Zoo Day!

What a week! We've been busy bees. I'm going to catch up with the rest of last week's post because there's going to be a lot to blog about with halloween coming up! We had a super fun time at the zoo last week, though. It was a beautiful day, just warm enough to be nice, so all the animals were out and about. This little guy was the first one we saw.


We just missed this guy. We saw him jump up and I thought the way he was sitting was pretty amusing.

From October 2011

This started out as a cute picture but then Autumn spotted the otters, hahaha.


I could seriously watch them play all day. If I were a bzillionaire I'd have an otter house.


Autumn was completely unimpressed by the pandas. While I was ooh-ing and ahhh-ing over how cute this panda was, looking like Winnie the Pooh kind of, she was looking up at this sparrow in the rafters going, "MAMA LOOK AT THAT BIRD UP THERE HE'S SO SILLY."


How fun is this?


Papa had to do a little extra carry duty this trip. It was the first time we went to the zoo without a stroller. She's such a big girl!


Intensely concentrating on the sea lion show.


Autumn was pretty wiped out because she went to bed late due to camping and then woke up with the sun--seriously, we have black out shades in her room because that's her thing. So we missed doing the petting farm area and the monkeys but we still had a great time! We did have to stop in one place....


Flamingos! This is one of her obsessions. She stands on one leg "like a flamingo" a lot so I was glad we were able to pass them on the way out. :) Funny note: sometimes she calls mangoes flamingos and it takes me a second to figure out why she wants eat a flamingo. You can imagine my confusion the first time she did it.

Here we are at the end. I wonder where my eyes went. I look like Ling from Fullmetal Alchemist, lol. Autumn appears to be...roaring?


And P'd came with us! He had never been to the zoo with Autumn! How did that happen?


Here's a preview of our next post! (also, it took me a minute to realize that wasn't my thumb in the top corner or something--it's her wand. Duh)


Don't forget to visit my other blog! Lots going on there! Today we had a photo session with Elizabeth Wiggs and she took a picture I am going to use for my banner there...I can't wait to see the photos!

Weekend Grab Bag: Peanut Butter, A Broken(?) Toe, and Camping

I have a ton of pictures from this weekend! I think I'm going to have to split this post but let's get started and see what happens. We will begin with last night.

Some of you guys have seen this picture on Facebook. It's been in the news that peanut butter prices are about to go up and, seriously, Autumn eats a lot of peanut butter. I don't know what we'll do if we ever have to go peanut free for her school. I knew Mike was going to get some extra jars from Costco. Thing is, it wasn't a couple...


Autumn is thrilled as you can see. She survived standing on the counter (with papa standing close by) but when she was helping Mike put away the jars, she TOTALLY DROPPED ONE on her toe. I don't think it's broken but after consulting Aunt Nurse Penny, she's definitely going to lose the nail. We're treating her with RICE, snuggles and pain relievers.


ANYWAY, Friday night and Saturday morning were much happier for the little miss although tomorrow is going to be sad for her because if her toe is still as bad as it was today, she's going to miss a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. If me accidentally bumping her foot sends her into a spiral of sadness, I don't think tennis shoes and lots of little kids hyped up on sugar is going to be a great idea.

Hopefully she can console herself with memories of...CAMPING!

She's been alllll about camping. I don't know what first put the idea in her head but she's been checking out books from the library about camping and "planning." What did she want at her campout? Thursday she told her Spanish teacher: "When the sun's awake, I'm going camping and we're gonna have a fire, a tent, sleeping bags, marshmallows, sticks, dirt and rocks." We managed to get all of that at Lainey and P'd's house on Friday night!


She wasn't super impressed with toasted marshmallows. She did not like burned ones. She did not like warm not burned ones. She did not like smores. I am guessing she would also not like green eggs and ham, Sam I am. I like smores and marshmallows (but not green eggs and ham).


I'm pretty sure this was some dramatic writhing over marshmallows.


We did have a minor casualty. Mike stabbed himself in the finger trying to get his chocolate and marshmallow onto the skewer together to toast over the fire rather than just putting the hot marshmallow on top of the chocolate bar.


This is the face of happiness.


She had her books, her ladybug light, her ladybug pillow pet, the sleeping bag, Tinker Bell tent, Tinker Bell pajamas, Tinker Bell book, Tinker Belle blanket, Belle necklace, Hello Kitty socks, aaaaand some water. As much as I despise the word glamping, this probably qualifies. The ladybug light provided some extra "stars," so there was that.


View of the fire from the tent.


A quick, comfy read before sleeping.


I was pretty surprised, she slept all night with no problems. I really thought I'd be ending this blog post with a funny story about Autumn hearing locusts or crickets and Mike and me having to haul her inside to calm her down! She did, of course, wake up at the crack of dawn which wasn't a huge deal because I was freezing and we had to get up to get ready for the zoo! But those pictures will have to wait...tune in next time!


We saw an ostrich and its eggs. I think these things are terrifying.

A Hayride, a Haircut, and a Happy Birthday!

Today was Tyler's birthday! We did the usual caravan down to Tuscaloosa to celebrate. Autumn was, as always, thrilled to see everyone.


I have pictures of her not drinking but she looks rabid in them. :) We're still working on this crazy face thing, hahaha. Despite the crazy face pictures, the party was a lot of fun. Autumn got to decorate a pumpkin.


It actually has like 3 faces which is a little bizarre looking from certain angles.


They also played themselves silly in the bouncer but I managed to not take any photos of that. Leah also had a friend do face painting but for some reason, Autumn is completely uninterested in face painting, which is too bad because I think it'd be so cute. Now, she was over the top excited about the hay ride. Although you can't tell it from this picture!


I think I was asleep half the party because not only did I not get any photos of the bouncer, that is the only photo I have of Autumn and Tyler together!! Partly it's because they had completely different interests at the park but we'll get to that in a minute. See? Happy about the hayride.


On my other blog, I am going to tell the story about my hair this week. Draaaaama. But, even with the hair drama, I'm starting to look like myself again, aren't I? :D


The kids had a really good time at the park...


Oh, wait. These kids did, too.


Tyler was cracking me up because he was all riding like that swing was a throne. Appropriate for a birthday boy. This is where interests diverged. Tyler is a swinger. Autumn is a slider.


She did it with everyone who would go with her.




And by herself.


She also liked this thing. It was that scared/excited kind of likes.


Papa liked it, too. He was actually catching and throwing a football while hanging which was pretty entertaining.


A little help here from the little miss.


After we got back, the kids sang happy birthday to Mr. Tyler who was just soaking it up.


Some presents, a little more bouncing, and a car ride later, we are all home and tiiiiiiiiired! Happy Birthday, Tyler!

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.