Penny Loves Pink by, Cori Doerrfeld

This book is specific to a girly girl about to have a little brother. It was THE PERFECT way to introduce the idea of having a little brother when Gianna was about 2 and to this day she loves to read it...mostly because she has it memorized and can "read" it to me. But this is just the most clever idea on how to introduce a world of pink to a little blue. Definitely a favorite in our house!

And finally...the new found, Ladybug Girl by, David Sowman and Jacky Davis

Part of Gianna's fascination with dressing up doesn't stop at princess gear...nope, she's into cute bugs and super heroes too. Key word being cute! So this series is perfect for her. Definitely falls into the 4 and up category and its quickly becoming a favorite. Can't wait to read more of them.

Seriously...it's July already?

This year is flying by! (But really, don't they all?) For the most part I'd say it's all been pretty good with the exception of a few health problems. I have been rocking my New Years theme for the year which was FOCUS (like I said I prefer themes over resolutions). I didn't exactly stick to my no social media apps on my phone (it only lasted a whole 3 months) but I must say I have cut back tremendously on social media. Living so far from home really made it difficult because it really is helpful to be able to see what's going on with everyone and I was getting hounded for not posting enough pics of the kiddos. lol The over all theme is still a work in progress and I am always looking for ways to focus on my top priorities...God, family, health.
Staying involved in church, bible study, and life group has been great but I find my focus on just time with me and God and really spending time in His word while showing my kiddos what that looks like and teaching them ways to do the same has been awesome. Gianna really enjoys waking up first thing in the morning and doing her devotional while we listen to worship music. In fact, she has already become much more disciplined than me so if we miss a morning you better believe I hear about it.
Gianna started preschool this last month and she absolutely LOVES it! She has talked about going to school since she understood the concept and every day that's a school day is good day for her. She spends the rest of the day telling us how amazing it was and all about what she learned. Her favorite part is meeting new friends though which is what she always says about church too. Her teachers always tell us that she is very attentive and listens great in class but is definitely a social butterfly during play time. It definitely warms my heart to hear that she is doing so well. Gianna going to preschool has also been great for Jensen because he loves getting that one on one mom time and I love it too! He's getting SO big SO fast that I know its only a blink of an eye and I'll be sending him on his way to preschool too! (*tear*)

As far as focusing on health, a lot of changes have taken place this year. I decided a while back that I really wanted to focus on modeling for my kids what healthy looked like and that meant I needed to... get healthy! I have seen the negative effects that focusing too much on diet and exercise and obsessing about being skinny can do as well as the complete opposite by not eating well and not exercising so my focus has been moderation which I think is the real definition of healthy. The result has been that I have lost 25ish pounds without really "dieting", I'm going to the gym or doing something active 4 to 5 days a week and as of April I started running, which I said I would never do, in an effort to complete a 5k (which I am doing in less than 2 weeks!) It has helped me to set small goals along the way and that has been one of them. Another BIG help has been throwing out that stinkin' scale! I finally got rid of that thing and only know what I weigh as of my last doc appt. (It is seriously the best thing in the world to do...highly recommend it!)
My kids LOVE the gym we belong to so it makes it easier for me to go during the day and take them because they love to be there too. Not to mention it feels good to hear Gianna say, "Good job working out mom!" I absolutely could not go it alone and have used the book "Made to Crave" as I did before getting pregnant with Jensen as a tool to not only find the healthy life style I want to embody as an example for my kids but use it as a way to grow my relationship with the Lord. I have been so fortunate in the last couple months to co-lead a bible study on this book and something I have become so passionate about in an effort to help others along in their journey and it has been such a blessing!

So, that is how my theme for the year is going so far...in a very tiny nut shell. We have also been super busy with family visiting which has been so great! This year we have had a family member here every single month except May when we went to CA. How cool is that? It definitely makes it easier to be away from CA having visitors so often. Having family come to visit has also given us the excuse to get out and explore Texas which we really love more and more all the time. The rest of this year and into next year will be just as busy as my sister Chelsea is getting married this time next year to her now fiancé Joey (eek!) and I am the Matron of Honor along with my sister Chloe who is the Maid of Honor so there is lots of fun planning and events to partake in.

