First Signs of Spring, B'Gosh and Begorrah!

The first signs of spring have finally started to arrive, including the return of new buds and chirping birds. The ground, blanketed since January in ice and snow, is now covered with some strange green fuzz. Well, that is, it’s covered in fuzz where it’s not bare dirt. This winter has done a number on the ground cover. The kids don’t seem to notice, though. Landon jumped right back into his old routine of digging in the back yard and riding in the alley as soon as he could. 

Monday, March 17 – Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We celebrated with our traditional corned beef and cabbage, including the apparent tradition of preparing the boiled veggies in a different way than we did the year before. We may have to keep this year’s version. Everything turned out bright and tender without becoming an overboiled mess. We passed on the soda bread this year in favor of breakfast scones for tomorrow.

Hallie looked after Eliza and Rocco and took them both shopping for the night’s ingredients. Rocco really just wanted to be back at home. Poor guy!

Eliza fell asleep on the way home from errands, and when she got up from her nap, she came downstairs wearing her Disney princess crown. She was more tired than in a bad mood, but that didn’t stop Dad from turning her into a meme. There is a parent at Landon’s school that always says that Eliza is so “yummy.”

Tuesday, March 18 – The scones were worth the wait. Maybe we’ll have to chuck the soda bread for these every year! Thanks, Money Saving Mom!

Eliza ran around like a crazy person at her pipsqueak PE class.

After Dad got home from work and we finally got the kids to bed, we watched the concert for the release of Cherie Call’s new CD Homeless Songs via Ustream on the Internet. Streaming media, even with glitches, is amazing!

Wednesday, March 19 – Hallie had jury selection in the morning, and Mike had meetings at school. Hallie was prepared for an all-day stint, but she found out early in the day that she was not selected to be on a trial. We are glad that people were willing to help watch Eliza in case Hallie did go on a jury.

Instead of spending the day apart, the girls dipped strawberries in chocolate. Delicious!

Mike’s meetings revealed some of the turmoil the College of Education is experiencing right now. The economy has adversely affected the university and the college in ways that may directly impact the tenure bids of Mike and other junior faculty.

Hallie met up with Mike minutes before needing to take Landon to gymnastics. Landon sure is loving this new routine, and his new coach is awesome!

After Mike got home, he looked after Eliza for a bit before going to pick up Landon from gymnastics while Hallie and Jayne went to Royal Oak to see the Sing Off 2014 live tour. Two music concerts two nights in a row! Hallie came home having had a really great time, and she was so glad Jayne was willing to go.

Thursday, March 20 – SPRING! It’s still cold and bleak, but at least the days are getting longer. Even the buds have finally started to peak out.

If you squint, you can see the wee white buds. 

Hallie took the kids to their second-to-last therapy appointment. They have done so well with therapy. They will be sad to leave their amazing therapists next week, but the gas budget will be happy with fewer trips out to Bloomfield Hills. Then in the evening Hallie, Landon, and Eliza picked up Mike from work. Thursday nights are fun when Mike gets to come home early.

Friday, March 21 – Mike helped out at recess and then went with the missionaries to visit with Sister Swanson. After Landon got home from school, the two boys finally had their first chance in a long time to play in the alley. Eliza once again had taken a nap. She must be going through a growth spurt.

Hallie spent a lot of time making calls yesterday and today trying to get some things in for our family in order. Somehow those calls always seem to take longer than we think they will.

Landon received his report card, and he showed improvement in every category. He meets proficiency in almost every area, and he also has some new areas of strength. Well done! Also, he finally will have the chance to be his class’s Star of the Week. They saved the best kid for last!

Saturday, March 22 – Hallie took Landon to gymnastics and on a couple of errands, including redeeming a free Culver’s ice cream sundae from a past kid’s meal. Luckies!

Later on in the afternoon Hallie took Landon to get a haircut. He looks super cute and thought pretty highly of himself when he kept checking himself out in the shop windows.

Mike caught Landon reading The Cat in the Hat aloud to Eliza. Adorable!

Sunday, March 23 – In the middle of the night, Landon walked into Mom and Dad’s room telling us that he had thrown up in his bed. Oh, joy. Hallie had mentioned that a stomach bug had been going around, but we didn’t think we would fall prey. Needless to say, he stayed home from church. And so did Eliza. And Mom. And then Dad came home early to help out. Fergus will never get his private time back.

He was feeling somewhat better by midday and totally normal by the afternoon. The kids did some watercolor painting while Landon worked on his Star of the Week poster. 

In  his effort to help keep the kids tidy, Dad and Eliza collaborated on some accidental art too!

Hallie spent the afternoon spring cleaning some cupboards, and they look so fancy! Good work, Hallie!

