a little about manning

- i say "p.u.!" when changing diapers. manning is the first one to say, "no, p. me!"

- manning's favorite color is yellow. he is the first kiddo to not start out with orange as their favorite color. at least it is orange adjacent and maddux' hand-me-downs shouldn't be too much of a problem.

- i love when he says, "mommy"

- the kids love to talk about how they are growing up. manning insists that he is not a "big" boy, he is a "little" boy. i asked him if he was going to always be little and he told me, "just for one more minute." yes.

- manning is a total mommy's boy.

- he calls madelyn "yaddie."

- frozen and cinderella are some of his favorite movies. he might be the only person who isn't tired of "let it go" yet and sings it almost daily at the top of his lungs.

i am going to be a little sad to see him start preschool next year - even though i am relishing the thought of a few hours alone. everyone loves him, especially me. love.

final swimming lesson

matt has been working a ridiculous amount of hours, so i told him that he could sleep in while i took madelyn (and all of the boys) to her last early swimming lesson. today is the kick-off of the library's summer reading program so i will just take the kids over there after her swimming lesson. the boys noticed that madelyn's towel and her swimming suit matched (it was the first time she had used either one at swimming lessons).

while madelyn was swimming, the boys enjoyed the 'block room.' they were playing with some other little boys and they came up with building 'thrones' which ended up filling their time.

the kids were silent after we left the library. they love the summer reading program and want to finish as soon as possible (it is going to be a long wait for the program to end and the prizes finally distributed).  we pulled them all away from their books to take madelyn to her softball game. how cute is she in her striped socks? love.

ice cream dinner

we continued the kids favorite tradition - ice cream dinner for the last day of school. we had plans last night, so we did it tonight. everyone sugared up and we went outside for a walk and some playing to burn some of it off. so fun. love.

relaxing at the pool

this week has been super crazy scheduled, but today we are slowing down at the pool. surprisingly, we were practically the only ones there. there was another girl madelyn's age who was there with her grandparents and should be around most of the summer. 

these kids love to swim! i hope it is warm this summer. love.

the final last day of school

and today is the boys' last day of school! they were pretty excited to finish up and get summer started. and madelyn was really excited to have a day with just me and manning. but not putting madelyn on the bus threw off our morning preparations and we were scrambling to drop of the boys, maddux with snack, and getting manning to his last swimming lesson! yikes! but i still paused to snap a quick last day picture of the boys.

after manning's swimming lessons, we went to our 'new' park so that madelyn could try it out. unfortunately, it was a little wet from the rain so we didn't stay too long. madelyn was impressed with it and can't wait to come back.

we picked the boys up, went out to a celebratory lunch at mcdonalds (by request), ran home for me to have a meeting and then went to stock up at the dollar store on some summer fun. we got a little carried away...

then we spent some time outside. manning drew another portrait of me. i love that he added my watch and pray for wyatt bracelet.

manning even gave the balance bike a spin! he seems to have taken to it better than any of the other boys. he isn't fast, but he is the first to understand that he has to sit down the whole time.

mason drew a smallish hopscotch board for us and manning was hysterical.

but our best purchase by far was the badminton rackets! seriously, the kids must have spent an hour with them. and manning was so funny, he just giggled the entire time.

summer is off to a really great start! love.

last day of school

madelyn has been crying about this day for an entire year - the last day of school. next year she moves to a different school for third grade and is so sad to leave all of her teachers. and then she was crying because her 'bad' mommy scheduled a dentist appointment for this morning! yikes! apparently she was going to miss yearbook signing this morning.

so we asked the dentist to get us out as quickly as possible - not that they aren't always super efficient with us. all four had a great check-up. madelyn was only 15 minutes late to school and when we signed her in, the secretary (who is super awesome) said that if she could keep just one second grader, it would be madelyn. that cheered madelyn (and me) right up! and she was just in time for yearbook signing!

she was sobbing when she got off the bus in the afternoon though. she just loves her school! love.

lap baby

these two

end of year celebration

i haven't gotten to help at madelyn's school during the school day since being the secret reader when she was in kindergarten - we haven't even been able to come for lunch the past two years. so i was determined to come help for the end of year celebration. it is her last year in this building so i wanted to be there. but what to do about the boys?

matt was unable to take off from work. the two older boys would be at preschool, which would give me a small window, but i still had manning. so i asked a friend if she could watch manning for the two hours i would be at the school.  because she is awesome, she said yes. but she had her own two boys to get to school that morning and then there was the carseat situation (her sons don't use carseats any more). we just couldn't figure out how to make it happen around drop-offs so we went earlier. 

jennifer arranged with an aid at her sons' school to meet her early to drop them off before heading to a local park to meet me and my crew. we put the three boys' carseats into her van so that she could do the drop-off and pick-up at the preschool for me while keeping manning. then madelyn and i hurried over to her school.

the second graders have been working on a mural outside the front door of the school so i snapped a quick picture with madelyn before we went in - even though we were almost late. (update: i am so glad that i took this picture because it was temporary paint and washed away that night in the rain!)

