Potty Time!

Well, it's time! Addie has been increasingly interested in going to the potty and would not let me have any peace until she too could sit on her own potty. I bought her some big girl underwear and she immediately ran to the hallway, took them out of the package, and tried them on! To say she is eager is an understatement. I believe she is ready and has had 2 good days of training with no accidents yet! Me, on the other hand, am anxious with each and every moment that passes, anticipating the inevitable accident.
However, I am very proud of what she has done so far and each day has gotten better. If you have recently been through this process and would like to leave a comment...please do so! :)

Anniversary Weekend

Well, it is official ladies, I have the best husband in the world! In honor of our 5th anniversary, Justin planned a secret get-away trip for both of us. He had been planning this for weeks and would only tell me small hints here and there. He also threw in some false hints to keep me guessing! He had me pack everything from a tent (I was dreading a camping trip) to church clothes. On Friday afternoon, he had my parents come get Addie while we hit the road to our secret destination. While we were driving I would rule places out based on direction and time for our dinner reservation (he did give me that bit of information). Around 5:00, we ended up near Savannah, so I pressed him to find out our final destination... the suspense was absolutely killing me! After he confirmed that Savannah was indeed where we were going, my mind raced with where we would stay and what we would do. We finally ended up downtown near one of the squares and Justin parked infront of an unassuming row house. Upon closer inspection, it was a bed and breakfast!! Hooray! No camping trip :)! In addition to booking us a room there, he had flowers delivered to our room, but not just any flowers, he had oriental lilies straight from Hawaii since that is where we went on our honeymoon!

The entrance to our bed and breakfast.

Our room looked right onto Chatham Square.

Our beautiful room.

The Oriental Lilies (they are still beautiful and have bloomed into large pink and white flowers!)

As soon as we were settled in our room, we took the quick walk to River Street for our dinner reservation which turned out to be a dinner cruise on the Savannah River. It was so sweet and reminded me of our Junior/Senior (prom) when we were in high school! One of the stewards was kind enough to take our picture!


On Saturday, we got up early, and had a DELICIOUS breakfast of french toast and pecan syrup! We walked towards the river and stopped off to do some shopping. We were going to go to Lady and Sons for lunch, but hadn't heard great things about it since they moved, so I just went into Paula's store to look around! (No trip to Savannah is complete without paying homage to Paula..right?!)

Around lunch time, we drove to Tybee Island for lunch at AJ's Dockside (some friends recommended it) and feasted on fried fish while we watched some boats come in.

Once we had eaten, we were ready for some water fun! We were going to rent a jet ski, but decided to rent a sea kayak instead! Yep, that's right!! Libby got in a kayak and rowed around Little Tybee Island!! Can you believe how I've changed since we've been married!! If he had asked me to do that on our honeymoon, I would have just laughed, but I really enjoyed myself. The tide was out, so we were able to go to many little exposed "islands" and look around. We even rowed to the little light house and explored it! After a few hours of kayaking, we were ready to relax and swim, so we headed to the local beach and spent an hour or so! (Sorry, no pictures of the beach fun; I didn't want to drop my camera out of the kayak and lose a camera!) After an exhausting afternoon, we went back to the B & B, showered, and got ready for our dinner reservations! Justin took me to a fabulous restaurant near the City Market...phenomenal food! Good thing I had exercised that day :)

On Sunday, after a yummy cheese omelet, we packed our bags and headed to Valdosta to go get our little girl! I truly appreciate Justin planning this surprise little trip. It is times like those where a marriage can rest and get "back to the basics" of what makes it great: friendship!

5th Anniversary

It is hard to believe that 5 years ago today I became "Mrs. Justin Mann". That was the happiest day of my life! After 7 years of courtship and dating we FINALLY said, "I do" on May 14, 2005 at First Baptist Church in Valdosta. I remember looking into his eyes that beautiful Saturday afternoon trying to imagine what our married lives would hold; however, I had no idea that it would be this wonderful. Sure, we've had some trials and tribulations, but there is no one on earth I would rather go through them with than Justin. We still enjoy the little moments we get together and relish in any opportunity to just sit and talk. He is my best friend and I love him dearly!

