From oatmeal on floor to lost remotes, millions follow story of this Chili family's life

Esther Anderson of Chili never expected strangers to be interested in her family's daily routine.

But life simply unfolded that way.

Nearly three years after posting two videos that went viral on social media, she launched a blog and corresponding Facebook page, the Story of this Life, which today has more than two million followers.

Esther, 32, and her husband Thad have two daughters; 3-year-old Ellia and 1-year-old Tessa. They're expecting their third child in January.

"I'm still not sure what the draw is," Esther said. "We never really had a goal in mind, but wanted to be real and vulnerable with the world and show them what its like to live life with kids."

That they do. Embracing those imperfect moments, the family focuses on love and laughter as they share their daily adventures with the world.

It started with a viral video

In 2014, the couple was living in Lubbock, Texas, when they made a video offering five ways to escape a sleeping baby. They often struggled to get then 1-year-old Ellia to fall (and stay) asleep, Esther said. 

Several weeks later, Esther posted a brief video showing Ellia pulling Esther's hair, poking her face and climbing over her head as Esther attempted to sneak in a few more moments of sleep.

Both videos, made to entertain their friends and family, went viral on social media. Thousands of friend requests poured in on Facebook. From there, the blog was born.

"I'm not a blogger," Esther laughed. "I don't like to write. I have all these ideas that I typed into my phone. And they'll likely stay there."

Sure, she writes occasionally. But the couple prefers creating witty videos about what parenthood is really like. Some of their videos are sponsored by brands most parents know well, including Babies R Us, Huggies and Munchkin.

Social media expert John Jiloty said brands are clamoring to work with influencers like the Andersons who created a massive following by producing their own content. 

"Brands no longer need to rely on traditional platforms of radio, television and print to share their message," said Jiloty, vice president of social media and content at The Martin Group in Buffalo. "She's speaking directly to parents who can easily relate.

"They're real people and what they share is not overproduced, but is relatable and clever. That's huge."

The traveling Andersons

 A Gates Chili High School graduate, Esther left Chili in 2003 for Oklahoma Baptist University. There, she met Thad, who was raised in the Sooner state.

A daughter of missionaries, Esther spent part of her childhood in New Guinea before her family moved to Monroe County. She loved exploring new cultures and spent her first post-college year as an art teacher in the Cayman Islands.

The couple married in 2008 and moved more than 20 times over the next nine years (mostly through major cities in Texas and Florida) as Thad worked with a traveling construction company. 

Two years ago the family bought a house in Chili, where Esther's family still lived. Thad's parents followed suit.

"It was important to us to be close to family," she said, adding that her family attends her childhood church.

Neither Esther nor Thad studied film making. They pen scripts for all of their brand videos, which are shot and edited by Esther's brother Jon Milligan of Gates. Creating each minute-long video is about a two month process from start to finish, including script-writing, shooting and editing.

"We try to keep things as normal as possible," she said. The girls have no idea they have fans, and "we'll keep it that way for now. Our life is pretty much the same as it has always been, except sometimes we get recognized when we go out."

Cassandra Arena of Gates, who has followed the Anderson family online for two years, said she ran into Thad while shopping at Wegmans several months ago and said hello. 

"She's very outgoing, seems approachable and I definitely relate to her," said Arena, who has two children, a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old. "We all know the struggle of taking care of children.

Fans reach out regularly and often thank Esther for sharing the daily details of her life.

Gabriella Hunt of Greece has been following the Andersons online for more than two years because she can relate to Esther's parenting struggles and successes.

"I also love that she puts a humorous spin on situations that would leave some people crying from frustration," said Hunt, a mother of two. "If we can't laugh at it, we'll never survive." 

People see oatmeal splattered on the kitchen floor, that clean and dirty clothes are regularly dumped from a basket and how the girls relocate items around the house, namely the remote control.

"It helps people see that this is normal," Esther said. "It's real life and people just like to relate to things they are going through at the same time."

VFREILE@Gannett.com