The Weekend of Dirty Looks and an Art Gallery

Apparently no one had any patience for my incessant photo taking this weekend.  It all started at my niece Kelsey's birthday party.   Look how annoyed she is that I paused our rocking horse time to bring Harper in for a cousin photo op...

Holden loves Legos.  And I know he loved the Lego penguins at the zoo.  He did not love me taking pictures of him WITH the Lego penguins.

Reo loves the zoo so hard.  So, seriously, with this face?!?

Harper and Morgan are guaranteed future besties.   However, neither girl was a fan of the other one's mom taking a picture of them.  I think Amber and I each got a glare with this one.

Also this weekend, Holden announced that he would be selling his artwork for a penny each.   I raided my car's ashtray and came over to peruse the merchandise.  

"Tell me about this one, Holden"

"Oh, that's a cat."

"Great, I'll take it!"

"What's this one called?"

"Me riding The Rocket at Lagoon"

"Sold!"

"What about this one?"

"That is a man who is in jail.  He definitely murdered someone."

"......"

Four is a weird age.  And I love it.

In Like A Lion..

and also out like a lion!  March was jam packed with all sorts of fun activities and seriously flew by.  April is on track to be the same way.  

So before I forget all the delightfulness, a quick peek at the March madness.

I spy with my little eye...
*Outings to McDonalds and the Children's Museum.  Harper has officially crossed over into fully participating in the cesspool of  winter ick that covers both places.  You'll notice it doesn't keep me from going either place.  Winter is desperate times, you guys.
* First time taking both kids swimming by myself.  No drownings to report, so I have high hopes for this summer.
* Turning all our food green for St Patrick's Day.  Holden went nuts for this holiday.  It seriously rivals Easter in his book.
* Speaking of Easter, we kick started the Easter season by making some chocolate dipped cinnamon bunnies. Unpictured--the bags and bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs that also made their way into our bellies well before Easter got here.
* Practicing wrestling moves with dad.
* Test driving adorable Spring wardrobes
* So many fun playdates with friends!  I love the end of hibernation season.
* Errands.  So many errands.  Good thing those two can entertain each other and Holden is easily bribed with quarter machines.

And after all that, we still had Easter to take care of.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Easter is my favorite holiday.   Hands down.  A bold statement, I know, but I don't take it back.

I spy with my little eye...
* Egg dying.  Poor Harper had to watch from afar while munching on one of those weird clear crayons that comes with the egg dying kit.  Maybe next year, kid.
* Easter basket bliss eggs all ready to be found.
* Adorable Sunday best for all.

Back To December

 So, I know December was almost one whole month ago.  I fully intended to do this post ages ago, but, you know. Life and stuff.  Better late than never, because more awesome stuff happened in December besides the usual....

1.  My brother got married!  I do not approve of December weddings, but since everyone insists on doing it anyways and also no one asked my opinion, I got to take a whirlwind vacation to Oakland, California to see the nuptials in person.  And also, it was a really good wedding, so all is forgiven on the whole December thing.

I expected to feel like a celebrity, taking two flights in less than twenty four hours.  I mostly just felt smooshed.  Turns out lots of people travel four days before Christmas.  Who knew?

Then, we got to celebrate again a few days later at a reception held back on Utah turf.  Don't mind the kids...they were really happy to be there, promise!

See?  That's more like it!

I'm pretty sure these two were happy about the whole thing, also.

2.  One of my favorite things about December is everyone knows that Hermit-Mode (AKA January) is creeping up quick so we snuck in lots and lots of playdates.  Holden doesn't hold still for pictures much at his, but look how many friends lucky little Harper has!

These two like to get together and look at their moms like we are already sooo embarrassing to them.  

and these two are cousins so Harper feels comfortable going in for the neck grab.

These two live clear across the country from each other the rest of the year, but already know that the fastest way to BFF-dom is inadvertently dressing the same.

Presented in Pretend Polaroids.....

Harper at six whole months!

