One Fish, Two Fish, White Fish, Gold Fish

Alex must have decided it was high time someone took pictures of the other members of the Manley household.

(Any more it's quite interesting what I find when I turn on the camera. It never fails, no matter where I put it or hide it, somehow Alex finds it. That kid has camera sonar.)

The fish don't have names. But I must admit, we've grown fond of them anyhow. And Alex is actually a pretty good photographer for only being 4.

Time Flies When Your Pluggin Away at Life!

Any of you who are facebookers, may have noticed the Valentine's Day theme profile pics and status posts. Well I finally got my printer/scanner to work so that I could scan a picture of Tony and I (where I don't look upset like I did in the last one). I decided to use the one we sent out for our engagement pictures (to announce how crazy we were to even think about getting married at the unholy ages of 20 and 21!) that I'm kinda fond of. I think I look pretty good, but then again I'm reminded how tiny I used to be, and how similar to a porpoise I am now, blah. But anyway, I pulled it out of the picture frame off our dresser, and scanned it.

As I was loading it onto facebook and doing the math in my head how long Tony and I have been together, I realized, WHOAH, it's been 9 years since we first met. Now granted we didn't start dating for another year or so, but we had lots of comical jabs at each others expense while slaving away at Sonic. I also cannot say we have been together since we started dating, we broke up, realized we wanted to be together, broke up, realized we couldn't live without each other, got engaged, broke up, got re-engaged, got married. It was a definite roller coaster ride of emotions and relationships.

I look at this picture and I can almost see how much we were in love. We look so happy, (and so young) and we were.
Glad we stuck through it all, and still can, and figure out the bottom line.
We are in love. We need each other. Yup, still, but boy did we look like kids.

Nap Time Scrimmage

Sometimes I sit back and think how crazy it must seem to others that I enjoy roller derby, getting knocked off my feet, or slammed into a wall, just to get up and keep going. Well, today I had an epiphany! Nap time is 10 times worse. Not only am I battling against a willful 4 year old, but a stubborn 2 year old copy cat, and a random sleeper 5 month old. Ugh....I feel like waving the white flag just thinking about it!
Alex doesn't like to take naps anymore, but if I can get him to lay still with his eyes closed for 15 min, *poof* he's out!
Anthony doesn't go to sleep when there is distractions in the room (ie Alex) and Alex frequently gets Anthony to do his dirty work. (ie to come tell mommy they want to sleep on the floor, or share a bed, or leave the light on, or turn the fan on)
Seriously, the last nap time, took 11 trips of Anthony coming to me mumbling Alex's orders until I finally got fed up enough to put Anthony in the crib that he can't climb out of, and to bring Alex downstairs.
Then Autumn, she's pretty good about going to sleep, but unfortunately the boys are pretty good about sneaking into my room to love on her, and somehow she is awake EVERYTIME they go in there! "No Mommy, she was already awake!" Mm-Hm, sure.
So I am resigned to battle these anti-nappers every day, just for their sake. Because honestly, for my sake, I'd let them go go go til the crashed where they stood. That makes for cranky kids, but either option makes for cranky Mommy. What is one to do?
Did I mention I really don't like nap time? Well, maybe when they are all asleep, yeah, I like that part. Check that, I LOVE that part! That may be the only reason I keep trying.

Oh my Anthony, how I love thee, let me counts the ways....

Today has been a long and very tiresome day. I went to work at Domino's (yes I don't technically work there, but because my boss is way awesome I promised I'd help out with this very large order) at 1:30am to help put out 721 pizzas and 250 orders of wings. All for inmates on good behavior to celebrate Super Bowl Sunday. UGH! Then I met my lovely sister Amber (who stayed at my house with her honey and her brood so that my kids were supervised as they dreamed) and clan, at church so that I could teach my Sunday school class of 9 year olds. And last I brought my brood home and managed to stay coherent for about...... 10 min. I figured out quickly that every time I sat down I fell asleep purdy dang quick. So I woke up and decided I had to keep busy or my house would get torched by 2 very mischievous little boys.

Only I did this a little too late.

Well the house wasn't torched, but Alex and Anthony must have been hungry. They had finished off pancakes that were on the table left over from breakfast, and had taken yogurt cups upstairs to eat them in secret. Alex had eaten all of his, but Anthony had decided to paint with his.
Yogurt I guess must be a fun finger paint for coffee tables, carpet and futons. When I told Anthony that we eat yogurt at the table, this was the face I got. He knew I was not excited about this secret artsy play time of his, but I knew that as tired as I was, I would be a little harsh, ok maybe a lot harsh. So a little mommy voice in my head said "Take a picture and blog."

