new dentist

i mentioned that i took the boys to the dentist last week (when madelyn was sick) but i didn't take any pictures and forgot to mention the results in a post so here is one after madelyn's rescheduled appointment this morning. i took a picture of all the new patient names on the wall.  all of the staff were dressed up as "things" with red numbered shirts and blue fuzzy wigs and the dentist was the cat in the hat (he just wore the hat) since it was halloween.

the boys both did great during their appointments.  they went back by themselves but the dentist seemed pretty impressed that both boys, especially maddux, would let them complete a cleaning.  i felt like the 'bad mommy' because i couldn't remember if this was maddux' first appointment or not.  i was even trying to look it up on the blog in the parking lot but ran out of time and had to just go in.  in my defense, their last trip to the dentist was the day before we moved into the house and i had a lot going on.  he went to the office with me too, i just can't remember if he went back for a cleaning or just to watch.  anyway, he did great today.  they both had excellent reports on their brushing and there are no signs of cavities.  we talked a little about mason's thumb sucking and the dentist thinks that we are on the right track (he will pull it out willingly if we catch him with it during the day) and isn't really worried about it at this point.

we also talked about madelyn's thumb sucking.  she doesn't suck her thumb regularly, but i have caught her with a soggy thumb when she gets in trouble and has to go to her room or when she isn't feeling well.  we never see her suck it any more.  her thumb sucking isn't a huge concern either, but as a result of the thumb sucking, she has a tongue thrust that is of concern.  basically, when she swallows, she pushes her tongue on her teeth instead of on the roof of her mouth.  since you swallow a lot throughout the day, that will push her teeth out over time.  it is more of a cosmetic concern than a functional one, although he did mention that it could affect her ability to bite into things if it gets too bad. 

at this point, it is just something he is going to keep an eye on and will possibly address when she is 100% past her thumb phase.  he said that it would be a problem should she get braces because the braces' wires would hold her teeth in place but the tongue thrust would undo everything as soon as they came off.

i always thought that mason had more of a 'thumb sucker' bite, but madelyn's is pretty out there too.  i will not obsess, i will not obsess, i will not obsess...  love.

i didn't make it...

the virus got me too.  i didn't have it nearly as bad as everyone else, but it was not fun.  i think i slept for almost 24 hours straight - when i wasn't in the bathroom anyway.  on the plus side, matt was able to come home early and watch the kids, manning was still sleeping more than normal from his vaccinations and school was cancelled for everyone due to hurricane/storm sandy.

i was able to ask the pediatrician about manning catching it too and she wasn't too worried about him catching it or having too much trouble since it has been so short lived.  so we should be done - with this one any way...

geez.  i think i have been sick more this year than i have in the past 10!  thank you all for your prayers.  love.

picture day

well, it would have been picture day if i had realized that the 'order form' was really a consent form for him to have his picture taken...  (sigh.)  oh well, they are taking pictures again tomorrow.

there is so much paper coming home from the two schools that i can barely keep up with all of the forms and dates.  i guess i need to take the time to read each one carefully before i stick it in my folders for each school in the office.  at least i am sort of organized - i knew where it was.

i did snap a quick picture with my phone before dropping him off.  isn't he handsome?  love.

manning 4-month check-up

i didn't remember until i woke up at 7:30, but today was manning's check-up, rescheduled from last monday, at 9am!  ahhh!  i woke everyone up and tried to hurry them along.  (matt was getting ready for work even though he was sick all afternoon and evening yesterday - crazy man.)  the only way we were going to make the appointment was for everyone to be in the van and for madelyn to ride the bus then drop mason off a little early (his school starts at 9).  the good news was that i had nursed manning a little before 6am and went ahead and took a shower before getting back in bed - otherwise i would be on day 3 without one.

mason didn't take to being woke up and cried almost non-stop. he finally pulled it together enough to get dressed but missed out on breakfast (i threw some cheerios in a to-go cup for him).  i quickly made madely's sandwich for lunch, wrote an absence note for last week and got maddux and manning dressed.  and, yes, i did take the time to make myself an iced coffee because mommy still needs some sleep after this weekend!

it was about 10 minutes before the bus would come so i started loading up the car.  mason has pictures today so i grabbed a cup of water and comb to fix his bed head when we got to school, grabbed maddux and his socks and shoes and put him into his seat and buckles - thankfully, he was agreeable today.  mason managed to get his own shoes on and grabbed his jacket.  then he and madelyn got into the van too.  (madelyn had a lot of crying about my request that she put a long sleeved shirt under her summer dress she had chosen to wear on this cold, windy and rainy day.)

