memorial day parade

today our character champions got to walk in the memorial day parade. it was matt's day to walk with them so they left before the littles and i. we all walked to the parade route but we always underestimate how long it takes to get there! i was almost dragging manning up the last hill so that we would make it to the start before they left.

not only did we make it in time, but we found some friends to sit with on the curb (maddux' best buddy)!

this is a candy parade (we actually remembered to send some with madelyn and mason to throw this year), so the kids were ready.

on of our babysitters is the blonde on the far side.

and then we found mason and daddy. madelyn was walking on the other side of the road with her friends.

her friend's mom sent me this keeper.

we actually sat right next to maddux' preschool teacher too! she was running late getting her son to the parade start and stayed to sit with us.

they dug right into their parade treats.

we stopped to play at a park before walking back home - maddux was too busy playing with his buddy to be in any pictures.

once we all made it home, we had some lunch and made our way to the pool! we were feeling extra fortunate because the community pool did not open as scheduled this year and we were able to enjoy our neighborhood pool. i think we are going to have a lot of playdates with friends looking to swim this hot week. love.

our saturday hangout

matt is coaching mason, so i spend most of my time watching maddux (and the other two). he (#2) is having so much fun.

we left the field to go to the actual summer kick-off for the library's reading program - mainly for the free ice cream. it was a hot one so we had to huddle against the wall for the only shade to try and finish our treats before they melted. love.

kicking off summer right

summer break equals reading books around here so off to the library we went first thing this morning! 

we got all four kids signed up for their reading program and as a bonus, i got myself signed up for their adult program too. i even got a bonus chocolate bar - score!

since we were out (unexpectedly due to a call from madelyn's school that she had left her yearbook in her locker that we needed to come pick up today instead of staying at home in our jammies all day), we also went to the christian bookstore to sign up for their reading program.

but the day wasn't a complete loss, we broke out the slip-n-slide and sprinkler when we got home. school let out a little earlier this year and the pool won't open until this weekend.

summer is off to a great start around here! although, i fear that i might have set the bar a little high for how fun this summer will be. love.

last day of school ice cream dinner

the kids and i have been shopping and planning for one of their highlights of the year - last day of school ice cream dinner! we very, very rarely have dessert (or have sugar) so this is really something special. look at these faces.

the kids were so excited to load up their bowls, but then took two bites and asked for something else for dinner. all of that sugar was more appealing in theory. love them.

last day of school for all

so i wasn't able to get everyone together for a group shot, but here are pictures of everyone off to their last day of school.

once i had dropped the boys off (as early as humanly possible), i raced (as safely as possible) over to madelyn's school across town. the talent show started at 8:45 and preschool starts at 9am. thankfully, i knew that she was towards the end of the show.

the show was interesting. there was a lot of singing, piano and gymnastics and then some more unusual acts - math tricks, a president rap (by one of madelyn's friends who was hysterical) and drumming. and then it was time for madelyn:

she did a good job, but not as well as she did when she was practicing at home. holding the microphone limited her hand gestures and she raced through it. but the feedback from other parents and staff was great and she was thrilled with her performance.

but now it was time to race back over to get boys. here is manning with some of his preschool buds.

madelyn was disappointed that i wasn't staying for her field day, but a friend sent over this picture of the tug-a-war. she had a great time.

hooray for the end of another school year! love.

field day with mason

thanks to a friend being willing to watch the little boys this afternoon, i was able to help all day at mason's school for their "end of year celebration" (aka field day). the morning was easy because the littles were at preschool, but mason wasn't coming until the afternoon. 

i dropped the boys off at preschool, helped all morning with the 2nd graders, over my lunch break ran to pick the boys up from preschool and got them to my friend's house (maddux' best buddy) before racing back to mason's school and reapplying my sunscreen for the 1st graders and kindergarteners. 

mason doing the plunger ball balance potion of the relay race station i was working.

the all time favorite - toilet toss - but the hardest on the volunteers. it is super hot on the asphalt and there is lots of bending down and picking up.

we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. we had pleanty of volunteers and everyone had a wonderful time. we love our school. i can't believe mason is done with kindergarten. love.

heading to kindergarten

i didn't realize how blurry this picture was when i snapped it, but isn't it a cute good-bye to pre-k? the kids all wore the same colors of the rainbow which is what you can't really see in the pictures. love.

end of year teacher gifts

seriously. why is teacher appreciation week so close to the end of the year? all of these gifts are bankrupting us! and it is so difficult to know what is appropriate (mainly because of how much teacher post complaints about teacher gifts on facebook).

this year i was on it though. we started early enough for the kids to hand write all of their own thank you cards. we did a combo of $10 gift cards, gratitude bracelets from mercy house and snack sized chocolates for around 30 school staff members in four classes at three schools.

i am realizing that giving something to every single teacher is becoming more unrealistic as madelyn has more and more teachers each year (3 main and 6 specials), but there is a certain joy in recognizing everyone who spent so much time with her over the year. love.

booster car

maddux is a pretty creative kid and patient at building with just about anything - even following the instructions. i thought that this one was worth a picture before he put it away. he couldn't stop talking long enough for a good picture (the flash over exposure didn't help either). love.

look at that manning bomb.

blast off

today we went to nasa. more accurately, the nasa glenn research center in cleveland for their 75th anniversary open house. we had friends go yesterday so i knew that the lines were long - really long. i warned matt (who hates waiting in line) even offering to take the kids by myself, but he still came with us (he loves us SO much). the picture is a portion of the single line to get the shuttle from the parking lot to the research center. it took us about an hour and forty-five minutes to get through the line (thankfully it was a gorgeous day) and security.

there was so much to see and we didn't even see a quarter of it. the kids (and i) thought that it was all awesome!

wearing a nasa sticker while waiting to put his "face in space" - see below.

we waited in line for a picture with this astronaut guy but when it was our turn someone ran up and jumped ahead of us to be the "last one." so instead i got a picture of him walking away.

we had so much fun with the kids activities. the pictures only show a fraction of what we were able to do during the afternoon.

testing their straw rockets

the kids made these cooling sleeves that were then injected with ice water to show how astronauts keep cool when they are out in space (since the sun is so hot).

manning loved this satellite so much that he couldn't stop looking at it.

and then they got to make a 'jet engine' that was pretty cool too. the staff was so amazing explaining the science behind each activity too. we now have several aspiring astronauts.

there was a swat team there with a line to see inside their trucks. as the kids were checking it out i overheard one of the swat team guys answering questions. it turns out that they weren't part of the event but were actually there as security! they were just showing kindness in letting the kids check out their equipment. how nice? and how crazy that a swat team was on standby?!

matt was already in the very (very) long line to catch the buses to the parking lot so the kids and i walked around to see some of the other vehicles on exhibit.

once again, we can't take a group shot.

proof that it was actually nasa.

a sampling of the line for the buses (on the other side of the far building)

still marveling over their cool 'jet engines'

awesome day. i wish we could have gotten around to more (really, any) of the test and research facilities open to the public. oh well, it was still pretty amazing to see the campus.

right as we were leaving church to head to nasa manning tripped and fell into the rubber mat just outside the entry. ouch! since he couldn't see his forehead, he was more concerned with his hands - which were not bleeding at all. i was more concerned about the dent in his forehead! he wasn't too bothered about it so we went ahead with our nasa plans. i took this picture when we got home just to document his crazy forehead. i guess we will be waiting a little longer on that short summer cut. love.