Meet Max

Max is the Bulldog mascot for Michael's preschool class, in stuffed animal form.  He lives a very exciting life.  Each weekend, he goes home with a different student and is charged with experiencing all kinds of shenanigans, which are to be documented and scrap-booked by Sunday evening in time for him to return to the classroom on Monday morning.  Thank goodness we got him on a holiday weekend and have more time to try and live up to the sparkly-sticker-decorating-and-poem-writing pages from the other over-achieving households he has visited. 

I'd say Max and Michael had a good time together.  (And in case you're wondering, he smells like roses after all of his travels.  His teacher must up-end a bottle of Lysol and Febreeze on him each week.)

We were the only group at the Posters of Paris exhibit toting around a life-sized stuffed dog, but no one seemed to bat an eye.  Until Ella began tossing it in the air within a foot of a priceless Toulouse-Lautrec print, of course. 

I think even baby Ella enjoyed her time at the museum.  

If you've been following Wes on FaceBook, you know that the week-long project to put together the kids' playset is finally done.  He had a somewhat nervous look on his face, watching the kids play for the first time.  I'm sure it had nothing to do with the large amount of unused fasteners that were leftover.

Drew is suddenly very interested in my taking pictures of him so he can play in Lightroom!

More house progress to share.  The floors have arrived and I cannot wait to see them go in. 

The playroom is on it's way to white. 

Along with the office.

One bathroom is tiled..two more to go.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

School's back in session, the house project is humming along, and I've figured out where the best place is to park at the airport.  All-in-all, we're settling into a routine here and so far we haven't managed to botch all of our New Year's Resolutions.  Well, that may be because we didn't make any, but whatever.  Oh! I did vow to be more organized with my Lightroom catalog and that's going swimmingly.  I have one folder. 

So what have we been up to since the year began?  Well, Miss Kate turned 12.  Ack!  I remember getting the call that she had been born while on a date with Wes.  That does not seem so long ago...

Outside of that celebration, it's been pretty low-key around here.

Over at the house, the painters, tilers and trim carpenters have been hard at work.  Cabinets are on order, Elfa closets have been designed and I'm having dreams about where I'll store my gift wrap.  (Everyone does that, right?)

There didn't used to be a door here, but now the kids will be able to make noise in the playroom while we watch HGTV in the family room.  Bliss.

Exterior painting has been on hold with all of this wet and cold weather.  I'm sure the neighbors have really been enjoying their view in the meantime.

The kids had to entertain themselves while we measured closets for shelving.  Most of that trim is now up on walls and doorways!

Henry's decided it's fun to play with Dad's wallet during changing time.  I'm sure he puts everything back just where he found it when he's done.

Yeah, this is a bad habit.

NYE at Possum Kingdom

It was chilly, but it was beautiful.  With a few extra layers of clothes, we made it out onto the lake each day and caught a record number of fishies.  Internet service was nearly non-existent for those of us with AT&T which also made much more time for doing puzzles. 

Granny came to Texas for Christmas and I took this photo the day she headed to the airport (which was the day before we drove to the lake - pardon the non-lake photo in the lake-photos-post, but I love it). 

Next time, we're hiding her suitcase so she has to stay.

Apparently Ella has already learned about Photo Bombing.

Fishing lessons.

Crocodile Island

Sunrise

I was absolutely freaking out when this photo was taken - the fish were moving! - but trying so hard to stand still and smile so my brother could take the dang photo already, lol.

Cleaning-the-fish lessons.

Nice couch.

Wishing everyone the best in 2013!

Two Important Birthdays

Our Christmas baby turned seven this year!  I've had a bit of a time with this birthday.  It seems like some sort of threshold between "little girl" and "young lady" that I've not yet wrapped my head around. And, of course, after we finished celebrating her momentous day, Baby Jesus' shin-dig was close to follow.  

This post is going to be a little picture-heavy...

Skyping with Gigi and Poppa!

Birthday dinner at Macaroni Grill -- where you can draw on the table and they sing to you in Italian. 

While packing up our house on Inman, I discovered my Breyer horse models that were tucked away and decided they would be a perfect birthday gift for Ella.  She loves them!

Lunch before seeing The Nutcracker at Bass Hall.  Wonderful show!

Oh well, the kind stranger who took our photo didn't quite nail the focus...

Birthday dinner #2!  Still had some cake leftover. 

An attempt at Grammer Fetter's sugar cookies - they turned out pretty well!