i didn't wait for them to buckle up but took off towards the bus stop (it is only a block from our driveway).  we pulled up behind the bus and madelyn and i jumped out and ran to the stop as the bus was turning in the cul-du-sac.  we had made it!  now to drop off mason (a much calmer happening) and then off to the doctor.

manning is great.  he is healthy, eats well, sleeps well and is exceeding developmental milestones.  here are his stats (at least what i remembered them to be since they didn't write them down for me this time and i didn't expecting that they would...):

height: 28 inches (100th percentile) - same as madelyn, taller than mason and shorter than maddux
weight: 18 lbs. (90th percentile) - heaviest of all four

surprise, surprise, another big boy! so happy to have another healthy baby.  we are so blessed!  love.

maddux 'reading'

and then maddux wanted a video of him 'reading'.  mason worked the camera (which is why you can't see our heads).  i love how maddux 'says' "banana".  he can say "nana" quite well and other words that start with "b" but he came up with his own way for "banana".  you also get to hear his "i don't know" over and over. love.

mason 'reading'

this isn't a book that we read very often but when mason starting 'reading' it with me last night, i asked if i could make a video today of him reading it by himself - he was delighted.  and he reminded me today to make the video.  i think that it is mainly colors in the pictures help him to 'read' it more than having it memorized.  love.

the toy catalogs are here!

trick-or-treat

tonight was the neighborhood's trick-or-treating.  kids walk around for an hour and then everyone meets at the clubhouse for a party afterwards.  we decided it was best not to go to the party, but wanted to let the kids go out for a bit since they had done so well all day and have been looking forward to trick-or-treating in our neighborhood for a few weeks now.

we ate a homemade pizza dinner (my first attempt at our own crust) and salad, we lit our smiley pumpkin, hung up some "boo, boo happy halloween" signs madelyn had made on the front door and got everyone dressed to go.  just like last year, it was a cold, windy night (last year there was more rain, but the rain took a break while they were out this year after raining all day).  i almost got a good picture, but there were all humoring me and were really ready to get going.

matt put the boys in the wagon with a blanket and madelyn walked.  manning and i stayed home to hand out candy.  we had barely a tenth of the trick-or-treaters we had last year.  matt says i just don't remember, but i almost ran out of candy last year and had three more bags than i bought this year (i had fruit snacks too).

madelyn came back after about 30 minutes because she was too cold.  and with most of the neighbors giving out full sized candy, she felt satisfied with the amount she had gotten.  maddux gave up shortly thereafter so mason and matt went to finish the neighborhood on their own.

i took a little video while we waited for mason and matt to get home.

and here is maddux.  "i don't know" is one of his favorite phrases. he uses it as a joke even when he does know something.  love.

day of rest

today was a day of rest, for the boys anyway.  they slept most of the day as matt and i did load after load of 'sanitary cycle' for all of the dirtied pillows, blankets, towels and pjs.  man am i tired.  i have had three coffees which is more than i would have most weeks, let alone in a single day.  but there hasn't been any more vomiting and they have eaten all of their meals and snacks as normal. we are going to let them go trick-or-treating tonight.

maybe the bug is why maddux passed out on the office floor yesterday.  here was his odd sleeping spot for today.  love.

on a lighter (louder) note...

manning was feeling good and 'sang' in the living room for a while.  as always, the camera was more interesting than what he had been doing...  love.

rough

that is how i would describe last night - along with a big dose of "ewww"!  when maddux threw up at the dinner table last night, we decided that we would make him a bed on the floor of our bathroom.  the problem with a one year old (yes, technically, he is still one) vomiting is that he doesn't understand what is happening and fights putting his face near the toilet or a trash can.  we thought that having him in the bathroom would at least lessen the work involved during clean up.

i had suggested that we go ahead and set mason up in the bathroom too, but matt thought that it would just be exposing him to germs he might have been able to avoid thus far.  so we put him down in his bed.

maddux had fallen asleep on the couch after throwing up in the living room after dinner so we left him there while we got the other kids ready for bed.  he woke up crying (and looking quite pale) and i told him that he was going to sleep in our room.  there was a lot of resistance but then he went in there and fell right to sleep.

maddux woke up around 10:30 feeling quite happy and then threw up in our bedroom as he was strolling around.  while we were cleaning that up, matt found mason throwing up in his bed (i don't know if he heard him or if mason called out - i was in the laundry room).  matt gave both boys a bath (again) and i got to getting the bed cleared off and to the laundry room.