Addie's Last Day of Preschool...Family Picnic

Today was Addie's final day for her Mommy's Morning Out class! This has been such a fantastic year for her (and me too!). I am thrilled that Addie's first experience with "school" has been such a positive one. It was extremely important for me that Addie really enjoy and get something out of school, perhaps that is because I am a teacher and have personally always loved school. However, Addie seemed to surpass my every expectation! She would talk about her teacher and classmates throughout the week, and would cry if she was too sick to go to school. She knows her colors, shapes, and can count to ten (one to one correspondence is coming....). I looked back at my post in August of this past year, and was amazed at how much our little girl has grown. It is something about them going off to school and having a little independent time, that you can really begin to see them take off. We are really looking forward to our 2-K class in the fall...alphabet, here we come!
For her last day, her school arranged a family picnic on the grounds. We were SO blessed today because Justin had a test this morning, but got out in time to make the picnic. I packed her a "Jelly Jelly" (peanut butter/jelly sandwich) and some berries from our adventure this weekend.

She is definitely a people watcher...just like her Mommy!

While we were eating, we had a little friend drop by...a ladybug! So Addie had to play with it! (No worries - I washed her hands before she resumed eating!)

After we ate, Justin took her on a ride around the field and stopped off for a snowcone!

Guess who was making the snow cones?! Mrs. Susan! Addie hopped off her bike and ran to give her a hug! (Couldn't get a good picture in time! Oh well!)

She ate her snow cone so quickly, we were afraid she'd get a brain freeze! Addie was excited that Daddy came to her school; here she is giving him a big, wet kiss!

Once the snow cone was finished, Addie and Daddy started playing with bubbles. She loved running after them as the wind carried them away.


Before long, Addie's friend Anna Kate came by with her mommy to play. Addie was so cute!! She kept calling Anna Kate's name and laughing excitedly!

We had such a wonderful morning and are looking forward to an exciting and hopefully, a restful summer!

Happy Mother's Day!

As soon as we got home from church this morning, Addie and Justin went out front to pick some flowers from my dandelion garden :) ! When I came outside to see what they were up to, Addie came running towards me with a handful of little yellow flowers! However, when she finally made it to me, there was only one that survived!

She handed me the flower and gave me a big hug! I just love being her mommy!

Inside, Justin had prepared a little display for me with a present and cards to open.

Addie made this picture for me at school and her teacher helped her frame it.

I am so thankful the Lord has allowed me the opportunity and responsibility of being Addie's mommy. My prayer is that I can do my part to help mold and shape her little heart to love and honor the Lord. This is my hardest job, but the benefits have already proven worth it all!

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Gigi (my mom), Mimi (Justin's mom), Grandma Stephie, Granny Mac (my grandmother), and Granny Scearcy (Justin's grandmother) for their lifetime of love, support, and encouragement. We love you and wish you a happy Mother's Day!

Strawberry Picking

Life has been a whirlwind over the past two weeks! I'll spare you the details of all of my traveling, but know that I am so glad to be getting back to my normal routine at home! To kick off our weekend, Justin and I took Addie to a strawberry farm down the road from our house. We usually go to Lane in Fort Valley, but I heard Elliott farms in Lizella had farm animals, so of course we had to go check them out!

Here is our sweet girl so excited to see goats and cows up close!

Addie and Daddy feeding some grass to the goat. She is so brave; at this age, I would have run and screamed in terror if I had been this close to a goat. She is truly a unique creation of God.

Enjoying a moment with Daddy.

I love my baby girl!! She was staring at the other children as they were loading up for a hayride!

Before we started to pick the strawberries, Daddy found a ladybug and put it on Addie's hand!

She giggled and giggled...she even put her other hand up so that the bug could keep crawling!

After a minute of playing with the bug, it flew off and landed in the dirt right below Addie. Here she is trying to find her bug!

Once Addie gave up looking for her bug, she decided to start helping us pick strawberries. At first, she wanted to pick everything. However, I quickly gave her a lesson on "only pick the red ones", and she soon caught on!

Bringing some berries to Daddy.

Our tuckered-out little girl after a morning of fun!