Random funnies

We're starting the girls in swimming lessons this Saturday, Jenna has already told me that she won't be going in the water, but instead sitting on the edge of the pool, watching the rest of the kids.

I was so excited that Nate got me a toaster oven for my birthday--our old one was gross. A friend told me that a sign of getting old is being excited about corded items for gifts.

We had guests coming over and I was in a rush to get the house clean. I was upstairs vacuuming and left the girls in the play room. When I got done, I came downstairs to an entire roll of toilet paper ripped into small pieces on the floor. So much for cleaning.

Jenna looked at the tops of my hands the other day and told me that I was a grandma now since my hands had big lines on them. (I think she was referring to the veins.)

I have specific instructions from Jenna on how to give her a "surprise" party for her birthday. She told me that she was going to wait outside while her friends crouched down inside. Then when she walks in, everyone will jump up and yell, "surprise!" Not sure that's a surprise party!

Abby just came up to me with a package of wipes in one hand and a diaper in the other and asked me if I was poopy.

I think I might be a democrat . . . .

I have been a registered republican since I was 18. No wait, I think I orginially registered as a democrat when I was 18 and didn't even know the difference between the two. Then I learned more about the parties and what my own beliefs were and have been a republican ever since.

For a while, I was a one issue voter. Abortion was it for me. I couldn't vote for anyone who would be in support of killing babies. Faith was a huge issue for me as well. To have leaders with lives based in Christ was important to me. That still is. But, I've realized that I can't only vote for people because they support or reject abortion. That's an issue that is great fun and important to debate about, but when it comes down to it, I don't see that as an issue being resolved in the political world anytime soon. I choose to focus on my own family and concentrating on how we choose to teach the girls about the sancitity of life instead of putting all my eggs in one basket on election day.

I've come a long way. I am trying to learn about all the presidential candidates and vote based on faith as well as important issues that must be addressed: health care, the environment, and security--to name a few.

When I thought about the issues that were important to me, I realized that I don't seem to fit into either party very well. So, I took this online evaluation. I had to go through a list of issues, rank their importance and indicate whether or not I supported the idea. The end result was that I am most closely matched (71%) with Bill Richardson, a democrat. And most of my other close matches were democrats. So, I'm afraid that I might be a democrat.

Now, I am probably not going to vote for Bill Richardson because he doesn't have much chance of winning, but I am open to considering others--in all parties.

I might just have to be an independent. We'll see.

If you are my dad or my uncle Wayne and you are reading this, you are probably falling off your chair--both for different reasons.

Most of my posts are about funny things that happen with the girls and I've learned that finding the humor in motherhood and telling you all about it is a positive thing for me. I'm not exactly sure why, but when I laugh about the things that make me crazy sometimes, the craziness doesn't take such a toll on me.

This post, however, is not about a funny thing that happened with the girls. My heart breaks for two families at our vicarage church as well as the people surrounding them.

I love God. I know that everything that happens is in His plan and that everything ultimately glorifies Him. I trust Him and I understand the sacrifice He made for me. I'm having a hard time understanding how two families can be hurting so much as a result of two deaths that were so shocking and hard.

A little girl, just a few months older than Abby, died two weeks ago from an aggressive brain tumor. Her parents, as well as their friends and family, watched her slowly and painfully slip away. An admirable man with a beautiful, Godly family including six children suddenly died yesterday. He will never walk his daughters down the aisle and his family is left in a heap of disbelief and grief that is unimaginable.

Seeing these horrible things doesn't make me doubt God. In the awful things, I see His comfort, healing, and great love, but why them and why now?

My heart breaks for these families and for the people who love them. But I still love God and trust that He will take care of them.

Nate is disqualified

Apparently, having hairy arms disqualifies you from rubbing Jenna's back.

Every night after prayers, I stay with Jenna for a few extra minutes and rub her back. I started that one evening when she was sick and she has asked for it ever since.

The other night, Nate asked Jenna if he could stay and rub her back. She said, "No Daddy, you have hairy arms."
:)

"Clothes Haaaaaaa"

"Clothes haaaaa" is the best way I know how to phonetically spell a new phenonmenon in our house. The word "haaaa" is Abby's word for "off." And there's not way to phonetically spell "haaaa" that does justice to the way Abby says it. But she says it a lot these days.

This morning, I went into her room to find her completely naked. She got her blanket sleeper off as well as her diaper. Thank goodness it wasn't a poopy diaper, but I have that those unfortunate situations this week. Yuck.

