HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY, DAMDAM!

DamDam will be celebrating her birthday on June 26th, while most of the Manning family is vacationing in Orange Beach! Since, I will not have access to a computer that week (I know, you're all saying 'hallelujah'), I thought I'd go ahead and give her a birthday shout out today!!! Happy Birthday and we can't wait 'til tomorrow!!!! BEACH, here we come!!!!

Look at Her Go!

In another post, I mentioned that Reese didn't technically pass her swimming lessons. For her to pass, she would have needed to swim at least three feet without any support, which she didn't, but I wasn't expecting her to be Janet Evans or Summer Sanders or anything. But, right at the very end of our time yesterday, she swam just a tiny bit, maybe a foot! :)

I was helping the other instructor get her kids on the dragon, and as I was walking back to my chair, I heard Adrianne yell at me "She did it!" I was so disappointed that I had missed her, but she did it again for me. I couldn't help but jump up and down, making a real spectacle of myself I'm sure. But I was so proud of her and so excited. I guess what we're going to have to do is just 'make' her swim. Just let her go and watch what she does, but be very close in case she starts to flounder.

I just got off the phone with the Y, and they have another class in July. I'm thinking about signing her up for that one, too, just so she can get some more practice and instruction. It can't do her any harm, so we'll see!

Dragon

As a special 'treat' on the kids' last day of swimming lessons, the lifeguards had this inflatable dragon. The kids were able to play on it for a few minutes before our time ended. Reese was so excited about it; that was the first thing she noticed when she walked out to the pool. Nothing new gets by that girl! ;)

The kids really had a good time riding on the dragon.....


until, as you can begin to see in pic #3, the dragon TIPPED OVER with all three children going straight into the water! I obviously didn't get a picture of the actual tipping over because all I could think was "that's my baby and she doesn't really know how to swim well just yet!" Can you say, PANIC.

Reese's swim teacher, Adrianne, was great about the whole thing. She yelled out to the
three other lifeguards (one was teaching the other kids to swim and two others were 'watching' the kids. I say 'watching' because neither one of the other two ran to try to help Adrianne and the other girl in the water. They just kinda casually got up for their chairs and sauntered over. They didn't get wet!) that three kids were in the water! She immediately grabbed the two closest to her-Reese and the little boy, and the other precious little girl who is three, was holding onto the handles over the overturned dragon FOR DEAR LIFE! She pretty much had a death grip on the thing, and I don't blame her.

Our two weeks of lessons went incredibly well, except I got kinda mad that the lifeguards didn't hurry to help get the kids out. That was the only negative about our entire experience. But, everyone did what they could, I guess, and everybody was alright, which is the most important thing! Reese didn't even to seem to be too scared that she had gone under without any preparation!

I am seriously thinking about signing her up for more lessons in July. She didn't technically pass the lessons because she isn't swimming without some kind of help be it her swim noodle or the instructor. But, she is totally NOT afraid of the water or of going under, which I think is a major accomplishment considering the fact that one little boy cried the last two days. Reese never shed a tear and wants to go back today! Looks like we're gonna have to get this girl a pool! :)

Birthday Party Pictures....

We Survived!

Yep, we made it through the twins' party on Saturday! I have several pictures to share, but I'm working on a slideshow of those. (Yeah, I know, I'm going a bit overboard with those things lately, but swimming lessons are almost over and I didn't take any pictures today, so that slideshow is almost officially done, and everyone just HAS to see the party pictures, right?!)

We had a great day, except for the fact that it was H-O-T-T hot. The twins seemed to have a big time, although Maggie didn't want to have much to do with the water. I don't think she got wet at all. Anna couldn't get enough of it; she was too cute. But, on the plus side, knowing that Anna liked the water and actually managed to get wet, we'll all be able to tell who's who in my pictures--Anna has the wet hair! :) Warren's parents, my mom and step-dad, my sister's two girls, their other grandmother, my brother and sister in law, and Reese's friend from school, Eason, and his little brother and parents came to the party. It was a very nice turn out. I was so touched that all these folks love the babies so much that they were willing to come sit out in the heat for a couple of hours. And, to have them shower my babies with such wonderful gifts, well, saying we are really blessed to have these folks in our lives as well as those of our girls is just not enough. I hope they all know how special they are to us.

