Thanksgiving Southern Style

I’m back from a wonderful four day Thanksgiving holiday. We visited my in-laws in Coldwater, Mississippi. On Thanksgiving Day there were thirty people at my in-laws house, each of them brought about three dishes apiece. You can do the math, it was a lot of food. Goodness, I think we had more than 15 pies, they were all delicious. Trust me, I sampled all of them just to make sure.

I know the saying “eating for two” is no longer acceptable, but this weekend I think I was eating for five, YIKES! When you’re expecting no one judges you for taking that third piece of pie. There’s something about southern food that’s sooo good. I mean I don’t know what half the casseroles had in them, but they were all tasty. One with pineapple and cheese that was to-die-for. Don’t even get me started on the stuffing! We did work off some of the food with two days of shopping.

To top of a perfect weekend when I got back home I was greeted by my older sister Jessica, her husband Steve and my two nephews Stephen and David at my house. They helped put up my Christmas tree, it was so much fun! I love family!

Rachel Pierce rpierce@myabc5.com

What a Wonderful Turkey Day... at work!

Let me explain.

Any day of the year I would choose to be with my family first and foremost. But if I can't, my co-workers rank a strong second.

I organized a potluck for Thanksgiving and honestly I wasn't sure what to expect or if anyone would participate. The station purchased our 18 pound turkey and the rest of us brought the fixins. There were about a dozen people working today so we had quite the spread.

Everybody was in good spirits even though we were working. One gentleman even arranged chairs around a table in the newsroom and we ate together like a family (except Whitney, she had to run out and cover a house fire).

It really was a lot of fun and I wanted to share a few photos to brag a little about what a great staff we have at ABC5.


Lisa carving a turkey for the first time.


The impressive spread...


Part of the crew (as you can see Whitney, in the black hat, didn't miss out)

-Amanda akrenz@myabc5.com

The "Name Game"

As I write this blog entry I am now 22 weeks into my first pregnancy. My husband and I could not wait (although he claims he knew anyway), so yes we did find out the sex of our baby. We are having a little girl. I’m one of four girls and love the thought of having a daughter. It is the first girl grandchild on my side of the family and the first grandchild ever on my husband’s.


We picked out names on our honeymoon, so that has been settled for a while. I have gotten a lot of positive feedback about what we have chosen, but surprisingly some negative comments as well. It is not like we went with something crazy like “Pilot Inspektor” (seriously, Google it). Don’t folks realize this is the name we are sticking with? Have you had this happen to you?

Rachel Pierce rpierce@myabc5.com

My toddler, the genius.

Doesn't every parent want to think that?

Now, what do I get my genius for Christmas?

I don't know if my son, Maddox, is technically a genius, but I think it's safe to say he's a smart little guy. These days I find myself wondering what to get my intelligent two-year-old for Christmas. My husband and I like to get toys that are at least somewhat educational (even though that doesn't always happen, note the Sponge Bob guitar).

So do any of you have any ideas for some good educational toddler toys? Maddox knows all his letters, numbers, and colors (this is me bragging). So I guess we want something that will help him sound out words. I keep thinking he's too young to learn to read but if he recognizes all upper and lower case letters and knows what sound they all make isn't he ready? (me bragging again)

So please, let me know what has worked for your kids. Or should I just stick with good ole' fashion flashcards?

By the way, I will share an amazing website that I believe helped Maddox learn his letters at such a young age. It's called Starfall. Go ahead and click here for the link. My mother used to teach elementary and told me about it. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for your help. -Amanda (akrenz@myabc5.com)

Working Out

(Me 16 weeks along after running the Des Moines 1/2 Marathon)

Exercise is a big part of my life. I was all trained up to run the Des Moines Marathon when I found out I was 12 weeks pregnant. Yes, twelve. Needless to say my doctor didn't think it was wise to run the entire thing, so I switched to the half marathon and ran it at a safe pace with my sister. We had a blast. My parents and friends cheered us on, it was so sweet. I'm still running between 3 to 6 miles four times a week and doing fitness classes at my gym. Hopefully I will be able to work out until the very end...I'm feeling good now so it seems possible.

For the ladies out there who have had babies, how long did you exercise? Did it help your pregnancy? Any tips you can pass along?

Rachel Pierce rpierce@myabc5.com

This really scared me!

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the largest crib recall in history today, telling consumers to stop using 2.1 million Stork Craft drop-down-side cribs because at least four infants have died in them.

Click here for a link to the full story.

My first thought was, “Oh my gosh, what’s the name brand of my son’s crib at home?” Thankfully we don’t have a Stork Craft. And ours doesn’t have a drop-down-side. My two-year-old still sleeps in it, although it’s a modified version. The mattress is lowered all the way down and the front is off. It’s basically a daybed.

There must be some of you out there who have this model of crib. Does this recall scare you? Or is it an over-reaction? What do you plan to do (if anything) if you have this crib at home?

-Amanda

Send your feedback to akrenz@myabc5.com or rpierce@myabc5.com

Hello and Welcome to our blog!

We are so happy you’re taking “5” with us! This blog is meant to share a little bit about ourselves and also learn about you. We will write about hobbies, motherhood, (or soon-to-be motherhood in Rachel's case), and other day-to-day stuff. Some of our posts will be written together, some will be separate.

Because we want this to be a positive site for people to visit and feel safe to leave comments, we will look over every comment or question before it’s posted. How it will work is you can e-mail us directly at the station. But don’t worry if you don’t want it posted or don’t want your name posted we will completely respect that and won’t mind one bit.

This blog is just to have fun and connect with you! Please stop by often, daily if you can, we plan to keep this very current and we encourage you to write to us!

Thanks again for stopping by!

Kindest regards- Rachel Pierce and Amanda Krenz