star student

last night i learned about "star student" recognition which is for outstanding behavior for the day. the student gets a certificate, a starburst and a special pom-pom to put into their bucket on the bulletin board. and, today, madelyn came home with the first one of the school year! she was so excited and told me that she was proud of herself. we were pretty proud of her too! love.

(by the way, madelyn is 100% today. she got by without getting strep.)

parent information night

the plan was for me to go to parent information night at the school while matt took madelyn to her first night of swimming lessons. but after some back and forth about whether or not madelyn was going (she had an awful headache and we have been watching her for strep), i wasn't thinking and took the van. with all of the carseats (except mason's which was still in matt's car from me taking him to the doctor earlier in the day). matt was stranded at home with all of the kids. thankfully, our neighbor across the street had stopped by this afternoon to let us know that her daughter was having surgery in matt's department next week and after chatting for a bit offered to take madelyn to swimming since matt was sick. instead, matt ran over to ask her to watch the boys since manning was passed out on the couch (his second nap of the day - we are watching him too) while he took madelyn to swimming. but i was blissfully unaware of any of this because i was sitting at madelyn's desk listening to her teacher.

i learned that madelyn's teacher (who she just loves) is relatively new to teaching (this is his fourth year). he started as a part-time student (working full-time at the university) and worked on his degree off and on as his schedule would allow. when his wife completed her master degree, she worked full-time and he went to school full-time to finish his degree. he joked that it took him 10 years and he should be a doctor or something by now! i think it works for him though. he is fresh, but with more life experience (his own daughter just started kindergarten). he has more incentive programs running than i could even keep track of (individual, table group, class) and believes in rewarding good behavior. he also said that the kids have to earn the rewards. he does not believe in giving something just because there might be one or two kids who have never received the reward. i can see why madelyn loves him. he has clear rules but is fun too. she often comes home saying that her "bucket is so full, it is overflowing" because of the compliments she gets from her teacher.

they are a "bucket filling school." this is based on a book (have you filled a bucket today?) and gives a visual to building others up. all of the kids have a 'bucket' in the back of the room which gets filled as they do good deeds for others. they are also encouraged to nominate each other for filling buckets (the nominator gets a pom-pom and the nominee gets two). he said the kids get really into it and the bulletin board fills up over the year. there were about 10 back there already and madelyn was one who had been nominated! 

i always love parent night because i love information! :) it was nice to meet some of the other parents too (and see a few familiar faces). the parents were given note cards to leave a note for our child inside their desk. 

once i left, i got a call from matt filling me in on stranding him and that i needed to get home and relieve our neighbor! oh well. i do make mistakes sometime... love.

sickness strikes

after getting home saturday night, matt's throat was very sore and he said that he had chills. after tossing and turning all night (and keeping me awake), he woke up feeling awful and barely able to talk (although he was feeling well enough to go to a golf outing for work - so don't feel too bad for him). mason had also been up most of the night so the two of them stayed home from church.

i sent matt to the cvs minute clinic when he got home from golf because he sounded even worse (like this throat and mouth were filled with cotton). yep. strep. today he stayed home from work which is extremely rare for him. he did get on two conference calls though, but could only listen.

i took mason to the doctor's office where he tested positive for strep too. this is only our second time with strep, but it seems to only affect matt and mason. madelyn was looking a little questionable though... sigh. love.

neighborhood end of summer party

we have some amazing neighbors who bid to win a backyard party every year at a charity auction. they invite most of the neighborhood to eat and listen to live music. they have a little girl madelyn's age so they were off to color as soon as we arrived and the boys took to their play equipment. amazingly, it had dropped almost 30 degrees since yesterday and was lovely and cool out (many were wearing jackets and sweaters). it is such a fun time and a great way to close out summer. i look forward to a time when i can socialize more and mind kiddos less. some of the neighbors were joking that they were going to get a babysitter on speed dial so that matt and i would not leave so early (we left around 9pm).

