They're TWO!!!

I'm sitting down with my computer after a whirlwind week. Steven was on vacation this past week and we took the opportunity to get serious about preparations for putting our house on the market. There's no need to go into all the details of all we've done, but it's been a lot! On top of the house preparations, Berkley and Meredith celebrated their 2nd birthdays on Thursday, so we've been busy with birthday celebrations as well. At this point, I'm exhausted and yet I'm so thankful for all Steven and I have been able to accomplish as well as being thankful that I have two such precious babies to celebrate (they'll always be my babies). I don't really know where to begin in filling you in on all of the details of the week, so I'll do it via pictures.

The week started with Berkley and Meredith staying with Steven's folks so that Steven and I could clean and pack. They stayed for four nights and I have no clue how we would've gotten anything done around this house without Mima and Papa's generosity...not that they minded having their grandkids for 4 nights. Steven and I spent the night Wednesday night and then Thursday morning we all got up and celebrated the twins' birthdays together! Berkley and Meredith had lots of adventures during their stay at Mima and Papa's. I think some of their favorites were playing in the sand pile out back as well as visiting a petting zoo and park in Windsor.
After spending the morning at Mima and Papa's, we left to go to Grandma and Grandaddy's to celebrate some more. I love this picture of my mom with Meredith.

I just love these last two pictures because they show how big Berkley and Meredith have gotten. I felt like they had totally changed in the 4 days they were away from me. You can tell they're toddlers now because they're both running around with skint knees. They love to run!



We had our own little party at Grandmama and Grandaddy's. We wore party hats and sang happy birthday, it was so much fun! I loved that Berkley and Meredith knew how to blow out the candles this year. Joe-Joe made up his own bluegrass style of happy birthday and Berkley and Meredith clapped along with giddy little grins on their faces. They loved digging into their cake and as you can see from Berkley's happy face, they really enjoyed the sugar kick. Meredith is so proud that she can show how old she is on her fingers.

I know that some of you may find these pictures of the twins with my dad sad, but they make me happy. Yes, it's sad to see how sick my dad is, but it's precious to see how Berkley and Meredith love being with him in spite of it all. Berkley laid back on my dad and just relaxed and they both thought that he was playing peek-a-boo with them when he put his arms over his head. I feel like having them sit with my dad in his bed has got to be good therapy for him.
On Friday we went to visit Nana at the nursing home. Sadly, it's been awhile since I've taken the twins to see Nana, so you can imagine that she was really excited to see them walk through her door. Nana was in bed, which lies low to the ground. The twins went into the room ahead of my mom and me and Nana let out a huge shout of joy when she saw them. Meredith ran to my Nana's side and actually climbed in bed with her to give her a kiss, Berkley proceeded to do the same thing. It was priceless and I wish I could've gotten it on film. Definitely something to never forget.


While visiting at Grandma's we all enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery of being around the farm. Above, you see just a few of my favorite pictures from our adventures outdoors.



And on Sunday we celebrated with our families. We had a great spread of food, but just being together was the best part. I love the first picture of Berkley cutting his eyes as he sees the cake coming. And as you can see from Meredith's face, they had red iced cupcakes; it was an Elmo theme. Berkley and Meredith got these awesome trikes as a gift, Berkley's riding Meredith's in the picture above, and they also got these ECU ball caps. They were so in love with the baseball hats! Now we just need to take them to a baseball game.
Here are all of the Manning grandchildren. I try and try to get a picture where I can see all four of them together and they're all four smiling, but I think it's going to take another year at least before mine understand that. Nonetheless, it's great seeing them all together and boy did they have a great time together! Berkley and Meredith look up to Hutch and McKinley so much!
I love this picture of Berkley's happy little face after giving his cousin, McKinley, a sweet kiss. Berkley loves his cousins!
Here are all of our guests from our party on Sunday. So great to have our family together to celebrate our two little blessings!


Overall, it was a wonderful few days of celebrating my precious twins and all of the joy and excitement they've brought to our family. The celebrating was not what I'd planned, but it turned out to be much more fun than anything I had planned. Just goes to show that God knows better than I do.