Picture Catch-Up :)

We've had an incredibly busy, amazingly FUN couple of weeks! Here are some pics to prove it :)

Last weekend, my college roommate came to visit from South Carolina.  Liz's hubby couldnt make it this time, but it was fun to meet her son, Ryder, and see her sister and mom.  Liz's mom was attending a conference at Disney, so we met up with them each day to explore the parks.  Ryder was under strict orders NOT to meet Mickey Mouse until his Daddy can visit us next year, but we did a lot of other fun stuff :) 

The kids were excited to meet a scuba diver at the aquarium after the Nemo ride :)

How cute are they!?!

He is such a GREAT baby! Laid back, awesome personality, lights UP with BIG smiles all day....LOVE him!

Liz, her Mom, and Sister with a sleeping Prince Ryder

We went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios.  We skipped Magic Kingdom this year since Ryan wasnt able to be here and that's the "real" Disney. But Ive been assured that Liz, Ryan, and Ryder will all be back to visit in 2011 :)

The Christas tree outside Animal Kingdom

It was so fun seeing Liz as a Mommy.  She is AWESOME! We joked that we used to mix ADULT drinks and now she was mixing bottles :) 

Whitney was tired. Wiped out from 4 days of Disney-ing. Even for a Professional, its a lot of work. :) But we made an attempt at seeing Minnie.  All was fine until I tried to take the recently-purchased Nemo/Dory/Marlin/Gil books out of her claws. Not wise. She did NOT want to put the books down....not even for a SECOND....

....so they made it into her picture with Minnie :) 

She did NOT want to put these books down, and a week later she is still obsessed with them. :) 

"Dude, you TOTALLY need to call me when you get back to South Carolina! Facebook me!!"

Such a fun weekend :) 

At the close of the park, there was a big safari bus that brought all the favorite characters around to say good-bye.  Whitney wasnt content enough to watch from Daddy's arms while the BIG kids got to dance and party....

....so there she is...behind that red and yellow pom-pom on the left.  Dancing like the big kids :)

Clapping along like she owns the joint :) 

Liz and I laughed about how sad it was that we couldnt party like we used to, even though life is GREAT right now! We were in bed before midnight every single night, and preparing for the early morning calls of "MOMMY!!" that started before the sunrise.  I am fairly certain that the ONLY time Liz or I saw 6am in Clemson was when we were just going to BED after a night OUT! My how life has changed :) 

The beginning of the week started off pretty normal before the festivities of the holiday started up! We went to gym class and then stopped by Mac and Gramps' house for a little bit on Tuesday.

Making so many family members proud by picking up the golf clubs her Uncle Jake and Aunt Tina bought her for her birthday :) 

And I think Whitney would water plants all day if we let her :) 

Whitney is starting to pretend more and more.  She is really starting to love her baby dolls, giving them "bottles" and hugs and kisses. 

Showing Mac and Gramps all her friends :) My parents got Whitney this cot/bed a few months ago.  She LOVES it! It folds up nicely into a little pink bag, and Whitney asks to bring out the bed every time we go to their house. Sometimes she will just sit on it and watch movies or "feed" her babies or read books :) 

I walked into the kitchen to see Whitney feeding her stuffed animals Bailey's dog food.  I LOVE watching her imagination grow! She was talking to the puppies in the sweetest, high-pitched voice as she tried to put the real dog food in the dog's mouths. :) 

Watch out, Bailey! Competition in town!

This was the night before Thanksgiving.  We had worked on getting the Christmas decorations down from the attic as soon as Eric's food poisoning/nasty stomach virus left our home.  Whitney LOVED her Santa Mickey from last year :) She carried him around, hugged him, and was clearly thrilled to see him again.  It was a GREAT night spent watching Mickey's Christmas Carol (twice) and enjoying the sounds and smells of the holidays as Eric baked two pecan pies :)

Mickey joined us on the couch to watch the movie and get some snuggles.  Whitney heaved him up onto the couch and then wiggled her little body up to sit in my lap. LOOVE this age!

The next morning, Whitney was busy helping Daddy get the tree put up.  

And then we headed over to Mac and Gramps' for Thanksgiving dinner....

Whitney LOVES "jingle bells".  She carried these bells around SHOUTING "JINGLE BELLLLS! JINGLE BELLLLS!" over and over :) 

She enjoyed pretending to be a Native American as she gobbled up some turkey with her Little People Thanksgiving friends :) 

And, naturally, she had to dress up as a pilgrim next :) 

"Happy Thanksgiving!!!"

That night, we were snuggled up on the couch again reading Whitney's new favorite book, Mickey's Christmas Carol.  It was my book when I was little, and I LOOOVE that she enjoys it so much.  We continually hear "Mommy, Mickey book, PWEAS!?" as she shoves the book in our faces, AGAIN. 

On Friday, we finished putting up the Christmas decorations, including Whitney's very own pink-decorated Christmas tree in her room.  She LOOOVED it!

"Come see my TREE, MOMMY!!"

She was really excited to show it to Daddy when he got home from the store. :)

I am proud to say that Eric did the big ligustrum tree-lighting, but I did everything else while he mowed the lawn.  Whitney had fun playing outside while we made the house look pretty :) 

We took her and Bailey outside to see the house all lit up that night.  She kept saying "LIGHTS! LIGHTS!!" 

And she loves playing with her Santa Little People.  Although, she is convinced that Santa's reindeer are actually "Kanga-ROOS!" :) 

Last night, we celebrated Eric's cousin's up-coming wedding and Eric's dad's birthday :) The bridal shower was a great success with good food, fun gifts for the bride, and lots of laughs!

Eric's cousin, Christen made this awesome (and delicious) cake!

Lynzie did a great job with the games and decorations, and Crystal got these cute picture-holders for favors.  It really was a great time! Lynzie decorated with the fun wine bottles with names like "Mad Housewife" :)

Mother of the Bride, Aunt Cindy. She is hysterical and I absolutely adore her :) I just know she throws a great party, and we are REALLY looking forward to our two days in Georgia next month!

The Bride and her Mommy. LOVE them! Absolutely LOVE that they are family...but I'd totally choose them as friends even if they werent related :)

Lynzie decking out the Bride

LOTS of laughs :) 

Even though Alia (the "bride" on the left) TOTaLLY should have won, Devin chose Ashley (the "bride" in the middle) as the winner of the toilet-paper dress award :) 

I think she was a little afraid to open the black bag :) 

"I'm supposed to do WHAT with this???!"

Lynzie found a REALLY cute poem about the bride's "panty line" and all the different undies she will wear in her lifetime....each cousin read a part of the poem and matches the undies on the panty clothes-line.  

Of course we had to end with "granny panties"! :) 

Isnt she going to be a GORGEOUS bride!?!  So excited for her big day next month!!

So you are all caught up :) We are wrapping up the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with another Thanksgiving celebration with Eric's dad this afternoon.  We are all bringing stuff to make the feast, and Im sure there will be even more laughs and good times, and I know we will all feel Robin's presence as we spend time together as a family today.  

Next week should be back to business.  Gym classes, playdates, trying-not-to-give-Whitney-any-of-her-Christmas-presents-early, and regular 'ol LIFE as we know it. :)