Four Wheeler Fun!

Last Saturday, we went to spend the day with Warren's parents. It ended up being kind of a birthday surprise since we couldn't see him yesterday on the big day! Anyway, Reese first asked if BopBop would ride her on the four-wheeler (I think she was looking at his riding lawn mower, though). BopBop brought it out for her to ride on with him, and she freaked out. She was so upset; she kept saying over and over that she didn't want to ride it. I felt bad because she was so scared, but I hope that she won't be like me and be wary of trying new things. I'm not a big risk taker or adventurer! Anyway, I thought Maggie might like to ride, so I took her out and she sat on the four wheeler with BopBop for two seconds, and then, the crying began. At that point I knew that two of my three children were not gonna be ones to try something new. Then I thought about my lil' Anna. She is the one who we think will try anything, so when I sat her on with BopBop, not a tear was shed--until I tried to make my way back inside. So, I climed on with her. She did great!!!! There was a very slight breeze that would blow on her and she just cooed! After a few rounds in the yard, I went to get Maggie. I figured she'd like riding with sister and mommy. She did a lot better since we were all riding together. This picture is the best one of the three of us with BopBop. Warren took about ten or twelve, but you can't see anyone's faces too well. Hope they'll keep liking to ride, and maybe I won't have to everytime. I'm looking kinda rough in these pics!!!! 

Anna Banana ready for her first ride on a four-wheeler. I sat Anna up there with BopBop and ran inside for the camera (of course) and she didn't shed tear one! So proud. When I put Maggie on it, she didn't like it too much and cried and cried. We think Anna is going to be our little adventurer! ;) Go 'Nanner!
 

Couple more shot of Anna riding the four-wheeler!
 

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAYS TO.....

Bop Bop!

Warren's dad celebrated his birthday yesterday. Sorry we didn't get the post up then, but it was a busy day 'round here. Reese had school and after that, we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening shopping in Tupelo! We did get a chance to talk to him on the phone yesterday! So.............HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOPBOP!!! We love ya!!!


And................


Campbell Segrest

Sweet Camp celebrated his very FIRST birthday yesterday as well. His sweet mama and I have become 'blog friends', and I'm a bursting at the seams to meet this precious boy and his mom & dad. (check out pics of him here.) He is TOO CUTE!!! I'm sure that his mama will have some party pictures posted soon, and I cannot wait to see them! :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CAMP!!!

Curl Up with A Good Book.....

In honor of Banned Books Week, which I only remembered today was this week and ends on the 30th, and in honor of my degree in English, I felt compelled to write a little about it! A couple of Sundays ago I was reading the issue of Parade magazine that comes in our paper. (My Sunday paper reading basically consists of the funnies, the circulars (to see what sales are on for the week) and I always look through the Parade. Well, one thing in particular caught my eye that week--their bit on Banned Books Week and a small list of books banned. (If you want to read the article yourself, you can check it out here. Anyway, I was SHOCKED by a few of the titles, partly because I'm not in favor of censoring or banning much, especially books, but mostly because I have read several on the list. And while reading them, I never once thought that they may be inappropriate for me and obviously neither did my teachers or my parents.

To Kill a Mockingbird was the first title that jumped out at me. I remember reading this in 11th grade honors English under one of my most favorite teachers. I LOVED the book then and still do. My teacher really made it come alive for me and made it touch my heart even more. I just love Scout--her tomboyness (if that's a word), her mischief, and her love for her daddy, even though she called him Atticus. And Boo Radley has to be one of my favorite literary characters. I just love how he saves Scout and Jem from the racist Mr. Ewell and how his friendship with Scout is unlikely in the town in which they live. I adore the movie, too. And, my favorite part is when we see the very pale Boo Radley (a young Robert Duvall) hiding behind the door of Jem's room. Love it!!!!!!! I figure the reason it's banned is because of some of the racial issues and the whole reason why Tom Robinson was on trial in the first place. I hope I haven't spoiled either the book or the movie for those of you who haven't read/seen it. If you haven't, I recommend them both. READ READ READ--EVEN THOUGH IT IS BANNED.

Another that shocked me--The Diary of Anne Frank. I read this in the seventh grade and did a book report on it, I think. I hope it's not cruel to say that I enjoyed it considering that she perished and only one person from her family and those that hid with them during WWII survived as a result of the Nazis and Hitler's suppreme cruelty and hatred. I think what I liked so much about it when I read it is that I was about her age and had the same typical problems she did. I could relate to just about all that she was going through. I can see why people would be uncomfortable with its material/subject matter--but it is a work of NON-FICTION--THE TRUTH. She and seven other people hid in a tiny attic for years all because a group of people didn't like/trust them because they were Jewish. Makes me so mad!!! I love learning new things about the Holocaust, and when I was teaching, my eighth graders read the play version as a unit of study. I tried to express to them that Anne Frank was real (which I know is obvious) but that these people were tortured and executed basically for just being different. A lot of them seemed to really understand and they got it, which made me feel like I kinda knew what I was doing! **also a great movie version--if your children are 'lucky' enough to be able to read it in school, it's worth watching for many reasons, but the version in our textbook follows the movie just about, if not all, word for word! I highly recommend!!!!

