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.

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.

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.

positive reinforcement

mason's teacher is ah-mazing at positive reinforcement! she doesn't miss any opportunity to love on her kids and even sends home hand written notes. such a gift for him - and us. love.

parent info night

tonight, i was finally given the chance to meet madelyn's teacher. i still hate that it isn't before the school year starts, but at least it isn't six weeks into the school year like it used to be. it was nice to meet her teachers and hear about the plans for the school year.

it is the second, repeat: second, day of school. how does she already have parts of a pencil that isn't one we bought her?!

we are looking forward to a great school year! love.

gift with love

madelyn picked these earrings from her cousin, luke, for the first day of school. in fact, she has worn them the entire week! love.

first day of school - part one

back to school! two kids off to two schools this morning for their first day. we were a little off of our game because the start times aren't that close together and i wanted a picture of everyone dressed. everyone was a little giddy and silly, but we got a few decent ones.

and the excited 4th grader!

we all drove her over and walked her to the front door. and took a few more pictures. :)

madelyn loves, loves all of the fuss over her first day. she has been looking forward to the first day from the second she got off of the bus on the last day of school.

and then we loaded up and drove mason over to his first day of school. we were pretty early so it was a little more liesurely. although mason does not enjoy the photos and fuss even half as much as madelyn does.

wishing it was his first day and showing off his newest tooth loss - this morning! he was slightly overshadowed.

super excited to see his little friend, paige, who also wished that it was her first day. next week, friends.

they have made it so that we can at least walk the kids back on the first day now. dropping mason off was the first moment i ever met his teacher. we were the first ones there so i asked for a quick picture. then we had to get out of there because mason's desk was right in the doorway and we were blocking everyone else. he was pretty ready for school too.

it is nice to know that the kids are at great schools with good friends, but it will still be weird to be without them all day. love.

the last day of "summer"

we have been trying to make it through a few of the kids 'must-dos' for summer and on this last day of summer vacation, we chose a hike on a trail the littles and i did last year but that the bigs (and dad) have never been to yet.

so relaxing! well, once we got past the first ten minutes when no one wanted to be there. then we all had a great time.

what do you see where you look at the wood in these pictures?

the kids saw a giraffe head - an all grandparent favorite animal - so we snapped some pictures.

this tree was so cool because the trunk was completely hollow - and the tree was still alive and baring fruit!

mason collected some acorns and arranged them in order to make it easier for squirrels to find them. he was disappointed to see that the acorns were untouched when we walked back on our way back to the car.

how cool is this close cluster of 4 different looking trees?

the boys and i were the only ones brave enough to step off of the trail for this tee-pee/lean-to structure.

we stopped by new (to us) location of one of the kids favorite donuts shops - peace, love and little donuts. this location makes the donuts to order! it was pretty cool to have each donut made right to our specifications - the kids really enjoyed watching - and they were ooey-gooey delicious!

we had some friends who we invited to join us for our hike and couldn't join us, text about a park meet up in the afternoon. the kids had so much fun running around and "hunting squirrels." the park was hopping today! i think everyone was out for one last trip before school starts tomorrow.

such a perfect way to end our laid back summer. love.