Nothing much going on around here today. Warren worked for part of the morning, and we all journeyed to WallyWorld (WalMart) this afternoon. It was crazier there today than it was during Christmas. (I'm sure that most of you who are reading this think that we never do anything except go to WalMart; we do pretty much live there. :) ) We wanted to get some steaks and things for Warren to cook on the grill. It's been such a mild day; very odd for December, and Warren wanted to fire up the grill. We enjoyed our outing, though. I wasn't worried about the girls getting too cold. Maggie and Anna even went barefoot. :) For those of you who have spent any time with us, you know that I hardly EVER let the twins go without socks. I don't think they'll ever be able to wear shoes; they have the TINIEST feet I've ever seen.
I can't believe that tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I just got accustomed to writing "2005"; now I'll have to practice 2006. We have some exciting times coming right into the new year. My big 3-0 birthday is early in January, Warren's brother has a birthday a week after mine, we'll close on our house on the 17th, and Reese will turn three on the 26th. Then we'll officially be in our house by the end of the month! (Yea!!!) Gonna be a busy month. It's funny--we were doing the moving thing this time last year. We were moving here so we could be closer to family so they could help us with the twins--and they have! Couldn't have gotten through those first few weeks without both grandmothers! Thanks so much to both of them! And, BranBran (my sister, Brandi) and her mother in law helped out a lot, too. Where would we all be without family?
Well, just wanted to say "hi." Gotta go for now. Hope to have new pictures to post soon. Take care.
Friday, December 30, 2005
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
We Love our Mimi!
I LOVE this picture! Reese, Anna & Maggie with their Mimi (my mom). Even though Reese is making a face, I think it's a sweet face. Maggie even looks pleasant in this shot. She usually looks likes she's on something in the pictures I take of them. I always seem to catch her at a bad time! This is quickly becoming a favorite shot! :) 
Monday, December 26, 2005
Our Christmas traveling is officially over. We returned home from my dad's house in Belmont around 4 pm today. The girls were really worn out, but I would say that their Christmas has been wonderful! We are really blessed to have such special times with family and such wonderful family who care so much about us.
One of the best things that happened at my dad's was that Reese drove a power wheel for the first time and LOVED it. Warren & I had talked about getting her one for Christmas, but we didn't because we didn't think she'd like it. My niece didn't like them when she was little. But now that we know that she likes them, we think we're getting one for her birthday next month! She'll have plenty of room to ride in our new backyard. I'll post some pictures of her riding.
We're glad to be home and settled from the traveling, but I always miss this time of year. I get so depressed when everyone takes down their Christmas decorations. Some people on our street had their outside lights taken down when we got home. SCROOGES! :) Christmas will be here again before we know it and another year will have passed. Looking forward to 2006!
One of the best things that happened at my dad's was that Reese drove a power wheel for the first time and LOVED it. Warren & I had talked about getting her one for Christmas, but we didn't because we didn't think she'd like it. My niece didn't like them when she was little. But now that we know that she likes them, we think we're getting one for her birthday next month! She'll have plenty of room to ride in our new backyard. I'll post some pictures of her riding.
We're glad to be home and settled from the traveling, but I always miss this time of year. I get so depressed when everyone takes down their Christmas decorations. Some people on our street had their outside lights taken down when we got home. SCROOGES! :) Christmas will be here again before we know it and another year will have passed. Looking forward to 2006!
Santa Was Successful with the Dora Kitchen!
Here's Reese talking on the phone in her new Dora kitchen! She loves this--more than I ever thought she would! :) I'm so glad!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!
Merry Christmas everybody from the Manning clan. We hope that your day has been filled with love and good cheer. Ours has been wonderful, as it is Reese's third and the twins' very first of many more to come. This time of year is always special to us, but having children in our lives just makes it even better!
