A Fast Five Years!!!

I have been looking back through pictures of Reese these last few days, and I am so amazed at how much she's changed over the years.  It seems like only yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital and wondering how we would be as parents and trying to figure out what each cry and little noise meant.  Which ones should I panic and worry over?  And I did my fair share of panicking, but Warren and his nursing knowledge came in handy!  He knew how to make me feel better when I thought something was wrong, and he still does.  Having someone with medical know how is a good thing!! :)

Anyway, I really enjoyed looking back on my big girl's first five years and I hope you do, too.  She is an absolute doll!!!!

BIRTH DAY:  JANUARY 26, 2003

FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!

SECOND BIRTHDAY!

THIRD BIRTHDAY!

FOURTH BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Weekend Recap

The weekend has come and gone, and it sure was a busy one for us.  Friday, of course, was the big five year old birthday party.  We had a nice turn out, seeing that the party was on a Friday.  And, Lowndes county was under a winter storm watch/warning, and I was worried that people would have a hard time making it.  But, we ended up having 5 of the eight kids from her class come, along with Reese and the twins and another little girl whose dad works with Warren.  BaBoo and Ang were able to come and Mimi and PawPaw came by, too.  

Needless to say, this place is hugely popular for birthday parties, and I think all the kids had a blast.  We waited until we were home before opening her gifts, and I was so touched again this year with the generosity of these people I only know through my child.  We sure have been blessed by having Reese attend Ms. Willie's school.  

Reese's BopBop and DamDam weren't able to come to the party, but they did come over Saturday morning and spent the day with us.  And of course, they came bearing gifts for the birthday girl.  And man was she excited.  I think that she was more excited about the fact that BopBop and DamDam came over; all three of the girls kept asking us all morning if they were here yet! :)  Sweet!!  

I decided to put the party pictures and present opening pictures in an album instead of posting the singularly. That would have taken forever!   So CLICK HERE to see the album of photos!  Enjoy!

Birthday greetings go out today from our family to MARY KATHERINE!  MK, we hope you have a great day and many more wonderful birthdays!

Love,

The Mannings

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today, one of my bestest friends, Shelby, celebrates a birthday.  She and I had several of our birthday parties together growing up.  My favorite was our party in the second grade; we had it at the skating rink in town.  Shelby's mom made our cake and it was fabulous.  (I think I've mentioned it before, but Ms. Tammy is the owner/creator of Jubliations Cheesecakes!).  

Anyway, I just wanted to wish Shelb a happy birthday today.  I hope your day is great!  I love ya!

Then & Now

What a difference five years will make!!!  I cannot believe that my baby is already turning five!  It's amazing!!  The top picture was taken minutes after Reese was born, January 26, 2003.  I will NEVER forget that day as long as I live.  

This second picture is one of my absolute FAVORITES of my big girl.  This was her first feeding, and we all couldn't resist loving on those sweet cheeks.  I think everybody in our families has a copy of this picture.  It has definitely been a keeper!

And here she is only a week ago.  How big she is!  I love this child with all my heart, and then some!

Last Ones

Seven of the eight kiddos

All set for presents!

My two big girls!

Modeling her new gloves--that we have since lost, or at least, we've lost one of them!  No surprises there.

Christmas at My Dad's

Just what you wanted....more Christmas pictures.  I have been really bad about posting pictures lately, so it's catch up time!

We went to my dad's house the Saturday before Christmas and had a great time.  My sister and her girls and my brother and his wife were there, as were my step mother's daughters and their families.  There were eight little ones there, ranging in age from 12 to four months!  Talk about chaos!!!  But it was great seeing them all so excited about opening presents and having a ball!!

my dad always says a prayer before we open our gifts, and Lauren and Reese knew exactly what to do!  (I know I should have been listening more to the prayer, but I couldn't resist snapping this shot.  They look so sweet!)

Reese holding one of the BEST sleeping babies I have ever been around.  This baby slept through all the noise that all the adults and kids were making.  

Mags and Anna--ready to commence with the present opening

I don't know if you can really tell by this pictures, but Reese was SO excited about her present.  A Hello Kitty cd/cassette/boom box from PawPaw and Ms. Cathy!  Her face was priceless!

Maggie's turn to hold the baby!  She loved it!!!!

No Longer a Baby

I cannot believe that five years have already gone by, or at least they will have gone by on Saturday, Reese's actual birthday.  It is absolutely amazing for me to think about how much she has grown and changed over these last five years.  She really isn't a baby anymore; she truly is her own person--very determined, head strong, stubborn, and she loves like no other.  I wouldn't trade her for all the money in the world, except maybe for when she is in one of her not so agreeable moods! :)  

It is an absolute understatement for me to say that I am blessed to have her in my life.  I will never know why God chose me to be her mom, but I am so grateful that he did.  I don't know what my life would be like without her.  Boring, for one, but empty, as well.  She is so full of life and energy.  I wish she'd figure out a way to bottle some of her energy to share with me.  I could definitely use it!

