Mansfield Trip, Part 1

Ok, I still don't have Mike's photos from our trip to Missouri so this will be a two parter! Next week I'll probably post Halloween pictures sooooo we'll see when part 2 goes up! Anyway, we went to Mansfield, MO, for a couple of days over Fall Break to go to the Laura Ingalls Wilder museum. I have a suggestion to everyone: go on a festival weekend or it's pretty dead. There are 3 restaurants near the Weaver Inn where we stayed. Two were pretty decent, one was downright awful. Mike and I took pictures of each other taking pictures at the Mexican restaurant.

We were there on a rainy weekend so we didn't get to do as much trail walking as we expected. To fill the time, we went out to Whispering Oaks Winery and tried a couple of wines. We bought both of them because they were great but I don't think they were expecting any visitors. There were tours and cheese advertised buuuut there were, in fact, no tours and no cheese. They did tell us we could go look at the grape vines, though. So we did. 

We also hit this little roadside park. I googled it to make sure it wasn't a known ax murderer hang out because, well, I do stuff like that. There was a murder there last year but it was premeditated and the perpetrators were caught so we took the chance and hung out. Mike and Autumn had fun going through the rock piles.

And we all posed at the cute waterfall. There is a picture of me somewhere buuuut guess who has it? Yup. It'll be in the next batch. The colors weren't quite changing yet. It was still too warm. I can imagine the area will be even more beautiful when it's fully fall which is why it's too bad not much more happens there during this season. Mike and I went to Asheville, NC, for our honeymoon 12 years ago this same weekend and they make a living off their color season. I assumed, incorrectly, that the museum town would do something similar.

Mike had to hang off rocks for a photo op!

I'll write more about the museum next time but for now I'll just tell you that we weren't allowed to take photos at the museum and it was raining while we were there so we couldn't get any outside. But during a break in the rain, we went over to the Mansfield Cemetery and found the Wilder and Lane graves. Autumn was really impressed that Laura's daughter Rose was also a writer. On the back of Rose's grave there is a quote from Thomas Paine: “An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot. Neither the channel nor the Rhine will arrest its progress. It will march on the horizon of the world and it will conquer.” We wandered around the graveyard and looked at the graves dating way back to when the area was first settled. Pretty crazy and sometimes very sad.

After the museum and the cemetery, we had lunch at the bad restaurant and then went over to a cute used book store that had three kitties living inside! This kitty did NOT want Autumn to read this book about dogs!

We stayed at the Weaver Inn which was probably the nicest place in town! The room was pretty cozy if a bit loud. If we ever go back, I want an upstairs room to get away from the traffic noise! Autumn was nice and snug during rest time on Saturday. Best thing about the stay? Freshly baked cookies every afternoon!

I have a few more photos to share but I'll hang on to them until I have some more photos from Mike's stash. Next week: Halloween! The week after? Probably more trip pics. :D

A Night with the Phantom! Or, Autumn's First Girls Night Out

Today is our fashion issue! Autumn and I went shopping last week which **never** happens but it was picture day and everything was either too small or didn't fit the dress code. Autumn absolutely fell in love with this hat. I didn't have the heart to tell her no so we got it and a couple of outfits to match with picture day and our trip to Phantom of the Opera in mind. I love this outfit so much! I just wish she could have worn the hat in her pictures. Too fun.

It was a little warm on Saturday for the dress but there was no way Autumn wasn't going to wear the hat. She has worn it every day since Wednesday, except for today!

Mike and I went to Phantom some time ago so this time around it was just my mom, Autumn, and me. Autumn was pretty pumped. She kept grinning and saying it was her first real girls night. I figured since this was our first time and will be a rare event so we did dinner, dessert, and the whole nine yards. We went to The Beauty Shop Restaurant in Midtown. It was good! I'd definitely go back.

