Things Are Beginning to Heat Up

As we hinted at last week we knew this week would be busy, and (for the most part) it was. Hallie has been extremely tired, and we are hoping soon we will make changes so that will not keep happening.

Monday, July 8 –

The week started out as it has for a while with Hallie working in the dark hours. On Sunday, our next-door neighbor Dorene asked if we would watch her son who is close to Landon’s age, and so we agreed. We figured going to Greenfield Village would be a perfect place to let three crazy kids get their energy out, and we were spot on. The carousel at Greenfield Village celebrated its 100th birthday, and in commemoration the kids got to ride for two hours free. Eliza took full advantage of wanting ride more than once. The carousel animals had birthday hats on and numbers around their necks, and when the ride stopped they would call a number. If number matched that on the animal upon which you were riding, you could pick a prize. We did not win the first time, but on another turn Eliza won a fun biting zebra toy that the kids continued to play with all week. While Eliza rode the carousel, Owen and Landon made pinwheels and wanted theirs to be exactly alike. Very cute. The boys then took a turn at learning how to play badminton. We topped of our trip with yummy mac and cheese at A Taste of History and then headed back home.

Mike had some meetings, so we dropped him off at school while the rest of us returned home. The sister missionaries planned to use our house to host family home evening for the branch’s young single adults, so of course a fun dessert had to be made. Hallie drew inspiration while watching the family’s new favorite show, The Pioneer Woman on Food Network (Thanks, Marilyn, for turning Hallie on to this!). She saw a fun easy cool dessert to make. So on the way home Mom and the kids stopped at ALDI to grab a few ingredients and headed home to make Cherry and Blueberry Cheesecake Shooters.  

Shortly after Mike arrived home on the bus, he turned right around and took the kids to swimming so Mom could get things put together for the evening. While they were swimming, a gnarly thunderstorm passed through town and caused the power to go out, temporarily interrupting class. Both kids have advanced to the next level of swim lessons and really have loved it. Family home evening turned out well even though not as many people attended as we had hoped. Eliza did not have a nap today, so we thought she would go down easily, but she didn’t. Fortunately, while Mike worked with her, Landon kept himself quietly entertained. He was so well behaved and loves to have the missionaries over.

Tuesday, July 9 –

They are short staffed at Hallie’s work, so she has opted to pick up the Tuesday morning shifts for the month. So off to work in the dark she went again. Mike took the kids out on a bike ride and berry hunt and just to enjoy the perfect summer weather while it lasts. 

The libraries here in the Grosse Pointes have set up drop-in Storytime activities for the summer. Mike took the kids after Hallie got home so she could take a short nap. 

We played indoors in the early afternoon, and Landon showed off his building talents. 

Random happy kitty shot

At 3:00 PM, Hallie had an Activity Day activity with the Primary-aged kids at church. We had twice as many kids as the last activity, and having it for an hour is a perfect amount of time. Landon had tumbling in the evening. Mike has not had the opportunity to see him do the new things he has been learning, so he tagged along with us. Mike dropped Hallie off at the YMCA to work out, and then she joined everyone just in time to see Landon climb to the top of the rope that they have hanging from the ceiling for the first time. When asked what prompted him to go all the way up, he said he did it to see what it would be like. He did not know how to get down, so he slid all the way down and got a nice rope burn on the back of one of his legs. He won’t be sliding down again anytime soon.  Eliza was bored of watching Landon, so she found herself a yummy cupcake container to get into. Eliza was happy with herself. What a funny girl. Once again, we got some wicked weather as the day came to its close.

"Look out below!"

Wednesday, July 10 –

We were looking back over the calendar for the last week and notice there was not a ton written on Wednesday but something must have happened besides Hallie working and taking Eliza to speech. 

Because Mike does a lot of work from home, he has many opportunities to spend time with the kids. Today he taught Landon some of the finer points of checkers and tic-tac-toe. 

(and some improvised games of our own)

He chose not to defer going to the temple this week until next week so Hallie could go to bed early, and she was really appreciative of it.

Thursday, July 11 –

Thursday was the one day when Hallie did not have to work during the week. Yay! In the morning the family headed to the YMCA to get some exercise and then to the kids respective gymnastics classes. Eliza loves doing the trampoline parts, and it is hard to convince her to get off sometimes. Today, however, she followed directions very well. Landon again headed to the top of the rope, but this time he jumped to the foam block pit below with a much happier ending.

The mint and echinacea in the backyard have started to bloom, so Mike harvested them to freeze and dry for later use. The kitchen smelled great all afternoon. 

We had a hitchhiker come into the house, so Landon sent it hopping back outside.

A while after we got home the sister missionaries came by to make some Jell-O for the Relief Society social, and they even lent a hand with the dishes. Hallie did not go to the function for Relief Society as she had a prior appointment for a function being put on by our health insurance company. HAP puts on free functions for their members several times a year, and this one was on organization and finances. It was held at a local hotel conference room. A light dinner was provided, and Hallie felt that the speakers were excellent. She will definitely go to another one of these functions.

Fancy!

