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.