Wow, this post didn't end like I planned...

I have something great for you guys! Here's my first animated gif:


Hahahahaha. I love it. Autumn's been trying to hula hoop for a long time and she finally kind of got the hang of it. She can't do it for a long time but when she gets going a little it is SO FUNNY. Plus that little under armour shirt Stephan got her for Christmas is crazy cute!

Last month I think I mentioned that I started teaching aikido at a new location. I like the kids there a lot and Autumn's had a good time getting to know them all. She's been in the big kids class! Penny came out a couple of weeks ago to take some pictures of the class.


She's fun to have in class. Autumn enjoys aikido a lot and I am really glad. I was hoping that by keeping class attendance casual and fun, that she might actually want to do martial arts. I've watched different parents use different approaches to allowing their kids to train. Some wait until the kids are interested but then they never seem to get interested. And of course there are the dojo equivalent of stage parents but those kids usually end up good but miserable. So this in the middle path is the one I want to take. We'll see how it goes!


How funny is this? She looks really into it!


***breaking news***

Oh, my gosh, you guys would laugh so hard. If only I had a gif of this. I was sitting here, typing and minding my own business when the BIGGEST BUG IN THE WORLD showed up on the wall on front of me. I didn't scream but I went calmly for the vacuum because there was NO WAY I was going to smash it. But just as I got the vacuum hose up to it, it skittered to the top of the wall.

So of course I went and woke Mike up.

For real, you guys. It was that bad. I went in and urgently stage whispered, so he wouldn't be afraid we were under attack or something, that THERE IS A HUGE BUG AND I DON'T WANT TO SMASH IT BECAUSE IT'S HUGE BUT I CAN'T REACH IT WITH THE VACUUM AND IT'S TOO HIGH SO I NEED YOU TO BE TALL AND GET IT FOR ME AND I AM SORRY TO WAKE YOU UP BUT IT'S A REALLY BIG DEAL. Mike was kind of bleary but he saw the bug and was like WHAT IS THAT THAT BUG IS HUGE WE NEED BUG SPRAY.

So he got the bug spray. He sprayed the heck out of the bug and then it started flying. When it landed and we stopped screaming and ducking, Mike went at it with the spray until it fell down and started running on the floor so Mike is all GET IT GET IT BEFORE IT GETS AWAY THIS IS SO GROSS. And I'm squealing and going I'M TRYING THE HOSE IS STUCK.

And then I sucked it up. Mike sighed. I said, "I told you it was huge." And then he shook his head and went back to bed.

Autumn?

Asleep the whole time.


/shudder

A Ball, A Carriage Ride, and Autumn's Archnemesis: The Zig Zag

I spent yesterday looking at curtains and fabric for curtains. I settled on a type of fabric, although I can't decide on a color. I really like the look of these curtains. And these are some of the colors I can't decide between:


When Mike saw them, he reminded me that I might need to show the print to Autumn before I made curtains only to have her have a panic attack becauuuuuuuse...she's apparently afraid of...zig zags.

It all started when we were getting our clothes ready for the Ball at the Children's Museum. Penny had a dress that she thought might fit me (it didn't--too small) so I tried it on for my mom and Autumn. The print looked like this.


I was standing there in the dress and noticed that Autumn had gone completely still and big eyed. If anyone reads Yotsuba, it was like the time Yotsuba saw the bird-scarer:


I asked her what was wrong and she, still dead still, said, "I DO NOT LIKE THAT DRESS TAKE IT OFF." So, I took it off and put it in the basket of things to take downstairs. Before we left for community group, I went back upstairs and my mom told me that Autumn took the dress, ran down the hall and threw it into the darkness of my room.

I asked her what was wrong with the dress and she got very still again and said, baldly, "I am afraid of it."

"But...why?"

"Because it has stripes like this..." And then she waggled her finger back and forth. Ha!

