Madeleine's New Room

I posted pics of Harrison's new room awhile back, but I'm just now finally getting around to Madeleine's room. Hers has taken me longer to get just the way I wanted it -- with her imput, of course. I think we were both really tired of pink and wanted a change. I also wanted something that she could have for awhile and not outgrow. When we first saw this blue, we both loved it! I still have a few little things that I want to do in there, but for the most part it's done.

 

Madeleine is very artsy and saves everything, so we were trying for a compromise that would let her have all her "stuff" and yet not make my head hurt every time I went in there. I think we came up with some good solutions with the ITSO boxes by her desk and her bookshelves.

 

The view from the doorway.

 This is the view from her desk. It's beautiful!

 Madeleine loves to craft and draw. She's always sticking pins/taping things to her walls. It drives me nuts! And, after a fresh new coat of paint in there, we really didn't want to have holes in the walls. I found these magnetic boards which were a great compromise. She changes them out almost weekly and there are no pin holes! They are super-magneticy so they will hold almost anything.

 I also framed some of her artwork from Art Club last year. I think this one turned out great!

Make-do Mudroom

 

One of the things our house doesn't have is a mudroom -- it's probably the only thing that I'd change about the house. So, with both Madeleine & Harrison being in school full time and Charlotte going a couple of days a week, I needed a way to keep everyone organized. I didn't want to be looking all over the house for backpacks, homework, or daily folders. So, I made us a backpack station at the backdoor and so far it's working out great! 

 I repainted a frame and used burlap behind the glass to create a dry-erase board and embelished it with some burlap flowers I made. I'm planning to use it for daily reminders, good luck notes, etc. I also painted some flowers to go above the hooks to everyone has "their" spot.

Final Weeks of Summer Fun

We packed the last 2 weeks of summer with lots of fun! We got out and did something special almost every day because I knew it would be a long time before we'd be able to do something like this again. So here's a recap of some of our adventures...

 

We went to Gymnastic Joes for open gym one day. I wasn't overly impressed with the place, but the kids seemed to really like it. They played the entire time and between the foam pit, trampolines and mats they were very tired when we left.  



 We went to Boingo Bounce. We met up with the other W crew and they'd invited some of their friends as well and we all had a wonderful time!

 At one point I could not find the girls. I looked everywhere before discovering them taking a break inside one of the play houses. :) Madeleine had them set up with drinks, snacks, and she even had her book with her in there.

 AJ's friend, Beth, had been wanting to try Hammontrees in F'ville and since we were just a bit down the road we all invaded them for lunch. I'm so glad she had the idea -- I love Hammontrees, but it was everyone elses first time to go there. It was fun seeing them discover the yumminess of it! Seriously the best grilled cheese ever. Here's all of our crazy kids afterwards.

 Madeleine and Harrison shared some snuggles on my bed in the afternoons while watching a movie.

 We hit up the splash park. We didn't even go to the splash park at the beginning of summer, but I think we went 3 times in the last 3 weeks. Madeleine & Harrison have finally gotten into having water sprayed at them/dumped on their heads which makes it such fun! This day we stayed almost 3 hours & poor Charlotte was exhausted by the time we left!

 These boys are 2 peas in a pod. I think their imaginations were cut from the same mold. This day they were collecting shoes and make "fires" to for their campground.

 We spent a long morning at Fun City where we ran into some friends from school.

I don't think there was anything on our summer fun list that we didn't do at least once & many things we did several times -- movies, fun city, splash park, tanyard creek trail, aquarium, pool, boingo bounce, parks, krispy kreme, and the list goes on. It was an awesome summer and we made millions of memories.

Bouncing, Sno Cones and Colored Tongues

Matt has been teaching a class at JBU 1-2 nights each week lately. And, while I'm thankful he's almost finished, the kids and I tried to have some fun on the nights he's been gone. One night a couple of weeks ago, we started our fun at Boingo Bounce. It was busy when we first got there, but quickly cleared out and we stayed quite a while! Charlotte loves the toddler area!



 And, the big kids wore themselves out on the big jumpers/slides. Charlotte loves the slide as well. :)

 We were all hot and sweaty afterwards so we stopped for some sno cones. Crazy enough, it was our first visit to the sno cone place this summer!

 And, you can't have sno cones without having a best tongue contest -- Madeleine's was a light purple...

 Charlotte had a dark purple...

 And, Harrison's was almost black!

 It was a great way to spend an evening and I'm glad we made the most of it before the hum-drum of school started.

The Big Day

Monday morning, the first day of school, came bright and early at our house. Very bright and early. I got up at 5 to exercise and had only been going a few minutes before Madeleine came into the living room. I told her to go get in bed with Daddy and go back to sleep, but instead she asked me, "can we play? Do we have to sleep?" Umm, we? Apparently she had woken Harrison up already and they wanted to spend the next hour playing instead of resting. So that's what they did. I think they were both just so excited! I finished working out, got ready and then Matt and I helped get everyone dressed and fed. We'd planned to leave really early that day since it was not only the first day back for Fayetteville schools, but also Farmington (which we have to drive through) and the UofA as well. The traffic was madness, but we made it to the school in plenty of time.

 

Thanks to pinterest, we had a little gift for each of their teachers. :) I filled mason jars with a mini version of our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe & attached tags that read: With you as my teacher, I'll be one smart cookie. I thought they turned out super cute. Harrison's teacher said she & her aide ate them all that day. yay! I'm so thankful that they liked them!

 It was a chilly morning with temps in the 50s and we actually needed light sweaters! Crazy! Harrison's excitement calmed as we got closer to dropoff, but he did great! I went with Harrison to his class and Matt took Madeleine.

By the time I left Harrison, it was too late to go by and take a picture of Madeleine. I peeked my head in the door and she looked pretty happy. Then Charlotte and I went to the the kindergarten breakfast for parents. It's crazy to me to think that just 3 short years ago I was there with Harrison. How fast the time goes!

Matt didn't get to stick around because he had to get to work -- at another new job! Crazy, he's had 5 roles within the district in the past 14 months! He was all set to be the Middle School Math Coach this year and was excited about that role. Well, the Tuesday before school starts, Matt comes home from teaching his JBU night class at about 11pm and tells me "um, I think I have a new job." And, I laughed. I completely thought he was joking! He'd gotten a call that night on the way home asking him if he'd be interested in coming back to Ramay as the Dean of Students. It would allow him to work on his administrative license (eek --more time and money!) and give him some admin experience. He was encouraged by the principal and superintendent to take it and so he did. :) It's definitely going to be a BIG change. But, if this year has taught us anything, it's how to be adaptable and handle job changes. Ha! And, it will be a good fit. Matt is so calm and takes everything in stride, this will be good for him and he will be good for the job. It's going to make for a busy fall with more classes and longer work hours, but it will also open some doors in the future.