Valerie's Baby Shower

But first...this is for Penny and Michael. :D


So, anyway, my side of the family is going to be a little more girly in a couple months because my sister is having an as-yet-unnamed girl in April! One of her friends gave her a shower last weekend.


I had to teach aikido on Saturday so I ended class a touch early so I would be able to get my uniform folded (seriously, it takes longer than one might think) and I could get out of there. I was 20 minutes late anyway. Why? My mom got lost. After two tries of calling her and trying to get her to pull over so I could retrieve her (one time she was all, "I saw some cars turning right and followed them." Wait, what? How do you even know where those cars are going?), I found her and we made to the party. Funny enough, my mom did the exact same thing before one of my showers! Mike's mom had go get her that time. Anyway, technically my mom is already a grandma and I'm already an aunt but we wore these buttons:


It was a very shower-y shower complete with presents,


juice,


and friends. Here's my mom with Mrs. Janis who was our youth pastor in high school. In the background is the super cute diaper cake that Liz's sister made for Valerie.


Autumn and Liz got some quality time...Autumn was showing Liz her booboos and her pretty nails, haha.


The ladies of my family. Even the unborn one. :)


And, now. For my pièce de résistance...Valerie's party shoes:

:D

Of course, I had to make Valerie a few things. Since they aren't choosing a name until after the baby is born, I decided to hold off on any labels or bag tags although Christy and I do have something special planned. :D I gave her some regular gifts but I also included some baby leg warmers. I don't remember how I found the original baby legs but they are so, so awesome. It was great to be able to just throw a onesie and these legwarmers on Autumn. Or to use them instead of pantyhose or as an extra layer, depending on the season. Made for easy diaper changes, for sure. And even better? Autumn can still wear all of her leg warmers, both store bought and mama-made.


I also made her a diaper clutch with this rock star fabric I bought as soon as I found out Valerie was having a baby. I've found that the diaper clutch is nicest for holding diapers, wipes, and the changing pad and I can just put the clutch into whatever big bag I am carrying. So when I need to do a change when we're out, I can leave my big bag with Mike and just carry the clutch. Of course, now that Autumn is potty trained, I use mine to carry a "just in case" pullup and wipes case that I can carry or put in her backpack or into whatever bag I'm carrying. Eventually I'm guessing it'll become just a bag that either I carry or Autumn carries--which is one of the reasons I chose this pattern. It's so versatile.


I've got one order for a houndstooth diaper clutch. :D If anyone's interested in a clutch (which comes with a changing pad and optional matching wipes case), let me know. I'm not selling them on my site yet but if you'd like one for yourself or for a gift, I'd be willing to do a special order for not much more than cost of materials since I am still practicing and I can't guarantee you'll get it in 2 days. This one was my best yet...I solved a couple of problems I've had making past ones (Michelle, I wish I could do yours over!) so I'm guessing it'll only get better from here!


So, that's all! If anyone wants to see all the photos from the shower, click here!

Dancing Fairy Princesses, Horses, and Helicopters...oh, my!

Last Tuesday, we had a super fun day of partying! Autumn's friend Ella-Maria turned 3 and her mom Annalise (who teaches ballet to the girls) planned a fairy princess tea party! The festivities started with some fairy princess dust.


Once they were all glittery and lovely(-er), our little fairy princesses had a fairy princess dance class!


Autumn takes a bit to warm up so she's usually the one who hangs out in the back and doesn't do what she's supposed to be doing. :)


This is Ella, the birthday girl. I loved this picture because she looks so happy to be dancing!


This is Allie. Her sister is Lydia who is several months younger than Autumn and just as tall! Allie looks like such a pro here!


Autumn's fairy princess solo dance involved a lot of flips and posing and very little actual dancing!


Of course, we moms have just as much fun as the girls usually. On the left is Christy and on the right is Annalise who is expecting another little fairy princess soon! Maria and her daughter Julia weren't able to make it so I'll have to get some fun photos of them soon.


After dancing, our little princesses had a tea party! This is Lydia. She and Autumn are in the same Sunday School class now which is so fun.