we got both boys set up on the floor in our bathroom.  mason threw up a few more times and then around 11:30 both boys were throwing up at the same time and i had to call for matt to help me because maddux was trying to run away from the bucket and had made a big mess.  once we got him cleaned up again, we just threw some clean towels down over the comforter we were using as a bed for them and put them back down.  their stomachs were so empty at this point that not much was coming out any more and we were running out of clean blankets/towels - which is saying something because we have way more than most people.

maddux finally stopped heaving around 2am and mason kept going strong until about 5am.  poor mason.  he was so tired that he didn't care about sitting up to throw up any more.  i would have to lift him up and he would ask to lay down in between heaves.  he was also begging for water but we wanted to just keep him empty until this passes.  it is so hard to explain this.  mason seemed to understand but maddux did not at all.  i see a nap for him (and - fingers crossed - me) today.

thankfully, manning slept until 7:30 so i got a couple hours of sleep.  so far everyone seems to be doing well this morning.  the boys have gotten some water and cheerios (they begged and begged for food).

at least it was short lived.

stomach bug seems to be the illness of choice around here or maybe it is just this year.  i can't remember having it since like high school and it has been twice this year already (really, really hoping not to make it three).  love.

pumpkin time!

since we are stuck at home again today, i thought we would do some halloween-ish activities. (madelyn threw up again this morning, but is over all much better.  i actually found out that 13 kids were out sick yesterday - just in her class!)  first on the list?  get a picture of manning in the pumpkin costume. (see madelyn in the costume)  i really thought that i had pictures of mason in the costume but maybe it didn't fit him and it didn't fit maddux by the time of his first halloween he was almost one.

manning wouldn't look at me again once he got a look at the jack-o-lantern faces on his 'shoes'.

it was pretty windy outside (a cold front is moving through) and i was not really getting very good pictures, so i thought i would try inside.  manning was over it. i got this one and then he started to cry.  when i sat him up again, he started to shriek!  i don't think he liked wearing that hat - and can you blame him?  he does look cute though.



later, i went down to find the pumpkin carving kit in the basement.  the kids' costumes from last year were in the same container so, of course, they had to put them on.  what a difference a year makes! (mason is roaring and jumping in the picture.)

maddux fell asleep on the floor in the office while i took a quick meeting, so it was just mason and madelyn for the pumpkin carving.  we only got one pumpkin this year so we had some difficulty coming to a consensus on what character to carve, so we went basic with a smiley face.  we did look online for a template that was a little more interesting that just triangle eyes, etc. (not that those aren't cute, i just like a challenge and seriously thought about spider-man, but madelyn wouldn't get on board with that).

and then madelyn changed her mind...

both kids helped punch the holes, carve and poke out pieces - it was a real team effort.  we are going to need more pumpkins next year!  there aren't many pictures once we got to carving because my hands were too dirty and maddux had woken up grumpy (maybe because we started without him).

i love how focused mason was about staying on the boarders.

i will get a picture of the finished product all lit up tomorrow night (unless we get rained out).  love.

it would be so nice

...if i could fall asleep the way our kids do.  manning got a little cozy while i was cleaning up a little after dinner last night.

 and then maddux laid down in the office while i was in a meeting this afternoon. 

at least they are listening to their bodies, right?  love.

we tried making ice cream.

i say "tried" because i couldn't tell when it started freezing and let it freeze onto the wheel and get so solid that it wouldn't scrape off.  the kids each got a few shavings but said that it was really good.  if we try this again, we will flavor the ice cream.  the vanilla matched the tumbler too closely.  love.

cancelled plans

today was going to be a long and full day.  dentist appointments in the morning, drop madelyn off at school, head to the zoo to meet friends for lunch and enjoy this beautiful day, home to get madelyn at the bus stop, quick dinner and walking to the high school for trunk-or-treat for the elementary schools.  i had everything made, packed and loaded so that we could get out the door with minimal stress this morning.

and then madelyn got sick.  very sick.  she came in around 11 last night to say that she threw up two times and didn't make it to the bathroom the second time and it was in her bed.  that was when i realized that she also had it all over her sleeve and in her hair.  matt went to take care of her room and i took madelyn to the shower to get cleaned up.  matt came back to report that it was every where in the bathroom too.  from what we can tell, the toilet lid was closed when she went to throw-up and she didn't notice, so it splattered all over the wall too.  i know, gross.  since everything in her bed need to be cleaned we decided that matt would clean up as best (and quietly) as he could and she would just sleep in our room.