Anyway . . .Abby likes to take all her clothes off several times a day. I think it's a challenge for her and she likes to see if she can get out of every outfit that I think is too tricky for her. For example, after the first few times she did this, I started putting a Onesie on her, thinking that she couldn't get that off, therefore, she couldn't get to her diaper.

Wrong.

She got her arms out of the Onesie, pulled the Onesie down to her tummy and proceeded to undo her diaper by reaching in the stretched out neck that was now around her stomach. I thought that was a surefire way to keep her from getting everything off, but I now realize that I have nothing. No defenses against our 21 month old who does not want to keep her clothes on.

So now every time I drop her off at the nursery at church or leave her with friends not only do I have to warn them that she will probably climb on anything she can find, but that she will probably strip as well--and not just the clothes--the diaper too.

On one hand, this is hilarious to me. She is just so amusing and really is a riot most of the day. However . . . when I am trying to get everyone out the door for church or preschool or something important that I am stressing out about, the last thing I want to see is a naked baby running around with her clothes in a pile.

Jenna never did this. In fact, I was worried about her dressing skills when I heard my friends tell me that their kids were always dressing and undressing themselves. Not to fear though, Jenna is an expert dresser . . . she has taken to picking out her own outfits. Needless to say, I only let her wear the yellow tank top over the blue long sleeve shirt with bright pink tights with hearts all over them and her denim skirt when we aren't going anywhere important. Yes, I get stares, but you know . . . she is very proud of herself and learning some independence.

As you can see, getting dressed and staying dressed are issues in our house right now. And while it is a minor inconvenience at times, this is the stuff of life and parenthood that we will always remember.

A New Kind of Moisturizer

Abby is into everything. She thinks that emptying all the toy bins in the middle of the room is great fun and doesn't think that any of Jenna's clothes belong in their drawers. I recently had to put a child safety lock on the pantry door handle so that she couldn't get in the pantry. She had been emptying the bottom two rows and carrying stuff around the house. The last thing I needed was to have vegetable oil spilled all over the family room carpet.

The girls stayed with some good friends of ours while Nate and I went to a meeting last night. They are well aware of Abby's adventurous and curious side, but weren't prepared for her latest antic. Apparently, Abby got into the diaper bag, and rubbed diaper rash cream all over her face. By the time our friend, Matt, discovered all of this, her entire face was white. When we picked the girls up, Matt was afraid to tell us what had happened, thinking that we would be upset. However, we laughed out loud at the thought of her getting into the diaper rash cream. I just wish I could have seen her!

I went out this morning with a friend and came home to find out that she had done the same thing again while Nate was home with her. Only this time, Nate said that she kept saying, "Mommy, mommy, mommy" while rubbing the diaper rash cream all over her face. It seems as if she was trying to put moisturizer on like I do each morning. How funny!

I have not witnessed either of these hilarious incidents, and Nate didn't get a chance to take a picture. If we do get a picture of Abby putting "moisturizer" on, I'll be sure to post it.

A Phone Call to Santa Claus

A few days ago, we were in Kohls doing some Christmas shopping. I wandered into the kids' clothes section (which was not what we were there for, but I can never resist) which is next to the toy section. As I was browsing, Jenna found a Barbie, the Island Princess doll. Jenna loves the Island Princess. She was Barbie, the Island Princess for Halloween, loves the movie, and wants every toy that is related to this particular Barbie. Little did she know that I had bought the same exact doll for her for Christmas the day before.

I tried to tell her that she just couldn't have it. We weren't there to shop for her. That line usually works and she agrees to not whine about everything in the store that she wants. But, this was different. This was Barbie, the Island Princess. Out of desperation to get us out of the store with as little crying and carrying on as possible, I told her that Santa called me earlier in the day and told me that he had that same doll for her in his bag. He was saving it for Christmas and he would bring it then.

This was so great, because she bought it! She happily returned the doll to the toy section and smiled the whole way out of the store, knowing that Santa was going to bring her the Island Princess doll.

She's a smart cookie though, and I should have seen this coming. She then asked me if she could talk to Santa since he had just talked to me earlier in the day. She had some more things to ask him for. So, I thought quickly. I was trying to think of every guy who would be available, be willing to pretend to be Santa, and wouldn't be a voice she would recognize. Chuck. Our good friend Chuck.