So, yeah that's what's been going on! Here's hoping that the second half of the year is just as awesome as the first and that I survive my 5k on the 20th! Lol...until next time!

Going "Home"

After 8 months of living in Texas, we finally made the journey back to California. I had quite a few people tell me how disappointed they were that I haven't kept up on my blogging as promised so, here I try again. No promises though as to how well I will do keeping it up as I have started up again many a times but here goes nothing. So, on to the two week adventure back to good ol' Cali. 
I for one was very excited to go "home" as it had been sometime since I had seen my dad (who has yet to make it out here...hint, hint) and a lot of other family and friends. I will say, the time we have lived out here went by quicker than I had imagined it would but it seemed forever and no time all at once if that makes any sense at all. Our main reason for going back was to see our good friends, Kirk and Cassey James tie the knot which we wouldn't have missed for the world but Daniel was the Best Man so that was all the more reason to go.

We had planned for Daniel to fly out with us and stay a week and then the kids and I were going to stay an additional week to get in some extra time...but that's not exactly how it worked out. Daniel got called to a meeting in Tucson the week before so I ended up flying solo with the two kiddos both ways. Not ideal. BUT, we made it and I will say there is nothing like struggling with two kids, a stroller, luggage and carry on all by yourself to bring out the best in people. I was pleasantly surprised to see how awesome people were to help us along the way. Now, if only someone would have found a way to subdue my screaming son the last 40 minutes of the flight there that would have been awesome! But, nevertheless we survived and I still love my husband immensely even though I may or may not have said otherwise at the time.
Our first week, we stayed with Daniels mom and got in lots of time with his side of the family as well as got to partake in the beautiful festivities of the James Wedding. It was awesome to get to see our friends and family and the weather for Fresno at that time of year was perfect. Kirk and Cassey definitely lucked out in that category and overall the wedding was one of the most unique and perfect weddings I have been to...so totally them and even more awesome was the fact that they were able to do it on her families ranch, a location she has wanted to get married at since she was a kid. How cool is that?
The next day we attended a family reunion for Daniels moms family in a tucked away spot in the foothills and the kids had the best time running around with their cousins. We were also able to be there while Daniels grandmothers ashes were scattered in a beautiful spot among the trees. I was so happy that we were able to be apart of such a special event.

Later that week Daniel left back to Texas as planned and the kids and I were super sad to see him go. But we had big plans for our last week...most importantly this momma getting some much needed girl time with her best buds in what I like to believe is the happiest place on earth, CA wine country along the central coast. We relocated over to my parents house and the kiddos had the best time hanging with their aunties and my parents. Jensen was in awe of Grammies embroidery machines working away all day...he loves to see how things work! I also took this week to eat all the food I have been missing! Dog House Grill, Tokyo Steakhouse, Broilers...the list goes on and I am still stuffed!

Our two weeks in California were absolutely jam packed with fun, love and laughter but truthfully the best part of the trip for me was recognizing in myself all the ways that I have both changed and stayed the same since we made the big move. I was glad to see that I missed my new home and friends while I was gone and that while I loved being in old familiar territory I really do love our new life in Texas. That's not to say that my heart didn't absolutely ache to leave everyone again...especially "my" ocean where my heart is always at its happiest...because it did. I just mean to say that its awesome to see that we, as a family, have completely embraced this new chapter that God has opened for us and for now we feel 100% certain that we are right where we need to be. I know in my heart though that I am a California girl through and through...always have been, always will but for now I am embracing my inner Texan and loving every minute of it. Until next time California!

Cheers to the New Year!