Someone got caught!

Inventory in progress...

Tracking Santa during lunch.

Santa made it through the thunderstorms!

Snow!

The kids enjoyed playing with their remote-control cars.  The cows were just wondering where their treats were.  

Hope Santa was good to everyone!

Reno Progress

Lots of changes over the past couple of weeks at our new house!  As my brother, Matt, said recently..."Job site today...home tomorrow."  We're trying to be patient and continue to knock out a ridiculous amount of daily decisions and selections.  Meanwhile, we're enjoying the incredible generosity of our family who don't seem to mind hosting squatters for weeks on end.  We are so, so blessed.

Two days ago, we had the most amazing white Christmas.  The snow came down for hours.  And the next morning, when we visited Emerald Drive, it looked just as beautiful.  (Doesn't it go nicely with the new white exterior?  It's still just primer...we need some warmer weather for painting.)

Straight ahead is where the kitchen sink will set, for reference.  Yay for drywall!

Looking toward the family room. 

You can't walk between the family room and master bath any longer.

If you squint your eyes, you can see a delightful pile of what used to be the popcorn ceiling way back by the bay windows.  Ahhhhh.  Couldn't do away with the tray ceiling afterall but I think we'll get over it.  :) 

Onto the master bath - to the right will be the vanities.  The shower is on the left.

Ella's new window. 

What a difference some sheet rock can make.  I'd share photos of the fancy new gas lines and HVAC system, but that's not nearly as much fun. 

A little of this, a little of that

The past few days have been a struggle for me -- probably no different from any parent, and especially those with small children.  I think we're all doing our best to avoid the news, feeling upset when we fail and read or see something that reminds us again where this sick feeling is seated, and doing our best to savor more hugs, spend more time stretching out the bedtime routine and working to be more patient when we might normally be short with our kids.  Personally, I'm trying to be more conscious of letting the little things go and being more aware of the many things that make me happy throughout the day.  I hope this commitment to finding joy isn't a passing thing.  I hope it lasts.  I hope tomorrow feels better.

In the spirit of finding joy, we finally found some time for Henry to open birthday gifts from last month.  (Shh.  He'll never know.)

More joy...golden hour in the cul-de-sac.

Wes continues to move things along at the new house -- we are racking up favors with Rocket and Papaw more quickly than we could ever repay them, too.

Ceilings are being scraped and walls are being mudded...Ella's room is also closer now to a big window vs. a door to a balcony. 

Henry is wondering why he doesn't get to crawl around just yet.  (Super cool knit hat courtesy of Nana's birthday gift to him.)

The house is turning white, as well, which makes us happy.  One step closer to being "home."

This weekend, inspired by a broken hand-shaped Santa, the kids made dough ornaments.

Yes, his shirt is on backwards, and yes, he wants it that way.  We've stopped asking.  :)

Henry wasn't a lot of help with shaping and painting, but he was a good cheerleader.

Go Colts.

The Christmas Program

It took us promising Michael multiple treats, but after refusing to wear his angel wings and halo for the school dress rehearsal ("They were too pretty for me, Mommy"), he proudly donned them for the big show.

Just like his big sister, he sticks his tongue in his cheek when he's in the spotlight.  How is that genetic?

Okay, I don't know who the kid is standing to Michael's right, but holy cow was he funny to watch.

Michael found the stage lights were too bright.  He had trouble finding his family in the audience. 

Maybe next time he'll sing, too.  :D  It sure was fun to watch him, though.  Merry Christmas!

Where are Tom Hanks and Shelly Long?

Well, we're here!  Wes is spending fewer and fewer hours of his days covered in sheetrock and cement dust as the demo phase of our renovation wraps up. That was to be expected.  What we hadn't planned on were copious amounts of mud in the kitchen, bathrooms, master hall, and caution tape surrounding a long trench in our front yard. Good thing mud washes off fairly easily.

I say our plumbers are going to have a very Merry Christmas, indeed. 

Wes says they'll be retiring after the first of the year.

Nothing to see here, nothing to see.

Formerly the placement for hot water heaters and a niche for garbage cans; soon-to-be home of our new, expanded pantry and a modest mud "room." Maybe more like a mud hallway.

Straight ahead will be a new spot for the sink, to the right - laundry room and cleaning closet, to the left - the pantry and mud hallway.

