Autumn-A-Sarus

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

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Our guitar star

Stair Racing

So I went into Autumn's room to wake her up this morning and she wasn't there! Her bed was empty and there was no sign of her sleeping on the floor (which happens more often than not). Here's where I found her.

Here are Autumn and her friends doing some stair racing. I think Autumn had the advantage in her very slippery footie jammies. There was no rug burn on her tummy.

Adoption

It's National Adoption Awareness Month!!

This year's theme,"You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent,"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bspQRL8vzTU Maybe I'm horrible but I loved this ad, there were so many to choose from and they were all good. Remember that there are older kids out there who want and need moms and dads just as much as the cute little babies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8ZhBMQ1HbA This was is more emotional and just as good!

YAY

HI! Autumn was having fun "brushing" her dinosaur's hair. Even though he doesn't have any. This first picture is just a fun one with her pretty ponies in her hair. She picked out the colors and helped brush her hair before I put the ponies in. Because we get her hair wet before we brush it every morning she thinks (and rightly so) that this is part of brushing anyone's hair. So whether she is brushing her own hair or a baby's hair or a dino's or parent's hair..... there is alot of water being liberally applied.

Trick or Treat

Here is Autumn with her favorite person at church. She's wearing a wig one of the youth plopped on her head earlier. She had lots of fun tickling Mike's face with the long hair.

Well, I have to say that this trick or treating thing was a HUGE hit with Autumn. She wanted to go out at about 6:30 Sat morning! It was a very long day of waiting. We tried to keep her busy but the closer we got to the time the more excited and antsy she got. We went to a cousin's house in Bloomington and trick or treated in their neighborhood. Then Autumn got to help pass out the candy while we ate supper and just relaxed at their house. I think the two activities were about equally fun for her.

A Few Pictoral Moments

Autumn's birthday present, SHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, don't tell!

Autumn and the family watching "rocket" (Disney's Little Einsteins)

Meet mommy rock, she's watching her baby rock while she swims in the sink. Said mommy rock to baby rock when the baby came to get a hug "I missed you much"

Autumn has figured out that on Mommy's iPod there are some games just for her. One is a dinosaur game (of course) one is a preschool concepts game, one is memory.....they keep her entertained in a pinch, and sometimes when mommy is trying to get supper on the table.

Falling Behind

(once again I put the pictures up here in reverse order, some day I'll get it figured out)



I have all these great intentions and then life intervenes. We've been pretty busy lately, I'm mostly recovered from my surgery which has made life much easier for Kurt. Autumn is busy being almost 3. She plays with her stuffed animals, creating many elaborate scenarios for them (at least they sound elaborate, she tends to talk in Autumnese for most of them). Sometimes Kurt and I get pulled into the play and sometimes she wants to play by herself. She has a whole family going: Rexy is the daddy, a tiger is the mommy, a leopard and two bears and an alpaca and a babydoll make up the kids. Her friend from next door moved away and she hasn't really met any other kids in the neighborhood to play with. It's hard to explain to a 2 year old why her friend isn't in her house anymore. Another of her friends will be moving away sooner or later and we'll have to do this again. I think it was easier to be the one who moved.



Autumn got to pick out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch at our church. She wandered around for a while and then we found the one we wanted. I said she could have one as big as she could carry. Well, it's maybe a bit much for her to carry but I didn't specify how far she had to carry it.....

Autumn tried a few of the seeds, she decided she didn't want to wait till I baked them first.

Autumn was very interested in this process and got her hands a little messy but decided to let Daddy do most of the work. The last two years she had lots of fun getting very messy, I'm sure that we'll be back at that point soon enough. :)

Pregnancy and Infant loss Awareness Day

Here is our Hannah, I know she is keeping her Great Grandmas busy in Heaven. I'm glad she has them up there to love her. And I know that she is in good hands, His hands.

I wanted to post this earlier but our internet has been out. Today is National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. I lit my candle today at 7:00 in memory of Hannah and all the other little ones who were sent to Heaven too soon. Yesterday I had surgery and my OB/GYN told me that difinitevly that I will not be carying any children. Even if I manage to get pregnant it will only end prematurely every time. So, today I am remembering Hannah and trying to come to terms with this diagnosis. Deep down I rather knew this was true, but hearing it out loud and in such a final way, well, I guess there will be some grieving before I am at peace with this.

This is a prayer that a friend of mine sent to me, she has also sent two angels to Heaven before she was ready to: "Dear God, I would have loved to have held my babies on my lap and told them about you, but since I didn't get the chance, will you please hold them on your lap and tell them about me."

Praying for Carson

If you haven't noticed it the ribbon in the upper right hand corner is a link. This is a former student of mine. I was his teacher for two years and miss getting to see his smiling face once a week. Carson continues to struggle with many issues, if you click your mouse on the ribbon you will be taken directly to his Caring Bridge site and can find out what prayer needs he and his family have. He's such a strong little boy, nothing gets him down for long, he is an inspiration to me and I'm thankful that his mom teaches in the same building I do, she keeps me updated on Carson and all his antics.