Here's what's up with our little Harps, Harpsichord, Chubber, Frazzletoe (yes, that one is sticking...)  

She's reluctantly mastering her sitting up skills.  She can last a good 30 seconds, but would much rather be perfecting her crawling.  When my iPhone is in sight she'll lunge for that thing with army crawling skills that Holden didn't manage until he was many months older.   I must not have done a good enough job explaining that she is skipping my favorite part of babyhood.  I like to call it the lazy stage, because I can be a much lazier parent during this part.  You know, the part where she can sit up in shopping carts so that I can stop lugging around my biggest enemy, her giant carseat,  but also can't get anywhere without my help.  Yeah, I don't think that stage is going to work for very long with this one.  No free rides here.

She's still rocking mounds and mounds of hair.  And it is getting more and more difficult to manage.. Especially when Reo gives her crazy hair at bathtime.  I know, right?  Wahh, my baby has sooo much glorious hair.  Cry me a river.

Speaking of bathtime, she totally digs it.  Especially right before she goes to bed.  For the first time.  Home-girl is not at all interested in sleeping through the night on a regular basis.  Even with Reo taking on some of the night shifts we are still bordering zombie apocalypse around here some days.

Also, despite the fact that she gives you major stink eye when you eat people food in front of her (as pictured below), she is indifferent at best about baby food.  Even the good stuff. (For reals, guys, just try to tell me baby food pears aren't delicious.  Just try.)

Favorite thing about Harper right now?  She loooves her toys...And in this case, her friend Culver's toy. Look at the intensity of her love.  It's almost frightening.

Finally, she continues to be a big ball of chubby goodness.  I can't get enough of all 26.5 inches (67th percentile) and 19lbs 4oz (92nd percentile) of her.

Lucky

Harper is pretty lucky to have Holden as a brother.  And she knows it, too.  Every morning Holden wakes her up by getting right in her face and yelling, and she just grins at him.  As of now he is the only one who can get her to laugh.  And, he likes to help her eat.  He takes his job very seriously.

And he also belongs to the "bite for you, bite for me" school of thought.  Whatever gets him to eat his vegetables, I guess.

On the flip side, Holden is pretty lucky to have Harper as a sister.  I'm pretty sure he gets in a couple good jabs or squeezes on her every day, and she never rats him out.

Best Of: Two June Weekends

So, we are all in agreement that June is the best month there is, right?   

Here's why mine has been so great.

Weekend 1.  I got to cross off #27 (spontaneous overnighter) on my 30 by 30 list, in the form of a surprise (to me) night away in the faraway land of downtown Salt Lake City.  Sure, I could go farther away, but I had no kids (thanks mom and dad!), two malls and a Cheesecake Factory in my own backyard, so what else could I possibly need?  

Pictured:  Reo's gratuitous meal of Fried Macaroni and Cheese, with cheese sauce, on a hamburger...Well done, Cheesecake Factory, well done.   Exploring the new City Creek mall, where I showed unprecedented restraint at the 77 Kids AND Disney store. 

Not pictured:  Getting cheesecake to go, going back to the hotel and making the impossible choice of whether to watch Dateline or 20/20.  And debating crashing the Neon Trees concert.

Weekend 2:  Opening weekend at the Wing pool/celebrating dad-hood.

Pictured:  Holden's James Bond swim trunks, Holden and Harper's cool dad, eating "mores", and cousin introductions.

Oh, and here's more..  Reo's faves in the form of Pioneer Woman Mac and Cheese and Strawberry Golden Oreo milkshakes, Holden devouring a "Small" snowcone, and homemade Father's Day gifts.

Not pictured....Nothing of note, this one was weekend that was documented well if I do say so myself.

See why I'm loving June?  And I still have two weekends to go!  Life is good.

May Days

Hello again.  It's been awhile.  I blame the fact that we were sadly, hopelessly without the internet for way too long.  Oh, also?  We were busy moving here (one of my favorite 30 by 30s so far).  Also, it does not have a bad paint job--I just blurred the address to avoid internet creepers.  You know who you are.  