The sprayground was a huge hit with our nieces, Erin and Lauren, but since the park is a public place, there were lots of other kids there that day. I think Reese was a little worried about all the extra kids, so she didn't get in the water much either. And, the way the park is set up, there are five picnic tables along side the river right next to the sprayground. These are all first come, first serve. We arrived around 9:45 am, and two of the tables were already taken. As we were setting up, another table got taken and then the last was taken around 10:30! Guess it's just a popular place, and I've lived here all my life and never knew anything about it until recently.

Anna and Maggie really enjoyed drinking their juice from their juice boxes, although they have more fun squeezing the juice out and making big messes. I've nixed the idea of ever letting them have one at lunch ever again! And, they really loved their cake, and so did everyone else. Thanks to the WalMart bakery for coming through for the fifth time for us. And, I have to say, that I think this one was the BEST out of all the birthday cakes we've gotten for our girls. And the price was just right, too! :)

Be on the lookout for a party slideshow soon. Gotta catch up on laundry before we head out for vacation this weekend!!! YIPPPPPPEEEEE!!!!! (And I know what you're all thinking.....great, she's going on vacation, that means tons more pictures and slideshows when she gets back! Wonderful! And, you know what, you're probably right! :)

Happy Father's Day...

to my babies' daddy! What would we do without you? I certainly don't know and never want to find out. We are so blessed to have you in our lives. You put our needs and wants before those of your own and never think twice about it. You work so very hard so that we have the things that we need, and for me to be able to stay at home with our girls during these early years. That means more to me than you'll ever know; more than I can ever put into mere words. You sacrifice so much so that your girls don't have to. And we love you for it. You worry about us, calling us everyday from work to check in and see how we are. There really isn't a day that goes by without your taking time out of your busy schedule to call us. We know that we're never far from your thoughts, and you are always in ours, too. We appreciate all you do for us and thank you for loving us so much! There is so much more I can say, but I'll end now by saying thank you for being the father of my children. I love you so very much! :)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! YOUR GIRLS LOVE YOU VERY VERY MUCH!!!

pic #1: Maggie helping Daddy make brownies
pic #2: Reese loving on Daddy
pic #3: Anna snuggling with Daddy before bedtime
pic #4: Warren and me before being mommy and daddy to three little ones

Happy Father's Day to Our Dads

Just a quick Happy Father's Day wish to my dad, Pete, and Warren's dad, Ricky. We hope that you both have a great day! We love you both very much and thank you for being our dads. And, we thank you for loving our girls so much!! Y'all are the best!

Pic 1: At my dad's house Christmas: my 'little' brother, Rich, our dad, me and my sister, Brandi
Pic 2: One I've posted before, but the most recent one I have of my dad
Pic 3: BopBop getting our garden started, with a little help from Warren & Reese
Pic 4: Anna & BopBop at the twins' party yesterday!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO TWO SPECIAL DADS!

Made a Change

Since the slideshow wasn't working on the blog unless you actually clicked on the post title, I decided to remove it from the post. I still wanted everyone to be able to see them (if they wanted), so I put the slideshow on the side of the blog so it would play while reading. And, I added pictures from all four days of lessons. A lot of them look the same, but I sit in the same spot everyday and it's hard to get really 'good' pictures since she's moving so much and since the other kids are sitting on the side of the pool right in front of me! But since Warren isn't able to see her swimming, I wanted to get pictures of her everyday so that maybe he can feel like he was there.

Love My Mags

Shots of Maggie from last weekend. Had to be fair and get both of them on here. How cute is she? Blessings truly abound here at my house! Love all three of my girls so so much! Thank you God for these sweet angels! :)

Love My 'Nanner

Just a couple of shots of Anna taken during our visit to Warren's folks' house last weekend. I just love these for some reason. She was playing peek a boo with DamDam in the second one; she had a lot of fun doing that and was laughing up a storm. Isn't she a cutie pie? Too sweet.

Then & Now: Two Years Ago

ANNA LAWRENCE

MARGARET ELIZABETH (MAGGIE)

Well, today is the big day. Our twins are two years old, or at least they will be at 5:40 and 5:41 pm this evening. It doesn't seem real that they've been with us this long. My how our lives have changed, all for the better. There is not a time that goes by when I'm out alone with the three girls that someone will come up and talk about how cute they are (and I certainly don't disagree) and how sweet they are. But before the stranger and I leave each other, they always say about how I have my hands full or how busy I must be or how there probably never is a quiet moment around our house. And yes, all of those things, plus lots more, are true, but I really wouldn't know what my life would be like without them. Don't get me wrong, I don't think I ever want to have more than one baby at a time again (I'm not getting any younger, only older, and these precious angels remind me of that everyday), but I would not trade these two gifts for anything!!! They definitely are double the work, double the diapers, double the formula (so glad those days are over), double the temper tantrums, etc., but they're also double the hugs, kisses and I love yous (the greatest sounds in the world). So, in honor of my sweet girls' big day, I did these collages of various stages. Obviously, the first one is from the day they were born two years ago, and going clockwise, at six months, then one year, and the last shot (or the first one on the bottom--depending on how you look at it) was taken this morning at Reese's swimming lessons. We're having their party on Saturday, so you know I will be sharing the party pics soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS! I LOVE YOU!!

