Cops, Candy Shops, and Sunday Sweets

It’s sunny like springtime, but you wouldn’t know it from the temperatures. At least we missed the rain. Hallie took the kids over to the local fire and police station with the Grosse Pointe Mom’s Club, and Landon got to try out the different vehicles. He got to see prisoners in their cells and detectives in the detective bureau. Eliza seemed to enjoy being out of the house too, and she sat contentedly in her little car seat. Everyone seemed to notice when Landon pulled the air horn on the fire truck, and they all had a good laugh.

With his buddy, Xavier

"Oh, . . . . !"

On Saturday, we got into the Easter season a little bit by having lunch at the Pantry and then going next door to Morley’s Candy Shop for their Easter Open House. They had free candy samples, face painting, and a photo op with Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Landon decided right as we were leaving the house this morning that he was going to wear a dishtowel as a cape and that he was a super hero. We played along, and when he went to have his face painted, he got a green facemask so that he could be a super frog man. Once he received his green sword from Alice, his costume was complete! Eliza also had her face painted with a little ladybug. The face painter said she thought Eliza was the youngest child she had painted. At 6 ½ weeks, that may be possible. So cute!

Note the dishtowel tucked in under the coat. 

Is it just me, or does Alice seem a bit intimidating?

Today we baked some cupcakes, and Landon was a big help. He monitored the quality of the product and made sure to take care of any extra batter. Hallie fancied them up with special frosting and sprinkles. Mike pitched in by baking sweet potato fries. It’s been a while since Hallie and Mike have made them at home, and it might have been the first time Landon has had them homemade. He gobbled them right down. 

This is Landon's angry face, the one he uses any time he wants us to know he is not pleased. It is often accompanied by a throaty growl. 

Quality check

The first draft of the finished product

Spring Has Sprung!

The crocuses are in bloom, we have had a couple of days of decent weather and sun, and we have planted seeds in starter pots for the garden. Spring is (nearly) here!

Eliza has had a hard time this week and has needed a lot of cuddling and 5 S’s. We read somewhere that a baby’s tendency to cry increases for the first two months and then gradually decreases. Let’s hope so. Other than that, when she’s awake and recently fed, Eliza is a delight! She’s about eight pounds now, so we still get comments from people about how tiny she is. She holds up her head and looks around with her bright eyes. She darts her little tongue about and makes little piggy noises. So cute!

Our big man Landon is getting through his little potty setback. He has been very helpful around the house. He helped Dad put the seeds in the starter pots, and he helped Mom take out the garbage. He also was finally able to get out on his coaster bike. He and Dad went for a ride on Dad’s bike, and Landon, Mike, and Eliza all went to the library, where Landon watched the tropical fish, played with the puzzles, and read Brown Bear, Brown Bear with Dad.

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with corned beef and cabbage. We bought buttermilk for soda bread, but we just couldn’t quite get our act together to make it. Something about having a new baby. . . . The morning was also quite busy with Landon’s last Detroit Zoo Tots visit and a stop at the Oberweis Dairy for green mint chocolate chip milk shakes (WOW!). It made for a delicious start to the day but a late start for dinner. 

Detroit wears its blue collar credentials as a badge of honor and has the kind of stick-to-your-ribs comfort food that you'd expect to appeal to folks who make their living building things. On Saturday, we took the kids to National Coney Island--comfort food central. Mike had a BBQ hani (essentially a chicken gyro or donair with BBQ sauce) with a side of chili, Hallie had a tuna melt (not as good as Dwight's, but what is?) and cheese fries, and Landon had macaroni and cheese. We'll have to make sure to get some extra time in at the Y next week. 

Speaking of Y's, how about those BYU Cougars, eh? Go Blue! 

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

The more things change. . . .

This week we had several changes in the branch leadership, including a new branch presidency (Thank you, Pres. Ellsworth, and welcome back to the pews! Congratulations, Pres. Chirolla, and we look forward to working with you!). Even Mike was affected by the proceedings. He’s back to familiar work as the branch clerk.

Now that Eliza is officially one month old and getting longer by the day, we have officially moved her out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months jumpers and other outfits. She has been a little restless (colicky?), so we have been working on her with the Happiest Baby on the Block’s 5 S’s (swaddling, sucking, swinging, shushing, and putting her on her stomach or side). Generally speaking, the 5 S’s have worked pretty well. Mike has had a little better luck, and Hallie has taken to calling him the Baby Whisperer.