The Harry Potter series--why? Because of withcraft. Can anyone say The Wizard of Oz? I really don't see the difference, but hey, that's just me. The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn, (a total classic), Little Red Riding Hood and Meriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary were some of the others. I am at a loss of words over the dictionary being on there--no pun intended. :)

AND.......the one that really has me angered and upset......

THE BIBLE of all things. What could possibly be wrong with the Bible, unless non-Christians are the ones who do all the list compiling.

I remember that a parent wanted the Harry Potter books pulled from the libraries at the school where I taught. I was so glad that the head of the English department told us that she did favor the censorship of any book in her classroom. Wow!!! Power of the written word!!

One article I did skim today said something about the reasons that books don't get banned or censored is because teachers and librarians speak up for them! As a parent, I intend to when or if this becomes an issue with my girls. I hope you will, too!

Thanks for letting me rant!!

These Boots (or should I say Shoes) Were Made for Walking.....

...and that's just what the twins have been doing in them! (see pics below) Last weekend, we were supposed to go to Cleveland for Pig Pickin' at Delta State. It's a day long event that celebrates the football team's first home game--basically tailgating, and there is a BBQ buffet/cookout line! YUMMY! We love going and visiting with friends we haven't seen in a while.

Since there was going to be a place for children to play, I knew that the babies couldn't go barefoot. Mimi to the rescue; she got them some sweet Keds just like she got for Reese! They look absolutely too cute on the girls. I put them on the babies the other night for Warren to see, and they walked all over our kitchen. They loved making stomping noises in them! :) And...since they were a new thing, I had to take some pictures. Excuse their messy faces--they'd just had supper and excuse my messy house. When people see me out and about with the girls, they tell me I have my hands full and that they don't see how I do it. My reply is, "You'd know how if you saw my house--it's NEVER clean!" :)

Anna Banana sporting her new Keds. Don't think either of them knew what to think about wearing shoes. :)


 

Maggie's turn to strut her stuff in her new shoes! What a cutie pie!


 

Story Time with Mimi

The girls and I spent Friday afternoon with my mom and grandmother. Reese had Mimi read some stories to her, and she became particularly fond of Peter Rabbit. After one reading, Reese took the book and 'read' to her Mimi. She knew the bunnies' names, Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter. She loved 'reading' about Peter getting in trouble and escaping from Mr. McGreggor. I loved hearing her read and cannot wait 'til she's doing it for real!

 

Jenny & Reese

Love this picture of Reese and Jenny. Love 'em both!!! :) 

Baby Shower Cake....YUMMY!

Reese enjoyed the cake at Jenny's baby shower last week. It was so sweet--they had two cakes, one decorated in pink icing--for sweet Miss Carrington, the other in blue--for Master Crew! When Reese asked the ladies serving for a piece of cake, she made sure to tell them that she wanted the pink one and that pink was her favorite color! Too sweet. And of course, we had to wear a pink dress. Love the expression on her face--she's either in deep thought about something or she's plotting something. My money is always on the plotting! ;) 

Sweet Mama to Be

Last Sunday, Reese & I went to a baby shower in honor of sweet Jenny and her babies! It was a lovely time, and Jenny got a lot of nice things. Won't go into much about that because I know she will get around to posting pictures from the event. (hint, hint) :) I just love her, more than she will know, and I so wish that we lived closer to each other. Yes, I know, Jackson is not that far from where we live, but with three children it's hard to just 'pick up and go'--something that Jenny's gonna learn fast since she's having twins! I would love for her babies to grow up close to mine--how fun (and exhausting) would that be! :)

As you can see from this picture, she is absolutely glowing!!! Once I saw this picture, I wanted to crop myself out of it--she looks so good. I can't believe that she was about 6 months along. She looks so much better than me, and I'm not even pregnant--although many times when I glance in the mirror I still feel (and look) like I am. AND......she was even wearing heels!!! My shoes of choice were my New Balances!! Didn't wear anything else, except when we made it to church, and then of course it was stretchy flats! By the time I got close to delivering our twins, the New Balances had become too tight to wear. Matter of fact, I wore my flip-flops home from the hospital! :)

Just wanted to tell her thank you for inviting me and letting Reese tag along. She had a great time looking at all of Crew and Carrington's pretties. Jenny got two white stuffed seals that Reese was particularly fond of. She made sure to tell her daddy about Jenny's babies' seals when we got home. Warren was a bit confused, but figured it out quickly.

