Haircut and Race

Hannah and I had a Mommy-daughter date on Saturday.  The main event was getting a summer haircut for Hannah!  She and I both agreed that she would be happier having short hair for the summer so we could spend less time taking care of it, and it wouldn't get in her face as much.  After the haircut we had lunch at McDonald's, and she asked me why her hair wasn't shorter.  I finally figured out that she was expecting a buzz-cut like Micah's!  Ha!

Before:

 

After:

  

I was loving her facial expressions as she tried to get out a strawberry.

This morning I had beautiful weather for the annual Tallmadge 5k.  I ran better than I was expecting, which always feels good.  :)  Micah, Carter, and Ally (and parents) ran the one mile fun run.  And this time.....it was actually fun!  I was SO proud of Micah!  He did not get frustrated when his friends were ahead of him, and did not give up when he was tired.  He ran the whole thing without walking or stopping and finished in just over ten minutes!

11 months, baby dedication, and a cheetah tail

11 months!!  His legs and arms look so long!

He started doing the same thing Hannah does - anticipating the flash.

 Matthew loves to eat.  Pretty much every meal necessitates a serious wipe-down or a bath.  His current favorite foods are bananas, blueberries, yogurt, and macaroni and cheese.

Smush isn't using words regularly, but he is very expressive with body language and babbling.  He signs "more", "done", and "eat".  He has three teeth.  He crawls (quickly) on hands and knees, and cruises deftly around furniture (and people's legs).  His favorite activities are emptying containers, playing ball, and wrestling.

This past weekend Nana, Grandpapa, and Poppa came for Matthew's baby dedication.  Smush looked quite dapper, and everything went smoothly.  (I may have more pictures to share later.)

The other event of the weekend did not go nearly as smoothly.  On Saturday we had a bike ride and picnic scheduled as a fundraiser for Micah's school.  The weather was a little spotty, but a little sprinkling of rain didn't seem like a big deal.  Poppa, Papa, Scott, Micah and I rode three miles down a trail to the snack station, then took a break in the sunshine.  As we started back, it got cloudy....and cool...first light rain...then heavy rain...then hail!  A mile from the end, we crossed a road.  We offered to bring the van to the road to stop there, but Micah decided to keep going!  It was quite an adventure.
Thankfully Nana had stayed behind with the little ones to walk with Hannah while she rode her little bike. (She went back and forth on one part of the trail, riding about 3 miles!) Matthew was warm and dry in an enclosed stroller, and Nana and Hannah were able to take shelter in the back of another parent's car.
I had dry clothes for the kids, but the grown-ups were all soaked and very cold.  We skipped the picnic and had take-out at home under some blankets instead.  :)

Finally, Micah's latest homework assignment was to write about an animal, then wear the tail of that animal to school.  Micah chose cheetah, of course. :)

Pictures not previously posted

This week in Ohio has been marked by thunderstorms, tornadoes, and flooding. [I did wake the kids one night to take them to the safety of the basement, but besides just a little moisture on one wall, we had no lasting problems from the storms.]  But believe it or not, we had some really nice days before all of that!  Here's the proof:

probably playing some sort of pretending game

A field trip to a local farm:

Riding bikes:

Here's a cake I made for a brunch at church this week.  Using real flowers on a cake is so much easier than decorating with frosting!

Scott has been out of town all week.  Both the Oysters and the Snyders had dads working out of town last night, too.  We all had tacos and played together; it made the night so much more fun.

love that little Smusher is trying to play with the big boys.  

First Soccer Game

Little kids playing soccer is WAY more entertaining than T-ball.  Micah had his first game yesterday, and it was a blast.  The kids play 5-on-5 (2 on offence, 2 on defense, and a goalie).  In the future they will rotate positions, but for this game Micah just played defense.  He was so focused and intense - it was fantastic.  That kid sprinted tirelessly and threw his whole body into the game.  Both Scott and the coach commented that Micah naturally seems to understand "angles" (understanding the trajectory the ball is taking and anticipating where it's headed).  I don't know about all that, but I do know he was adorable.  :)

pre-game excitement

  

love this action shot!

The woman in the purple shirt is his coach, Hannah.

Also, Micah sang in church yesterday.  He sang very seriously.  :)  (Standing next to Carter and Ally, of course)

Brothers Wrestling

School Happenings

Today I attended the "quaint and quiet wedding of Mr. Q and Miss U".  I am not making this up.  The kindergarten class seriously had a wedding for "Q" and "U".  There was an aisle runner with Q's and U's on it.  There was a complete wedding party.  There were rings and gifts. There were vows, flowers, and a song.  Most importantly, there was cake and dancing.  If any of those children ever forget that Q and U go together....they are in trouble.

My dates:

One of the moms is a pastry chef.  She outdid herself on this one!

the aisle runner

Mrs. Kropp with the groom and pastor

Micah was a ring bearer

The wedding party

dancing!

Warning: the next 3 pictures are so sweet, they may reduce to you a pile of goo.  Scroll with caution.

In case you didn't see my post on facebook, here's another recent picture of Micah at school.  He's holding one of the baby chicks that have hatched in their classroom.  They also have eggs from ducks, geese, and turkeys.

Finally, their most recent field trip was to a place called Rolling Ridge Ranch.  I did not go on this trip, but fortunately other moms took pictures.  Micah loved it!