Costumes, Surprises, and Birthdays, oh, my!

One of the fun things about Autumn being in kindergarten is that I get to be one of the room moms! The other room mom has been taking pictures of the class for a photo project since the beginning of the year so I told her that I'd love to help out because, well, I like taking pictures. Seriously, I have taken almost a thousand this month AND IT'S ONLY THE 16TH.  Holy cow. I can't even imagine how much disk space professional photographer must need. It's really just that there have been a lot of events this month. The seminar, the Japanese Festival, and this!


For 9/11, kindergarten did Community Helpers day. So sweet. All the kids dressed up as some kind of person who does good things for our community. I saw firefighters, police officers, chefs, even a princess! Autumn wore the scrubs and stethoscope Penny gave her for her birthday. But she said she wasn't a nurse because she didn't have the right hat, haha.


The firemen were very nice. Even when I asked them to pose for a photo. :) I also took one of the class. Both photos turned out well so I asked Autumn's teacher if she wanted me to make a thank you card for the firemen (firepeople?) using them and she said yes. Autumn and I had fun doing it! All the kids are going to sign it and then we'll send it to the fire station.


The other big event? We had a surprise party for Nanny's 80th birthday and Nanny and Boppa's 60th wedding anniversary! We had been scheming about this for a couple of weeks--including trying to get Nanny to give us photos! I was sure she knew what was up but she and Boppa were very surprised!




So fun! Autumn has been doing her best to keep quiet about the party and I am so proud of her! We had sooo many conversations about what kidpower calls Good Secrets, so we made it a teaching moment, too, lol. She's seen Nanny and Boppa two or three times since I made the invitations and didn't breathe a word.


I haven't the slightest idea where she got this but Autumn came down carrying this some time before we got word that Nanny and Boppa were on the way.


That is, by the way, a knee high attached! And, for someone who hates noise, Autumn sure had fun honking the horn in her own ear.


Much to Autumn's delight, Tyler &company came in town for the party! I got there early to help set things up and Tyler asked me about every 5 minutes when Autumn was going to arrive! I finally called Mike and told him to bring Autumn on because Tyler was going to implode if he didn't see Autumn!


They were so busy that I never got them to stand still long enough to take a picture together! At the end of the night when Autumn was about to pass out from tired, I asked her to give Tyler a hug or smile next to him for the camera and she was completely uninterested! She barely mustered the energy to drag herself to the stairs next to him and look blank.


So silly. I'm going to post photos of all the things we made! I had so much fun doing my part. For now, take a look at my new birthday hair: click here!

Ok, I can't end with a picture of Autumn looking pitiful...have a picture of her in her ballet outfit holding the really pitiful yet adorable tomato and sugar baby watermelon we picked from our small garden!