At the Orpheum! We were stopped by several people who told us how cute Autumn's outfit was! She's not a huge fan of that kind of attention. Once she had on cat eye glasses and took them off because too many people were looking at her. Apparently Autumn likes the hat so much that she didn't want to take it off despite the staring.

After I bought the tickets, I was concerned that I made a terrible mistake. Autumn hates movies. She's even scared of Frozen even though she loves it! But, she has watched the 25th anniversary Phantom, loves listening to Broadway on Pandora and is all classical with her ballet and violin plus I just want her to like theater so I have someone to go with (Mike only goes occasionally!). Thinking about her issues with noise and potentially scary parts, I got tickets in the top balcony on the front row. It worked out really well because we could see right down on the stage and it was far enough away to not be freaky. Plus she could see the violins playing and she was amazed. She kept saying wow throughout the whole show!

Autumn jumped once or twice but never got scared or covered her ears which I'm going to take to mean that all my preparation via YouTube videos of potentially scary parts worked. She even danced along with Masquerade! It was awesome and I wish I could have gotten video of it. Afterward, Autumn told me it was better than a movie. We all had a great time. It was my mom's first time to see Phantom, too, by the way. I think I like the old version a little better--more of a spectacle, *possibly* slightly less campy but that could be me--but it was still super fun and the new, rotating stage is fascinating. I'd love to see how it works up close. Saturday went so well that I'm kind of almost thinking maybe Autumn would enjoy seeing The Lion King in the spring. We'll see!! Oh, and check this out. Autumn never falls asleep in the car but her very first girl's night tired her right out. :)

School Year Wrap Up

Oh, my gosh, the last couple of weeks have been so crazy!! I wanted to wrap up May and then we've got the beach, Autumn's dance recital, AND her first oreos and milk experience!! For now, I finally found the pictures of Autumn blowing out her birthday candle!

Friday after her birthday, Autumn went to the doctor and did a great job. Usually the doctor is a traumatic event but not this time! The finger prick lady was a pro and gave her Frozen stickers. And, for the first time ever, Autumn talked to the doctor! She brought her Doc McStuffin kit. We always try to bring some kind of doctor kit with us. Seems to help some.

Afterward, we went to Sheridan's for ice cream which was a terrible idea. Between that and the cheese dip Friday, poor Autumn had tummy aches on Saturday. But she loved it at the time! Side note: Autumn has spent her entire life in the 3rd percentile for both height and weight. The doctor has never been concerned because Mike and I aren't giants. This time Autumn had a pretty significant growth spurt. 25th percentile! Man. I knew she'd been growing like crazy but I had no idea it was as drastic as all that!

Moving to the next week. before school was out, they had field day! It was supposed to be on Autumn's birthday but they got rained out. It worked out, though, because I think it's better for everything to be spread out a little more. Autumn loves field day. As evidence by some serious cheering. Or yelling. Both.

I got pictures of all the kids running and that was so fun. They ran their little legs and hearts out on this relay race.

Her class also played super hard at guard the castle. Last year, Autumn was a guard. Her team lost but hers was the only tower standing! This year she was an attacker. Her class lost their round but they did a great job! Do you like Autumn's flamingo socks? Her ponytail is pink, too, but it doesn't show up in the pictures very well.

Monday was Field Day. Wednesday I did the Accelerated Reader awards with their class and Friday was the LAST. DAY. WHAT. First day is on the left, last day is on the right. I have no idea why that first day photo is so terrible.

I have to go mope now. I love Autumn at this age just like I've loved every stage but stillllll sooooo saaaaaad she's growing up! Waaaah! Anyway, next week: the beach! recital! oreos! grumpy cat!

Breakfast with Mickey!

It has been a crazy weekend. Our aikido school brought in an instructor from Georgia. We had a great time and he and the students he brought were so good for our students to meet and train with. Did I mention they all stayed here? I haven't updated the pinwheel blog in too long but my next post is going to be on that! In the meantime, here are the last of our disney photos!