I called him, explained the situation, and while he was in the middle of a Sam's Club shopping trip, pretended to be Santa on the phone to Jenna. She bought it hook, line, and sinker and was so excited that she talked to Santa. (Thank you Chuck.) Then in the car, she asked me what Santa's phone number was. Thinking quickly again, I said, 555-CHRISTMAS.

So, Jenna now thinks that Santa is a cell phone call away to 555-CHRISTMAS and that anyone can talk to him any time of the day.

Luckily, she hasn't asked again to talk to Santa. When she does, we might be making another phone call to Santa. :)

Injured On The Job--Doing Laundry

Injured doing laundry? Yes, I am clumsy. I always have been. When I was younger, I often had trouble going up and down stairs. As a teacher, I always tripped over the feet of the kids who were sitting in the front row. When I was a papergirl in elementary school, I actually ran into a telephone pole while delivering papers. I vividly remember the emergency room doctor laughing at me when I told him how I got the cut above my eyebrow. So my clumsiness haunts me again, and this time I have a nickel-sized little goose egg between my eyes to show for it.

Our laundry room is wide enough to fit just the washer and dryer. The dryer is on the left and the washer is on the right. I finished folding the laundry in the dryer, and left the door open, which swings open to the right. As I was getting the laundry out of the washer and putting it into the dryer, I somehow bent down low enough to whack my forehead right on the top of the dryer door that was open. It was a hard smack--I'm not sure how or why I had such a large amount of momentum going from the washer to the dryer, but I did. I hit my forehead so hard that I was dizzy and actually thought I might pass out. I walked to our bedroom and grabbed the phone in case I had to call Nate to come help me.

I didn't pass out, but have this embarrassing goose egg right in between my eyes. When I picked up Jenna from preschool right after this happened, no one said anything, so hopefully it'll stay that way. If not, I've got another clumsy and embarrassing story to tell.

Funny Random Stuff

Jenna has learned to match her clothes. The other day, she was standing on the stool in her bathroom and I was doing her hair. I picked out a green hair clip that didn't match her outfit, and as I was about to put it in her hair she looked up at me out of the top corner of her eyes and said, "Now Mommy, do you see any green in my outfit?" I couldn't believe that she was calling me out on not matching! She said, "There's no green in my outfit today, maybe you should put a pink clip in my hair." I guess she told me!

Jenna is in preschool, and instead of bringing backpacks or having cubbies, the kids are required to bring buckets. We bought a purple sand bucket and decorated it with stickers for Jenna. From day one of preschool, Abby thought she should be in the class too. She would sit in the book corner, reading all the books, or color a page with the big kids while I signed Jenna in. One day as we were walking out the door to go to preschool, Abby grabbed her hot pick princess Halloween candy bucket that I had recently bought for trick or treating. She took it in the car, and as soon as she got out of her carseat, she picked it up and took it in to the classroom, just like big sister, Jenna! She even put it right next to Jenna's on the shelves where they go during class. Everyday now, both girls walk into preschool with their buckets, ready for class. Mrs. Dennis, Jenna's teacher, noticed this bucket thing with Abby and now is ready with some "homework" (a coloring page) for Abby. After we say goodbye to Jenna, I grab Abby's bucket from the shelves and put it in the car for a few hours later when we pick Jenna up and do the same routine all over again!

I was getting ready this morning and Nate was watching the girls so I could get ready in peace. When I was out of the shower, I heard Nate yelling,"No Abby, no Abby!" I thought to myself . . . "Oh, he's experiencing Abby this morning!" Then I heard a crash, which was the candle holders falling over on the dining room table. Then I heard, "Weeeeee! Weeee" While Nate was flipping out because Abby was sitting on top of the table knocking things over, Abby was enjoying every second of it:)

Productivity vs. Fruitfulness

God seems to give me just what I need when I need it.

I lead a women's Bible study on Tuesday mornings at our church, and this particular study is on stress. Each week is broken down into a different subtopics, and this week was "fruitfulness." When I think about the word, "fruitfulness" I often think of it in spiritual terms, I think about the fruit of our labor or the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit that comes from being in a relationship with God.

I never thought about pitting productivity against it though.

There's this pressure all around to be productive. Get more work done, get more stuff, have your kids in all the important activities, volunteer at church, make sure the laundry is done, and the house is always clean and tidy. That is a lot of pressure!