Say It Isn't Snow

Yeah, right. We got a warm front early in the week leading on snow Wednesday and cold again. The snow started melting Thursday, but it has stayed unseasonably chilly. We have noticed the days getting longer and have made the adjustment to Daylight Saving Time. Mike’s school had Spring Break, so he got to stay home with the kids and take part in some more of the week’s adventures than usual.

Monday, March 10 – We started the week with warmer weather than we have had in a while. When Landon got home from school, it was warm enough to open the back glass door while he went to play construction site in the slush/mud pit in the backyard. Of course, he came in cold and wet. 

Fergus took full advantage of the opportunity to bask in the sun.

Tuesday, March 11 – Although much of the snow had melted, enough has remained after each melt to completely cover the grass all season so far. 

Eliza had the day off from school, and Landon had a half-day for teacher professional development. Eliza went out to pipsqueak PE, and Landon stayed home building spaceships. 

Later on, he went out to do more demolition. It was too cold to keep the glass door open, so Fergus had to pine away from inside.

Wednesday, March 12 – We expected to get snow overnight, but it came late. As a result, the school district called to cancel classes just after Mike started getting the kids up to get ready. Man! We could have slept in! At least we didn’t have to go out in it. 

Instead, Landon played school Interestingly, after the snow dumped on us, we got a sunny (if chilly) afternoon. For dessert after dinner, we had what we hope are our last bowls of snow ice cream for the season.

Thursday, March 13 – Happy Detroit (313) Day! The city was founded 313 years ago this year (on July 24), so it’s even more special. Eliza brought home some holiday art projects from school. 

Mike accompanied Hallie and the kids to their Kaufman therapy sessions. Hallie even did Eliza’s hair in a special braid.

After therapy, the kids blew off steam at a place called AirTime Trampoline and Game Park in Troy. Saying they were tired after only an hour is an understatement! Not even three hours of gymnastics Landon does tires him out like this did.

Once the kids went to bed, Hallie had a couple of great conversations by phone tonight, one of whom was Natalie, Landon’s birthmom. We look forward to possibly seeing her this summer.

Friday, March 14 – Landon woke up complaining that his stomach hurt. We gave in. Amazingly, he made a full recovery by midday, so we took him back to school so he could share the leprechaun trap he made earlier in the week for a class project. 

Other kids' traps

He is making progress in his writing and math.

Landon had earned enough Dragon Dollars from his school's positive behavior support program to buy a ninja costume from Mom. It arrived in today's mail, and the boy enthusiastically put it on and showed off his stealthy skills. When Eliza saw him fully made up she broke out in tears. Once he took off the mask she was all better.

Now you see him, . . . 

. . . and now you don't! 

The elders came over to share pizza for dinner. Although a lot of Thursday's snow had melted, we still managed to find enough for another few bowls of snow ice cream. Maybe now we've had our last. 

Saturday, March 15 – Hallie took Landon to gymnastics while Mike and Eliza tidied up at home. The first birds of the season started chirping. Fergus really seemed to notice. We saw him pawing at them from a perch by the window. 

After Hallie and Landon got home, Hallie was gone for 9 hours babysitting Laurel’s kids. Mike and the kids kept themselves occupied with Play-doh while the cat napped at his favorite perch atop the family room couch.  

Sunday, March 16 – We were deceived by the sun and thought warm weather had finally returned. When we went out at 9:30 AM, it was 16 with a "real feel" of -4. While the day remained below freezing, we nonetheless took the bright sun as a sign of warmer days to come. The kids had an unusually hard time keeping reverent at church. 

The baby in the pew ahead of us entertained herself pulling Landon's hair. 

This next week Mike goes back to work and we add our little friend Rocco to our home's crazy mix two days a week. The weather man tells of slightly warmer temps, and we hope that is true. When your six-year-old says, "This is ridiculous!" you know your winter has not been nice. Only good things can come of things warming up for the spring.

Spring Forward? More Like Lurch Forward

We don’t have enough news this week to report day-by-day, but here’s the low-down: On Monday, Mike had his stitches removed, and Hallie sold some Thirty-One Gift items. Our neighbor Dawn brought over some gifts to warm the kids’ bodies and hearts.  

Landon made some sneaky graffiti. Hmmm.

On Tuesday, Hallie had Rocco over for a brief bit. Rocco is a boy in Eliza's preschool class who Hallie will start babysitting a few times a week. Eliza went to Pipsqueak P.E., and maybe because there are kids her same size and some she knows, she is definitely a lot more into than she was the session before.

On Wednesday, Hallie decided not to do her bariatric surgery. At the time, the decision was pretty traumatic, but as the week progressed, she has felt better about it. Landon had brought home some photocopies from a thumbprint drawing book by Ed Emberley. Coincidently, Mike still has two of Ed Emberley's books, so he sent them to school with Landon. 

