Our good friends Tonya and Collin were just approved for adoption! Tonya and I have been great friends since elementary school! In the fall we watched their dog, Lucy, for a couple of days and Eli had a blast with her! Hopefully she has had time to recoup from the never ending energy of a three year old:)

We are so excited and pray that they will be picked to have a beautiful baby come to their home! They were told to spread the news to as many people as possible so please check out their profile and blog!

Check out their adoption blog HERE

And check out their profile on the LDS Family Services website HERE

Profile ID is 25402258

You can also learn more about the adoption process on the Church's adoption website: http://itsaboutlove.org/

I hear the following words more than I can count each day "Pay(Play) Hide 'n Seek Mommy?" Where could Eli be??? Eli LOVES to hide and when he find a favorite spot he hides in the same spot all day! He gets so excited when you are looking for him that he can't keep quiet and giggles the whole time! So cute! When it is our turn to hide he counts "3, 2, 1, here I come" You have to run fast to get anywhere and hide!

2010 Merry Christmas! Christmas was a blast this year! Eli is starting to get the whole picture and was so excited about the presents before Christmas. Then Morning came and he saw his train track and didn't need anything else! We kept having to say "Eli, don't you want to finish opening your presents?" Spencer was the happy little guy that he always is and loved his new toy! Eli helps him play with it which makes it that much better! They are beginning to be good friends (until Spencer is mobile..then I think Eli will have a little trouble. Spencer has already dived for the train track and gotten it once!)

Benjamin Turns 29! Eli was so excited to have another birthday in the house! He loves getting the candles and getting everything ready! He was extra helpful when it came to the brownies! Once I pulled them out of the oven and left them to cool he helped himself to the sprinkles and decorated it just for dad with a whole bottle! Yum yum... :)

Spencer's First Rice Cereal Eli was so excited that Spencer was in the High Chair and going to get real food! I waited to give him food until he was almost 7 months because he never acted like he wanted it. He still acts like he doesn't really enjoy it, but since he is being fed he will eat. He is more happy to see me take the food away! and more interested in what is going on around him than eating. I still don't know what to think about it. It is such an opposite from Eli wanting EVERYTHING and SCREAMING for more all the time...each kid really is different.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No it's Super Eli!

Fun Girls Day! This picture was taken way back in June, but it was too cute not to post now! This is the girls celebrating Melanie's 29th Birthday! :) The day started great with food and shopping and ended with Spencer in the hospital, but we were having a great time when this picture was taken! Most of these same people came to my house the day after Thanksgiving to make gingerbread houses. I'm still waiting on the group pictures of us and our houses, but I thought I would post some of the cute houses when they were still in progess.

It's already the week of Christmas and I didn't get the cards out this year so here is our 2010 letter!
Dear Family & Friends,

We hope you have all had a great year! We are so grateful for the Holiday season where we can celebrate the birth of our Savior and his example and love! Here is a short recap of our 2010 year.

Benjamin has been working hard at his business, Scion Computer Systems, and it has been fun to see it grow. We are nearing the 3 years mark since officially opening the doors and can't wait to see what the next year brings! Benjamin was able to go as staff for a week of Cedar badge in June as well as attend numerous monthly campouts. He really enjoys having the excuse to take scouts camping every month as scout master.

Kaylin enjoys staying home and keeping busy with the boys. It truley is very rewarding and their constant new discoveries are so fun to watch as a mom. She enjoys serving in the primary presidency and can't wait to have Eli join in January as a new sunbeam.

Eli is a handsome little guy and is growing so fast we can hardly believe our eyes! He turned 3 in August and is becoming quite the little tease and chatterbox. His favorite things include, trains, trains, and more trains! He loves his "Choo Choo Blue, Choo Choo Red, Choo Choo Green, and Choo Choo B". He also loves playing hide and seek, riding his bike (even when it's snowy and cold outside), and visiting the neighbors.

We welcomed our little Spencer boy to our family May 5th of this year! We have so enjoyed having him in our family! He is a very smiley baby and loves to laugh and get full attention from everyone around him. When he was 7 weeks he started to have mini seizures and had to be hospitalized for a week and taken to a specialist at Primary Childrens to get more tests. He had an infection and low sodium. We kept him on seizure medication for over a month then gradually weined him off. He has now been off all medication for 3 months with no complication and no signs of ever having seizures or being sick. We feel blessed that he is so healthy and growing just as he is supposed to with no complications! It truly is a miracle to us!

