Celebrating Teeth, Tigers, and a Big Boy's Birthday

Eliza had her first trip to the dentist today. She has perfect little teeth, all well spaced. We got Landon a haircut after his trip to the dentist (perfect teeth too!) and before his karate class and basketball tryouts.

Dad got his haircut, and Mom got her hair done on Tuesday. Don’t worry. We are not touching Eliza’s luscious locks any time soon.

On Thursday, Hallie was running errands and driving down a local road when the driver of a municipal garbage truck opened his door and took out her passenger side mirror. Very sad. Fortunately, the city will pay for the damage.

We have caught Tigers fever, and Landon insisted that he and Eliza get dressed in their Tiger blue and orange to watch Detroit sweep the Yankees and go on to the World Series. Go Tigers!

First try: Cute girl, goofy boy

Second try: Cute solo shot

Third try: Well, we tried anyway

We spent Saturday celebrating Landon’s birthday with his and our friends next door. After Hallie and Doreen went to a mom-to-mom sale, the rest of us met them at Chuck E. Cheese’s and played games. We then had lunch at Olga’s before eating Cars-themed cupcakes and ice cream at home. Landon received dart guns, and he and Owen played with those in the backyard until we parents finally had our fill and had the boys take a rest.

Mike spun 100 on the Showcase Showdown and got 100 tickets. Jackpot!

Ride-em, Cowgirl!

You'd think he won the lottery. 

Such a big boy!

Later on the party continued over next door as the kids ran around like banshees before finally collapsing into bed. Landon has felt ill for the past few days, so he really needed to tone it down. We had a much more low-key day on Sunday.   

Pig Tails, Tree Trimming, Lego Fest, and Bike Theft

Hallie got the kids a pre-Halloween treat in the form of Franken Berry cereal. We know by our experience with Lucky Charms that Landon does not like the dehydrated marshmallows. Eliza has no such problem, as she showed when she snuck a few extra when she thought no one was looking.

Caught!

Eliza’s hair is getting long enough that it’s starting to get a bit unruly, so we are trying to get her used to the idea of wearing rubber bands in her hair. So cute!

"What're you looking at?"

Fall is really reaching a peak here, and throughout the neighborhood we see trees displaying their varied shades and leaves littering the ground in giant piles. Last week, a couple of guys had come down the street looking to trim back trees for a modest fee. Hallie has attempted to get the city to trim back our locust tree, but as the city continues to drag its bureaucratic heels, she decided to take the opportunity as it presented itself. Unfortunately, when the men came back, Hallie was out picking up the kids. They claimed to have finished the job, wanting nearly double what they’d offered to do it for, and they didn’t bother to clean up a significant portion of the litter. Oh, brother. The city is still coming to finish the job within the next few weeks, but we cleared out the mess, which we’ll use in the fire pit.

Hallie had wanted to take Landon to see a movie on Thursday, but Landon decided not to behave so well, so she kept the babysitter and had her own outing. Landon may have learned his lesson, because he managed to behave himself well enough on Friday to attend the Lego KidsFest out in Novi.

Note that he is using the awesome Lego camera he received a while back from Grandma and Grandpa. Every time Mike wanted to take his picture, Landon wanted to take one too. 

The Lighting McQueen sweatshirt was a nice touch. 

Landon put his little piece of the giant US map visitors put together in Texas. Very interesting. 

Ahoy, matey! 

Hallie and Eliza had their own girls’ night out at IKEA, where Hallie bought some organizational materials and Eliza pretended to play in a kid-sized kitchen. We’re really happy to see her beginning to chat and engage in imaginative play. She’s becoming quite the little mimic.

After we came home and as we were getting ready for bed, Hallie happened to look down at the garage (it’s detached and faces the back alley), and she noticed that the light was on. Mike went down to check, and he discovered that Hallie’s bike had been stolen. What’s peculiar about the situation is that whoever stole the bike took the time to remove the wicker basket hanging on the front of it and leave it behind. What? You can’t fence a basket as well as the rest of the bike. It appears that Hallie’s bike was the only thing stolen, and everyone else’s bike plus all other equipment remained pretty well untouched.

