Keeping Busy with Dentistry, Electricity, and Chemistry

Monday, September 9 – Things are busy at Hallie’s work so she stayed a bit longer. Mike was in charge of the troops to get them off to school. Hallie can’t wait until she can be home full time with them in the morning. Hallie babysat Laurel’s kids in the afternoon, and Mike took ours over a little after picking Landon up from school. Hallie watched all five for a time, and they all had a fun time hanging outside, eating dinner, and ending the evening with popsicles.

Tuesday, September 10 – Hallie had made an appointment to see the dentist to check out her tooth situation from last week, so after getting Landon to school, she headed to the dentist while Mike took Eliza to school. The dentist said she would suggest a new crown because of the way it broke. Hallie scheduled an appointment for the 19th. In the three years since she got the first crown, technology has come a long way. No more gross impressions and waiting for a tooth to be made. Now they use a digital camera to make a 3-D virtual impression, and the crown is made in the office in an hour.

In the evening Hallie and the kids picked up Brittany to babysit so Hallie could go to Back to School Night.  Everyone met in the gym, and Principal Sullivan addressed us. Hallie joined the PTO and signed up for parent-teacher conferences. Everyone seems very organized. Hallie enjoyed the whopping 20 minutes she had in Mrs. Humphrey’s classroom and thinks Landon will do great this year in her class.

Wednesday, September 11 – Hallie worked her regular shift in the morning. Mike and Eliza walked Landon to school, and Hallie got home quickly from work so she could take Mike to work on the way to take Eliza to speech. Eliza did very well at speech today, and Miss Christina loved hearing Eliza speak in full sentences. Eliza fell asleep on the way home and then Hallie could not get her back to sleep once they got home.

While Mike was at a faculty meeting, power went out on campus. Hallie had read on the Internet that power was out at Wayne State, so she called Mike and quickly went to pick him up so we could get back in time to get Landon from school.

Commemorating 9/11 with music by the McGregor reflecting pool

This week started the new four-week session of swimming for Eliza. Eliza was so excited to go get wet in the water! Landon was supposed to start the new nine-week session of gymnastics, but with heat we had on Tuesday and Wednesday gymnastics was cancelled due to no air conditioning in the building.

While Eliza and Mom were out, Landon and Mike played some games and built a LEGO Club inspired helicopter. Hallie loves coming over and seeing all of the fun things the boys did together.

Thursday, September 12 – Due to Hallie’s hacking cough she had made her way downstairs quite a bit earlier than everyone. Her phone rang at 6:30 AM to tell us that Landon had no school due to a power outage. A majority of downtown Detroit still was without power (including Wayne State) so Mike did not have to teach in the evening! Eliza still had school. Hallie dropped her off and then headed over to the Grosse Pointe Moms Club monthly meeting. It was the annual membership drive, and Hallie enjoyed being out of the house, eating yummy food, meeting new friends, and sharing lots of helpful info about the area. Meanwhile, Landon and Mike played school. We had a letter and number scavenger hunt and did chemistry experiments baking bread and playing with cornstarch. They sent Hallie a picture and tried to make her guess what was happening.

Friday, September 13 – Hallie worked her longer hours again today. Sometimes Hallie enjoys staying a bit longer at the Neighborhood Club so she can see and talk with some of the regulars she has grown so fond of. On his way to and from Eliza's school, Mike was treated to the beautifully shifting cloudscape on the lake. Driving along the lake is a genuine source of pleasure for us all.

After Eliza’s class, we had a meeting with her teacher, Ms. Dorothy, to update her IEP. Ms. Dorothy seems very kind and caring. We hope for great things for Eliza this year.

Hallie headed over to Sam’s Club after the meeting to get food for our missionary gathering in the evening. We were also supposed to get a family picture taken for Eliza’s class homework, but there were so many things doing on that Hallie cancelled. It started sprinkling around pickup time for Landon, so Hallie drove over to pick him up. It was really quite cold compared to earlier in the week. The high for the day was in the mid 60s, and it cooled down as the sun lowered in the afternoon. Perfect campfire weather! In the evening we cooked hot dogs over our fire pit and then made s’mores. We all had so much fun. At about 8:00 PM, two of the three sets of missionaries joined us for yummy treats, and Sister Sorensen burned two pairs of nylons to mark her six month mark on her mission.

Saturday, September 14 – The morning started early with Landon and Hallie heading down to the Eastern Market to get our weekly CSA. Then the two raced to the church to meet Mike and Eliza so we could get Activity Days set up and running. Hallie had two of the 15 children attend, and with our two girls we tried to come up with ways to get the others out to our activities. While at our activity, Hallie got a text that her brother Bryce and his wife Elise added a new member to their family today, Penelope. That makes our third niece! We heard everything went well for their family, and we are so excited for them! The rest of the day was spent at Lowe’s making a classic fire engine, and then cleaning, organizing, Mike making more bread, playing with the neighbors, and enjoying the sunny slightly warmer day. Now if there were just more time in the day to get everything on our To Do list done.

Bright kids!

Sunday, September 15 – We went to church in the morning and a wedding for one of our members in the afternoon.

"Our lesson will be about . . . ."

Just another day in the nursery

Wedding reception guests

The happy couple

The weather this week has gone from hot, humid, and sunny to cool and drizzly. We've had three seasons all in one week. All that is missing is snow, but let's not jinx it. The snow will come soon enough. For now, we have the windows open and extra blankets on the beds while we enjoy the crisp autumn nights!