Luckily, May has still been happening all around us, and I actually have taken a few pictures to document it before it slips away more than it already has.    Here's what we've been up to.

Completing at least one "art project" a day.

"Graduating" swim lessons.

Finally blessing Harper at our church.  

Having a super awesome Mother's Day involving hosting my very first dinner at our new house and sleeping in until 8:15 (I am pretty sure I scared my little sister off of motherhood for a good long time when I called that sleeping in).   Also, don't my kids look super thrilled to have me as their mom?

Playing with some of our new Besties.   Some of my favorite people have had/are having babies this year = built in BFF's for Harper.  I think I will cry when Natalie's maternity leave ends and she can't play with me all the time anymore.

And this one has been working on growing some pretty impressive fat rolls.  If you think these arm rolls are something, you should see her thighs.  They are magnificent.

No Vacancy

Holden's crowd of bedtime buddies is getting a little excessive.    It may not look like much, but there are 6 big stuffed animals, 4 mini stuffed animals, 2 tiny plastic Elmos, 2 pillows and one wooden hockey playing figure named "daddy." And don't try to put him in bed without a single one of those friends, because it won't happen.  This is the bain of my existance when it comes to those stupid 2 inch high Elmos. 

Add to that my 32 pound kid, his blanket and at least 3 books and you have a problem.
I see a transition to a big kid bed in the near future. 
Heck, I see a transition to a king sized bed in the near future. 
Either that or we are going to have to initiate some Bachelor style rose ceremonies around here....I seriously hope those Elmos get cut on the first night.

The Goose Is Getting Fat

And Christmas is definitely coming at the Manning house!
December has been jam packed with festivities! Here's what we've been up to.

1. Holden has been rightly wary of Santa, both real and fake.
No pictures with real Santa because, well, look at how nervous fake Santa made him!

2.We went to the Festival of Trees, where we looked at hundreds of amazingly decorated trees. However, if you were to ask Holden what he did at the Festival of Trees, he would tell you that he watched dancers and clapped.

3. Reo and I celebrated our 2nd annual Manning Family Employee Appreciation Christmas Party, eating breakfast at the Grand America Hotel. Because let's face it, the grownups in this family worked hard this year! We documented the occasion by taking one of those awkward self portraits that really shouldn't have made it onto the blog. Oh well.

4. Those of my family members who were lucky enough to not have work/school/other lame-o time suckers made a gazillion cookies. Holden ate nearly all of them, and threw up that night. Merry Christmas.

5. Awesome friend party with the always entertaining white elephant game, lots of chatting, and getting 3 two year olds to sit and watch a movie (Toy Story 3, you produced a Christmas miracle, thank you).

Yes, folks, Christmas is getting close. I know this because the rad Christmas countdown chain Holden made in nursery no longer resembles this...

And our once full Christmas candy jar now looks like this...

So Long, Farewell

It is an unwritten rule that I like my friends to stay close to home so I can see them whenever I please. For the most part people comply with these rules. But for some reason THESE three

decided that moving across the country to go to medical school was more important than me being able to see them willy nilly. Naturally, we needed to have a going away bash, but since our go to hostess with the mostess was the guest of honor, the rest of us scrambled to step up to the plate. Good news! The party turned out anyways, even with me as one of the organizers.

We did a lot of this...

and then posed for some formal shots, since who knows what kind of grown ups we will all look like when they get back.

Lastly, we had the children (minus baby Ember, who had the good sense to go to bed before the madness started) provide the evening's entertainment by trying to get them to pose for a photo. This is the best I got.

I know what you are thinking, THAT was the best you got? Sad but true, primarily because SOMEONE's child (the one on the left with the apparent glass eye) was not being very cooperative. The other children were not pleased.

But hey, I wouldn't be either. The little show off thought we were there to take pictures of him dancing. Seriously, some people's children...

Dear Derek, Lara and Jack. We will miss you lots, so come visit lots. Thanks.