We all got to open a present last night, and we all got Christmas pajamas. This is our new holiday tradition. I am going to get us all a special set of PJs to wear on Christmas. The girls got matching sets (in a picture posted below) and even Warren and I have cute sets. (I am blessed to have such a sweet husband who indulges my qwirkines with the matching thing!) I wish we had had an extra hand around here this morning so we could have gotten a picture of the five of us in our PJs. Maybe next year. Anyway, I have to say that the picture of the girls is not the best--like all the ones I post. Maggie is showing waaaaay too much skin, and none of them are really looking at the camera. And speaking of the camera, my sweet hubby gave me a new digital camera for Christmas; I got to open two gifts last night. He wanted me to get the camera ready for today. Anyway, seeing that it is new, I haven't figured out all the extras yet. For some reason, when I set the date, it didn't get the exact day correct (I think that had something to do with how I set the time) and they year--could I be any farther ahead into the future. I am such a maroon!! :) But I wanted a shot of the girls in their PJs, so I'm not too worried about technicalities.
Reese really racked up this year; Santa was very good to her. She got the Dora talking kitchen that she wanted so badly, and unless you have no TV or you have no little girls running around, you may not know about this one. So, I'm going to post a picture of her with it. She also got the InteractiveTV/DVD thing that asks multiple choice questions based on a show on the DVD, and she has a "remote control" that has shapes on it that match the answers on the TV screen. It's really neat. She also got a mega block fire truck, a Disney princess sing a long DVD, Pocahontas on DVD, socks, an electric Dora toothbrush (can you tell that she LOVES Dora?), a Belle pen that lights up when you write with it, and last but not least--M&Ms!
The twins didn't do too badly either--they got socks, too, and some sleepers, their own baby books (they had been sharing one), and some fun little stuffed animals that hook onto the handles of their car seats so they can have something to play with while riding in the car.
Warren & I gave Reese a Backyardigans DVD. (If you don't know about them, check out Nickelodeon at 9:30--I think--on the weekdays. We LOVE them, too). We also gave her some tights to wear to church on cold Sunday mornings, and a Cinderella AquaDoodle set. I would say she had a great Christmas. The twins got a few more sleepers and things from us, too.
The girls and I gave Warren season 9 of M*A*S*H on DVD and some undershirts and a pink polo shirt. He also got a nice pizza cutter that Reese picked out for him! :) As I mentioned, I got my camera and a new Bible--one that I have been wanting for months. The Bible I've been using is one that I got for my birthday in 1993--I've used it so much that pages were starting to fall out. And, this new Bible has "Brooke Brandon Manning" engraved on it! My old one just had Brooke Brandon on it, so after seven years of marriage, I now have one with my married name! It's a beautiful Bible that I cannot wait to start using to keep studying God's word.
And, our presents aren't over yet. We're heading out to my grandmother's house later this afternoon to do gifts with her, my mom and stepdad, brother and sister in law. Then tomorrow, we'll be heading to Belmont, MS to do it all over again with my dad and stepmom. If any of you keep up with our blog, that makes four Christmases for us since Warren's parents came last weekend. Wow!!! But, deep at the heart of all of these, we remember the true reason for this season--the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ, and the love that God has for us by His sending His one and only son to Earth. I hope that we all strive to keep the true meaning alive throughout the coming year.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Peace on Earth!!
Love,
The Mannings
We all got to open a present last night, and we all got Christmas pajamas. This is our new holiday tradition. I am going to get us all a special set of PJs to wear on Christmas. The girls got matching sets (in a picture posted below) and even Warren and I have cute sets. (I am blessed to have such a sweet husband who indulges my qwirkines with the matching thing!) I wish we had had an extra hand around here this morning so we could have gotten a picture of the five of us in our PJs. Maybe next year. Anyway, I have to say that the picture of the girls is not the best--like all the ones I post. Maggie is showing waaaaay too much skin, and none of them are really looking at the camera. And speaking of the camera, my sweet hubby gave me a new digital camera for Christmas; I got to open two gifts last night. He wanted me to get the camera ready for today. Anyway, seeing that it is new, I haven't figured out all the extras yet. For some reason, when I set the date, it didn't get the exact day correct (I think that had something to do with how I set the time) and they year--could I be any farther ahead into the future. I am such a maroon!! :) But I wanted a shot of the girls in their PJs, so I'm not too worried about technicalities.
