School Year Wrap Up

Oh, my gosh, the last couple of weeks have been so crazy!! I wanted to wrap up May and then we've got the beach, Autumn's dance recital, AND her first oreos and milk experience!! For now, I finally found the pictures of Autumn blowing out her birthday candle!

Friday after her birthday, Autumn went to the doctor and did a great job. Usually the doctor is a traumatic event but not this time! The finger prick lady was a pro and gave her Frozen stickers. And, for the first time ever, Autumn talked to the doctor! She brought her Doc McStuffin kit. We always try to bring some kind of doctor kit with us. Seems to help some.

Afterward, we went to Sheridan's for ice cream which was a terrible idea. Between that and the cheese dip Friday, poor Autumn had tummy aches on Saturday. But she loved it at the time! Side note: Autumn has spent her entire life in the 3rd percentile for both height and weight. The doctor has never been concerned because Mike and I aren't giants. This time Autumn had a pretty significant growth spurt. 25th percentile! Man. I knew she'd been growing like crazy but I had no idea it was as drastic as all that!

Moving to the next week. before school was out, they had field day! It was supposed to be on Autumn's birthday but they got rained out. It worked out, though, because I think it's better for everything to be spread out a little more. Autumn loves field day. As evidence by some serious cheering. Or yelling. Both.

I got pictures of all the kids running and that was so fun. They ran their little legs and hearts out on this relay race.

Her class also played super hard at guard the castle. Last year, Autumn was a guard. Her team lost but hers was the only tower standing! This year she was an attacker. Her class lost their round but they did a great job! Do you like Autumn's flamingo socks? Her ponytail is pink, too, but it doesn't show up in the pictures very well.

Monday was Field Day. Wednesday I did the Accelerated Reader awards with their class and Friday was the LAST. DAY. WHAT. First day is on the left, last day is on the right. I have no idea why that first day photo is so terrible.

I have to go mope now. I love Autumn at this age just like I've loved every stage but stillllll sooooo saaaaaad she's growing up! Waaaah! Anyway, next week: the beach! recital! oreos! grumpy cat!

Birthday fun day!

It was BIRTHDAY WEEEEEK!!! So much fun!! Autumn turned seven on Wednesday which was CRAZY. She also had career day at school and a doctor appointment but we'll look at that fun stuff next week. I made Autumn put on the birthday hat and pose. She wasn't feeling it but I made her dance around anyway. I can see this scenario playing out when she's, like, 16. Moooooooommmmmm, noooo haaaaat.

Wednesday ended up being way, way colder than I expected so I am glad Autumn wore those long socks! Also, these are the first shorts she's worn to school this year. Autumn hates shorts, khaki pants, and jeans. I think it's the seams that bother her because leggings and soft pants aren't really an issue. I got her these pants because Wednesday would have been field day if it didn't rain all day. It's rescheduled for today so you can guess where I'll be this afternoon! Oh, those socks? FLAMINGO SOCKS. I love it.

Penny and I brought Autumn her favorite lunch: chicken nuggets from McDonald's! It was soooo wet and rainy that we got drenched even with rain jackets and umbrellas. Our food bag broke open in the parking lot, nooooo. But, we had a great time with Autumn. And, I have a funny story about the people we sat near but you'll have to ask me in person. :D

Penny is the best Aunt ever. In addition to picking up some Elsa shoes and a wig for me, she got Autumn presents, an Olaf balloon, and a cookie cake! I set everything up, including the Elsa dress, on the breakfast room table so she saw it as soon as she came in. It's been a rough year so I'm so glad we were able to make Wednesday really special for Autumn!

We told Autumn that we'd cook whatever she wanted or take her to any restaurant. I have no idea why, but I thought her choice of La Hacienda was hilarious. I just didn't expect her to pick Mexican! Autumn had a taco and cheese dip. I think cheese dip was the lure of Mexican food. And her teacher tells me that Autumn's been talking about wanting to go to La Hacienda since Cinco de Mayo. I like how Ellie is patiently tolerating Autumn's affection. Also, note that Autumn wore her Elsa dress out. I am so happy she likes it!

