True Florida Girls!

I thought those of you living where you actually get four seasons and cool weather would get a kick out of this. The weather was significantly cooler here today -- interesting considering yesterday we had a record high of 89. When we walked outside to take Grace to preschool this morning, we turned right around to get her a sweatshirt and a blanket for Rachael! This afternoon after Rachael's nap, I decided that we'd walk to get the mail and we ended up just taking a nice stroll around our complex.

This was the temperature according to the gauge on the stroller:

Here's how the girls were dressed:

Quit laughing, they are 4th Generation Floridians, their blood is THIN! ;-)

Family in the Fall

Today was Pumpkin Patch day with our ME (Mom Enrichment) Time group! The church that held it offered a story time, goody bags, a small pumpkin for the bigger kids, and of course many photo opportunities! Here's the one shot I managed of the girls together in their matching shirts, courtesy of Grandma!This past weekend when Lisa and Darryl (Chris' sister and brother-in-law) were in town, our friend Sarah took some great pictures of all of us with Chris' parents. If I get permission, I'll share one of those, but here are some she took of our little family...

Yay! All smiles!

Mommy & Her Girls ... Rachael had already about had it at this point!

I put these in black and white -- I was hoping it would decrease the look of the "expression lines" around my face! Bleah! But doesn't Grace look sweet? Her being a little bit of a ham pays off on days like this!

I know it isn't the sweetest face ever, but I love this scowl! I love the faces she makes!

Well, I'm going to have to go out and take pictures of Chris with Grace, but here's a shot of Daddy with his biggest fan! Take my word for it, she's actually squealing with delight here!

Nine Months!

Rachael is 9 months old now! She goes in for her checkup tomorrow morning, so I may update this with her stats after that. She's crawling around like crazy, and she loves to crawl after Grace -- and when she does, she hollers something that sounds an awful lot like, "Hey! Hey!" It's so cute! She babbles a lot, and most definitely squawks a lot! If you are on the phone with us, you might get an earful! She's pulling up and sometimes standing on her own -- but she can take her time on the whole walking thing! As you can see from the picture on the left, no teeth yet! She is definitely still a Daddy's Girl and she still gives the most laughs to her big sister! We all love this girl!

Toy for Two

Grace has never had a bunch of toys. I don't know if we're stingy or picky or what, but Chris and I could probably count on one hand the number of toys we've actually purchased for her. Here, I'll go ahead and shock most of you -- we've never bought her a Christmas present!! She's always had enough just from what she's received at her birthday and Christmas from family and friends, and from the couple of times that we've received hand-me-downs when someone had a toy that needed a good home.

Having two children has been a fun social experiment for me, it's always so interesting to note how different Grace and Rachael already are, and how different I am as a parent! Grace would play independently for what seemed like an eternity before "asking" us to join her, that was how she was from the beginning. I never would see anything on TV or in advertisements and think, "That would be great for Grace!" Rachael just loves to be entertained, she wants to be part of whatever's going on! And as for toys, I cannot tell you how many times I've seen something on television or in a parenting magazine and thought, "I want one for Rachael!!" So when a friend from church offered some toys, I gladly accepted!

One of the toys will live at my mom's house, but I kept two for our place. She gave us a bunch of Peek-a-Blocks and the Press and Go Train (which my mom has at her place already), but she also gave us a Playskool Ball Popper. I thought Rachael would get a kick out of it... Well, she does, and so does Grace! It's my first chance to watch them play together, and it has been so much fun! Today I sat and watched them play for a while, and then I decided to get some photographic evidence of it. Even though I'm praying that they will be sisters and friends -- I had a sister, I know the ups and downs of that kind of relationship! ;-)

A Playskool Ball Popper unites The Manning Girls...
Check out how Rachael is kneeling -- she does that a LOT! She'll sit like that for a while and then try to stand on her own! I'M NOT READY!! ;-)

Beautiful Rachael

Beautiful Grace

Pump It Up!

Even though Grace's birthday was a couple of weeks ago, she had her BIG birthday bash yesterday at Pump It Up, and indoor play area with inflatable slides and bounce houses. The party was for her and her buddy, Noah, her friend from Sunday school and preschool -- they've been together in Sunday school since they were babies! The party was a BLAST! There were nearly 20 preschoolers running around, along with their parents, and everyone had a great time! Grace played so hard that she asked to take a nap when she got home! That ought to tell you something!! It was FUN!!

Oh, and some of you already heard about the great boxing match that took place -- we may have pictures of that later... Chris and I got in one of the inflatable bounce houses and "duked it out" with the huge boxing gloves they had there! It was quite a sight! But two couples followed after us, and we've all decided that it makes for great marriage counseling! ;-)

Here are a few pictures from the day...

Grace & Noah - Birthday Buddies!

The cake! Noah's mommy got this from Sam's -- a sheet cake with their picture on it! So cute!

Grace "sticks the landing" after coming down the slide!

We couldn't believe it, but Rachael fell asleep just like this!

After this, Chris put her in the stroller and she slept through the rest of the playtime!

Princess Grace -- she and Noah each got their own inflatable throne!

It was such a fun day! Hey, Lori -- thanks for inviting us to yours so we were able to find out what it was all about! :-)