Where you see a high window on the right, there will be double French doors.  The walls ahead of you and to the left are nearly completely gone as of this afternoon.  (Yay!)

There used to be a Juliet balcony off of Ella's room.  Terrible idea for a little girl who will be a teenager before we know it.  :)  (It was also in bad shape and blocking light into the kitchen.)  So, it's gone now.  The door will soon be a window. 

Not too exciting yet, but all of the bathrooms are being gutted. 

Future site of the best playroom ever.  Which I can now see into from standing in the kitchen thanks to disappearing walls. 

Our master bathroom...home of half the plumber's crew for the past week.  The potty room combined with a linen closet will occupy the wall on the right.  Our tub will be on the wall to the left.

The expanded master closet is straight ahead.  Where the ladder stands is about at the right edge of the new shower, and in the room to the left (which will officially cease to be a separate room when the rest of the wall comes down) will be our double vanity being lovingly built by Rocket.  Bigger windows will be on that wall as well, bringing in some more light to the whole space. 

Michael got a real kick out of the fact he could run between the master bath and the family room.  Not for long!

Night-night house. 

Thanks Giving

We had one very important errand before transitioning where our stockings will be placed this year. Lucky for us, Santa begins taking appointments in early November. 

The first order of business was getting the wish lists together.  Good thing Gigi was on-hand to help.

Michael was trying so hard to explain "the doggie soft thing that glows up on the wall and the roof of your room" that he wants from Santa this year.

Favorite Santa photo ever.  Santa had just finished singing 'Happy Birthday' to Henry because his birthday was the next day.  LOVE. 

Trying out Poppa's office.

Who needs toys?

It's a rare day when I can snap a picture of Michael without him catching me before the shutter goes off.

Our birthday boy.

Maybe by the time he's four, he'll be able to elbow his siblings out of the way so he can open his own presents.

He wasn't so sure at first...

...but he came around pretty quickly.

Mr. Serious with an icing mustache.

Good thing Henry had lots of help washing off his birthday cake. 

This photo belongs earlier in the post but I can't figure out how to move it (or how it ended up down here in the first place!  Oh well).  One day, we took the kids out for a nature hunt and Ella was good enough to catalog all of our finds.

We were so grateful to have Gigi and Poppa put up with our craziness (and sick kids!) over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a wonderful lull in the midst of moving madness on both sides of our visit and we loved having quality time up where it's peaceful and quiet. 

Well, it was peaceful and quiet before we showed up, I'm sure of it. 

Friends, BBQ, and Wide Open Spaces

If we planned it ourselves, we wouldn't have done a thing differently.  On Sunday, our friends put together the perfect send-off, giving us the opportunity to catch up, chill out, laugh and share lots of hugs.  It reminded us, once again, how crazy blessed we are and how we will miss seeing these faces all of the time.  More reasons to come and visit often, is what I say.  (And did I mention yet that we have an actual guest bedroom in Texas? Consider the invitation open.)

A few of the extraordinary hosts.

Ah, yellow roses.  I get it.  :D So beautiful!  There were also mason jars of baby's breath, burlap runners, and paper flowers in Texas State colors.  I was just too busy being chatty (and occasionally checking in on the kids) to take more photos!

Yum.

Too funny.

These boys really knew what they were doing!

Love it when these two play well together, even if it's just for three minutes. 

While packing over the last two days, Wes and I keep getting stuck leafing through old scrapbooks, letters and cards, loose photos and random notes that we've kept hidden in boxes.  It's not helping us blow through our to-do list as quickly as we need to, but it's been a nice reminder to stop and appreciate the things that are most important in our lives.  Since neither of us are pack rats by any stretch, I think what we have managed to hold on to says a lot about what does make the cut.  Photos from this party are surely going to go to the top of the pile.   xo

It's Okay to Be Jealous

One night this week, I got to visit with baby Josh.  He's changed so much in just a few short weeks and looked really wonderful - as did his amazing mama.  I can report that he's got a beautiful smile, too, but he makes you work for it.  Sounds like I've got great excuse to go see him again soon to try and capture one to share. xoxo

Spookyville

Halloween!  It's Friday and I'm spent so that's about as chatty as I can be in this post.  Hope you enjoy some photos of our littles from Wednesday night.  It was a wonderful time, even if Michael refused to wear all of his costume and I couldn't convince Ella to put freckles on her cheeks.  *sigh*  :D  It was especially nice to have Gigi and Poppa and good friends to share the fun with.

