Seven Short Years Ago

To My Love,

Thank you for so many things. Among them, listening and supporting me and always being there. Know that I would marry you all over again. Happy Anniversary.

I Love You,
-L

Detroit's World Renowned Eastern Market

With a still-"contagious" wee one and a weekend to blow we came up with a great idea that was certain to please the whole group - we decided to hit the Eastern Market in Detroit.

The last time we visited, Rocketship had such a great time tasting and people-watching. She sat in her stroller for over 2 hours! Plus, Grandma Gigi speaks fluent plant and flower, so we knew we'd have to drag her kicking & screaming back to the car.

We ran into a new friend, Marcy (on the right with the flat) who was out celebrating her week-long 50th birthday with some long-time girlfriends. Happy Birthday Marcy! Read more about her goings-on on her blog Nothing to Blog About.

We even ran into some family at the flower shed. Turns out they come here every weekend. Hmm, note to self, talk to family more often! We bought some hostas and wild grasses from them for the side of our house, which we have strategically left bare for the four-plus years since we moved in...

We ate lunch at the green awning, the Russell Street Deli, which was a well-deserved recommendation from S's work colleague and friend (Thanks, Lisa!). It was delicious, or as E says, "Ab-so-ooo-tley de-lic-ious".

Another wonderful day in the D.

Burried On The C:Drive

Those who know me know I have a fondness for my camera. In fact, I have SO many pictures in general (and even more I want to post here!), that I will never truly "catch up".

Enjoy this sampling from the hard drive, before it crashes!

Those who know me know I have a fondness for my camera. In fact, I have SO many pictures in general (and even more I want to post here!), that I will never truly "catch up".

Enjoy this sampling from the hard drive, before it crashes!

Our Little Driver

This 3T-sized jersey, "a little taste of Wisconsin", was a Valentine's gift from the fam in the Midwest. That was very sweet! Little E thanks you all! Much love.

In Loving Memory

Jeanne Piech

SOUTH BEND - Jeanne (Wolfe) Piech was born September 4, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois. She passed away in Howell, Michigan, on February 23, 2010. She was a longtime resident of South Bend, Indiana, where she was an employee of the St. Joseph Bank and Trust Company for 25 years. In 1970 she moved to San Francisco, California, where she was employed by a major bank for 22 years, retiring as Human Resources Officer in 1992. After 34 years in San Francisco, she moved to Howell, Michigan, to be near her family. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Michelle and Walt Hickok of Highland, Michigan; granddaughter, Jessica Keleman, and great-granddaughter, Lily Keleman of Highland, Michigan; grandson and wife, Loren and Sheri Hickok, and great-granddaughter, Ellena of Commerce Township, Michigan; and grandson, Brett Hickok of Queen Creek, Arizona. Memorial services will be held in St. Patrick's Church on Saturday, March 6th, at 10 a.m. Her ashes will be scattered near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

~~~~~

We will always miss you, Nana...

To everything there is a time for every purpose under heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

The Triple-Orange Daylily Bulbs: Revisted

Back in May, we posted about Grandma Gigi's Texas Garden. Remember, she had the orangest daylilies ever? When she visited us last year, just after E was born, she brought some of these lilies up with her. I believe she may have even snuck them on the plane (sorry TSA!).

During her stay, she "nursed" these bulbs & stems in a pan of water of our deck where they could receive the best sunlight. Then they were planted. After she left I watched and waited for something I could report out on, but nothing came. I was concerned the neighborhood deer might have found them irresistible because I never saw a thing, but I was told it would take just over a year for the blooms (I guess good things DO come to those who are patient...).

Well, the good news did come! One has popped up to say hi! Perhaps I am just getting older, but I was prompted to ask her about the exact history of this flower, especially since I knew it had some family meaning. Here, in Grandma Gigi's own words is the account of the Triple-Orange:

~~~~~

My mother loved flowers. It didn't matter what kind they were, as long as they bloomed, they grew in her yard. I think I was about 8 years old that spring when she found the triple-orange daylily bulbs in a seed catalog. They were expensive, & we were on a limited income, so she told me we'd have to save our money. One day she said we had enough, so we ordered them. I remember "helping" her fill out the order form, then I got to carry the envelope out to the mail box. I think I was as excited as she was about them. She would look every day for the bulbs to arrive in the mail, & one day, there they were. I remember the package being kind of bulky - the mail box wouldn't even shut all the way! I carried the package very carefully. I was kind of disappointed when she removed those ugly brown bulbs from the package; was this what all the fuss was about? Mother told me that we'd have to wait for a little while, but the wait would be worth it. We planted them the same day we received them. Mother had so many other daylilies - all colors & shapes, but she said THESE were special; the blooms were to have a triple layer of petals on each blossom & be a beautiful bright orange! They came up right on schedule, but I had to wait the rest of that year, plus part of the next spring, before they finally sent up tall, green bloom shoots. I watched the buds grow fat. One morning there were three opened, & they were everything the seed catalog (& mother) said they'd be! Yes, they were worth the wait! Mother called all her friends & told them to come see them. Such are memories made of. I found that those triple-orange daylilies proved to be very user-friendly. They are healthy & hardy, & I found that they would grow in all types of soil. Through the years I've made it a point of carrying a bulb or two of those lilies to just about every place I've ever lived, & left them for the future owner to enjoy. I have also made it a tradition to bring them to family, no matter WHERE they live! Every time I see a bloom, I'm taken back to that summer when I was a child & "me & mommy" planted daylilies together.

~~~~~
Here are pictures of the actual flower, which has bloomed here in our backyard.

In a digital age of .jpg's and txt msgs, we are elated to know there are still physical objects that can be "passed down", or better yet "planted". What does your family pass down from one generation to the next?

To Another Six...

Dear S,

I certainly can't properly express my feelings for you here, but I can say that the last six years have been the best part of the ride so far. If I think back to our wedding day, I remember trying to predict the future with you. I never, ever could have seen something so bright as what we have - a wonderfully happy marriage, a beautiful & energetic little girl, a strong & growing faith and commitment towards our Lord and each other - it seems so unreal. But I know that it is. I look forward to another six (and more!) with you. I know the best is yet to come. I love you.

Yours,

L

October Leftovers

Welcome. Glad you could make it over today. How would you like something to snack on? How about some pumpkin seeds? What do you mean the pumpkin seeds are all gone? And there's no more gooey pumpkin pie? Okay, no problem, #1 and #2 don't let me have any of that "grown up"stuff anyway. You had better take a look at these instead...

This was my first Halloween and, oh, you knew that? How?

Here I am at day care, wait, I was wearing a ghost on my head? For how long? Certainly I hope it wasn't for the whole day?

Cousin Lily as a dalmatian and I. She had such soft fur I just kept feeling it!

Me and mom

Me and Grandma Lou Lou

The three of us - ooh - three generations!

And honestly, that's about all I can take tonight. Goodnight!

Always The Optimist

I saw a greeting card once that read "When life hands you lemons, make some lemonade!"

I had the opportunity to make some "family" lemonade last week and did just that. I was returning from a business trip and when my flight was delayed significantly, it started a chain reaction in which I knew I would miss a connecting flight and so on. Instead of seeing this as misfortune, I saw an opportunity.

What did I do? I called my mom!

No, she did not call the airline and arrange for everything to work out in my favor! (although she would have tried!) Instead she, and her husband Jay, drove a few hours to meet me and share a lunch together. Even though I missed my girls terribly, it was very nice to have some extra time to break bread with family.

Side Note: I have only been to Houston a handful of times, but somehow always end up eating at a Saltgrass restaurant. This particular one has been visited by me 3 different times now. (Twice with customers and once now with family) Although this restaurant does not have any locations at home, I always look forward to eating here because a) the food is delicious and b) I never know why I will find myself there, when I will be back, and apparently, who I will be eating with!

Saving Lives - One Walk At A Time

We recently set the alarm, laced up our best walking shoes, scored some lattes and headed out to the American Cancer Society Breast Cancer Walk. We even bundled up our little E as it was a wee bit chilly here with Fall upon us now.

We were blessed with a beautiful Saturday morning. The leaves were many shades of happy and the air felt good in our lungs.

Here are the ladies, ready and raring to go!

Little E was warm and cozy in her outdoor jumper, which resembled a sleeping bag-like material (in cute little girl pink!). When we took her out of it after the walk, she was almost sweating! Believe it or not, she kept her sunglasses on all morning, which invited a few photographs and comments about the "movie star" and her hired help.

It was a great time and always nice to get out. From what I understand, a record-setting crowd answered the call of duty this year, providing for a record-setting donation total! Congratulations and Thank You to Angela (LwH fan and loyal reader!) for leading the GM team as the Making Strides Captain!