I'm sure I'll be posting more about my big girl in the next few days.  I've got to get busy getting all the last minute stuff together for her party on Friday.  It's gonna be a busy week, but what else is new around here?  

I love this recent picture of her.  She's modeling a dress that her great Aunt Kay sent her for her birthday.  It came all the way from California.  We were worried that it might have gotten lost in the mail, but we got it last week!  Reese's BopBop and DamDam gave her the cutest brown and pink polka dot shoes for Christmas, and Aunt Kay saw this dress and knew it would be perfect with her shoes and perfect for Reese!  And it is!!!  Thanks again Aunt Kay!!!

Super Bowl Bound! Woo Hoo!!!

Well, Eli and the Giants pulled out an overtime win over Brett Favre and the Packers last night.   Needless to say, we were doing some serious cheering here.  We were so disappointed that Peyton wouldn't be going to the Super Bowl again this year, but hey, a Manning is a Manning, right?  Reese looked at me last night, after the final OT seconds clicked off the clock and said, "Mommy, I wish we could go see Eli play sometimes."  I told her I did, too.  Maybe one day!!!

Now we are hoping against hope that the Giants can win over the Patriots in two weeks.  I want the Pats to lose so badly I can't stand it.  (Can you tell that I'm NOT a fan of theirs?)

Go Eli!!!

A Tale of Two Games

Now deep into the NFL playoffs, I find myself torn.  Going to bed last night, the grown ups in this house had lots of mixed emotions.  

First, we were angry/sad/upset--whatever--that Peyton and the Colts will not be going to the AFC championships again this year, which makes it impossible for them to repeat as Super Bowl champions.  We watched the game in its entirety.  From the good plays to the bad plays to the down right upsetting ones.  Each time they made mistakes and looked as if they were sure to lose, they'd do something positive and get my hopes up again.   Overall, they just didn't play well.  Peyton looked great first quarter, but something happened and it just wasn't Peyton of old.  Or at least, we didn't think so.  (Warren wants so badly to see Peyton play before he retires.  I do, too.  Hopefully that dream can come true for us.  I think he'd be in hog heaven if we could.  It would be so great for him.)  Anyway, I guess there's always next year, but now people are saying that Tony Dungy may retire now.  I just don't know how I can watch them without Dungy.  (I know I will since Peyton will still be there).  But, there is just something about Dungy that I just LOVE.  He keeps his poise and composure on the sidelines unlike some other NFL coaches, and I just admire that.  He seems like such a down to earth good man.  My mom's got his book, and I'm going to get it from her when she finishes it.  I'm looking forward to reading it.  Since the Colts' season is now officially over, who will we root for..............

None other that lil' brother Eli!  He and the Giants gave the Cowboys a fabulous upset yesterday and will be going the the NFC championship game in Green Bay.  This victory gave us an absolute thrill.  That last pass that Tony Romo threw on fourth down from like the four yd. line with 40 or so seconds to go......when the Giants intercepted it in the endzone.....well, let's just say it got kinda rowdy here!  We were so EXCITED!  Eli's had a tough season, and we are so happy that he did so well in the playoffs and that he has a chance to go the BIG ONE.  The game at Green Bay is gonna be a tough one (did y'all watch the Green Bay game on Saturday?  Talk about snow!!!)  But, we hope against hope that the Giants can pull out another W and go all the way!  We already know that we're gonna yell like crazy for Eli, but we decided that if Brett Favre goes back to the Super Bowl, it won't be a bad thing. 

Now, if the Chargers can beat the Patriots for the AFC championship---THAT indeed will make me a happy camper!

Counting Down

Reese's birthday will be here before we know it, and we've started the official countdown.  We have scheduled her party, and I am praying and hoping desperately for a great turn out.   We had to have it on Friday afternoon, the day before her actual birthday.  I am not a fan of Friday parties--moms and dads have to work and it's hard or down right impossible for out of town folks.  But, every single Saturday in the month of January was booked, and all Saturdays in February were booked, too, except for the last Saturday.  I just couldn't stand making my little girl wait an entire month (or even more) for her party.  She's already driving me crazy, waking up each day asking me if she's five yet! :)  I don't really know what her rush is.  

Anyway, we got her invitations done and handed out at school yesterday.  Since the party isn't on a weekend, I wanted to get them to the kiddos as soon as I could so their parents could start making plans.  I hope everybody can/will come.  Her class is relatively smaller this year than it was last year.  She is one of nine this year, where as last year she was one of 14 or 15.  I just don't want her little spirit crushed if there isn't a big turnout.  This whole Friday thing will be hard on the grans, too, with their work, but I know they'll make every effort possible to come.  It's gonna be from 4-6pm, so I figure maybe some people could cut out of work early, if possible.  Easy for me to say, I know, since my schedule revolves around that of my girls, so we're really flexible.  

