We’ve had a marginal winter, at best.  A few dustings but no real accumulation of snow.  This morning we woke up and *surprise*…there was a little over an inch on the ground.  Our initially planned trip to the Dinosaur Museum (aka, UMICH Natural History Museum) was put on hold for a little sled action at Wurster Park with the fearless Morgan & Andre.  So fun.  A few action shots below.

Before we could go sledding, we made Bjorn shovel the driveway. He has to earn his kitty cat cookies, somehow!

Bjorn also wanted to shovel for our neighbors...

Morgan & Bjorn Choose Their Selected Sled Positions

Ready to go! (Andre is on deck for his first sled ride!)

Bjorn, Morgan & Lars taking aim at Wurster Hill

...we made him carry the sled back up the hill. Little were we to know, this would end up being his most favorite part of sledding. Weird.

Bjorn in Snow

…and here are a few videos for your viewing pleasure.

This week is all about convenience. And, if you were a person who liked to sum things up, this would be when you started to tally how many times we eat Miracle Chicken Tortilla Soup in a year–because, I promise you, its not a small amount.

• MONDAY:  Leftover Indian Food (Chicken Tikka Masala and Baingan Bartha which, let me tell you, is just awkward to order over the phone.
• TUESDAY:  Mock Chicken Tortilla Soup
• WEDNESDAY:  Spaghetti or Chicken Tortilla Soup
• THURSDAY: Whatever we didn’t eat on Wednesday
• FRIDAY:  Dare I say we may get to “eat out”….?

I feel a little ridiculous with this list.  Some weeks are going to be better than others and this is not one of them.  I will sacrifice a full on feast for the sake of spending an hour at the YMCA with my boys swimming in the pool (…and that, my friends, is the plan for tonight!).

I am not sure if this is an instance where I am over sharing [I feel as though mothers may sympathize with me on this--our filters just get so out of wack talking about bodily functions all day]….but it was pretty high-larious.

I was sitting on our bed upstairs, but my back was hurting so I was kind of on my stomach stretching it out. Enter the Bjorn. He jumps up on the bed [because he is now a kid that jumps on the bed] and lifts up the back of my pants and says “DID YOU POOP MAMA? DID YOU POOP? YEAH. YOU POOPED”.

…to clarify, I did not poop.

This just reminds me that I have two lives. In one of them I do not talk about poop on a regular basis.

A long while back, I was confused.

I was confused about the slogan for Diet Dr. Pepper versus regular Dr. Pepper. Does anyone remember this:

“Diet Dr. Pepper tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper”?

Well, I somehow bastardized this slogan in my head to read “Diet Dr. Pepper tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper tastes like itself”. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!? In my mind, though, it was. So you can see how I was confused wherein it came to slogans related to soft drinks.

Just when I thought I had a handle on it all (after a brief crazed summer I was obsessed over the novelty of fortified Diet Coke–which happened to be just an addition of zinc to the chemicals already in place) Dr. Pepper does it again. Dr. Pepper 10. WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BULL HONKEY? A soft drink for men only? Or at least marketed that way? I would like to know the man who thinks it is okay to drink Dr. Pepper 10 but not drink Diet Coke because it is a diet drink. Then I would like to punch him in the face.

….I would feel a little guilty about this so afterwards I would probably give him a Diet Dr. Pepper because it tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper tastes like itself. OH GOD I REGRESS.

But seriously–are we really going down this marketing path? I’ve been wrong before. I mean, I never thought skinny jeans would take off. I’m still angry about that, btw. Mainly because I think I would love them if I had the figure for them–but alas, I do not.

This just goes to show you I’m not made for marketing. Or Diet Dr. Pepper. Or Dr. Pepper 10 (I don’t think I’m legally allowed to drink Dr. Pepper 10 because of that pesky extra X chromosome, actually). Guess I’ll just stick to coffee and tea.

Okay so first there were Larsisms and now there are Bjornisms. That’s what happens when we Jensens acquire language.

A few random scenarios from our household…

Exhibit A: Bjorn takes a partially eaten piece of french toast/macaroni & cheese/apple/some food product out of his mouth and gives it to whoever is sitting closest to him and says “Happy Birthday”. What?

Exhibit B: Bjorn likes to “play games” and by that he means he likes to play catch upstairs in mommy and daddy’s bedroom. He seems to not understand the difference between tickling and tackling because Lars will tackle him when he catches the ball–but when Lars catches the ball and I tell Bjorn to go tackle daddy, he goes after him and says “TICKLE TICKLE”.

Exhibit C: “I’m using that!” is big. So much so that when he was cuddling in bed with Lars and I, when I put my head down on my pillow (for which he is on the other side of the bed), he says “No, Mommy! I using that!”. He also does the same to Lars when he is pushing the mower in the backyard. I wonder if he’ll be wanting to use that when he’s a surly teenager.

Whenever we hear these little tidbits coming out of our two year old’s mouth, we wish we had a video camera going. Its just not the same when we try and get him to re-enact them for documentation purposes (and, truthfully, its nearly impossible to get him to do anything that we want him to do)…hence the lack of photos or video on our website, lately . Also, we are lazy.

I’ve been chatting a lot with my sister-in-law, Katie, in Denver, about how amazing Michigan is during the fall months.  Truly its magical.   If you don’t believe me, you might believe Tim Allen and the genius that is the “Pure Michigan” ad campaign:

There’s no place I’d rather be than Michigan during the autumn months–and within Michigan, Ann Arbor is just magical.  The start of football season, the leaves turning colors on an old and beautiful university campus, apple orchards, pumpkin picking, crisp fall weather and heart warming soups for dinner.  Truly–nowhere but here is where I want to be.

Bjorn is reaping the benefits of this rich college environment.  This is partially because Lars and I have successfully brainwashed him (Go Blue!).  Whenever we pass the Big House (which is often since we live a mile away) he chants “Big House, Go Blue!” or “Michigan!”.  He currently likes to pretend he’s a member of the Michigan Marching Band by “playing” a trumpet/vase and marching around the house.  He also loves (LOVES) the Michigan Drum Major.

Seeing the Michigan Marching Band has been a “thing” at our house since last year but its been just this year that Bjorn has started really loving it in the way that only a toddler can.  We take him every home game down to see the drum line and then we wait until the marching band lines up outside Reveille Hall and watch the Drum Major inspect the lines and march to the stadium.  We have also been trying to get a photograph of Bjorn with the Michigan cheerleaders–truth we are that lame.  But they are SO willing and they adore him but he is TERRIFIED OF THEM.  (They do wear a lot of make-up).  There’s a couple of them that actually know him because we’re there almost every Saturday–alas, it was not to be.  That would be EPIC if we could ever pull it off. Here are some other Fall photos of late.

Nonno and Nonni Visit Ann Arbor for Bjorn (and the Epic Notre Dame v. Michigan "Under the Lights" Game)

Bjorn & Morgan Take a Pit Stop in Their Bobs at Washtenaw Dairy

Bjorn

It is pomp and tradition at its finest–and every time we see the drum major it reminds me of this iconic “Life” photograph from 1950.

Ode to Joy, 1950

Truly, it is an ode to joy.