Mike had a paper to present in Saginaw on Friday morning, and with the predicted storm, we figured it might be safer (plus he’d be able to get up just a little later) if we all headed up to the Birch Run/Frankenmuth/Saginaw area together on Thursday afternoon and stayed the night. While in the area, we had dinner at the Zehnder’s cafe in Frankenmuth. Sure enough, it did snow overnight, and the roads were pretty nasty going into Saginaw, but by early afternoon the worst of the snow had melted away. After the conference, Mike picked up the rest of the crew, and we headed back to Frankenmuth and Birch Run. We went to the Popcorn Wagon (lots of different kinds of gourmet popcorn), Bronner’s (we bought Eliza an ornament), and the factory outlets for clothes for the kiddies.  

On Saturday, Landon had a little accident on his scooter and scraped up his face a little bit. Chick dig scars, though, right?

Landon and Eliza

From as soon as we got out to Utah to pick up Hallie and Eliza, Landon has really taken to his role as big brother. He loves to hold her, and he constantly wants us to take his picture as he has her in his arms: 

(maybe she's not quite so enthusiastic)

Note how he's holding his hand up to her foot. He's fascinated by  how small her hands and feet are. 

More comparisons 

She seems to be warming up to having him hold her.

He's very proud of how careful he is when holding her. 

I'm not quite sure how to interpret the look in her eyes, but he seems very happy to be the big brother!

Impromptu Road Trip, concluded

It took a couple of days with a stopover in Des Moines to do it, but we did make it home more or less in one piece. Hallie lost a jacket on the bus from the Denver hotel to the airport, Landon lost a sippy cup, and his car seat ended up flying to Detroit ahead of the rest of us, but otherwise we managed to make the 1,300 mile trip without incident. As with our return trip from California, we wended our way in a rental (a 2011 minivan from Virginia with less than 8,000 miles on it. Virginia--makes you wonder how it got to Colorado for us to then drive it to Michigan. . . .), through Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana on our way to Michigan, and once again we only hit questionable roads as we closed in on home.

Hallie wants a minivan of her very own someday.

While most people would not consider hitting the road rather than booking another flight when stranded far from home, we figured that at least three of us had already covered 10,000 miles in the Buick on our previous trips to the coasts, so what was another couple of dozen hours on the road? For this trip, we chose a minivan because we had five of our original six pieces of luggage, two small children in large car seats (one on loan from the airline), and the need to look after said wee ones in relative ease and comfort to preserve what little sanity remained with us Monday morning. We put Landon in a seat in the third row (the other part of which we folded down to accommodate bags), and we put Eliza the second row captain's chair in front of him. Hallie and Mike took turns entertaining the kiddies from the second row while the other drove. In an inspired moment prior to her leaving to pick up Eliza (back when the original plan was to have her do the whole Utah thing on her own), Hallie had brought the GPS with her. We now put it to work telling us about traffic conditions, speed limits, and places where we could find cheap gas en route.

How the girl spent the trip

These amazing kids of ours just took it all in stride. Fortunately, Landon had his trusty Diego backpack to keep him occupied. Although he wondered why we weren’t flying and remarked a few times about wanting his old car seat, he otherwise just sat contentedly coloring in his coloring books, playing with his toys, reading his books, and entertaining himself with Mike’s work iPad (tablets are the future—the kid has taken to Mike’s like a duck to water). Eliza slept nearly the whole way. We won’t keep pressing our luck that these two continue to travel so well, but if they do, yippee for us!

(not our pic, but a good imitation)

The storm that stranded us in Denver left vestiges of snow and ice along our way. At around 4 PM each day, we were treated to the sight of trees and grass covered in frost that glittered like shining silver in the golden afternoon light. We only began to see substantial snow drifts as we arrived outside the Motor City on Tuesday night. By the time we made it to the airport to drop off our rental, most of the roads had been cleared. We arrived at the house to find comically high piles of snow and bills (our first invoice from the hospital beat us home). Oy vey. Our neighbors’ son had collected our mail and shoveled our walks in our absence. Thanks, Miles! You’re awesome!

Someday this will make a funny story

So this morning we're stuck in Denver as another Midwest snow storm shuts down metro Detroit. We had a few options upon hearing our flight was canceled last night: go standby on the flights leaving over the next few days (all are overbooked and we're now officially booked on a flight leaving THURSDAY morning); go on another airline ($$$$ and at least a couple of layovers); take the train ($$$ and get in Wednesday afternoon); or drive ($$ and we get in Wednesday in time for Mike's class). We opted for the road trip, although it is possible that a few seats might open up for flights leaving sometime on Tuesday. We're now in the process of figuring out whether our bags have already beat us to the Motor City. If not, we're fine. If so, we'll have to do just a little more scrambling this morning. No one got much sleep last night, but right now both of the babies are sleeping like little angels--little angels that toss and turn and keep their parents up all night. But who couldn't love that peaceful look and the gentle quiet snores they make as they begin to stir from their slumber and get ready to set out on another whirlwind road tripping adventure? Off we go again!

