Construction Projects

The past two weekends have seen a couple of construction projects take place. Grandma and Grandpa Petersen came to visit the new house over Father's Day weekend. We celebrated with a very yummy new chicken recipe and ice cream cake and by building a climber for their favorite little adventuress. Then this past weekend Grandma and Grandpa Triebenbach came to visit the new house and Daddy and Grandpa built shelves in the garage. It made for a very noisy and pointless nap time. Autumn was in 7th Heaven having grandparents two weekends in a row!!!! Autumn, of course had to have her hand in both projects. The headphones Autumn is wearing are some I managed to dig out of a box somewhere. The saw inside the garage was too much for her little ears.

This climber has already been a: pirate ship, volcano, safe place from hot lava (that comes from the volcanoes across the street in the gravel pit), dinosaur cave, puppy house, tent, mountain top, car, bus, fire truck, and I'm sure more that I am forgetting. All in 2 weeks, what an imagination Autumn has!

New Dress

Here is the first new dress I made for Autumn, it's called a pillowcase dress and instead of making it out of a vintage pillowcase I made it out of some dinosaur fabric I found. She loves having a dinosaur dress. I also included a picture of the new Rexy. In a couple of the pictures you can see a fun hairstyle I tried out last Sunday, it's called Zulu Knots or sometimes called Bantu Knots. It was easy and quick and lots of fun. She got lots of compliments at church. Some kids can keep this style in for up to a week but with Autumn's hair type it didn't last overnight, even with her satin pillowcase. Her hair just isn't kinky enough to stay in a style like that. But that's ok, it was fun while it lasted. Her hair must be 6-8 inches long at a guess, I didn't measure it with a ruler but it reaches her shoulder blades in the back! If she wears it in an afro you can't tell, the curls just pull up tight. It's amazing. I really love playing with her hair, so it's a good thing that she likes having it done in fun and zany styles.

Other One Papa

We went to Kansas City over Memorial Weekend. There'll be other pictures posted in a bit but these deserved their own spot I thought. Autumn is totally in love with her Great Grandpa also known as her Other One Papa. I believe I'll be framing the one of them facing the camera!!!! We had a picnic at one of my aunt's houses and Autumn was just in awe of Grandpa's white hair. We visited his house on Sunday and went to church with him. He lives in a retirement village in Lee's Summit and the church is held in one of the buildings on that campus. It is filled with grandmas and grandpas and Autumn was in heaven. We've been there before and a few of the folks there remembered Autumn. It isn't very often that little ones attend their church.

Got some good snuggles in with Great Grandpa, he's a fabulous snuggler!

Autumn was showing Great Grandpa that she can now buckle her seat belt all by her self, all of the different buckles. (thank goodness she can't undo them herself yet!)

Dinosaurs

Autumn has a bath towel that is a dinosaur and she loves to wear it. She wanted me to "cheese" her while she was wearing it (take her picture). So here you go. Also you can see my new studio and the first project on the cutting board. Rexy is getting a face lift, he'll now be teal corduroy. I've got him all cut out and am on to a couple of dresses for Autumn out of dinosaur fabric. We'll model those for you when they are finished.

A Tale of Two Potties

We have worked on and off on potty training for a while now. Autumn would get excited about it and then quit. After about three rounds of this we backed off completely. We tried a little potty, potty seats, big potties. She'd go in public places (zoo, store, etc) but not at home, she'd go at home but not at daycare, she'd go at daycare but not at home. You get the picture. We started wearing panties on weekends and evenings (not daycare hours) and she's really excited to wear them. Then I found the golden ticket. I was at Unique (a thrift store) and found this "throne" for about $4. I've seen these things at craft fairs and antique stores for upwards of $50-$100!!!! I figured 4 dollars was a good deal. Autumn loves that she can have her magazines and her very own paper (TP). The first day I had this in the bathroom she sat on it for over half an hour! Now, she doesn't always want to sit on the potty but we are getting there, she really wants to wear those cute panties so I think we are finally READY!