Friday, July 12 –

Friday was not too horribly busy but enough to make for a long day. It was dark outside when Hallie left for work, and today was sign up for swimming lessons. The kids will go on Saturday mornings this session so as not to disturb family home evening on Monday nights. Mike took the kids out to enjoy the morning sun. 

Shortly after work, Hallie took the kids over to the Grosse Pointe City Police/Fire Department with the Grosse Pointe Moms Club. This was one of the better outings at the Police/Fire Departments in the Pointes. The City is not very big and neither is its public safety building, so the officers brought the truck, car, and SUV out of the garage for the kids to see. A lot of the boys had the opportunity to put on the fire gear, and at the end the kids got to work the fire hose. It was hot enough outside that the boys turned this time into running through the hose spray.

Happy kitteh on a favorite perch while the kids are away

Around lunch time Hallie took a nap and so did Eliza. During their sleep Mike went to visit the Swanson’s. Thankfully, Landon kept himself busy. Friday night is pizza night, and Mike and the kids headed on a walk to pick up our pizza. Hallie thought to try a Philly Cheesesteak pizza, but judging by the overall reaction, that will be the last time we try that. Eliza liked it, so that is a good thing. After dinner, Hallie’s Visiting Teachers arrived, and she and they had a great time chatting and talking about this month’s message.

Saturday, July 13 –

Last Saturday was so relaxed hanging out at home. This Saturday, on the other hand, was not. The morning started with us heading into Detroit to Eastern Market to pick up our first community-supported agriculture (CSA) share from Jentzen Farms. For the next three months, we will pick up fresh produce and eggs every week. This week, we received beets, radishes, kale, eggs, zucchini, green beans, and fresh oregano. How fun to see what we will cook up this week with our produce!

Soaking up a Midwestern treasure

We then raced over to Lowe’s where the kids hammered together Toy Story-themed Pizza Planet trucks with Mike for their Build and Grow project. The kids love going and had lots of fun playing with their trucks for the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Hallie ran to Target to pick up a few things needed for the house. She then met the gang and we zipped over to Costco to pick up a veggie tray for the branch picnic on Belle Isle. 

Thanks, Miss Grace! 

Hallie had to work, so the family dropped her off on their way to pick up Otto and head to the picnic. From the fun stories Mike and the kids told Hallie after work, it sounded like the family really enjoyed their time at the picnic. 

Face painting, water balloon mayhem, food, and friends

The family picked Hallie up at 5 from work, and then we all headed back down to Eastern Market and the Detroit Mercantile Company for its Detroit Vendors evening. It was great to see local vendors selling their goods. We have been to some of the vendors’ own stores before, and we will definitely be shopping at others’ shops in the future.

Urban farmers

After getting home, Hallie and Landon left Mike and Eliza home for a bath and bed time while they headed to the second After 6 on Kercheval event. We ate a stuffed cabbage roll and a homemade burrito, plus Landon got cotton candy that he so eagerly wanted. We brought home our goods to share along with our favorite kettle corn and fresh-squeezed lemonade. What a nice night it was to be out!

Sunday, July 14 –

The week was beautiful weather wise, and today was no different (just a bit warmer). Right before church, our neighbors brought over cupcakes for Elliot's birthday. Eliza indulged. 

We all headed to church, and a nap was had by Hallie. The kids loved playing in the backyard enjoying the sun. 

Landon watched an episode of The Pioneer Woman earlier in the day with Hallie and now has a menu of goodies he wants Hallie to prepare. Dinner did not consist of her recipes, however, but of chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes, O. J., and sausage. It was good enough for Landon that he thanked us several times for dinner. Now it is blog writing, book reading, workbook working time with Eliza fast asleep after missing her nap. Hopefully next week will be slightly less tiring as we learn to prioritize and seeking the Lord’s will in our decisions.

Summertime Sweetness

Monday July 1 –

Happy Canada Day!

As we began writing this week’s entry, we were thinking how this was a typical week. But really we have come to the conclusion that none of our weeks are typical, which makes for a fun life here in Michigan with the kids. Hallie did her normal crack of dawn shift at work, and in the midst of leaving at 4:30 AM she somehow took ALL of the keys with her to work. That became a wee bit of a problem when Mike started getting ready to take Landon and Eliza to Eliza’s speech group. So, Hallie hurried home at the end of her shift and swooped up the kids and got to group with an hour remaining.  Afterwards, even though she didn’t want to go, Hallie and the kids ended up at the YMCA to workout. The library has a lot of fun things planned for kids this summer, and Hallie has scheduled the kids for a lot of them.  Today Landon made a fairy house out of recycled materials. We made it as boy-like as possible, and he had a fun time making it. 

The kids ended their evening with swim lessons. They both really seem to love it! Afterwards, Eliza decided to go sit on the porch and take in the falling rain.

This is the first time we've seen her stick her face up to literally drink the rain in!

Tonight Mike had to attend a memorial service for a colleague that passed suddenly. Her passing is a real blow to the college, and she will be missed.

Tuesday July 2 –

Monday evening Hallie had the bright idea to go to Windsor to see if she could still pick up on a few Canada Day sales. Before we left, Hallie had a few things to drop off at folks’ homes. We left early, which we have not done before, and made great time through the tunnel. We have our regular stores and pretty much stuck to that route, with an added exception that we will not keep in the future. 

