let's go to the movies

last weekend we had big pop and grandma visit and this weekend we have papa and nana! they love movies so we took them to see "the secret life of pets" with us. the kids were 50/50 on it (read: two cried and wanted to leave during the movie), but all were happy to be at the theater and said that they liked the movie as we were leaving. we took a few pictures with the "trolls" sign on our way out. love.

last $1 movie of the summer

today was the last $1 movie of the summer and i had to make good on my promise to let them each get a "snack pack" instead of just sharing a large popcorn and drink. it cost more and they get less, but the appeal of not sharing is just too strong.

they loved the movie too - shawn the sheep. there was zero dialog in this full length movie but they still got a little scared during the intense ending.

after the movie we went to church to set-up for sunday. (seriously, we have spent a ridiculous amount of their summer at church!) while we were three we dropped off our school supply donations. instead of a loaded backpack, everyone supplies pieces and the families come through to pick out their free supplies.

summer is winding down. we have big plans. love.

the peanuts movie

we were all dragging a little bit this morning from our grand birthday celebration trip, but we got ourselves together enough to make our way to the dollar movie - the peanuts movie. the kids had watched the movie already with papa and nana during our trip to kansas and loved it then. i was excited to watch it with the. we were so late that the only seats together we could find were in the very front row. not ideal but not as awful as i was expecting.

 manning went at batman. naturally. love.

movie in the park - inside out

if you have been reading for long, you know that we love the movies in the park put on by the public library each month in the summer. a church and a few local businesses provide inflatables, hot dogs, pop corn, cotton candy, crafts, games, prizes and balloon animals - all for free! it is a wonderful way to enjoy a summer evening. tonight's movie is inside out.

with lunch and camp and dinner at the park, i got most of the day off today! that was pretty special too.

the craft was so cute and simple - painted plate with character templates to color, cut out and glue on.

maddux got his fill of hot dogs and then some.

me and the love bug.

movie time! i must admit that reclining on a blanket with any number of kids laying/leaning on me is not comfortable at all, but the experience is heavenly. love.

movie night in the park

tonight was our last movie in the park for the summer. instead of cinderella, the library decided to play big hero 6 (that had been cancelled due to rain back in june). and it was a great night for a movie!

our first stop was the "balloon man" (his line gets long, fast). while we were getting our balloons, the newspaper was there doing a story on him and we made the footage. mason and manning opted for the special baymax balloons he had made to go along with the movie, madelyn wanted the most complicated (of course) and maddux wanted a weapon (again, of course). these are always such a treat!

a local church provides the activities - super hero wrist bands and big hero 6 tattoos, ... 

... lots of games and inflatables. 

and lots of free food - cotton candy, popcorn and pizza from papa johns!

and now it is movie time! i was able to serve as a human body pillow for all of the children during the movie. i am getting a little old for laying on the ground. matt had to go stand in the back because he just couldn't sit still that long. but we all had a great time! love.

movie in the park

the first movie of the summer was rained out, but tonight was perfect for a movie in the park! we got in the balloon line as soon as we got there because it normally takes an hour or more. the man twists balloons for a solid four hours and could not be nicer. madelyn has a monkey on a palm tree hat, mason has batman (although he already popped the head by the time we got a picture), maddux has a dragon and manning has a yellow elephant.

manning enjoyed some of the yard games while the big kids played on the inflatables.

and there was cotton candy! surprisingly, manning was not a fan.

manning and madelyn were the only ones who opted to make the mask craft while we waited for the boys to finish the obstacle course. then we all grabbed some pizza and popcorn to snack on while we waited for the movie to start.

as the sun set, the movie began! they were playing alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. after reading reviews, i wasn't too sure that it was going to be appropriate for our kids but it was cute and they loved it!

we feel so fortunate to live in a community where they provide such a great family evening - and did i mention that it is free??!! love.

inside out

the kids and i took a rare trip to the movie theater to see inside out. but there was not a single poster for the movie! so we settled for a picture with the minions. a creepy picture.

a prime example for why you should look at a picture before deciding you 'got it.'

the kids polished off a large popcorn before the previews even started so i went back out for our 'free refill.' they finished that one off too! we had just eaten before heading to the theater too. 

everyone loved the movie! i thought it was really great the way the movie showed the complexity of emotions, why they are helpful and why transitioning from child to teen can be challenging. besides that it was a really cute pixar movie. the kids really liked the closing credits a lot - i think it was mason's favorite part.

if daddy had been there, it would have been perfect! love.

adventures with perry

madelyn's class has a 'pet' - a stuffed animal named perry - and it was her weekend to bring him home for a weekend of 'adventures.' lucky for us, we had some plans this weekend! each child is asked to take pictures and do a write-up about the weekend and add it to a binder for the classroom. the kids are able to read perry's adventures during free-time at school. 

madelyn was SO excited and got right to work drawing with perry as soon as she got home. 

we took perry to the ymca with us for some basketball and laps on the track.

every year we have been here, i have wanted to check out the maple syrup harvest. several farms offer tours, activities, pancake breakfasts both free and paid. i decided that this year would be the year. not knowing what to expect, we decided to check out one of the free options. it was fantastic! we went to a family farm where their maple harvest and syrup production is just a hobby (even though they process more than 400 trees!). 

perry took a few photo opportunities while we waited for our tour.

and the kids sampled some of their tasty treats - maple and bacon doughnuts, maple popcorn, pancakes (which they offered us for free even though they were selling them) and a maple leaf sucker.

perry and madelyn with the condenser. the steam was so thick that it looked a little like the place was on fire when we first went in.

getting ready for our tractor tour.

i really can't say enough about how wonderful the family was during our outing. the dad (or rather the son) narrated our tour while his teen daughter drove the tractor. he told us all about native american folk lore explaining the discovery of maple syrup, the different harvesting methods (buckets vs. bags, etc.), how to tell if you have sugar maples near your house (they are the maples with yellow leaves in the fall), that sugar maple sap is 2% sugar and has to be condensed to 66% for syrup, and way more that i can relay here.

this harvest was proving to be a low yielding year (because of the extreme freezing), but he still poured sap out for us to sample right off of the tree. it was nothing like what i expected! i was expecting something thick and tan, sort of like pine sap, but, no, it was like slightly sweet water.

while matt and maddux ran into the house to use the bathroom (yes, they let strangers use their home bathroom), he thought it was a great idea to step into what was left of a snow drift. and it wet his pants to above his knee as he sank right through it! we had to take them off when we went to get back in the car and maddux thought it was pretty great. we had all removed our wet and muddy shoes for the ride home.

manning tells me the same "knock, knock" joke every day. many, many, many times a day. here he is with a delivery in the car on the ride home.

but our fun day with perry wasn't over just yet... i surprised madelyn with a trip to see the new cinderella movie! the frozen fever short was not as great as the movie (at least the song wasn't as catchy), but the excited gasps from the girls in the theater when it's title screen came up was so sweet.  madelyn's review of the cinderella movie was that, "there is way too much dying, but i liked it." she was sobbing at least three times during the movie. one time i even had to hold her in my lap because she was getting too loud. madelyn is very sensitive, but even i was crying more than once. it is pretty intense emotionally. it was a beautiful film though. she, and perry, were much better by the time we stopped for some frozen yogurt.

perry joined us for church in the morning too. he even got to meet hamilton, the hedgehog who helps with the bible lesson on the 2- and 3-year-old hallway (i was pretty proud of my little shepherd's outfit for him).

and then she came home to type up her first ever paragraph to add to the book (i don't know why we haven't worked on typing before, but she did it all herself and i was pretty impressed).

we had a pretty great weekend with perry - and each other. love.