parent info night

tonight, i was finally given the chance to meet madelyn's teacher. i still hate that it isn't before the school year starts, but at least it isn't six weeks into the school year like it used to be. it was nice to meet her teachers and hear about the plans for the school year.

it is the second, repeat: second, day of school. how does she already have parts of a pencil that isn't one we bought her?!

we are looking forward to a great school year! love.

gift with love

madelyn picked these earrings from her cousin, luke, for the first day of school. in fact, she has worn them the entire week! love.

she loves us

madelyn left us a little love note before she left for school this morning. love.

first day of school - part one

back to school! two kids off to two schools this morning for their first day. we were a little off of our game because the start times aren't that close together and i wanted a picture of everyone dressed. everyone was a little giddy and silly, but we got a few decent ones.

and the excited 4th grader!

we all drove her over and walked her to the front door. and took a few more pictures. :)

madelyn loves, loves all of the fuss over her first day. she has been looking forward to the first day from the second she got off of the bus on the last day of school.

and then we loaded up and drove mason over to his first day of school. we were pretty early so it was a little more liesurely. although mason does not enjoy the photos and fuss even half as much as madelyn does.

wishing it was his first day and showing off his newest tooth loss - this morning! he was slightly overshadowed.

super excited to see his little friend, paige, who also wished that it was her first day. next week, friends.

they have made it so that we can at least walk the kids back on the first day now. dropping mason off was the first moment i ever met his teacher. we were the first ones there so i asked for a quick picture. then we had to get out of there because mason's desk was right in the doorway and we were blocking everyone else. he was pretty ready for school too.

it is nice to know that the kids are at great schools with good friends, but it will still be weird to be without them all day. love.

two schools, two stops

on our way home from the lake, we stopped at both schools to see which teachers the bigs have as teachers and who would be in their classes. (our district is still old school and posts the lists only on the schools' front doors the friday afternoon before school starts.)

madelyn's school first - she loves her teacher because he is "so funny" but didn't really have any close friends in her class.

then we raced over to mason's (and maddux') school - he has a teacher i don't know but have heard wonderful things about and his very best buddy (and school bus seat mate) is in his class! we really couldn't be happier about this one either.

unfortunately, we didn't have time for our traditional playing on the playground at each school because we are back to a fall schedule.

bring on the school year! love.

pool time

we have had great weather all weekend and the pool was a great choice today. love.

intermediate school playground

this morning we made the trip over to madelyn's school to spend some time on the playground. it works out pretty well to play for a bit before it gets hot and on our way to run errands. all four of the kids were super excited to get a chance to play at madelyn's school. and she loved showing them all of her favorite ways to play there.

they all loved pretending to be monkeys too. love.

my little mermaid

one of madelyn's pool friends (she is watched by her grandmother during the summer days and we see her every summer at the pool) let madelyn try out her mermaid fin. madelyn always swims with her ankles crossed to pretend to be a mermaid and was pretty excited.

manning gets tired of swimming before the other kids most trips and lays on me to warm up. today he asked to take some pictures. love.

madelyn's first job

our neighbors went out of town for two weeks and they asked if madelyn would make sure their plants stayed alive by watering them. of course she was thrilled! i didn't even tell her that they would pay her - she was just happy to be asked. the boys wanted to lend her a hand too. love.

madelyn is 9

this girl was up and dressed with her self-made "birthday girl" sign pinned to her dress and the birthday crown from our trip to toys 'r' us when i came out this morning. she loves being the center of attention!

unfortunately, daddy couldn't get the whole day off from work. so we sent him some pictures of her birthday donuts from her favorite donut shop. i think the main attraction is the size of the donuts (and they are delicious). the kids were also excited when one of the bakers came out to squeeze a little frosting on their fingers.

next stop? chuck e. cheese! we try to consolidate into one birthday trip and since we didn't have any specific plans for madelyn's actual birthday, we chose to go there on her day. she wasn't complaining at all.

the happiest kids in town! sugared up and ready to go.

 everyone filled their pockets with tokens and took off except manning, so he is the one with pictures.

happy with his jackpot

they all love to crunch and munch their tickets. today was our largest total from a single day - 1,054 - and it didn't even take forever.

mason chose not to spend any tickets (his third trip where he has chosen to save his tickets). he is the only one who is able to resist the prizes. maddux always saves a little of his, but mason leaves empty handed every time. madelyn and manning blow every single ticket of their share.

madelyn chose to have lunch at home. and to make it herself! we had bahn mi pasta salad (noodles, broccoli, carrots and cucumber tossed with mayo and topped with avocado - and sriracha for those of us who like a little spice).

we also had dinner at home per madelyn's request - spinach alfredo with bread crumb topping. i should be flattered that she likes my cooking so much.

madelyn couldn't wait to get to the presents! we opened gifts while skyping with the grandparents and then opened the family gifts. daddy and i are getting her some additional furniture for her room on our trip next week so nothing really to open from us, but she didn't mind.

madelyn liked maddux' card.

 i remembered a picture with the birthday kid again. yay! manning didn't want to smile.

super excited for some alice in wonderland tsum tsums. 

madelyn also requested that i make her birthday 'cake' - chocolate chip banana bread with vanilla ice cream.

we just love this birthday girl - and she loves being the oldest! love.