heart ball #2

february is black tie month around here! we are off to our second heart ball honoring one of matt's doctors. this one is for another county where the hospital has a 'mini-hospital' - about an hour of driving. we were expecting it to be a lesser event, but it was surprisingly impressive! instead of a hotel ballroom, it was in a historic ballroom and the food was delicious - steak and crab stuffed lobster. it did take about an hour to serve dinner though - or maybe even longer. it was the only negative on the evening though and the food was worth the wait.

it is rare to go to both but it was nice to have two fancy nights out. love.

madelyn school stuff

waiting for madelyn

the little boys get to do a lot of waiting. tonight we were waiting for madelyn to finish her stage acting class. maddux was a little bummed because he couldn't play with his 'best friend' (aka the boy who he plays with while we wait). that is just the price of staying home from school 'sick.' 

but with all these orange toys, he was quickly contented to play with manning. love.

photobomb

after getting tons of complements on my roll out of bed and go look today at the preschool (i curled my hair for church last night and somehow slept on it kindly), i was snapping a quick picture for grandma to thank her for my new scarf when i noticed a big grin in my shot. he's behind me because he isn't feeling his best and cried and begged not to go to school today. i kept him out of church last night and kept him home today because he has been really out of sorts and congested for a few days - he has something going on... the price of staying home was a nap. he fought it for about an hour before giving in and sleeping for two. love.

dressing-up is so much fun

celebrating God at church

another snowy sunday

it 'warmed-up' today and there was fresh snow, so all four kids (and daddy) went out for a bit after lunch. manning almost lasted 5 whole minutes! matt took the two other boys (madelyn opted out) to the steep hill behind our clubhouse for some sledding. it sounds like the hill was pretty perfect. steep (and high enough) for better sledding than on the side of our house but not too steep for the kids to climb back up on their own.

we are ready to be done with the snow, but you might as well make the best of it! love.

heart ball #1

after a day of birthday partying with madelyn, i had to come home and get black tie ready. tonight, we were headed to the american heart association's heart ball! i didn't get a full length picture, but i was actually able to wear a bridesmaid skirt from a friend's wedding (it was wine/burgundy colored) with a black, jewel collared cardigan. i must say that i was a little proud of my hair which was french braided to the side and curled into waves. even better, i found pointy toed, black rhinestone covered flats at target! can we say black tie comfort?! (oh and matt wore his tux.) we had a very nice time acting like grown-ups. love.

the party must go on

it was snowing and the roads were a mess, but nothing was cancelled. not swimming, not karate and not madelyn's friend sarah's birthday party at build-a-bear. the roads were a mess, but slow and steady gets you there safely. it took us 45 minutes to get to the mall where it normally takes 15. and all of the kids still made it to the party too!

madelyn, the birthday girl sarah, and gwen - friends since kindergarten

this was our first build-a-bear birthday party. each child had a limit of $20 to pick their 'bear' and accessories. the cutest part was having all of the kids make a wish for the birthday girl on paper hearts that were then inserted in a larger fabric heart to go inside sarah's stuffed animal.

madelyn 'washing' her new dog

madelyn and her friend gwen are in the same class again this year. i learned today that their teacher calls them the "lyn twins." this came up because they both picked the same dog and outfit. they thought it was so funny that they made twins when their teacher calls them twins! they were telling everyone in the store that "mr. r calls us twins!" (leaving them quite confused because they don't really look alike and mr. r was not there.) thinking that this was both hysterical and sweet, i took a little video of them to send to their teacher. he loved it, by the way. gwen's dad and i were talking about what an impact he has made on the lives of the kids in his class this year.

the whole party and their finished products.

they offered the kids some free bows and madelyn took enough to make her dog look like a "cheerleader"! 

after build-a-bear, the party made their way over to the food court for sbarro pizza, cupcakes and presents. the girls all had a wonderful time! love.

quite by accident, madelyn and i dressed as twins!

that will teach me to deep clean...

since we have been homebound from extreme cold over the past two days, i have been taking the time for some deep cleaning. apparently, i was a little too zealous... love.

character champion!

madelyn came off the bus grinning ear to ear today - school has already been cancelled for thursday and friday AND she was recognized as "character champion" this month! (this month is the "caring" character trait.) here is what her teacher's nomination said about her:

Madelyn is a very caring girl who is always helping in the classroom. She is willing to help me with extra tasks or to assist other students who need help. This caring nature is an incredible trait to have. I can also depend on Madelyn to model what a good student should do. She follows the rules and is very dependable. Keep up the wonderful choices, Miss G.!

the "character champions" get a letter from the YMCA, a guest pass to the Y, a day out at the Y camp and an invitation to walk in the city's 4th of july parade (and get a t-shirt).

we celebrated (and warmed up) with some hot chocolate in grandma's marshmallow kicking mugs that we never got around to using while she was here. love.

mason conquers the deep end

mason likes being in the big pool for swimming lessons now - as long as he can touch the bottom. but, today, he conquered the deep end! and just in time too - today was the last class of the session. the first video will give you an idea of how every class starts. let's just say he is a little slow to get in. (i did ask him if it is fear or that the water is cold. he told me that it is a little of each.)

once he is in he does pretty great. this was a super big deal for him to be in the very deep end and letting go of the noodle.

maddux' class just happened to come out to the big pool too. he stops to watch mason with his teacher.

a little of mason actually 'swimming' in the deep end. over the course of the class, he swam up and down the lane a few times using the noodle. i think this was a big mental hurdle that he overcame today!

