Introducing Oliver Douglas Manwaring!!

It's official...we are all IN LOVE!! On October 19th, 2010, Oliver Douglas Manwaring was born. 8lbs. and 19 1/2 inches of pure sweetness!! He was born at 9:04am after a very easy labor and delivery. We got to the hospital around 1am that morning to be induced and after a little pitocin and a lot of epidural he was born. He is perfect in every way and we are all in heaven!

Arriving at the hospital. I brought my own hospital gown for this delivery...not without a lot of teasing from my husband. We had a lot of laughs over this all night!

After the make-up was applied and ready to push! If you know your pictures will be taken...why not!?

He's here at 9:04am.

I LOVE this picture...his face is SO precious! He wanted his mama!

One of my favorite moments in life! There is not much sweeter than older siblings looking at the newest member of their family for the first time. It's hard to look at this picture still without getting teary! We all waited a long time for this moment!

Dad and the kids giving Oliver a good look over!

The proud big sister. She's the reason we have so many kids...we could never manage without her!


I don't think anyone was as excited to get their hands on our new baby than Isaac! He's the best big brother anyone could ask for!

Finally he has a little brother! If there was ever a "natural" with a baby...it is Austin. He just seems to always know just how to hold him right and exactly what to do to make him stop crying.


And if this isn't the face of pure excitement...I'm not sure what is! She loves babies more than ANYTHING on earth and to have her "own"...well it's just more than she could have ever dreamed of! A big sister at last!!!

The 5 kids together at last...wow, 5 kids!!!


Our first family photo of 7.

Both Grandma's were there to welcome him shortly after his arrival...what a lucky baby!






Jackson was super excited to see him too!


We sure love our little Oliver!

Sisters!

Yes, I love taking pictures of my kids sleeping...I could stare at them for hours! We recently moved Isabel and Ally together to share a bed to get ready for the baby! They love it...whew!

The Storm!!

Even after having lived in Idaho most of our lives...we've never seen a storm like this one!! Jonathan was at work and I had just gotten home from picking up the kids from school when it started to rain. Quickly the rain turned to hail...which was only the second time I had seen hail in Arizona, the first of which was earlier that day. I called the kids to come watch the storm brew. We were all oooooh and ahhhhing at the hail and the craziness of how hard it was coming down. In what seemed like a few seconds the hail went from pea size to golf ball size ice chunks. The wind was blowing like CRAZY and the hail was pounding against the windows SOOO hard. It really sounded like all of our windows would break so I rushed the kids into the bathroom where there aren't any windows. We waited for a few minutes and came out to find all windows intact. We looked outside and couldn't believe the destruction...the ground was covered in leaves and sticks and of course hail. We quickly learned that we were lucky and that most of our neighbors windows did in fact break. Through it all we only needed a new roof, ac unit and new patio furniture...WOW what a storm! It was a crazy few days in the neighborhood as no one really knew where to start. Luckily it's all cleaned up and back to normal! I wish I had taken more pictures, but luckily Jonathan managed some on his phone!

Austin and Isabel pictures!

Austin had school pictures taken at preschool, so I brought Isabel along to get some taken too...what sweet faces!

Still loving the pool!!

I love taking pictures of our kids in the pool but it seems that we've just been too busy playing to have taken any. Today I made sure to get a few shots before swimming season is over. We swim just about everyday...and we all LOVE it!

Isabel has really started to swim this year-it's always so much fun when they finally "get" it! One day she just decided to take off her floaties and GO!

Austin's first day of preschool

After watching his older brother and sister go off to school...Austin thought it was pretty fun that it was finally his turn! It's hard to imagine what life will be like with just Isabel and I home for a few days every week (at least until the baby comes).


(Austin and Isabel...and Isabel's baby)

(Here's the famous "Miss Linda"...we'll have had all three of our oldest go to her preschool now! We sure love her!!)

I thought I'd add the other two's pictures from when they were in preschool...kinda funny :)
(Ally 2006)
(Isaac 2008)

First Day of School...for the big kids!

(Here's the group on Ally and Isaac's first day!)


I can remember when I was growing up...the 2 best days of the school year were the first and the last. Now as a mom...my favorite is definitely the last :)! It's hard to believe that I have a 3rd and 1st grader and a little preschooler this year! The good news is that they all LOVE school and were so excited to start and as much as I miss them when they are gone, I know they are learning lots and having such a great time! They all have awesome teachers again this year so we couldn't be happier! I often tell them that they need to stop growing or else they might just get in trouble...they just giggle and remind me that they couldn't even if they wanted to. The truth is that I love watching them learn and grow and I'm so proud of who they are!

(The big 3rd and 1st grader)

(In the classroom...ready to say goodbye)

(The official goodbyes)

A Face Only a Mother Could Love!

Isabel found some beautiful make-up...unfortunately she didn't feel so beautiful here! But boy is she SHINY!

Isaac's first "official" field trip....

but more importantly, his FIRST BUS RIDE!!!

Today I got to go with Isaac's kindergarten class on their first field trip. It was a BLAST!! These little kids were beyond excited to get on the bus...it was most of their first times ever riding in one. Isaac and his friend Lex were in the same group and sat together. I think these 2 pictures show the pure excitement of being on there!





We went to a local farm which has everything geared right toward this age of kids.

We got to pick some veggies,



go through a corn maze,



ride a "ladybug train",


play in corn,


ride tricycles through hay,


pet all sorts of animals,

(On a side note, there was a pig in the pen that you could pet. We were in there for a few minutes when all of a sudden he started biting kids...it was really scary. Luckily we were untouched and got out asap!)


and LOTS more. It was a success and we had one tired little kindergartener at the end of the day!! I was so happy to be able to spend the day with him!!

Halloween 2009

I know I'm WAY behind on my posts...and I'll go back and fill in the gaps, but I figure I better try my best to at least keep things as current as I can!


We had a super fun Halloween! On Friday night our ward had their trunk-or-treat. Jess and Tanner came along...boy were we glad to have them there with us! There were SO many people there it was almost claustrophobic! We ate chili dogs, had a fun carnival and then got lots of candy!

This year we had a Renaissance Princess, a Karate Kid, a Doctor and a sweet little Bee! It was SO much fun and they all looked so cute!


Here's Tanner in his Dragon costume....he wasn't too sure about it!

Then on Saturday we headed out to Tempe to be with Josh, Joni and kids. We ate yummy potato soup and then hit the streets. It was the the most fun I've ever had trick-or-treating!! The kids had a blast and definitely got their bags full!!

The kids with their cousins before heading out.



My sister-in-law, Joni and I had in on the fun too!!


Isabel and her crazy headed mother!


Here they are all ready to go!!

We were lucky to not only have protection....




but also doctors on staff, just in case!



Allyson (7)


Isaac (5) He's not as mean as he looks...trust me!


Dr. Austin (3)

Isabel (1)



It was a GREAT weekend. Now, what to do with all that candy?......






HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!