note to self...

when the evening news calls for scattered showers, then you check a weather app when you first wake up and it shows rain, don't believe the same said app when you check it before leaving and there is no sign of rain. it is going to rain.

my friend and i were caught in a downpour. like standing water and deep puddles. manning had been sleeping in the stroller (he had kept me up all night for no real reason) and did not take kindly to his cold and wet wake-up. we weren't the only ones either. we passed several walkers, bikers and runners who asked if we had seen the forecast for the rain to wait until noon.

at least it was refreshing! and since our walk was cut quite short, i was able to get some things done around the house. after i got dried off that is... love.

"free" coffee

dunkin' donuts offered a free medium dark roast coffee today for 'national coffee day.' instead of just going through the drive-thru, i thought that i would treat the boys to some donuts. suddenly, my coffee wasn't so "free."

the boys were pretty excited about the pumpkin/jack-o-lantern ones.

(on a side note, the coffee was so-so. i like a dark roast coffee but this one was a little too bitter for me. it was a great treat though.)

love.

gift from God

daddy went outside to water some grass seed he put down on the side yard after we had gotten the kids into bed. he quickly came back in to say that we needed to bring them outside to see the amazing sunset. maddux was already asleep, but i told the other three that God had a good-night gift for them. they were in total amazement. God sure does give us a lot of beauty to enjoy. love.

sunday breakfast

the three boys happily shared two chairs at breakfast this morning. they really get along so well - when they aren't trying to annoy each other for sport. love.

run, daddy, run!

this morning we got up bright and (very) early this morning to go cheer daddy on in the akron half-marathon. we surprised him with signs when we got to the parking garage. he was nice enough to pose for a picture because we were super late (traffic was crazy! worse than last year according to matt). matt ran the relay last year, but this was his first half-marathon. unfortunately, he was super congested.

wheel chair start

ringing of the starting bell

it is akron after all...

daddy crossing the starting line. he didn't look up to see us though.

this guy was wearing a lebron mask, dribbling a basketball and juggling three balls in the other hand.

matt between 3 and 4 miles - he is towards the back in this picture.

the kids were sports about all of the waiting. we met up with a friend and her kids so there was lots to keep them busy.

manning really liked trying to knock over the barricades. 

matt about to cross the finish line in the rubber ducks stadium.

matt didn't have his best run, but he did very well and finished! he finished in 2:21:26 with a 10:48 pace. he didn't get to celebrate though because we had to race over to mason's 10:40am soccer game. we pulled into the parking lot at 10:30am. matt ran over to the field to coach after changing into a dry shirt while i gathered up the kids and got mason into his cleats.

we are so proud of all of his hard work and loved cheering him on! love.

bunkbeds

i had a business meeting today and the boys were playing quietly in their room. as i got off the phone, maddux came in with a big grin to have me come and see their room. which made me just slightly nervous... i immediately saw that they had cleaned their room and made their beds. and then i saw manning...

the boys had made their own sort of bunkbed! and were very proud of themselves. mason wanted to know if they could keep it like this "forever." i told him that manning might fall while sleeping and mason told me that he couldn't because they had put "stuff" under it to keep it up. they had thought of everything.

bunk beds are in the works for their room, but i guess they got tired of waiting. love.

this kid

another perfect zoo day

the weather has just been too nice to be indoors this week! so i skipped my class at the ymca yesterday and took the boys to the zoo for a leisurely day (we don't have to be home until 4pm to get madelyn off the bus). we have graduated from a stroller to just a backpack (mainly for carrying lunch) and it is wonderful! well, the four water bottles are fairly heavy but i find the trip to be much less stressful when i am not always trying to maneuver a stroller around.

i was surprised how empty the parking lot was when we got there - given the gorgeous day, but it was nice to have less people at the attractions. we got there in time to watch them feed the penguins which we haven't really gotten to see before. first she fed them one on one larger fish and then threw handfuls of smaller fish/shrimp into the water. she threw the handfuls on the far right and then the far left so that the penguins had to race and swim the length of the exhibit. it was pretty neat to see them so active and playful (jumping, diving, etc.)

