freedom!!

after weeks indoors, the temperature finally broke 30 degrees and we headed outside to play while we waited for madelyn's bus. the snow had blown so much that there was grass showing on the 'hill' we use to sled so the boys tried the trail 'hill', but it was just too 'choppy' from the runners (yes, runners in this sub-zero stretch) and several cross-country skiers. instead, maddux decided to ride bikes and scooters like it was summer time. mason was the only one very interested in the snow, although manning did keep picking up handfuls from the perimeter of the driveway and throwing it.

but then mason got in on the 'warm weather' fun because maddux got out the pool noodles! they even got out their swim floaties. silly, silly boys.

we were even able to see neighbors. i think everyone had the same idea and several neighbors were walking the street, playing in the snow and enjoying some fresh air. we stayed out a little longer after madelyn got home because she didn't want to miss out on some fun in the snow either. if you didn't notice maddux' face in the last picture, we went in shortly after that picture. he kept taking off his hat and rolling his head in the snow! we had to get him in before he got frostbite - it was still below freezing after all. it was such a great time for all of us. love.

report cards and preschool parent/teacher conferences

with all the school cancellations, madelyn's report card came home a week late but it was worth the wait - straight "m"s. her teacher did write in that she is "pleased with madelyn's reading" and that she is "above the expected level".

the boys had report cards (or evaluations) come home just before the school cancellations. they both had straight "s"s (satisfactory) - except for mason who has a few articulation issues although his teacher wrote that he did not need any evaluation. in fact, when i met with her for the actual parent/teacher conference this week she said that he would not qualify for help through the school system.  but she did say that we should consider a short amount of private speech therapy to help him articulate a few sounds more quickly. we are going to ask about it this summer at his five year check-up (his teacher suggested that we speak with his pediatrician about it if we wanted to do anything).

mason's teacher wrote: "mason is friends with everyone and he really enjoys school. i feel he will be ready for kindergarten in the fall." however, we are not planning on sending him in the fall.  i have really (really, really) struggled with holding him back because it has nothing to do with his intelligence or social skills (the 'normal' reasons to hold someone back). but we have to hold manning back to keep him from being in the same grade as maddux (maddux would be the oldest and manning one of the youngest in the same kindergarten class) which sealed the deal for me. we just can't see a down side to holding him (extra year to save for college, older when sitting for act/sat tests, an extra year for sports, etc.).  so mason will be in pre-k next year (which is not provided by the state).

maddux' teacher wrote: "maddux is a joy to teach. he is a strong-minded little boy and a leader in our class. i enjoy his eagerness to participate in class activities and his willingness to try new things. he knows our class routines and he often anticipates transmit ions leading his classmates into and sometimes out of activities... maddux has made many friends in class and others naturally follow his lead. others enjoy playing with him and it is exciting to watch the beginning cooperative play that is occurring. maddux is always so polite and shows genuine concern for everyone in our class. he is a joy to work with and i look forward to the rest of the school year with him." at the parent/teacher conference she said that she wishes she had a whole class of madduxes. what she surprised me with is recommending that he skip the 3-year-old class and go into the 4-year-old class next year. i shouldn't have been surprised but i was so focused on kindergarten or pre-k for mason that i just wasn't expecting something like that from maddux' teacher. matt and i agree with her about him being ready for the 4-year-old class so he is going to jump right up. this will not affect when he begins kindergarten.  he will do the 4-year-old class and then the pre-k, just like mason.

all of the kids have started preschool as 2-year-olds but manning might not. three kids in preschool might be more than we are willing to spend when i am at home during the day. we have to decide quickly because we have to turn in forms tomorrow to have any hope at getting the days we would like (not that we ever get them). what to do, what to do?

so thankful to have children who are succeeding and happy at school. love.

snow rollers

monday morning i noticed what looked like large snowballs all over the neighborhood (at least as far as i could see looking out our windows). at first i thought that they were from the snow blowing but that seemed a little crazy so i thought that they must be clumps blown off the roofs overnight. well, on the nightly news i learned that they were "snow rollers" and very rare. the conditions have to be just right - like four or five factors - and the snow rolls up to look like a donut from the side (look at the pictures from the article link above). they were pretty cool. it was way to cold to go out and take a closer look though.  at least the weather is interesting! love.

mailbox decapitation

our poor mailbox was ended by a snow plow on saturday afternoon. i stepped into the office just in time to look out the window and see it happen. sigh. since it was the weekend, i started with emails. first to the neighborhood management company (they are uniform mailboxes so that was my first guess) but then several people told me that i needed to contact the city. so i found the form online to send in my complaint.

monday our mail lady was kind enough to put the mail in the box laying in the snow. but tuesday there was no mail. i called the post office to see what we should do and they said that we would just have to come in a pick it up until the box was fixed. boo. i am not hauling kids out to pick up our mail and matt doesn't get home early enough to get there before the post office closes. so today i got all bundled up when i saw the mail truck drive by and was waiting by the mailbox when she turned around for our side of the street and got our mail.

