hat day

mason's school had "hat day" today. mason didn't have to even think about which hat he was going to wear today - his cleveland indians hat. the picture came from the school. love.

lunch out

i am a push over when it comes to lunch out during the week. we don't do it very often, but it also doesn't take much to talk me into it. so when the boys suggested it as we were leaving the ymca i was trying to say no. but then maddux said that he didn't want mcdonalds, he wanted the "fruit and yogurt lunch from that new place." he was talking about the new restaurant we went to for valentine's day. now he's talking! manning really is happy to be there. this seems to be his new picture face. sigh. love.

night hike

manning's class had a "night hike" this week. the kids were all pretty excited - mainly because they could wear jammies all week. manning was only on board with the jammies on the first day. he is our one who gets dressed when we have a jammie day at home too.

they read books in their tent and then used flashlights to find nightlife (aka stuffed animals) and sit around a 'fire' in their story room. it was a huge hit!

audio books

maddux and manning have gotten really into audio books. they love that they can 'read' even when no one can read to them. they really like the ones with songs too. we have had fun checking out the library's large selection. love.

the memory champion

we have several sets of memory but the kids have never wanted to play. manning was sleeping and maddux decided that we should give it a try.

his initial impression was that it was way too hard, but then he actually played. he was amazing! i don't even know how he remembered half of the pairs he found. he thought every miss i had was hysterical.

i did manage to come back for a tie and then we played another version we have and i beat him by one. but it wasn't like i wasn't trying to beat him! he did really, really well. i loved having some rare one on one time with this guy. love.

back to the zoo

the boys have been asking to go for months. we planned to go last week to renew our membership but the wind made it just too cold. today we made it! i think it has almost been a year since we have last gone - manning didn't even remember most of it. that actually made it more fun. there were lots of other changes that were new to maddux and me too.

manning was pretty impressed with the octopus.

they (well, manning) got a little grumpy and wouldn't take a group picture at the easter bunny station. so individuals it is - maddux offered to take my picture too.

this little ropes course is new to us and replaced a small wooden playset. this definitely allowed for more children to play at once.

they boys asked for this one and posed themselves.

grumpy boy is almost always against group pictures.

the boys were happy to see that the "otter slide" was open. not only that, but the otter was swimming all around the slide. maddux stopped to watch for a second or two.

manning kept going up the stairs but not going down the slide (he would climb back down the stairs). i offered to take him up and slide with him. that was just what he wanted and happily went with me. when i got to the top platform i realized what the problem might have been.

there were a few boys around maddux' age that were covering the top of the slide and yelling down the tube. and then some more came running up behind us and shoved the boys already there to slide down. keep in mind, there was a line with about 5 kids and 3 adults waiting in line on the platform. the other moms were making lots of comments along the lines of "where are their parents?" and "we have been waiting for awhile now." after the boys ran by me for a third time, i spoke up explaining that the line was behind me and that it was this girl's turn to go. the mother thanked me and helped her daughter slide down (the girl was clearly overwhelmed by the boys yelling and shoving). i was shoved again by a few of the boys who were cutting the line as they passed me. the mom in front of me had taken to physically trying to return them to the back of the line so that her son could slide. two of the boys settled for just jumping in front of manning and me in line where the proceeded to shove each other when one of them was snatched to the back of the line with who appeared to be his mother.

but then another boy shoved me and jumped in front of manning. i told him that it was our turn and he could be next (maddux was waiting at the bottom of the slide with our backpack and i just wanted to get down at this point). the lady who had snatched back the other boy started going off about how she hears everybody talking about her boys. manning and i quickly made our escape down the slide. 

i couldn't believe that this woman was responsible for all of these boys and was making no effort to keep them from shoving adults (i was not alone in speaking up) and not allowing any one else to slide. i just wanted to get some distance from this disturbing group. we had actually encountered them when we first arrived (they were leaving an exhibit as we arrived) and i overheard a dad say, "whose kid is shoving my daughter?" looking around. he then told his daughter (who was maybe 2) that she should punch anyone who blocks her way, "we don't do that." we quickly scooted on from this family too.

oh well. we still had a lovely day at the zoo and ran into several friends. i just didn't want to end up in a fist fight! love.

we love a good puzzle

the kids have my love for a good puzzle (1000+ pieces) and are patient enough to spend hours helping me (or in this case, doing it without me while i make dinner). we can even suck daddy into the fun every now and again. love.