The happy birthday bags gave it away and Autumn got what might be her first restaurant happy birthday song and hat that's been on who knows how many heads!! She enjoyed it, I think, but wasn't so sure about the fried ice cream. I ate it so that's okay. Ha.

Wednesday was just an all around great day!! I thought i had a photo of Autumn blowing out her cookie cake candle but I don't. I have no idea what I was doing instead of taking a picture. So, I guess for now, comfy Autumn says goodbye!

Autumn's last days as a 6 year old...wah!

OMG, EVERYONE. Autumn is going to be SEVEN on WEDNESDAY. How can this beeeeee? I've been working on her present. Her birthday party, which won't be huge, will be in June. It's a frozen party and I've been looking for one of the nice Elsa dresses but they sell out quickly and only those pricey 3rd party sellers have them--for $200!!! Which, no. So, I'm making her a dress and I'll give it to her on her actual birthday. I finished the dress remarkably quickly (I still have to hem it but I'm going to do that after she tries it on) but the cape is giving me some trouble. I'm back on track after a consult with nanny so I'll put it on the other blog after I do my Tamara's wedding post.

In other news, we went to the Fair on the Square in Collierville. I worked the Collierville Arts Academy booth Saturday and did a short demo on Sunday. So far no new students but a sensei can hope. On the plus side, I got to play with lightsabers.

We met one of Autumn's friends from school there Sunday and we had a good time. I am terrible at playdates so the Fair was a super fun way to do something different.

We met the neighbors at the school park on Wednesday. I don't know why, but it never dawned on me to hang out after school on a day when I don't have to run off to work to let Autumn play. She had a good time.

And while we were there, they decided to meet again at the library on Friday. That went better than I expected. They had fun for about an hour, looking at books and playing on the pretend fire truck.  By the way, Autumn read her biggest chapter book yet! She read the junior novelization of the Frozen story--26 chapters! I'm going to have to direct her to different books now that I know she can handle that length.

Oh, and check it out, our roses are blooming! I need to prune them big time so I cut a whole swath and put it in Mike's office.

And, last thing for this week, Autumn and Mike went swimming at a friend's house. The water was super cold so I wasn't going near it! They were pretty cute, though. I swear Autumn is part fish! She splashed around and danced and practiced her swim strokes long after Mike wasn't able to take it anymore. Nice job 6.98 year old!

April Mobile Moments!

Greetings, all! I totally missed blogging last week. We had Tamara's wedding and I pretty much spent Sunday and Monday doing NOTHING, ha! But, now it's back to regular schedule, waaah. But, it's a good time to get caught up on our April doings. I'm about to write an adoption update (short version: nothing at all is happening) before I do all the wedding posts over on the pinwheel blog so be sure to go by there this week.

A couple weeks ago, Autumn got to hang out with Micah and Liana. They got dirty. Just a little. Heh. I am not sure if all of this is the result of Autumn pretending that the dirt was her ice powers but at least part of it is.

The big family garage sale happened in early April. Kyle and I love working the garage sale, mainly because of Pd's shenanigans. This year he sold the sofa. Lainey found out when she came home later that day. It was pretty amazing. She's been wanting to replace it so it wasn't out of the blue but I don't think she quite expected her sofa to be sitting outside that day!

One fun thing about Tamara's wedding was getting to see Cheri more often. We stopped by to get a tiara for the bachelorette party and were able to visit with her sweet dogs.

Less sweet, but almost as furry, Molly enjoyed exploring the bachelorette party items. She actually got stuck in that zebra bag at one point and I had to rescue her. Ha! Kitties are so silly.

In the midst of all this, Autumn, who is never sick, was sick. Poor thing! I think it must have been some kind of 24 hour bug because she was only down for the count for a morning and afternoon and then all was well.

