These shoes.

I love these shoes. Let me tell you how I came to own them...it is a great tale of shopping triumph!
I was in Houston with Abby last month, and while we were killing time waiting to go to an event, we stopped in to Kohl's. I was wearing some black wedge sandals that I'd had for 5+ years and it was high time for them to be retired (they were pretty nasty)! I had $10 in Kohl's cash to spend (it's a great thing...if you don't know about it, check out kohls.com!), so I thought it'd be worth seeing if there were any cute, black wedge sandals I could get to replace the nasty ones...after all, they'd be at least $10 cheaper!

I saw these adorable ones, from Vera Wang's "Simply Vera" line (only at Kohl's) on a mannequin and thought I'd look for them in the shoe department so I could try them on. Well, I looked and looked, but couldn't find the sandals anywhere in the shoe department. Disappointed, I went back to the mannequin to admire the sandals again. Abby said, "why don't you see if those happen to be your size?" So I figured, why not? And....indeed, they were my size. Amazing! The price tag said $69.50, which is way more than I'd pay for these, but since everything is always on sale at Kohl's, and since I had my $10 off, I figured I'd take them up to the register and just see what the real price was. Well, I put the shoes up on the counter, told the sales lady that there wasn't a box because the only pair I could find was on display, and she rang them up...at...

$7.

Yes, you read that correctly, folks. $7. That's a 90% discount! Needless to say, I was speechless. My jaw dropped! I never find deals THAT great! The sales lady was cracking up at me; she said "I've never seen a reaction like that in the whole time I've worked here...and it was worth the wait!" I could not believe my luck, so I promptly paid in cash (kept the Kohl's cash for later!), and got out of there before there was a chance for it to all be a big, mean joke. YAY for bargains!
And yay for these shoes. :-)

Our trip to Wiard's

Wiard's is an orchard and store about two miles from our house. Every weekend in October they have a giant "country fair" with lots of rides, games, and activities. We usually try to go to the fair once every fall; it's such a fun fall activity! We went to Wiard's last weekend and had a great time. We picked apples, roamed the pumpkin patch, rode "tractors," raced rubber ducks, and played on giant, inflatable things. :-) A good time was had by all, as you will see from the pictures!
Happy fall, everyone!!

What we've been up to.

We have been busy, busy since I posted last! Here's what we've been up to:

Making a quilt with Ms. Paula

Visiting our hometown

Finally riding the school bus

Going apple picking with school

Having fun with Nana

Getting to see the fire truck

The fire truck is SO cool.

That's all for now!

First Day of School

Yesterday was Andrew and Amelia's first day of school! Andrew started at Teddy Bear Daycare in the toddler class. He'll normally be going on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, but since we had to go with Amelia on her first day, Andrew got to start on Tuesday. He was SO excited to go, and his teachers said he did really well!


For Amelia's first day, we went with her to her school (Lincoln Multi-Age) for a parent-student Kindergarten orientation. We were there for just a couple hours, but they were action-packed! When we arrived at Ms. Hunter's classroom, we picked up a list of tasks we had to complete, including drawing yourself, printing your name, picking out a cubby, picking out a locker, reading a book and getting your picture taken by the teacher. The class was very crowded with the 24 kids and about half that many parents, but it was still fun. I think Amelia was a bit overwhelmed, but she was still excited.

This morning Andrew and I walked Amelia to her bus stop, where she got on the bus to ride to Kindergarten for her first (official) full day. As soon as the bus pulled up, I got all choked up and teary! I really didn't expect to be that emotional since she's been doing "school" for a few years now, but it just hit me! What a big girl. She will do so well and I can't wait to hear all about her first day when we get her from the bus this afternoon.

Time flies!!!!! Andrew goes from 8:30-12:30 and then takes a nap for most of the afternoon when he gets home, so I pretty much have all day MWF to do anything...or nothing. It feels very strange, but nice!

Amelia's exciting week

Amelia had a pretty big week last week! She participated in "Safety Town," a week-long program (9-3 every day!) for entering kindergarteners to learn all about safety. There were visits from the police and fire department, EMTs with an ambulance, Louie the lightning bug (DTE Energy), a railroad safety group, the Red Cross, and others. Amelia had a great time and learned a lot! Here are a couple pictures from graduation.

pretty excited about something!

demonstrating what to do if an animal you don't know starts bothering you (stand like a tree and say "help!")

Getting her Safety Town diploma from her teacher

Yesterday Amelia also finished her first session of swimming lessons at the county rec center. She LOVED being in the pool and did a great job! The pictures were taken from an observation deck behind a window, so please excuse the poor quality!

Kicking feet (she's the third one counter-clockwise from top)

Getting ready to jump in to the deep end

Showing the skills certificate!

Last but not least, our friends the Spiveys had their first baby on Tuesday, and Amelia couldn't wait to meet baby Noah! She was so excited to get to visit him and hold him. Here they are:

So sweet!

Amelia=excited about the baby...Andrew=excited about the apple juice. :-)

This week, Nana is coming on Tuesday (a week earlier than expected, yay!) so we're in for much more fun. It's hard to believe, but in just over three weeks Amelia and Andrew will both be in school! Where has the summer gone???

The Big House

The Big House (University of Michigan's football stadium) has been under construction for a couple of years now. The stadium's press box was out of date and other parts needed renovation, AND they needed to add a bunch of luxury suites and club seats. ;-) Well, the work is finally done, and the Big House was open to the public for tours this week! Since everyone who comes to a football game has to pay full price for a ticket (regardless of age or size), our children will likely not go to any football games in the foreseeable future! We really wanted Amelia and Andrew to see the stadium (oh and we really wanted to sit in the luxury suites and pretend we had one), so we toured it on Wednesday. WOW, is it nice! We are really venturing into the realm of die-hard fan-dom after living here for eight years, and touring the Big House got us so excited about the start of football season! Let's hope the Maize and Blue have a big turn-around season and win a bunch of games. Go Blue!! Oh, and here are some pictures. :-)

Amelia poses with a fire hydrant outside the stadium

Andrew in the club seats

watching one of last year's football games on the big screen

The upper-level windows have a beautiful view of U of M and Ann Arbor

Go Blue!

Our Graduate

Yesterday Amelia graduated from Pre-Kindergarten! We went to the ceremony (which was adorable) at school and watched as the kids walked in to the sounds of "Pomp and Circumstance," received their "diplomas," and enjoyed the special lunch the kids had prepared. I can hardly believe that in September we'll be putting Amelia on the school bus to head off to the beginning of her (many!) school years. Today was Amelia's last day at Teddy Bear Daycare, and it was bittersweet. She's had such a great time there over the last three years! She (and we) are very excited, though, to send her to Kindergarten in the fall. It'll definitely be an adjustment in many ways, but we fully expect her to do great things. Enough sentiment now! Here are pictures. :-)

the graduation announcement

Amelia with her teachers Miss Ashley and Miss Jonese

our little graduate!