The Mann Family

Kids' Korner Preschool Thanksgiving Program

2008-11-25T22:11:00.002-06:00

Hayden's preschool had Thanksgiving lunch and a little program today. Joe and I got to go and Hayden loved that we were there just for him and only him. He was so cute in his program. :-) Here are a few of my favorite moments.

Mrs. Sherrie, Hayden's teacher.

Our Family Picture for Cards this year

2008-11-08T09:06:00.003-06:00

All of us (except Angel, the guinea pig).

It was time for a picture of just the two of us again. Thanks Lisa! We love it. :-)

I got a quick shot of Carson before we left. Isn't he handsome? :-)

Hayden's 2nd haircut, but his first "real" haircut

2008-11-07T17:51:00.003-06:00

We had a photo shoot right before his haircut today. This was about the best one I got of him. He's always on the move and trying to make me laugh. :-)

He didn't cry at all this time, even though he said he was going to.

He looks so big now!

Punk Rocker

2008-10-17T19:17:00.002-06:00

Wonder Woman

2008-10-17T17:29:00.002-06:00

Oscar the Punk Rocker & Jasmine the Punk Pirate

2008-10-17T17:24:00.002-06:00

Ainsley's trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-09T13:32:00.003-06:00

This is the best time to go to the pumpkin patch for pictures. There are still a lot of pumpkins left. :-)

Photo opp. :-)

I found this shirt in a tub of Katelyn's old clothes this morning right before we left. Nothing like perfect timing!

Waiting her turn for the monkey bars. She's quite good at monkey bars actually!

Not my favorite picture of myself, but it's proof that I was really there, right? :-)

To Infinity and Beyond!

2008-10-07T07:18:00.002-06:00

Hayden is Buzz Lightyear this year for Halloween. :-)

Katelyn's Costume

2008-10-06T21:27:00.001-06:00

Katelyn is a Punk Pirate this year for Halloween. She is really excited about it. We had a little fun with a quick photo session the other day. :-)

Kylee's Flowergirl

2008-10-06T09:40:00.002-06:00

Waiting to practice dancing with Mr. Chris.

The cheesey side of Ainsey that we don't get to see too often. :-)

Going to practice with Mr. Chris.

Practicing for the big day.

I painted her nails like the big girls! She said her nails looked like Nana's and Mema's. :-)

Getting her hair done took awhile...

But it was worth it because it was beautiful.

Dressed and ready.

Playing with the white fuzzy caterpillars was a lot of fun. :-)

Waiting her turn for pictures.

Don't they look stunning?! :-)

Waiting in the bridal tent to walk down the aisle.

Nervous but excited.

Only a photographer's kid would make eye contact with the camera even when she's nervous and knows she has such a big job to do. :-) Such a pro!

There she goes! Note Mr. Mel in the background grinning. She loves him and he looks so proud of her. :-)

Almost there.

Waiting to dance with Mr. Chris for real this time. :-)

"She spins and she sways to whatever song plays without a care in the world...."

"So I dance with Cinderella...."

"....while she is here in my arms...."

"....cause one day the clock will strike midnight and she'll be gone."

Hayden vs. the Guinea Pig Cage

2008-08-26T08:23:00.003-06:00

The other day Lisa, Mike, Joe and I were all hanging out in the kitchen talking when Ainsley came running in saying, "Hayden's in the guinea pig cage!" We ignored her at first. When you have 8 kids running around one house you just tend to wait for the sight of blood before you take any comment too seriously. She repeated the statement, and we all just paused, looked at each other and said in unison, "Did she just say that Hayden is in the guinea pig cage?" She did! Oh no! Joe runs down the hall and I hear him yelling get the camera! Of course I'm not going to miss out this opportunity, so while I'm frantically looking for my camera and a clean card, Joe is pretending to help Hayden get out of the cage. Hayden's crying, "Daddy, get me out!" Joe, holding back laughter is saying, "I'm trying, son. Mommy, hurry with the camera!" He's also concerned that the guinea pig is squished between the cage and Hayden. Oh no! How are we going to console Ainsley when we have to explain to her that her guinea pig has been squished by her brother! Thank goodness the guinea pig was fine. She was pretty nervous around all of us for a few days, but overall she's fine.

