A Week in the Life

This should have been three blog posts but I'm gonna try to fit it into one. Haha. So, SUNDAY we had lunch with most of the Colley family. I always love seeing Tyler and Autumn together because they are just so cute and sweet, especially when they are grinning at each other across tables. :) We blocked traffic a little getting some group shots of the kids. We have Mama Lainey and Papa D:


Note Autumn's outfit. Aunt Lindsay got that for her and Autumn totally looked like she should have been on a yacht. Mike and I worked in the children's area that day and were joking that we were underdressed compared to Autumn and her snazzy outfit. As evidenced here in the photo which includes the Colley Subfamily B (we're Colley Subfamily A) aka Ryan, Leah, and Tyler.


By the way, occasionally I have moments where I am reminded how small I am (usually in a grappling or stickfighting situation, ha) and the photo above seriously made me go, man, I'm small. LOL! Anyway, here they are with the always-snazzy Nanny and Boppa. Check out Boppa's suspenders. Love them! Oh, and please say a prayer for Nanny...she's fine but she is in the hospital recovering from hernia repair surgery. I think the worst part for her is going to be the "taking it easy" part. :P


Since this is a week in the Colley Life, here's a little Molly for ya. If you look at the first pic, you will see a little bird. It was on the windowsill chirping while Molly went BALLISTIC. It was seemingly taunting Molly which is weird because birds usually fly away when Molly lunges and hits the window. But not this bird. I im'd mike and told him that the bird was either tormenting Molly or hurt. Turns out it was just tormenting Molly. Brave bird.


Oh, this was funny. On Friday morning, we had finished our early morning routine and Autumn was doing her morning roam after getting dressed. Well. Apparently she was hot because one second she was fully dressed and tearing through the house and the next she was wearing only her diaper and sitting in her box of puzzles. Funny girl.


Today was the best, though. We got home from a looong day (including the wedding brunch for one of my kali instructors!) and we were all pretty beat. Autumn got her, like, 4th wind and this is how I found her after she did some rummaging in her room and came back into the living room.


She even did some chores dressed like this. I think she wore those sunglasses and carried my sheep keychain for like an hour. It was all kinds of awesome.


And here's the last one before we had dinner and then the bedtime routine...I LOVE how she wears her sunglasses like this. :P I haven't ever put her glasses on her head so this is just something she's picked up by watching. Having my favorite poofy lip face just makes it even better!


And is it freaking you out how grown up she looks there? Time is flying, for real!!

Growing up Monkey part 204

I was going to make a video to go along with this post but, man, I am tired tonight for some reason. But, the video is coming and it will. be. awesome. Hahaha. Well. It'll be entertaining, right? Cause it's Autumn and she is, if nothing else, entertaining. For example, this should have been in the cleaning post. One night recently-ish, I came home to this:


Who knew that monkeys could do dishes? She's also learning to do some fun things like sit cross legged...


and blow bubbles (she hasn't quite learned not to touch the wand to her mouth).


But the very best thing of all is that she finally, after months of saying, "papa, papa," called me mama!! Saturday night, Autumn ran through the house yelling, "mama! shoes!" right before we left the house. :D It was a good night.

Helpful Baby is Helpful...usually

So, Autumn is a pretty awesome kid. One reason she's awesome is that she, at least at this stage, kind of likes to clean. She even sings the silly song I made up about cleaning up when she does clean which just makes it that much better. My mom, of course, can't help but declare, "she didn't get that from you," whenever Autumn goes into OCDIMUSTCLEANOCD mode. THANKS MOM. lol. I even have photographic proof:


Seriously, she does stuff like wash the sides of the tub when she's bathing. She also likes to scrub her tray clean when she's done eating. Autumn even likes to help me fold and put away laundry which I let her do even if it means stuff goes in the drawers in a less than, um, flat manner.


Well. Today Miss Autumn had a non-cleaning moment. She likes to stand in the dining area of our house and stare out the window. I'm not really sure what she looks at but sometimes she stands there for a while. It's a little weird. But, hey, whatever, right? So, today when she stood in the window, I didn't think anything of it until I went over there. Yep. She had found a couple of crayons under the table and was coloring the window sill.


So as punishment she got to clean up the mess. Yes. I am that mom. At first I think she thought it was fun (singing, deeean up! deeean up! lalalalala!) but then she got pretty pitiful. I'm actually kind of hoping it didn't turn her off of her cleanliness. I have to confess that I did help her out in the end. :) Who could resist this sadness??


And, since we can't end a post with a sad monkey, here's Autumn with her first pigtails! I CAN'T STAND HOW AWESOME THIS IS. Mike and I were total dorks that morning, trying to get pics with our blackberrys so we could make them our backgrounds. lol!

Time Flies...

I just realized it's been a week since I posted! So, here's something to watch while I find some writing inspiration: Dog Brothers on Time Warp. This is a cool show that Mike and I watch occasionally. I've seen them do boxing and Japanese swordwork but this is the first time I've seen something I'm actively doing featured. A pretty good chunk of what my kali instructors are teaching is from these guys...you should come visit the class sometime if it looks like something you might enjoy!

And here's a preview of this week...

A little rocking out...


And probably a little OCD monkey action...


ps...that's the DON'T YOU DARE PUT ANY TOYS IN THE WATER I'M SERIOUS look.

Easter

I hope everyone had a great Easter! Autumn had a weekend of spoilage. Hahaha. This kid has soooo much chocolate stored in the pantry that we're probably going to be eating it until the next big candy holiday: halloween! Autumn's pretty okay with that, I think.