10/30/08 UPDATE:

• Total Donations to date = Over $308,000.00 (first year the walk raised over 300k)
• GM donations to date = $38,770.00
• Pacesetters = Out of the 11 Pacesetters (walkers that raised over $2000) at the Ann Arbor walk, 7 of them are part of the GM TEAM!! Awesome job ladies!!

See below for Official and Unofficial team photos:

Wood & Silverware; A Dedication

to my classmate

to my crush

to my pursuit

to my date

to my girlfriend

to my romance

to my love

to my fiance

to my wife

to my best friend

to my soul mate

to my daughter's mother

to another wonderful five years

happy anniversary

i love you

Cousin Lily Has A New Home Built – Analysts Reconsider Previous Subprime Housing Slump Comments

Hand built by 2 of her loving Grandfathers (Papa and Grandpa Rick), this property is complete with a foundation-hidden picnic table, rope-assisted climbing wall (which she’s mastered even though its twice her height!), A-frame roofing, screened-in windows, built-in tic-tac-toe wall, super sized wavy slide (for future use as fear level is currently set to HIGH), swing seating for 3 with interchangeable seat pads, nooks, crannies and enough handles and pulls to make a minivan jealous, Lily is indeed showing off her vacation home bling!

Have fun this summer! It would be difficult not to with a pad like this!

Over The Hump

Today Ellena met many of my GM collegues when we attended a going away lunch for one of my team members. It was great to see everyone and show off our beautiful daughter. Everyone was impressed that we were out at "only 6.5 weeks of age" and assume that we were "over the hump" - you know, that hump that consists of sleeping, crying, eatings, crying, eating...repeat... Well, we aren't over the hump - (on a side note - why didn't anyone tell me about this hump BEFORE we had Ellena??) but we are working on creating our life as a family, and sometimes that even means a little crying in Buffalo Wild Wings.

Good luck in your new job, Andy!

Back In The Mix

What! No posts have been made since last Sunday? No new content?

This is blog suicide!

Well, more realistically, it resembles a thought loop I’ve been stuck in all week. Some of you have most-likely been here at some point. At home, there are more critical tasks, such as helping S with the baby and giving her a break, I convince myself that “I’ll do it at work”. Once I’m at my desk the next day, I get sucked into work tasks and say to myself “I’ll do it at home”. Then before I knew what happened, an entire workweek has passed! At any rate – TGIF!

This has been a challenging week. First off, it was difficult to get back into “the swing of things” after a 2 week break. Of course the first day back was near useless for everyone I work with. Similar to the first day of school, most water cooler conversations began the same way…”How was your shut down? What did you do?” Nobody really pushed it that first day back.

I was surprised to witness so many people say the same things. Here are some examples:

- “It was so great to have time off, even though we didn’t really go anywhere”
- “That was so much better that dotting the calendar with 3-day breaks that don’t result in the true goal – recharging”
- “I never would’ve taken 2 weeks off, if left to my own choosing”
- “It felt great to slow down. Usually when we take a vacation, we travel. This time we just stayed home”
- “I’ve never taken 2 straight weeks of vacation since I began working”

Above all, I’d say it was a successful 2 weeks for us, and we look forward to it again next year, assuming the high probability that it will be offered up for employees again.

To recap the time spent home on our “summer vacation”, here’s a list of some of my own personal observations. Some of these we already known, but it was enjoyable to “learn” them again:

• Going to the dentist is a LOT more enjoyable when you leave work early on a weekday rather than going during vacation!

• Doritos now produce a TON of different flavors and, when on sale at $2 a bag, it feels like an official summer to try some of them out! Not bad at all, but even the Spicy Habanero flavor isn’t as hot as I’d like them to be!

• Turner Classic Movies rock! Ellena and I had quite a tradition of catching the early programs (read: anywhere from 6:00 AM to 9:00 AM) while we gave S a break to catch up on some well deserved sleep. What we found is we really love comedies from the 60’s. Check out www.tcm.com for more information. The site alone is worth the visit.

• The movie Fun with Dick & Jane is very creative, but a little too scary for these economic times.

• Pulling weeds in the early morning sun, while the grass is still dew-covered, can make a person feel retired. Rare enjoyable moment – waiving good morning to your neighbors while wearing no shoes and holding a bad of weeds as they drive off to work.

• Tom Hanks really nailed his role as a 13 year old boy surviving in a 30 year old body in the 80’s comedy, BIG.

• Changing diapers is easy, and to be honest with you, I think I’m pretty good at it. In my own personal search for God-given talents, I question – Is this one of them?

• Drew Carrey doesn’t do Plinko justice on The Price Is Right.

• Bug spray should always be applied before a fireworks show - always. If ignored, it’ll be simply too distracting to enjoy the celebration.

• Making cookies from scratch isn’t nearly as simple as using these quick packages of “ready-to-go” dough, although it’s more rewarding in 2 ways, both in the feeling of accomplishment and also in the consumption of lots of “extra” raw dough.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Yesterday, we all celebrated Grandpa Hickok's (aka: Papa) 62nd birthday, which is actually today, July 4th. Though Ellena spent a great deal of the birthday celebration asleep, we all enjoyed time with family. Our niece, Lily, especially enjoyed the "cher-wee pie" - YUM! Happy 4th of July!!!