So, you know Mike likes coffee, right? Well, part of his coffee obsession is this grinder. We bought it ages ago and it was a great investment but it's still pretty funny to see people's reactions to his industrial strength coffee grinder. It needs fairly routine maintenance. This time around, Mike got Autumn to help him out. I think here she's sweeping out old coffee while Mike lights the way.

Last thing! Autumn's ballet class has been doing ballet buddies. An older dancer leaves notes and little gifts for her ballet buddy secretly and then this week they revealed the ballet buddy's identity. Too cute! Someday if I ever have enough teens around, I should totally do this with my kids classes. Autumn loved it. On the big reveal day, parents were allowed to come watch and take photos. I have a class during Autumn's so I only peeked once in a while. When they did the class photo (the girls got to wear costumes), I snuck out and snapped one. 

That's it for this week!

Easter photos!

Click over to Passing Pinwheels for fun photos!

Busy Spring Days

We have had the craziest spring. It might slow down a little in about two weeks. At least, I hope or I might pass out! Even Autumn is tired. I don't have a picture of it but after she came home from Mike's parents yesterday, she had been there most of the weekend, she passed right out in her bed. When Mike went to check on her she was on top of the comforter, flat on her back, spread eagled. Ha! I don't have that picture, but I do have this one:

And then a happy wakeup!

I am not a big fan of April Fool's Day. Some stuff is pretty cute, like the funny items places like ThinkGeek will put online but I'm generally not a participant. But for some reason, I decided to do this to Autumn's lunch. I think Autumn took after me because she was more baffled as to why I'd do it than anything else!!

 Autumn's class had some major Accelerated Reader success this last grading period. Everyone who met their goals got to have a mismatch day. This time around, everyone got to have a day because they all met their goals! Autumn went all out this time around! A braid and a ponytail, two different shoes, different socks, many colors and patterns.

They also got to have a pajama day because they had the highest percentage of correct answers on their tests. I'm the AR mom so I help them track their goals and talk to them about their favorite books so I brought them milk and cookies on pajama day, their reward for their accomplishment. While I was there, I did this with some printing help from one of the room moms. I'm going to put this on the pinwheel blog and pin it since most of the versions I see of this are pretty vanilla: 

 And at the end of that day? Park time with Papa, Linday, Kyle, and Ellie! Papa was feeling perky so he climbed a tree.

I hope everyone has a great week and a great Easter! See you next week!

March Mobile Moments!

Why do I keep forgetting to do this on Sunday?? I might have to change my update day to Monday!!

Some of you may have heard: I HAVE A GRILL! I am soooo excited about it even though it means I get no birthday, Christmas, Mother's Day, Anniversary or miscellaneous gifts for the rest of the year! Mike surprised me with it and I have grilled something at least once a week since it arrived.

I don't even remember what Autumn did but at some point this month, she got in trouble. That resulted in these awesome notes. "I'm staing in my room furever!" "I'm rilly rilly sorry that I did somthing rong!" I shouldn't laugh but, seriously, how cute is that?

When Autumn wasn't punishing herself, she was helping out. We don't get to go to the store together much anymore so this little trip was fun. She's a good helper. 

Magic shows are still happening! I need to come up with some new tricks for her because she's getting pretty good with the ones she got for Christmas. Autumn's presentation is getting better, too.

The grill box has gotten some fun play time. She was in there this day with a flashlight, a blanket and some pillows, reading to her stuffed friends. 

 Last Saturday, Autumn had a playdate with Aunt Penny while I was in aikido. After I got out of class we met up for lunch and I got to hear about all their super fun adventures.

For example, Autumn tired out Ace and Conan that morning so they all took a break to watch some cartoons! Too fun! Autumn is still talking about how fun her Penny time was.

Last one for today! Sunday we got together with the neighbor kids to watch Frozen. They only got about 15 minutes in and decided they'd rather play. Everyone had a good time playing with the leftover lips and mustaches from the shower I gave for Tamara and Landon which I still need to blog about.