all about manning

manning's 'about me' page for preschool

picture day

mason wanted to wear his 'first day of school' outfit for picture day. so he did. love.

madelyn and manning well-checks

another great check-up for the growing kiddos! today was manning and madelyn getting check-ups but all four kids had to make the trip because it was at the end of the day.

here are the stats...

madelyn
height - 4' 6.3" (93rd percentile)
weight - 74th percentile
bmi - 43rd percentile

manning
height - 3' 6.2" (99th percentile - in fact, the computer kept saying that his height was an error)
weight - 40 lbs 5.5 oz (96th percentile)
bmi - 50th percentile

no shots and no real health concerns. but i did get mommy guilt when she asked if manning knew his abcs - um... i didn't know. and how high can he count? um... i don't think he can. poor youngest kid. i for sure don't get to work with him as much as the others. in my defense, manning thinks it is hysterical to count in a nonsense way - every single time.

so mommy left with a few things to work on...

love.

early morning soccer

we didn't quite get a chance to finish breakfast so we brought a container of muffins to the field with us. we had the first game of the day and it was a little chilly. the team was very full of energy though!

this little sequence shows maddux' animated speaking. he is mr. personality for sure!

mason with his buddy carter's little brother nolan - who is on their team.

the kids were doing push-ups so manning busted out a few burpies. love.

you mess with the hose, you get wet

maybe it wasn't warm enough for the pool

the boys and i went to the pool, but it closer to 70 instead of 80 and we were freezing! we were cold enough that we came home to warm shower and some hot chocolate. the boys were excited to get out our fancy hot chocolate mugs that can 'kick' in the marshmallows into the cup.

we were very cold at the pool but it led to a sweet (warm) treat. love.

just another morning at the bus stop

heated game of "surprise slides" (aka "the frozen game")

the boys and i have been playing board games to fill the afternoons. today we played a few rounds of "surprise slides." they like the sliding so much that the game often dissolves into just sliding instead of trying to get to the 'finish.' our last round was very heated though as we kept spinning the same spaces! it really was comical as we shared the same space over and over. love these littles! love.

the white on my lip is something from the flash. i was not drinking milk.

school time normal

we are all trying to get into our new 'normal' during the school year. everyone is still so excited about the buses that we spend some time playing outside waiting for the buses. and waiting equals pictures!

yesterday, i took the little boys back to school shopping. when i told manning what this shirt said, "ready, set, go," he had to have it (it helped a little that it was yellow). we sing a song at church that is called "ready, set, go" and it is manning's favorite song! he sings it all the time. funny enough, the monkey his is holding is from church too. 

mason's first morning bus ride.

i knew that the dynamic would be different with just the two littles at home, but they are a little lost without the bigs. i think that they aren't used to making decisions about what to do, so they want me to make the choices for them. i am going to have to change up my daily routine to still get everything done that needs to happen each day, but it's fun to be wanted all the time again.

a monkey on my back while i try to work at the computer.

maddux and i played games for about an hour while manning took a nap - he even beat me a few times!

next week the littles will be in school too. i am trying to keep that perspective. i can clean later. love.

mason's first day of kindergarten

it was almost comical how totally excited and completely casual mason has been about starting kindergarten. he has been double-checking his countdown for several weeks now but had no nervousness at all.

where madelyn wanted homemade muffins and fresh fruit, mason only wanted granola cereal for breakfast. it was nice for me, but felt a little lack luster for such a big day! he was happy so that was good enough for me.

traditional first day family picture

mason was so excited that he had his backpack and lunchbox when we took madelyn out to catch the bus - a full 40 minutes before we needed to leave to take him to school! so we took more pictures...

and it was finally time to head off to mason's school! this year we weren't the only ones taking pictures with the school sign and we had to wait.

all of the kindergarteners wear these necklaces to identify them; it communicates their name, class and bus number.

mason made a beeline for the door when the bell rang! seriously, i had to call him back to say good-bye and get a hug! he was already inside before we could even get to the lobby (as far as parents are permitted) so we never even went in the building. a little sad, but such a relief to see him so confident and excited about being there.

manning and maddux both asked a few times where mason was during the day and had to be reminded that he was at school. madelyn was super excited that her bus returns first. mason was greeted with a huge group hug when he got off the bus! this picture is a reenactment because i wasn't fast enough with my phone.

his first day was awesome! he loved kindergarten! he was even more excited to find that his "best friend" from a local vbs was also in his class. he told us that there wasn't anything that wasn't great today. you can't really ask for a better first day than that! love.

mason's last day of summer

we had to run a few errands today (a welcome back gift for mason's principal from the pto) and had lunch out. i sure did have some handsome company! and i even had a few compliments on their behavior (see my earlier post about the impact of a kind word from a stranger).

as a treat for mason's last day, we stopped to get some perler beads. the kids have been asking for them all summer but i have been hesitant because i can just see them EVERYWHERE. but with enough coupons to get them all at a discount, we left with three sets.

maddux asked if i could see his eyes "popping out."

mason went with a monster set, maddux a race car set and manning a "doggie" set. they were very excited - until they weren't. about five minutes later. mommy had a great time making perler patterns for them and ironing everything together. they were very happy with the finished products though.

mason is SO, SO, SO excited to go to school. he wants to just ride the bus, but we are insisting on driving him for his very first day of kindergarten. love.

meanwhile, back at home...

...daddy was painting both of our new basement bedrooms. love him.