while she was in the shower i noticed how white her face was.  she threw up a few more times and explained that she had diareah too.  i would have guessed food poisoning, but she didn't eat anything the rest of us hadn't also.  so the fear of everyone having this stomach bug flashed before my eyes.  i am so praying that this stays to just her.  i helped her wash her hair (because she didn't want the vomit on her hands - she would rather just leave it in her hair - again, gross.)

we got her settled into a makeshift bed in the doorway of the bathroom so that she would have quick access, but gave her a trash can right next to her too.  and then we went to sleep.

i can't even begin to guess how many times she threw-up last night.  correction: how many times she dry heaved because there was absolutely nothing left in her body.  it was at least 10, but i stopped fully waking up for the last several.  the funniest part?  matt woke up and asked if she threw up any more!  i wish i could sleep that heavy!  but then our kids would be in trouble.  and i handle tiredness much better than he does.

so this morning i cancelled her dentist appointment (matt stayed home from work so that i could still take the boys - we felt bad canceling three appointments), called the school to let them know that she wouldn't be in at all (i had already sent a note about being late due to the dentist appointment), texted both friends we were meeting at the zoo and emailed the office to let them know that i would be able to work today after all.

oh well.  there will be other nice days and she already seems to be doing much better.  last night she told me that she didn't know if she would feel like going to school in the morning (i explained that school was not an option after throwing up multiple times) but this morning she said that she was feeling great.  she still hasn't kept anything down, but at least her color is returning.

please, God, please let her be the only one.  love.

grocery store trick-or-treat

a quick change into their costumes in the parking lot and the kids were (more than) ready to do the trick-or-treat scavenger hunt at the grocery store and then trick-or-treat at several other businesses in the shopping center.

it was pretty nice.  there were 11 clues that took the kids all over the store looking for treats.  madelyn was able to solve most of the clues but sometimes needed a little direction to find where to find that part of the store. i was impressed with how great the store staff's costumes were.  i really should have taken pictures because most of them went all out and all were kid friendly.  i also felt a little bad for people trying to shop who might not have know this was going on tonight.

maddux was dragging a bit from our long day and was mainly bringing up the rear.

the gorgeous weather continued right into the evening and it was a great night to be outside.  we enjoyed our stroll down the shopping center and the kids enjoyed getting more treats.  the last stop of the night was a burger restaurant that we have been wanting to try so matt went in with the kids to check it out while i waited outside with manning who was sleeping in the stroller.  they surprised me with milkshakes!

maddux is starting to get the hang of this trick-or-treat thing.  love.

daddy fun

daddy was able to get home a little earlier than normal so we ate a quick dinner and then loaded up for a trip to the driving range.  mason has been asking daddy to take him golfing for the past week or so and it really pained matt to have to go (please note heavy sarcasm).  everybody enjoys the driving range.  i even got to hit a few balls this time - it has been a long, long time since i have gotten to play and i am very rusty.  the funny part is that i am the one who works with the kids on their swings!

maddux refuses any assistance.  his general stance is pretty good but he needs a little help with lining up his club with the ball before trying to hit it.  i took some video of each kid so that matt could see what he is missing (and for papa and nana too).  maddux was cute because it took a lot of swings to get his ball out of the 'tee box'.  we had to keep reminding him to stay behind the rope because he would just keep following and hitting the same ball.  we also have to watch him getting into daddy's back swing (he was trying to share his balls with daddy).

madelyn doesn't look for power, but for contact.  she sort of uses her club to 'push' the ball like a broom.  i think she will actually do okay once she picks up some club speed. she also really likes using a tee.  madelyn is a little like me where she enjoys the driving range but doesn't quite appreciate 18 holes of golf.  i think she could do 9 but then she would be ready for something different.  matt isn't ready to take her to an actual course yet.

mason takes it the most seriously (except for daddy of course).  but if he misses on the first stroke, he just keeps swinging and swinging instead of lining up again.  when he lines up and keeps his head down, he actually does pretty well.  the best was when we first got there and he was gripping his club like a baseball bat and swinging at the ground like he would at his tee.  let's just say there were a lot of divots near him until i came over to adjust his grip and show him how to line himself up better.

all of the kids enjoy going to the driving range and tonight they all made sure to wear a "golf hat".  very cute.

once madelyn was done with her balls, she came over to keep manning company.  and to make him laugh some more.

but the sun was setting and we had one more activity planned for the day, so off we went.  love.

