why did the turtle cross the road?

manning (our resident animal lover) was overjoyed at the turtle we found crossing the road - in the opposite direction of the water - but he was a little too scared to touch it. he held my free hand while i  carried the turtle back across the street and down the hill to the pond in our neighborhood.

even though i told him it wouldn't be there, he had me stop by the pond on our way home to see if it was still where we had left it. it was not. love.

my little buddy

manning loves being able to do whatever he wants. every day gets to be special - just for him. today he asked to build marshmallow structures like he had done at church a few weeks ago. he was still doing it when the kids got home too.

and then he helped me make dinner. such a big kid. love.

maddux' first morning at the bus stop

maddux would have done this yesterday if we had let him - ride the bus from the bus stop. he was super ready to go and we were outside pretty early. 

not going to lie, manning is sort of enjoying sending all of the kids off in the morning and having me all to himself. love.

mommy's (and daddy's) nightcap

this summer i have started having trouble sleeping through the night. this has been primarily due to nightmares and an unjustified fear of someone entering our house (we have an alarm system that i obsessively check).

i have been drinking "sleepytime" tea off and on for years - mainly for warmth at night - but then i took a chance on this "nighty night" tea because it was on sale. worth every penny of full price. i have never relaxed and fallen asleep so quickly in my entire life, i sleep through the night and wake rested. matt has even started drinking it too.

and here i am sharing. sleep well! love.

meeting mason's teacher

it might have been maddux' first day of school, but i was off to a parent infromation meeting with mason's teacher tonight. i don't think they could have paired him with a teacher who would be more perfect for him; she loves math, football and is soft spoken. 

tonight was an explanation of the curriculum and how to communicate with her. we were also given the opportunity to see some of their work. there were a lot of superheroes at mason's table group.

here's to a great school year! love.

and then there was one

manning and i are going to have to find a whole new groove as a twosome. we started with fries and a frosty. so far, so good. love.

first day of school - part two

first day of kindergarten! he is so very excited to go to school, ride the bus and to make new friends. really, there isn't anything he isn't looking forward to doing in kindergarten.

he picked strawberries and nutella on pancakes for his special breakfast (picking the breakfast went a lot easier when it was only one kid's special day). and then he wanted a ton of pictures documenting his first day. we had to start early to get some with madelyn.

i just love his pose. sort of like a fire-side chat.

he was a little sad to not have gotten a picture on the couch with madelyn too - like everybody else on their first day of kindergarten. that we took a family one last week was of no comfort and we sat for this partial one to please him. well, i don't know if "please" is the right word...

we were early, but there were lots of first day pictures to take at the school too.

paige and maddux ready to take on kindergarten

the principal greeting them by name at the door. mason was there too.

in his room and ready for a great day!

i have been saying that i won't be surprised to get a call from the principal on maddux' first day. our main concern was touching others (and kissing and hugging). and i was mostly joking. but my heart stopped when i did get a call from the principal today! seriously! thankfully, it wasn't about maddux and was instead about the pto. maddux had a great day. love.