I LOVE New Years...I always have. There is nothing like the idea of a clean slate...A fresh start... whether real or imagined, to help you look at life in a new perspective. Its also a good time to slow down, look back and reflect on all the changes and blessings in our ever evolving lives. Looking back on this last year, 2012, was a mixture of change, emotions, chaos and more blessings than I can count. I haven't blogged since we moved into our new home but truthfully its been awesome madness. I put together this video of our BIG move to save some time. :)

Since we moved in 6 weeks ago, we have had Thanksgiving, Daniel's dad, then his mom, for a short period my mom, sister and Daniel's mom at the same time, Jensen's 1st Birthday, Christmas, and that brings us to now. Phew! It was really so awesome to see some of our family...we had missed them SO much! (especially the kids!) It was a great opportunity to explore some of the Dallas/Fort Worth area with them too since it was new to all of us.
Now that we are finally having a chance to experience what our new normal will be like here, its perfect that a New Year is upon us too. The last few years I have opted to create a theme for my new year rather than a resolution...one word that sums up what I want out of the year or to accomplish. It helps me to remember what I wanted to accomplish through out the year. This year my theme is Focus. I want to be better at focusing on what is most important in my life...faith, family, friends, health and get rid of all the nonsense that distracts me from those things. First on the agenda...social media apps...yikes! The ultimate time stealing addiction! I am going to continue to blog and have a Facebook page but I removed everything from my phone so it's not so readily available. Wish me luck! There is a lot more that I have to change to accomplish my goal but there are too many to be named. Maybe I'll blog about them as I come upon them.
So, as we say good bye to 2012 and say hello to 2013, I must say to all my friends and family thank you. You have all in some way or another been a huge support to us as we have transitioned into this new life and we are so grateful. Man, what a year of change. We are so looking forward to seeing what awesome plans He has in store for us in this New Year. A Happy and Healthy New Year to you all! XOXO

Pearce Family Update

Okay, I lag. I thought about blogging a bunch of times in the past month...that counts for something right?? So, I guess since the actual posts were never written I have A LOT of catching up to do. The truth is most of the time during the past month my feelings toward moving and our transition here have been so jumbled, you probably would have got whiplash from reading my emotional roller coaster. Lets just say its better I am starting here and looking back at the last month. Don't get me wrong, things have been awesome here and we are really happy but there is the occasional feelings of being homesick that creep in and the occasional melt down of still being in this apartment with two dogs, two kiddos and virtually none of our stuff. Stuff is stuff but when you miss home, having your own bed to sleep in at night makes it a little easier. All that aside, our transition has gone MUCH easier than I could have ever dreamed. We are nearing the home stretch of our new house being complete (9 days in case you're wondering), meeting so many wonderful people and having fun exploring our new surroundings.
It has been awesome getting to reconnect with my good friend Liz since she moved to the Dallas area over 5 years ago. Its been nice to have someone from home here. We met up with her and her hubby Josh at The Texas State Fair and to say Gigi had a good time is an understatment...she's still talking about the rides! She had such a great time! I have been able to meet up with Liz for some girl time too and her and Josh were so super sweet and came down to watch our kiddos for us so we could go out to dinner and celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary.
We are still really loving our new church and people are probably sick of us saying how similar The Avenue and our home church in Fresno The Well are but seriously they are! In fact, there are a lot of things about The Avenue that I like better which I never thought I would say. One of the hardest things about leaving Fresno was leaving our church so finding a new home church so quickly has been heaven sent to say the least. We have joined a really awesome couples life group where we have met some great people and I have joined a women's bible study that has allowed me to meet some truly amazing and supportive women. The kids love the opportunity to get to play at church during the week too. (Let me rephrase...Gigi does. Jensen is entering the awesome phase of separation anxiety which is a story for another time.)
We participated in the churches Trunk or Treat Fall Festival which was so much fun! They had pony rides, bounce houses, food and of course candy so Gigi, I mean Snow White, was in heaven! Its awesome to see her meet new friends too...she really misses her buds back home. :( Daniel was in heaven too since our trunk was Cowboy themed. People here are shocked that a family from CA were Cowboy fans before we moved here but for those of you who know Daniels family you know they are life long fans so Daniel is totally excited.

 During the week, me and the kids scope out new parks and try and to find new things to get involved with. They already have their favorite and Jensen is getting old enough to where he is getting into the park thing too. As I have said before the weather here is so crazy! Its hard to tell at the beginning of the day what the weather will end up being by the end of the day so I have learned to keep a wide variety of extra clothing for us and the kids at all times.