**Jenny, please call me if you EVER need anything--just not during the 2 am feeding, K! :) Love you lots!!!! 

An Almost Meltdown...well it kinda was

So, as those of you who read our blog know, our big girl started school last week. She only goes Wednesdays and Fridays (and she's proud to tell you that) from 8:30-11:30 am. She is having a great time and not going through any kind of separation anxiety---at least not yet. Every day, we wait in the hallway for Ms. Willie (the school's director) to the ring the bell. I wish you could see her face when it rings; Reese absolutely lights up!! She gets so excited. Once the bell rings, she puts her backpack on and walks down the hallway to her classroom--so big! She isn't concerned with giving me bye sugar or a hug; she just walks right on in and starts examing what's in the room! I'm proud and relieved that she's not crying for us, but it also makes me sad because it's a true realization of how she's growing up on me.

Anyway, when we got home on Wednesday, Reese told me that she stayed on yellow today. (Her school uses the green light, yellow light, red light discipline system). I have told her that if she goes to red at school, that we'll have to do some major talking and may get into a little trouble here at home. She just fell apart when I asked her why she went to yellow! She kept asking me if I was going to spank her and if she was in trouble. I told her the only way she'd be in trouble was if she went to red and didn't stay on green. Then she tells me that she stayed on green. I dropped the subject until we started getting ready to go night-night, and when I asked about green again, she fell apart--again. She was acting like she was scared. I told Warren that she just can't articulate exactly what happened. So...for Reese's peace of mind (and ours, too), I made a call to she school on Thursday.

The whole time I was waiting for Ms. Jamie to pick up the phone, I was thinking that I had turned into the parent that I didn't like dealing with during my years of teaching--you know, the ones who don't even wait a month until they start calling and wondering what's going on with their child. But, I taught kids who were a bit more responsible (or at least should have been) than Reese, so I had to call and make sure my baby was ok. Ms. Jamie was so sweet, and she explained to me that Reese did indeed stay on green--but she was playing in a group of children that weren't sharing too well. Ms. Jamie told me that she told them that if they didn't start sharing better and playing nicely that they would all go to yellow. That didn't happen, so we were all quite relieved that all was okay at school.

Just hope that she'll continue to 'stay on green.' She seems determined to, so we'll see! =)

So Tired...

I'll try for this to be the last post of the day, but I make no promises. My girls have been pretty cooperative today, allowing me my 'escape' more today than others! I try to sneak to the back of the house for a few minutes almost everyday because I have found that if I'm not in the room, Anna & Maggie get still a lot quicker and end up napping for a lot longer. (Don't worry, I peek in every now and then to make sure they're not hurting each other--so don't call family services on me!) :)

So...this is where I found sweet Anna napping this afternoon. She had crawled up into Reese's princess butterfly chair. I love these first two pictures--how she's all balled up in the fetal position. I imagine this is how she might have looked in the womb. So peaceful.....

These final two are funny to me--she went from beingin this curled up little ball to this totally relaxed, sprawled out position! I can't decide if she spilled milk in her hair or if she just got kinda hot while she was napping!!
 

Checking Out Big Sister's Slide

A few weekends ago, we all went outside to enjoy the milder temperatures. All the girls had a ball, and now it's almost impossible to keep them inside if the door is open! =)

Maggie (in the peach shirt) and Anna loved trying out Reese's slide. We gave that to her for her second birthday, and she has kinda outgrown it. Good thing we have the big yellow slide on our playset! :) The babies weren't too sure about it at first, but whenever we're in the backyard, that's one of the first things they go for. There's a part on the back that reminds me of a miniature rock climbing wall and that's how they climb on the slide! Too cute!!


Whoops--Mags took a spill! But she didn't let that stop her as she picked herself up and climbed up again!

Anna not as brave yet, not too sure about heading down the slide--just sitting at the top checking things out!
 

"Hey Ma--what is this stuff you're making crawl around in?"


I don't think Anna likes the grass too much. Although, this was her first time being in the grass, and since then, she's doing better! What a funny face! 

Sweet Love

Zowie! A rare appearance by me on the blog, and that's fine with me since my girls are much more interesting anyway!!! The last picture in this set really makes me smile; love getting kisses from my sweet girls!!! =)

Silly Willy

Reesie Pie being her silly self. She is a bundle of energy--amazes me how active she is. She reminds me of the energizer bunny--she keeps going and going and going!
 

