In which the tooth fairy FINALLY visits the Colleys

You guys! Autumn lost her first tooth! And her second tooth! It's so gross! The dojo folks were making fun of me because, seriously, I have a thing about teeth and I do not like them at all! I have recurring tooth nightmares, for real. Autumn has had these loose teeth forever and, with a little assistance from Pd, they made their way out. I started to try helping the tooth out on Thursday but, thank goodness, it wasn't quiiiite ready. One more day did the trick and it came out on Friday. This photo is from today: Autumn's first day of toothless school.

She asked me to have lunch with her so I brought some Chick Fil A to school because, for one, who can say no to a sweet request like that and, for another, it's kind of a big deal! Autumn has been not-so-patiently waiting for this day because she's one of the last kids in her class to lose her first tooth. I would have let it come out on its own but she has teeth growing behind and the one tooth was flapping around and generally being grosser than a tooth normally is. Autumn still has some sensory issues so it was driving her crazy.

When the one super loose tooth came out, the other one lost its support and came on out, too. I'm totally that parent who loooooves anything magical about childhood. Plus I think I've mentioned before that my best memories of my dad were around holidays and I like remembering how tickled he'd be over Santa or Halloween costumes. So, get ready for silliness. First, Autumn wrote a note. By the way, Autumn is wonderful at many things. Spelling is not always one of those things! I have to say, though, some of her guesses are pretty good and make sense.

Dear tooth fary Thank you for coming to my hose. Plese bring pink picedust. I will cepe 1 tooth and you cepe one tooth. I hope you have safe trivils! from Autumn to the tooth fary

Note that Autumn KEPT ONE TOOTH. I was fully prepared to tell her that the tooth fairy needed both but I consulted Mike, who hates teeth more than I do, and he was okay with it. So one of her teeth is in a random box in her room. LURKING. WAITING FOR ME TO OPEN THE BOX. This is Autumn's second tooth fairy note. The first one was a little bit gimme pixie dust so I had her write one a little more thankful for the exchange.

Then we marked her calendar. She remembered that there was a lost a tooth magnet and nearly flew out of bed in excitement. Hm. Looking at the photo, I noticed she has one date wrong and we aren't  going on vacation Labor Day weekend. We'll have to fix that.

Last, we set up her tooth fairy pillow. Someone gave that to us when Autumn was super tiny. It's been hanging on a hat rack all this time!

The tooth fairy did visit. She took the note, to Autumn's disappointment. I guess Autumn thought the tooth fairy would leave it? I didn't take any pictures of Autumn when she found her stash because I was still half asleep but, man, she was pumped. The tooth fairy left a few gold dollars--more than papa thought was appropriate but 2 teeth in one go seemed like a big deal--a tiny, glittery note, and some rainbow pixie dust. The note just said, "Thank you for your sweet note. Don't forget to brush!"  There was even a little glitter on the monkey pillow where the tooth fairy sat.

All in all, it was everything I'd hoped for. I seriously think I had more fun than Autumn. Maybe. I don't know, she was so excited. And, guess what else? She has a lisp and IT IS SO CUTE. There's another loose tooth on the bottom so I suspect this is going to be the reverse of when she got her teeth. Nothing for, like, ever and then suddenly she had allll the teeth. Autumn will probably be gumming her meals by winter. Anyway, that's it for this week! I'll leave you with our growing up girl doing some homework on the computer. She looks pretty intense, huh? The homework was to type each spelling word in a different font. There were different items to choose from but Autumn did this last week and loved it. I like fonts, too, Autumn.

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:

Yay! Orange Belt

I have beach pictures to share but I absolutely had to post these first! Autumn got her orange belt and she did a fabulous job. She had to do some extra training to get all the elements down. A couple of piece of footwork gave her some trouble but she knocked it out of the park on test day. She had to demonstrate two versions of one technique in addition to basic footwork, strikes, etc. and it's one of the harder ones. I think we learn it first because no one ever really masters it, ha! Of course, I just say that because it's one I still have trouble executing on certain people. This is the version where you move to your partner's front.

And it ends in a pin. Look at that posture and those cute feet!

This is the back version and it's fun because your partner ends up kind of flying around like a helicopter blade! Stephan took these pictures and I am so excited that he got this one. It's excellent ukemi on Jeffrey's part and Autumn looks good. Her knees should be more bent than her back but, seriously, this is fantastic.

