We have a bike rider

I sorta kinda feel like a loser parent for this. But, what am I supposed to do when the kid doesn't care to learn how to ride a bike until she's 9? As a reward for her hard work she got a new bike courtesy of some lovely grandparents. Don't have video of that. But I do have video of this...

Bike Rider from Autumn Hutt on Vimeo.

First day of school

This school year might be a little tricky. The girls are going to different schools that start and end at the same time. They can't ride the bus to school because we're either out of district (Belle) or the bus comes at the crack of dawn at a far away pick up spot (Ava), which makes no sense to me.

Belle started first grade. She had a blast in the spanish immersion program last year and will stick with it at least through fifth grade. So far, Ava's loving fourth grade. I'm really excited about the program she's in (an accelerated one) and the school she's attending.

Luke will be going to the same preschool he went to last year - a coop that we love. I'm in charge of all the parent clean up days and am on the board of directors this year.

Add the school stuff to life, work and roller derby and I anticipate being one tired momma.

Drum roll please...here are the first day of school pictures. Thankfully the making funny faces in pictures gene skipped one of my kids .

Rainy Day

It's no secret that I'm anti-umbrella. Because of that, I've put Belle's multiple requests for an umbrella on the super way back burner. Fortunately for her, we happened upon a 50% off sale - that included fun kid umbrellas - at Lands End. The kid knows a sale when she sees one. She also knows that mom has a tough time saying no to a sale. Even if an umbrella is involved.

The umbrellas found their way to our home on Friday and Saturday (after a trip back to grab one for Ava). Saturday was one of the most glorious days of 2009. The goofballs refused to come out and play, thus making it possible for me to get some much needed yard work done (if you look at the right side of the photo you'll see how far two bags of mulch made it - not very) in a relatively short period of time.

Along came Sunday. And with it, lots and lots of rain and fifty five measly degrees. The girls cheered when they saw the rain. Cheered! They were outside faster than I could pour my first cup of coffee.

Meanwhile, Luke spent some quality time with his second favorite play thing. Play dough. He's been known to play with the dough for three hours at a time. He goes through so much that it's easier to make a fresh batch each time. I'm a fan of this recipe.

Easter 2009

Dying eggs was a success. Only one broken egg that Ava promptly ate. Luke didn't get to participate because he decided to go to bed at 6:45pm.

The Easter Bunny left a bit of candy, some plastic animals and plants for the girls.

Luke got tons of bubble making accessories. The kid loves his bubbles.

Hunting for eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's. The wind was a bit chilly, but it was still warm enough for short sleeves. Belle's choice of clothes is never a good indicator of the temp. She wore that outfit during the ice storm.

Ava checking out the contents of her eggs.

Silly goose.

Torturing the kids by having them sit directly in the sun.

Found a better spot to sit. Wade had to work all day, so he didn't get to participate in the fun. He did get a plate of leftovers, so that kinda sorta makes up for it.

Long time, no post

Since last post, Ava had a birthday, Belle is officially enrolled for kindergarten, Luke learned how to blow bubbles and it went from 70* and beautiful to snow in less than a week.

In honor of Ava's birthday, here's a little blurb about my ever so opinionated eight year old.

Ava's personality developed fast and furiously and hasn't changed much. She argues every point and calls us on every infraction. She's still petite (25th percentile for height & weight since age 2) and very picky about what she'll stuff down her pie hole. She outgrew her Britax Regent just before her 8th birthday. Being the car seat nazi that I am, that's one milestone that has me all torn up.

She's particularly fond of the Ipod Shuffle and roller skates she received as gifts and can often be found rolling around while rocking out to Flight of the Conchords.

Age 2

Age 3

Age 4

Age 5

Age 6

Age 7

Christmas 2008

It doesn't matter how much we cut back, presents - much like rabbits - tend to multiply when kids are involved. We're at a really, uh, let's call it fun place with the kids and the whole anticipation thing. Even so, Ava managed to fall asleep in record time on Christmas Eve. (Think Belle's huge birthday cake had something to do with that. Mega sugar rush turned into mega sugar low pretty fast.)

We spent the morning at home. In the pm we went south to the in-laws where we ate (a very late) brunch, opened gifts and shot some hoops.

The ultimate bed head. Belle's dino roars and walks. It's not annoying at all.

This is Ava being so excited that she can't contain herself. Guitar wasn't such a hit. The Wedgits were.

Belle encourages Luke to open his gifts by threatening to open them.

Luke demonstrates not sticking out his tongue - his latest obsession.

Wade and Lou (brother-in-law) helped Steve (father-in-law) hang his basketball hoop. Here they are burning off some of those Christmasy calories.