And that's why I need to show the print to Autumn before I buy the fabric. :D Later when I told Nanny the story, Autumn went still and big-eyed again and moved her hand in a zigzag again when I got to that part, almost like she was in a trance. Poor kid.

Despite the traumatizing dress experience, we did get everything we needed for the Ball, no mice or fairy godmothers (well, other than Lainey!) required.


It's funny, going through the pictures from the ball, Autumn is making these funny Calvin and Hobbes faces in almost every single one. This is the best of her pictures with Cinderella. Cinderella did a great job. She was super sweet and mingled with all the girls. Prince Charming was not so charming...he obviously didn't want to be there and we had the misfortune of sitting at the table with him where he spent the whole time groping his wife. Awwwwwkward! Fortunately, Autumn didn't seem to notice or care.


When we got there, the magic show was going on and most of the kids were sitting on the floor by the stage. When we asked Autumn if she wanted to go and sit there, she did this.


So that was a no. She also didn't want to join the rest of the kids and parents for the ballroom dancing lesson they had but agreed to dance with me in the corner. :)


The carriage ride, though? From the time we arrived until the time we got on the carriage that was alllllll she could talk about! She had so much fun. She loved the ride, the scenery, the dog in the driver seat, the lights, everything about it.


This is Mike HAVING THE BEST TIME EVER.


Actually, I think he had a pretty good time. It's amazing what a good looking suit can do for ya! Plus Autumn was just so cute. And excited.

Back inside, Autumn ALSO didn't want to do face painting. That would require allowing a stranger in her face. :) She did, however, enjoy the two crafts. At the corsage making table, Autumn totally saw a friend of hers from school and started chatting like a teenager at the mall. Craziness.


On the way out, of course we had to stop to play in the bubble machine. HOW RIDICULOUSLY GROWN UP DOES SHE LOOK HERE?


And that was the Ball! To wrap up, have a montage of FACES.

This is what's wrong with America, people...

A couple of weekends ago we all got together for the January and Feburary Colley birthdays. I've been meaning to post these photos for a while but I've been so mad at myself for not breaking out my video camera for Mike's gifts that I've put it off! Haha. So, anyway, here we go:

Miss Autumn and Mr. Tyler did some drawer emptying on birthday night. Which is a bit of a change from Autumn's usual cabinet emptying. ha. I'm not sure what Tyler did with his drawer treasures but Autumn spent the night carrying her measuring cups and spoons into the living room and using them as dance props.


Speaking of dancing, here's Autumn getting down with Uncle Brad on the table. And, yeah, she loves pajamas. She was wearing a perfectly cute outfit but dragged out her "spending the night" pj's and insisted on wearing them all night. Funny baby.


Product plug: if you want awesome ice cream while supporting a small business owner who is super nice, you must, must go to Emack and Bolio's on Houston Levee. This cake was divvviiiiine. Pretty much everything else there is divine. :D


Here's Mike cutting the cake Filipino style. Why use a wussy cake knife when you can use a meat cleaver?


See? You thought I was joking BUT I WASN'T. Even I thought the the massive knife was a little bit of overkill. Although I did make him let me smack the cake with it once. Oh, and do you like his shirt? That's what I got him for his birthday...along with a baguette from Panera. My friend Tamara found the shirt online and sent me the link saying it was totally Mike!


And what else is TOTALLY MIKE??? Da da da daaaa: The Snuggie!!! This was the last gift given out. I had almost forgotten about it...I'm totally mad at myself for not videoing this but I managed to get his face when he realized what was in the box.


"Oh, look! My life problems are totally solved! I'll never be cold again...except my back because the back is open...but that could be solved by turning it around...LIKE A ROBE. Because this is nothing but a BACKWARDS ROBE. All I need is a belt..."


"Oh, wait, what's that?"


"Look! Now I have a belt! All I have to do now is turn the SNUGGIE backwards, and I HAVE A ROBE."