Just keep good thoughts for us that we have a great turn out!!!!

A Blog Addition

As you can see, I've added one of those cbox things to the blog.  I'm just trying it out and seeing how I might like it.  Who knows, I may decide to delete it tomorrow.  I may not though, since it seems as if anyone who reads the blog can just sign in on the box and leave a message rather than having to sign up with blogger/google to leave comments.  We'll see how it goes!

Four Wheelin' Fun

Santa brought the girls their very own four wheeler power wheels for Christmas.  DamDam has been wanting to see pics of the girls on them, so here they are.  The twins' power wheels don't go as fast as the Barbie Jeep we have, but they seem to enjoy riding them nonetheless.  Our backyard has lots of uneven places, and they get stuck, but I think they enjoy getting me and Warren coming over to them and getting them unstuck more than anything!  These pictures were taken Christmas morning, after we had opened all our presents.  The girls were ready to give those babies a test drive!

Anna is in the turquoise and Maggie in the grey

She was so excited!

And man, does that thing GO!

Sweet Mags

Look out--here comes double trouble!

What a cutie pie!

Bella chased Reese all around the yard!

It's A Sad Day at Chez Manning

Now, don't anybody get worried--nothing's wrong.  No one is sick (except for the stuffy noses we all have due to this CRAZY weather), everything is fine.  It's just a sad day because I have made the heart wrenching decision to NEVER and I mean NEVER shop at Old Navy again!

Here's why....

Warren's parents gave the girls lots of clothes for Christmas, and a good bit of them came from Old Navy.  There were two of the cutest pink turtlenecks for the twins (we love pink around here, can't imagine why), and a pair of brown pull on pants for Reese.  However, they were the wrong size, and I wanted to exchange them.  Now, how many of you ask the giver of your gifts to give you the receipt along with the gift?  None of you, yeah, that's what I thought.

The clothes still had the original tags on them with the bar codes on them as well.  Thinking that it would be no big deal to walk into our Old Navy and tell the employees that all I wanted to do was swap the incorrectly sized items for the right ones, we headed to town.  I walked into the store, told one girl there that I didn't have a receipt because they were GIFTS and all I needed was to exchange them for the right sizes.  She asked a second worker if that would be alright and the other one said as long as I was getting the exact same thing.  No problem, if they had them.  Well, low and behold, they had the exact same pink turtlenecks and there were two of the same sizes I needed.  (I can't tell you how excited we get when we find two of the same thing in the same size; it's not as easy as you might think.)  They didn't have the brown pants for Reese, but I figured two out of three ain't bad!

I take the right items to the checkout to a third employee, where I explain the situation all over again.  Things looked good for a moment until a fourth (and very unfriendly) employee told her that she couldn't swap them for me!  Can I tell you how angry I became at this point!!!  Words won't even describe it!!!  I looked at the fourth girl in the eye and told her how silly that was; I wasn't stealing the stuff, Old Navy wasn't losing money; it would be an easy fix.  She nastily said that it was store policy, and I got so mad, I snatched the clothes off the counter, turned to Warren and said, let's go, we can't exchange them because of some stupid store policy.  He said "They won't swap them."  I said, "Nope, they won't swap them for the exact same dad gum thing!"  Can you tell I was mad?

I totally understand any store policy that says cash/money refunds cannot be given without a receipt and I have NEVER wanted money back when I haven't had one.  I mean, WalMart will give you a gift card to their store for items you bring back and want to exchange.  They don't lose money or merchandise.  Why can't Old Navy do this?  And you can't tell me that Old Navy takes in more money in a year than WalMart does.  WalMart will sometimes even give you cash back when you don't have a receipt.  

I am writing a letter to Gap, Inc. and telling them of my total displeasure with my treatment in Old Navy.  I even told my sister and brother in law about it, and he called the store and spoke with one of the girls I encountered.  When she was less than willing to make the situation right, he proceeded to tell her that Old Navy had just lost some excellent customers because his family would no longer be shopping there and that he was going to tell his family and friends to do the same.  

What ever happened to customer satisfaction and service?  I'm not saying that the customer is always right is a great policy either, but when working with the public, shouldn't you do everything you can to make the situation as good as you can?

Needless to say, I urge you to rethink shopping there, too, unless you have the presence of mind to ask for a gift receipt each and every time you're in there buying something for someone other than yourself.  And, I think I might need to put in my letter to Gap that a new employee training method would be for the salespeople to automatically ask the customer if they need a gift receipt.  Who would want to go through all that when an even swap is so easy to do!

