Beach Time!

Next up in the Sharaze plays catchup series? The beach!

We had a pretty nice trip Memorial Day Weekend. The weather was beautiful but the water was super cold so I didn't do a lot of water stuff. I had a great time reading and chilling out on the beach. Ellie had a good time with Autumn in their matching bathing suits!

Autumn and Mike did a lot of swimming. And, apparently, posing, hahaha.

No, really, not posing. They were taking a break from this:

A couple of the days we were there, the water was calm. The other days there were some great waves! Both can be fun but it seems like my favorite photos are from the rough water days.

One cute thing, Autumn made a friend at the beach. They were cute together, introducing themselves, playing in the waves, and trying to figure out what they were going to do next.

When Tyler and Hudson came in town, I got this cute shot. She's so good with the little ones!

And, of course, we have to get some Nanny and Boppa in here!

Family shot! We realized on our last morning that we didn't get a photo of the 3 of us. So, even though I was not appropriately dressed, I risked a soaking. It was worth it!

Other than the beach, we went to the little amusement park we've been to a couple of times. This is TOO FUNNY. Hudson's face...

Autumn was her usual competitive self at the go karts. She got a slow cart and was SO MAD when this little boy was trying to pass her. Seriously, she would aggressively cut him off every time he'd edge by her. She was so funny that everyone was cracking up. When they were done, the girls running the game gave her a high five and told her good job not letting those boys get her. :D

Before we left, Lindsay put together a scavenger hunt (apparently the thing to do since Autumn's birthday) for Lainey and Pd's mother's day and father's day gift from all of us. You'll never ever guess what it is. Go ahead...try. Okay, time's up: tickets to see Beyonce in Washington, DC. Ha!

Last beach pic...while everyone went outside for part of the hunt, we stayed in with Ellie. She obliged Mike by assuming his favorite pose: evil, thinking baby hands.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a fun, if unusually non-Mother's Day-y Mother's Day weekend. Yesterday we had Autumn's birthday party at the Children's Museum. We had a blast and I have a lot of photos to post soon but, oh, man, I am soooo swollen from being on my feet and not drinking enough water. By the time we took this pic, we were all wilting. And Autumn had begun to go feral, ha.


By the way, when I was looking for photos of Autumn with her various mothers, I came across this one of me right before I found out I was pregnant. DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN I LOOKED LIKE THIS? T_T Seriously. I hope my children appreciate the blow to my vanity I am enduring and have endured for them (yes, yes, I'm totally vain, I know!)

From October 2010

:) Don't worry, I'll be okay. I know it is worth it.

Aaaanyway, today we went to church and then got to hang out with Mike's family. Mike went to play golf. He hadn't played in a while and his texts were pretty entertaining:

3:21 pm: 3rd hole and I've lost 4 balls so far. Brutal...

3:28: Man I'm out [of balls]. Gotta hunt for some more. This could be terrible...

From me to Mike: Are they about to die laughing? How's the heat?

3:47 pm: I'm spending a lot of time under trees so the shade is nice.

He did end up calling me at one point to tell me he had made it an entire hole with the same ball and hit par.

While Mike was entertaining the golfers, Autumn slept at Lainey's while I went home to put my feet up. It was very nice. Also very nice is that Lainey managed to take Autumn to Paint a Piece to make me a present and do it in such a way that Autumn never said a word to me. Autumn can't keep quiet about anything, haha. I'll ask her about her day at school and she'll be all, "I played at the gym but I was busy with the ball and didn't hear Miss Courtney so I sat in time out." I was genuinely surprised!

On the other hand, Mike has yet to tell me Happy Mother's Day. We're going to Bahama Breeze later this week which is what I wanted but this morning when I reminded him it was Mother's Day (I tend not to hint or wait to see if he'll remember, haha), he told me he was going to tell me when I was least expecting it. It's aboouuuut 10:43 and we've been teasing him all day that he's going to wake me up at like 11:59pm to tell me or something.

Autumn made me a gift at school that I loved. Her teachers did a questionnaire asking her questions about her mama. Autumn loves me because we make brownies together and her favorite thing to do with me is cook. She says her favorite thing for me to wear is a beautiful dress and pretty shoes, and she likes it when we play princess. My job is to teach the kids and cook. :) I decided to do something similar for nanny and lainey. I didn't do my mom's yet because I knew we wouldn't see her until later this week but I'll report those results, too. Here's a cute picture of my mom and Autumn from yesterday.


Autumn loves Lainey because she likes to spend the night with her. She likes to go to Sonic with her and likes to make Easter eggs with Lainey. Autumn likes it when Lainey wears a grey shirt and says what Lainey always does for her is help her write her name and all the letters. Autumn says that Lainey's job is to "look out the window and bring me breakfast." No one has any idea what that actually means, hahaha. Also, I need more pictures of Lainey and Autumn together.


Autumn loves Nanny because "she helps when people look at me." Autumn likes to touch flowers with Nanny and her favorite place to go with her is trick or treating. Her favorite thing for Nanny to wear is blue. Autumn says that Nanny always gives her cookies and that Nanny's job is making muffins. Also, Nanny calls Autumn stinkerpot.


I've been blessed with some pretty awesome moms through Mike's family! I probably don't say it enough and, to be honest, I haven't the slightest idea how I could ever say it enough, but Nanny and Lainey are the best mother/grandmother in law ever and I appreciate and love them for their roles in making Mike who he is, for accepting me into the family, and for being so amazing and supportive of Autumn. Mike and I say all the time that we hope that we do half as well as his parents and grandparents and that one day our legacy will be as rich and fulfilling as theirs. :D


(our legacy likely won't involve this many children, hahahaha)

A Game of Pass the Monkey

Autumn's birthday was Friday and we had a super fun day! But I want to go ahead and post our photos from Mother's Day because I have some really nice ones of everyone. I know a few of Nanny's friends read this so I definitely wanted to get the ones I have of her up here!

We decided to take a day off from working on the house to do some mama stuff. My mom was going to join us for lunch with Mike's family but she wasn't feeling well. Poor Lula! She missed a fun time. We pretty much played a lot of Pass the Monkey. Autumn started with me...


And traveled to Nanny and Lainey...


And then she traveled to Uncle Brad. They paused to do their latest trick. It's kind of crazy how comfortable Autumn is hanging out in the air.


Then they spent the rest of the time pretty much being cute,


While the other Colley men looked hungry...


And Nanny and Lainey posed for a pretty picture.


After lunch we exchanged gifts. Mike gave me assorted chocolates, including a chili chocolate. I gave my mom, Nanny, and Lainey the same thing, these silhouettes of Autumn that I made and framed. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out, especially the blue mat. Sorry about the blackberry picture, I'm too lazy to go get my camera to upload the real one now that I realized I don't have it on my computer, haha.


I gave these waterproof labels and bag tags to my sister. They aren't realllly mother's day gifts but the timing worked out that way!


I guess, speaking of making, I will go ahead and show you a couple pre-birthday pictures! Autumn's actual birthday was Friday but when she went to school Thursday, I put her in a birthday dress and sent her with a treat and some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse napkins for her class. I took pretzel rods, dipped them in chocolate, and then covered them in these neon nonpareils. They turned out really well. I figured her teachers would like something a bit less messy than cake!


I don't have a really good photo of the dress, but Penny got her this adorable Mickey applique dress a couple months ago and I had been saving it for her school birthday. Autumn was soooo excited about this dress, Mike's dad told me good luck getting it off her, haha. Here she is Thursday morning, serving tea to Mickey in the bathroom while I got ready for work.


More happy birthday fun to come!