I love the weekends since moving here because we have a new little tradition of getting up Saturday morning and driving over to our new house and seeing what progress has been made on it. We feel so blessed to be able to buy a new home and its nice that with home prices the way they are here in Texas we are able to buy a house with a little more room than our house in CA. We really love the neighborhood to and have heard from many people that the schools in Midlothian (where are new house will be) are awesome. In fact the elementary school that Gigi will go to, Longbranch, is just up the road from us. We are scheduled (fingers crossed that nothing hold up the process) to do our walk through on the 19th and move in on the 21st. I said I hoped that we would be in by Thanksgiving and we will be just one day shy!  I CAN'T wait to get in and start getting settled. I feel like a home is the final piece to our transition and it has been a crazy almost 8 weeks of transition.

Then it will be the holidays and Jensens birthday (NO, I can't believe he will be 1!) and we have family coming at various times throughout November and December and January and I feel like that will definitely be the icing on the cake.
Overall I can't say enough how blessed we have been to have had so much love and support from our friends, new and old and our family and can I just say thank goodness for FaceTime! We are really loving Texas but are equally really missing California at times. I know the next month or so will be crazy busy but I will definitely try to blog more often to keep everyone posted on all thats going on. Thanks for the prayers and love! xoxo

Life As We Know It

To be honest with you, moving to Texas hasn't been the easiest thing I have ever done but I do have faith that its one of the best things I have ever done. Leaving behind everything you know, all of your comforts, all of your routines, everyone that knows and loves you and trading it in for the unknown, a bunch of faces that don't know you or your story, definitely exposes any weanesses or insecurities you have harbored in your heart. I have asked myself a million times, did we do the right thing? Are we going to be able to make this a home? Will we make new friends? Will we find a new church we will call home? Will my kids be okay here? But, when I lay in bed at night and talk to God, I know the answer to all of those questions is yes! I know this because I have faith that we are right where we are supposed to be. Ultimately, we as a family decide all of those things I listed above. This experience is what we make of it but thats not to say that it won't be hard and that we won't miss the life we left behind either. That being said, there has been a lot more smiles than tears and a lot more laughter than anything else.
This last weekend was really the first time that we were able to get a glimpse at what our new normal will be here and I must say it was so refreshing. We met some really nice people and their families that Daniel works with at his company picnic that just so happen to be members at the church we had planned on attending Sunday. Sunday we showed up to The Avenue Church and experienced a mixture of relief and surprise at how similar it was to The Well, our church in California. We were invited to join a couples life group that evening which we went to and met some more wonderful people and then we went out to dinner afterward with a couple of the families. It was nice to have some adult conversation with someone other than Daniel and I know Gianna really enjoyed being around other kids. The whole experience gave me hope that this place might actually start to feel like home soon.
I can tell you what will really help this place feel like home will be having a home...which as of yet we still don't have. We did go into escrow on a new home that will hopefully be finished in the middle of next month if all goes well which is definitely a step in the right direction! Buying a home unleashes a bunch of its own stresses but I am trying my hardest to focus my mind on the end result...a home! I know that life shouldn't consist of stuff but having your own stuff when everything around you is so unfamiliar would definitely help. I know this to be true for Gianna...there are a lot of times she asks for some of her toys that are in storage and I know that she would feel a little more secure if she had all of her things that make her feel like she is at home...her bed especially. It has been hard to explain to her where all of her stuff is.
It is a HUGE relief to have found a house! Its a step in the right direction for sure! And I must say I really do love the new house and the community it is in. It is definitely much more house than we are used to and a much bigger yard too. I can't wait to get into it and to start making it a home. While we are very fortunate to have this apartment, it has been a challenge to make it feel like home. I do wish we had found something in Waxahachie, but we ended up buying in neighboring Midlothian. Its so close to Waxahachie it may as well be in it though. (By the way...we were mistaken on the pronounciation of Waxahachie...perhaps thrown off by the accents but we have been informed that it isn't Wuh-xahachie but Waxahachie with the "a" sounding like the a in walk. Truthfully, our California accent can't really make that sound so we try in all cases to just avoid saying it. Dead give away that we aren't from around here. lol So, perhaps its a good thing we are moving to Midlothian.)
So, thats whats new with us. Life as we know it is changing and evolving daily and its exciting to see where this journey will take us and who we will meet along the way. So very grateful for the internet and FaceTime though because communication with our friends and family in CA has helped keep things more normal and helped me maintain my sanity. We definitely miss everyone so much! Until next time.... :)

Welcome to Texas!

