Day 5...hahahaha

Today I am thankful for Edy's Mint Brownie Ice Cream. Yes I went from adoring my wonderful children and my husband to ice cream!  A girl just wants her ice cream. Yesterday, when I was supossed to be writing this, I wasn't feeling too well I curled up on the couch with the tub of ice cream. It made me feel so much better. It was just what I needed.

So Today...Day 4

So today I am thankful for my daughter. She is everything I wished for when I wished upon a star. She is my dream come true. And my moms too! I had kinda written off having a daughter because my oldest brother has two boys and my next brother has two boys. We Manning's seem to only have boys. So when I found out I was pregnant I had already decided that she would be a boy. When the ultrasoung tech told us that she was a girl I wanted to cry. As soon as the ultrasound was over I called my mom who was in a meeting and still answered the phone. She thought I was joking around with her. I could hear the excitement. I was thrilled. I couldn't wait to paint her room and find all her bedding and buy clothes. I think J was just as surprised as I was. He was excited about having a little baby girl around again.
The first time I held her I just wanted to cry. So tiny and precious. Being raised with two little boys is not going to be easy for this little girl. But I will teach her to find her own way.
Now she is my little Miss Priss. She has read hair and an attitude to match. She knows what she wants and she will tell you about it. We don't really know what all she is saying just yet but it will come. But for right now it's totally cute!
She's her daddy's girl and her mommy's world. She lights up my life everytime I see her and I love how she comes running when I come back from leaving her a bit.

Oops! Missed a Day....Day Three of what I'm Thankful

Day three. Today (or rather yesterday) I am thankful for my first born. My first born son. He is my sunshine. Truely. I have it tattooed on my back. And while my tattoo represents a piece of my history and my future, I got it with him in mind. So he is my sunshine. He was for a long time my only reason for getting up and going on throughout my day. He brings so much joy to my life. I look at him and I just want to smile. He is the sweetest child (no really all his teachers have told me this) He has a love for me and his daddy and his baby sister that is so sweet. He recently lost his two front teeth and I didn't think that he could get any cuter but I think he did. He is my baby. He loves to cuddle and sleep in my bed when daddy is away.
Right now he is struggling so much with school. We are having him do some tests in December so that we can see if there is anything else we can do. His teacher and I are working with him daily and he gets extra help at school with reading. My fear is that he will have trouble to the point where his self esteem will take a hit and then he will quit trying. I worry daily about him. I love him so much and I want to give him every advantage that I can to succeed in this world. And first that comes with a great education.

I am Thankful...Day Two

Today I am thankful for my son. Even as I sit here and listen to him yell from his bed to bring him another cup of milk, I am thankful. He is my sweet baby boy. Actually, he is as mean as a snake but he's mine. I love him to death and back. He makes me laugh so much every day. He is my comedian. He is his daddy's boy though. Him and J have bonded more than any of the others really. Probably because they are so much alike. He doesn't like school too much, or at least that's what he tells me everyday when I pick him up. But he is doing well at it. He loves soccer and being outside. He loves to swim and run and play and he can climb anything that gets in his way. He is a tough little sucker that's for sure. He loves to fight anything and everything. Him and Landon can really throw down now-a-days.
I don't know what I would do without my little man. I love you DC. You are my baby boy and always will be.

Be Thankful...Day 1

Today is November 1, 2011. This month each day I will write about one thing that I am thankful for.  I am actually thankful for these things each and everyday but each day I will write about one particular.
Today...Day One...
I am thankful for my wonderful husband  and my best friend. J and I have been together for going on 10 years. This December will be 10 years. In fact we meet 10 years ago this month. And for some reason, even though both of us had issues, I knew from the moment I saw him that I had found the man I would marry. I tried to dismiss it. But something about him, about us together, I just couldn't look away. It took us only a month to figure out that we wanted to be together. It was a long month and we both had to make some hard decisions but here we are 10 years later. We have the best kids in the world. I look at them every day and think to myself that they are the greatest thing  that we could ever have created.
I love you J. Here's to 10 more wonderful years.

Life Lessons

I want my children to grow up with the valuable life lessons that everyone should know. I would normally write these down for them to read later to remind them of what they need to know. But if I write something in this house on a piece of paper it's sure to get lost. So I have decided to put them here. On the internet so that they have them forever.

Life Lesson #1: To my sons; always open the door for the lady behind you, or your date.
To my daughters; give him the opportunity to open the door for you.
My dad would always go out to the car for my bonus mom when she got home. Always, everyday, as soon as she pulled into the driveway he would get up and go outside and help her with whatever she had to bring in. Even if it was just a lunch box. That has made an impact on me.

Rush, Rush, Rush

Fall is here and so are the busy schedules. It seems like every fall we are running around like crazy trying to do everything and anything that we can. There are so many ball games and fall festivals and fairs to attend. We just can't do them all. But we try. I love running around. It may make me worn out but I feel like I have accomplished so much in a day if I spend it rushing kids to soccer then to karate then back to pick kid A up from soccer just to head back to karate to pick kid B up from there and then it's off to the house to cook dinner and shower and hit the bed. Also the kids sleep so good after a good soccer practice. Or whatever sport they are playing at the time. Jay mouns and growns about how busy we all stay but it gets me through the day and I don't spend the entire day sitting on my butt eatting whatever I can find in the cabinet.
Take this week for example. Monday started with my waking up before the sun and then getting the kids up and ready and out the door for school. Dropped the big kids off and then hustled back to the house for some cleaning and laundry before running back out the door to go to my class. Done with my class an hour later and off to pick up Allie at Grams's. Home to feed her lunch and put her down for a nap. Ah, peace and quiet. At least for an hour or so. I work on homework, laundry and catch up on a show that I have had DVRd for a couple of weeks now. Still didn't finish one episode. Wake Allie up and go pick up Chase from his school. Then I'm on a mission to collect as many US Cellular cards for the elementary school that I can for a contest that we are in to win $150,000.  Pick up at the elementary school only after having to spend 15 extra minutes getting Kylie off of the school bus.  Rush home to do homework, more laundry, and make dinner. Ha! I think I am on top of things today. When we pull the pork tenderloin out of the oven we discover that it nowhere near ready to eat. So Jay whips out the frying pan and starts cooking. (We make such a great team when we work together). We eat dinner as a family. It doesn't happen always but it's something that Jay and I try to do as much as we can.
After dinner is over Landon and Jay are off to cub scouts and I rush the others out the door and over to Grams's b/c I have two meetings at the school tonight. Home from meetings and Grams's and it's showers and bedtime. Now I lay here in the bed with my laptop out and a 4 year old beside me asleep.   Jay is still at the fire department or at Bingo so it's Chase and me hanging out in my bed.
Tomorrow will be just as busy but just typing all of that has made me exhausted so I'm going to curl up next to my buddy and wake up in the morning to do it all over again.
Good night!