I work part time from home and I was stressing myself out by trying to take care of the girls, the house, and try to work all at the same time. I would fail every time resulting in yelling at the girls and worrying about what I wasn't getting done. I finally realized that trying to get all that done, trying to be too productive, was not good for me. I have been getting one to two migraines a week for a while now, and came up with every excuse in the book like-we live kinda close to the highway so that's what's causing my migraines. Or, it must be hormones. But, I am willing to admit that I was trying to do too much at once and that stress was making life hard.

So as I was going through my Bible study this morning, I realized that God has been teaching me that although being productive is good, trying to be too productive is not. Instead, I should be focusing on being fruitful and living in His will. love, and grace. Doing that will guide my life and result in happiness that I cannot achieve by filling my life with too many tasks.

Being in a hurry and filling my life with too many things is not good for me when it is done for the wrong reasons. So, I am choosing to work towards being fruitful instead of productive. I want to create a happy and balanced home for my family, work from home when the girls aren't awake, and choose activities for the right reasons and not because everyone else is doing it.

I would love to have every piece of laundry clean at any given moment, never have dishes sitting around, have a clean house that is ready for visitors at all times, but I"m pretty sure that God is calling me to create a balanced home and family and raise children that love Him. So, I am trying to do that. No more six way multitasking and thinking about whether Jenna should be in dance, swimming lessons, and preschool. We take one thing at a time and stop to play a game of hide-and-go seek with the girls without worrying about what I'm not getting done.

We are official!

We've lived in California for over two years now and have never experiences any earthquakes worth mentioning. When we lived in our rental house, we often felt minor shaking, but since we've been in our house we haven't felt anything. We used to live closer to the fault lines and in a zone called a "liquification zone." Apparently if there was a major earthquake, the ground beneath us would likely turn to liquid.

I'm glad we moved.

Anyway . . . I was getting the girls ready for bed last night when everything started shaking. Everything on Jenna's walls was rattling and the entire house was shaking back and forth. I grabbed the girls and stood in the doorway, which is the safest place during an earthquake. It ended just as fast as it started-only lasting about 15 seconds. When it was over, all of our pictures were crooked, a few things were toppled over on our dresser, and the big light hanging in our doorway was swaying back and forth. The earthquake was a 5.6 and the biggest one since the Loma Prieta quake that collapsed the Bay Bridge in 1989.

Many of our neighbors were outside making sure everyone was okay. I called Nate, who was at a meeting at church, and he was so excited about what had just happened! The church sits directly on top of the Calaveras fault which, is the one that erupted last night. My friend, Julie said she swore that the top floor of her house was swaying and said that she had things broken in her kitchen while my boss, Arlene said she felt a strong jolt right before the rumbling. I didn't experience any of those things, which goes to show that everyone has a different experience based on where you are in relation to the epicenter.

We are thankful that the earthquake didn't do any damage to the house and wasn't too scary. Jenna keeps asking when we are going to have another earthquake!

But, we are official Californians now. We have experiences our first significant earthquake!

Faker Pumpkin Patches

I searched the Internet for a picture of the twisted thing that pumpkin patches have become in California. Of course, I cannot find one so I'll do my best to recreate this atrocity with words.

When I think of a pumpkin patch, I think of a little farm with pumpkins lining the fields. Some pumpkins are still in the vine, while others are detached, waiting for a little one to choose it to take home. There is dirt and hay and often a barn. The pumpkin patch is in a refreshing place where kids run around excited to select the perfect one.

This is not very common where we live. Please don't hear me dissing all of California, but where we live, there are not many REAL pumpkin patches.

In the parking lot of our Target, there is a big silver chain-linked fence sectioning off a large portion of the lot. In that fence, there are two big jumpy houses, hay lining the pavement (which has worn off due to all the kids in there), more hay bales stacked, and hundreds of pumpkins lined up in rows, ready to be bought.

THEY CALL THIS A PUMPKIN PATCH!

This is a sneaky trick to get kids to buy pumpkins. They lure families into the jumpy houses and then sell pumpkins on the side. We pass one of thise monstrocities on the way home from church, and Jenna asks me all the time if we can stop to play on the jumpy house.

Of course, I tell her no and that I will take her to a real pumpkin patch, wich happens to be tomorrow. Her preschool class is going and I am going on my first fieldtrip! Pictures will come soon!

Pictures from Josh and Annie's Wedding

These are pictures from Nate's brother, Josh's wedding a few weekends ago. Jenna was a flower girl along with her cousin Allie. There's a picture of Jenna and Allie, one of the Nate Hartke family, and one of the Hartke grandchildren: Timmy, Joey, Allie, Jenna, and Abby.

