Happy Fall!

Time continues to fly here in Ann Arbor. As we get ready to leave town for a few days for fall break, I wanted to take a few minutes to write to everyone about things that have been going on over the last couple of weeks.

Two weeks ago, we were able to have a laid back weekend at home. There was a football game vs. Eastern Michigan, but we sat the game out and just headed up for the tailgate. Steve, Brandon, Evan, and I walked up with the Costley family - it is always interesting to be walking past the stadium at the end of a football game with two Radio Flyer wagons. :) We all had a great time out on the golf course in the beautiful weather for the tailgate, and so by the time we were ready to leave, the exit we normally took out of the golf course was closed. We walked through the course until we found a course worker who told us that the other exit we were going to use was closed and locked, too. Luckily, he was willing to drive his cart over there (giving some of us a ride) and unlock the door for us. I guess next time we will have to not be such party animals! :)

That Sunday, Steve spent some time studying at home while I took the boys to a picnic with some other MBA Kids. We met at a place called "County Farm Park." The boys' favorite part was a water fountain that ran into what looked like animal troughs. I put some pictures of the kids below.

Here are some of the kids playing with the water.

These next two pictures actually go together. I absolutely love the story that they tell! I was taking a picture of Evan with his friend Lorin (see picture 1). Brandon decided he wanted to get in on the action, so we took another picture where Lorin was hugging both boys (see picture 2). You can see very clearly on Evan's face what he thought of Lorin sharing her attention! :)

Picture 1

Picture 2

Ryan Costley eating lunch with Brandon and Evan. Ryan is just three months younger that the fellas. We have been asked a few times when we are out and about if they are triplets. I think it is the bleach blonde hair...

Last weekend, Grandpa John and Grandma Rose made their way to Michigan to visit with us and enjoy the Purdue v. Michigan game at the Big House. We had a great weekend visit. Unfortunately, Brandon was not feeling well (and we never figured out what was wrong with him!), so my mom and I only stayed at the Big House for the first quarter so that I could take him to the doctor. The next morning, we checked out the Dexter Cider Mill, which is the oldest continuously operating cider mill in Michigan. We enjoyed some fresh cider and doughnuts right along the Huron River, which runs behind the mill. It was a beautiful fall day, and the setting and company were wonderful!

My mom, dad, and I at the football game.

Brandon and I by the river at the Dexter Cider Mill. Unfortunately, he was still feeling crummy, so he refused to let us take any pictures. Steve snapped this one when he wasn't looking.

Evan with his Grandpa John outside the Dexter Cider Mill

This last week hasn't been very exciting here at the Ingmire household. We have actually had a lot of sickness. Brandon was crabby until Monday, including lots of screaming and refusing to eat - we are thinking it is his 2-year molars causing all of the trouble. Evan picked up where Brandon left off, taking care of the screaming through Tuesday night. On top of all of that, Steve is sick. When he got up Sunday morning, his muscles were really sore and stiff, and they never got any better. On Monday night he spiked a fever, so we went to the doctor Tuesday morning. He's got pneumonia - yuck, yuck, yuck. Luckily, his fever broke on Wednesday, but he is still really tired, and his muscles are still very stiff. He was a trooper and was able to finish both of his finals this week, which he was able to do at home, thank goodness. Now, we are all glad he has next week off from school so he can recover.

In spite of all of this craziness (and actually because of all of it), Evan, Brandon, and I have been working to get out and have fun. We have been out to the parks and lots of different play places. We have also been working hard to have lots of fun at home. Here are some random pictures from the last two weeks.

Evan is eating an apple at his picnic table. Ever since we picked apples a month ago, they have become one of our favorite foods!

Brandon loves to be silly! Here he is with our ball hamper on his head. :)

This is a picture of the trees in our "back yard" - I LOVE the gorgeous red color!

Okay, so this picture is random, but I couldn't resist. I made the boys a "face" for a snack to get them to eat some food. I never do anything like this, so I felt the need to capture this one. Amazingly enough, when they finished, they had only eaten the vegetables and the marshmallow eyes. :)

This morning, we are leaving town for a few days. As I mentioned, Steve has a break next week, so we will be spending the first half of the week in Frankfort, staying with Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Jane. We hope to get in some visiting and some relaxing over a few days. We will head back to Ann Arbor on Wednesday evening and spend the second half of the week enjoying life here without any classes.

I have some great stories from the past few weeks that I have to get down on paper before they slip from my mind. First of all, the boys are really getting into football. Anytime they see anything having to do with football, whether it is a picture of a football helmet, a football, the Michigan M, etc., they say, "FOOTBALL!" I usually respond with something like, "Yes, you're right! That is a football!" Then they say, "Go Blue!" - they have learned that is what they say when we watch football. Don't worry Illini fans - I am working hard on ILL-INI, but getting the kids to say "I-N-I" is a bit more difficult than "Go Blue!" I promise to work on getting them NOT to say "Go Blue!" during the Michigan v. Illinois game tomorrow.

There are all kinds of other words popping up in the kids' vocabularies now, although we are still usually getting just one word at a time. When we were out playing earlier this week, I heard the boys say "neat!" and "cool!" Brandon and Evan even went down a slide and said "woo hoo!" with both arms above their heads. They are definitely channeling their mother. :)

We had a very big milestone last night at bath time, too! Steve and I have been talking to both boys a lot about going to the bathroom on the potty, in the sense of, "Won't this be fun? This is something you will get to do when you are a big boy." We have had the boys try going a few times when they have been interested, but never to any avail. Last night, Evan went #1 on the toilet!!!! We are all very excited about this! Although I am sure it will still be quite a while before we are even regularly going, but this was quite a first step!

Here are the cutie pie pictures of this week. :) Yesterday, we went to a bakery in Ann Arbor called Cake Nouveau. They are participating in a fundraiser called Cupcakes for a Cause, donating $1.00 from every cupcake sold to childhood cancer research. Our friend Izzy had her story and picture up in the bakery, so we wanted to check it out. Of course, we had to eat our cupcakes immediately upon our return home. Here are Evan and Brandon in action! :) Have a great weekend!