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!

Spring Break

Last week, I was off from school for Spring Break! My sister came up to spend the week with us so we could have some girl time. We went shopping and just lounged around the house! I love having Allie around; it seems like nothing has changed since we were both younger and living at home. It's great to do "girl stuff" because most of the time I just go somewhere by myself or with Addie -which can not be considered "girl time" yet due to her age ! :)

As much as I enjoyed having Allison, I would have to say that Addie enjoyed her "Tata" the most! She is "Tata's girl" for sure! She wouldn't even go meet Justin at the door after work like she usually does...she just enjoys Allison SO much.

On Friday, we met some friends from Valdosta (Brooke, Robbie, Rylin, and Karsyn) in Tifton to go to Wilder's World which is an indoor bounce house. Addie hasn't had much experience with bouncey houses, so I was a bit leary to see how she would do. She started out just playing in the general toy area, but after watching Rylin, she was ready to try it. Aunt Brooke took her in one of the houses and showed her how it was done. Soon, Allison and I donned our socks and joined them in the fun.

Addie and "TaTa" enjoying the moment!

Aunt Brooke and Rylin showing Addie how it's done!

Addie LOVES slides; however, she is particularly fond of ones that are LOW to the ground!

Me, Allison, and Addie - the girls together again!

Addie was punching this inflatable character and really seemed to enjoy it! I suppose it was because she isn't allowed to hit anyone or anything else without me getting on to her!

What a cutie!! Rylin taking a rest from her jumping! She was fearless and would go down any slide!!

These two sweet girls...destined to be life-long friends! :)

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter everyone! We hope that you had a great day reflecting on the life and love of our Risen Savior!

It has been so neat this year teaching Addie more and more about Jesus. In our Bible Story time, Justin and I have been going over and over the Easter story, and I was amazed at what little truths she can learn! She was very upset about Jesus being on the cross, but would cheer when we would read the Resurrection passage. I couldn't get her to say "Easter", but she has been saying, "Jesus alive! Jesus alive!" What a blessed truth!

We didn't hunt eggs today since we had a lot going on at church and she had already hunted with her little class, nevertheless, she enjoyed taking her eggs outside and playing with them!

Walking around outside with her bucket and eggs! She was so cute; she would put an egg on the ground and then pick it up - almost like she was hunting for them!

I just LOVE this picture!

Stop and smell the tulips! What a face!

Doctor in Training?

This past week, I've caught Addie playing "doctor" several times. On Wednesday night, after Justin came home, Addie found some of his scrubs and started trying to put them on! It was so cute!! Then, yesterday, while I was holding some online classes, I found Addie "listening" to her animals' and babies' hearts with her stethoscope. Does this mean she wants to be a doctor? It's too soon to tell, but she does want to be like her Daddy - that is obvious! Everybody start saving! It looks like we might have to put another Mann through medical school! :)