We did not get home until nearly 4:00 PM, and that made for a LONG day. 

Bejewelled in Dollarama baubles

To top it off Landon still had Junior Tumbling class. He finds the class challenging but keeps doing it. Coach Shane paired him up with a young boy that Hallie thought was not a good choice because the two of them got along too well.  After class, she approached Coach Shane about the pairing and seeing what could be done for next class, and he told her the reason why he had paired the two. She felt his reasoning was sound, and Landon succeeded in helping a shy boy come out of his shell. Way to go, dude!

Just another routine night hanging out at home.

Wednesday July 3 –

Hallie worked, and then she headed to Bloomfield Hills with Eliza to take her to speech. Eliza did great at speech this week, and we love seeing her improvements! Since having sister missionaries serving here in Grosse Pointe we have been working with them a lot. Our family enjoys having the spirit of missionary work in our home again. In the evening, we had the chance to have the last discussion before baptism with a young woman named Britany. She is in her early 20’s and is absolutely amazing. I hope the elders realize what a golden convert she is. It all started with a classmate that she met in high school. They became friends as the years went on, and the rest is history. The elders had planned one discussion, and as the night progressed the discussion went a different way, and it was awesome!   

Thursday July 4 –

The Fourth of July was low key for our family, and it was quite nice. 

Happy Birthday, America, from our little firecracker!

Hallie had promised Landon that we would go and see Despicable Me 2 up at Partridge Creek, a promenade-style mall that’s fairly close by. We normally don’t take Eliza to the movies, but Landon wanted us all to go together as a family, so we relented. Now we can say that Eliza has experienced her first movie in the theatre. Eliza did quite well except for needing to go potty before the movie and then again partway through. After the movie we ate lunch at Rojo (always yummy) and took advantage of the patio to enjoy our meal al fresco. 

Here's to celebrating the defiant - er - independent spirit. 

We wandered around the mall for a bit, and the kids ended up playing in the dancing fountain like so many other kids. As we did not plan to play in the fountain, however, ours did not have swimsuits. Oh, well! The kids had a blast, and it sure helped them to beat the heat. 

Letter art from the Art-is-in Michigan Store

We were gone for 6 or 7 hours, and everyone was tired by the time we got home, so it was an early to bed for all.

Friday July 5 –

All of the administrators at Hallie’s work had the day off, so she worked longer to cover shifts that were empty. It was quiet a lot of the time with so many people out of town, but the diehards still came to get healthy. About 30 minutes before quitting time, Mike brought the kids down so they could play in the gym and blow off some steam. They seemed to have a lot of fun. 

We said good bye to Mike from there as he joined one of the elders and went to visit Lloyd and Bonnie, members of our branch with whom he has visited nearly every Friday for four years. Afterwards, they went to visit some other families in the branch. Since we did not do much on the 4th, we decided to roast s’mores and light sparklers this evening. The sister missionaries even joined us for a bit of the fun to celebrate Sister Decker hitting her one-year mark. Sister Decker found a blouse that did not fit anymore and burned it in the fire pit. 

Last year, Michigan passed an ordinance to allow personal use of big fireworks. Our neighbors made sure they took advantage of this, and it took us until 11:30 PM to get the kids to sleep (one of them crying in the meantime) because of the closeness of the fireworks.

Saturday July 6 –

On Saturday we decided it was time to clean the kitchen thoroughly. Mike was a great helper, and Landon even got in on part of the action. We then had a bit of an easy afternoon which was nice. 

Fergus is a love. He likes to cuddle up close to everyone.

We rounded out the evening by getting yogurt at a new yogurt place called Sno Go and then heading to Britany’s baptism. Not many of the branch members attended, and it was quite sad but hopefully we learn our lesson as well and will attend more in the future. Hopefully the kids will get used to sitting a bit longer as they were both quite antsy.

Sunday July 7 –

Mike found out last night that he did not have meetings this morning. Oh happy day! However, we were very relaxed in the morning, and when people started calling for rides that lit a fire under us that set us going. Hallie took Landon to pick up Otto, a guy investigating the church who lives by us, and then we picked up Britany (Who is amazing. Did we mention that?). Britany even bore her testimony and fasted today. She hasn’t even been a member for 24 hours. 

We missed the first big rainstorm of the day while we were at church, but Mother Nature treated us to a second course. 

Pictures don't do these deluges justice. 

The rain let up later on. Fergus has found his happy place with afternoon sun in the dining room. 

In the early evening, Hallie scored a four-berry pie, a cat carrier, and a cat bed. The Grosse Pointe Moms Club is a benefit to our family. The kids and Mike went on a walk and found all kinds of cool berries and enjoyed the fruit they found. 

Red raspberries from the garden. Woo hoo! 

The boy approves.

Juneberries (AKA serviceberries) growing on a neighbor's ornamental bush

"More, please!"

We topped the night off with the four-berry pie for dinner.

What a great week have had. This next week looks to be as good or better. The missionaries are doing young single adult family home evening in our home tomorrow night. Look for some more good stories next week!