Time to Celebrate!

Our hearts are full of gratitude this week to Zoraida, Eliza’s birth mom and her family. Without their love and her sacrifice, we would not have been able to celebrate a small but significant event in our family. We received word Monday that our adoption has been made final and legally permanent. It was a relatively understated celebration but spent with great friends. Two weeks before Eliza was born Hallie met Sara and Chase. Chase was adopted and was born in Utah too. He is about 16 months old. Our families have become fast friends, and we have enjoyed getting to know their family. Sara, Jason, and Chase had Landon, Eliza, and Hallie over for yummy Olive Garden and dessert. They were so kind to give Eliza and Landon presents, and they had so much fun playing with them. Unfortunately, Mike had to work, and we missed him. But Hallie brought him home some yummy leftovers, and that made up for it a bit.  

On Tuesday afternoon we took advantage of the beautiful late summer weather to take a bike ride. Eliza has graduated to taking Landon's old spot in the kangaroo seat on Mike's bike.

Mike presented at a conference at the university on Thursday. Go, Mike! His summer term also ended Thursday, so after he grades papers, he gets a bit of a breather before classes begin on the 31^st.

This past Friday a local church in the community had a GreekFest, and we invited a new family that has moved into the branch to come with us. Derek and Janel have two girls, and Landon has a lot of fun with their 5 year old, Rylee. The GreekFest had yummy treats, dinner, clothing, art, and games that the kids loved to play on. It was a blast to watch Landon ride on a small pirate ship swing with a HUGE smile on his face as he raised his hands in the air. Our friends had fun and so did we. What a great Friday night!

Hallie has found some girls to help out with the kids while she tries to get the house in order. For some reason keeping everything squared up is a bit of a challenge with a 3 year old who wants her attention and a 6 month old who crawls as fast as Lightning McQueen drives. This week Katelyn came over and hung out with the kids. Katelyn is amazing! She has great energy and is a perfect match for Landon. When Katelyn’s dad dropped her off, they surprised us with bagels, and Landon was very excited. He ate two by lunch and wanted more later that day. Eliza thought it was a good idea to stay up most of the morning, so needless to say Hallie did not get a ton of cleaning done. Instead, she spent a lot of time going up and down the stairs to try to get Eliza to take a nap.

A little sample of Katelyn's artwork

Saturday mornings have become Hallie’s time to make sure she is taking care of her health. Most Saturdays start off with her leaving the house at 7:00 am. Today Mike had an appointment early too, and so our neighbor Katharine came down to watch the kids. She did a great job, and we will definitely have her again. When we arrived home Landon was watching a cartoon with her sister Jane, and they had taken a walk to the library and colored on the sidewalk and had lots of fun.

Thursday we notice there was no parking signs in front of part of our street. We had no idea what they were for, but leave it to our next-door neighbor Miles to find out that they were shooting a commercial for the 2012 Chrysler 300. At about 1:00 pm Saturday, a mass of cars, trucks, and people had congregated down the block. There were a wardrobe truck and a lunch truck and lots of equipment trucks. Katherine and Miles and their families and we were all hanging out at Katherine’s house at the lemonade stand Jane had set up when the director came by to see if the kids wanted to be extras. All they had to do was what they were doing already: hanging out around the stand and riding their bikes and trikes! So, if the scene they filmed for the commercial makes it on air, you may see a little green blur that is our son through the window of the new 300 as it cruises down the road.

Taking a break from shooting

Filming in progress

Sunday was a special day to cap off this special week. We bookended our adoption finalization with Eliza’s baby blessing, and we finally get to have her on the official record at church too. It’s more a symbolic act than anything, but just seeing her name officially with ours means a lot to us. Mike blessed her to be strong like her birth mom, to be proud of her heritage, and to have the gift of compassion, among other blessings. We’re counting the days until the four of us are sealed in November!

On the flip side of the church-themed cap-off, Mike also got to have some quality father-son time with Landon at Comerica Park watching the Tigers game thanks to tickets Sara got for us on the seventh row along the first base line. Actually, we didn’t spend a whole lot of time watching the game, although what we did watch was pretty fun to see from so close. We spent more time at the Ferris wheel and the carousel. All in all, Landon and Dad had a terrific time together.