Chrismissed?! Not this year ...

The past week has been an absolute blur ... but a blur of the best kind. Lots of family. Lots of laughs. Lots of fun.

I got my one year photos taken Wednesday and Mom gave me a bit of a trim so I looked my best.

Uncle Chris was in town and came with me for moral support.

He also came with me to my doctor's appointment and I showed him how brave I could be when I got my shots.

We celebrated the Miller Christmas Wednesday night with some great food from Grandma and cool gifts. Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa Miller gave me a cow puzzle!

I hit the mother load with Grandma Maggy's gift, a Sesame Street play set!

Wholly crap! I couldn't wait to get my hands on my new toy ... she nailed it!

Unfortunately for me, Dad kind of took it over and I had to remind him that it was MY TOY, not his.

Thursday was a boys' day. Mom went to work so Uncle Chris, Dad and I hung out and did what guys do. (Playing in a tunnel, throwing golf balls in the house, tooting ... you know, guy stuff.)

After lunch Grandma stopped by to get Uncle Chris and Mom, Dad and I headed to Denmark to see the Houstons.

There were lots of hugs and laughs and fun Thursday night. We went to church then Grandma Kathy made one of her famous meals. (I don't know how I lucked out with two Grandmas who are such good cooks! It really makes me wish the rest of my teeth would come in.)

Friday morning was Christmas and things were a lot better than last year when I ended up going to the emergency room. This year Santa came and I got a work bench! Santa is the best!

No trip to Denmark is complete without a visit from my good friend Clayton. He helped me with my trains and we had a great time.

Lunch time! So much food. So much fun. I think Christmas is great ... no stress, no hassles ... just good people and gifts. Throw in a meaningful church service and I couldn't ask for more.

Later in the day, after naps Dad, Mom and I went with Grandpa Dave to do chores. (I like to help out and earn my keep when I visit folk.)

Dad even tried to be useful by standing in an open gate to keep cows from getting out. (Truth be told no cow came within 50 ft. of the gate but Dad still thought he'd saved the day.)

Grandpa says I can do more chores with him when the weather gets warmer. I look forward to that.

Christmas night Tim and Jill came over. We played and laughed and had a great time. They even gave me a cool watch!

I had so much great stuff from earlier in the day that Grandma and Grandpa waited to give me their gift. I helped put it together and as you can see from the video later in this post I think it is pretty darn awesome!

Grandma and Mom sure like to cuddle. I was watching National Lampoon's "Christmas Vacation" with the guys and couldn't be bothered but they insisted!

Saturday was a quiet, mellow day. The Houston family has tried to get Dad to learn Euchre since 2002 but it never works. It took both Grandpa and I to help him. (He actually played some really good cards but don't ask him how or why.)

Christmas toys come in boxes. I like boxes. Grandma made me a tunnel and I played in it a lot.

The weather outside was frightful this entire trip. We ended up staying an extra day and came back Sunday morning. It took an extra hour but the roads weren't too bad and everyone survived.

We arrived back in Des Moines and immediately went to a reception for Annette's Grandson Raihan. He seems like a really, really cool guy and I hope to spend time with him later. He lives in New York City so I'll pay attention when he visits. Here is a picture of his family.

When we finally got home we still needed to do our family Christmas. Mom cut up some of the sausage Uncle Eric gave us then we ordered pizza and hung out.

I was proud to give Mom and Dad the gift I made for them at school!

Mom thought it was funny that I had a bow in my hair.

We took a break and I took a bath before we finally got to stockings. The rest of the evening was spent in a pile watching TV. It was a good end to a great week.

Oh ... as promised ... a video for everyone's enjoyment.

Have a great week and Happy New Year's to everyone.

A deep thought for the week ... you can pick your friends but you shouldn't pick their noses.

Pierce.

The week that was ...

I didn't feel well earlier this week. Mom took me in Monday and I got medicine, chest x-rays and some blood work. To be safe I stayed home for several days. Mom stayed with me Monday and Tuesday. Grandma Maggy stayed Wednesday and Thursday.

I also got into a fight with a table and ended up with a nice cut on my head and a bruised nose. If you think I look bad you should see what I did to the table ... it won't mess with me again.

By Thursday I was feeling a lot better and it was nice to get some mail. Grandma and Grandpa Houston sent me an ornament for the tree that matched the phone I got for my birthday!

Friday I finally went back to school and that night Mom and Dad drug me all over Des Moines running errands. Ugh.

I like to help Mom write out cards. She seems to enjoy my help and I'm sure things go a lot faster with an extra set of hands. We did several Saturday.

After that we ran more errands and made a special stop. One year after my stay we went back to the Mercy NICU and looked up our favorite person, Nurse Bette. It was great to catch up and she was happy to see us. Time sure flies ...

It is hard to believe this photo was taken a year ago!

