Picture Catch-Up....#3282

Catching up on a TON of pictures tonight! Most of them were taken with my cell phone while we were on the go, so I am going to try to get better about pulling the legit camera out more often. I took more than 500 pictures every month during Whitney's first year. That number dwindled a bit in her second year, and now that we are approaching her third birthday, I rarely grab the camera to catch her in action since my phone works almost as well. Im hoping I can get back in the habit of taking good pics of daily life as Grady's arrival approaches. I have LOVED looking back through the blog to see all the fun things (and outfits!) we did when Whitney was a baby. It gives me such a great reminder of what life will be like with a newborn and infant in the house again!

On to the pics:

At the beginning of the month, Eric and I took Whitney to Magic Kingdom to ride some rides and see Snow White. She was very excited to dress in her Halloween costume (two significant uses = worth every penny. Thanks again, Mac and Gramps! AND she wants to wear it for her birthday party in April!) and received MANY "oooohs" and "aaaaaaws" as we walked through the parks :)

These pics are out of order, but we were the first ones waiting on the curb for Snow White's meet and greet. Whitney waited and waited and was such a good girl. As we stood in line, she darted from us and ran up to another little girl who was dressed as Cinderella. She told the little girl (who was at least two full years older than Whitney) "I wuv your dwess! You wook beautiful!!" Such a sweet girl :) 

As she returned to the line, THE Snow White came walking down the street.  Whitney could not contain her excitement and RAN to her with her arms open.  Snow White graciously knelt down and hugged our girl and held her hand while walking to her designated meet and greet spot where they discussed.....shoes.  Whitney sat on Snow White's lap and said "My shoes are bwoken, but my Daddy fixed dem!" True story...they were broken and Eric may or may not have super glued them back together so she could get ONE more wear out of them. Isnt he the best? Sooo cute :)

We had one last ride on Dumbo before they close that part of the park in anticipation of the NEW parts of the park that are due to open this Spring. The new, improved Dumbo will have twice as many elephants to ride  :)

While we waited for Snow White, Whitney met Mary Poppins for the first time.  

Running to see her favorite Princess!

After Magic Kingdom, we stopped by the Pottery Barn Kids store to make sure Grady's "Monthly Chair Pics" chair would be the right color, (yeah!!) and then went to Babies R Us to test drive some double strollers.  Whitney was a champ and loved trying them out, and Im in love with the one my Mom and Dad bought us. Good choice, Whitney! 

And of course, I had to snap a pic of this sign. I was never sure if I could use the "expectant mom" parking spots when we were waiting for Whitney.  TECHNICALLY, I WAS expecting a baby at that point.  I just wasnt waddling or about to pop. Now? There is no doubt and I dont feel guilty at all! Mama coming through!

Thanks to Pinterest and my amaaazing husband, our house projects are being completed left and right! As I type this, Grady's room is almost done and Eric assures me it will be done in the next two weeks. This pic is from a few weeks ago:

And while he painted, I was sewing about a gazillion burp cloths in every color of the rainbow :) I found a tutorial on pinterest and it was soooo easy, once I started sewing, I couldnt stop myself from making more!

And of course I had some shirts going on the other machine:

And I think my favorite pinterest project to date is something we will use for years to come! Growing up in Connecticut, I used to mark my height on my bedroom door. I used to love seeing how much I had grown and I wanted to do the same for my kids.  We started marking Whitney's height on her door just after her first birthday, but I wanted something that could potentially move with us someday, as I was bummed when we left my bedroom door in Connecticut when my parents moved to a new house.  

I found a great idea on pinterest and Eric put it into action.  He grabbed an old, unused board from his dad's barn and painted it the right color.  Then we ordered the ruler markings on ETSY and Eric applied them and hung the piece on the wall. Voila! A new family ruler we can all mark our heights on! 

Didnt he do a great job!? Love it! Less than $15 and less than 30 minutes. Every family should have one :) 

We had some scary moments earlier this month when my dad has chest pains and went to the ER in the middle of the night.  Whitney seems to have been some great medicine, as the docs assured us my 65 year old dad has "the heart of a 20 year old" and is super healthy! The cardiologist he saw several times was awesome and thinks dad just had pleurisy and/or a lung infection/pneumonia type gig goin' on.  He is 100% back to "normal", playing golf and enjoying good food and wine again. Whitney thought it was funny to see Gramps in his very own "stroller" (wheelchair)...and Mac kept the toddler entertained with some glove balloons. Ipad? no thanks. Leap Pad? naaaah. Rubber Glove Balloons? Yes Please!!

I have been snapping pics of Whitney before school lately, and she thinks this is the funniest face EVERRRR:

I think this one is much sweeter :) 

And, not to be forgotten, Mr. Grady has been kicking and tumbling and rolling day and night! I am LOOOOVING being pregnant and will definitely miss these kicks and tumbles.  Like a lot of babies in utero, Grady instantly stops kicking and shaking when Eric puts his hands on my belly, but we can all see my stomach move and roll when he is really moving.  SO amazing :)  See his sweet face in this pic? He has his hand up by his right eye (left side of pic) and it almost looks like he's smiling :) 

We have another ultrasound scheduled for next month and while we arent really sure why we are still getting the benefit of soooo many peeks at our boy, we arent complaining! Its sooo fun to see how much he has changed after just four weeks.

