Nighty Night!

Two clean boys ready for bed = One happy Mama!

henry looks kind of intense in this pic and manning looks scared to death, but you get the idea.

(btw, our pics lately are from brad's blackberry b/c my camera is m.i.a.)

5 Months

• You are such a happy little thing Man Man! You smile constantly and are giving us tons of big belly laughs.
  
• You are babbling a lot and I love to hear you "talk" to yourself in your crib in the morning.
  
• You will let anyone hold you and give big snuggles when they do.
• You are still a LOAD!
• You roll over on your tummy most every time I put you down, but you rarely roll back over without a little help.
• You are on the verge of sitting up, but only on my bed or with tons of pillows around you on the floor. I can't wait to be able to put you down with toys around you.
• You wear size 3 diapers and are in 9-12 month clothes.
• You are a great sleeper. You go down about 7 and wake up usually around 6:30 or 7:00.
• You eat 6 ounces every 3-4 hours.
  
• You eat 2 T of rice cereal with a fruit in the morning around 8 and 2 T of rice cereal with a veggie around 5:30. You really like most things we've tried, but you do not like rice cereal alone. It must be mixed with your fruit of veg.
• You nap in the morning at 9ish for an hour, sometimes two. Another cat nap around lunch time in the car and then a good 2 hour nap at 2ish. And your brother still naps with you at 2 and I love this quiet time!
• I was talking to someone the other day and they said with your second child you seem to just relish every single moment more. And that is so true. I feel like I try to soak up every single second b/c this will most likely be our last baby. You are so precious Manning and I LOVE being your Mama!
  

Good Day with Good Friends

One of my best friends from college, Eliza, called me Monday morning and simply said: "I'm either getting in the car today or tomorrow to come visit you in Charleston, so you choose!" She lives in Savannah and we've been trying to get together all summer, but it hasn't worked out until yesterday. And we both realized how easy it was and how much fun our children had together and how much we missed catching up. So, hopefully we'll be doing this way more often!

Her girls, K and MM, are precious! They have the cutest personalities and both my boys just took to them. The girls LOVED holding Manning and he was content as can be to be passed around.

I think Henry overwhelmed them a bit at first, but by the end of the day the three of them were running around together like wild!

We met at the Aquarium and did that for a couple of hours and then on to Chic-fil-a for some lunch and fun on the playground.

After that, we came back to our house so the kids could run around and play. They watched a little Dora the Explorer and then onto the backyard to chase Monsters. Can you guess who's idea this was?

K (almost 5)
Manning (5 months)
Henry (3.5)
MM (2)

Are these two not the cutest things you've ever seen?

Eliza and I kept laughing all day thinking about what we were doing 10-15 years ago and now we are chasing after our kids and talking about new supper ideas. My how times have changed, but i'm so glad our friendship hasn't!

Thanks so much for such a fun day girls! We can't wait to do it again!

Fat and Happy!

Are You Ready for Some Football?!?!

This is Henry in his 3 point stance preparing himself to take it to the gridiron. Brad told him to get on his mean football face and GIT DOWN! And that he did. But only at home. He was a perfect little gentleman at his very first Flag Football Practice tonight. This is our first experience with organized sports and I don't think anyone in this family is as excited as I am about it. Sports was such a huge part of my childhood and adolescence and I am so ready to be a little league Mom!


I still don't understand how they intend to teach a bunch of 3 and 4 year old boys how to play football, but we're gonna find out. It was HILARIOUS to watch the coach and all of the dads out there trying to explain what to do. They were all issued their flag belts and a mouth guard (that we have already lost) and were organized into somewhat of an offense and a defense. The rest was kind of chaos, but so so cute!

This is my little baller scoring his first touchdown ever. I don't think he had a clue what he was doing other than the coach just telling him to RUN!

This is the huddle.

He wasn't too sure about the flag belts. They kept falling down.

And there was lots of just running around with the other boys. And maybe a few times he wanted to come over and give his Mama a little squeeze and a kiss. We've instructed him you can't do this in football. Gotta be tough and save all your sweet kisses for the end of practice/games.

And at the end of the practice he told his coach "fank you". If nothing else, we'll make a good sportsman out of him!

So, stay tuned for updates on the season. They practice on Tuesday nights and games are Saturday mornings. Should be interesting!

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Biggun rolled over!
Yes, he managed to get all 18ish pounds of his cute little self over on his belly! And he even gave a little bonus and rolled back over from his tummy once.

He's so proud of himself!

Manning's Baptism

"Let the children come to me." Mark 19:14


Today we had our sweet Manning Baptized and it was such a special day! We were surrounded by so many people who are so important to our family and we can't thank everyone enough for making his day so perfect.

Of course by the time it was time for a family pic, he had HAD ENOUGH and was in full meltdown mode! Why can't I EVER get a NORMAL picture of the 4 of us together?!?!?

And still TICKED here!

This one is decent, but it's missing Henro.

Nana and Papa came all the way from G'ville and we were so excited!

I think Henry had more fun than anyone b/c all his best buds and cousin were there to run wild with.

Auntie Jeans came with the boys from Columbia

And no Earnst event is complete without Margaret! We love her!

And a special thanks to Mimi and Pops (who I can also never seem to get a picture of) for hosting such a gorgeous lunch afterward.
I think everyone had a great time celebrating our precious angel!

Aunt Hanna

Aunt Hanna came.
My boys had a fit over her.
She had a fit over them.

We ate and drank.
We played.
We talked.

I was in heaven.
Hated to see her leave.
Please come back soon!

Waterpark FUN!

Henry and I dropped off Manning with Mimi for the morning so we could have a water park "date". I think I had as much fun as he did in the splash pool and lazy river. This year he is big enough to slide down the water slide by himself and he must have done is 155 times! And loved it every single time!

This is him coming off the slide!

Christine and her crew met us there for Chase's first time! He was in heaven :)

Thanks Mimi for keeping Little Man so we could have a day together!