The Last Official Hurrah

Over the past seven years, our home has been host to many celebrations...birthdays, Thanksgivings, wedding showers, Christmas parties, annual New Year's Eve celebrations, and most frequently, baby showers.  We love babies in this house.  So there could be no more fitting final party to host in our home than one celebrating the exciting upcoming arrival of a little boy for our very dear friends, J & M. 

Twas the night before the party...

...the cake was made of diapers...

...and the beer was taking a nice ice bath.

Everyone behaved and had at least a little pimento cheese before diving into the Cami Cakes. 

Presents were opened...mostly by three eager helpers.

And we got a sneak peak at what baby V may look like on his birthday. 

Lots of good laughs were had.

And yes, there were cookies. 

October's End

Costumes are making lots of appearances these days.  Sounds like Halloween is going to be a bit chilly - hopefully we can convince the kids to bundle up before we head out.  Ella has decided to be a Vampire Cowgirl now (don't ask) and I'm waiting for Michael to declare he will officially be a Pirate Batman.

On Saturday, Gigi came by to hang out with the kids and brought the most awesome Haunted House brownies for the kids to decorate.  They were bigger than Michael's head.  Which is saying a lot. 

This afternoon, we broke out the carving knife and dressed up our pumpkins for the big night.  Ella doesn't understand that mommy's not good enough to carve eyelashes into her design. Maybe next year I'll figure it out.

I think they were pretty happy with the results.  Bring on the candy!

In other exciting news this week, Wes celebrated a happy birthday.  I absolutely love this photo.  The kids are so excited to sing surrounding a candle stuck in absolutely anything.  But Wes couldn't fully enjoy his moment because Henry was a thirsty, fussing boy.  Ah, fatherhood.  xoxo

Punkins

What an absolutely gorgeous day.  We took off Sunday morning for the pumpkins in North Georgia.  Now, our 'punkins' are patiently waiting on the back porch until the week of Halloween when we can carve them into little masterpieces, art directed by those five feet or under in our house.  Can't wait.​

For the record, I was repeatedly told I couldn't help carry the pumpkins.  Our big kids are so self-sufficient.  We got lucky that we didn't have to buy any smashed ones.  :)​

Crawler

At the end of a month filled with too much travel, and too little time with the kiddos, I am happy to report that Henry has mastered a new trick that makes him smile and clap with pride in himself.  Folks, we have a crawler. 

Now that he can get to the toys he wants, he has zero interest in smiling for a photo.  And that's just fine with me.  There's a great big world in the living room for him to discover.  ​

While we celebrate Henry's steady progress, we cannot forget that this week has been incredibly tough for those of us who know and love our nephew, Josh.  His road, which was already long, is now interminably longer ​before he will be well and home, and I wish we had that magic button to push that would speed us forward through the additional months of worry and waiting.  We're thinking of him and his mom and dad constantly -- sending all the hugs we have.

Cousins

Ella turned shy, Michael continued to run around like a banshee, and Henry was sometimes distracted by the multimedia donor wall at the hospital, but it was still very cool, getting all four Manning cousins together for the first time. 

Baby Joshua is constantly in our prayers as he heals from gastroschisis (you can check out his story here, written very eloquently by my sister-in-law) but even more so this week as he is scheduled to go in for his fourth - and let this be final! - surgery on Thursday.  We know it will be some time before he's well enough to leave his NICU room for another visit.  It's hard to believe the little guy is already over two months old. 

Ella's hands were itching to hold Josh, but she changed her mind to hold Henry instead at the last minute.  Maybe next time!​

A little chasing, and some more bribery, and Michael agreed to sit still for a quick photo.  ​

I think Ella's plotting all the different ways she can dress Josh up when he gets a little bigger in this one. ​

Uncle Wes​

Sweet, sweet baby!​

It was really nice of the hospital to install light boxes on the ​ceiling to catch Josh's attention and create such beautiful catchlights.  So considerate. 

​This next photo is a little out of place in this post, but I edited it at the same time as the ones above, and it brought a smile. 

Ah, the ducky bath.  ​

Highlight Reel

Yesterday was nice.  Really nice.  After coming off a show out in San Jose, which involved lots of travel, little sleep, and the resurrection of a not-so-fun back injury, all over the space of two weeks, I managed to fit in a nap (a nap!), lunch on a patio with my most favorite husband, a pedicure and baby cuddles.  So that you don't completely vomit, I also fit in a couple of hours of work, paying bills and unpacking.  And I got to follow that up with clipping no fewer than 60 finger- and toenails.  ​Parents-to-be be warned: no one tells you about how often you'll have to trim grimy nails on sticky appendages attached to squirmy children.  No one. 