mason and maddux spent a lot of time just warming themselves by the fire. (the family had a high schooler tasked with attending to the fire and he was very accommodating to our boys - keeping them safe, out of the smoke and warm.) mason was either getting sick or exhausted because he was just not himself and looked really rough (red around his eyes). we will see how he wakes up in the morning.

we have a lot of really fun neighbors! and they spoil us immensely! love.

domination

maybe it was the game day war paint, but mason's team came to play this morning for their first game of the season! they totally dominated the other team. it was at least 9 to 1 at the end of the game. mason scored three of the goals and came very close two other times!  even some of the less aggressive players on his team scored a goal (which was really nice). we felt bad for the other team, but the kids were all having fun without much regard for who was scoring. mason's team has a few dynamic players which makes them really fun to watch. 

mason smiles or grits his teeth - extreme emotions both ways. he grits his teeth when he is running hard down the field but smiles with a love of being on the field the rest (and majority) of the time. one of the other parents has started calling him "smiley."

a great start to the season! love.

boy day

the boys have been awesome running errands with me this week and i keep promising to stop at the park but we just haven't had enough time before we needed to get home to meet madelyn's bus. so today, i set in my mind as "boy day." i had finished all of my to-dos for the week and could focus on them today. it was going to be near 90 (very hot for here and one of the few days all year that have gotten this warm) so we started at the park as soon as madelyn was on the bus.

this particular park has two playgrounds that are far enough apart that we drove between them today to save time! we started at the "small playground" because maddux always begs to stop on our way home from the larger one and we never have enough time. and mason conquered the monkey bars today! this movie is actually the first time he made it across on his own too. we had tried to capture it three times without luck. he is quite pleased with himself in his bashful way at the end of the movie. i think he is a little surprised that he actually made it.

as we were leaving the "small playground" and getting in the car to head up the hill to the larger playground, manning stepped off the grass and tripped into the parking lot. i saw him fall and he and i both gave quick attention to his knees and hands. it wasn't until hours later (after coming home for lunch and making trips to the library and post office) that i noticed a mark near his eyebrow that i thought was some dried on grape jelly from lunch. nope, he had a good sized mark on his forehead hiding under his hair!  here his is showing the (and saying) "owie"

for our next adventure on this hot day was running through the sprinklers while we waited for the bus to arrive. (manning was busying himself with the water table in the driveway, although he took a few passes through the sprinkler too.)

i think maddux did really punch mason in the face with a sponge 'water balloon' in the last picture. they were both laughing hysterically so it must not have hurt and was part of whatever game they were playing with each other. it was funny to listen to the wishful comments of everyone running or riding bikes on the trail. they all wanted a pass through the sprinkler! one group of students on bikes had someone comment, "they don't know how lucky they are!"

even with the sprinkler, it was still pretty hot so we took a break from the sun with a cold treat. love.

lunch with daddy

i had promised the boys that we would have lunch out to celebrate their first week of school, but i had forgotten that we already had plans! with daddy! manning was referred to the hospital for a hearing test (just to confirm that his hearing wasn't what was the problem with the lack of clarity in his speech) so we made plans to have lunch with daddy (ent is one of his departments). the kids love having lunch with daddy at "daddy's hospital," but we very rarely get to do so (partly because of matt's schedule and partly because of the distance to get there).

manning's hearing test was right after lunch and he did great! i was a little curious about how they would perform a hearing test on a two-year-old. there was a lot of playing and following commands given at different volumes by someone in a second room. manning had to 'fed' balls to a piggie toy bin, point out body parts on command and look towards a pig or lamb (right or left) depending on which side he heard the sound in his earbuds (he didn't like the traditional headphones so they switched to buds). i am happy to report that his hearing is perfectly normal and any problems with speech are not due to his ears. (i was only mildly concerned it might be hearing because his mimicking was not even close - even with sounds that he could make. for instance he can say "dada" very clearly but ask him to say "dog" and he would say something like "ehhh."

the recommendation by the hospital and, previously, by his pediatrician is to wait until closer to 3 before exploring speech therapy.

we will take any excuse to see daddy! and once again, i am reminded how fortunate we are to have had this be our very first appointment at the hospital. love.