THE MANNING FAMILY

14 Years

Our anniversary was on October 25th. I wanted to write about how we celebrated. We went camping! It was all a surprise. He took care of the kid arrangements too! It fell on a Tuesday night. We went to a Blackbird State Forest. It was dark when we got there, but Jess took care of everything. I simply sat in a camping chair while he set up the site and made dinner. It was really a treat. We had steaks, zucchini and yellow squash, a salad and garlic bread. It was a very peaceful dinner. There were flowers and even a tablecloth! He bought a little chocolate and Swiss Almond ice cream. Breakfast was great too! Fresh berries and eggs. Thank you Jess, I won't forget this one.We managed to get the 2 boys to school on time, and Emm was just a little late.

Welcome back to me!!! Lots of things happening. I am currently acting as a single parent. Jess has been gone, back and then gone again. He has had the opportunity to go to Florida to hold a Bricks Training Camp in which he was gone for 8 days, the longest trip away from us. He was back for about a week and he has now been gone for 5 days. It sucks. I don't recall marrying a business traveler. Tough stuff. Marriage is wonderful in many ways, but 1 big one for me is to have someone to be solid in areas when you may not be.

EVAN

He's been so funny
lately. He had to have 2 teeth pulled on Monday. What a brave
boy! I didn't tell him what was going on because I knew he would freak
out. So I left him with the hygienist and 45 min later he came out with a
big gauze in his mouth and a smile. They had to pull both because his
permanent teeth were in and the baby teeth weren't even loose. They were
coming in quick! Later that night he placed the 2 baby teeth in a cup
in the kitchen for the tooth fairy. He wasn't such a good boy that
night and I said the tooth fairy wouldn't come. Evan replied "Mom,
you can't go up and get the teeth from her!" I guess he thought she'd get
to them before I could. He even went back to school after he came home for
a bit and I gave him some Tylenol. He didn't want to miss his 100 day
celebration. His teacher sent me an e-mail saying how cute he was showing
all his classmates. Love this boy. Pictures soon.

 

Tiff

 

 

We spend 4 days in Niagara Falls, Canada last week. It was so so fun! We usually wouldn't go North in February, however the Elgans were gettin' together, we had to go. Afterall we are only 8 hours away! Cole an Erica Henderson got married at the beautiful Hilton there. The weekend was filled with laughing, good food, funny pictures, dancing and good memories. It was a beautiful wedding.

Welcome to the Schwartz Center Website!

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
Omaha Theater Company
Thursday, January 27, 7:00 pm

First there was the Mouse – then the Pig – now, here comes the Cat! Based on the newest installment in the zany If You Give A… book series by Laura Numeroff, the Omaha Theater Company brings this madcap world premiere production with music to the stage. The Cat, who first appeared in If You Give a Pig a Party, asks his new friend Laura for some sprinkles, naturally they spill on the floor. Mopping up the mess might get him wet, so she must give him a bathing suit – and the hijinks ensue!

The audience takes a “world-wind” tour following the antics of the Cat as he travels to the beach, the gym, the mountain, the museum and the lake. Ultimately, the Cat and Laura make their way back home to where the sprinkles and another cupcake await them. Audiences will love participating as the play takes the silliness and exaggeration of the book even further.

via www.schwartzcenter.com

Emerson and I will be going here on Thurs night! She entered a Circular Story contest at our library and little girl won! Last year in 2nd grade she wrote a story called If You Give A Bunny Some Beef. It's funny. So we're looking forward to that.

Dinner

Well we have outgrown the 1 meatloaf the 1 Hoagie Roll and the 1 8x8 pan of tuna casserole.  I'm thankful the kids like what I make for dinner (most of the time), but I shudder to think I have to make more of something.  Really?  Do I have to get 2 lbs of ground beef out of the freezer to add to my meatloaf.  It's o.k. I guess, because once or twice a week we do have leftover night. 