Reese really racked up this year; Santa was very good to her. She got the Dora talking kitchen that she wanted so badly, and unless you have no TV or you have no little girls running around, you may not know about this one. So, I'm going to post a picture of her with it. She also got the InteractiveTV/DVD thing that asks multiple choice questions based on a show on the DVD, and she has a "remote control" that has shapes on it that match the answers on the TV screen. It's really neat. She also got a mega block fire truck, a Disney princess sing a long DVD, Pocahontas on DVD, socks, an electric Dora toothbrush (can you tell that she LOVES Dora?), a Belle pen that lights up when you write with it, and last but not least--M&Ms!
The twins didn't do too badly either--they got socks, too, and some sleepers, their own baby books (they had been sharing one), and some fun little stuffed animals that hook onto the handles of their car seats so they can have something to play with while riding in the car.
Warren & I gave Reese a Backyardigans DVD. (If you don't know about them, check out Nickelodeon at 9:30--I think--on the weekdays. We LOVE them, too). We also gave her some tights to wear to church on cold Sunday mornings, and a Cinderella AquaDoodle set. I would say she had a great Christmas. The twins got a few more sleepers and things from us, too.
The girls and I gave Warren season 9 of M*A*S*H on DVD and some undershirts and a pink polo shirt. He also got a nice pizza cutter that Reese picked out for him! :) As I mentioned, I got my camera and a new Bible--one that I have been wanting for months. The Bible I've been using is one that I got for my birthday in 1993--I've used it so much that pages were starting to fall out. And, this new Bible has "Brooke Brandon Manning" engraved on it! My old one just had Brooke Brandon on it, so after seven years of marriage, I now have one with my married name! It's a beautiful Bible that I cannot wait to start using to keep studying God's word.
And, our presents aren't over yet. We're heading out to my grandmother's house later this afternoon to do gifts with her, my mom and stepdad, brother and sister in law. Then tomorrow, we'll be heading to Belmont, MS to do it all over again with my dad and stepmom. If any of you keep up with our blog, that makes four Christmases for us since Warren's parents came last weekend. Wow!!! But, deep at the heart of all of these, we remember the true reason for this season--the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ, and the love that God has for us by His sending His one and only son to Earth. I hope that we all strive to keep the true meaning alive throughout the coming year.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Peace on Earth!!
Love,
The Mannings
Friday, December 23, 2005
I can't believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and that I have done a terrible job at mailing my Christmas cards. I have a huge stack ready to mail, but no stamps, and taking three babies out to just get stamps is tiring just to think about. So, for those of you who haven't gotten one yet, you most likely will, but I'm calling those Happy New Year cards. And, if I accidentally left anyone out, here is the picture that was included with our cards. I made this one black and white, with the help of the computer, but the originals are in color. :) (Aren't my gals precious? From left to right: Anna, Reese, & Maggie)
CRAAAAAZY Outing
Well, the girls and I did brave WalMart and town today--MISTAKE!!! It is insane "out in the world" right now. I wanted to pick up a few more Christmas presents, so I thought I'd brave it and see. Well, I decided that possibly the easiest thing would be to let Reese ride in the back of the double stroller (since her two year old stubborness allows her to wander off from me) with one baby in front while I carried the other baby. Worked for about 10 minutes. I couldn't maneuver the stroller while holding onto Maggie; it kept drifting to the left! :) So, I took Reese out and put Maggie in the stroller. Reese did well for about a minute, but there were too many pretties in the store that kept catching her little eyes! :) So, we (more exactly) I decided just to come home--empty handed! :( Maybe tomorrow will be better. Kinda hoping BaBoo (Uncle Rich, my little brother) and Aunt Angela will feel like swinging by and watching the girls for me for a little bit! Here's hoping! ;)
Fun Ornaments