How did this happen, you ask? Well, all I have to say is Hayden.... those of you who know him know if anyone can get themselves indside a guinea pig cage, it's Hayden. We were installing flooring in the girl's room earlier that day and their furniture and extra toys were all pushed into the closet. Hayden found their trash can and pushed it over to the dresser that the cage sits on. He opened the door (which is even hard for me to do) and put his entire upper body through the opening. From there all I can imagine is that he tried to pull himself, with the guinea pig in hand, through the door. He didn't fit as easily that way, so the entire cage came with him, collapsing down on him, shavings going everywhere. The pictures explain it better than I can.

So, in the battle of Hayden vs. the guinea pig cage.... I guess you can tell the cage wins! I'm hoping he's learned his lesson here.

Time for a Change

2008-08-25T22:40:00.005-06:00

I felt like my blog needed a new look, so purchased a blogger kit from Sweet Shoppe Designs (my favorite digital scrapbook store). This kit is called Blog in a Box: Bloom and Grow by Zoe Pearn. Isn't it fun?! With this new look, my layout is different, so I am having to go through and resize my pictures so that they won't be cut off. This takes time, so they aren't all done, but I'll work on a few every now and then.

Katelyn's Team Pictures

2008-08-16T10:03:00.004-06:00

We went to the mansion last night to take pictures of Stage Art's Xtreme Praise Team members last night. Katelyn is on the Teen Team this year (that name alone about kills me - TEEN? wow!). She wanted to pick out her own outfit for this and it had to involve jeans. :-) She did a good job all the way from the headband to the shoes. She looked so grown up and trendy. All that training about what matches and what doesn't is finally paying off. :-) I absolutely love these pictures of her. She is beautiful. I don't take the time often enough to just sit back and just look at her. She is changing so fast. 4th grader! I can't believe it! Anyway... before I tear up I'll just post these. Katelyn, I love you. :-)

Such a photographer's kid, isn't she?

Stage Art Productions Xtreme Praise Teen Team 2008/2009

Carson lost his first 2 teeth!

2008-08-15T14:06:00.002-06:00

Carson lost 2 teeth this summer before school started. This was a big deal to him because he thought he wasn't as smart as some of the kids last year because they had already started losing teeth. I'm not sure where that theory came from, but he really did believe that! He knows now that being smart has nothing to do with losing teeth, but he does know that it has something to do with growing up. Joe pulled both of them for him after weeks of Carson wiggling them. He looks so cute with those gaps in his teeth. :-) The others are already coming in, so the gap won't be there long.

Ainsley's First Day of Kindergarten

2008-08-15T09:46:00.002-06:00

Ainsley had fun her first day of school. She has Carson's teacher from last year, Mrs. Ary.
A few interesting details about her first couple of days of school:
* Mrs. Ary said the first day she pretty much played by herself and was quiet.
* The second day she made friends with a little girl named Evan. I asked Ainsley about her new friend Evan and she said, "Everyone calls her Evan, but I call her Sarah. Her first name is Sarah, her second name is Evan." She is Grace's little sister (Katelyn's friend from last year).
* This morning when she was getting her backpack ready for school she pulled her Dora blanket out of her bag and said, "Mommy I need a different blanket for rest time because my toes stick out of the end of this one." She's grown this summer. :-)
* Ainsley came home yesterday with a red rash on her arms and red cheeks, so we think she's got Fifths Disease - one of those childhood rashes. Intersting thing is, Katelyn had it this same time last year.
* She's the youngest one in her class again this year. She probably always will be since her birthday is right before the cut-off date. I noticed she's one of the shortest too, or there are some pretty tall kids in her class. :-)

