park play date

i was finally able to connect with the mom of one of madelyn's preschool friends and we planned to meet up at the park for lunch.  it was so nice to see them, catch up and play.  we even ran into one of mason's friends from school which made him pretty happy (he was feeling sad that we weren't meeting one of his friends for lunch). so fun. i am slowly getting the hang of this whole 'plan a play date' thing.  i never got to take the kids on play dates in wisconsin because i was working full time. happy to get to do it now. love.

alyssa and madelyn

the whole crew - maddux, alyssa, madelyn, austin (alyssa's little brother who turns 2 on tuesday) and mason

personal best

i just had to post about this because today was so busy - and still enjoyable!  today we went to the grocery store, target, babies-r-us, bed bath & beyond, (home for lunch), a local resale store for soccer cleats, the park, the pool, (dinner at home) and bedtime by myself (matt golfs on thursdays and doesn't get home in time for bedtime).

and the kids were all great listeners all day (which is why it was enjoyable)!  i even had two different people comment on how good they are as we were running around (i even got my first "great mom" comment as we were leaving target - she said that she had seen me a few times in the store and that i do a great job with the kids).

so proud of my crew.  love.

happy manning

manning does cry a lot, but there is getting to be a lot more of this guy... love.

maddux speaks

i have mentioned several times how effective maddux is communicating without words.  but he does speak.  here he is playing my "say..." game.  he isn't as clear with his speech as normal in the videos but at least he is getting to where someone other than me can understand him.  this is the a small sampling of what he sounds like. love.

kindergarten skills assessment

i don't know who was more nervous about the assessment - me or madelyn. i was worried that she would "play dumb" (like she does with me) or get upset that she didn't know something (more like mommy than I would like). but what had madelyn in tears at the mere thought of being asked to do it? the balance beam.

since siblings were not invited, i had found a friend who would watch mason and maddux for an hour or two while i took madelyn.  she was already pretty bummed that they got to play at a house that we had not been to before so i wasn't too surprised that there were tears.  what surprised me was that she was crying over being asked to walk a balance beam.

at the open house last night, the principal was just making friendly small talk with her and mentioned that when she came today she was going to get to do some fun things with mrs. d like look at pictures, throw a ball and walking on a balance beam.  i think all madelyn heard was balance beam.

now madelyn isn't really afraid of a balance beam.  she has done lots of balance activities before without any problems or "falling".  maybe it was watching the olympics this summer but madelyn was terrified that she might fall and get hurt.  the worst part was when she said, "but what it i fall and you aren't there to catch me?"  ouch.  like a knife to the heart.

we had a discussion about how mrs. d was going to do her best to keep madelyn safe at school and that she didn't have to do anything she didn't feel was safe.  she still needed four tissues to keep in her pockets when we got there (and it had to be four - two in each pocket).  once inside the school, i gave her a kiss on her palm so that my love could be with her if she got scared.  she really liked that and put it straight to her cheek.  and then she asked for a second kiss for the other hand to use on the balance beam.

i got a little emotional as she walked off with her teacher for the evaluation.  while she was getting 'evaluated', i (and four other parents - one for each kindergarten teacher doing testing) met with the principal in the library to go over logistics of pick-up/drop-off, school rules, etc.  the principal seems like a nice guy who is passionate about what he does and making school a positive experience.  he reminds me a lot of my elementary school principal.

when madelyn and i were finished and heading to pick-up the boys she told me about what she did.  the "balance beam" - a piece of tape on the floor!  she had to walk forward, backwards and sideways on it.  even she laughed that she had ever been scared of it.  she also had to throw/catch a ball, hop on one foot and identify letters on a page.  she told me she missed one because they weren't in order and she thought it was a "V" when it was a "Y".  she didn't think it was a big deal because she knew what it was; she just didn't look closely enough before answering - or so she told me.  she said that there were also pictures where she had to pick out two items that rhymed, which she said was easy. and that was all she could remember.

it seems like it was all and all a positive experience and she enjoyed getting to spend one-on-one time with her new teacher.  she is just disappointed that she has to wait until next week to see her again!  love.

kindergarten open house

the countdown has begun (okay, so we've been counting down for months now).  tonight we got to go to school and meet madelyn's kindergarten teacher!  she got a postcard from her teacher a few days ago and thought that it was pretty special and couldn't wait to find out about her school.

of course we were early.  more because i wasn't sure about parking and how far i would have to walk with the gang.  matt had to meet us there because of a late meeting at work.

madelyn insisted that this was the "perfect place" to take a picture "of the kindergartner and her brothers".  too bad it was looking directly into the sun!

we waited in the lobby chatting with the principal until it was officially time to go to her class room.  the school is relatively small and the kindergarten rooms are very close to the front entrance so i don't have to worry too much about her getting lost on her way to class the first day.  yep, that's right. we can't walk her to class.  not even on the first day. talk about her not being a "baby" any more!  (not that i have considered her a baby since she first started walking.)

madelyn made cards for her teacher last week to bring to school tonight.  she has been so excited.

she was so excited to be walking towards her classroom!

when we got to her classroom she was playing "shy" and standing behind me.  she told me on the ride home afterwards that she just gets "shy" when she is in a new place with new people but that she wasn't shy about school any more.  mrs. d gave each child a scavenger hunt list and let them pick a crayon - madelyn chose red, naturally.  she was SO excited to be doing a scavenger hunt.  she even did a great job reading most of the items herself.  they were largely "find the..." items.  half of the list was in her classroom and half were around the school which worked as a great way of getting a tour.

finding her name on the table.  and she shares a locker behind her for her backpack and coat.

after exploring the scavenger hunt items in the classroom, we headed out into the school and madelyn led the way.  we got to see the library, gym, music room, art room, cafeteria (which she was very impressed with the size of the room), school office and the playground

madelyn is looking forward to the first day of school and wishes it was tomorrow (she does have her skill evaluation tomorrow afternoon so we will be back).  it is going to be difficult for her to wait another whole week!  her class has 24 kids and only 9 are girls (at least according to the online roster).  this is her teacher's third year with the school and she has been a reading specialist for the past two years.  she has also taught third grade and preschool.  it is the first year of kindergarten for both of them!



madelyn with mrs. d

we are so excited to see what this year holds for her and the many ways she will grow.  love.

"king crabby"

here is the much discussed screaming/crying from manning.  he goes from happy to this in less than a second; there isn't much (if any) build up most of the time.  we are slowing getting to a place where is calms down with a pacifier for a bit, but he still has a way to go.  he is definitely the loudest, but i guess he has to be.  love.