i did get an email from the neighborhood management group saying that they spoke with the city and our neighborhood is subcontracted out - of course.  apparently someone is going to take care of it but i am afraid that it won't be very soon. this isn't exactly something that can be fixed. it is going to have to be replaced which means digging it up and things are pretty much frozen solid around here. so now we wait and see.

at least i will get some fresh air every day, right? love.

blizzard bags - day #1

the school district has been approved for three "blizzard bags". a blizzard bag is a group of assignments that will count as one school day to help limit the number of days the kids will have to make up at the end of the year. they just cancelled school for wednesday too so the kids with have missed eight days this year and there is only an allowance for five days - enter the blizzard bags.

for the first grade, there is a grid of nine assignments that the kids can review and select three for each day approved as a "blizzard bag" day. today madelyn selected the following assignments:

1. math - create and solve addition and subtraction problems. bring a few in to share with your teacher when you return!

2. science - go outside and get a cup of snow. bring it inside and place it on the kitchen counter. record how long it takes the snow to melt when it's inside your house. use a stopwatch or watch or clock to measure how long it takes.

3. free space - build a fort. whether you want to build a fortress for an epic space battle or have tea inside a princess castle made out of blankets, a fort could be a great story starter. what will your story be? feel free to write it inside your fort.

madelyn was super excited about all of the options and had a hard time deciding what to do first. now, finishing the complete assignments was a little less enjoyable. it is hard to do 'work' when everyone else is just playing. one of the neighbors said that her boys (middle school/high school) had been working on their assignments for three hours and weren't halfway done. i told madelyn that it could be worse. i think some of it is just the extra crying they have all had from the prolonged captivity. and we get to do it again tomorrow!

love.

just another snow day...

they just keep coming - another school day cancellation. but today i was ready and the school assigned "blizzard bags" for the kids to do at home since we are over the allotted number of "calamity days" (more on that in a separate post). all the kids care about is that they all get to stay home and can wear their pajamas.

everyday for the past four, maddux wakes up and puts on his super hero mask and cape. he begrudgingly takes them off and puts them at the foot of his bed each night. he just wears the mask like a headband. super maddux!

manning has turned into quite the bookworm. if you sit (or don't) he will bring you book after book to read. or just the same book until he breaks you.

all the kids were playing downstairs and i found maddux alone at the table upstairs coloring. he was very focused on the task at hand.

of course, he had all of the orange crayons.

literally climbing the walls - or at least the cabinets. this was a classic case of 'anything you can do, i can do better'. notice how mason's feet reach a higher handle. he pointed that out to us several times.

i decided that today we would work through making the sugar cookies we never got to at christmas time. the kids didn't like that there were so many steps (mixing up the dough, letting it chill for an hour, rolling and cutting the cookies, baking, cooling, making icing and finally decorating). they did do a great job working as a team though.

manning waiting for the cookies to finish baking - with his plate.

madelyn giving some advice on the sprinkle selections.

manning didn't see the need to wait.

 i mixed up some white icing and then let each big kid pick and mix their own color to use.

and here are the finished cookies. each kid had their own style of decorating - madelyn was a mountain of sprinkles, mason only went for the center of the cookie and maddux was the most thorough. madelyn made the large heart for daddy because she loves him so much. i suggested only peppermint sprinkles for daddy.

field trip

the sun is so deceiving when it is freezing cold out. i was reading all of the comments from local folks on facebook about how poor the road conditions were but after lunch i decided to go ahead and run my errands (somehow i was out of a few staples). it was the warmest it was going to be for the next few days, it hadn't snowed in a few hours, the sun was shining and i was hosting book club on thursday night - i wasn't really going to have another chance. so we bundled up and headed out.

the roads were much better than i was expecting and better than they were yesterday, but the really weren't as clear as i would have expected. i guess it has to do with the salt shortage and that it is too cold for salt really anyway. we made it to bjs quite safely. maddux was complaining about his face freezing as soon as we got out of the car - i think it was around 9 degrees without wind, not sure about the 'feels like' temp.

the kids were very excited to be out of the house! maybe a little too excited. they were like wild animals set loose! not poor behavior, but very lively. i usually frown on putting public things on their heads, but they really enjoyed this impromptu fashion show.  i think they are turning into real browns and indians fans. maddux just likes the orange and even manning insisted on getting out of the cart and having his picture taken in a browns hat.

the best part was when mason put it on he said, "see? they are kid sizes. it fits me perfectly!" i didn't have the heart to tell him that he just has an adult sized head! the indians hat was already reduced so i think we will watch for the browns ones to reduce to put away for his birthday.