Hayden's 1st Haircut

2008-08-12T00:19:00.003-06:00

We finally took Hayden to get his first haircut last week. It was quite an ordeal! It took me several weeks to finally make the decision that it was time to get it done. After having the girl at Starbucks say, "She looks just like that little girl in ...." (I didn't hear much after that because the words "she" and "little girl" rang in my ears like a siren), I made the call to Barbara to schedule his appointment. He hated every minute of it. Cried from start to finish. Joe tried his best to distract him from crying by talking to him about the animals on the front of his apron, and how cool it was that he got to wear a cape. But nothing worked until it was over and he got the reward. Three pieces of candy. He does look really cute with his new cut, and the most important part for me, he kept some of his curls. I'm just not ready to give them up yet. :-) Besides that, we have big plans for Halloween for his costume, so he's going to need that wild, curly hair in October.

Hayden & Sadie Dancing

2008-08-11T22:14:00.003-06:00

This video was taken a few months ago, but I ran across it again tonight. It's just so funny that I had to post it. Note the mess in the boys' room. It pretty much stays this way. I know what you're thinking, Mom. Sorry. :-)

A few favorites

2008-07-21T00:34:00.003-06:00

Hayden is taking a drink from the Hillbilly Shower :-)

Oh yeah!

2008-07-21T00:33:00.001-06:00

Hayden looks like he is in love with this huge sucker! We didn't realize until we got ready to open it that it's called a paddle sucker. Hmmmm... I wonder how it would hold up?

Candy!!!!

2008-07-21T00:29:00.003-06:00

I love this picture of the kids! This was at the very end of our Frontier City trip. We closed the park down, but not before we went to the candy store and let them all pick out something. They were all just starting to get that sugar rush look in their eyes.

Ainsley's look says it all: don't you wish you were me?!

Adam & Carson: photo booth

2008-07-21T00:21:00.002-06:00

We had a great time in OKC during our vacation. As you can guess, there are lots of pictures to go through and play with, so I have to start somewhere. Here is a quick page of Carson and Adam in a photo booth at Frontier City. We didn't want to waste money on photo booth quality pictures, so we took our own. The kids all really liked taking a turn. The girls' pics will be coming soon. :-)

Cardboard Testimonies

2008-06-26T11:43:00.001-06:00

This is just way too powerful not to post. Please take 8 minutes and 4 seconds to watch this video. It changed my day today. :-)

Meet Angel

2008-06-22T16:40:00.000-06:00

We have a new addition to our household. Angel, the guinea pig came to live with us yesterday. She was given to us by a lady who could not keep her anymore. She came with cage and all. Ainsley has been wanting a guinea pig ever since Teddy came to stay with us, her class pet from Pre-K. When I told her we were going to Tulsa to pick up a guinea pig she said she was going to name her "Angel, no Nana's Angel".

She called her Nana to let her know that we had picked up the guinea pig. And this was how the converstaion went:

Nana: "So you finally have your ginea pig. What are you going to name her?"
Ainsley: "I don't know."
Nana: "I thought you were going to name her Angel."
Ainsley: "No, she's not a girl."
Nana: "How can you tell?"
Ainsley: "Because she doesn't have a hair bow."
Nana: (Laughing) "She doesn't have a hair bow?"
Ainsley: "No. So she can't be a girl."

So this conversation should explain why they have matching hairbows in the following pictures. :-) And in case you are wondering, yes I take pictures of everything, even guinea pigs with hairbows!

There are, of course a lot more pictures of Angel and Ainsley.
Click here to view them all

There are, of course a lot more pictures of Angel and Ainsley.
Click here to view them all

Ainsley's dance costume

2008-05-09T23:50:00.002-06:00

Here is a sneak peek of Ainsley in her costume. She was is a really bad mood the day we took these. She was up later that night crying with an ear infection, so she really did have a good excuse for her bad mood. Anyway, bad mood and all, we still managed to capture a couple of good pics. :-)

See what I mean by bad mood? :-)

Stage Art Productions 2008

2008-05-09T23:47:00.002-06:00

This is Katelyn's 5th year with Stage Art, and she loves dancing! She is in several classes this year. Here are a few of her costumes for the showcase.