Easter!

This Easter was tons of fun! We made bunny pancakes with the Philpotts, went to church and saw Daddy "sing songs about Jesus", had a bi-level Easter egg hunt and then went to my Uncle Jim's for dinner. Of course... PICTURES!!!

The boys' baskets

Big boys

Isaiah and Jude

Cousins!

Easter bunny

A choco-holic!!!

Finding those eggs!

My handsomes

Keeping up with the Manns

Since I'm no longer the greatest blogger in the world I think I should give everyone an update on what our family is up to lately.

Jude:

Stats: 4 months old, 13 lbs, estimated at 24 inches long.

Jude has had his struggles lately with weekly trips to Dr Omura. He is on 3 different medications. Prevacid for his reflux, Zyrtec for his rash and his 3rd round of antibiotics for his impetigo. Even though we cut his nails almost daily he manages to scratch his head bloody so we try to keep socks on his hands constantly. He is mostly a happy little baby and talks all the time. He has started eating rice cereal in some of his bottles and is sleeping in his crib. He loves holding hands and watching brother. He is working on rolling over and will most likely accomplish this soon. His favorite activities include standing while holding Daddy's hands, being held so he can watch everything that's going on and playing on his activity mat or laying on a blanket on the floor.

Carter:

Stats: 3 years old, 27 lbs, 37 inches tall.

Carter has become quite the little helper. He loves to cook, sort laundry and put it in the "sheen", start the dishwasher, put away clothes and help take care of brother. He talks a lot and has quite the vocabulary. He seems to always say things that make us laugh and surprises us daily with his understanding. He still loves letters and numbers and can spell roughly 15 words with ease. He got a Leap Frog "Tag" for his birthday and loves to read his "cool books" with it. His favorite books right now are Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (the tag version) and Anamalia. He no longer naps but is getting used to having an hour of quiet time a day in his room. He no longer uses the binky (see previous post) and is becoming such a big boy. We've started swimming lessons and he seems to pick it up quickly. His favorite activities include cooking, playing with his cousins, eating goldfish, taking a bath, watching Super Why, Peter Pan and Power Puff Girls, wrestling and reading books.

Brook:

Stats: 26 years old, 24 lbs lost.

Brook has been working hard to get healthy and has finally hit a huge weight loss milestone by becoming a NORMAL (no longer overweight) BMI after losing 24 lbs. She has been dealing with some stress at work as she is covering 2 desks at the moment but deals with it by working out and reading at lunch. She has discovered a love of healthy cooking and enjoys finding new healthy recipes that actually taste good. She decided to try making baby food for Jude and has enjoyed it so far. Her favorite activities include cooking with Dave and Carter, playing dominos with Noelle, chatting with her girlfriends, taking pictures, watching movies/TV with Dave and just spending time with her boys.

Dave:

Stats: 30 years old, 25 lbs lost

Dave has been doing a fantastic job of being a student and a stay at home Dad. He is working on his portfolio for the Architecture program at the U and hopes to start the program this coming fall. He has been doing whatever he can to pad his portfolio from doodling to building with legos and I know it will be amazing. His favorite activities include playing with the boys, attending various classical concerts for his opera class, discovering new music, doodling and sleeping when he gets a chance.

Hopefully this will get everyone caught up on our lives. We love that we are "boring" but know that it doesn't always make for the greatest blog posts!

Carter's birthday

Carter not only had a fun Birthday party but we tried to make the actual day all about him as well. Here is his special day in pictures:

Someone (Dave) couldn't wait until Saturday to give Carter his leapfrog so he had a few days of opening presents which he enjoyed.

The night before Carter's Birthday he and I made coconut dark chocolate chunk cookies. We had cake for his party and I found these in my cooking light magazine so we thought we tried them out and they were great. Not to mention fun to make!

Carter knows how to use the Kitchenaid...

His first time "licking the beater"

Presents!!!

He made the best faces while opening them this year!

Since Carter is a big boy now we decided we would go and put his binky inside of a Build a Bear on his birthday. Here we are feeling the binky in his dog's leg.

Saying his goodbyes to the blue binky as his doggy gets stitched up

Typing his own name on the birth certificate

Carrying his creation through the mall

Birthday lunch

Having lunch with his new friend

Next we went to the library and read some books

For his birthday dinner Carter chose edamame and asked if we could invite his friend Kaden. I thought that was so sweet and we were so glad they could come!

Carter and his chopsticks and edamame

Eating and ENJOYING his first ever piece of sushi!

Fast forward a few days. We've had some struggles and overall regrets about putting Carter's binky in an animal. TANTRUMS like you've never seen them!! But after a few days it's gotten MUCH better. He doesn't nap anymore all the sudden but he only asks for it once in a while and not as "enthusiastically" as at first. Now he enjoys his binky doggy but it doesn't take the place of the binky.

My little boy is growing up so much! I can't believe it. He's a great kid and so fun to have around!!!

My big little Mann

I can't believe that tomorrow that ticker at the top of our blog will say Carter Pierce is 3 years old. It seems like just yesterday he was my little baby. Now he is an independent and funny little boy. He is so full of personality and shows it when he laughs, cries or gives eskimo kisses. Carter is so smart and I know he will do great things when he grows up. We love our big little Mann and cannot believe the time has gone so fast!!

Mamma Mia Carter's Three-a!

This past Saturday was Carter's 3rd birthday party. We did a make your own pizza party since Carter is very into cooking lately. I made each of the kids a little apron and a mustache (which none of them really used) and got pizza boxes and chef's hats. It was very fun and very chaotic and I can't believe my big little Mann is going to be 3 in a few days. Enjoy these pictures of his fun day!

The favor for each of the kids

All set up for the pizza party

So excited for his party

Waiting for his friends

Cute Cassidy

Asking Kamai to use your camera to take pictures yields interesting results. Lesson learned.

Yummy sauce!

Emery

My little cook!

Kaden

Kennedy

10 minutes is a long time to wait for pizza!!

The kid's creations

Itsa me, Mario!

Yummy!

Liz and Max. Liz was wearing Max's apron in hopes that he would want to wear it.

I made a cake

Blowing out his candles

Big boy with his pizza cake

Jude with his new best bud Kolten

We finished the day off reading Carter's new favorite book