Technical Difficulties

I am experiencing technical difficulties, or should I say that Picasa and Blogger are having the problems. On my post about Reese's swimming lessons, the slideshow won't come on. Whenever I go and try to 'fix' it by viewing the blog, the slideshow pops up and starts playing. It's not doing it all the time though; most of the time it is just blank. Does anybody know how to fix it or what could be happening? I am pretty sure that I followed the directions correctly for putting it on the blog; I just don't know what's wrong? Any help would be appreciated if anybody has a clue to what's happening? I will try to solve the problem and maybe just put the slideshow in a post by itself. Keep checking.....if you're at all interested in seeing a four year old learning to swim! They are really cute pictures!! :)

Oh, and when I scroll through the previous posts lists on the left side of the blog, I can click on the post title for her swimming lessons, and the slideshow works. What's up with that?

Saturday....

Since we didn't have much going on Saturday, we drove over to Kosciusko to visit with Warren's parents for a while. We haven't seen them in a month or so, so we figured it was about time. The girls are such great little travelers; Reese has been since her first days on this planet. And, that's a good thing, since we are pretty much going all the time! :)

I always seem to make sure I have a camera with me whenver we go visiting. I just want to have a ton of memories for my girls when they get older. Of course, they'll be older and so will I, and I most likely won't remember when, where, or why any of the pictures were taken. But, at least we'll have memories.

Just thought I'd share some of the pictures from our visit! Enjoy!!!

Reese Riding the Trike

Reese really wanted to ride the tricycle that was at BopBop and DamDam's, so BopBop took her out in the sweltering heat and was with her while she was riding down their driveway. Good thing, too, since their driveway is a pretty big hill (at least it is for a four year old) and it ends right on the highway! She had such a good time being outside playing with her BopBop. DamDam bought her a new dress, and yep, you guessed it, it had to be put on right away and of course we had to go outside and play in it. I wish I knew what she said to him in the last picture; must have been really funny! Too sweet!! She loves her BopBop and DamDam something fierce!!!

Please excuse how nasty the twins are in these next posts---Daddy treated them each to a bag of M&M's on the way to BopBop and DamDam's house. Needless to say, they were covered in the ooey goodness by the time we arrived!



Maggie: "Mom, are you STILL taking pictures?"


"Can't you just leave me and my BopBop alone so we can play?"

Some SERIOUS Conversation...

Anna had a very serious talk with her BopBop during our visit. It really does look like she knows what she's talking about, doesn't it? i particularly love the third picture, how she's pointing and looking at BopBop, doing her best to tell him like it is! :) And, of course the last one is a keeper. She just LOVES sticking her tongue out for some reason. When they're in the tub, I'll say, turn around so I can bathe your tummy, and she'll turn around and look at me, only to then stick out her tongue! Too funny!! She's a little performer!!!

Reese's First Day of Swimming Lessons

For your enjoyment, a slideshow of the 50 some odd pictures I took this morning. Reese woke up bright and early at 8am rearing to go to her lessons. I had the hardest time explaining to her that we had to wait another 2 1/2 hours before leaving. Ugh! She wasn't happy about the wait! :)

She was so excited when we got to the Y. She kept asking me if she could go under; I told her that she had to listen to her swim teacher and if they said it was ok, then she could. There are two young college age girls (I guess they're college age; I just feel old next to girls like that) that are teaching the kids to swim. I didn't catch the name of Reese's teacher this morning, so I'll be sure to tomorrow. Reese was in a group with three other kids; one kid must have a pool at his house or access to one because he was jumping in and swimming a little bit by himself.