We took a family picture but it didn't really turn out--my hair had fallen out of my clip in an odd manner and our faces were all funny. :) But we did get some really cute individual photos. I asked Brad to get a full body photo of me because I wanted to show my friends that I stepped waay out of my comfort zone this year, lol! Mike's mom got me this beautiful skirt but the store didn't have the matching shirt in my size so I went out Saturday and got a shirt at Ann Taylor Loft (my favorite store!). I confess that I did buy a white shirt, too (yay for sales!), in case I chickened out. But I girded myself and went for the bright yellow! And so ends the fascinating saga of Sharaze's Easter Outfit.


Now, this photo I love. I am so getting a large print out of this. I'm proud of Mike for breaking out the khakis and a nice shirt. :) I can't remember the last time he was this dressed up. Lindsay's wedding maybe?


Have you ever seen a monkey so happy to be with her great-grandparents? I love how tickled all three of them look.


Brad and Lauren came to town to celebrate with us. I got to make dinner for them on Friday which was super fun. We ate tacos (all home made--even the taco shells!) and play some rock band with Donnie and Liz who got to come over, too.


We were all pretty impressed with Autumn's egg hunting skillz. This was her first one since she, um, couldn't walk last year. Crazy to think about! She rolled right through the eggs like a pro!


I love this one because she's got her "concentration lip" out.


This is actually from her hunt with my family. We had to do both egg hunts inside (and on the porch at Mike's parents') because of the rain. So sad! But still fun. She was so happy that I'm thinking we might play some hiding and finding games soon.


A monkey's haul. Part of it, at least.

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.
Matthew 28:5-6

Last Vacation Pics

Ok, this took me FOREVER but I think these are the last of the Colorado pics. :D

One thing that was cool about our trip is that Brad got to spend the weekend with us. I think I've mentioned that but it's late so forgive me. We ended up celebrating his and Brian's birthdays on Saturday night at this place called Casa Bonita aka HADES. At least my version of it. Ha! Bad diving shows, crowds, suspiciously sticky floors, little ventilation, and an overload of artificial light and sound? Check, check and check!! Here we are:


You can tell I'm trying not to have a heart attack in this photo. I laughed when I saw it because it looks like I've had 12 red bulls or something. Miss Autumn had a pretty good time, though. She loved the magic show. It was fun to watch her while she was totally glued to the magic guy. She would clap after every trick like she knew exactly what was going on. She also enjoyed the piñata that kids took turns trying to hit in one of the hallways. I didn't really see that because I was feeling claustrophopic and stepped to a less crowded area. I know, I'm a dork.


The next day we went to Winter Park which was the only day we all got to ski/snowboard together. We had been going in shifts in order to keep childcare costs to a dull roar. The place was really beautiful. This is the view from the gondolas we rode from the parking area to the main resort.


All of my pictures are from the end of our day. I fell down too much to really carry my camera on the slopes. :) We had taken Autumn and Nate to the resort daycare while Sophia stayed with a friend. Autumn did well...except she would not eat the corn dogs they had for lunch so they fed her waffles--sounds good to me!! But, waffles or not, she was totally ready to go when we came to get her. Like her boots? She borrowed those from Sophia.


Here's Mike as MOUNTAIN DAD. Prepared for anything with his backpack and diaper bag of usefulness.


It was really, really warm that day. For me to say that really means something because I can be cold on an 80 degree day that has a stiff northerly breeze. Mike and Autumn were pretty cute trudging through in their short sleeves with all the snow in the background.


Here we are in front of the slopes. It was funny, there were some teenage boys riding around on their snowboards wearing nothing but board shorts. They had masking taped shapes on their skin so they'd get weird sunburns/tans--my favorite was the kid with a lightning bolt taped onto his chest.


For some reason I like this picture.


This is the view going down the mountain in the pimpmobile. Which, incidentally, had really crappy visibility. Mike likened it to riding around in a tuna can.


Obviously it was really bright so when Mike realized he had left his sunglasses somewhere, he didn't borrow my sunglasses, he decided to just wear his goggles. Of course, I had to take a picture.


And that's it! Well. That's it of the ones that have a cohesive storyline. Here are some miscellaneous ones so I can strike this off my to-do list:

At the end of the trip, I realized I didn't have a photo of all the girls so here we are early Tuesday morning right before Mike, Autumn, and I headed to the airport.


Sophia tried to kiss Autumn goodbye but Autumn wasn't really having any of that. :)


And the last thing is a product plug. This is the Go Go Kidz Travelmate. I highly recommend it for anyone who is going to fly more than once with an infant or toddler. It's kind of like a dolly for the carseat. The handle and wheels strap to the seat and you can wheel it around like a stroller. We were able to take it through inspection and everything without having to take it apart. We didn't do this but will when we fly again in August, but you can also just strap the carseat into the airplane seat without having to take the handle part off--the wheels just snap right off with no trouble. We checked the whole things at the door with no problem. Autumn loved riding in it and wasn't too happy when she had to get out.


The only real con is that the handle isn't quite as high quality as I would like. Although it does feel somewhat flimsy, I don't think it would break. And the button to extend and retract the handle is in a spot that I kept accidentally hitting. The handle also doesn't snap into place as firmly as, say, a telescoping handle on a nice piece of luggage.

But it was totally worth it in lack of hassle at the airport and we paid the same amount for the Travelmate as we would have paid for a week's carseat rental. I believe there are other types of car seat wheels out there but this was my personal favorite and would definitely recommend it to someone who is lazy like me and doesn't want to haul a fat car seat from gate to gate!