school pictures 2011-2012

Madelynne's Kindergarten Picture

Jackson's Preschool Picture (3 year old class)

madelynne is a kindergartner!

Our lil' love bug is a kindergartner!

All ready for school and waiting for the bus a whole hour early. L-O-N-G wait!

Life dream realized-official kindergartner riding a school bus!

Jackson devastated because he does not get to ride the school bus. So, so hard to be left behind...

at the beach club

Hard at (work) play.

Little monkeys.  They swing across those bars as if they are part monkey.

I absolutely adore this picture of Madelynne.  I love the joy captured in this small moment of childhood bliss.

 

Baby Lauren thinks she is one of the big kids and is constantly running in the shadows of the bigger kids trying to keep up.

This playground is part of one of the many private "beach clubs" that can be found in the neighborhoods of our town that are located directly on the shores of Lake Erie.

last day of summer swimming lessons

Madelynne took swimming lessons this summer with her bestie, Madelyn.  It was amazing to see the improvement in their swimming and the confidence in their ability compared to last summer.  Everyday I just marvel at how fleeting each moment really is and how fast my little love bug is growing up.

batter up!

This video is for Papa Borgersen.  He knows why.

preschool graduate

Bye, Bye Pre-K! 

Pre-graduation smiles.

Please don't make me sit still and be quiet-ever! Especially not right now!

Diploma-fied.

Some graduates were happier than others.

 Madelynne and her best friend, Madelyn, Pre-K graduates.

Madelynne with her Pre-K teacher Mrs. Sudar.

Kindergarten here she comes!

you can call me toothless

It finally happened!  After ages and ages (Madelynne's own words) of waiting Madelynne's wobbly tooth finally came out!!!!!!!!!

Here is how it went down.

Madelynne and Jackson were pretending to be puppies.  They were up on the top bunk of the bunk beds and were using my bathrobe tie as a leash which they were putting around their waists.  Jackson decided it could also double as a puppy toy and placed the end of the bathrobe tie into Madelynne's mouth.  Madelynne bit down and Jackson tugged on the bathrobe tie with all his might.  Madelynne's wobbly tooth literally went flying.  Her reaction?

"Oh my!  Oh my!  Mom, I really LOST my tooth!"

She was worried since her tooth went flying we would not be able to find it for her to put under her pillow for the tooth fairy to come.  Thankfully, we found it on the floor of their bedroom with little to no effort spent in the search.

The next morning Madelynne was ecstatic to find four "dollars" (known to the rest of us as quarters) under her pillow.  She is already planning for the next lost tooth money making opportunity.

This whole experierence makes me smile.  The fact Jackson is the one who pulled out Madelynne's tooth (classic Jackson) and Madelynne telling Jackson, "You can call me Toothless if you want." (we have been watching How to Train Your Dragon a lot around here).  Not to mention the cute little lisp that showed up once the tooth was out.  Priceless memory or should I say toothless...

back to school

Watch out Pre-K here she comes!

The gang is back together:  Madelyn, Evan, and Madelynne

The two Madelynnes were inseparable the first day.

Jackson got to come to school on the first day.  The only problem with that is he now thinks every day is his day to go to school.

Life is good when you are in Pre-K.

tiaras and tool belts

Madelynne building a bug box while wearing her tiara at a Lowe's Build and Grow clinic.

Jackson wearing a skirt and heels while playing trains.

tiaras and tool belts...

build and grow

Madelynne went to a build and grow workshop at Lowe's with her grandpa when we were in Pennsylvania.  She built a ball and cup game.  She had so much fun we signed her up for another one when we got home.    This time she got to go with Daddy and build a UFO with a real light.

Madelynne and Jackson both do this with their tongue when they are concentrating.  They get it from Matt.  He does the exact same thing!

These build and grow workshops are free and it has been so fun for Madelynne to spend time with the men in her life.  She is also learning some mad building skills.

madelynne's got a sweet new ride!

Madelynne's dream of a big girl bike came true a couple of weeks ago.  Now, she is constantly wanting to practice riding, so she can ride her bike like her cousin, Eli (with no training wheels).

Madelynne generously passed her trike down to her baby brother.

And this picture pretty much sums up what life with Jackson is like for Mommy.  He knows he is not supposed to go in the street, so he goes as far to the edge as possible and then a little more-pushing the limits.

This is what five minutes of bike riding looks like for Jackson.  When you haven't quite mastered the pedaling thing eventually you just drag the bike where you want to go.  To each his own.

I strongly suspect at this point playing with the bike pump is way more thrilling to Jackson than trying to figure out how to make the pedals work on his bike.

It looks like summer at the Greenway house is gonna be one sweet ride!

valentines

Madelynne made Valentines to exchange with her classmates. I decided to let go of my perfectionist tendencies and let her do them by herself. How precious to own one of these Madelynne Greenway original valentines!

She carefully wrote on the back of each valentine: Love, Madelynne. Look at the concentration!

Madelynne Greenway original valentines.

When she was all done with the valentines she wrote this note for her Daddy.

My little girl is growing up!

Tinkerbell Party

For literally every single day of the past year, Madelynne, has been talking about what kind of birthday party she wanted to have when she turned 4. There was quite a variety of choices that ranged from Woody (Toy Story), to Star Wars (daddy's influence), to princesses and Tinkerbell fairies. When she F-I-N-A-L-L-Y turned 4 she decided on a Tinkerbell party. These are such huge decisions at this age.
Here is Madelynne with her friends. Left to right:
Lily, Madelynne, Evie, Madelyn, and Gracie.

At the beginning of the party we played sort of a musical chairs variation where each girl would "earn" her fairy wings if she landed on the picture of a Tinkerbell when the music stopped. Obviously we played until all the girls "earned" their wings.
The next two pictures are of the girls' fairy wings. No two are alike as they each designed their own. Amazing what you can make out of knee high pantyhose, wire hangers, ribbon, elastic, and a little glitter glue. The girls applied the foamy stickers and came up with these beauties!


Madelynne's friends were all very generous and knew exactly the kind of things she likes. Dress ups and accessories as well as lip gloss and Strawberry Shortcake dolls to name just a few. She is one lucky girl!

Since Madelynne had a cake on her actual birthday we went with cupcakes for her party. A little white frosting with "fairy dust" (green sanding sugar), and a Tinkerbell in the middle made for most cute and delicious bites.

Somewhere between Madelynne's actual birthday and her party we seemed to have lost the birthday candles and could only find one, so she only got to blow out one candle. Which actually worked out pretty well since there was not a whole lot of room on the top of the cupcake with Tinkerbell perched in the middle.

That night Madelynne cooked us some dinner wearing her new apron and chef hat complete with fairy costume and wings over her pajamas. What a cutie.

Being four is fabulous!