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.

Graduation, Pink Hair, and Tug O' War

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO BLOG ABOUT. I'll start with: Autumn's Kindergarten Graduation!! She "graduated" at the end of May and yesterday we got her report card: she's officially a first grader! Yay, Autumn!


I love that picture so much. She did a great job singing and dancing with her class. All the kids did!I had a tip from Mrs. Carpenter, one of the teacher's aids who has become a friend through both school and the gym, that Autumn would be on the left side of the gym so I got a great picture of her shaking the principal's hand. The principal is taking a job with the new unified school district so I'm really hoping the next one is as awesome!


This is Autumn with Ms. Michaud, her teacher. I could not have asked for a better teacher. High energy, patient, and kind...just what Autumn needed. It's amazing how much Autumn has blossomed this year and Ms. Michaud is definitely part of the reason! This unified school district stuff can be so frustrating--last I talked to her, Ms. Michaud was still waiting to find out if she is going to be rehired.


Of course, we had to get some lainey time! I totally didn't get a picture of Autumn with my mom, though! Oooh, or Penny! How did that happen?


We did get a family shot! I love the flowers Lainey got for Autumn!


After graduation, I took a few photos. I love our scruffy miss.


Random photo. The school had this sign over a garbage can. Do you think they want us to move the can or leave it?


To wrap up the school year, here are a few field day shots. I'm not sure if you know, but Autumn is SUPER competitive. It seems like an odd thing for her to be considering her personality type but it appears that's one of the things she got from me!


Love the pony tail action here.


Speaking of ponytails, I posted a photo of Autumn with pink hair but a lot of people couldn't tell--you can tell here!


This is my favorite of the group! She had SO MUCH FUN doing the tug of war. At one point, Autumn's team wasn't doing well and she was in the back. She let go, marched to the front, grabbed hold of the rope, and started yelling for her team to pull. THEY WON. Yeah, Autumn!


And that's the end of the school year, can you believe it?? Coming up soon, we have the beach! And Autumn's first dance recital! I still haven't posted her birthday pics but I'm hoping to get to it this week on Passing Pinwheels!

Tomorrow!

This weekend was sheer craziness! Can you believe that Miss Autumn is SIX YEARS OLD???


She had a great birthday, I think! On the actual day, I set up her little table with a present and this sign that Cheri made her a couple of years ago. I gave her a mermaid Lalaloopsy which is in the photo above. Those dolls are kind scary...


Mike and I were all nostalgic and looking and pictures and stuff. It was so sweet, Mike wasn't able to have lunch with her because of a meeting, we thought. But he ended up canceling the meeting and coming on out to meet us. :)


We had McDonald's for lunch and earlier I brought her class donuts for snack time so all in all, it was a bad food day, haha!


The day after her birthday, Autumn had field day! SO FUN. I have some photos on my camera I need to upload but this is great--during guard the castle, Autumn and Izzat were the only ones in their class whose "castles" we safe! I love all the balls around Autumn where they tried to knock her ball off.


After field day, Christy, my mom and I went to get Autumn and carried her scooter that Uncle Kyle gave her. She did great! I forgot her helmet, though. Bad mama!


In addition to Autumn's birthday party yesterday (which I'll write about on Passing Pinwheels this week), I helped my mom give her friend Jackie a bachelorette party today! Christy told me she'd do henna tattoos for the ladies and she came over to practice. Autumn got one next to her rainbow owl!


Such a fun birthday week, right?? And, most of you have probably seen this but I took this picture on Autumn on Sunday and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I even put it on our wall!


Also, I just realized I titled this "tomorrow." That's because I was going to say that the party would be on the blog tomorrow--but then I got distracted by pictures and ended up doing a real blog post. It's that kind of night.

Break time!

I'm taking a blogging break today for mother's day! If you want, pop over to passingpinwheels! There's been a TON of stuff happening over there. Hope you had a great day.

Dance for Joy

:) Presented with no commentary:

"Normal" in quotation marks!

I am realllly hoping this embeds right because it's pretty fun.


Mike took those moving pictures/video clips with his new phone and I love it! It's been a tough week around here. If you don't read Passing Pinwheels, you might not know that the missing school teacher from Germantown is one of our friends. But, we tried to keep it normal for Autumn despite all the roughness--the photos in the slideshow are from Saturday when we met up with Josh and his parents and sister. Friday and Saturday we had the family garage sale. That was fun! Autumn wrote stickers and priced whole boxes of school supplies!


She also helped do the money...


And she babysat Ellie. Ellie is like, "what the heck, people."


The one thing she missed? THE BABY BUNNY. Lindsay and I were on our way to the car so I could show her the kid table I found. Lindsay happened to see this little dude in her path. He just kind of sat there, nose wiggling, and probably praying we'd move on! Pd nudged him and he shot off into the bushes. So cute!


Oh, and Autumn also missed one of my favorite things about the garage sale. Inevitably, Pd puts things into the garage sale and Lainey is all "!!!" This year it was the electronic basketball game. He put it out. She put not for sale on it. He wrote the "fine print." I am SO MAD because I missed her smacking him and him throwing at ball at her. I was getting Autumn from school. T_T They are so hilarious and cute.


Around the house, we were pretty normal. Or, "normal." Because, you know, my kid is a cat.


She even lays on the back of Kyle and Lindsay's sofa like a cat.


This is actually somewhat more normal without the quotes, haha. We got to walk home from school a couple of days this week. I love walking around with her.


Autumn and dandelions: two of my favorite things!


And Molly is Molly, in case you were wondering...