Summer projects

This summer I got re-aquaited with my looms and my sewing machine. I made a couple of things for a friend of mine and then did a few things for myself and Autumn. I made a couple of dinosaur pillowcases for our little dinosaur princess, a couple of crayon rolls for Autumn and her friend for traveling, a few tea wallets for myself and for summer birthday gifts, and then i got my rigid heddle loom and my floor loom warped up. I only had a day a week to work on these things so they took a bit more time than they probably would have but still, I had a good time and am enjoying getting back into my hobbies. Here are a couple of pictures of my rigid heddle loom. My placemats turned into a sampler to try to get used to this new loom. Now I have a different warp on there, I'm making some spa type scrubby washcloths. When I get them finished and off the loom maybe I'll get a picture or two posted, assuming we have a new camera by then.

Renaissance Festival

We went to the Renaissance Festival today with Kurt's cousin Sandy and her husband Marc. It was wet and cold and muddy and cold and muddy and wet. But we had a good time anyway, we are made of sturdy stuff (or maybe we are just nuts). When we walked in the gates we were met by Twig, a woodland fairy. She played a song on her two pipe flute for Autumn, who wasn't really sure what to make of this strange creature. But when Twig gave Autumn a very shiny green rock with fairy dust on it Twig had a friend for life. Autumn is a rock hound, she loves to collect rocks and this one is quite a jewel! From there we wandered until we saw some jugglers, this really held no interest for Autumn but when she spotted the pirate.....this was your average looking pirate: bandanna on head, earring in ear, knee boots with puffy pants.....and then we met a raccoon puppet who wanted to trade for Autumn's rock (she was having no part of this!!). We saw a huge pirate ship where Puke and Snot were entertaining the masses. We moved on to a pony ride where Autumn really started to perk up. She chose to ride Bid Red and kept telling him to go faster. We ate lunch and then while Daddy and Sandy and Marc went to watch Puke and Snot Autumn and I wandered on, she rode a HUGE rocking horse and then a butterfly merry-go-round. Next we watched some Irish country dancers, Autumn liked trying to imitate the dancers and when they started dancing with sticks!!! She wanted to join them, sticks are right up there with rocks in Autumn's estimation. While we were watching the dancers we met a PIRATE. Now this was not a run of the mill swabbie, he was a rear admiral of pirates. He had a rapier with a fancy handle, lots of ostrich plumes coming from a corner of his tri-cornered hat with golden lace trimming the top edges of said hat. He had many earrings and ear cuffs. Autumn's jaw dropped, and in a very awed voice (into a conveniently placed lull in music and noise) Wow, a pirate!!! He looked down at her and smiled. She looked him straight in the eyes and said "ARrrrr matey". He laughed so hard he stumbled then looked at her and said, "Wonderful, a new recruit!" It was so funny. About this time Daddy and the rest caught up with us and we listened to Alan-A-Dale play. He had lots of instruments spread out for kids to pick up and play with him. Autumn played a drum and then fell in love with the triangle. She played and played and we had to drag her away, as we were leaving a woman gave Autumn a dollar tip!! All in all it was a very fun day, next year hopefully we can go on a not so cold and wet and muddy day. Of course our camera picked this day to die a painful death. So we only have a couple of pictures, guess I get to go camera shopping.

Boxing and Dinosaurs

Autumn is a good boxer, when she pays attention she can beat whoever she plays. Apparently if you box while standing in a box you do better..... She likes to play the Wii with mommy and daddy but we have to find games where there is no button pushing because she doesn't get that concept yet. But baseball and boxing are two she can and does play. She is also learning how to use a mouse on the computer, it's been fun watching her figure out how to move her hand to control the pointer on the screen. The other thing Autumn is good at is being a dinosaur, this has taken on a new level of expertise now that she actually looks like one. A friend of ours loaned us a dinosaur costume that it is next to impossible to peel off of Autumn! We've been shopping in it, to gymnastics in it, playing outside in it, to a potluck/picnic in it...... I managed to get it into the washer just in time to get dressed for church so I took a little frou-frou princess to church rather than a green dinosaur! :) I swear that if I'd had little white lace gloves for her she'd have worn those with her "cincess" dress and "pwee" sandles, fancy hair and purse! That's my dinosaur princess for you.

This weekend was quite busy, we went to the zoo, went swimming with friends, a cookout with family......

We gave Bear a bath this weekend, she was looking rather dingy. Autumn had fun drying her with the hair dryer.

We went swimming with friends at their YMCA which has a zero depth entry pool. We tied a pool noodle around her waist (to help with floating) and she took off, she was totally independent in the pool! AAAAhhhhhhh!!!! She kicked and kicked (looked like walking in the water) and was 'simming' all over the pool by herself. My baby is growing up!!!!

At the zoo we saw the butterflies for the last time this summer as well as the African animals. Autumn was so excited to see the 'zoobas' and 'raffs' but when we got there she was totally amazed by the 'osters' (ostriches). We had lots of fun seeing the other animals too. I'm including pictures of a previous trip when Autumn tried her hardest to get a goat to go home with us. :)