Watching a Caterpillar

Autumn and her cousin had fun watching a caterpillar crawl along the picnic table on Saturday. We were at Minihaha Falls for a family picnic. My brother-in-law got married on Sunday and the Picnic on Saturday was a great chance for family and friends to all get to know each other. We had perfect weather and met some very nice new people. It was lots of fun. Autumn had a blast hanging out with Becca, her grandparents, and her aunt.

Night, Night Rexy

Here are a couple of pictures of Autumn putting Rexy to bed right before we left to go to daycare. She sang to him and rocked him and kissed him night night. :) Sorry, not the best quality.

Gymnastics Awards

Autumn has been going to gymnastics class for the last 20 weeks at The Little Gym. I picked this place because it is non-competative and it is based on child development. The kids go through a group activity and then get to explore the gym with all its uneven bars and balance beams and various mat configurations. Autumn has had the time of her life there. This past Saturday was her last day and they do a "show week" which for these kiddos is really just another fun class but with a medal and certificate at the end. They played the Olympic theme song and had the kids walk up some steps to a mat platform to recieve their medals. Autumn was so proud of hers that she wore it ALL day long! She stood there bowing at the waist and saying "keekoo, keekoo" over and over after her turn was over. She is such a ham!!! She and her friend Judah loved being in the same class and had fun comparing medals and certificates. Remember if you want to see a particular picture better just click on it.

New Neighbors

We have new neighbors......

Summer Time

Here are some fun times we have been having. Autumn is living outside and my hair is bleaching out and my arms getting nicely tanned! We have discovered the joys of riding a scooter (and wearing Daddy's helmet), playing in the sand box, painting on the sidewalk with water and chasing our new neighbors.

Talking in her Sleep

My Grandpa (otherwise known as "other one papa")

Autumn talks in her sleep. How do I know? On our drive back up from Kansas City she was talking in the back seat, I kept thinking she was waking up but nope, she'd snore in between her little blurts. I heard things like:

"siwy papa"

"other one papa"

"1, 2, papas"

"Jin! where are you?"

"dee dee dee" (this is the song of a chickadee that grandma taught her)

"gma gma gma gma gma gma"

"ephant shower"

"hippo BIG"

"uh-oh"

"simming simming simming" (we went to a park with water spouts that she played and played in)

"one second"

"be back"

"wait a minit"

"nigh nigh tney" (Courtney is the girl who was gracious enough to babysit for us)

"aunum do it sef"

"potty fush"

"hmmmm........I know...."

It was so funny! She was apparently re-living our weekend in her dreams. It was a good weekend. We went to attend the wedding of one of my cousins from my mom's side of the family. Autumn met her great grandpa, her "other one papa". She had a grand time while we stayed with my Aunt Jane and attached to her right away (she knows a grandma when she sees one!). We went to the zoo with a cousin from my dad's side of the family and she had a great time seeing all the animals we don't have here at our MN zoo. She just didn't stop going!!! She had fun directing grandma in some kind of copy cat game outside....the list goes on, it was definately a great weekend.

Quiet Time?

Most days Autumn takes an afternoon nap, of course there are days here and there that she won't sleep no matter what. Those days she knows that it's OK but she will still have to stay in her room and play quietly until Mommy or Daddy comes and gets her. She may not need a nap but Mommy certainly does!!!! One of those "I'm not sleepy days" I was lying on my bed reading a book and just plain relaxing while listening to Autumn's quiet chatter over the monitor. I love those times, she's so funny to listen to. Well what I heard was "I heping". That made me nervous so I thought I'd go peek. What I saw was Autumn sitting on the floor wiping at her dresser with a baby wipe and all around her was a pile of snowy white wipes. She'd completely emptied the brand new container! When she looked up and saw me she said "I ceening" (cleaning). I said "you sure are, can we please put some of these back in the box?" She helped do that and I put it up high, leaving a few of them for her to clean with and went back to my book.

Another of those times I heard "yucky". Buy the 5th repetition of this I went in to see what was yucky. Autumn was totally naked and holding her very full and very yucky diaper in her hands. So we cleaned her up and put the diaper in the trash and got her a new one and I went back to my weaving. This one happened frequently so now we are in the process of potty training! (stay tuned for more on that topic)

Here are a few random pictures for your enjoyment.

This is Autumn's new "ride". Her "cincess" scooter is a hit no matter how she rides it. Daddy and Mommy even get turns on it as she chases us down the sidewalk giggling and shrieking the whole way.








This is some quality Daddy and me time. And the cute dress that Favorite Aunt Jane made. (that would be my aunt and her great aunt)




Quiet time in the window and play time in the "boat".

Autumn's First Skating Attempt

When I went to pick Autumn up from my friend's house after work yesterday I found this....

Autumn discovered she could do this on her own in the grass. I had to laugh because she looked so tall when she was trying out her wheels.

Look, look at how tall she seems!

As much fun as Autumn had doing this I think we'll focus on the trike this year and maybe skates next summer.

My favorite was the walking in place, there was just no convincing her that she needed to slide her feet and not walk. She said "swow" and "sippy" (slow and slippery) many many times while trying to figure this out. It really was the funniest thing, and I sure needed a good laugh yesterday.

Baby's Bath

A co-worker gave Autumn a baby bed/baby bath/cupboard thing. So far we'd only played with the bed and the doors. This weekend I showed Autumn that if you take the bed part off the top there is a bathtub hiding. She thought this was the coolest thing and before I knew what she was doing she had poured her cup of water in the tub so the baby got a real bath and not just a pretend one. The baby even had a book read to her during her bath. Now that the baby bed was on the floor Autumn decided to see if she could fit. Not exactly but she gave it a good try. :)

New Fish

We have two new additions to our household menagerie. We have two fish, fish one and fish two. They don't really have names. But Autumn adores them and likes to feed them every morning. When we went to buy them the lady asked Autumn what kind of fish she wanted. She stood there tapping her lips with her little finger and said "Uuummmmmm.....Sharks!" The gal thought for a moment and found a little ceramic shark for the tank. Then she asked Autumn what other kind of fish she wanted and Autumn said (again with the lip tapping) "Uuummmmmm.....Orange!" And so we got two little goldfish.