And this is one happy student. She was so excited about her test that she put on her uniform and belt before lunch time! She's lucky we're in summer uniforms or she would have had to wear the jacket around! I found out that Jeffrey was pumped, too. He wore his uniform to get a hair cut. I love it. Autumn hasn't always loved aikido and not every day is as great as this one, but I'm glad we were persistent and kept at it. I don't want to *make* her do martial arts but so far my plan of making it casually part of our life is working. Perhaps not forever but for today and hopefully long enough to give her some good tools. As a side note, I have no idea why my uniform is so scruffy. I blame it on the preschoolers!

Other than testing, last week was a full week! We had swim lessons with Mrs. Christy and we rescued a doggie. Autumn has been playing Nintendogs on my old DS and she was absolutely thrilled to get to walk a dog for real. I know she was hoping that we'd never find the owner but with some detective work we did. The dog had on a LEASH (so dangerous!!) but no tag. I called our vet to see if they could scan for a microchip if it came to it. I would have also had them bathe the dog because he was, while adorable, smelly as all get out. I walked around a bit asking people if they'd seen someone walking the dog and ended up at a stretch of apartments across from where we found the dog. We were looking for a yard with dog things when the owner came our whistling. She seemed alarmingly unconcerned that her dog had been wandering with a leash on across a busy parking lot. :( But, Mike is just glad we didn't have to bring the dog home!

Speaking of animals, Autumn is a cat. She's sitting in the cat bed the our friend Amy gave us. Her cat wouldn't sleep in it. Molly won't either. But Autumn uses it to look out the window. We had a random, terrible storm blow through Wednesday. We watched it come in until Autumn got nervous and then we did some chores to take her mind off it.

This is just cute.

I believe that's it for now! Next week we'll have beach photos and some long lost Uncle Brad! While we were gone I think Molly realized that the betta fish is a real, live fish. I don't know if this is going to end well but at least I didn't throw away the lid. Molly was watching the fish HARD this afternoon. Autumn and I laughed about it and then she said, "Are you getting a nervous feeling?" Hahahaha.

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!

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!

Graduation, Pink Hair, and Tug O' War

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO BLOG ABOUT. I'll start with: Autumn's Kindergarten Graduation!! She "graduated" at the end of May and yesterday we got her report card: she's officially a first grader! Yay, Autumn!


I love that picture so much. She did a great job singing and dancing with her class. All the kids did!I had a tip from Mrs. Carpenter, one of the teacher's aids who has become a friend through both school and the gym, that Autumn would be on the left side of the gym so I got a great picture of her shaking the principal's hand. The principal is taking a job with the new unified school district so I'm really hoping the next one is as awesome!


This is Autumn with Ms. Michaud, her teacher. I could not have asked for a better teacher. High energy, patient, and kind...just what Autumn needed. It's amazing how much Autumn has blossomed this year and Ms. Michaud is definitely part of the reason! This unified school district stuff can be so frustrating--last I talked to her, Ms. Michaud was still waiting to find out if she is going to be rehired.


Of course, we had to get some lainey time! I totally didn't get a picture of Autumn with my mom, though! Oooh, or Penny! How did that happen?


We did get a family shot! I love the flowers Lainey got for Autumn!


After graduation, I took a few photos. I love our scruffy miss.


Random photo. The school had this sign over a garbage can. Do you think they want us to move the can or leave it?


To wrap up the school year, here are a few field day shots. I'm not sure if you know, but Autumn is SUPER competitive. It seems like an odd thing for her to be considering her personality type but it appears that's one of the things she got from me!


Love the pony tail action here.


Speaking of ponytails, I posted a photo of Autumn with pink hair but a lot of people couldn't tell--you can tell here!


This is my favorite of the group! She had SO MUCH FUN doing the tug of war. At one point, Autumn's team wasn't doing well and she was in the back. She let go, marched to the front, grabbed hold of the rope, and started yelling for her team to pull. THEY WON. Yeah, Autumn!


And that's the end of the school year, can you believe it?? Coming up soon, we have the beach! And Autumn's first dance recital! I still haven't posted her birthday pics but I'm hoping to get to it this week on Passing Pinwheels!