Andrea came over last night so Mom and Dad could go out for dinner. She and I had a lot of fun and, as always, I was on my best behavior until she left. The past few nights I've tried really hard to keep Mom and Dad awake and have actually broken them to the point where they just grab me and take me into bed with them. Grandma Maggy had a great phrase for it ... when the three of us sleep we look like a the capital letter "H". Mom and Dad on the sides and me perpendicular in the middle!

This morning, after making sure that I was the only one in the house to get any sleep I was treated to my new favorite things ... french toast sticks! They are much better than my old favorite toast.

After breakfast I made sure all of the presents were still under the tree.

It had been forever since I had seen my friend Maguire and his folks Mike and Kendall. We stopped by this afternoon after church and a nap to exchange gifts and catch up a bit.

After visiting the Dillons Mom, Dad and I took the Flynn Wright tickets and went to an Iowa Energy game. We sat back away from the floor so we had plenty of room to spread out.

Dad and I tried to be cool and act like we knew a lot about basketball. I got a shirt and a big foam hand and had a lot of fun.

Mom and Dad had the idea to let me feed myself with my spoon. I had a lot of fun. (Dad stopped filming right before my plate ended up on the floor.) The take away from this experiment is that even hardwood floors are hard to clean sometimes.

You know, sometimes a song helps you remember important things. This past week, being sick and all, I didn't drink as much as I probably should have and was a little, you know ... "bound up". Mom made up a song to encourage me to drink more.

Merry Christmas to my loyal readers. May the Blessings of the Season be with you all.

(Just so everyone speak intelligently on the topic, here is some basic information on fruit cake.)

Pierce

My first snow day ...

The big news this past week was the weather. On Wednesday we got nearly 16" of snow! (Isn't a swing in winter a sad sight?)

School closed and both Mom and Dad stayed home. We weren't going anywhere until we got plowed out.

Some of the drifts were taller than me! I couldn't believe it when I looked out the back door.

Since it was my "real" birthday Mom said I could wear my special shirt again.

There was so much to see ... Mom and I spent a lot of time looking outside.

Dad gave me lots of hugs and kisses and kept talking about how old I was.

It was pretty nice of Mother Nature to schedule a storm on my birthday so Mom and Dad could spend the whole day with me and I could play in my new room with my new toys.

When I finally went outside on Thursday I was surprised at how cold it was and how much the snow reflected the sunlight. I can see why people wear sunglasses in the winter.

I love it when I get mail and the mailman came late in the afternoon Thursday. (He had a long day trying to catch up after Wednesday's storm.) Grandma Kathy and Grandma Maggy both sent me cards!

This weekend was busy. I spent Friday night at Grandma Maggy's so Mom and Dad could go to his office's Christmas party. Mom left Saturday morning for a couple of days shopping in Kansas City with friends so it was just Dad and me. I have a cough and don't feel 100 percent so I was glad when Mom came home (Dad tries, but sometimes a guy just needs his Mommy).

Have a great week, everyone. Remember ... lift with your legs.

Much love ...

Pierce

It's my big one!

My first birthday party was this past weekend ... it was AWESOME!

Mom worked really hard baking the cakes and getting everything ready.

There were cool party favors for everyone and by all accounts the event was a success.

Grandma and Grandpa came up from Denmark. Uncle Eric came from Gardner, KS.

Wholly Crap! Uncle Matt, Aunt Emily (Texas) and Uncle Chris (California) surprised Mom, Dad and me by coming too!

Justin, Amanda and Grant Fletcher stopped by ...

... and so did Annette!

She and Grandma Maggy enjoyed going through my photo albums.

Everyone seemed to like my new room (the basement remodel was debuted) and tried really hard to answer the quiz questions Mom put together.

Grandpa won the quiz and a box of Cherrios!

Next came gifts! Mom, Dad and Grant helped me unwrap things and keep everything organized.

Folks were so generous!

Grandma helped unwrap things, too.

Chris tested the lift on my toy firehouse.

Grant made sure the trucks worked properly.

Uncle Matt figured out the cool gear toy from Annette.

The cakes!

This isn't a short video, but I'd like to think it will be worth your time ...

Yum!

The damage ...

I think this was taken during trip 481 up and down the stairs. They really are my favorite toy right now.

482

The Houstons!!

You may not be able to tell, but right as this photo was taken I grabbed a big handful of Mom's hair just to keep things interesting.

Aunt Emily is fun!

Mom and Dad seemed to have a lot of fun this weekend. Mom worked really hard to pull everthing together!

With so many people taking so many photos of me I thought I'd turn the table and see how they liked it.

Before Matt, Emily and Chris headed to the airport Mom wanted to put on a bit of a show. We listened as she and Matt played a duet.

Having family around is great.

I still can't believe that this many people came to my birthday party! It feels like I'm a pretty lucky guy.

Have a great week everyone!

Pierce