A walk in the park

On the next nice day, we headed to the park.
We seriously spent almost all day there!
I had the burn to prove it. Oops!


Abbie loved crossing these.

Will loved the slide.

And Ben?

He loved the swing!
That's big sister Abbie in the background pushing him.

Outside Time!

These pictures were taken on one of the first nice days we were able to venture outside.
It was a welcome break from the long winter.

Ben played in his exersaucer and watched Abbie & Will ride bikes and drive the Jeep and Harley.
Mommy read books...

and talked to this adorable little guy!

Just look at those cheeks!
He was "talking" to our neighbor's dog, Mookie.
He loves to say "Dog" and then bark at her.
Ben's "bark" sounds like "WHOO, WHOO," a bit more owlish than dogish, but it's too cute!

Nap Time!

Must have been a good day for a nap!
And, yes, Ben is crashed out in his exersaucer!

Those Pesky Lephracans...

On St. Patrick's Day those little lephracans caused mischief at Abbie's school.
They knocked over the slide, dumped out toys, turned their calendars upside down...
It was chaos!

They little their little green footprints on everything!
The class had fun cleaning it all up!



Our first sump pump malfunction was also on St. Patty's Day.
Abbie blamed it on the lephracans.
She may be onto something!

Ending the day

Will ended his days of celebrating by convincing Nona to help him fly his new kite.
It was a little chilly out, but Nona was a good sport.

He never got it very high....

But he sure had fun!

Holy Birthday Presents Batman...

Will got LOTS of good stuff, like his new scooter!

He got lots of Spiderman and Batman stuff; fishing pole, toys, kites, gloves, jammies....
We are definitely Super Hero ready!

He also got a Big Boy bike!!

I think he had a good day!
You may have noticed lots of tattoos on Will. He had Spiderman and Batman tattoos EVERYWHERE!

To The Batcave...

The day after Will's birthday, we had his family party.

It was Batman themed.

Leading up to his birthday, anytime you asked him what he wanted for gifts, he would simply say a Batman cake.

Aunt Michele came through for him on the cake! He loved it!

He also loved his HUGE Batman balloon.

Interestingly enough, it TERRIFIED Ben. His little body would start shaking, his eyes would get huge, and he would cry. I may have abused him a little bit with this. It was too funny! Nearly 2 months later the balloon is still with us...and it still scares Ben.

3! He's really 3!

I am anti-stick your finger in the cake. I don't care if it IS your birthday. While I was getting the ice cream he snuck in a few quick swipes.

Where do I start?

I'll start by easing all of your minds...I'm here! I did not disappear. I didn't even runaway. I know I blogged about wanting a pause button....but I assure you I didn't hit pause. So what's my excuse for the lack of posts?
Water. Lots and Lots of Water!
That water ruined my basement, ruined my attitude, ruined the opportunity for me to jump on the computer and blog. I've been crabby. Very crabby. Did you know the playroom is in the basement? That every toy belongs in its own little place in the basement? That for that past month, almost every toy has migrated upstairs? That the kids playing downstairs equals sanity for me? That I had lost 5 pounds working out DOWNSTAIRS? Guess what, I gained it back! Did you catch the crabbiness?
Good news....the playroom is back in functioning order. I can get to my desk now. The carpet goes in on May 4th. Almost back to normal. Deep breath!
So, you want to know what happened?
Shortly after my last post our sump pump backed up. We had a little bit of water. We dried it out ourselves. The pump seemed to be working fine after we gave it a little jiggle. We chalked it up to a little glitch and went about our lives. Oops, wrong.
About a week later, pump went out again. YIKES! Called and got a new pump. Even got a Basement Watch Dog, a handy back up pump. Battery operated in case the power goes out. It even has an alarm if the back up pump has to kick on, letting us know there is a problem. Lesson learned. Filed a claim with our insurance. Luckily it was fully covered. We had a water mitigation team here for the clean up. They had to take the flooring up in the playroom, but the rest of the basement was fine. UNTIL....
Exactly one week later. Our main water line had a leak. When I say leak, I mean it was coming out like a shower. I woke up to what I thought was a heavy rain. That is until I looked outside and realized it wasn't raining. Andy was out of town. It was 2:30 in the morning. Water was gushing from the pipe. Thank goodness my brother-in-law is only a few blocks away. He got the leak down to a drip. Another claim, again fully covered, thank goodness! This time the water crew had to rip out all of the carpet.
A mess, a mess, a mess! I think our string of bad luck should be over for about another 25 years or so. I least I hope!
I promise to slowly get you caught up with the Manar's. Glad to be back!