bjs went so well that i decided to swing by the grocery store too (for a few things i couldn't find at bjs). the big kids were excited because the child care would be open (our store has free child care available). manning stayed with me without complaint (you have to be 3 to get to stay). but remember how i said i wasn't brave enough to be in a public place in the afternoon? yeah. i should have remembered that... he wanted to get out of the cart and he walks nicely holding on to the cart so i often let him. we were getting our last item - some paper plates. he wanted to carry them (again nothing unusual) so i let him. but then he decided that he wanted to put them back on the shelf and that i could not get them. when i told him that we needed them and tried to continue shopping, he lost it. i mean full screaming on the floor of the store. sigh. i just needed to pick him and the plates up and get to a register. and, of course, there were only three lanes open and the lines were long (i guess a lot of people saw this as their last chance to run to the store). thankfully, the manager came and offered to open a lane for me.

we made it. our outing was a, relative, success. so glad to not have to go out again! love.

school? what's school?

yep. here we are. yet, another school day cancelled. i do appreciate that that they are being careful with our little ones, but this much time at home, inside is very difficult for the kids. madelyn only had two days of school last week. she did not have a full week of school this entire month!

alas, we haven't done too much of great excitement and there haven't been a ton of pictures. i am hoping to have some fun with the kids today and tomorrow (since i very much expect school to be cancelled tomorrow too since the temperatures are going to be brutal again). the kids have been delighted to have madelyn home all day and stay in their pajamas. at least we are saving on laundry!

after spending one day pushing an empty box around the house they decided to decorate it like a spaceship. they were hysterical pushing it around because they were laughing wildly and running all over, taking turns pushing the empty box, but i am not sure that they were even playing the same 'game.' and then their dials, tools and "grab-nabbers" were pretty great too.  

manning was leaning on mason's shoulder watching them play a game but then he started 'talking' on his phone when i came in with the camera.

manning has taken to getting into the play crib when he feels 'tired'. he knows it is silly.

we are now over the limit of 'calamity days' for the school year (five) so there is discussion of "blizzard bags" which i think will be take home work for the kids to do when school is cancelled to help limit the number of days we lose out of the summer. we will see... love.

first nba game

matt's introduction of mason to professional sports continued tonight with a trip to a cleveland cavilers game! matt didn't tell him where they were going until they got there. (i think some of that had to do with the road conditions and the drive to cleveland being long - he wanted to be able to move to a 'plan b' if it wasn't safe.) but the roads were safe and they made it safely there and back!

matt said that mason was so excited when they got there and was completely dumbstruck by the introduction at the start of the game - complete with 'fire' coming down from the scoreboard which warmed the whole room. overall, it was a much more pleasant experience than the browns game because they were warm.

mason's highlight was the ice cream. matt texted me a picture and it was the first thing mason told me about when they got home. and that he didn't save me any.

i have been convinced that mason is going through a growth spurt right now.  he has been eating more than matt or i ever could at every meal and then asking for a snack within an hour of finishing a meal. matt said for the first time ever at an event, mason asked for snacks non-stop. they had the, before mentioned, ice cream and popcorn. on the ride home mason suggested that they stop somewhere to eat dinner!

the sweetest part of the evening were the comments of mason and maddux while they were separated. before they left, mason suggested that maddux might like to come with them too. but they were both satisfied, although disappointed, that maddux could come too once he was older.

when we sat down for dinner and started to pray, maddux said, "no! wait for mason!" i reminded him that mason and daddy weren't home. he also asked that i wait for mason when we were getting ready for bed and sitting down to read books. he didn't want mason to be left out.

matt told me that on the ride home mason said, "dad, you know maddux really likes basketball too and i think that we should bring him with us next time. he would really like it."  so sweet, right? they really are great buddies.  love.

free afternoons

we are saying good-bye to naps. manning has hit the point where a nap during the day makes bedtime impossible so we are working on eliminating them. he is doing alright overall with not having a nap. he doesn't get super cranky or anything but if he stops moving after 4pm, this happens.

so there is officially no 'downtime' in my day at all any more.  while i am a little sad to see nap time go, i am more excited about being able to do things in the afternoon! it will still be a little while before we are 100% done with napping, and it will be awhile before i am brave enough to try public places in the afternoon, but he no longer has to nap everyday.

love.

lego mania

we have been hearing about the awesome legos at a local toy store and went to check it out with daddy after some errands this morning. the store really was impressive. and not just for the displays but for the sheer number of lego sets and figures they had for sale in addition to other toys. we will be back. the kids are already working on their birthday and christmas lists. love.

sweet day off

madelyn was off from school today so while the boys were at school we went to the ymca (i wanted to exercise and madelyn wanted to go play), then the library - both are things we normally do without madelyn because she is in school and she wanted to do them on her day off.

but for something special, she wanted to eat lunch out with the boys. they were really pulling for mcdonalds but we made a compromise by picking up pizza from a place madelyn has been begging for since trying it at school last year and that i found a gift certificate for through restaurant.com and a trip to sweet frog.  lunch and dessert for all five of us for $15. love.

batteries for racing

it is amazing how much fun some fresh batteries can be... love.