madelyn just happened to wear the same outfit she wore on the first day of school so here is day one for comparison. i was surprised at how much older she looks.

it was a perfect day for being outside! it just so happened that the second graders came out to work through the stations in the morning so i was able to see madelyn. there was zumba, face painting, an inflatable obstacle course, tag (sharks and minnows), toilet toss/corn hole, a relay race and beach volleyball.

i knew that madelyn would choose to have her entire face painted - dolphins swimming in the ocean.

madelyn's teacher was one, of only two, teachers who went through the relay race.

me and my girl!

and don't worry about manning. he was having a wonderful time with "mrs. jenn"! he had been looking forward to it ever since i told him that he was going with her. she sent me pictures all morning. they went to the library, the park and mrs. jenn's house.

and then it was time for the quick exchange. i suggested that we meet for lunch (my treat) so that i could switch all of the carseats back - that is really not a job for wimps. a quick lunch later and the boys and i were saying good-bye and thank you to jennifer on our way to swimming lessons.

i am exhausted! but so thankful that i was able to make it work. love.

memorial day parade

madelyn was once again invited to walk in the local memorial day parade with the ymca as a reward for being selected "character champion" during the school year. the awesome part? almost all of her closest friends were also there to walk! i told her that it means she has some great people as friends.

she choose me to walk with her so daddy took the boys to watch, wave and collect candy.

while we waited for the parade to start, madelyn and her friends started collecting each other into a group.

they even found their teacher! he is pretty much a rock star to them and i think they were more excited about seeing him than each other.

our fan club

a rare chance to stand in the middle of main street

while we were walking back home, we were passed by the float carrying elec simon (of STOMP! fame) - they were still jamming.

it was a perfect day for a parade! love.

church, golf, pool and peanuts

school might not be out yet, but it is sure starting to feel a lot like summer! matt played in our neighborhood's holiday golf tournament (where a friend took lifetime 'dibs' on matt being in her foursome) and the kids and i hit the pool on opening day! we finished up with a lazy evening outside. the kids (well, manning) had talked me into an enormous bag of roasted, in the shell, peanuts at bi's earlier in the week and they all enjoyed a large, messy bowl in the driveway. bring on summer! love.

cinnamon sand

daddy had the brilliant idea to move the sandbox into the garage so that it might see more use. i was less than thrilled about the sand being in the garage. he even got them new sand (although he said that mason made him do it). since we were already committed, i thought it would be good to try something i had read about - mixing in cinnamon to keep the bugs away.

we don't know that it will work, but it sure smells fantastic! and the kids were thrilled to test it out. love.

some driveway math from mason

more saturday sports

soccer was a chilly start this morning. it is nice that madelyn's game is always in the afternoon and the boys' soccer game is always in the morning. the kids are so great about waiting and watching each others' games.

she is SO my daughter.

first time playing first base

madelyn was at a new field today and the boys were pretty thrilled with the playground options nearby the field. luckily, it has warmed up a little by the time of madelyn's game.

just boys throwing rocks. love.

birthday pi

one of madelyn's friends had a "pi" cake for his birthday. i just thought that his mom did such an awesome job! and it is not just numbers, she actually did the true pi number until she ran out of room on the cake. she said that the wanted a pi cake. madelyn has some neat friends. love.

maggie

nothing could have really prepared us for today. we had to say good-bye to our first 'baby', maggie. she was almost 14 years old so we knew that this day was coming soon and had discussed it off and on over the past few years with the kids. but it was (and is) still really, really hard.

the kids went downstairs to let her out into the back yard when we got home this afternoon and madelyn came back up to tell me that maggie couldn't stand up. of course my heart stopped a little as i tried to gauge exactly what she meant - imagining that she wouldn't wake up. madelyn explained that maggie had stepped a few feet, fallen down and couldn't get back up.

she was laying on the ground perfectly still, with legs every which way. i was just heart broken. my only comfort was that she wasn't crying or struggling. madelyn was already crying and i was trying to assess the situation and determine what to do next. so of course i called my mommy.

she rationally explained that if maggie couldn't get outside to go to the bathroom, things were going to get a lot worse before they would get better. she was right. so after petting maggie for a while and trying to help her stand (with no success), i called matt to come home. there was no way that i could carry maggie with four hungry children (it was dinner time) to the vet. by this time i was sobbing too. i was trying to control myself for the kids, but maggie and i had a lot of history and this was so sudden. she had been fine this morning and would still run around. to see her splayed out on the ground almost unable to lift her head was just heartbreaking.

we all pet her and said our good-byes before matt took her to the vet for the last time. madelyn mentioned that she hated that there was sin and suffering in the world.

madelyn took it the hardest (sobbing pretty much until she fell asleep) and manning was having a difficult time understanding ("is maggie home yet?") - he loved her very much. the other boys were sad, but not emotional about her loss.

our house will not be the same. we won't be running out to get another dog any time soon (the idea of taking a puppy out all night is not very appealing at the moment, nor is the idea of having to say good-bye again), but maybe one day.

love.