Tator Tot's new blanket

I came home from running errands one morning to find a fed-ex box on my porch.  It was very exciting, since I wasn't expecting anything.  I hadn't ordered anything online lately, so it took me by surprise.  (Another fun thing about the package was that it was addressed to Dr. and Mrs. Phillips....I love that my husband is finally Dr. Phillips!)

Okay, I am sure you may be dying to know what was in the package--oh, the title of my post gave it away?  :)

Yes, technically the package wasn't for either Joel or I.  It was for Tator Tot.  Inside was a beautifully hand-knit blanket, newborn hat, and nice note.  Joel's parents lived in Jackson before Joel was born.  His mom made a very good friend there named Liz.  I have never met Liz, but I have heard about her.  Liz and Joel's mom still stay in touch and Liz is a very good knitter.  I know she is far superior than me, not to mention much much faster.  Ha--I am still working on a scarf I started when I was first pregnant with Kyper, so 2009.  Liz knit both Katie and JP's baby a blanket and Tator Tot a blanket.  It means a lot to both Joel and I that she made this for our precious little baby. You can't tell from the pictures, but it is incredibly soft!  Here are the pictures:

A Friendly Visit

ER was a nice rotation for Joel in regards to having a little more free time.  He only had to work 20-9 hour shifts.  He actually got every Friday off in January.  So, it was a perfect time to have friends come and visit.  Tim, Melanie and Judah happily came to our place once we invited them.   They came in on a Friday morning.  We didn't do a lot Friday, because of our kids' naps.  But, Tim is an electrician and helped us finally get a land line working...THANK YOU!  It hadn't worked since we installed one in October.  It is actually Rebuilding Together Detroit's land line.  I was able to at least forward calls to my cell up until now.  It is so nice to have the phone working though.  (Although, it i RTD's number, it is nice to have a land line in the house for when baby sitters are here.  We ate at Cheli's Chili that night and then came home to play some games once kids were in bed.


Saturday, we did the River Rogue Ford Factory tour.  It was neat to see how F-150's were made.  The tour included two short movies, but Kyper did not want to sit through those.  So, he and I went on a pretend road trip to Florida in the f-150 they had on display.  Kyper was a great driver during our zig-zag route and over the mountains.  We then got to walk through the assembly line and actually see employees doing there jobs and making new trucks.  Kyper's favorite part was probably either playing in the truck or taking the bus to the factory.  (You take the bus from the Henry Ford museum to the factory.)

Joel headed to work for the afternoon at 3 and worked until midnight.  Tim, Melanie, the kids, and I all took a nap.  Let's just say the adults had stayed up a little later than normal the previous night.  We had pizza after our naps and then just vegged.  We actually made it until Joel got home at midnight.  I didn't last much longer, but as I was sleeping on the couch Joel finally saw the movie Office Space.  After the movie we all crawled to bed knowing morning was coming far too soon.

Tim, Melanie and Judah joined us for church on Sunday.  After church we consumed delicious enchiladas and all took naps.  Tim, Melanie, and Judah headed home shortly after nap time.

It was so good to see them!  Judah is 8 months old and is such a chill baby.  He did so well at our house.  Kyper loved having baby Judah at our house.  He brought Judah baby toys to play with and really did a good job on not loving him too much.  There was only one time I can remember that he was being too rough that we had to say something to him.  Hopefully this foreshadows good big brother behavior.  :)

Here's some pictures:

A little Mario Kart action (at least for Melanie and I)

Tm and Melanie reading to Judah and Kyper.

A Free 3-day weekend? What to do?

Joel actually had a 3-day weekend in January when he was on ER.  Did we decide to stay put?  Oh no, we headed back to see some family since Joel didn't get to spend much time with them over the holidays.  It was worth it, it was on a weekend the west side of Michigan actually experienced typical winter weather aka lake effect snow!  It was nice to see the snow and Kyper had a lot of fun playing in it.  We also got to spend some time with friends that we don't always get to see while visiting the west side.  Here are some pictures of the weekend:

Clearing the snow off the slide

Uncle Aren and Kyper

Why not go through the cool tree tunnel?

Walking with Grandpa

Tim and Tricia had us over for the hockey game.  It is always good to catch up with them.

We actually were in town for one of my nieces birthdays--Fricano's pizza was enjoyed!

My entire family--Kyper is hiding behind Aunt Susan. :)

The cousins playing before our pizza came.

Playing with one of Peyton's birthday gifts.

Throwing a snowball at the house

More snowballs

Daddy showing him how to do snow angels.

A fun fort at Grandpa and Grandma's house

"Smile boys!"

I think the only thing we don't have pictures from is our double date.  Joel and I took advantage of grandparents and went on a double date with another couple.  We headed to 8th St. Grille with our friends Scott and Stephanie.  It was a very nice evening out.