February Photos

Click the picture to see photos from February, including several of Eliza. Enjoy!

Valentine's Day Surprise

Landon and Mike missed Hallie and Eliza. Landon woke up Sunday morning saying, “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” So Mike took a long, hard look at his schedule and the money situation and opted to surprise Hallie by flying the boys out to Utah to be with the girls while we wait for the Interstate Compact to be approved so Eliza can travel back to Michigan. The four of us will come back next Sunday. In the mean time, it’s back to the grind of baby crying in the night and back to the delight of seeing our newborn's wee fingers and toes and watching Landon take on his new role as big brother. We’re grateful to be back together as a family and enjoying our new edition!

Our New Arrival (for reals, she's here!)

Hallie called this morning from Utah to let Landon and me know that Eliza Jane arrived at 3:44 AM Mountain time. She's 6 lbs 5 oz, 19 inches, and cute as a button. See for yourself!

S-N-O-W

As I look out of my office out into the street all covered in nearly a foot of the white stuff, grateful not to have to travel in it, I was reminded of the great ol' anthem to snow from White Christmas. Looks very Vermonty out there, and a hot buttered rum (light on the butter, or the rum, I s'pose) doesn't sound half bad about now. For the other 100 million of you out there dealing with this "snow-verated" weather, I share this little piece of nostalgia:

A Baby for Valentine’s Day??!!

We wrote a little about this on Facebook, but we wanted to make sure everything was squared away before we sent the word out here. Anyway, we’ve been matched to a birth mom!

We know this much about the baby: she’s a little girl (we're thinking of naming her Eliza Jane), she’s due on Valentine’s Day, she’ll be born in Utah. We’re so excited to add a new member to our family, and just a little timid to get too worked up (you never can tell before placement actually happens, and that puts us on pins and needles a little bit), but we’re now scrambling to get the last-minute details together for our new arrival. Landon can’t wait to be a big brother!

We'll keep posting as more details come in. . . .

Anniversary at the Gym

This weekend we celebrated our anniversary family-style (I know—how romantic!). We went out for breakfast at the aptly named Breakfast Club Restaurant, a local place we have tried once before and really liked. We shared some yummy Santa Fe breakfast lasagna and oven baked French toast before heading down to Mills Gymnastics with a group of local families who have adopted children. Landon got a real workout in!

On the swings

Among the foam blocks

Climbing the rock wall

He did this move over and over again.

Landon had the time of his life. Everyone we met for the first time was extremely friendly and welcoming. We definitely will be going to another event in the future. We finished off our weekend with a close to Mom M Lemon Meringue Pie from Achatz Pies , their homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and freshly made Garlic Sourdough. We were three happy campers. On to another happy year.

Landon Takes to the NBA Hardwood

Back in October, Hallie bought tickets through Groupon for a Pistons basketball game on MLK, Jr. Day for the boys. Part of the ticket package included a post-game shot from the free throw line. And then suddenly, the day arrived! Coincidentally, Mike received a call from one of the missionaries Saturday night and found out the missionary (who will play college ball at Utah State in the fall) and a colleague had gotten permission to go to the game. We arranged for the four guys to head up to the Palace of Auburn Hills to go to the big game.

 The boys at the Palace

On game day Landon got his little face tattoos on and got psyched as the boys took to the road. The missionaries had seats in a separate section of the arena, so Mike and Landon parted ways with the elders and headed up to their nose-bleed seats. The Pistons played the Dallas Mavericks, so it wasn’t a major game (only about 15,000 people attended), but the crowd still brought the excitement. Landon scrambled down the halls and up the stairs into his seat, a huge smile plastered firmly on his little face. He didn’t even let tripping over Mike’s feet and falling on his face get him down.

That is one big shoe—even bigger than the elders!

Is this kid jazzed up, or what? 

Pre-game floor action from Section 202

Landon's attention is on the court

Game time!

The opening fireworks as the players were introduced startled him a bit, but he soaked in the energy of the fans that sat around us. He entertained himself scrambling up and down the stairs and aisles and watching the crowd react to the players on the court. After a little while, Landon started asking when he was going to get to go down and play. He knew we were going to go down eventually, but there was just the matter of getting that pesky game over with!

Hoopla for the Pistons starting five.

The Pistons' cheerleaders, Automotion (parental discretion advised on the link)

Landon was more interested in Hooper, the mascot.

By the 3rd quarter, the Piston had locked up the game, going on to win it by a pretty big margin. Toward the end of the 4th quarter, we headed down to the area where we needed to be to gather to be part of the group of kids who would take the post game free throw shot. We knew it was near where the missionaries were seated, but when we saw where they got to watch the game—surprise! They managed to get seats pretty close to the floor behind the hoop.

The view from Section 120

Hey! It's the elders (bottom right corner)! How'd they score those seats?

