It's just the filipina blood, really.

We've had a lot of visitors in my kali and aikido classes lately; some have been friends of mine which is exciting since I've been inviting a couple of them for years. I think it's probably partly new year's resolution stuff--you know, get in shape, learn to punch. lol. Anyway, all these new people coming in has reminded me that a good chunk of the beginning days is spent learning to sit on the ground, especially in aikido. Part of the theory about why most new students have such a hard time sitting in seiza, a squat, or even cross-legged is that we're at desks all day and we pretty much always sit in a chair so we lose some of the flexibility in our Achilles tendons and thighs unless we really work on that kind of thing. I have another theory. Floor sitting is actually genetic:


I call this her Island Baby pose. For some reason I giggle whenever I see her sitting this way.

All right, all right.

I'm finally getting the last of the Christmas photos up. It's been a crazy week! I'm in the middle of switching my work schedule and my training schedule (woohoo! I got promoted to level 2 in kali) BUT these should be the end of Christmas stuff except for a little video compilation I'm hoping to post in the next couple of days. :P It only took, like, 3 weeks.

Ok, so if anyone asked me what I remember most about Christmas, this is definitely one of the things:


Tyler has this weird thing about staring at me. He's done it since he was a little baby. Christmas Day, he seriously took a break from opening his toys just to come over and stare at me. lol. Speaking of toys, here's Autumn with her doll...matching again. (ps, like her choke hold?)


We did something a little different for Christmas with my family. We went to Bubble Tea for dinner! And then back to my house for presents. My mom did awesome for Autumn's gifts. She made her a scarf and hat set.


And got her this little laptop. Autumn totally cracked us up because she totally knew what to do. She immediately sat down and started typing and clicking her little mouse.


A couple days later, she wanted her desk next to mine. So we complied and this is what we got!

Dream a Little Dream

Mike just heard Autumn say, "whooooaaaaa" in her sleep. HA!

So there's how many of you?

One, two, three, brad's cut out of the pic but that's four...five. Six, seven, eight...::counting in my head and not out loud now::
Ummm...16?


The three of us didn't do such a good job of looking at the same camera.


Christmas Eve was a good time for Autumn. I'm pretty sure everyone gave her a piece of chocolate at least once. Look at those lips.


She's in her pajamas and still eating chocolate.


Mike's mom has this little set up in the playroom with chairs that have Autumn's and Tyler's names on them. Autumn went straight for the one that was hers. She also liked to pick up the chairs and rearrange them.


Also in the playroom: The Riding Train of Awesomeness. I have a video of that I need to post. I was pretty happy with how Autumn interacted with Tyler. She was mostly sweet and gentle. I was kind of concerned because she can be fairly violent with her toys. Hahahaha. One of the best things was Tyler's pacifier. If he lost it and she noticed, Autumn would carry it back to him and pop it into his mouth. Another funny time was when Tyler was pressing buttons on some electronic equipment. Autumn started gasping and flapping like she was trying to tell him to stop before he got in trouble.


The family tradition is to give out "sibling gifts" on Christmas Eve and then close out the night with a family photo. How fun is that?


We ended up giving Autumn her presents, too. I did a good job picking what was her only gift from us: A doll and stroller. Too good of a job because when we took it away to get her to open other gifts, she had her first major meltdown. Nice. We got her settled down and appropriately informed that meltdowns are not acceptable (haha), she was great with the gifts and we gave her stroller back.


Kyle was the first one to notice that the doll really looks creepily like Autumn. Haha. It was weird to look at the top of their two heads. I couldn't get a good photo but this one was all right. Note the very similar outfits.


And that's it for Christmas Eve! I'm slowly but surely plugging my way through the holidays!

Happy New Year!

We've had an awesome Christmas and New Year and we hope you have, too. I'm going to kind of try to catch up on the holidays. We've been pretty busy. Last week Mike's family had a Christmas party and that was a ton of fun. I got to show off the dress I made for Autumn:



Speaking of Autumn, her grandparents' house is like her own personal kitty heaven:


I love Bella's face here.


Oh, and there has been much Rock Band-ing the last 2 weeks. The best lead singer prize absolutely goes to Mike's Uncle Allen who is a musician in real life--unlike most of us. :P Here he is with Mike's mom singing backup.


Tyler and Autumn are into the music big time. Tyler likes the drums and Autumn kind of does, too, but she always wants the microphone. I don't think anyone's real shocked there.


Here's the Colley Family Band. lol. Mike and I got a copy of Rock Band for the Wii and the band made up of Mike, Liz, Donnie and me is called The Angry Monkeys. Hehe! If anyone has seen it--it's an invader zim reference. That's also our guild name in Warcraft for anyone who even has a clue what I'm talking about. Wow. That's a lot of nerdiness in one caption--Rock Band, cartoons, and games!


To wrap things up, have some Daredevil Monkey. This might be one of the last photos of Autumn in her little cheerleader pose because she's gotten a leetle too wiggly.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas with the Italians

Wow, it's been a busy week! Miss Autumn had a sore throat, I finished pretty much all my shopping, and this weekend we went to Birmingham to visit with Mike's extended family. It was, as always, a blast. If nothing else, it's worth the drive for the people watching. Ha!

One of Mike's cousins turned 40 yesterday so, of course, there was cake:


And the ritual defacement decorating of the birthday person's vehicle:


Autumn did a lot of snuggling and watching. I think the crowd freaked her out a little. :)




Here are Brad and Mr. Tyler. Tyler was little less shy than Autumn was.


Tyler and Autumn were pretty cute together. By Sunday night, Autumn was trying to rub his tummy. Which, as many of you know, means he's "in the club." :P


Well, happy Christmas week everyone! I'm sure we'll be posting again soon. Papa D and Mama Lainey are having more fun than the kids are preparing for Christmas so there will be many cute moments to share.