Back to School

I know I said we'd do beach photos today but today was the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL. Crazy! Can you believe Autumn is in SECOND GRADE?? Mike didn't get to go with us this time, so sad! Most of his team is newly in the US so he went to work so they could have first days of school with their kids for the first time here in Memphis. Autumn didn't like the break in the routine but I still got a smile.

At school, I was in and out quickly. I did get a hug and a kiss, though! Autumn doesn't have any friends from first grade in her class but there are 2 from kindergarten. One of them is Kasey.

You might remember Kasey from this photo two years ago at the Bon festival.

When we left for school, Autumn asked me if we could take pictures when Mike got home. So we did! But not in our nice stuff. We changed for the gym before we remembered to get our pictures.

We failed at taking a selfie this morning so I totally had to have my own. I look like I'm about to joint lock her or something.

With the new routine and the emotions of Autumn starting second grade (seriously, how can she be this old?), I am beyond tired. Plus we added a step in kickboxing today which kicked my butt and I am BEAT! But, one beach preview photo before I head to bed:

Friday Field Trip Fun

Friday was 66 degrees. In July. IN MEMPHIS. I was so disappointed that it was raining because we were supposed to meet friends at the zoo. We ended up over at the Pink Palace for their new bug exhibit. Oddly, Autumn liked the real spiders better than the fake ones which is oddly consistent. Remember this? And you should totally click that link because it's adorable. Back to today, Autumn and I did the spider cutout. Look at her side-eyeing my happiness.

Because I'm an embarrassing mom, I made her pretend like she was going to eat me.

Um, the kids had fun, too.

I promise I wasn't hogging the stage. :)

We went to lunch after the Pink Palace and by the time we were done eating, the rain stopped. It was only 1pm, we were already in East Memphis, and, seriously SIXTY SIX DEGREES. So we went to the zoo. Mimi had to go on home so Aurora could nap which was too bad but Sara was able to stay so Autumn had someone other than her crazy mom to hang out with. We saw this new bird feeding spot. It was a dollar for a feeding stick so I let Autumn get one. I am so glad I did! Check out the three birds!

Autumn was pretty good with the birds. She stood still and stayed calm the whole time. She was also patient with holding the stick out to tempt the budgies.

I had to include this because Jeffrey looks so happy and look at that cool bird takeoff! Plus, check out Autumn's travel outfit. She decided to be Fancy Nancy that day. She wore about 6 necklaces and some bracelets. Plus rain boots and rain coat.

The zoo was really empty so there was no line for camel rides. Last year I asked Autumn if she wanted to try and she said no. I can't remember if we were there with friends so it was either Autumn getting braver or the confidence of having a friend. Autumn loved it. They got to see a baby camel with a back mohawk running around, too!

Sara and I laughed so hard at the kids because they were all about pictures. They kept stopping for photo ops, like we were paparazzi or something.

Autumn doesn't quite have majestic explorer pose down but check out Jeffrey.

I might have to edit this one a little and give Jeffrey a copy. So cute!

More majestic exploring. I thought I had one of Autumn venturing forth but I seem to have caught her in the process of becoming majestic.

Look at the wolf!! She was chilling there on the ledge so we could see her so close up. There's a plexiglass wall in front of the rail where the kids are. It kind of looks like the wolf could just hop over!

SIGH. School starts in 2 weeks. I am not ready. I love having Autumn at home. Hopefully it'll be an easy transition. We have been doing some math, science, and writing over the summer to keep us both in practice. This is one of the projects from her Young Scientists Club subscription. I got it half off and so far we're enjoying it. We're enjoying it more than the math book we're working through, that's for sure!!!

EASTER BUNKEY

IN THE BEGINNING...


THERE WERE CURLS.


And that completely didn't last. T_T She got too hot and the weather was too rainy to sustain them. Sigh. Incidentally, SHE IS SO GROWN UP. Check this out, first Easter:


SO. We did Easter Grilling at Lainey and P'd's house. I knew exactly where I wanted to have our Easter photos if it rained (and it did). I saw it yesterday. THE EASTER WONDERLAND.


Autumn made crazy faces the whole time so this is the best one.



This is my favorite, though. I didn't realize it until I uploaded the pictures...look at that dramatic arm!


Everyone needed the Easter wonderland picture! First up! Nanny and Boppa!


Aunt Lauren...Autumn had so much fun hanging out with Lauren this weekend! Brad is in New Zealand, the various Sellers were in Tuscaloosa, so she got undivided attention, lucky ducky!


This isn't the more austere of her Lainey and P'd photos but aren't they so fun?


Autumn was super happy to get her Easter bunny basket gift! In it, there was a sock monkey with bunny ears--you can see it in the bottom right of the picture. Later in the afternoon, she ran in the kitchen and was all IT'S THE EASTER BUNKEY! I thought she made it up but it was actually Mike which is still pretty darn cute!


After pictures, we changed, ate our traditional (not really) Easter dinner of steak and mexican corn. We had an indoor easter egg hunt and we had one casualty egg but fortunately it was a plastic one!


BUT, we forgot to hide the eggs we dyed! Still, we had fun doing it. And Mike gets egg salad with unhidden eggs! (Blech)


Happy girl! Lots of dye.


