William Tell Overture for Moms

This is hilarious! She pretty much pegged it, I think she might have had a hidden microphone at my house.

Great Kids, Messy Rooms

One morning a few weeks ago, Andy and Jake got up really early. They got dressed and "cleaned their room" . They also got Estee from her bed so I could sleep in, what wonderful children they are. When I woke up I found Andy playing his guitar to Estee and she was dancing, it was so dang cute I had to take a picture.

I like how "clean and organized" all the toys under their beds are. Although I hate to point out any shortcomings in their work and efforts to clean their room (for fear of them not making this non-forced effort again) I must ask "who could possibly think this room is clean?"

Funniest Ebay post ever!

My friend Tiffany sent me this and I was laughing so hard. Hilarious!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675

Some of these grocery store experiences I have actually had. So Funny!

Back to School

It's the most wonderful time of the year, OK the second most wonderful time.

This year I have 1,2,3 kids back to school all day long. Estee and I have been enjoying down time in the mid-day. Although, as soon as they walk through the door after school the clean and peaceful quiet house is immediately gone and, in fact, it is hard to believe it was ever clean, quiet or peaceful.

Abby is "dumping all the naughties out" of Estee before she heads off for her first day of school.

That was thoughtful of her to help me out with Estee.

Abby informed me this color blue of her shirt here is the most popular color this year. EVERYBODY had this color on. Now you know the 5th grade fashion alert.

First day of first grade for this guy, he was sooooo tired after. I thought he would collapse on the way home--this picture was taken before school, when he seems to have more energy.

We made Andy stop for a picture on his way off for the bus--and he missed it! Oops.

The terrible age ones

I seem to have forgotten in the space between Jake and Estee, just how hard it is to care for a one year old. I'm struggling to keep up with this little ball of sticky, messy, very cute destruction. I had this crazy fantasy, I guess, that she would never learn how to open cabinets, drawers, books (with paper pages), toilet lids, boxes of cereal (and pull the bag inside out, and dump). Mealtimes are the worst. The best way to describe them--messy, messy, messy and loud! Oh, how I dread mealtimes. I am sure my neighbors wonder what sort of torture chamber I have set up in my kitchen as they hear the loud screeching that bursts from the windows and doors every mealtime as Estee lets us know, the only way she can, that she WANTS MORE FOOD. Good thing we only eat three times a day.
She is also beginning to develop her "toddler property rules" instinct. In case you're not familiar with these rules here they are:

Toddler Property Laws

1. If I like it, it’s mine.

2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.

3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.

4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.

5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

6. If I’m doing or building something all the pieces are mine.

7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.

8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.

9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

10. If it’s broken, it’s yours (oh wait, the pieces are still mine).

I just have to get through the next year. I am sure life will be MUCH easier when she turns 2 ;).

Michigan Fan Day

Jake with his favorite player--Jake Long



Look at all those signatures on that football--so cool!










Every year right before the excitement of the fall football season gets underway, the University of Michigan Football players sign autographs and take pictures with their fans. They call it Fan Day. We discovered it last year when Estee was just 3 weeks old and had so much fun. Well, this year, Fan Day was last Saturday. Dan, Abby, and I all had prior commitments so we couldn't attend. Luckily, Aunt Lindsay was able to take Jake and Andy. They had so much fun and got pictures and autographs with some of their favorite players and play football on the field. The lines for autographs were so long they couldn't get every player's autograph! We love the excitement of football season here.






In case some of you don't know the following facts about Michigan football:







1) The stadium, although it doesn't look that big, is the biggest football stadium in the world.







2) The population of Ann Arbor nearly doubles on game days. The stadium population itself on game day makes Michigan Stadium one of the 200 largest cities in the U.S. The official capacity of the stadium is listed as 107,501. The one "extra seat" in its capacity was "reserved" by former head coach Fielding Yost for the then athletic director Fritz Crisler, although its location is not specified.







3) The largest crowd in North American stadium history was 112,118 on November 22, 2003 for the game against Ohio State (Michigan leads the all time series with a record of 57-40-6). Michigan won this game 35-21 on its way to its 41st Big 10 championship. As an interesting side note, many Ohio State "traditions" were actually started by the University of Michigan. The script Ohio that the OSU marching band performs was created by and initially performed by the University of Michigan marching band at an Ohio State football game. Also, the Ohio State Alma Mater "Carmen Ohio" was written on the train ride home to Columbus following the 1902 contest, which saw Ohio State losing to Michigan 86-0. The lyrics and melody (Spanish Chant) have remained largely unchanged since its conception.







4) Since 1975 - Bo Schembechler's seventh season as coach - the stadium has held over 100,000 fans for every home game.







5) Ohio State and Michigan have a huge rivalry going, which has resulted in a bit of a rivalry with my sister's family, who are Ohio State fans (her husband did his oto residency at Ohio State, don't ask me why!!).







6) Michigan will play Utah next year! We can't wait!







7) On September 9, 2006, attendees of the Michigan vs. Central Michigan game had to endure the first weather delay in the Stadium's history, after a lightning strike occurred shortly after 12:30 in the afternoon. The game was delayed approximately 1 hour.







8) Michigan is UNIVERSALLY regarded as having the best fight song, "The Victors."

Get ready for another great year and look for a Michigan victory this year assuming the city of Columbus finally figures out a way to stop Buckeye fans from starting their couches and tires on fire, rioting, looting, and throwing batteries if the Buckeyes lose (so says Dan). Here's a link to prove his point http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2997669.







I'm expecting a full, although certainly inadequate (Really, how can one defend Ohio State?), rebuttal from the Blotters. I can't wait to make the switch from NPR to sports radio now that football is here again.







Go Blue!





This is truly disturbing:

Estee can walk!! (sort of)

We had some friends over on Sunday who have a baby who is just a few days younger than Estee. She was so jealous of his walking that she took off and started walking herself--like 15 steps!! So, here are some of the first steps, but as you can see she can get there a lot faster by crawling. The loud music in the background is to encourage her to dance, which is really cute too, but she wouldn't really do it.

More of Estee and Abby's B-day's

Here is a glimpse of the b-day celebration with Abby as the commentator.

Abby's Dream Car

Abby is looking cool in her dream-come-true car at the Ann Arbor Art Fairs

Abby 10, Estee 1

We had much to celebrate as Abby turned 10 and Estee turned 1 the next day! I can't believe it's been a year since Estee was born!Here is the GIANT Birthday cake to celebrate both girls at once!
Estee got her own big piece to eat all by herself! She was wondering if this was OK at first.....
...but before too long she realized it was OK and fun to tear apart and it tastes really good too!

Everyone loved the new swing Estee got for her birthday...


especially Estee!!


It's so fun to have these girls 9 years apart! They are so much fun.