Faces of Autumn

Hello, friends. I'm so thankful today to be able to do this blog post...especially with so many parents hurt and lost this weekend. I wrote some on the other blog. Today I am thankful for the little one I have here, the one waiting on me in Heaven, the faith that gives me courage to go on knowing that, and all of the support that you all have given us in our own sadness. I pray that the parents dealing with so much heartache and shock have a support system like you.

I was at Autumn's school taking pictures of pajama day Friday morning. The kids were so adorable and sweet and extra scruffy. Autumn was no exception. She wore her robe, Belle pajamas, and leggings to class. So comfy.


I had them do a class photo and they were all so squeezable. Autumn decided to be a ham.


In all the photos.


I shouldn't be surprised because this was her pre-breakfast posing.


It's nice to see the perky pictures, though, because Wednesday she didn't feel great. Sad, sad eyes. :(


I'm sure I've told you about her boxes. Seriously. Autumn is so a cat. She has these boxes and they have been rockets and boats and cars. This week she had a sled she pulled her dolls in. Last night it was Santa's sleigh and the dolls were the reindeer. She was all "hohoho-ing" everywhere.


Here's another box incarnation. It was a castle on Wednesday.


Oh, hey, look, here's Autumn with ALL THE CATS. That's actually not even all the cats that live at Mike's parents house, if you can believe it.


Speaking of cats, Molly is on high alert. Autumn requisitioned one of the boxes that gifts were delivered in. She decorated one and wrote "Mole Molly Box" on it. So Autumn has been trying to catch Molly to put her in the box. She finally decided just to leave it and put a soft blanket Molly likes in it. I'm sure it will work better.


And that's it for this week. I hope our little monkey will bring a smile to your face.

Little Miss Yellow Belt

BIG NEWS OF THE WEEK? Autumn got her yellow belt in aikido!! Next step in what could be a long, long journey for her! There are more pictures on the public blog but look at this one. She is so tiny!! I tested her class and the older class together since everyone is about the same rank, plus or minus some stripes.


Otherwise, we've been doing Christmas stuff, cleaning, and staying busy. Autumn has been especially busy. She's in some kind of weird energy hyperdrive the last two weeks. Even my mom was asking me what we fed her. Anyway, Friday, I helped the other room mom work on the classroom door. I read on the first Fridays so I hung out after and had lunch with Autumn. Who is blurry because she can't sit still!


Oh, while we were working outside at one point, Autumn decided to make a bed for her Madeline doll. I thought it was really cute right there by the light pole.


I think I have better photos of this on my camera but I don't want to trek downstairs! Autumn's new act is...a magician! She has a hat, a box, and stuff she pulls out of the hat. She says, "abra cadabra, alcazoo, pocus pocus." AND IT IS AWESOME. I'll post more next week for sure! I might even have a video.


Sometimes she "disappears" Molly. This is what Molly thinks.


Bahahaha! Not really. I took that one when she was laying under Mike's legs. I cracked up when I saw her crazy reflective eyes! Ok, it's about to start storming here so I'm going to leave you with THIS. Autumn, 2 seconds before her big splash completely filled her shoes with water!!

Tis the Season!

Welcome to December!!! How crazy is it that it's already the last month of the year? I couldn't believe it when I started a new album for December. Although it's crazy warm right now, it is looking a lot like Christmas around here!


This is a photo from a couple weeks ago but you simply must see Autumn doing push ups.


Have some Molly. This is not a happy cat. But she stayed like this long enough for me to take photos with my camera AND my phone.


Penny and I surprised Autumn at school with some McDonald's on Wednesday! I even packed her a fake lunch to really make her unsuspecting.


And since she's into the puffer fish cheeks, of course I had to do it, too. >.> Seriously that is one crazy Autumn face.


The big announcement of the week? Lainey invited the Elf on the Shelf to join us this Christmas! Here's where he first appeared. I had never gotten it because #1, it looked like a LOT of work and #2, he's awfully creepy looking.


Oddly, Autumn absolutely did not hesitate about the Elf's name. He's Jerry. After the sno cone place maybe?


I've been having fun but there won't be any of this taking the ornaments off the tree and replacing them with socks or toilet papering doors closed. Day One:


Day two. Seriously, his eyes FOLLOW ME. Autumn is such a skeptic, hahaha. She was all, "MAMA. Belle is a STATUE. She can't eat donuts. Is Jerry real in our world?" I told her sometimes it's fun to believe in magic. :) And Lainey had a good response, that maybe Jerry had enough magic to have a tea party with Belle. Toy Story style.