Hope no one minds seeing pictures of all the girls' ornaments that they made at school for us. (The pictures are all posted below). I just wanted to share them with all of you. It just makes my heart smile when I look at things like this and think about my how precious and special all of my girls are. I absolutely don't know what I would do without them. When I think back to when we found out that my second (really third) pregnancy was going to result in twins, Warren and I were shocked to say the least, and scared and nervous and happy--all the emotions you tend to go through with any pregnancy. But as the months went along and things progressed so well, I/we continued to get adjusted to the idea. They were born at 39 weeks--one week shy of full term. None of us could believe it; we were expecting them to be early and have to spend some time in the NICU. But, they were born via C-section on a Tuesday and we all went home together that Friday. Now that they are both here, my life would not be the same. I keep telling everybody that if I had to have twins, that these babies were the ones I wanted. They only get really upset if they're hungry or REALLY tired or if they are trying to cut teeth--which is why they've been kinda cranky here lately. They're both trying to get some upper teeth to come in. And. . .speaking of cranky--they're waking up so I need to get breakfast ready for them. Gonna try to take them with me to town today and get Warren a few more happies for Christmas. Will try to post again when (and if) we get home!
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Visit from Uncle Boo
We had a quick, special visit from Warren's brother, Bryant (aka Uncle Boo) last night. He surprised us by coming. We were really glad to see him; we don't see him too much now a days since he's attending school in Jones county, Missisippi. Reese was really excited to see him. She was busy showing him her room & toys and more importantly getting him to pick her up and hold her. Attention she doesn't always get! This is a good picture of Boo and the girls; I just wish that Anna had been facing a little more forward so you can see her sweet face!
Monday, December 19, 2005
Great Weekend!
Hi everybody! Hope that everyone had a good weekend; we sure did. Warren's parents came to celebrate Christmas with us; they'll be at Warren's sister's house next weekend, so they spent this weekend with us. BopBop and DamDam, as Reese affectionately calls them, came bearing "prizes" for us and our girls. We were excited to be able to spend time with them. Anyway, Reese, Anna, and Maggie got several new (and much needed) outfits and some fun toys! :) I got a great gift certificate to Kirkland's (that I absolutely cannot wait to use on things for our new house), and Warren got a great new stainless grill and some other things, too. (There's a picture posted somewhere below of Warren in action at the grill). We are both so excited about that grill. We even tested it out on Saturday and the steaks were delicious--thanks for bringing them BopBop & DamDam & thanks for all of our goodies, too.
We went to church on Sunday morning, and it was such a nice service. Our preacher, Dr. Parker, preached a wonderful sermon. If you have a chance and have a remote interest in hearing it, you can check out the FBC website; there will be links telling you how to listen to the sermon(s). He talked about Gabriel's visit to Mary and his bringing her the news that she would give birth to the Christ child. Dr. Parker went on to list ways in which we can be useable to God--the ways that Mary was. I always think about how I would have reacted had Gabriel given me this news--I know I would have said something like, "You gotta be kiddin'. Are you sure you have the right person?". I am so glad and grateful that Mary was such a willing servant of God.
Reese usually does really well now when we drop her off in the nursery/two year old room. Yesterday didn't go as well. I think she wanted to stay with her BopBop and DamDam. We didn't get her there in time to make any crafts in the last minutes of Sunday school, so I think that that caused her some distress, too. She settled down after a while though.
We came home from church and ate lunch and watched the Colts--Chargers game on TV. It was already in the second quarter when we got home, and the Colts were down 10-0. Being related to the Manning QBs, it isn't a question as to who we cheer for on Sundays. :) We had some hope that the Colts would pull out a victory there in the third quarter, but sadly it wasn't meant to be. But, it wasn't such a terrible time for the Manning brothers since Eli and the Giants won on Saturday. I can't believe that I found myself cheering for the Rebels when Eli was in Oxford, but never fear, I never abandoned my love for the Crimson Tide. They're my #1 team of all time!!