So I took a picture, pulled out the wipes and quick as a jiffy fingers, face, and house were clean. Thank goodness I had discovered this mess before it had spread too much, or before it dried. Even more, thank goodness for taking a deep breath and that selling children is illegal.

Too cute!

They say that every mom is biased about how cute their kids are. Well I'm not gonna lie, when Alex and Anthony were born I knew they looked like wrinkled old men and were not cute at all. Tony was the one who wouldn't have it when someone didn't insist they were adorable. For him it was love at first sight.
This time around, with Autumn, has been totally different for me. When she was born she was so perfect, so cute! Her head was perfect, she was so alert and wide-eyed. Nothing old and wrinkly about her. Tony was excited to have a girl and a new addition to the family, but eh, it was just another one. I must admit it was quite odd putting pink on her the first time.

So it is with Tony, that it was with me and the boys, she is surely growing on him, and he has quite completely replaced his "baby" Anthony with his "Daddy's Girl" Autumn. (Sorry Anthony, guess it's perfect timing that you've turned into a Mommy's boy.) He was so fascinated with her while he was home three days, that he took a picture of her that I thought was amazing. So here it is.




She has grown SO much! It won't be long til she is crawling, I know it. She is so intent on being up, sitting, watching! Granted she can't do that by herself, but I have this wonderful little chair that helps with that so my arms get a break now and then.

I must admit, I am frightened beyond words on what I am in for as the years fly by, but right now, she is the princess of the Manley Family and she has managed to captivate us all with her sweet and rewarding grins and jabber!

Alexander the Great

So recently, my wind down time in the evening has changed. It used to seem like as soon as I got home from work, (if it was an early night), Tony and I were putting the boys to bed 15 min after I walked in the door. So, honestly, we made no time for story time. Rush rush rush, go to bed. So now that there is time for real wind down time at night, bed time ritual has begun to include books again...we used to read to Alex all the time for bed, when it was just Alex. So I called my mom for book suggestions, since she always had books for us kids at home. She recommended I go to the library. So go to the library I did, with all three kids in tow. I picked out books for them and they picked out books for them. Alex has been so happy that I'm reading to him that nap time must now include book time too. Anthony just likes to hold the book and won't even let me attempt to touch it, let alone turn the page....so I don't really get to read his books to him, he just listens in when I read to Alex. Yesterday was round two to the library, and I let the boys pick out the majority of the books this time. Alex came home with two books shaped like dinosaurs about, (you guessed it!) dinosaurs! These are non fiction books that I thought might be a little boring for him, but he adores them! Today I caught him repeating some of the dialogue while "reading" to himself.
I'm starting to wonder if it's time to try and teach this kid how to read?! But boy does he have an awesome memory. Just ask him, he can tell you what that dinosaur on that book is, and he'll be happy to tell you ALL about it!

Not You're Momma's Roller Derby!

This is my picture for my new obsession, not all of you know that I have a new obsession. It is Roller Derby. I say that it's not you're mommas' roller derby, because that stuff used to be as campy and as staged as professional wrestling is today. Now it's real falls, real hits, real fun! Well I can't speak for ALL leagues, but you get the idea. Tonight was practice, just like every Tuesday. So if you try and get me to do anything on a Tuesday night, good luck! This is my new love, and boy do I love it! My husband Tony is very afraid I'll break something, but he's a race car driver, so all is fair in adrenaline rushes! As of right now, my position on the team is one of the jammers. This means I score the points for the team, but it also means I'm a major target for being knocked down by the opposing team. So far, I've been able to stay on my skates quite well, (thanks to all that Sonic training,) but tonight I fell a few times, and I fell hard! Well it's not really fair to call it falling. I was knocked down several times...and tomorrow we'll see if I have the bruises to prove it! Bruises?! Who'd want bruises you might ask, well not really do any of us derby girls WANT bruises, but they are our trophies that showcase our hard work. What makes getting knocked down so much fun? Well to know that I can be an asset to the team feels awesome, and to say that I can get knocked down, not cry, and get back up skating also feels awesome. Not to mention it's super fun to dress up in all my cool black and green derby costumes! (I'll post pictures of those later, this is just one picture taken for the league fliers) Another thing is that being Notorious L.I.Z. (my derby name) gives me the opportunity to play a part, and who specifically that part is I haven't decided, but it'll be fun no matter which way I go with it!