"This is what's wrong with America, people. Instead of making useful things we're 'inventing' horrible things like Snuggies and Slankets."

LOL!

The Tale of the Peanut Butter Jar

Once upon a time in a land called Schnuck's there lived a jar of peanut butter who longed to see the world outside of its shelf.


One day, a funny little girl named Autumn from the nearby village of Lakeland came to visit Schnuck's with her mama on a journey to find delicious foods to fill their empty pantry. Autumn saw the jar of peanut butter and was immediately enthralled.


Autumn's mama not only let her carry the jar of peanut butter inside Schnuck's but Autumn kept the jar with her in the car. The jar was very happy to get to see all kinds of new things whizzing by.


When they got home, Autumn and the jar of peanut butter had many adventures. They walked on a golf cart path, dodging fast carts and silly geese.


They flipped and flopped with Autumn's papa.


They took a ride together on Autumn's mama.


They rested and basked in the sun.


They even played with paper and books and all kinds of toys!


The jar of peanut butter had been a little afraid that it might have to go back to its boring life on the shelf but, no, other than a short break for dinner and a bath, Autumn kept the jar with her until well after dark.


And as they snuggled down ready for bed, the jar smiled and was very, very happy.


The End.

Surreal?

Bizarre? Kinda wrong?

Not really sure how to describe this one but it's Finnish rock band The Leningrad Cowboys featuring the Red Army Choir, performing “Sweet Home Alabama.” Yeah...

Preparing for Barfiness

Be glad I don't have any pictures to post this time. I don't know what's wrong with her, but last night Molly was seriously barfy. Crazy barfy!! She must have had 8 or 9 seperate cookie tossing episodes. And have you ever heard a kitty cat puking? H O L Y crap... It's disgusting. I'll see if I can't get an audio recording of it sometime. You really must hear it. You'll never ever forget it for as long as you live.

So anyway, I figure that maybe it's a good thing she's leaving piles of cat gut juice and chunks o' nasty all over our floors. I'm viewing it as a preview of human child sickness stuff. Although we'll hopefully be able to train our kid to make it to the toilet so that Papa here won't step in and slip on the remnants of their macaroni n' cheese and oreo supper.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go clean the partially digested kitty chow off the bottom of my feet... :(

Ahh, the Holidays!

 

And nothing says "Holiday time" better than a room full of decorating crap. Bah humbug! 

Hope my kid doesn't have ADHD

But just in case, I think I've got a treament option here:

Bad automobile year **updated!**

Ok so I've about had it with my car crap. Here's the situation:

As some of you may remember, not too long ago the Saturn's transmission broke. That was a nice $2200+ expense. And the day that I got it back, I popped one of the tires driving over a rake that had fallen in the garage. So I had to go and purchase a new tire for it. Lovely...

Fast forward to the present. Last week, the Acura's transmission went out! Another nice $2200+ adventure. Well guess what happened this morning? I get ready to head to work and find out I've got a flat. Super. So I fill it back up and head to Gateway to get it plugged. Well lo and behold once there they show me that the steel belts have worn through on two of the tires. Know what that means? It means I get to buy new tires! (Go ahead and toss an alignment on there too.) Another $600 or so bucks out the door, you say? Sure, why the *&%@! not?!

I suppose this puts the kabosh on any travelling or purchasing everyone those 60" flat screen TVs I was gonna give out at Christmas. Ah well...

**Oh, guess what we just found today(11/13)?! Sharaze just called to let me know that the Acura's battery is dead. WHOO!!! Loving it....

**Update 2!! So I wanted to give props to Dad whose non-sexy but extrememly practical Christmas gift from last year helped out today. Yes, I finally used the Car Battery Charger/Tire Inflator combo device to jump the failing battery and get me to Autozone. Thanks for the Christmas present Dad! (Oh, and tack on another $55 to this months auto bill. Sheesh...)

Flashdance

This is how I'm going to approach getting my next job.