First up, sad Autumn. I had the flu over Christmas so when Autumn's sniffles were joined by a fever, we put her on tamiflu. It worked out well and she barely missed a beat. Our second day at Disney was her last day of tamiflu. We didn't get in until 2am and woke up around 8:30 to make a 10:45 character breakfast. I should have given her a snack buuuut I didn't because she didn't really want one. When Autumn started drooping on the way in, I thought it was simply tiredness. We're pretty scheduled so late nights like that never happen.

Because we had some stragglers, we couldn't be seated to eat immediately. Autumn was kind of squatting in what I call her island baby position and mumbled something. Then I heard a panicked, "MAMA, I THREW UP---blarhgk." Yup. She threw up the medicine. POOR AUTUMN I FELT SO BAD. Lainey got her to the bathroom, Brad got someone to clean up the mess, and when I caught up with Autumn, she was more upset than sick. After resting a bit, she seemed pretty back to normal and was almost 100% once she had some easy to digest food in her. And, of course, these guys helped:

The breakfast was good and although it took a really long time to actually get started, the characters were really great. I can't imagine being one of these workers sitting in that costume and having kids paw at them all day. Mickey was extra nice, it seemed.

Autumn thought Minnie was beautiful:

And Ellie was downright fascinated:

Interestingly, Goofy was Autumn's favorite! She said it's because he's so tall and silly. One of the coolest things we discovered is that the characters even have signatures in character. Every time she got a new autograph Autumn would giggle and dance because their writing looked just like she hoped.

We had such a good time. I definitely want to go back someday! We have a list of things we didn't do that we want to do next time--mostly roller coasters but Autumn is dying to see Doc McStuffins who just joined a different character breakfast. :) Until next time, Disney!

First Nutcracker!!

Autumn was in the Nutcracker for 5 whole minutes today! Hahaha. It really was great. It was her first year and she's still getting used to the stage so she only had one part. Most of the other girls her age and a little older have 2 or 3 parts. It's possible that Autumn might do that next year but we'll see! Today, though, she was an angel.

The day started out pretty well. She got a good rest in after church and we got ready smoothly and were even early! I put her in makeup but some of the other kids weren't wearing any at all. I figure it's better to do it so any photos she's in will look good. Here's Autumn before we left:

Once we got there and Autumn was in costume, she got nervous and worried about the audience. There was a lot of chaos backstage so she kind of went into emergency mode. I put her in a chair near where the backstage parents were sitting so she was out of most of the buzzing around and that helped a little. But not much.

From what I could see, I think she did as well as anyone else and was at least circling when she was supposed to circle! Afterward, you'd think Autumn would chill out but no. She was all, "you said there wouldn't be a whole lot of people but there were and I don't want to bow."

She did it though! And it was pretty fun because she was the only kid still in an angel costume during the bow so she stood out. Well. Good for mom's grin but maybe not so good for the aesthetic of the line! Autumn was originally schedule to perform yesterday with some other angel-only kids but we had made plans already so her teacher was kind enough to move the date. And next week there will be other kids who are first timers, too!

After the performance, I offered a drink from sonic and Autumn asked if she could have a hot dog from there for dinner. I called Mike and we decided we could do that for her. :) Happiness ensued.

We're still doing 25 Days of Kindness! Check it out on Passing Pinwheels and let me know if you're interested in participating in this week's big project.

Thanksgiving Wrap Up!

Hey, guys! I'm running a giveaway at Passing Pinwheels! Stop in and enter to win a Kiwi Crate single or limited edition holiday crate! 

And now...Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great one.

Molly's Thanksgiving thanks is her yellow catnip ducky!!

This Thanksgiving we went to Birmingham to visit with P'd's family! We had a great time catching up with everyone--and I do mean everyone. Thanksgiving with the extended Colley Family is quite the event. Afterward, we did our annual family photo. Autumn and Tyler look downright Dickensian.