On Day Three, Jerry came with a note. Autumn told me she "accidentally" touched Jerry. The storybook says that if you touch him, his magic goes away and he can't come back. Santa gave her a second chance for being honest. :)


This morning, Jerry got caught doing some exercises in Papa's office.


I guess we'll wind up this post with today's project! Lainey got Autumn and Tyler the Little People nativity set. It's a lot of fun! Autumn and I enjoyed putting it together and she played with it for a good half hour afterward! Thank you, Lainey!


Oh, and visit passing pinwheels for our holiday projects and the update on the adoption.

Thanksgiving! A Mobile Moments Post

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful few days! Wednesday, Autumn didn't have school so we got to run errands together like the days before she started school! She dressed herself and everything. Not only did she pick out a great outfit, but she did the buttons and tights herself! She's been working on those fine motor things in occupational therapy so I am very proud of her.


After Mike got home from work, Autumn read him the book we checked out from the library. Molly, in a rare show of sociability, sat on his lap and listened and then let Autumn lay on her.


That night, we joined the Murphys for donuts with the gift card we got from a friend for some computer work Mike did. Yay, donuts! And generous friends!


This box has brought so much joy to Autumn. It's been a plane, a boat, a rocket, and today it's a car. She made a steering wheel and everything! Even better? She will stand up and "drive" it places by walking. Like the Flintstones!


Oh, and Molly has been chilling in the bag I've been keeping some of my craft supplies in.


Mike spent one night sampling the different cookie butters and hazelnut spreads from the same friend who provided the Dunkin Donuts gift card! I had so much fun feeding Stephan, Brad and my mom ritz crackers with the different spreads.


And tonight, we celebrated Lainey's birthday! Happy birthday, Lainey! Here's Autumn not cooperating with photo time, haha.


Be sure to check out Passing Pinwheels! We have some adoption happenings you could pray for if you are so inclined. And, be sure to check out the post with some of my new etsy listings. All profits from the Etsy shop go to our adoption!

Fall Fun

I love fall!! Even though I am cold almost every moment by this time of year, it is so beautiful and, at least here, we get little breaks from the cold! Earlier this month, we had a nice, warm day for Autumn's school field trip. Autumn looooooved getting to ride on the bus. She loved that I got to come along, too! Each parent got 2 or 3 kids to chaperone. I got Autumn and her friend Isabella.


By the way, this is Autumn's teacher. :) She is really, really sweet and Autumn loves her. Autumn had a tummy bug and missed two days of school last week. There was much sadness--Autumn kept lamenting about missing her teacher and PE!


We had way, way too much time during the field trip. Several schools went to the fall festival at the Botanic Garden. We had fun watching the other kids and doing the activities at the different stations but we probably could have taken an hour and a half instead of 3 hours. One of the moms and I tried to entertain our kids with games like duck duck goose.


They hung in there for a while but that last half hour draaaaaaaged. This is not a tiredness collapse. It's a boredom collapse!


Oh, and Autumn was Star of the Week this month! She made a collage of photos and stickers to hang in the hall. Wednesday, Autumn's teacher sent home a book with photos of the kids. At the beginning of the year, each family made a page for the book. Too cute! One day they had show and tell and another day Autumn got to bring her favorite book. Autumn's favorite was Thursday when she got to bring home Marvin the class mascot.


If you notice, there's another monkey there in a dress. Autumn had been calling that monkey Marvin because, apparently, Marvin would leave class and come spend the night with her. I asked her if she knew that Marvin is a boy but Autumn solved that problem with magic. He turns into a girl at night. Of course!

On that note, I'm calling it a night! Oh, one last thing:


STATIC!

Check out Passing Pinwheels! New hair, new items in the Etsy shop AND MORE.

At Tyler's Birthday Party

Well, I'm finally posting Tyler's birthday pictures! We had a good time at a party bounce place. I suspect a couple of the grownups had the most fun (ahem, Ryan and Mike) but the kids enjoyed themselves.


Here's a good Mike Tumble:





Autumn and I had a fun little race.





Is there a better way to spend your birthday? Sweaty AND happy!


So fun!!