Esther's and Apples and Fall

I found these adorable pictures and just had to post them. This is Estee with her best friend Esther (she calls her da-do).

Have you seen two cuter baby girls ever??

We went to the apple orchard, which was so fun and the apples are so yummy right off the tree. This is also Estee's first time eating an apple whole. She LOVED it, it was so cute she kept guarding it, like I might take it away from her.

And just because I am so sick of the freezing weather here in Michigan I thought it might be nice to look at pictures of the fall her in MI. It is by far the best season here and makes me think "I like living here". I haven't thought that for a few months. So heres to the wonderful Michigan fall weather!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day to the loves of my life!

Dan--What I fell in love with and what I still love is his sense of humor. He always make me laugh and I have lots of fun with him.

Andy--This is the nicest 12 year old on earth. He is so nice to everybody he meets and makes friends very easily because people just want to be around someone nice.

Abby--She is so much fun. I love shopping, talking, baking, or just hanging out with Abby. She has the best sense of humor, way beyond her ten years!

Jake--He has always been my little buddy, and he always aims to please. Jake is just pleasant and I love hanging out with him.

Estee--Oh, Estee, she is sweet. She is 18 months and I just pulled her off Abby's desk where she was standing eating Abby's pennies and fingernail polish. But, she will grow out of that soon. I love her sweet little face and cute little spunky personality. I also love her scowl she gives to most people. She is a joy and I am glad she is here in our family.

Guinea Pigs

Cute little members of the family or annoying poo machines?

Ohhhh, he is kind of cute. This is Socks the bully of the cage.

So, I have been feeling a little guilty lately about saying that I want my Guinea Pigs to die. Let me explain. In this house of ours with four children I am the only one who feeds, cleans up after, or it seems even looks at the Guinea Pigs (OK, I take it back Estee is always trying to feed them, but it's really not helpful). When we first got a Guinea Pig he was showered with attention and food by all members of the family (Ok, maybe not Dan--he's never really been a fan and didn't want to get them). Then the attention dwindled and I felt like he (or she can't tell for sure) was lonely. So, we got another Guinea Pig so "Socks" would not be lonely. Now came the problem of "Socks" being mean to "Scruffy". Socks thinks he rules the cage because he was there first. He seriously hoards the food and water and squeaks at Scruffy when he tries to get some. We would have to take Socks out the cage and let Scruffy eat, then put Socks back in. After a while Socks began to get a little nicer but, he still really needs to chill out.
Here is Scruffy peeking through his little house; he is adorable and harassed constantly by Socks.
What I have failed to mention yet is for the last three years I have been cleaning up the little rodent’s poo! For a long time it was weekly that I would clean out the cage (which I lovingly built for them), now it's at least every other week. Unless, of course someone is going to be staying with us then I will clean it out of fear of being reported to The Humane Society. But the main point is I am so sick of cleaning up after these cute little balls of fur. And, I'm not going to go into details about how they refuse to walk on the leash I bought them, won't run in the ball I got them (they are lazy), and all that poo they poo, they actually EAT! We also had to move them into the Laundry room so I could keep them and their poo away from Estee while she is at the stage of putting everything in her mouth (I am sure I don't need to explain why that is a problem).
So, you see, it is not out of meanness that I say I want them to die. I know when they die they will go to Guinea Pig heaven and run in grassy fields and eat all of the green stuff they want without being squeaked at. And there cage will always be clean and I won't have to do it. :)

See my poo! Isn't it disgusting!

Happy things

1. My sister' Julie's finger being OK. She got a bad infection in her finger and it got so bad she almost lost her finger a couple times. She just had a second surgery on it on Tuesday. After talking with her she told me the surgery went really well. So well in fact that they didn't have to do the skin flap thing they were going to that would have connected the two fingers together. Then she would have to have another surgery to cut them apart when it was healing good. The surgeon also said he could for sure save the finger. We are so happy. We really hoped the surgery would go well, and it did. Yeah!

2. Andy's straight A report card. He is a great kid and always gets good grades. But, he worked to get no A-'s and he did it! Go Andy!


3. Great friends. I love my friends and I love that when it seems like I am helping them it turns out to be a huge blessing for me! Thanks great friends!