The wedding was great, although I ended up walking Jenna down the aisle!

A Sweet Sound

Nate and I sing this song to our girls. I don't know the name of it, but I think it came from some musical. It goes like this:

I love you Abby, oh yes I do
I love you Abby, it's true
When you're not near me, I'm blue --hoooo (make a high pitched hooo noise there)
Oh, Abby I love you, hoooo!! (another high pitched noise)

Abby can be replaced by anything . . . Jenna, Daddy, Mommy, Kiki (Binky) DeeDee (Petals, the bear) or Blankie. I usually sing this song to Abby in the morning after she wakes up, before her nap, and before bed. It's kind of our thing and she loves it.

For so long, she never sang, but then one day a few weeks ago, she started to sing bits and pieces. First, she started saying the "hooooos" at the end of the two lines, but the absolute sweetest sound came all in one day.

First, she started to sing the words, "Abby," "it's true," "I'm blue," and "love you." My heart melted when I heard those sweet words come from her little voice. But then, we were sitting in the rocking chair singing, and I had finished singing. I was ready to put her to bed, when she started singing on her own. She sang,

I love you Mommy, oh yes I do
I love you Mommy, it's true
When you're not near me, I'm blue--hoooo
Oh Mommy, I love you--hooooo!

Now, the song was very fragmented because she couldn't sing the whole song yet, but I heard the "Mommy" in there, and I turned to mush. She put my name in there all by herself and it was just the sweetest sound.

Lately, she's been demanding certain people/things to be in the song. She will often want to sing to Kiki (Binky), DeeDee (Petals, the bear) and Blankie. If I start singing to Jenna or Daddy, she will often say "Abby, Abby, Abby!" She doesn't want me to sing to anyone else but her.

We will sing this song as long as they let us. When they get married, don't be surprised it Nate breaks out this song for his girls!

Home

We just got home from a ten day extravaganza of visiting family, friends and attending Nate's brother, Josh's wedding. We flew to Pittsburgh, drove to Indianapolis to visit Nate's brother Tim and his family, then drove to Ft. Wayne for the wedding. Next we were off to Detroit for the day to catch up with old friends, then to Toledo for a visit with Nate's parents, and finally back to Pittsburgh to return the car my parents to graciously let us use and on the plane back to California.

I love going home. Everything about the Midwest is familiar to me. I love the reds and oranges in the changing trees. I love driving through rain on a hazy afternoon. I love the hills of Pittsburgh and the green all around. I love driving through endless corn fields and through the little towns of Indiana and Ohio. All of these things are things that we don't really have here in California and and being home makes me miss being there with all it has to offer.

I wish I could call a Grandma to come babysit every once in a while, without having to fly them out. I wish I didn't obsess about the education system that I am so uneasy about here. I wish our kids could play with their cousins, jump in leaves, and ride sleds down a snowy hill.

When I was at my parents' house, we went to my old elementary school so that the girls could play on the playground. As so many memories came back like playing football with Mr. Jedinak in the field or Graham Kendrick breaking Stephen Lenick's arm during dodgeball or lining up for fire drills outside, I realized that I want for our girls exactly what my parents gave me. We lived in a great neighborhood with great schools. I had every opportunity and am thankful for those more and more.

We are content with our life here in California and know that God has called us here to do His work. I have never doubted that or thought of living outside His will. I just sometimes miss being close to our family and friends and appreciate the foundation that got us where we are today.

Frozen Peas Anyone?

Getting my girls to eat green vegetables has been a huge struggle. The both like corn, but haven't eaten the green veggies well since they(the vegetables) were mashed in a jar and spoon fed.

We had cheesy rice with broccoli tonight and Nate and I brought out every trick in the book to try to get Jenna to eat the broccoli. We only asked her to eat one bite, and she usually does, but not tonight.

So, I told her that I'd make her some other green vegetables. She suggested frozen peas. I was a little confused, wondering where she had eaten frozen peas before. Apparently, one of our sitters got her to eat peas if they were frozen!

She ate more frozen peas tonight than all the peas she's ever eaten, I think. Abby apparently likes them too. She asked for some and ate an entire bowl as well.

So if any of you are moms out there who have trouble getting their kids to eat green veggies . . .try frozen peas. My kids eat them like candy ! Who knew?

It's Jenna!