Truancy Intervention

On Friday a letter from Ava's school showed up in our mail box. A bit excited, I ripped the envelope to shreds. Ava has been (or maybe she's done now) taking tests for the gifted program that begins in third grade. This is new territory, so I'm not sure about the process, but delivering the results via letter makes sense.

Unfortunately, the contents had nothing to do with such test results. No, instead it was notice that if my lovely child is late once more I will be going to court. Nice. I know she's been late. I didn't know that she'd been late five times (and except for the time I locked the keys in the running car that was blocking our other vehicle, she's only been 2-3 minutes late) and that six equals legal intervention.

Now, say what you will about it being our responsibility to get her there on time. I get it. However, I wanted her to learn about natural consequences. When you throw yourself madly about the floor and refuse to dress, walk or talk, you have to sign in at the front desk - and here's the kicker - all by yourself. Who knew the natural consequence would be for me (Wade might participate at some point, but for now it's me) to attend truancy intervention meetings once a month at 7:45 am.

Knowing this was a problem prior to receiving the letter, I'd been racking my brain for ways to get her going in the morning. Seven seems a bit early to develop a coffee habit, so I opted for the one thing that consistently gets her attention. Money. She gets fifty cents for going to bed without throwing a fit the size of Texas and fifty cents for being in the car ready to go at or before 7:30. It's working.

After getting over the initial shock, I'm kind of looking forward to hanging with the other delinquent parents.

What's up with the tooth fairy?

Ava recently lost tooth numero ocho. She'd been working really, really hard on that tooth and convinced Wade (I don't partake in tooth removal) to give it one last go as she was getting in bed. It made a gut wrenching pop as Wade ripped it from her mouth. Despite the blood (this was one of the bloodiest on record), she was beyond stoked about the tooth fairy coming. I'm assuming that the tooth fairy was somewhat unprepared as the call to take Ava's tooth to fairy land came right at bedtime.


Ava really, really, really wanted the Halloween Kitty from Build-a-Bear. Since it was one of those limited time dealies, we bought it for her and she was earning money toward buying it from us.

Because she got the call so late and had no cash to speak of, the tooth fairy did a bit of bartering. She took all the money Ava had earned and gave her the Halloween Kitty. Imagine Ava's confusion and anger when she woke up the next morning and saw that the tooth fairy had stolen her money.

Where do you draw the line?

I draw it right here. At this outfit.


Ava prepares her outfits the night before and I usually double check them. You know, to make sure she doesn't wear stuff like this in public. I'm all for the kids using their clothes as a creative outlet, but damn.

My initial reaction when I saw this fab combo was to take her straight to our eye doctor. Obviously there's something seriously wrong with her sight. She was dead set on wearing the shirt. It looks lovely with her jean skirt. So, I encouraged her to pick the jean skirt and gave her the night to ponder it and hopefully dream about the taunting she'd receive and the phone calls I'd get from her teachers.

Here's the up close in case that first picture didn't make you retch.

As you'd imagine, it didn't work. She woke up consumed with the thought of how great the colors complimented each other, a sore throat and miserable with allergies. Having been beaten on by ragweed all week, I felt for her and decided that she should spend the day at home.

The game called Poop

Last weekend the girls were getting restless. It was way too hot to play outside. We had played our homemade match game a few times and a few of our other trusty boredom busters. But that wasn't enough. No, they demanded more.

In a moment of pure genius, Wade decided that we should teach them bullsh*t. Fine by me, but we had to give it a more kid friendly name. Wade thought bull would suffice. But then I reminded him that they are kids. Kids think that think the word poop is the funniest thing since Spongebob.

We played a few rounds of poop and discovered that our girls are fabulous poop players. (Imagine that.) They seemed to have an unending tolerance for that game, but Wade and I finally got pooped out and had to call it a day.

First day of school

How awful is it that I continue to dread the first day of school? The mere thought of getting even less sleep is enough to make me nap while I'm awake. Ava is definitely capable of rolling out of bed to the i-n-s-a-n-e meowing of her kitty alarm clock (in case the screeching of her clock doesn't wake her, surely the heinous sounds of our real cats climbing the walls will) and getting herself going. But, no, my feet have to hit the floor first. Gotta get to the kitchen for some yummy Tully's and try to rub some of the sleep out of my eyes.

We're only on day one. It's gotta get easier. Right?

To say that Ava loves school would pretty much be the biggest understatement in the entire history of time. She LOVESLOVESLOVES school. And this year she's going to a brand spanking new school with state of the art stuff. Though, it seems as though their copy machine lacks the ability to print front and back. I was annoyed to see garbage bags on the wish list for her class. But when I got the 40 page Parent Handbook printed only on one side of paper, I was really annoyed. I'm pretty sure they could've saved enough money to buy garbage bags by making that baby 20 pages of front and back.