He has me looking like this lately:

Two weekends ago, we headed out to Eric's dad's river house for some fish fry yumminess and fishing.  Whitney was soooo excited when Papa gave her her very own PINK fishing pole! Daddy was ready to teach his girl how to fish, and Whitney didnt want to come off that dock for one minute!

She asked to hold her "pink fishing pole fwom Papa and Ms. Marfa" on the drive home, and was asleep less than 10 minutes out of their driveway. Such a fun memory :)

The fishing didnt stop there though! We have a man-made pond in our backyard and Whitney couldnt WAIT to go fishing at home with her Daddy!  I actually had to ask Eric to hide the fishing pole so *I* dont end up spending hours sitting lakeside while she casts her line and reels in the same blue plastic fish for hours.

She is realllly good at reeling it in quickly, and doesnt seem to mind that the blue fish is clearly fake. Im not ready for worms and hooks and REAL fishing yet. Though, I know that is all in my future with another Bass Boy growing inside me!

Who is having more fun here?!

And as if that isnt enough evidence, here is some further proof that Eric is indeed a top contender for "Father of the Year"...

For the last (almost) two years, Eric has had an amaaazing guest pass through his company and their relationship with Disney.  This pass has allowed us to get ourselves and three guests into Disney anytime we wanted.  Amaaazing. We've used it a LOT, and tried not to abuse it, but we know the pass has an expiration date this year. We arent sure when, exactly, that day will strike, but we used the pass to get some of our best friends into the Magic Kingdom to celebrate their daughter's third birthday last week. Whitney and Faith are exactly three months apart and completely in love with each other.  They squeal with delight when they see each other, run into long hugs, and talk about each other when they havent seen each other for a few days. Eric had to work, but Whitney and I were thrilled to spend the day with the birthday girl!

Faith's reactions to the princesses were PRICELESS.  She was speechless and wide-eyed the whole time, over-the-moon kinda happiness that makes me realize why people travel from the far ends of the Earth to experience Disney magic with their kids. 

We tried to get some pics of the besties in front of the castle, but they were like little jumping beans, too excited to simmer down and smile :) 

After meeting some princesses, the girls were excited to see Rosetta and her friend Tinker Bell near Pixie Hollow! 

It was such an awesome day for everyone, with tears of happiness and not one dramafied diva toddler moment :) Whitney and I headed home leaving the Ragan family to enjoy an evening of fun at the happiest place on earth :) 

This past Saturday, we all gathered again to celebrate the birthday girl with cake and presents at the park:

Happy 3rd Birthday, Faither!

And of course, our own princess wouldnt have missed her best friend's birthday!

And some cute school news before I finally quit with the pics for the night....

On Friday, I made a Joann's run while Whitney was at school. I grabbed another pnk cowgirl hat since the last one bit the dust, and Whitney was soooo excited! Love that she is easily thrilled by $3 items :)

And then we got home and I checked her backpack. It felt heavy and I was surprised to find a board book inside.  It was clearly not a brand new book and her teachers hadnt mentioned sending home any gifts or books to borrow or any legit reason the book may have been in her backpack.  So I called Whitney into the kitchen and asked her where the book came from.  She told me that it came from school and that she had put it in her backpack herself.  I asked if Ms Kari or Ms Brandi had given her permission to bring the book home, and she got very quiet, put her head down and said a long, drawn out, "nooooo..."  I asked if she took the book when no one was looking and she said that she was reading it and just put it in her backpack to take home with her.  I explained that that was very close to stealing, and that she needed to return the book and apologize, and never take anything without asking an adult's permission first.  She agreed that she shouldnt have taken the book and assured me she would ask for permission going forward.  I HAD to take a pic of the lil thief with the book she stole....a PRAYER book, no less.  Awesome. 

Maybe it should be titled "Jesus SEES You....when you try to steal this book, you little punk!"

And while the book spent a nice relaxing weekend at our house, we returned it to its rightful owner this morning.  I asked Whitney what she needed to say to Ms Kari as she handed the book back to her, and she said "Tanks you for wetting me borrow dis book!" Umm, BORROW?! We never said the word borrow!! You stole it! She then recognized her mistake and said "Im sowwy I took dis book home.  I will ask an adult next time." Phew. 

But how could we really be mad at this sweet girl?!  She was very excited to wear her bumble bee dress to school today. Her class is called "The Busy Bees" and our Aunt Carol couldnt have picked a better dress for our Bug!

And tonight, one of my proudest Mommy moments so far this year: Our girl wrote the letter "A"! She can write a decent "W" when she's focused and willing to participate, and she successfully wrote the word "WOW" on her magnadoodle this weekend, but I thought we'd try a new letter tonight.  It didnt take her more than 3 practices and she made a pretty decent "A" all by herself! The cheerleading and excitement ensued and she was sooo proud of herself :) I LOVE that she loves to learn :)

Phew....that was exhausting.  Note to self: Self, do NOT allow so much time to pass between blog posts. Its much easier to blog in small doses :) 

Glad to be caught up and Im sure you are, too :)