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.
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.
we did it again - we all wore the same color! i didn't even notice until someone pointed it out to us at the library. oh well. great minds and all. love.
we swung by sonic for half-price drinks to help us cool down before going in for the preschool's open house. manning is an old pro by now and his teacher also had all three bigs (she remembers me pregnant with manning) so this was just a formality. it was a little weird to only have one room to visit though. love.
all three boys are hitting the fields today for soccer! manning has mixed feelings about soccer. really he wants no part of it, but he's here so he's playing. pray for us.
manning was having no part of the "first day" excitement and indulgence of mommy's camera.
it's daddy's first day of the season too as maddux and manning's coach.
almost game time and still a grump.
another one with better lighting.
finally a smile.
and reluctantly he takes to the field for their first practice. even gives me a quick look back.
manning was not having any part of maddux' excitement.
finally he is ready to participate.
then we made our way over to mason's field for his first game (the younger kids just practice the first two weeks of season).
kicking out to his buddy, carter.
passing to carter's brother, nolan.
the boys were a little rusty. we'll have to see how they progress throughout the season. love.
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.
the kids are continuing to have fun with the $5 felt set and board i made during a class at the public library. and then we discovered that we could check out ready-made felt sets from the library! manning, in particular, really loves to tell stories. this has been one of his favorites (the video is SUPER long) - polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear? (although he says "see" through the whole telling.) love.
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 turned four today! he has been very excited for his birthday to come. unfortunately, we had the early baseball games this morning and had to have birthday breakfast at the field. but who would mind with donuts like these? manning requested "peace, love and little donuts" and watermelon for his birthday breakfast. the funny part was that the customers in front of us were picking up birthday donuts and the lady behind the counter was also celebrating her birthday! it was the birthday destination this morning.
we all enjoyed the birthday breakfast picnic.
once we were done with our final saturday baseball games of the season, we went home to have manning's lunch of choice - kraft mac and cheese with steamed broccoli.
look at this big kid!
with manning's blessing, maddux and i were excused from our own celebration to go to one of his classmate's birthday party. it was an awesome old school backyard party. maddux and his friends had a great time and the other moms (and grandmas) and i were marveling at how well behaved they were.
maddux ended up winning the pin the tail on the donkey game! it worked out great because he was given a super hero kickball as the prize and took the sting out of all the gifts at home.
look at these well-behaved boys taking turns at the piñata.
maddux and i went home to pick up the rest of the crew so we could go to toys 'r' us for their birthday celebration. the birthday kids were all sent coupons for their 'gift' and an invitation to the party. this year they released a book about geffory the giraffe. the kids were each given a copy and got to listen to it read.
they were also each given a stuffed geffory toy (maddux got one for his birthday in november).
we let them wander around for a while browsing the toys (and growing their 'want list') before going to manning's restaurant of choice for an early dinner. we were all happy about his choice. he also chose for us to sit at the bar (he didn't sit alone, the rest of the kids were in the bathroom).
and then we went home for opening presents over skype with the grandparents.
remember this book from the felt board set? very exciting!
once we were done with the grandparents, it was time for cake and ice cream! manning chose a minion cake.
now bring on the rest of the presents!
i remembered to get a picture with the birthday boy this year.
then we went out to give him his present from dad and mom...
this was the #1 thing he mentioned every time he was asked about what he wanted for his birthday, a "yellow pedal bike." and he took to it quicker than any of the other kids which was actually a little scarier because i couldn't keep up and he didn't know how to fall yet. this was on his third attempt:
manning was very happy with his special day. love.
manning turned four today! he has been very excited for his birthday to come. unfortunately, we had the early baseball games this morning and had to have birthday breakfast at the field. but who would mind with donuts like these? manning requested "peace, love and little donuts" and watermelon for his birthday breakfast. the funny part was that the customers in front of us were picking up birthday donuts and the lady behind the counter was also celebrating her birthday! it was the birthday destination this morning.