Gordon B. Hinckley Tribute

My sister, Josie sent this to me. After listening to President Hinckley's funeral today I was especially touched by this tribute to him. He truly lifted up all around him and I am so thankful for his wonderful life.

Poor Fish

Well, the good news is:

The fish are alive.
I showered this morning.
Fish can live for at least two minutes out of water.
Finally put the new rug in the boy’s room.
The fish tank got cleaned out!
No school today--snow day.

The bad news:

If Jake leaves his dresser drawer open it works as great step stool for Estee to climb up to see the fish.
Jakes dresser drawer was filled with fish water for at least three minutes (until it all leaked out).
At least 20 different stuffed animals have fish water on them--not sure how I will clean them (maybe no one will notice if they disappear one at a time...shhh)
I drove to the recycle center on the very snowy roads. The roads are too snowy for kids to go to school but not for me to take the old rug with fish water on it to the recycle center.
No more showering while Estee is awake.
No school today--snow day.

Magic and Sorad still swimming (for now).

Jake's drawings

I LOVE getting drawings from my kids. Jake brought home a new one yesterday and I wanted to save it forever. Here are some of Jake's pictures from the last few months. I love the way kids sound out words and draw. I love these Jake! Thanks for making my day.

This is Jake's picture he brought home yesterday. At the bottom, it reads, "My favorite place is down stairs." It's a picture of "the downstairs," including the TV on the entertainment center, our black X-Rocker video game chair, his blue Ikea chair (I must say it looks just like it), and he is on the right with his levis and favorite orange shirt.

Jake loves hanging out down there with the family, with Andy, or with a friend watching a movie or playing a game.

This one reads, "Once I went on a hike". I love the tall yellow cat tails he is walking through and the trees (it was late fall so there are no leaves). The bird in the tree is an eagle and his nest. He had just gone hiking with Andrea and saw an eagle and its nest.

This one reads, "I went to climb" and shows him on the climbing wall. The yellow thing is his support rope and the colored things are the little climby grab things.

This pictures says, "Once me and my friend at the Nature Place." These are ducks in the water. Estee saw this picture and said "quack, quack, quack, ........., quack".

Estee really likes Jakes pictures too.

Estee pics (almost 18 months)

Estee and I had a little photo shoot this morning. I got all prepared and thought it was going to be so much fun. Well, she sat there for three pictures. The whole thing did not last more than 5 minutes. I didn't think there would be any good shots, but there are some cute ones, and some really grumpy looking ones that are still kind of cute, and some just plain sad looking ones. Anyway, here they are and I am happy to say that her 18 month pictures are done.

If you want to see all the pictures go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/janieward1313/EsteeSPhotoShootAlmost18Months

Sledding

We went sledding a few times with the kids over the Christmas break. For the most part it was lots of fun. With the exception of my major jump and minor injury. One of the times we went sledding was at Vets (which is a big sledding hill) it was really cold and icy that day and the snow had been there a couple of days and was really packed down. After watching the kids go down a few times and Dan go down a few times and Jake was begging me to go down with him I decided it would be safe enough to give it a try. So Jake and I hopped on the sled and started down the hill. As we were approaching the middle of the hill I thought I saw a jump up ahead, yep it was a jump ahead and we were headed straight for it. I tried to lean the sled to the left and push with my hands, but we were going sooooo fast on that icy hill before I knew it we were right to the jump and it was the biggest jump on a sledding hill I had ever seen. As we flew up the jump and were sailing through the air I could feel my legs in the air and I knew it was going to hurt. I landed flat on my stomach with a big thud and the wind knocked out of me. Luckily Jake landed three feet in front of me. Jake was saying "mom, you do that the best" and "let's do it again". I was not and will not be doing that again probably ever and I am pretty sure I never want to go back to Vets to sled. I ended up a little bruised and sore for a few days. All in all I am fine but a little freaked out by that hill and mostly that jump.

Dan said the kids all around him were saying "Wow, that was the biggest air of the year". Glad I could provide.

Jake and I just before we headed down the hill towards the big jump.

Just after the big jump.

They made it look so safe and fun.

Happy New Year! Our Year in Pictures