We are so grateful for preisthood blessings and prayer and know that Heavenly Father has watched over us and blessed us this year! We are so grateful for the infinate love and comfort we receive from our Savior and are excited to enjoy the spirit of the holidays! We wish for you to have a Happy Holiday and great New Year!

With Love,

The Manwaring's

Can you tell they are brothers? Eli (green stripes)is 4.5 months and Spencer (Blue PJ's)is 6.5 months

Eli (3 yrs) and Spencer (6 months) Pictures Nov 2010

Eli and his Choo Choo's...they eat together, sleep together, play together, everything Eli does they do with him, ect... he doesn't leave home without at least one and won't go to bed unless they are on his bed. Each night he lines them up in the same order they are on his pillow.

We are LOVING the snow at this house!! Eli goes outside at to play at least 2 times a day! He remembered the snow from last year and was so excited to see it was back again!

My Sleeping Angels!

Our neighbor left town for a few days and their little girls wanted to make sure that their fish was taken care of, so they brought it to our house so we could feed and take care of it! Eli loved having the fish and feeding it. The second day we had it however, Eli decide it needed more food and put a whole slice of zucchini bread in the water. When I saw it the bread was mostly dissolved and the fish was swimming in VERY murky water. Luckily Ben was home, because I had no desire to clean out the fish water and no idea where to start. The good news is the 1 year old Goldfish is still alive and wasn't affected. I think Eli's thinking was our dog eats what I give her, why not a fish! :)

Spencer loved his costume! He didn't fight putting it on, cry, or kick and scream. Eli on the other hand didn't like his hat, so we had to keep saying if you don't wear it you don't get the candy. Eventually he figured it out and kept the hat on since it got him candy and then gradually got the hang of things and enjoyed it. We had a fun Halloween. Friday night the Manwaring family did a progressive Trick or Treat. We started at Kevin and Becky's for a healthy veggie starter, then off to Grandma and Grandpa's for chili and pizza, our house for apple crisp, and Justin and Amber's for homemade orange filled oreos and cheese ball! There were games for the kids and they had a blast together in their costumes! (forgot to take any pictures!) Saturday we started out at a trunk or treat then visited Grandmas and Grandpa's until Eli fell a sleep in the car. Then home to pass out some candy. It was a fun weekend!

Who knew?!? Eli can fit into a 9month size Halloween costume. So I bought 2 costumes for Spencer because I was in a hurry and didn't know which size I needed. So I when I got home I tried them on Spencer and Eli wanted in on the fun! He thought He was HILARIOUS and was laughing his head off! (For the record we didn't even keep the monkey costume.. :)

This picture just makes me laugh. Eli has his pj's inside out and on backwords then he came to me trying to put a towel on his head...busy busy boy!

Spencer's First Haircut- The Mullet is officially gone as of September 11, 2010!!! (4 months) BEFORE After

Spencer, Spencer, Spencer....what can I say..his nick name is Mr. Spits. He spits up so much that Eli runs when he hears any noise coming from Spencer that resembles a burb. He is constanly saying "ewww, YUCK BABY!!" Even Meisha has caught on and if she hears any noise from Spencer she is quick to run away. That is just a glimpse of how bad it is. I will fold laundry and have 3-4 shirts each for all of us, then I get to Spencer pile and fill a whole laundry basket (2-3 outfits per day) over flowing!! And the funniest part is he is constantly smiling and doesn't even seem affected or notice the drool or spit up running out of his mouth! I have had to leave church in the middle to change clothes and can't count how many times I have taken my jeans off at night to find a long line of dried on spit up on the back of my pants from who know when. Probably sometime that morning and I had worn them every where that day...

A Peek into the Manwaring's Everyday life...

FUN WITH THE WATER SLIDE!!! Back in September Benjamin set up the slide for the Mutual kids for a combined activity. I took Eli to watch and play on the toys at the park and was surprised that he was interested in going down the slide since it is such a large one! So one of the boys held his hand and took him down and to our amazement our little 3 year LOVED IT and went down a few more times(didn't take the camera that time). So for the ward party a few weeks later at the same park the water slide was requested. Eli was prepared this time with a swim suit and had a blast with all the younger kids at this party, even though it was a little cold!