His teacher let him share the books and thought they were "cool." Landon brought home some artwork inspired by the books: 

Thursday was kind of a blur.  

On Friday, Eliza and Hallie had a play date with Henry a boy from her preschool class and his mom. Eliza spent part of her time driving around in this sweet Mini Cooper. By the time Hallie and Eliza picked up Landon from school it was 45 degrees out and you would swear we had stepped into an alternate universe. The sun was shinning, people had their dogs with them to pick up the kids, windows down in cars with music playing, and it was plain AMAZING! 

Landon and Eliza had made a royal mess of Landon’s room earlier in the week, so instead of pizza and a movie, they got pizza and room cleaning. After struggling to find an activity for Activity Days, Hallie found something at the last minute that turned out great!  

On Saturday morning, Mike took charge of the kids while Hallie attended the stake Women’s Conference. She was gone for most of the day, and the rest of us had a pretty productive time at home. However, once she got home, it was like a weird light switch turned on in the kids, and they started acting up. Oh, to be able to send them outside again!

We sprang forward for Daylight Saving Time. As Mike has gotten older, his opinion of the transition has gotten stronger. More light on winter mornings and earlier-than-they-would-otherwise-be sunsets in the summer are all well and good, but he could do without springing forward an hour. It's more like being dragged forward kicking and screaming. 

In Like a Lion

Here's hoping for a mild start to spring. Detroit's March came in like a roaring lion (appropriate, considering our pro football team's name), bringing more cold and snow.

Monday, February 24 -- The kids fell right back into the swing of school. Having spent the last week avoiding spending too much time outdoors, Mike and Landon shivered their way to school. Landon channeled his inner Edmund Hillary/Tenzing Norgay as he ascended the giant ice mounds on the way home.

He's holding a clear sheet of ice we pried up from the sidewalk. Pretty nuts! 

He is also doing well at practicing his writing skills. Landon puts those writing skills to use by writing us notes and drawing pictures to go with.

We talked about using kind words for Family Home Evening. This lesson will have to be repeated over and over again, we suspect.

Tuesday, February. 25 -- After school Eliza met up with Mom at a voting party. There was a vote for a technology bond in Grosse Pointe, and a mom in the area had party. We were all invited. The bond vote failed, but that's a subject for another post.

Hanging out with Rocco and some yummy goodies

Eliza went to her Pipsqueak PE class, and there were so many kids in her class they will have to split the class. Eliza participated more than she has in previous weeks and had fun seeing friends from other activities.

Mike's program area coordinator let him know that the university promotion and tenure committee would review his case on March 25. Pins and needles for another four weeks.

Wednesday, February 26 -- The weather has been cold enough during the day that we have not walked to school as often and Landon has not gone out for recess. Mike and Hallie had rainy day schedules, but so many days without recess boggles the mind. Little wonder that the boy has bounced off the walls all winter. Hallie headed to the airport in the evening to pick up a family that had spent time in Cancun, Mexico.

Thursday, February 27 -- Eliza did not have school today so spent time at home. We did some shopping at Sam's Club where both children found a need to release energy. Landon showed off his math and writing skills, and Eliza channeled her inner JLo/Rizzo as she danced up a storm tonight.

She thought she should sleep in her baby doll's canopy bed. Fergus, who uses the bed as his own private space, was not amused and let her know it.

Friday, February 28 -- Mike received an encouraging phone call from the dean at Cal Lutheran, but he has not (yet) been offered a job. Fingers crossed for some sort of positive resolution regarding either this job or tenure. As Gene Wilder's Willy Wonka said, "The suspense is terrible." Unlike Mr. Wonka, however, we do not hope it'll last.

Hi, Shad!

We ended our evening with our weekly pizza and a movie. Hallie chose The Fox and the Hound.

Saturday, March 1 -- St. David's Day started with no daffodils or leeks anywhere in sight. Landon spent his last day in Boys Advanced gymnastics before starting Boys Pre-team. He is very excited to move forward in gymnastics. Hallie starts her liquid diet in preparation for her surgery on Monday. This is a brave move, and we will do our best to support her. It means she will not be able to eat many foods she loves, so we indulged a little today, making poutine and having Coldstone in the evening. Mike and Hallie have been taking a money management course and spent some time working on it after the kids went to bed.

Sunday, March 2 -- The snow that started last night left us three new inches this morning. We had stake conference, but were able to watch it via Internet feed at our local building. The stake's theme for the year is Doctrine and Covenants 38:24-27, "Be one." Tonight the Sister Missionaries are coming for dinner and having a lesson where we will present them with our Family Mission Plan. Hallie also once again is making two never before made recipes. This dinner will be good!