She's Gonna Be A Shopper...

..just like her mommy! =) Sweet Anna Banana checking out mommy's Yankee Candle catalog. Ready to place her order.....and so am I! 

9/11/2001

A day this country and the world will never forget. Five years later, the images of the terrorist attacks on our country still play on in my mind and will forever. It seems like forever ago that this tragedy occurred, and yet, at the same time, it feels like only yesterday. I, like so many others, remember exactly where I was. Warren and I were living in Clarksdale, MS, and I was in my second year of teaching at Lee Academy. It was second period and my seventh graders were coming into class saying "Mrs. Manning, the Pentagon has been blown up." At that time, I had no idea really what was going on. Our administrators were on top of the situation, though, and since I didn't have a clue as to what was happening, we continued on with class. Had I known, we wouldn't have had class and we would have just talked about different things. If I remember correctly, I think that's what my remaining classes did.

I remember going home after school to find Warren on the couch, watching the horror unfold on TV right before our eyes. He had been at school working on finishing his nursing degree and had been home for a while. Since I was in school and we didn't have TVs available to every classroom, I hadn't yet seen any damage. I was shocked and horrified by what I saw. The twin towers, these massive structures, crumbling down into a sea of dust and destruction. I'm not sure if Warren and I said much to each other during that time. We were in a state of awe and disbelief. I think that we knew from then on that this world that we live in would NEVER be the same.

The days after were kinda hard for me. I was 25 years old, trying to answer questions from innocent 7th and 8th graders--questions that I, or no one else, really had any real answers to. Kids are really sharp, ya know? I don't think we give them enough credit sometimes. Many questions asked were the same ones I had. The biggest being "Why? Why did those people attack our country and kill all those innocent people?" Great question--only answer then and I think now is just pure hate. Kids are sharp, but still innocent, too. Another question--"Did those people who took over the planes know that they were going to die?" Answer--yep, that's what 'those people' do. Discussion about the attacks continued on for several days after, but like everyone everywhere else, life continued.

I remember stories of heroes and the bravery they showed. Firefighters, police, medical peronnel, and the common folk. Like those aboard flight 93. I wanted to read the book, Let's Roll, written by Todd Beamer's widow--honoring her husband and using the quote that has now become famous. I remember not reading it once it came out because I was carrying Reese in my tummy, and I knew how Beamer's widow had been pregnant when her husband was killed. I had very emotional days anyway since I was pregnant, and I just didn't want to make myself cry.

Those men and women who lost their lives on the planes, in the towers, by trying to rescue as many people as possible--they are real heroes. Not basketball, football or baseball players. Everyday men and women doing their jobs and getting tough when they needed to and not back down! The heroes are also the many, many loved ones they left behind that go on each day without a mommy or daddy or daughter or son to reach out and hug. May God bless each and every one of them and....

MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

9/11 WE'LL NEVER FORGET!

Are You Ready For Some Football??

We sure are!!!! We are ready to see Peyton and Eli go head to head tonight on NBC. Kinda excited about it! We're huge football fans anyway; I love the fall because it ushers in football season! Growing up in the house I did with a granddaddy who loved Bear Bryant and anything with Alabama football and a dad who was a pretty big Mississippi State fan, we were always watching games on Saturdays! And I LOVED it and still do!!! My gran was probably watching from heaven and frowning during the two Ole Miss games that I went to. But in my defense, I only went because Eli was playing at the time and we have to support family, right? (*Warren's dad and Eli's dad are second cousins, I think. I know that may not seem close enough for me to say that I'm related to them, but it's close enough for me!) :)
I like this picture of Archie with two of his boys. There have been some funny commercials with all three of them lately, ushering in the season. I think one might be for DirecTv's Sunday ticket thing. Of course, we haven't really seen what alls gone on in all of them since the girls decide to scream and holler when they come on. Maybe we'll see them again sometime soon!
We cannot wait for tonight, watching the two brothers play against one another. I don't think they've ever done that--considering that they went to the same high school and played the same position, and that Peyton wash finishing at Tennesse when Eli was starting at Ole Miss. The only thing is, who do we cheer for? Better yet, who do their parents cheer for? I think this game is going to be fun to watch. I asked Warren when Eli got drafted to the Giants if he and Peyton would ever play against each other. Warren said no, unless the Giants and the Colts went to the Super Bowl. Wow!!! This game seems to kinda have a super bowl feel to it, at least it does to me! Needless to say, if anyone needs us tonight, you'll find us on our couch with our feet propped up cheering on the cousins!!! :) Instead of saying Go Peyton or Go Eli, I'll just say GO MANNINGS!!!! WHOOHOO!!