Grandparents!

Hey, gang. I hope all is well with everyone. I had a pretty good week and know that you are just beside yourselves waiting for details. However, patience is a virtue.



There were questions last week about the contest I promised. Just know that now would be a good time to start boning up on your Pierce trivia. The prize will be quite valuable to my regular readers and you won't be surprised. More details will be posted soon ...



So, back to this past week. Mom ordered a toy tractor catalog and it came in the mail. WOW! What an awesome way to spend some time. My mind was racing with the possibilities. I showed it to Papa during his visit (more on that later) and he helped me decide what I needed to improve my operation.



Mom, Dad and the folks at school say that I'm doing well with potty training. I like to think that I'm excelling at "socially accepted, advanced waste disposal processing". (I don't care what you call it, I've never gotten so many M&Ms in my life! I also get to have Mom or Dad read magazines to me! (That was awkward at first but everyone is over it now.))

I enjoyed baking at Grandma Maggy's so much last week that I thought I'd give it a try this week, too. Mom ordered cookie dough from school and it was easy and fun to whip up a batch.

After we put them on the tray Mom popped them into the oven* and I supervised their baking.

*Disclaimer: The oven isn't a toy. That doesn't mean it isn't cool, though.

Don't let anyone tell you that I don't know how to rock it out on a Friday night. LAUNDRY BASKET RIDES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday was a great day ... Grandma Kathy and Papa came for a visit! I showed them my tractor videos and everyone had a good time.

Later that night Papa and I practiced combining and hauling wagons. This preparation will come in handy in about 15 years.

This morning we continued having fun together by playing in the basement. I showed Grandma and Papa my mower and they both seemed impressed.

Grandma Maggy stopped by later and I got to hang out with both grandmas!

I tell ya ... for about an hour today I had the so many people fawning over me you would have thought I was Justin Bieber.

Have a great week, everyone!

Pierce

Swinging into winter.

The week started off with a day at home ... I had a cough and wasn't feeling very well so I hung out with Mom. The good thing is that I got to see a garbage truck! It came and took our stuff away and I got to see the whole thing! Wow!

Later in the week Mom, Dad and I worked on my art project for school.

Once it was finished I was really proud of my work.

YEAH, ME!!!!

Friday night I stayed with Grandma Maggy. We played, hung out and had a great time. Saturday morning I got oatmeal at my favorite table.

I also got to help do some baking ... very, very fun!

Saturday night Kiersten and Zach came over so Mom and Dad could go out with the Dillons. I decided to play with them a bit and threw an awesome tantrum. I cried. I hugged. I clung. I did everything I could ...

... but Kiersten ratted me out by texting Dad this photo 10 minutes after they left. (I'm disappointed in Kiersten's decision making and will take it up with her next time we cross paths.)

Sunday was church and I used my school backpack to carry all my toys. I was able to carry it most of the way but Mom helped me at the end. Oy vey ... my aching back!

Later we went to the park and it was a great way to spend the afternoon. The weather was perfect and there we ran into some other Boulevard kids so I had friends to play with.

But on a sad note my swing came down ... I've just lost interest and with winter fast approaching it was time. Mom and I hung it in the garage and we'll think about putting back up in the spring.

That's it ... thanks for reading about my week. As loyal readers you'll be pleased to know that Life 'O Pierce will be launching our first reader contest in the coming weeks ... stay tuned for your chance to win a fabulous prize.

Cheers!

Pierce

Halloween!

Please excuse me if this particular post seems a bit disjointed ... since I've been using the potty I find that I don't have nearly as much time on my hands as I did before. Having to stop, drop, sit, flush and wash has cut into my blogging time. Thankfully technology allows me to multitask.


I've really enjoyed playing farm at the table of late. This video taken last week that features some pretty impressive driving, if I do say so myself.

The past couple of weekends Mom, Dad and I have started a new routine ... breakfast then grocery shopping. Not only can I get a darn good pancake ...

... I also get to drive the cart! (I'm just glad Mom and Dad finally figured out what those things on the front of the shopping carts were for.)

Dad was on the road again this week so Mom and I visited the Fletchers Tuesday night. Hmmm ... Happy Meals.

Fast forwarding, this weekend was Halloween and beggar's night. I got a very nice card from Grandma and Papa to mark the occasion.

I didn't pick up on it last year but apparently a Halloween tradition is to remove a pumpkin from its family, sit it outside in the cold then take a knife and carve designs in it. (I'm so glad I'm not a pumpkin!) Anyway, Mom, Dad and I set aside any moral issues and participated in the carnage. The inside of a pump is WEIRD!

It took both Mom and I to dig all of the stuff out. Yuck.

Once we got it carved I cleaned up then put on my costume. Oh, and to top it off the poor pumpkin ended up with an open flame in its belly. Poor pumpkin. After yelling "fire in the hole" we set off to the neighbors.

... the itsy, bitsy spider went across the street alone ...

... and stopped at Maguire's where he took some candy home ...

... out to the car where we headed through the night ... and the itsy bitsy spider gave Grammy quite a fright.