They were really depressed about leaving each other. They played and read and romped so much that I never got any good shots of the two of them having fun together. I did get shots of them both looking way, way sad about leaving. Sad...

Sadder...

Saddest...

This one wasn't sad, though! She got CAKE. But only chocolate. Lauren tried giving her something NOT CHOCOLATE and Ellie spit it out.

Sad kids...but they will see each other again soon! It seems like Christmas is so, so close. I think I'll close out the Halloween/Thanksgiving season with a few photos from October and November. First, the pumpkin of giantness! It is at the nursery by the Farmer's Market. We got our pumpkins there and they had two of these big dudes!

Also, Autumn got a beta fish. We gave the fish to Penny and the tank to Christy because it was just getting too much to handle with all the cleaning plus we needed her night stand for a reading lamp. The fish is a boy but she insists it's a girl named rainbow, haha.

And that's the fall season! Coming up next is the Christmas season. Craziness! Check out our advent project. We're doing 25 Days of Kindness this month and we started today! Each week, we'll have a project that others can participate in if they like. This week we are collecting new and gently used Shelby County Schools uniforms--collared shirts and black/navy/khaki pants/skirts. Layering shirts and leggings might be good, too, since it's winter. Click here for more information!

FIRST GRADE, WHAT?

Oh, my gosh, check it out! It's our first grader having her first first grader breakfast!! Mini wheats and chocolate soy milk. Breakfast of champions!


Even though Autumn was super pumped about first grade, I read her The Kissing Hand which is the sweetest book ever. We found stickers at the end of the book and I have no idea how we missed them the last time we read it but Autumn got excited and wanted a sticker when she left for school. And she wanted me to take a picture of the book and her hand. :)


We had to get a full length shot! They still have clothing guidelines--collared shirts and navy, khaki, or black bottoms. No rules on shoes though so Autumn picked out some really cool light up sneakers! I told her she could only wear them if she could tie them and that proved to be the incentive to get her working hard on shoe tying! Lindsay, Lainey, Mike, and I all tried to teach her our versions of shoe tying and while I think we all helped, Mike is the one who had the magical technique that clicked for her.


Here's the shoe tying magician now. Mike was going to pick her up from school but at the last minute decided to get to work late so he could do drop off with us! I'm really glad because it was fun to do it as a family like we did last year.


Mama picture time! Used to be, everyone talked about how much Autumn looked like Mike. Lately everyone has used the term mini-Sharaze to describe Autumn. I can kind of see it in this photo although I am happy that she's still a nice mix of the two of us--looks and personality.


Happy girl in line waiting to go in. It was **crazy** parking and walking to the campus! As the week went on, the drop off became less hectic, thank goodness. Although I wish the police would do something about the parents who park ON THE CORNERS. It's really tough for little people (like me, even!) to cross the street around the giant land yachts that like to park in illegal spots! If you're one of those parents, THINK OF THE SHORT PEOPLE. We don't want to get mowed down in the cross walk.


This is her desk! Autumn was fantastic--no crying, no sadness, just happy little miss. She was lucky and got assigned a seat next to the twin sister of her good friend from last year. She was all, "JULIA!" And her friend was all, "I'm Natalie." And Autumn said, "NATALIE!" Another boy named Izzat from her old class was also in her area. I think that really helped.


The next day, Autumn didn't even need me to walk her to class! I asked her if she needed me to take her in, she said she thought she could find it. We talked over the directions (go in the door, turn right, class is on the right) and talked about who to find if she got lost and she marched right in like a big kid!! Seriously, she has become so independent! I'm really proud of her because i know she's really worked on it. So very far from the preschooler I had to do a sticker chart with when I dropped her off in class back at Mullins.


Oh, and this is how Molly has coped with the schedule change:


Ha! Cats. Also, say a prayer for me if you think about it Monday morning! I have an interview at the Memphis Jewish Community Center to be a fitness teacher sub!