indian summer

they are calling it "indian summer" because we are getting one last fling with warmer temperatures. i think today was around 74 and tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and 78! (this is in sharp contrast with the high of 48 forecast for saturday.)  it was raining this morning but after lunch the sun came out and i decided that we should enjoy the warmth while we could.

the boys and i headed out down the trail for a long walk.  i was even brave enough to let mason ride his bike for the first time.  we went around 4 miles and mason did fantastic!  i was so proud of him because he has never ridden his bike anywhere even close to this distance.  here is some quick video of how he can pick up his feet and balance on the bike now.  he can actually 'ride' much longer, but you can get the general idea.

manning has figured out how to hold and chew on a teether.

maddux got to ride so that we could keep the pace up.

i didn't really have a plan in mind, but did bring my wallet in case we got to the shopping center and i could pick up a coffee. :) we just made our way down the trail and had fun spotting wildlife.  we had some great luck with following several woodpeckers and watching them 'peck' at the trees. and maddux was happy to point out each and every squirrel.

when mason realized that we were almost to the shopping center, he suggested we get some ice cream.  we had almost gone two miles and he had done so fantastic that i thought ice cream sounded like a great idea!  (it didn't hurt that we had a gift card either.)

maddux had to be woken up to eat his ice cream.  we let manning keep sleeping.  i think manning enjoyed falling asleep out in the fresh air too.  it wasn't hot, but it was warm enough to melt the boys' ice cream very fast.  i was basically licking each cone to try and minimize the mess since i didn't bring my bag and had no wipes!  at least the girl working the counter had given me a lot of napkins and i had brought extra water.

 i was happy not to have my own cone to worry about.  i had picked up a coffee at starbucks so that mason could go to the bathroom.  he rode his bike right into the store!  i wasn't sure what to do with it because it is so small and we didn't have a lock.  do you just leave it outside?  i was afraid someone might trip on it so we took it in with the stroller.  i am sure i was a sight for all the cool 'kids' hanging out with their laptops at starbucks (there is a university across the street).

once we were fairly cleaned up, we headed for home.  i didn't want to have to rush on our walk, but we needed to make sure and get home before madelyn's bus came.  on the way back we stopped to enjoy all of the fallen leaves.  it was so gorgeous in the afternoon sun - the pictures don't really capture it.

mason LOVED riding his bike on the trail.

maddux had me take pictures of his 'favorite' leaves - there were a lot.

i wanted them to take a picture together, but they pose and moved on before i could get the camera turned back on.

i am so thankful for this day of fun with my boys after two very busy work weeks where they spent a lot of time in the house.  love.

i promised this day would come...

..and they love that manning finally thinks they are funny!  love.

happy monkey

manning has pretty much replaced screaming with laughing and 'chatter'.  he is a very friendly boy with lots (and lots) to say.  love.

harvest party

they don't celebrate halloween at mason's school but they do have a fun "harvest party" for the kids.  i signed up to come help with a game since i could bring maddux and manning too.  maddux did a great job of helping me with giving each child a piece a candy.  he stood right next too me and didn't try to eat all of the candy himself.  he did have a few problems with wanting to select the candy for them instead of letting them pick, but he would quickly let hem pick when they made that suggestion.

they let the 2-year-old class play the games on their own and once they were safely back in their classroom (the grownups kept trying to put maddux with that group), the 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds came out together.  i think there were at least 10 games, face painting and a little inflatable bounce house.  the kids were all so sweet and patient.  it was actually very orderly.  i was so glad to be able to help.

mason and his buddies

mason's class lined up to go back to class - mason is one of the youngest in the class.

his teacher let the parents come in and watch show and tell since there were only a few minutes before the end of the school day.  usually we can't see or hear anything while we wait outside the room for pick-up.

on our way out it occurred to me that it was decorated so cute that i should have had the boys pose for a picture.  i just snapped this at the last set of hay bales right next to the door.  we had to be super quick so we didn't block the doorway as everyone was trying to leave.

maddux can't wait until next year when he will have a bag and get to play the games too.  love.

kids' mish night

our church had a missionary night geared towards kids and i couldn't pass up the opportunity to educate our kids on how life is in the rest of the world and what God is doing there.  i have been working on discussing things here and there because i don't want them to take anything they have for granted.  (it helps that mason's school sponsors two children with their box tops and that his teacher just came back from a missions trip.)

