Beautiful weekend for celebrations

On Saturday we received two "prank" phone messages, one on Cortney's cell phone and one on our answering machine.  We're not talking heavy breathing here.  Worse, they were, quite simply, the Michigan State Fight Song.  We overcame the horror of said messages quickly, or at least by 5:00pm.  We won't dwell too long on the victory, just long enough to rub it in for the State fans that LOST on Saturday.  Now, if the State players had even a touch of the athletic talent that Calvin displays here, it might have been a different story...

Sunday was an all together different kind of celebration.  For months our church has been planning an "all church supper" to celebrate the beginning of a new season and a new stewardship kickoff.  We have to admit that when we heard they were planning said supper to be held in the great out of doors in the middle of a Michigan October we were skeptical.  We were, however, pleasantly surprised by the Indian Summer weather, with sun and 70 degree weather.  This was a celebration not only for the church as a whole, but for Cortney and her committee, which was in charge of planning and putting on the event, and her fellow deacons, who were challenged to bring in and host at least 300 of the church's almost 2,000 members.  Well, the event, complete with meals served at the tables and a live band, went off without a hitch, and over 500 members attended!  Cortney hosted 14 people at her table alone, and Jon found himself acting as part of the entertainment - not with a piano, with Calvin.  Most people cannot resist cooing at a cuddly baby!  As our pastor noted to us over supper, many people have begun to refer to Calvin as the church's baby.

And what is celebration without cake?  Since Jon's birthday is October 10th we also took advantage of the beautiful weekend to sneak in double birthday celebrations.  On Saturday night we celebrated with Jon's parents, and enjoyed a wonderful post-game tailgate style dinner (mmm...) and a fantastic homemade carrot cake (Jon's favorite).  On Sunday night we celebrated with Cortney's family, where Jon shared the candles on a yummy chocolate ice cream cake with Curtis, who shares the same birthday.  So we have a wonderful football team (shh...don't burst our bubble just yet), a wonderful church, and wonderful families - that was a lot to celebrate.

Trying out segues. Ways.

Today we officially started the process of moving to a new house.  Of course moving to a new house would first require buying one, which first requires finding one and, more importantly, selling ours.  Anyone want a really cute 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch?  We didn't think so.  The good news is that we have at least four years before we need to be moved into the school district we want for Calvin, but we are looking to move in the next year or two, before our fixed rate mortgage is up (literally and figuratively).  The sad news is that moving means we have to say goodbye to our first house and our first neighborhood - both of which we have really loved right from the start.  Yes, moving can be difficult...

...but not with the Segway!  No, with the Segway moving is simply a matter of leaning - forward to go forward, backward to go backward (duh).  A perk to moving is our realtor, who is not only very fun, helpful, and caring, but who also happens to have a Segway at her office for clients to try out, and try it out we did.  There is no better non-calorie burning way to travel short distances for sure.  Cortney laughed so hard she almost fell off the thing...

...but we all got home safely just the same.  And, while our achievement for the evening was trying the Segway, Calvin's achievement was trying out books.  We read to him several times a day and lately he has been reaching for the pages while sitting on our laps during a book.  So tonight we gave him his soft bath book to try out.  He definitely got the hold right - grabbing it with both hands, one on each side - but aside from that his foray into literacy was less successful, as he mostly just shook it or stuffed it in his mouth.  Hey, everyone has to start somewhere...

The season opener

Today we celebrated the opening day of Michigan football season with a great tailgate, a mediocre game, and a great after game party.  The tailgate was Calvin's first, of course.  We did our usual - park for free and walk about a mile - and on our way to the tailgate itself we were remembering that it was during last year's football season that we first found out we were expecting Calvin (or, actually, Raspberry).  We remember thinking back then about the day we would be pushing a stroller to our favorite pre-game destination, with the caveat "as long as nothing goes wrong."  June seemed so far away back then!  Thinking about the excitement and constant uncertainty of that time made us remember again how blessed we are to have Calvin.  It also made us remember the shaky football team of last season and we were hoping to be able to put that source of uncertainty behind us as well, but now we're not so sure.  But whether the win was shaky or not, both the pre and post game parties were a blast.  Calvin spent a lot of time sprawled in other people's arms and we spent a lot of time eating.  The post game party was, in some ways, a rehash of last weekend's barbecue and we blissfully found ourselves once again in the company of other young families and babies.  Some of those babies were a little more fuzzy than others, but we won't split hairs (insert groan here).

The zoo at home

Today marked Calvin's second trip to the Detroit Zoo (yes, we know we've been slacking, but we plan to increase that number in the near future).  The second trip turned out to be very different from the first.  Being a little older now he is able to see better and is more interested in his surroundings, not to mention that with his good neck control he is now able to face forward in his carrier and actually see the animals (if he tries).  The other thing that was different about today's trip was taking a friend to the zoo.  Or it may have been the other way around, since he was invited by his friend Liesl, on the condition that he bring Cortney along to play with her mother Becky.  So this may have been a play date, but most likely it was Cortney and Becky's.  Unfortunately the zoo was not as striking as it can sometimes be:  the tigers were sleeping, the baby prairie dogs were not out, and neither were the wolverine kits, and the kangaroos were merely lounging.  On the other hand there were still plenty of animals to enjoy:  Talini, the year old polar bear, was swimming,  there was a second baby kangaroo on the way, and the peafowl attempted to eat our lunches.  What is really funny about today, however, is Calvin's apparent lack of interest in real giraffes by comparison to his absolute enthrallment with the Playskool Peek N Pop Giraffes at home.   All we can say is, at least he's showing interest in something.

We Pot-lucked out

A good party makes a good weekend.  Good food makes a good party.  Good people make good food.  When you work out that equation what it boils down to is this:  the ingredients for a good weekend include good people making food for a party.  So, if this equation is correct, then our weekend, which included not one but two, count them, two pot-lucks, was fantastic.  Saturday night we had a wonderful time with a good old summer barbecue hosted by our friends and neighbors, Andrew and Amy.  An additional note about that event is that it was our very first "family" party.  As we sat on the deck sipping beer and eating sausages we were watching a scattering of children under the age of five play whiffle ball in the yard, then we passed babies back and forth while discussing their sleeping and eating patterns.  As we took in the full meaning of the evening we suddenly felt as though we had "arrived" at parenthood.  What that phrase really means, we don't know, but that is somehow what we felt.  Sunday's potluck, which was a kickoff gathering of the First Presbyterian Quad D deacons, sported a higher average age (how much higher we will not divulge).  At that gathering we sat at tables under a tent in a yard, sipping lemonade and discussing summer activities and church business.  Both evenings were fun in very different ways.  The one common denominator?  Passing the baby!