Sunday, July 28, 2013

To The Piney Woods To Celebrate Whit

A few weeks ago we had a very exciting long weekend...

It all started with a LONG-awaited visit from our favorite crews from Abilene!

My Grandmother and the kids Great-Grandmother was able to make the trip all the way from Abilene to Gtown to visit us in our new home. My sweet Aunt Martha and new-engaged cousin Clay made the trip with her. I was so so excited to have everyone at our house, even if it was just for one night... not even a full 24 hours!! :) BUT, I will take what I can get!! THANK YOU, Grandmother for making the trip!! Means so much to us to have had you here!!

As SOON, as Clay's feet crossed the doorway, Caden was ready to play hoops! And I believe they played the rest of the afternoon... quite literally. So much so that Clay is assured to have a backache for the rest of the summer. Good thing he is studying to be a PT. He's going need his own skills!


And Kaki was thrilled to pieces to have the girls to dote on her! And you better believe it was like having a real-live celebrity in her presence when she realized that Grandmother was the same voice from her beloved Night Before Christmas book... she "reads" or listens to that book ALL the time. And to have Grandmother who she has affectionately renamed Gam-maw, in the flesh was just a treat of an entirely different kind! It was so nice having everyone there as we geared up to celebrate our newest addition and one whose namesake comes from one such Grandmother... our sweet baby Whit from the Piney Woods DEEP in East Texas!


The morning before we left for East Texas, we had some game playing to do while the rest of enjoyed our coffee and got to packing! :) Martha and Chatty are always up for a good round of hippos!


By mid-morning we were all packed up and ready to head out...

In two cars we caravaned East anxiously awaiting our arrival in one of our favorite places! Nacogdoches... it's like a vacation!!

A place where you can clear your mind and eat of ice cream out of a fancy dish...


Okay, so maybe that doesn't really have anything to do with Nacogdoches but everything to do with Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh's beautiful and Aunt Emily's superb taste in ice cream dishes! :) It was treatment fit for a King and Caden was happy to indulge in his aunt and uncle's spoils, I can assure you!  :)

We all were!

We were in for such a treat that weekend because SO much of our family made the trek to celebrate Baby Whit, which gave us all a divine opportunity to meet Kennedy... just shy of 2 months old and the most precious thing you've ever seen! Clearly, I was smitten!! And whether she liked me or not it was hard to say, but I wasn't so much worried about that as long as we maintained our snuggle! :) I am so glad her Nana and Paw-Paw agreed to bring her and her sister and mommy!! :)


My cousin Michelle... 2 months post-baby... or not even... and looking A-mazing! It's just ridiculous!! Motherhood suits her though... all the way around!! 


My baby stalker was in love with sweet Kennedy too! Naturally, she loved all of the "gear" she came with too... especially her carseat buckles! :)


Kaki and Kendall got to play and that was a BIG treat for me to watch! Such cuties... and friends... cousins are your first friends! When I showed this picture to Kaki she said, "Aw, Kaki and friend Kendall." Love these two little girls!!


Kaki was thrilled to see Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh two weekends in a row... especially that Uncle Josh... she's got him wrapped up. She even played him against her Daddy when Daddy said no paci, she ran to Uncle Josh (who was in the other room and didn't hear the orders) who promptly gave her one. :) Smart girl!

Aunt Emily, as always, was the hostess with the mostess, gathering all of our favorites. In fact, it might seem that my kids are pretty high maintenance (and they are) with all of the things she stocked her pantry with! :) 


The night before the shower, after everyone arrived in the Piney Woods, Josh and Emily treated us to a yummy taco feast and of course we all passed around various children and ooooed and aahhhed and had a wonderful time just being family!


We attempted some photo ops with the older cousins and we did ok... but what did we expect??!


Cousin love... SO SWEET!!


After a yummy dinner and a fun evening snuggling with the baby (or maybe that was just me who got to do that... hehe), we all got a good night's rest before the big day... baby shower time!!

While the girls were showering baby Whit, Uncle Josh took the boys to the course to play some golf... And Cade-man got him another hat for his collection... he's going to need a hat closet before long! :)





The boys had a great day on the course and we had an even better morning celebrating Emily and Whit!


And managed to snap some cute pics!!


All of the hostesses for the shower!! YES... crazy right? Best shower I've ever help throw... so fun! Emily has lots of people who love her!!


Martha and Chatty... oh so cute!


Three Whitaker ladies... whoo, whoo, whoo!


And Sweet Emily opening her gifts! She has the GLOW, doesn't she??!!! Happy to be a Mommy! She was gracious and excited over every gift! 

We cannot wait for Baby Whit to make is arrival!! We all filled out cards on some of our predictions... weight, birthday, etc. I cannot wait to see which one of us was the closest!! :) Only time will tell for our sweet Whitters!


After the the fun at the shower, we had a relaxing afternoon shopping around town and relaxing and Josh and Em's house...

That night Emily's parents graciously hosted us at their house for dinner! It was SO fun and the perfect way to wrap up our weekend in Nac! The weather was gorgeous... cool and cloudy... it was a great night!