our church has three campuses and this was at the main campus, where we had never been before.  i was expecting an open house style event with countries in each room, but this was a sit down pizza dinner with custom made activity place mats (think airplanes, scripture fill in the blanks, etc.) and ice cream sandwiches.  funny enough the only open seats when we got there (the event was free but we were supposed to bring pencils for the dalit children in india and i forgot so we had to stop at cvs on our way) were at the table with madelyn's sunday school teachers!  we had a nice, quick, meal and then it was time to grab our passports and head off to see the world.  they had little paper passports for the kids to have stamped in each country.

i learned a lot!  matt spent most of the time with manning in the stroller while i went into the rooms with the kids.  our first stop was bulgaria.  the kids like the wooden games and we had a hard time getting them to move on.  the room smelled lovely - of roses.  the missionaries told us that rose oil comes from bulgaria and that it is more expensive than gold!  they asked that we pray for bulgaria every time we smell roses.

playing a chicken feed game in bulgaria

next stop was india.  since the dalit people are a focus ministry for our church (they are not considered 'human' there), this room was one of the largest.  the kids sampled mango juice and candied fennel and we spent a lot of time looking at all of the pictures posted to the walls.  (the people working the room were very busy so we didn't learn quite as much in this room.) the kids were all playing with raw coffee beans and i got a lesson in how the missionaries roast, grind and serve coffee while there - they don't have k-cups.

drinking mango juice in india

checking out items from africa - we all liked the wooden hippos

madelyn's favorite room was mozambique.  our church does a lot there as well and it had another of the large rooms.  the kids learned about how the people have to get their water from a river with lots of crocodiles and that it is very dirty, then the people prayed and God used our church to help bring them clean water to drink.  the man telling the story was very good at speaking on a level the kids would understand only he missed a step - our kids didn't know why they needed to go get their water.  i explained that they didn't have water at their house and then the man understood and explained further that they don't have toilets either and need to go get water to use.  then madelyn got it and realized why it was important to help them.

counting crocodiles in the river in mozambique - madelyn was only off by one which i thought was pretty impressive.

madelyn said she liked mozambique best because they taught her a "thank you, Jesus" song.  i think it was in portugese, but i didn't get to ask. 

we also visited vietnam and china.  matt went in these rooms (so there aren't any pictures) and time ran out so we had to move on to the next part of the evening and they didn't get to do any of the activities either.

at dinner they had divided the room in two and had us start in separate sections of the building.  we started in "the rooms" and the rest of the group started in the "auditorium".  when we finally found the "auditorium" (there are more than one), there was a huge world map on the ground for the kids to run around on.  the guy leading it had them jump between countries, separate by age on different continents, take turns 'swimming' in the oceans, etc.  it was hysterical to watch our kids!  mason went right along with what looked like the most fun, madelyn sometimes was totally stuck because she didn't hear all of the instruction and was trying to speak to the instructor and maddux was totally doing his own thing!  the good news is that they were all having a ton of fun.

maddux - alone in the world

we were there way later than planned (again, i thought it was just open house style and that we could be in and out in an hour - i had somewhere else to be later).  so we didn't finish out the event and had to leave early.  we will definitely do this again if they offer it!  love.

bottom's up!

this little guy might be on the move sooner than i'd like...  he is already getting up on his knees with his bottom in the air and pushing his arms straight.  (don't mind the sweet potato spit up on the blanket...)  love.

lyricist

madelyn has added "lyricist" to her list of professions.  some of her songs rhyme and are fairly good (in my opinion).  the one in this video isn't her best work, but it gives you a sense of her work (she is 'singing' extra loud for the camera).  what i liked best was maddux trying to sing along!  mason is starting to dabble himself in original songs so i am sure there will be more video to come.  love.

mason's first solo play date

mason had his very first 'solo' play date today.  the boy has been one of mason's "best friends" at school (and sometimes imaginary friend at home) for the past year and i am in mops with his mom, so when she offered to have me come back and pick mason up i thought it was okay.  they had an awesome play date planned!  she ran everything by me before i left and i was thinking that mason was going to have a pretty great time - and he did.  plus i didn't just need to take his word for it, they gave me pictures when i picked him up!  here are two that i photographed with my camera (instead of messing with the scanner).

they played super heroes (in full costumes) in the leaves and on the backyard trampoline, they decorated halloween sugar cookies, made glitter pumpkin paintings, carved pumpkins and let him take it all home!  i couldn't believe it when they sent us home with the large pumpkin in mason's picture above.  he was there for three hours.

we will love to have this boy over soon, but i don't know if we will be as organized as this play date!  mason is lucky to have such a great buddy.  love.