tooth fairy time

"i have good news, mom."  i never know if what follows is going to be good news or not but it is her new way of presenting information ("i have good/bad news").  yesterday, it was news that she was ready for the tooth fairy to come and get her tooth.  she was originally going to wait for "t" week at school so she could bring it for show and tell, but apparently changed her mind.

she has a little strawberry shortcake tin box that she got from the dentist for holding her tooth, but she put it under her pillow loose.  we are lucky that it could be found at all.  i had asked madelyn what the tooth fairy brings and she said "coins".  when i told matt her expectation, he selected a dollar's worth of quarters, one nickel, one dime, and one penny to trade for her tooth.

madelyn was ecstatic this morning!  she was so excited to get her coins into her piggy bank that she didn't count them or even know how much money it was.  she just explained that she is saving up her money for something big she might want to buy one day.  she does not have anything specific that she is saving for but she knows that she will need all of her money when the time is right.

the tooth fairy is going to be busy in the next few months.  madelyn has one bottom tooth barely hanging on, the other two lower front ones are pretty loose and the top two center teeth are starting to wiggle a little.  oh boy!  love.

lemon face?

when i was making dinner maddux (my constant shadow) was hanging out with me in the kitchen.  he asked for the lemon half i had used and i thought, why not?  he did not have the reaction to his first taste of lemon that i was expecting.

it was like the lemon was his best friend and he cried every time i took it from him when he would wander out of the kitchen.  silly boy.  love.

perfect timing

at mops this month, they are doing a 'mother' craft and they wanted advance pictures of our kids.  we were asked to supply one picture with our kids' faces close together.  i thought, yeah, right.  but today the pictures were due so i quickly arranged the kids before we were leaving for the library and for some reason everybody was in the perfect mood to get it done!  not too bad.  love.

swim boy

if mason keeps his current love for swimming, we are in for a really fun summer at the pool!  we only have one week left for swimming lessons.  i think he is going to be pretty sad when they are over.  it is amazing to see how brave he is in the water after his terror of it last summer.  we just have to hold on to the enthusiasm for a few weeks until the neighborhood pool opens up.

grandma bought both kids some swimming goggles when she was here.  mason hasn't used his in the pool yet but wanted to wear them while we waited for madelyn's class to start after his.  it is weird for me to have kids that don't swim regularly since it was a huge part of my childhood.  i plan on making up for lost time now that we have access to a pool!  love.

picnic lunch

the kids are super excited to have patio furniture!  matt and i are pretty happy about it too.  (it is composite wood which we thought was pretty nice.)  i think maddux likes it best of all and is constantly 'asking' to eat or play on the deck.  maddux or mason will just pick up their lunch plates (or snack) and carry it to the door.  we can't wait to use it regularly this summer.  now the hunt is on for the right grill... (we didn't dig our old one out of the snow when we moved.)  love.

grandma goes to the zoo

we finally had nice weather for grandma's last day.  so, of course, we went to the zoo!  not the zoo i had planned but the kids were excited all the same.  and since they didn't have school we were able to get there when it opened and not rush back to the cafe for lunch quite so quickly.

and grandma made sure that they wore their hats...

for some reason, mason thought to bring his binoculars.  he was ready for safari.  and because mason brought his, madelyn had to bring some too.  she couldn't find her set like mason's (they built them at lowe's/home depot a while ago) we had to find her another pair.

checking out the ducks.

maddux was having one of these days...

 

we didn't do the 'breakfast with the bunny' but the kids sat in his chair.

grandma got the kids new sunglasses at the mall. (maddux broke his other pair when i took the kids to church by myself on a saturday night only to discover that there wasn't children's ministry and they would have to sit through the service with me.  matt was home sick.  the kids were great!  we made it through the whole service without snacks or drinks.  the only casualty was maddux' sunglasses which he 'opened' too wide.)

 

riding the train with grandma

we all rode the merry-go-round.  it made me terribly sick and i had to keep my eyes closed.  i guess the operator was new and when it was time to stop, it stopped.  there was no slowing down.  i almost fell over.  thankfully, no one got hurt and the kids weren't scared (much). 

it was a fun day at the zoo and enjoying the sunshine (i actually got a little 'burn' on my neck.)  and then it was off to the airport to send grandma back home.  the kids were sad to see her go but know that she will be back this summer and this time big pop will come too!  we are going to have a very busy summer of grandparent visits.  love.

pictures with grandma

i decided before church was the best time to get some quick pictures of the kids with grandma.  unfortunately, i didn't notice that mason was wiped off after breakfast and maddux was a little too comfortable.  oh well.  love.