Rewind!

Let's back up to Will's Birthday.

As a birthday gift for Will, and an early gift for Abbie, Andy & I took the kids to see Disney On Ice. It worked out well for both of them. The show was "Let's Celebrate." Various characters celebrated different holidays and occasions. It was the best of both worlds. Will got to see Mickey and the gang. Abbie got to see the Princesses. She couldn't wait to see Princess Tiana. Luckily she made an appearance!

We were really close to the ice, about 4 or 5 rows off the ice. The kids sat in awe most of the time. It was so cute to see their little hands waving at the characters. These were the only pictures I got before my battery died. Oops!

My last shot was Aladdin and Jasmine. Will still loves watching the movie Aladdin. He was pretty excited to see him!

After Disney we let Will pick where he wanted to have lunch. He chose Applebees. We had the crew sing to him. I think he was only slightly embarrassed.

Bless His Heart

Last night Will had a fever. Before bed I was giving him his medicine. I was going on about what a big boy he was taking his medicine without complaining. (His sister is the WORST about taking medicine. We have to hide it in her drinks).
So he finished it up, we high-fived, he put his little arms around me and gave me a hug. Then we had this conversation:

"Momma, one day when I'm big and you're little, I'll help you take your medicine."
"You're right Will. One day momma will be little and old. And you'll be big and strong. Will you take care of me?"
"Yep. And Abbie will too. She will be a mom like you. There will be 2 moms then. And I'll be a daddy. We will help you."

Tears!!! It melts my heart and breaks my heart all at once. Pause button...PAUSE!!

How Time Flies...

It seems like just yesterday that we welcomed this precious baby into our family.

Far too quickly we were celebrating his first birthday.

A few blinks and he was 2!

And now? Well, my little cuddly man is 3!
Where does the time go?!?!

Nearly a week late, I share with you my middle baby's birthday.

Except he really isn't a baby anymore!

Oh, Booter. My cuddly man.
These 3 years have been amazing....fast, but amazing!
Even though you've been testing me with the terrible 2's, or 3's now, I can still find plenty to love about you.
What do I love?
I love your smile. The way you say "momma." Your fat Fred Flinstone feet, though they are slimming down as they grow longer. The way your skin still feels as soft as the day you were born. Your cute chubby cheeks. Your sense of humor--You can be such a little stinker, and then make the cutest, funniest face or say the most perfect thing to ease the tension. How you lay next to me in bed and rub my arms and back. When you read my mind, and say "I love you too momma" right before I voice the very words I was about to say. You're the perfect middle child--adoring your older sister, loving and nurturing to Ben...okay, well you are starting to wrestle Ben. In your defense, though, he seems to enjoy it. You even let him smack on you and pull your hair. I love that you are going to have such special friendships with both your sister and brother. I love the way our hands fit together. Especially in the morning when daddy gets up and you join me in bed. You look at me with tired little eyes, settle in on daddy's pillow, give me a cute little smile (you aren't normally allowed to sleep in our bed), whisper "Momma," grab my hand, and off to dreamland you go. One day you'll probably be embarrassed to hold my hand. I'm sure you'll even turn away from me a time or two. But you will always be my special little cuddly man...Always my baby! I love you so much! Happy 3rd Birthday Booty!

The bells

Last Wednesday, Abbie's Pre-K class played the bells during the church service.
Unfortunately, daddy had to miss it due to session.
Papaw and Memaw made the drive down though, and of course Nono & Nona were there, as well as Aunt Katy.


This is most of the two classes. The front row is the 3 year old class. Back row is the 4 year old class.
Notice how tiny Abbie is compared to her classmates.
She could barely see over heads in order read the cards that let her know when to jingle.

Somewhere along the way, I think she just gave up.
She kind of just looked around and jingled when she felt appropriate.

After the 3 year olds cleared out, I was able to get a better shot.
The boy to her left is Kyle, one of her good friends.
These two have grown up together.
The girl to her right is Allison. Will has a bit of a crush on her!

Way back Wednesday!

Not much going on in the Manar home lately.
I'm digging way back in the photo archive today.
This week's way back Wednesday is my little Stinky-Rita!
So, I heard it's supposed to make it into the 50's this weekend.
Spring is getting close!
Everyone ready for swimsuit season?



Better yet.....

Who is ready for the BEACH?!?

Bring on the warm weather!