The elders just waited for us to pass them in the huge line of kids that formed to take the free throw shot. Landon took his shot, and the rest of us took in the experience of being down there on the hardwood of an NBA arena. The actual shot was pretty anticlimactic, and Landon wanted to play more, but the officials ushered us down, through, and out like so much cattle. We did take just a little more time on the court, but then we hit the road back home. What a big day for our little man! 

"Turn to the left!"

He shoots! He . . . well, he is 3 after all.

That was it?! Yeah! That was it! AWESOME!

Return Trip to Michigan

All too soon, our California adventure has come to an end. We did not get to see everything and everyone we wanted to (sorry!), but we’ll try again next year. On the last day of 2010, we set back home for Michigan. In theory, we should have been able to make it by Wednesday, but the cold weather affected our progress on the roads. We made it up to Cedar City, Utah, on our first night, celebrating the New Year on a day where we started off with sunny skies and 40 degrees and ended with icy roads and temperatures in the negative teens.

Charlie Brown Farms: A must-see along the Pearblossom Highway in California

January 1, 2011, started off bright, sunny, and COLD. We made our way to Salt Lake City, looking forward to spending time with Hallie’s brother Riley, his wife Breanne, and their new son Porter. We enjoyed seeing many old haunts on our way up to their house and especially enjoyed meeting Porter and seeing his happy smiling face. He was feeling a bit under the weather, but his mom and dad were real troopers as they both played host and looked after him.

 The shell of the Provo Tabernacle

Landon and Porter. Wave to the camera! 

On Sunday we attended church at our old ward and caught up with some old friends. Salt Lake Eleventh Ward continues to hold a special place in our hearts. We stopped by Mike’s grandparents’ former house and family cemetery plots before heading back to Riley and Breanne’s. After a yummy ravioli dinner Breanne prepared for us, we visited with our friend Christine and her little boy Christian. The way she sees the hand of the Lord in her and her family’s lives as they have gone through the adoption process inspires us to keep our hopes up. Thanks, Christine!

Ready for his close-up?

Monday morning we got off to a bit of a late start, which meant we didn’t get as far as we would have liked to go. We ended the day in Cheyenne, Wyoming, having traveled along mostly clear but occasionally icy roads. Not a whole lot to see along the way (not to knock southern Wyoming—we just weren’t on the hunt for roadside attractions). The area around Medicine Bow was quite picturesque, and we came across a herd of pronghorn antelope grazing along the side of the freeway. In Cheyenne we met up with the son of our friends the Doreys from Nova Scotia. He had a box for us to take over to Windsor for him to send back to his family. We have gradually accumulated more than we came out with, and the new box has topped us off. No more space! J

We're not kidding 

On Tuesday we drove from Cheyenne to Council Bluffs, Iowa, dipping into Colorado along our way through Nebraska. The last time we came this way in August 2007, we followed the Lincoln Highway. This time we went the quick way, passing mowed down fields of corn. As with Wyoming, we did not stop to see the sights but pressed on to make time. We were still a ways out from Detroit by nightfall, but the end of the road was in sight. Landon, ever the patient traveler, is starting to show some road fatigue. We have traveled through 15 states on this trip, and Landon has shown remarkable stamina. A little hotel room craziness after all those hours on the road is a small price to pay.

He did this in reward for being allowed to watch Cars each afternoon on the road. 

We drove Wednesday from Council Bluffs to Benton Harbor, Michigan, getting sidetracked in Aurora, Illinois, and caught in some Chicago rush hour traffic. The day started sunny and bright; however, by the time we got to the Michigan state line, a light dusting of snow began to appear on the roads. Uncanny—it was almost as if the snow waited until we crossed into Michigan. As we drove through Iowa earlier in the day, Hallie remarked about how beautiful she found the rolling hills along our way. It seems that every state we have been to on this trip has its own beautiful places; it just depends on what you’re into. I guess we’re into water, rolling hills or mountains, color-changing trees, and brilliant sunsets.

Less snow had fallen than we thought might by the time we left for home Thursday morning. While snow showers did fall, driving conditions actually felt better going through the light snow than through the heavy rain that greeted us on our last road trip day to California. Once home, we found everything as we had left it, except for lots of extra mail. Once we emptied out the car, it looked as though the entry way and living room had thrown up boxes and bags and clothes and other assorted souvenirs of our trip. 

Welcome back to winter roads 

All told, we put nearly 6100 miles on the Buick between December 15 and today. Yikes. Yikes! As with any trip, we wish we could have seen and done more or had the time to visit with our friends both in California and along our route home, but we feel very grateful for what we did have on this trip, and we’re glad we took to the road to go home for Christmas!

Suddenly the road trips from our youth don't seem so long. . . .