Pearce's First Visit to Springfield, MO

Pearce and I drove to Dallas on Thursday.  We left early and met Ashley, Charlotte, and Mom at Grandma's apartment.  Grandma had not met Pearce yet, so I was soooo excited for her to see him.  She absolutely fell in love with him!   

Grandma loving on Pearce, Mama loving on Charlotte 

Pearce and his Great-Grandma 

Four Generations 

Auntie Ashy and Pearce 

Ash and Charlotte

Mom, Dad, Pearce, and I got up early on Friday morning and drove to Springfield.  Pearce was such a good traveler!  He slept most of the time, only waking up every 3 hours to have a bottle.  We got to Springfield around 4 and went to Chuck and Abba's for dinner.  I was so excited for everyone to meet Pearce.  Here are my nieces and my sister Lisa.  Victora and Taylor loved holding Pearce! 

 My Aunt Mona with Pearce.  This is dad's sister. 

This is a "Pearce" trait...falling asleep at any moment :)  All Pearce's have this trait...including me!  I am really good at sleeping while sitting up, sleeping in faculty meetings, sleeping while doing reading groups with my kids...the list goes on and on.  Here is Papa rocking Pearce and they both fell asleep.  I love that Pearce is holding onto Papa's finger :) 

Yep....definitely a "Pearce!"

My sister Lisa and my two nieces Taylor and Victoria 

Daddy with his sister Mona 

Pearce with my Uncle Gordon 

Bath time!  What better place to take a bath than in the kitchen sink! 

On Saturday, we went to vist my Great Aunt June.  So, this is Pearce's Great-Great Aunt June.  This was Mama Pearce's sister.  It was so special for June to get to meet Pearce.  I know Mama Pearce would have loved Pearce, so in a way, she did get to meet him through her sister, June.  Pearce was sooo sweet, too!  He was asleep for part of the time and then woke up and just looked and looked at June.   

This is Pearce's Great-Great Uncle Bob.  He made sure Pearce's paci didn't fall out of his mouth :) 

We went out to lunch with everyone at a cute tea room and then mom and Pearce and I drove out to Grandpa's cemetery so that mom could visit him and we could could introduce Grandpa to Pearce.  Grandpa was so special to me.  He could be grumpy at times, but never to Ashley and I.  As kids, he always played with us and took us to the park and got us ice cream.  Ashley and I loved going to Springfield to see our grandparents.  Our grandparents spoiled us to no end!  Grandpa would have loved Pearce!

This was interesting.  These are Grandpa's parents, Bessie and William W.  For some reason that my mom doesn't know, his parents spelled their last name with one "f" at the end, but Grandpa always spelled his name with two "f's."  See the pic above?  My mom doesn't know why though.

My 18 year old niece, Taylor with her boyfriend, Anthony.  Taylor loved holding Pearce and taking care of him!  My sister, Lisa and I, thought she was a little too good taking care of him...and having a little too much fun with him :)  We kept hoping he would start crying or spit up on her...but Pearce was a perfect little angel.  Don't get any ideas Taylor!!!! 

My cousin, Nicki with Pearce 

This is Lauren..isn't she beautiful!  This is Nicki's daughter.  She's 23 and going to pharmacy school.  She was getting ready to go out with her friends....ahhhh......those were the days!  Oh, and I found out that Pearce's double cowlicks are a "Pearce" trait....Lauren has double cowlicks! 

Group shot.   

Me with my nieces.  Victoria is 13 and Taylor is 18 and I look about 12!  These girls were even leaning over a bit.  They are soooo tall!! 

 I mean, really....this is embarrassing!

My cousin, Abba with Pearce 

Chuck and Abba and Pearce 

This was Mama Pearce's house.  It was very small, but lots of fun times were had here.  I have so many wonderful memories of that house and of Mama Pearce.  The front porch looks so small in this picture, but she had two chairs that sat out there and she would always sit outside and watch us play.  Ashley and I would walk all over the neighborhood with her.  We'd go to garage sales, go to the store, go to the park.  We would always wake up early and help her cook breakfast.   

This was Grandma and Grandpa's house.  When they lived here, the neighborhood was sooo nice!  Ashley and I played and played outside.  We would walk to the park with Grandma.  But, when we drove by it during this visit, it was sad to see that the neighborhood had gone downhill.  It's close to the college campus, so students have taken over most of the houses and they just have not taken care of the houses or the neighborhood.  The owners also built a large fence that went all around the house.  It was not very attractive and I was sad that I couldn't see the back yard.  It was really such a pretty house and neighborhood :(

We got back to Dallas late Sunday afternoon and I had a few days to rest and see some of my friends.  It was so nice staying at mom and dad's house because they did everything for Pearce.  What a luxury!!  

This was Cookie's first time meeting Pearce and of course, she was curious, but sooo gentle with him.  Cookie is so sweet!!  We had fun posing Pearce with Cookie :)

Pearce got to meet several of mom's friends.  They all thought he was so cute and I loved seeing how proud mom and dad were of Pearce.  One night, mom and I went to a movie and daddy kept Pearce.  Well, he walked Pearce all over the neighborhood in the stroller and then took him to the clubhouse to show him off! 

It was such a fun trip!!  AND...Pearce started smiling on this trip!  He first started smiling at Grandma's apartment and then it got easier and easier to make him smile.  I'm still trying to get a good pic on camera, but let me tell you...it is the cutest thing ever!!  Thank you Mom and Dad for taking us to Springfield!!!