So, onto playing catchup on photos.  Not that we have to worry about being tempted again, but our visit to the Yellow Daisy Festival was not the best idea we've (I've) ever had.  After sitting in traffic for more than an hour (no lie), we dropped at least $40 in the children's area just to make ourselves feel like the time spent trying to get there wasn't a complete waste of our weekend.  Solid reasoning, I think.​

Michael created quite the scene, dressed in his Halloween costume and painted with Batman's ​mask.  At least if he wandered off, we were relatively sure we could find him again quickly.

This was one of those quiet moments smack dab in the middle of the normal chaos of making dinner, unpacking school bags, sorting through mail and the regular weekday madness.  Kairos.  ​

Near the top of our Georgia bucket list was taking the older kids to a Georgia game.  I, myself, hadn't seen the inside of the stadium since I was eight months along with ​El.  We had an awesome time -- and even better because we could share it with old friends.

The photo credit for this one goes to Elizabeth.  ​

By contrast, you can see the reaction I got when I tried to get a photo of Michael.  ​

Well, four of the five were cooperating.  Not too bad.  ​

We blend right in with the grad students, right?  This photo was missing one very important lady: Meggles herself.  <3​

My Georgia girl.  ​

Watching the Dawg Walk and listening to the band.  ​

Go Dawgs!​

Michael celebrated a very momentous birthday recently.  We all cried tears of joy as we said 'good-bye!' to age three.  The big boy, himself, greeted me after school yesterday with a "Hi Mommy!  I don't get in time outs AT ALL anymore at school now!"  Halleluiah.  Halleluiah.  

Gran and Gramps were on-hand to help with the celebration.  Henry was wondering exactly when he'd be getting a piece of that pirate ship cake, I think.  ​

We like to joke about what a pain in the @ss the past year...or two..have been with Michael, but seriously, I cannot imagine our lives without him.  He calls it like it is, revels in the simple things, is quick to laugh, gives the best squishy hugs around, collects sticks as though they were solid gold, and is full of ​curiosity.  He's also grumpy, particular, stubborn and can rack up more time outs in one hour than any child I've ever known.  I don't for a minute forget that one day, this little boy will tower over me and so I'm savoring every time I can pick him up and tell him just how cool he is. 

Oh the places he will go.  I can't wait to see. 

Trying To Slow Things Down

The past couple of weeks have been...full, stressful, wonderful, awful, happy.  Tonight, we're feeling thankful for the hours that things go well - like a little boy coming out of his room at 9 p.m. to say "I'm sorry, Mommy, that I had a bad day today." and the quiet time spent holding baby Joshua who is the most amazing little guy - and hopeful that tomorrow will bring much of the same.  

Speaking of needing to slow things down, this hunk-o-love is gro​wing up way too fast.

The day Ella gets to hold baby Joshua, I don't think anyone else will get a turn for several hours.  While we wait for that day, the kids made him some cards to cheer up his room at Egleston.  

Put on a Disney movie he hasn't seen and he'll sit still for a solid 20 minutes.   ​

Story time with Aunt Kristi​

The last weekend of the year that the pool was open, we had a whole 10 square feet to ourselves. It was nice. ​

It makes me smile thinking he's the third baby to discover these toys.  ​

This week's assignment is to spend more time on his feet.  Intro: the music table from the attic.  ​

This afternoon, I got to spend some time with Kristi and Josh.  xoxo​

We Need More Weekends

Not exactly a novel idea, but sitting here on yet another Sunday evening, I've decided we could all use more weekends.  Friday night about killed both Wes and I (we are apparently beyond the age when you can bounce back from being up with friends past 1 a.m.) so not a lot happened on Saturday, but I did manage to pull out the camera today.  ​

Does anyone else have a problem with how not-like-a-little-girl she's looking these days?​

Awesome day for the zoo today -- not too scorching hot, and all of the animals seemed to be cooperating.  Love seeing them up close.  ​

Ella wanted to help with Henry's afternoon photo-shoot​.  That is, until the Scooby-Doo movie returned from a commercial break.

Cutie. Patootie. ​

K-k, you're done.  I get it.  ​