Happy Halloween!

Pierce

A potty party ...

Hello, all.

This was a fun week. Grandma Maggy came over Wednesday night and we hung out. I showed her my tractor videos and I think she liked them! She brought me a bunch of Elmo potty training things last week and this was the weekend I put them to good use. (More on that later.)


Mom and Uncle Eric made the trek to Minneapolis this past Thursday to see George/Reba. This is Mom's third show of the tour and I suspect she'd have a few more under her belt if the opportunity was presented.


The third man in Mom's life. Dad and I are okay with it but sometimes it hurts when she calls us George accidently.

Uncle Eric was really nice and got me a shirt from their trip. He also let me play in his truck. Awesome!

Friday after Mom got home from Minneapolis and Dad got home from work we went shopping for my very first "big boy underwear". I got to pick them out and it was certainly interesting. (I asked and neither Mom or Dad agreed to have their next underwear shopping trip filmed for posting on the blog. Not fair.)

While modesty is important I did want loyal readers to know that I have Thomas backing me up in my potty training efforts.

The final major event of the weekend was a trip to Mom and Dad's friend Michelle's house. She and her husband Rick just had a new baby ... Quinn! He's a pretty cool dude and I was happy to help with presents.

Well, there you go. Have a great week, everyone!

I'm off to try and go potty. Oh. Wait. Shoot. I'm supposed to tell Mom and Dad before I go, right?

Uh, Mom?!

Pierce

Ain't nobody sayin I ain't got rhythm ...

From the archives ...

Later!

Pierce...the dancing machine...Miller

Champaign is also a city ...

We took another road trip this week. I'll report on that later.



First, I have to say that I take my studies seriously and was very good about getting my homework on Tuesday. My assignment was to decorate the green guy and I used glue, scissors, stickers, markers and crayons to get it done. Mom and Dad checked my work. (They didn't do it for me, they aren't like some parents who do their kid's cutting, coloring, etc. for them. I mean seriously, how do you expect to get along in the real world if your parents have to do your cutting and coloring for you?!)



Anyway, Thursday night was open house at school and I got to show Mom and Dad my projects. Here Mom and I are with my teacher Chelsea. She's cool!

That night we left for Champaign, IL and the wedding of the year. For some reason Mom and Dad were concerned about a six hour car ride and "did something they never thought they would do". They bought me a DVD player! Sa-weet! Woo-hoo! Awesome! Thanks to my new best friend I was able to relax and watch a tractor DVD while we covered some miles.

After driving for about four hours we stopped for the night. Let's just say that I "wasn't feeling it". I tried and tried to tell Mom and Dad (and the rest of the hotel) that I wasn't tired but they wouldn't listen. After a couple of hours I finally just gave up and came to the realization that my parents weren't going to listen to me.

Friday morning we finished our journey and had some time to kill so we made a stop at McDonald's playland. (Trust me, there's a reason why there weren't any photos.) I thought it was pretty cool. Mom kept talking about another "thing we thought we would never do" and Dad said some colorful words.

A little later we were greeted by a gaggle of Palzkills doing what they do best ... hanging out in a hotel lobby!

After visiting and catching up everyone retired to their rooms to get fancy. The ceremony was beautiful and I found out something about myself. I cry at weddings. (In my case I cried as Dad carried me out of the sanctuary because I was being too loud.)

The reception was quite nice. (Jeanne and Howie can throw a par-tay!)

Since we were at such a nice place I felt like I needed to work the room. I made sure that Grandma, Papa, Uncle Eric, Mom and Dad all got to spend some quality time with me.

There was another party planned Saturday night so we got dressed up again and hit the town! Here I am with Uncle Eric on our way.

This time the event was at the University of Illinois. All the Palzkills were there. Grandma's sisters stopped for a minute to take a photo ...

... and Dad decided to get all lovey-dovey in public. (Not cool, Dad. I have people here I'm trying to impress.)

There was great food, drink and dancing. Since Grandma's leg still hurts Mom danced with Papa ...

... while I kept her company at the table and enjoyed some very good Grandma lap time.

After awhile I just couldn't stand it anymore and had to "bust a move".

Finally Grandma couldn't stand it anymore either and did a bit of dancing. First with Papa ...

... then with Zach Palzkill and me. (You may remember Zach from the pacifier "incident" at last year's Palzkill event in Wisconsin.)

Everyone was in great spirits so Mom decided that we should try for a family photo. Dad and I weren't into it and I think she was annoyed.

Oh well. She got over it because today, on the way home, we made a stop in LeClaire to drive by the home of one of our favorite TV shows, American Pickers. We weren't expecting much but hit paydirt. (In the words of Mike and Frank, we "popped" on something!)

We happened to catch the crew while filming and saw some great stuff while meeting Mike and Frank!

Danielle was there, too!

Mike and Frank were so nice. What cool, mellow and real guys. Mom and Dad were thrilled and I have to admit that I was impressed.

Well that's it. I'm off to my crib. I'm pooped. Mom is pooped. Dad smells like poop. Tomorrow it's back to school and another week of adventures.

Pierce