"Welcome to Texas!" This is the first thing everyone says as soon as they find out we aren't from here. I swear Texans are the nicest people. Its made me realize that I really need to work on my eye contact. I am so accustomed to just shuffling along doing my own thing, people bumping into me and not saying excuse me, that people here must question my shocked expression with all the eye contact and "how y'all doing?" Its refreshing.
So, we are here in Waxahachie, Texas (pronounced WUH-xahachie) a LONG way from home and I think we are settling in okay. Its definitely different. For one, we are in corporate housing for the time being (a furnished apartment) and all of our stuff is in storage while we search for a home. Daniel will be working in Corsicana which is about 35 minutes south of here and Dallas is about 25 minutes north. Its a town of about 29,000 people and for the most part its pretty country compared to what we are used to. Everything you need is on one stretch of road or in the downtown area and everything else is just open land and small subdivisions of homes. Most of the homes are on acre lots or more which is so much land compared to our 9,000 sqft. lot we had in CA.
The downtown area is really cool! The buildings are beautiful and there are a lot of old victorian homes surrounding it. On Friday nights everyone goes to the enormous high school football stadium for the game a la "Friday Night Lights" and we hear there are tons of traditions and markets and parades that go on that everyone is apart of. Its definitely different than anywhere we thought we would ever live but are so excited that we have ended up here. It definitely seems like the perfect place to raise our family not to mention the schools are awesome here!
Really, getting here was the hardest part of the move. We had all of our stuff packed up and on the truck a whole week before our actual move date. We needed time to have the house and carpets cleaned to prep for our renters to move in and we had the wedding of our good friends Vinny and Jenn in beautiful Santa Margarita the weekend before. So, we literally were living out of suitcases and homeless for a week but between the hotels and my parents house we tried to make it as comfortable and normal as possible for the kids. Daniel left in the car with the dogs on Monday and made the long trek to Texas by himself while I tied up some loose ends and flew out with the kids Wednesday. There were a lot of sad good byes, stress and making sure we had everything before we left that had me a little frazzled but I think we all did pretty good and made it out here in one piece.
The kids did great on the flight over here and Daniel did awesome and made sure to be here by Wednesday just in time to pick us up from the airport. My good friend Liz who lives in Dallas was sweet enough to take time off from work to come help us out too. It's SO awesome that we will be able to see more of her now!
When we got to our apartment we were relieved to see that it was decorated nice and we had pretty much everything we needed except of course food and toiletries. We pretty much bought the entire Walmart our first night here. We had to buy everything from salt to soap and everything in between. Our apartment is in a nice area off the one street that has everything which makes it pretty convenient. Gianna loves it and calls it our "hotel house". She has her own room and bed but Jensen has a little pack n play in a corner of it where he sleeps for the time being. She is not a fan of him sleeping in her room but it's temporary and a good lesson in sharing. While its a much better living situation than we anticipated, I am anxious to get a house and get out of here. We could only pack so much stuff with us in a few suitcases.
I think Gianna is doing pretty well adjusting although she still hasn't fully grasped how far away Texas is from California. She has asked to go to her grandma's a few times and when I said she is in CA she said she could just get on the plane and come here. Tonight was great because Daniel's brother and our sister in law, Derrick and Nikki, were actually in Dallas to go to the Monday night football game tomorrow (a trip planned before our move) so they came down and had dinner and saw our place. Gigi was super excited but I think she was a little confused at how they could stop by after I just explained that people won't be able to just stop by. lol. She will get it. Its an adjustment for all of us.
I really do think we are going to like it here once we get settled. It is definitely a nice change of pace. I will say that I am for sure not in a hurry to go through a cross country move again. It was definitely one of the most stressful things I have ever done and I must say I am more than relieved that it is over. Fingers crossed we find a home soon and can get back to normal. Well...a new normal....