the phones play lemur sounds when you push the buttons, but the boys talk back to them. they have whole conversations.

the highlight right now are the pair of baby snow leopards. they were off exhibit on our last visit so the boys were excited to see them again. the angle and glare wasn't working out well for me, but one of them seemed to really be watching mason for a while.

the pair of them are very playful.

 the kids ask to have their picture on this lion and they insist on doing so one at a time.

manning roaring at the lion.

manning looks pretty grown up in this picture to me.

another picture of mason's haircut.

we found a butterfly bench that we had not noticed before.

a rare mommy picture

and no line at the otter slide meant the boys got to come down lots of times! not only that, but the otters were swimming around the slide almost the whole time.

manning always says he wants to slide but then chickens out when he gets up there. i came down with him (screaming) once but then gave up.

apple break.

then he saw the boys go down on their bellies and it changed everything.

he is in love!

this is our last year of leisurely trips to the zoo with all three boys! i enjoy the long walk outside and they haven't gotten bored with our little zoo. i figure we only have a few more years where a zoo pass will be necessary. that did make me a little sad. enjoying every minute! love.

catch-up

so i have been quiet way longer than i realized! we are now back into full school, work, activity, fun mode and time is just flying by. throw in mommy getting sick and weeks have past. so here is a catch-up post. (okay, so it is just going to be pictures with captions.)

everyone in mason's class was given a large piece of paper to attach cut-outs of their family's feet.  we almost couldn't fit ours! not only are there a lot of us, but our feet aren't exactly small. mason requested that we all draw rainbows on them.

swimming lessons are back in the rotation. the boys were pretending that their towels were long hair.

the boys froze in their tracks when we went to the block room after swimming and found a playset and climbing wall had been added. 

the day wore manning out.

 but then he was up very late and keeping matt and i company in our bed.

i needed to take care of some things at church but told the boys that i would take them to the zoo when we were done. at church, our children's director asked the boys if they could find her a tiger at the zoo. here they are 'tiger hunting.'

and then mason asked if she liked bears too.

we always play in this garden 'maze,' but today i realized that the 'maze' is actually in the shape of a butterfly! always something new...

we went to the zoo on friday and i got in bed on friday night and didn't get out until sunday afternoon. we think i might have had strep (since matt and mason had it the week before), but i never had a sore throat or fever. i was just wiped out and unable to stay upright. thank goodness i got this sick on a weekend and not during the week! i couldn't have stayed in bed without matt's help.

maddux kept me company for a little while and really wanted to take pictures with my phone.

all the kids have tie shoes (what was i thinking?!) and manning was insisting that he could tie his own shoes. he tried (and did a good job of going through the motions) for a good 30 seconds before agreeing that he did need my help.

our favorite tree from our 'nature walk' on a beautiful day.

matt had a lot to do in the yard so the kids and i went to run errands. mason has really wanted to get his hair cut and it is too long for me to shape the way i want it so we took him to have it 'professionally' cut.

before

the kids didn't mind waiting at all - there were cupcakes, donuts, popcorn and apple cider free for the taking. i had many people comment on how well behaved they were. i was just thinking, 'just wait until that sugar hits.'

after

 when we got home we decided to go for a family bike ride (daddy suggested the ice cream).

in a few moments after this picture, madelyn licked the entire stack of scoops off her cone and onto her brand new (like this is the first time she has worn them) shoes. sigh. she was given some more ice cream - in a bowl.

maddux is already planning for his birthday and thought that wearing this shirt might make it come faster.

manning was the only one without a robe and then we got a bag of hand-me-downs from a friend with two boys. this elmo robe was just his size and he was thrilled to put it on for breakfast.

i think the boys were making the workers a little nervous has they inched closer and closer to the wet cement for the neighbor's sidewalk and driveway.

heading in for picture day! they picked their shirts.

we have been busy to say the least and have been very fortunate with 'southern california' weather - low to mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky for a little over a week. even manning comments on how nice it is every day. we have been trying to enjoy every minute of this very rare stretch of weather for ne ohio. love.