It's kind of funny, my fingers were dyed pink but Mike couldn't tell! I probably shouldn't be so tickled by his color blindness but it can be rather entertaining.


OOOH! We made our own Cadbury eggs! They are, um, not egg shaped. At all. Maybe vaguely. But they taste pretty good! I mostly used this recipe if you wanted to check it out!


AND. An Easter can't go by without me posting the Best Bunny Ever.


Happy Easter!

(and, again, I forgot to turn off the watermark thing! arg!)

'Ventures and Memory Lane

Well, for those of you who haven't heard, our adoption officially fell through. It's a long story I might share sometime but for now, you can read some of the details here. On a happier note, I posted some of our Valentine crafting on Thursday. I used up most of my fun photos in that post! Not much foresight on my part there. But, I do have this.


On Sunday, as soon as Autumn got home from church, she changed into pajamas. And a hat. And house shoes. She also had a suitcase, binoculars, and sunglasses because she was "going on a 'venture." Part of the adventure involved...sitting by the window? I don't know. Wilderness watching?


Whatever it is, she does this pretty often. I'll find her just sitting by an open window, watching the world. :) Mike does this, too, so it's extra cute when I see Autumn at it. I like to imagine what she might be thinking about.


I am so very, very proud of Autumn. She's worked super hard this year at school and at home on her skill development. She did some occupational therapy for a while but, unfortunately, our insurance decided not to pay for it anymore. :/ To ease the transition out, her therapist gave us ideas on how to continue working together at home; between our work and her fantastic school teacher, Autumn has rocked at kindergarten! They do quarterly skill tests that are required by the state. The first set that came back, Autumn tested at average. Which is fantastic considering we thought about keeping her home an extra year to let her catch up more. Well, I tell you what. She's just been growing by leaps and bounds. This recent set of tests? She scored in the advanced level!! AND she read every single page (all 62!) in the Green Eggs and Ham book to me this week! Nice job, little ma'am!


Speaking of Autumn and her development, I decided to look at pictures from her first February. SO FUNNY. I love this picture so much!! Look at those chubby cheeks! Another school thing, they did health screenings some time ago. I got a letter from the school saying she got flagged for low bmi. >.> I took her to the doctor so he could fill out the "we aren't starving her" paperwork and he said she's completely fine. He's not even sure how they came up with a low bmi because his calculations have her in the normal category. She's grown some--last year Autumn was in the 3rd percentile and now she's in the 10th for weight and 15th for height.


Oh, and Autumn has been like *this* since, well, forever. Hahahaha. She's a varied little thing, though. I also have some pictures of her looking absolutely filthy (she's a messy eater, much to Mike's dismay) but I'll spare you the grossness!


I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day and a good week in general. We're hanging in there pretty well. We miss Grant (whose name is now, I believe, Kingston) but at the same time, we feel some peace now that we know he doesn't get to come home with us. It's not limbo any more. Thank you so much for your prayers. I know I say this all the time but how would we get on without you?? Anyway, I'm off to do some of this, although probably not as soundly!!

Dawwwwww...

It's been a pretty normal week. For example:


:) This is what I happened upon after getting Autumn up from her midday "rest." Don't call it a nap! We're settling into our new routine. Autumn manages to find time for fun stuff in between her schedule of school, homework,


aikido, and dance! Seriously, Autumn doing tap is one of the most adorable things I have ever seen and you guys know I'm not "that mom." Poor thing, though, I think she might have inherited my "everything looks like a fight" gene. One of the other dance teachers and I giggled every time she shot her arms out and kicked like a teeny Chuck Norris.


It's not all hard work, though! We had a birthday party for Teddy.


Autumn frolicked as a butterfly princess while helping me fold towels and attempt to fix a broken picture frame.


We even made a ridiculously delicious dessert today. I'm probably going to post it on the pinwheel blog but it's sooooo goooooood. So good that I forgot to take a picture of it when we cut it up!


We invited Lainey and Pd and Kyle and Lindsay over for the dessert but also for fried rice which I made using a pork tenderloin I made earlier this week. I didn't like it very much so I'm using it in other things, like tonight's dinner and tacos. When P'd came in, he hid from Autumn.


Haha, grandparents! Speaking of...want to see something soooo funny and sweet?


It's Mike and Ryan when they were littles!! Autumn went up to the picture at Lainey and P'd's house on Friday and said, "who is this with Hudson?" So, so funny. It also reminded me how much Autumn resembles Hudson. I know sometimes she looks like Lindsay and, especially in the eyes and personality, she's little Mike but I didn't really didn't think about how that meant she resembles Ryan some until I saw this! Want to see something else, just to be fair?


That's me when I was a kid, along with my mom, dad, and sister Valerie! Craziness. It's kind of nice to have Autumn be such a blend of me and Mike because I can see myself and my family in her, too! So much fun. Here are some current photos.


One of the questionnaires I filled out for autumn's OT had some family info. It asked what her favorite family member was...of course we wrote P'd! The rest of us fall in at varying points behind! We're okay with that, though.


That's it for this week! Everyone in the path of Isaac, be safe!