First day of 1st grade.	First day of 2nd grade.

The artiste is in the house

Ava has always been insanely (as in very, very not withdrawn and reclusive) creative and artistic. As a parent, there's some balance between fostering that creativity and going mad trying to provide enough crafts and the proper supplies for such a child. The summer months have been especially challenging. We get tons of ideas from Kids Craft Weekly, Kiddio and Make & Takes. Even with all these awesome ideas at our fingertips, it seems like we're going through a few projects daily.

Self portrait. "In my back yard"

She recently spent a weekend with her grandparents. They have a fabulous farm providing tons of fun we don't have being city folk. Fox, my mother-in-law and Ava's grandma, is an exceptional artist and owner of Lacetree Weaving. Fox was tying knots on the piece below when Luke, Belle and I arrived on Sunday. I had no idea they were going to weave! Ava did everything except the knots (of the black fringe). She was super excited and exhaustedly told me that it took her the entire day to make.


Maybe I need to reconsider the space I have marked for my future elliptical trainer. A loom might be a better purchase.

Haircut marathon

We let ourselves go over the summer. Why bother with haircuts on a regular schedule when the hair is drenched with pool water and/or sweat? And since the kids (okay, they probably don't really care, but I do) don't want to look like they got their hair cut for the first day of school on purpose, we have to do it a little early. This was the week.

I'm pretty good with a pair of clippers. I can buzz the heck out of any head you throw at me. I can even make a pretty straight line. And I make a darn good fro-hawk. But scissors are a completely different animal. One time Wade and I decided that it'd be a good idea to save a few bucks and trim Ava's bangs ourselves. Fifteen minutes and no bangs later, we decided that the 6 pack we drank prior to was a bad idea. (No, we didn't get drunk and cut her hair. But it would've explained the outcome.) The worst part was that I knew better.

Growing up, my mom did most my grooming. Considering what a brat I was, it must've taken all her patience to cut my hair and not my throat. When I was around 7, I decided that I wanted my hair just like hers. She got me positioned just right, grabbed the nasty junk drawer scissors and got going. My bangs progressively got shorter and shorter and shorter. When there wasn't much bang left and I still wanted them shorter she was confused and finally thought to ask what I envisioned as the final product. "Your bangs." She didn't stop laughing for a year. See, she had long hair and a pony tail.

And so, we pay someone to cut their wild little manes.

Here's the before.

My kids think that "smile" means make the weirdest face possible. The front of Luke's hair wasn't too bad, but he was thisclose to rockin a mullet. Belle's hair was actually growing out super cute and looked great pulled back in a clip. Ava pretty much needs a buzz a la Britney to avoid the scream fest that ensues after I grab the brush.

And the after.

Again, I said "smile." When will I learn? Luke's bangs look like I got my grubby little fingers on them. That's the only thing I don't like about his cut. The lady does a great job on the rest of his head and even whispers sweet nothings into his ear the entire time she's got him in the chair. Ava decided on a slightly stacked bob. Belle went back to uber short. The first time she got that cut it was an accident, but it fits her sassy personality perfectly.

Here's to all those bad mom hair cuts!

Shoe Tying Fun

I had never really planned on teaching Ava how to tie her shoes. Really, why bother when there are so many non-tying options out there? Besides, I bet Carrie Bradshaw didn't know how to tie shoes.

Ava is a master knot maker, so I figured she was pretty set. Then one day she brought home her glowing report card. It was almost neon it was glowing so hard. But one of the lights was dim keeping it just below neon status. Who knew that shoe tying was on a report card? At that point, Ava informed me that she was pretty much the only kid in her class that didn't know how to tie shoes. Seriously? Surely there are other parents out there that don't have that on the top of their to do list.

So, we kept trying to make time to show her. But the darn velcro and rushing out the door at the last minute made it oh so hard to remember. One lazy day a few weeks ago, I decided that it was time. I grabbed my irreplaceable Asics (seriously, can't find another pair to fit my 10AAs) and Ava attempted the bunny ear tie. That was pretty much a no go. It was on to the other way that may or may not have a name. She learned on the first try. And here she is demonstrating.

First you cross the laces.

Then you put one under the other. That fluff ball at the bottom of the photo is the pregnant momma cat that's adopted us and forces us to feed her. Anyone want a kitten in a couple months?

Then you make a loop de loop or two.

Bring loop number two over and under loop number one.

And you end up with a shoe that probably won't fall off when you take a step and a crazy happy kiddo!