Trip to Charlotte

Whitney and I recently took a girls trip to Charlotte. We flew down on Tuesday morning and came home Saturday morning, so we had a nice long visit. We had to leave Tim behind for Valentine's Day but we got to spend it with Brady, Niki, Cole and Haley. Sue cooked a special meal and she and John served us like we were in a restaurant. The kids all thought it was pretty cool!

We got to enjoy some warm Charlotte weather on the back patio and a fun trip to the park. Grandma had a few fun toys of her own and borrowed some toys from a friend, so Whitney kept busy playing with all the new things. She especially liked the play food and Mister Potato Head. Haley came over a few afternoons to play with Whitney. They had so much fun and she really wore Whitney out! Whitney also watched Princess and the Frog and Snow White for the first time.

I got very spoiled and got to sleep in everyday! I also took advantage of the amazing kids consignment shops and found tons of great stuff for Whitney and the baby! I also got treated to a manicure and pedicure!

We had a fantastic time and are thankful for the quality time with the family!

Movie time!

Fun big girl time!



Whitney wearing Uncle Brady out!

Valentine Activities

I knew I wanted to do a few fun activities with Whitney for Valentine's Day but wasn't exactly sure how to get her to grasp the concept. I came across a book that perfectly explains several Valentine activities you could do. And how perfect, it was Curious George! We read this book for a few days so Whitney was so excited when I said we were going to do something for Valentine's Day today.

First, we decorated a box so that as she received Valentines, she could put them in her box. This kept her occupied for a good hour. It was great!

Then it was the first step of making Valentine's Day cards for Papa and the Grandparents. One day we started with making red hand prints. Then I let her go crazy with the finger paints. The next day we put the Valentines together. Below is the finished product. I give credit to my friend Kelly for the hearts cut out of the finger painting art!

Cookies! You may remember at Christmas the post about the annual Christmas cookies. Well, we do it for Valentine's Day too. I hosted it at my house and along with Ann and Gigi, my mom and sister joined in. Of course, Whitney's meals consisted of mainly cookies that day. I made her a separate batch of slice n' bake so she could decorate with us but without using up our fancy cookies.

This year we got very ambitious and took on some new recipes. Red velvet cake pops. They were so delicious and looked pretty too. But I can't take any credit for them, I was mainly on cookie duty. My friend Sam sent me her amazing sugar cookie recipe and stopped by to show us how to do the fancy Royal Icing. First you do a thicker border, then flood the cookie with thinner icing and then decorate away. Ann found some cool techniques online that created what I would describe as a sort of tie dye heart effect. We were pretty proud of how they all turned out! I believe our total was 90 cookies and 45 cake pops!

The weekend leading up to Valentine's Day, Tim and I had a little DC Getaway. We wanted to do something like this before the little boy arrives! We took Whitney out to stay at my parents on Saturday morning and we had about 30 hours of just the two of us. We started off the weekend with some shopping at the outlet mall. We came home napped and relaxed on the couch. (I can't help but think what in the world did we do to keep ourselves occupied before Whitney!) Then we went to a great dinner at Sonoma Restaurant and enjoyed a long leisurely dinner. We stayed at a fantastic hotel called The Liaison Hotel in Capitol Hill. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Art and Soul restaurant and made a quick stop by Eastern Market on the way home. Definitely, more of a summer activity! Sunday we relaxed around the house and got ready for the week. It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks Mom and Dad!

On Valentine's Day morning we got up early and Whitney and I flew to Charlotte to visit Grandma and Grandpa for the week. We got to have a special dinner with Brady, Niki, Cole, and Haley. We sat at the festive dining room table while Sue and John played restaurant. We were served a delicious 3 course meal. We had fun conversation and Whitney had fun running around and playing hide n' seek. We of course wished Tim could have joined us but someone has to work around here! He sent a special delivery of chocolate covered strawberries and cake pops! Can't wait to devour them up! Thanks, Babe! We miss you!

Just the Three of Us

This past weekend we took our last trip to Kiawah before the baby boy arrives. It was incredibly relaxing. The weather was perfect. I got treated to a little spa day! It was just what I needed. As we lounged on the deck the last day while Whitney was napping, I realized it was our last trip as a family of three. It brought a mixture of emotion as we approach a new phase of our life. I am so eager for him to arrive but I thought, ok, I really need to enjoy all of this! I will not feel this well rested and relaxed for a LONG time!

We also had a wonderful time celebrating my Mom's 60th birthday! We enjoyed a fantastic dinner out and are so lucky to continue to create so many family memories together!

I guess I wasn't on top of my picture taking this trip. We somehow missed a picture of the birthday girl! But here are a few highlights.

I really didn't mean for us to match so much!

She looks so old in this picture:(

She kicked this ball all day long.
Helping assemble some new deck furniture.

Enjoying the fruits of her labor!

My Little Yogi

Though Tim calls me a drill sergeant at times when it comes to eating and working out, Whitney has taken a liking to exercise all on her own. I swear I am not running drills on my two year old! Whenever Tim or I have worked out in the basement Whitney has always loved to join in. Lifting 2 lbs dumbbells, doing lunges, push ups or upward facing dog. She even takes ques from my prenatal workout video on when to bring me my water bottle! When we go for walks outside, all Whitney wants to do is run. And I have to say she has a mean left soccer kick!

Two weeks ago I got stricken with some type of food poisoning. It was awful and being pregnant it seemed to take me twice as long to recover. Poor Whitney just looked confused as I spent a good part of two days in bed or on the couch. I searched for things to do and found a show On Demand for kids called Fun and Fit. How perfect, Whitney is in a Fun and Fit class at the community center. It wasn't exactly for toddlers. More like 8 year olds doing yoga. But Whitney loved it, rolled out her yoga mat and followed along. Well, a little bit. I was very impressed with her tree pose in the picture below.