Jenna has brought home many colored pictures and projects from preschool already, but this one is, by far, my favorite. Her teachers cut the people, clothes, and hair out and the kids got to choose the colors and buttons to go with the outfit.

Purple is Jenna's favorite color, so she picked the purple dress, but the hair has to be my favorite! Such cute red hair!

This is a keeper:)

First Day of Preschool

Last Wednesday was Jenna's first day of preschool, and it was a day that we all have been looking forward to for a long time!
A friend asked me if I thought I was going to cry when I dropped her off at preschool. I really was so excited for her to start this part of her life that I could only think of being happy and proud and anxious to watch her learn.

And that is exactly what Wednesday was. A happy day! She walked right in and played with the toys and waved to us as we left. I came home, put Abby to bed, and then happily mopped my floor in peace without any little feet trying to get in the way. The house was so quiet and it was nice to have a few hours to myself.

So, I love preschool, Jenna loves preschool, and we're looking forward to a wonderful year.

Preschool Parent Drama!

Jenna starts preschool this coming Wednesday (Sept.5th) for the first time. She's going to Milpitas Christian School, Monday/Wednesday/Friday in the afternoons. I am thoroughy excited for her--first because she will just love learning new things and meeting new friends. Second because it gives me individual time with Abby and time during her nap to get some work done around here!

This past Friday, was "Meet the Teacher" day. All the kids and their families piled into the classroom to play with toys, meet each other and the teachers. Jenna has two wonderful teachers--Mrs. Dennis, who is an experienced, wonderful lady (from what I can tell) and Miss Fought, an education student who will serve as her aide. I left on Friday feeling really good about Jenna's teachers and feeling confident that they are experienced, quality, I know what I'm doing and how to handle all you crazy parents type of a teacher.

One of the parents in the class somehow got the email addresses of all the parents. I'm not sure how it happened, but the only thing I can think of is that she copied the email addresses from the sign-in sheet. She must be a sneaky mommy.

So, I get this invitation to join a Yahoo Group for our preschool class. I use Yahoo groups a lot and actually really love them. For those of you who don't know what a Yahoo Group is--your group, for example all the parents in our preschool class, has their own webpage, a database, a calendar, and most importantly a forum to discuss issues. If i type in the email address for our group, it will go to all the parents who have signed up. It's pretty cool.

One of the mothers sent out an email today asking to revise the snacks for the preschool class. On Friday, we received a calendar with specific snacks to bring and the child assigned for that day. They are healthy snacks, and to be honest, I am excited for Jenna to eat some things that I don't normally offer--like guava juice! (It'll be interesting to see how that one goes over!) This particular mother wanted to scrap all the snacks and only offer fruit, water, and Cheerios every day for the whole year.

NO WAY! Is this lady crazy? I am not going to ask my child to eat the same thing every day of prechool for a whole year, but most importantly, I am not going to interfere with what the teacher has already set up. I am sure that she has experience in this area of snack planning, and I, as a parent, am not going to question her judgment or try to change things that Mrs. Dennis is doing. The last thing she wants is for parents to try to interfere with what she has put time and effort into.

So, I wrote a message to the group, explaining that interfering with Mrs. Dennis's snack schedule isn't a good idea in my eyes and that I am excited for some food variety for Jenna. Also know, that I took great care in being nice, positive, and non-judgmental. I am always the pastor's wife, and I don't need to go ticking off all the parents in the preschool class. (Good thing some other mothers agreed with me.)

Any thoughts on this craziness?

And preschool hasn't even started yet. It might be a long year being a parent in this classroom:)

At Least We Didn't Lose To Appalachian State

As many of you know, Nate is a huge Notre Dame fan. Jenna and I have become ones too. Last year was an exciting season, and I really have come to enjoy watching the games. Jenna knows the fight song and several of last year's players. She doesn't understand why Brady Quinn isn't playing for Notre Dame anymore. I figured that we would hold off on trying to explain the NFL draft and that he's playing for the Browns now.

So today was Notre Dame's first game. They played at home against Georgia Tech, who smoked them. The game was full of fumbles, sacks, and disappointing plays by our team. The final score was 33-3, which is awlful, but I guess we should be happy that they didn't get completely shut out. They played a little bit better in the middle of the game, but that didn't last long.

The only thing that makes these Notre Dame fans feel a little bit better is that the University of Michigan lost to a Division IAA team, Appalachian State.

We're disappointed in Charlie Weis's boys today, but AT LEAST WE DIDN'T LOSE TO APPALACHIAN STATE!