Landon played his last soccer game until April on Saturday. Rain threatened the whole time, but we dressed warm, and we managed to avoid getting wet. As goalie, Landon stopped two shots on goal. Good job! Later on, the grown-ups did some chores around the house while they watched the Tigers win a nail-biter over the Yankees. Should have been a shutout, but we’ll take the win. 

What with General Conference last week and all, we forgot it was Fast Sunday this week. We must have been too excited to try out Hallie’s super duper French toast. So delicious to our tummies. . . . 

Small Projects and Big Responsibilities

We have completed several small projects around the house, with substantial help from our neighbor, Don. The back porch repair project is finished (save final painting) in time for the fall chill to set in. Also, the shoe dresser now graces our entry hall, and Eliza’s chair and the small side table are finished being painted, again just in time for fall’s chill, which means they’ll be put away soon. 

New home for our shoes

New home for knickknacks 

New home for patio furniture

Glad to see all this mess gone!

New paint on old furnishings

We replaced the front railing on Eliza’s crib. Turns out she still sleeps better in her cage. Also, she has not climbed out at all this week.

She insisted on getting this tattoo. Once she got it, she didn't seem so impressed. 

On Monday, we celebrated the first day of October with a Kinder Surprise egg, our monthly tradition. It's a little like playing the lottery, so getting a prize usually means learning to deal with disappointment. Every once in a while, though, someone gets an awesome or really weird toy. In the meantime, Landon's looking forward to November.

We were all jealous of Eliza's cool blow-up cat. 

Later in the day, Don got out his super tall ladder so he and Mike could repair and replace portions of the underside of the roof that had come loose and fallen some time ago. We had to evict a couple of sparrow families who had built nests under the roof line, but fortunately the work did not require substantial structural repair. In the evening, Mom cooked enchiladas. Yum! 

Mike took a series of pictures of the change that the trees across the street underwent during the week: 

Still a bit of green, and few leaves on the ground 

Check out how the sunrise glows through the leaves.

Now you can see the branches through the leaves, which now litter the ground. Fall is here in earnest!

We have not taken pictures of other fall leaves in the area, but we have had a bumper crop of color. It sort of makes up for the fact that we won't be making a fall foliage road trip this year.

We bought Eliza a balance bike like the one Landon learned to ride on. It arrived on Wednesday. While it’s still a little too heavy for her to manage all by herself, it should be perfect for her by next spring. She doesn’t seem to mind taking it slow until then.

OK, enough riding. On to more interesting things, like baby Henry!

Landon was the leader at his preschool class on Thursday. When Hallie picked him up, he explained to her that “a leader works hard and does his best, and that’s what I did.” Mike is now looking for ways to get this insight published in an educational leadership journal.

Mike went with Landon to his Friday morning class as the parent worker, so Landon got to be the class leader for the second day in a row, plus he got to do show-and-tell. Mike saw first hand what the leader gets to do (such as calendar, head the line, help set the snack table, choose the snack, among other responsibilities). Landon did us proud! He showed his teddy, Bailey Bear, and his cowboy blanket. We played with blocks and cars, painted with watercolors, sang songs, and read Eric Carle’s The Mixed-Up Chameleon. Landon chose yummy popcorn to go with our apple juice, and all the children had fun showing Mike how precocious they could be. It reminded Mike of the fun times he had teaching elementary school.

Showing off his watercolor chameleon

The weather took a quick turn from sunny and warm to cool and wet by the end of the week. Trees all through town are showing off their red, orange, and gold hues. We had our church’s general conference this weekend. Prior to the first session, Mike and Hallie decorated the front room and porch for the fall with our own autumn-themed knickknacks and colors. We did our best to listen to the sessions live with two active kiddos and felt inspired by what we did hear. We were especially intrigued to hear that young adults will be able to start their missions when they are younger. Landon especially will be affected by this change, as he will probably be closer to 19 than 18 when he graduates from high school. Elder Dallin H. Oaks' talk "Protect the Children" resonated particularly with us. 

Hallie experimented in the kitchen while Mike attended the priesthood session, baking up some outrageous pretzel bars from the kitchen of Gail Simmons that she saw on Good Morning America: 

Image courtesy ABC News. Our own bars may not have looked as presentable, but they do taste outrageous!