Annalise set the table with princess cups and plates and spoons. The girls had cookies and cupcakes and tea with milk and sugar cubes!


I mean, seriously, how sweet and grown up looking is this? Also, Annalise totally made Autumn's week by putting sunglasses and lip gloss at each place setting!


And the fun didn't stop there! Later that night, we all met up with some of Ella's other friends at Chuck E. Cheese. Autumn had never been before so I wasn't sure what to expect. She had an absolute blast! She rode the horse and this merry go round.


She danced in front of the camera with the other dance class girls and flew the helicopter.


And she played on a see-saw with a mouse and took a ride in the coach with her friends!


This is her "please more?" face. :) I have an iron constitution so I was able to resist the urge to buy more tokens.


We ended the night with a happy birthday song.


And Annalise made Autumn's night again with a lollipop and some bubbles to take home with her!


Thanks so much, Annalise and Ella-Maria! It was so much fun!

jaws...

Da dum...


da dum...


da dum da dum dadum...


::SCREAMS::


Whew.


...da dum...


(apparently, Jaws has come up here before: a role reversal)

Spotlight time :)

A few of you have already heard or seen this, but in the family section of the newspaper, I'm this week's Spotlight on Mom.


Commercial Appeal
Longer version on midsouthmoms.com

There was also a 5 minute radio interview this morning. I think it went pretty well. I got some feedback from several people that said it was fine. I actually don't remember anything except that I forgot to say the name of our dojo (memphis judo and jiu jitsu) and that I didn't "um" much. Their questions were also kind of random. But I survived! If you actually make it through the longer version on midsouthmoms, you might find out some amusing things like my mom's worst advice and how I got into martial arts to begin with.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I know it's been a while (sorry P'd!) so here's one with a video! I know I go on and on about how weird it is that Autumn is growing up so fast but I'll say it again: she's growing up so fast! This week, Autumn had her first Valentine party at school. Mama Lainey got her this cute little dress that Autumn absolutely loved because it had ballet slippers on it.


I know...I think I'm one of the only moms who posts photos of her kid looking weird on her blog. But it was such a funny face! Anyway, while I was deciding what shoes Autumn would wear with the dress, she came out of her room wearing her pink boots. Personally, I think they make the whole outfit.


Autumn's class did a Valentine craft that was actually inspired by a gift Lindsay gave me for Mother's Day last year. Autumn's teachers gave it their own personal flair and I think it's just adorable. When I picked Autumn up she said, "I color. And I paint hand! Both hands!" Here she is showing the camera.


Autumn came away with quite a haul. She got all kinds of cute valentines, including one really neat hand made one. Oh, the cupcakes in the picture aren't Valentine gifts...Autumn just decided that they needed to be in the photo.


All this talk about growing up made me look at Autumn's past Valentine's Days. I'm not sure if this is from Feb. 14 but it's a February 2008 photo and seems appropriate. This girl has not changed a bit.


The Valentine photo from last year is interesting. Here's Autumn with her Beebee before the doll was named Beebee. Autumn is looking a lot like she looks now because last year is when she really started getting taller but not heavier. But she wasn't walking and was barely standing on her own at that point. And she absolutely wasn't talking more than a funny jabber, and barely even that. It's just craziness.


Anyway, here's a Valentine treat for P'd (which is Autumn's version of Papa D...another way she says it is Pa P'd which cracks me up for some reason) and anyone else who might enjoy this...I finally finished one of Autumn's Performance videos! This is the one of her singing and dancing to other people's music. The other is Autumn singing and dancing to her own songs. :) I'm sorry it's a bit long. I wanted to edit it a little more but if I did that, it would never end up here. I hope you enjoy our silly little girl!

Happy Birthday Papa: A Rhyme

Happy Birthday, Papa!
With apologies to Dr. Seuss...

We would like you in a boat.


We would like you with a goat.


We would like you on a train.


We would like you in the rain (or snow).


With a pipe! In a tree!


We would like you, yes indeed.


We would like you in a box and we would like you with a fox.


We would like you on a hike, even on a bike!


We would like you here or there.


We would like you ANYWHERE!


Here's to a year full of snuggles,


coffee,


tea,


video games,


And good books!