Once Reese got in the water, she was happy as a clam. The only real problem we're having is keeping her legs parallel to the bottom of the pool. She's not a really good kicker on top of the water; she keeps her legs underneath her rather than behind her. Warren says that'll come with time and practice; hope so. I just want her to be confident in being able to swim a little by herself and not being afraid to go under and be able to get to the side of the pool safely if need be. She did great with that today. Once the girl put Reese on the swim noodle, I think she would have taken off the length of the pool alone. She was so excited that she did it by herself; so was I! :)

The kickboard proved to be a challenge as well. She wasn't too sure what she was supposed to do with it. She did practice her kicking with the board as well as by hanging onto the side of the pool. She also got to jump in to the instructor a couple of times, which she absolutely LOVED. She even told the kids that once when they jumped in that they were going to go under instead of her immediately catching them. Reese did great with that!

Anyway, we have lessons all week, and I know you'll be ready to shoot me by the time her lessons are finished for good next week. I just think she had a ball and I am so glad she's not afraid of the water and not afraid to put her face in it. That doesn't bother her at all. Her daddy helped her with that last year on vacation.

Stay tuned....

They're Always Eating.....

I don't think I have ever seen children who like to eat as much as the twins. Reese was never a big eater as a baby, and she still is one of the pickiest kids on the planet when it comes to food. She only began having red meat just recently; she sticks to chicken nuggets and that's about it!

Anna (in the first two pics) and Maggie will try just about anything. At campmeeting last year, they ate everything the grown ups did, while Reese enjoyed her ham, chips & a pickle (another of her meals of choice). It seems as if the twins are always hungry and always eating, yet they weigh only 25 lbs. I don't guess that's too light or too heavy, but it seems they should weigh more than they do considering how often they eat!

These first three pics were taken a few days ago. We had made some brownies one day and were enjoying them with a little cool whip on top! (There goes the diet!) Warren gave the twins a plate with nothing but cool whip on it; I loved eating it by itself, too, when I was little. They devoured it, and Anna certainly wasted no time in shoveling it in. Note the second pic; she looks like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter! :) I just love that picture!!! She looks completely satisfied with her effort, too!

Maggie was a little more subdued in her eating, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. And notice the last picture1~~~sharing the rest of the bbq chips. Although, I think Maggie was doing more eating of those than her "big sister." And Mags was obviously happy about the fact that she was in charge of the bag!

Reese's New Swimsuit

Yesterday, I took the girls to Old Navy so that we could look for Reese a new swimsuit just for her swimming lessons (which start Monday!!!). I had been in the store a few days before, and I saw this suit and thought it would be perfect. Warren really wanted ther to have one of these suits that have the shirt tops; we don't want her getting sunburned while having her lessons. (Our YMCA's pool is outdoors; but don't worry, I will grease her down with sunscreen. She found some at WalMart last night that she wants. It's the spray on kind, which I want to get anyway. I think it'll be easier and faster to get all three greased up with the spray on kind. And, this particular kind she found has Tinkerbell on the can, AND it smells like berries! :) What fun for Warren if he ever needs to put some on! Bless his heart, living in this house with four girly girls!!)

Anyway, Old Navy's infant/children swimsuits were on sale for $10!!! I was excited about that. I was even more excited when I found the same style suit on the clearance rack for $6.99, but sadly they didn't have her size. I called my mom and told her about the prices; I think she's planning on getting Anna & Maggie a new suit for their birthday. When Warren got home for work yesterday afternoon, Reese HAD to model it for him, and of course, I had to take her picture. I can't believe how much more grown up she looks to me. Warren's mom told me the last time they were here that Reese's baby features were fading, and I realized then that they were. That wasn't something that I'd been thinking about, but it's so true. She no longer has a baby face; she has a little girl face! And what an absolutely beautiful face it is!!!

They're Almost Two....

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

I cannot believe that Anna and Maggie will be two years old one week from tomorrow! These last two years have just passed me by in a flash. It doesn't seem possible that these two precious beings have been in my life for two whole years. Having them has truly doubly blessed my life, and I don't know what our lives would be like without them. We do have a lot more noise and screaming and hollering in our house, but we also have more hugs and kisses and sweet sounds, too. There's nothing like it when they hold their little arms out and ask for a hug. It's impossible to refuse them.

So, in honor of their upcoming birthday, I put together a slide show of some pictures of their early days. I just realized that I didn't include any from this past year. Maybe those will be another slide show for another day. Enjoy!

**so sorry about the first picture of Anna on the day she was born. This was the only shot I had on the computer of her from day one. It kinda shocks me, too, when I see it--you know, it's like "Hey, here I am in all my glory." But, she was a cutie pie, wasn't she? And boy how tiny they were! Hope no one is offended by her 'nekkid' shot!**