Christmas Eve

One of our family traditions is letting the girls open ONE gift on Christmas Eve.  We always give them a Christmas set of pajamas to wear to bed Christmas Eve and be in on Christmas morning as we open presents.  I know that several of you do this as well, and I just think it's a sweet tradition to pass onto the kiddos.  Hopefully they'll continue this with their own families (when that time comes).  

 The holiday pjs weren't as 'Christmasey' as I had wanted.  I really wanted something red or green or with Santa on them or something.  But I couldn't find three that matched at the price I wanted to pay.  I'm always saying that, aren't I? :)  Anyway, I did settle on getting the twins a pair from WalMart (can you tell we frequent that place; Warren says it's a lack of options that keep us going there!  We're supposedly getting a new mall and it's supposed to have a Target!!!  I sure do hope so, and if it's a super Target, WalMart will be history for this family!)  

Back to the pjs....the twins' sets were really cute, even if they weren't exactly what I had dreamed of.  They were a pale blue color and had reindeer holding red and white striped stockings in their mouths and there were Christmas trees scattered through the pattern.  Not bad for WalMart and a great price, too.

I had asked Reese several weeks before Christmas if she wanted to have Christmas pjs like the babies or if she would like to have her own pair.  She told me that she wanted her own; guess that's just another sign of how my baby is growing.  And later on, I asked if she'd like pjs or a Christmas gown.  My sister and I had red plaid flannel gowns at Christmas when we were little, and I thought how nice it would be if she had  a gown, too.  She told me that she wanted a gown, and I found a long red plaid flannel one for her.  She looked so cute in it, as she does in everything! 

waiting patiently for their presents ( I love how Anna is all sprawled out)

look at 'em go!

Reese:  the PROFESSIONAL present opener!

Maggie seems to have the unwrapping art down as well  

 Anna was a little bit more methodical about opening hers

What is it?

A new Christmas gown!

Maggie got new pjs!

What a surprise, so did Anna!  Love that sweet face!

 Daddy & the girls in a huddle, preparing a present for Mommy to open on Christmas Eve!

I still have pictures to post from our Christmas morning at home and at my mom's as well as the Christmas time we spent with my dad.  Those'll just have to wait another day or two!

Welcome 2008!

Here it is--the start of a brand new year.  It doesn't seem possible that 2007 is gone and '08 is here.  Where did that whole year go?  It also seems truly impossible that my big girl will be a whopping FIVE years old in a matter of 24 days!  YIKES!  Not to mention that I'll be turing the big 3-2 in only 8 days!  DOUBLE YIKES! :)  

I don't usually make resolutions, the main reason being I NEVER EVER keep them.  I have been doing some thinking about this new year and what I'd like to see happen, basically just ideas about living this life I have to the best of my ability.   I've had a list running in my mind for a couple of weeks, and I know I'll leave something off or add later, but this way I'll always have a reminder to help me make it through.

First, I want to get back into church and better my relationship with God.  We haven't been too good of church attendees lately, and I know that that is a horrible thing, and I'm pretty embarrassed to admit it publicly.  But, the first step at overcoming anything is admitting the problem, right?  This will not only be a good thing for me, but it will be one of (if not) the BEST gifts I can give my girls.  I also want to start some quiet times in the mornings so I'll start my days off in the best possible ways.  If anyone out there has any suggestions for me on where to start with that, I'd be grateful.  I also want to be more prayerful and really let God work in my heart. Please pray for me/us as we give this our total effort in making it work.

Second, I want to be more patient.  Now, for those of you who know me, you know that this one is going to be the BIGGEST challenge of my entire life.  I am the most impatient person in the entire world, and I see this trait in my girls, too.  Hopefully if I work on mine, they'll do better with their patience as well.  I just find myself losing my temper at the most insignificant little things, and that is so unlike me.  I don't want to be the kind of mom that's always on her kids about something.  I want my girls to look back on their childhoods and remember me as a loving, fun, non yelling mom!  I feel so guilty when I do get upset, but my friend, Merritt, is constantly reassuring me that all moms 'lose it' once in a while and that the kids will only remember 'the good stuff.'  I pray she's right.  I have to admit that I've already had to get on to Reese this morning for not minding like she should have.  She is the MOST stubborn child in the world, but I love her dearly!

Third, I want to try and eat better and get in better shape.  This one is going to be hard with some of the picky eaters I live with and Warren's work schedule doesn't allow me much work out time anymore.  But, I am going to try!  One big thing that will help me is to cut back on the caffeine and drink more water!  We'll see how this goes!

Fourth, I want Warren to keep loving his job.  He comes home telling me about 'cool' procedures he's getting to watch and even sometimes help with.  I've never really heard him be so excited about his jobs before.  Moving to the radiology department was definitely a good move.  Thank you Lord for making that possible!

There are more things that I want to add, but my babies are waking and they're not too happy!  Hopefully I can share more later! 

May 2008 be the best for all of you and your families!