when we went to the gym after swimming, maddux wasn't quite finished wearing his swim goggles. love.

this kid just can't get enough orange

bye, grandma

big pop told grandma to take lots of pictures. oops. we always forget but we really did a poor job on this visit. that and grandma had a most unfortunate case of food poisoning sunday. but we did get a winner of her with the kiddos before madelyn headed out to catch the bus this morning.  

and a few more while we waited for the bus in sub-zero weather.

we are going to miss grandma! love.

a sweet night with grandma

maddux was pretty happy to model the candy necklace he made with grandma last night while matt and i were at "date night" when he greeted us this morning. love this little ham. love. 

date night

our church put on a "date night" for couples with dinner, entertainment (stories and videos), door prizes and a photo booth! we probably would not have gone without grandma here to babysit and it was really nice to have a night out.

two of the videos were so funny that i have to share:

the door prizes were pretty great too. there were relationship books, gift cards and even a night at a local resort. they were joking that if you won the starbucks gift card you would need to bring your spouse. and then said it would look really bad if the winners of the resort getaway didn't take their spouse!

i must say that it was a lovely evening and we are looking forward to some of the future "date nights" planned that will provide childcare. love.

stage acting

grandma may be here, but we still have things to do! after a little visiting, it was time to get madelyn over to her stage acting class. not that grandma gets to watch or anything. we just sit in the hall and wait an hour until she is done.

but tonight they came out with mustache whistles! her teacher sent us the group photo. she really loves stage acting!

our day isn't over yet, we are headed over to chuck e. cheese for some dinner and fun (daddy is meeting us there). love.

grandma!

the boys and i left the house and went to pick up madelyn early from school for our super special surprise. the only one of the kids who knew where we were going was mason (there was a total meltdown of 'unfairness' that led to him being told a secret - and he kept it too!). they were all guessing what we could be doing that would require us taking madelyn out of school.

they did know that grandma was coming soon, but we didn't want to give them any specifics in case anything happened to prevent her from being able to come. it had been 15-months since we have gotten to visit with her! much too long!

as soon as madelyn read the airport signs at the exit, she knew. and quickly told her brothers! we were a little early because it was snowing and i wanted to allow for enough time. the kids kept themselves busy all on their own...

and then she was here! a little early even!

and, of course, grandma had to lighten her gift load as soon as we arrived at the house. since manning is such a fan of his olaf hat (one of the rare warm items i can get him to wear most of the time), she found him an olaf sweatshirt that he is very happy about. baby steps. baby steps. it is warmer than the long sleeve t-shirt he normally wears outside.

it is going to be crazy cold while grandma is here and there will even be several inches of snow, but we are just looking forward to spending some time together! love.

preschool valentine's parties

we have been watching the weather very closely to see if there would be a snow day on thursday or friday causing one kid or another to miss their valentine's day parties. the boys were very happy to hear that they were going to go to school today!

mason's class had a post office/mail theme to their party. earlier in the week he had to bring in an addressed, stamped envelope to mail a valentine home to matt and me - a giant paper 'hug' from mason.  he was very excited to tell me about how he won the stacking hearts game with 21 hearts and then i found a picture posted by the preschool of his tower in progress.

we didn't have a lot of time before our very special surprise trip after lunch, but the boys used that time to dig into their valentine bags. how cute is mason's "mail bag"? love.

super swimmer manning

prepping for valentine's day

the boys opted for store bought valentine cards for school, but madelyn was game for making hers. the 'card' says, "school would knot be the same without you" and we made braided bracelets (with knots) and each child's initials. we were pretty pleased with the finished products.

madelyn also had other valentine's day assignments including a few sentences about a book she loves and a creative container for her valentines. this was the first time we have ever been asked to make a valentine box which was exciting in itself. she made almost all of it by herself too. i just helped her settle on an idea and materials. 

madelyn is SO excited to take them to school! love.

burning energy

we had a thoughtful friend invite us to meet them at the ymca for open gym basketball a few weeks after the boys' swimming lessons. and i am SO thankful! it is now a standing invitation and we have joined them several times. they weren't able to join us today but we still played on our own. 

the hoops are still regular height and his ball is a little heavy (relative to his size) but he can make it in (not that i caught any with the camera). after the videos below, i went to remind him how to dribble and how to shoot the ball. mason would play basketball all day and asks to go back frequently (read: daily or hourly). there are lots of basketball men in the family (grandpas, uncles, etc.) so it wouldn't be a bad sport to settle on for him. for now, it is fun and helps get some energy out during the winter. 

the little boys mainly play with toy basketballs by throwing/rolling and chasing because the hoops are way too high for them. 

during my instruction time with mason, i suggested that we watch the "big boys" (aka high schoolers) play in the next gym so see how they dribble. the boys really liked seeing them dribble, shoot and run.

with still more energy to burn, the boys asked to go run laps on the upstairs track above the gym. and so they did.

i am not sure if i am wearing them out or just building their endurance, but they are growing to love "exercise" either way which is fantastic. love.

swim cap

apparently, matt received a scolding because madelyn did not have a swim cap for lessons. oops. so we ordered some and she was able to wear one for the first time ever this morning. she was super excited about it! (and pretty cute too.) love.

manning's favorite place

we are at the ymca almost every day. and manning insists on stopping by the "block room" every day. we are there. the kid loves it! all three boys do, but he is the one who asks to go there. today, we were there to play for an hour between manning's swimming lesson and picking the boys up from preschool. 

by the way, that room is almost alway filled with boys! love.

mason made this police hat during preschool and was pretty happy about it.