Warren, the girls and I went back to church last night for our Sunday evening service. It was a time of candlelight caroling. It was a very moving service. Reese went with us to this; she wanted to go to what she calls "her church" aka the nursery, but we wanted to keep her with us in big church. She did really well, but she has a hard time sitting still. She is such the busy body! :) I found myself thinking about my family--Reese, Anna & Maggie especially, and how I am truly blessed to have these three angels in my life. My blessings are so many, and I'm grateful to God for all of them. Next time I'm having trouble getting to sleep (which isn't very often after keeping up with three little ones all day), I'll take Bing Crosby's advice from White Christmas--"if I'm worried and I can't sleep, I'll count my blessings instead of sheep, and I'll fall asleep counting my blessings." Not a bad way to drift off, is it?
Well, guess that's all for now. Don't know if you read an earlier post about the girls' school Christmas parties. Well, Reese's party is this week, so I will definitely TRY to get some pictures this week at her party. If not, I'll just snap some at home so everybody can see them anyway. :) I've posted some pictures from our present unwrapping this weekend. It was so wonderful watching the excitement in Reese's face. I CANNOT wait until Christmas morning!
Until later. . .
We went to church on Sunday morning, and it was such a nice service. Our preacher, Dr. Parker, preached a wonderful sermon. If you have a chance and have a remote interest in hearing it, you can check out the FBC website; there will be links telling you how to listen to the sermon(s). He talked about Gabriel's visit to Mary and his bringing her the news that she would give birth to the Christ child. Dr. Parker went on to list ways in which we can be useable to God--the ways that Mary was. I always think about how I would have reacted had Gabriel given me this news--I know I would have said something like, "You gotta be kiddin'. Are you sure you have the right person?". I am so glad and grateful that Mary was such a willing servant of God.
Reese usually does really well now when we drop her off in the nursery/two year old room. Yesterday didn't go as well. I think she wanted to stay with her BopBop and DamDam. We didn't get her there in time to make any crafts in the last minutes of Sunday school, so I think that that caused her some distress, too. She settled down after a while though.
We came home from church and ate lunch and watched the Colts--Chargers game on TV. It was already in the second quarter when we got home, and the Colts were down 10-0. Being related to the Manning QBs, it isn't a question as to who we cheer for on Sundays. :) We had some hope that the Colts would pull out a victory there in the third quarter, but sadly it wasn't meant to be. But, it wasn't such a terrible time for the Manning brothers since Eli and the Giants won on Saturday. I can't believe that I found myself cheering for the Rebels when Eli was in Oxford, but never fear, I never abandoned my love for the Crimson Tide. They're my #1 team of all time!!
Warren, the girls and I went back to church last night for our Sunday evening service. It was a time of candlelight caroling. It was a very moving service. Reese went with us to this; she wanted to go to what she calls "her church" aka the nursery, but we wanted to keep her with us in big church. She did really well, but she has a hard time sitting still. She is such the busy body! :) I found myself thinking about my family--Reese, Anna & Maggie especially, and how I am truly blessed to have these three angels in my life. My blessings are so many, and I'm grateful to God for all of them. Next time I'm having trouble getting to sleep (which isn't very often after keeping up with three little ones all day), I'll take Bing Crosby's advice from White Christmas--"if I'm worried and I can't sleep, I'll count my blessings instead of sheep, and I'll fall asleep counting my blessings." Not a bad way to drift off, is it?
Well, guess that's all for now. Don't know if you read an earlier post about the girls' school Christmas parties. Well, Reese's party is this week, so I will definitely TRY to get some pictures this week at her party. If not, I'll just snap some at home so everybody can see them anyway. :) I've posted some pictures from our present unwrapping this weekend. It was so wonderful watching the excitement in Reese's face. I CANNOT wait until Christmas morning!
Until later. . .
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