Easton Elgan

 

Easton my man... three years old.  Great green eyes and is currently sporting a mohawk.  He goes to preschool 2 times a week.  He loves to snack all day long and as you can see he really likes black olives.  He is quite different from his brother.  He is ruff and tumble.  I'd say for the past year he has been sneaking out of his bed and into his sisters.  Either in her bed or on her floor.  We leave him there.  It's cute until Emerson gets tired of it.  His favorite things to do is play the Wii we got for Christmas this year, which is hysterical, and play games on our cell phones.    He's pretty hard to calm down for bed, but he also enjoys a good snuggle.

 

Evan

 

Evan, oh Evan.  Six year old.  Blonde hair, blue eyes and is the most sensitive little man you may ever meet.  He is in Kindergarten and loves it!  He's reading well and carries his LL Bean camouflage backpack to school everyday.  He is still particular about what shirts hear wears to school and he would wear his jeans and Sean White "skater" shoes everyday if he could.  He hasn't lost any teeth yet, but has some coming in which could prove to be a problem.  He still sleeps with "Roy" and sucks his thumb at night.  He loves to hang out with his Daddy and takes interest in everything Jess does.  The other day, Jess was being silly and let out a big exciting yell.  Evan yelled from his room "Daddy, did the Eagles score a touchdown?"  Keep in mind it was Saturday and the Eagles weren't even playing.  He loves wrestling with his little brother and loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies.  He will play soccer in the Spring.  Some of you may know that when Evan as little he hated socks.  Really hated them.  Well he will wear them now, but has been "forgetting" to put them on.  His feet really stink!  Sure there's lots more of that to come:)

 

I like to read blogs. So much that I have neglected my own. I sit down at my computer probably 2 times a day and I have a "Blogs I Follow" favorites folder and I check them out often. I reallly want to keep up with this. I always read about other bloggers children, but not my own and it makes me sad. Emerson, Evan and Easton are growing up so so fast.
Emerson is 8 years old and wants to be so big. She is a very thoughful little lady and enjoys doing things for others. Tonight she decided she'd like to bake a cake for a family in our Ward that just went to the Temple. So we did. She wrote a sweet letter and I drove her over to deliver it. Yesterday morning (we usually tell the kids t let us sleep in) she went to the kitchen and cleaned it up, and boy was it a mess! She did a great job even scrubbing the counters and loading the dishwasher! She enjoys reading... she's been reading the American Girl series and the Spiderwick Chronicles. Her hair is long and very thick. It's beautiful and she still has a great smile with a little dimple in her right cheek. She wants to start taking ballet lessons and I so want her to be able to, but money is so tight. It helped me in so many areas of my life and I know she would benefit too. Her sense of style is great. We have been fortunate enough to have friends with a daughter 1 year older and she gives us most of her clothes and shoes. Outside of socks and undies I rarely have to buy her things. She does love her brothers, but enjoys her own space.
We get her report card this week. Her tough subjects are Science and Math! Just like he mother!  The picture below is of us at our annual Gingerbread House building FHE. 

 

So looking at my last post I can't believe how fast I forget the things I do around the house! I totally cleaned Emm's room up! Her clothes needed going through. I still need to sneak into her room and go through all the papers she keeps:)
Yesterday was fun... Jess returned from CO and boy did we miss him. We played had a briskit (yum) and watched Nanny McPhee Returns. Very cute movie. As we wind down in bed Jess is super excited to get in his own bed. He hadn't been sleeping well in Colorado and was just glad to be home to have a good nights sleep. Sure enough, Evan wakes up throwing up. I must say that Jess and I have a good system. We get up and he takes the sick child to the bathroom, cleans them up and I do all the clean-up, disinfecting, etc. It's nice and I'm proud of it... maybe not a big deal, but like it when things run smoothly. Evan is feeling much better this morning. I had made blueberry granola bars last night, so that made for some fun colors... lol! Alot of kids from church have been sick, so it's just floating around.
I have been taking a circuit training class with my favorite instructor at the Y. I have NEVER been as sore as I have been. It's a good thing, but took some advice and had an Epsom Salt bath yesterday. I'm sure it helped becuase I'm very sore, but can walk:)
Thankful our family is back together and I'll just wait for the next kids to be sick!