After Nac we made a quick turn-around at home before we headed to the beach... more to come!

Until then, We love you Baby Whit! Can't wait to meet you in September!!

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Fourth Celebrates Freedom

Well, I was all set to write a cutesy little ditty about our trip to CC for the fourth of July, but after spending 5 minutes alone on the first stanza I thought, "ain't no body got time for that!" So let the boring post ensue...

Although, I must say our trip was anything less than boring and my attempt at photog-ing this time around was valiant... truly! At 204 pictures snapped with a camera that does not also act as a communication device, I am proud of what I came home with and was even more inspired to remove the lens cap, pop up the flash and take a turn with the zoom more often. It's only right!

Before we left for the CC, Kaki got some new hair accessories! Justin or my mom, someone... suggested getting her some headbands for when we're just hanging around the house... girlfriend can't see through the curly mop-o-hair she's got without it... she is totally rockin' the 80s sweatband look!



We decided to make an extra long trip of it to CC because Josh, Emily and our two favorite niece/nephew pooches were coming for their final road trip before Baby Whit arrives. SO... we all got lots of time to sit around and hang! It was lovely! And hard to think that the next time we'll all be back in CC together we'll have another little booger to chase around... :) Okay so we may not be chasing him... but rocking him, snuggling with him, diapering him, etc.! CANNOT. WAIT!!!

We pretty much hung out in the pool the entire time... 


Floatin...

Loungin...


Cheesin...


Floatin some more...


Cheesin... 


Playin...


Dozin...


Relaxin...


Hoverin... oh wait... I mean, playin...


Lookin good-in... (?)


Dozin again...

I could publish a full length novel of pictures just like this one!!!


Kaki found this lounge chair to be the perfect pool chariot for her and all of her toys!




We did lots of eatin too... naturally. Kaki and Albi are TOO cool for school! One of my favorite pictures ever!! Truly fantastic!


Cute KK!


Oh wait... It's me...


And the Chackster!


Kaki loungin with sleeping beauty!


CHEESE!!


Sunny cheese!!


TOYS!


Sweet girl!


Caden trying to do some tricks Uncle Josh was showing him!


Sweet boy!


A boy (in his sister's shades, ahem) and his Mama... 


Aren't they cute?!!


Kaki got to celebrate her birthday with Aunt Emily and Uncle Josh while we were in CC... it was super fun to watch Kaki open their present in particular...

What did she get???

A MIRROR!!!


It might seem a bit random, but in truth, it was Aunt Emily's favorite toy as a child and after knowing Aunt Emily for almost 7 years now, we are assured that this in fact is quite believable... and we LOVE her for it and enjoy her stories of the things she and her beloved mirror used to do! Oh if only that mirror could talk to us... right??!!

They also gave her a bedazzled glitter frame. It came with a picture of a kitty cat inside which she loves! Every time she sees it  she says, "Kaki's kitty cat!" Dream on, sister, we's allergic!


Sadie girl wanted to see what Kaki got!


Kaki and Caden love their canine cousins so very much! I am afraid Whit won't be all that exciting for a while when they have Griff and Sadie to compare him too! Kaki got in on the Evans' family snuggle fest one afternoon... she was loving it!

We all have a soft spot for Griff... he is more human than dog and he has found his way into each of our hearts in the most endearing way!


We love Sadie too, but she truly is just a dog! :) And in the best way possible, I might add! :) It's okay to just be a dog... somebody's got to do it! Kaki and Sadie are both one of a kind chick-a-dees! Spunky, sweet and with a some serious HAIR!


Kaki and Uncle Josh have a thing... it's cute!


Real cute...


And she likes her Daddy too!!


And her bro does too!


Griffers...


Sade-ster!


Kk indulged (semi-indulged) my wishes for us all to have matching shirts to wear! I wanted tie-dye, but beggars can't be choosers, amen?! The Wal-Marts came through with some matching attire!! 


And so did our photo timer... YAY!! Always love a group shot!


Later in the evening we did some sparklers to celebrate our freedom!!






It was fun and festive and of course seriously patriotic!

One day we were there KK and Emily were twinkies... I thought they were too cute not to snap a pic! 


One evening we decided to head out to the beach for a bit and grill some s'mores!! S'more what?


Kaki obviously thought this idea was one of our best!


And Josh and Emily were excited to take their "kids" to the beach for the first time! It was a tender moment!

And this one was too...


Look at those proud parents... 


We did a bit of sandcastle building...


And wave running...


And picture taking...

Love this one of Griff and Em!


He was a bit timid... but was okay with his mama by his side!


The entire fam...


Da boyz...


Da girlz...


The last night of our trip Kk and Albi treated us to a fancy dinner on top of one of the downtown hotels... it was a fun way to end a GREAT trip!

Aren't they cute??!!


We tried...


Oh Caden...


The parents-to-be... 


So much to be thankful for the fourth of July! We cannot wait to add another member to our fun!! And even more excited that it's a two-legged friend and not a four-legged one!! We were starting to believe we were destined to be Dog Aunts and Uncles! :)

Thanks for hosting us KK and Albi! As always, it was super fun!! 

Love you each and all! :)