Memories from the McKnight's: 2011

Friday, July 8, 2011

Family Beach Pics

These are just a “FEW” of my favorite pictures we took while we were at the beach…

When I was a little girl, my favorite time of the year was not Christmas. It was not my birthday. The week that I most looked forward to every year was the week my family would pack up and head to Navarre Beach, Florida. When I say my family, I really mean my parents and sisters, my Nana, and ALL of my aunts, uncles and cousins. When you get this many Whittington’s together, fun is bound to be had and memories are bound to be made (if any of you Whittington’s are reading this-think Miss Hopkins, Holiday Inn Sunday Brunch Mickey Mouse pancakes and Kids’ Night skits!). And amazing memories I made, every single year. Unfortunately now my aunts, uncles, and cousins (and now my cousins’ kids) now live all over the country and everyone is super busy. So now it is usually just my parents, my aunt Lisa, and me and my kiddos that head to Navarre Beach every summer (and sometimes we let Ryan tag along for a few days, too!) Smaller group, but still the same amazing memories! I can’t wait each year to share my childhood memories with my girls. I hope they cherish this time as much as I do.

This year we were thrilled when Ryan had 2 extra vacation days and was able to join us for part of the week! The girls love spending time with their daddy. Since Ryan was going to have to come back Tuesday, we had to take my car and his truck…so we split the kids up and each took one on the drive there!

First stop of the trip-donuts for breakfast…I think we made it to Lake Charles before stopping!

Maddie trying to decide which wave looks the best!

Anna jumping the waves

I took this picture in the evening, so the water looks kind of green/brown, but the water was actually clear the whole time we were there…and I was VERY thankful for that b/c this girl does NOT do seaweed!

One of my favorite things to do at the beach is look for sea shells. This was my favorite find on Day 1.

Day 2-building sand castles

How could you not love this?!

I think she loves the beach as much as I do!

Bathing beauty + a few more freckles, of course!

I am going to put our family beach pictures in a separate post…I loved how they turned out!

I Hope You Dance!

Please forgive me, as this post is a bit out of order chronologically, but I am trying to catch up a bit on my blog today. I am planning on making my blog into books for my girls to have when they are older (in addition to their scrapbooks, of course!) and I wanted to be sure and include this special day!

Both girls took dance from Mrs. Liz this year and absolutely LOVED every minute of it!I cannot say how much I admire Mrs. Liz’s patience (especially with the little ones AND after she has taught at school all day!) I was a bit apprehensive as the recital grew near as to whether or not Anna Katherine would even get on the stage, much less dance! I should point out that at her Thanksgiving PowWow at school she kept her hands over her ears and would not even look up & at the Christmas program she stood on the front row and cried the entire program. Not a great start to our public performances! :-)

I knew both sets of grandparents were going to be able to come into town for the recital, so I bit the bullet, paid for the costumes, and decided if Anna didn’t go on stage…well, it wouldn’t be the end of the world-even to this OCD mommy! Somewhere at the beginning of April the big day finally came…the day costumes came in! All it took was one look at her costumes, and Anna was hooked! I should probably mention here that Maddie had been hooked since the day Mrs. Liz told her there was part of the recital that she was going to be the only one on stage while the queen dance around her!

Here are a “few” pics of my precious dancers!

The girls with Mrs. Liz

My little ballerina

I may be a bit partial, but Maddie looked absolutely beautiful (and a little to grown up for me!)

Anna in her tap/jazz costume. I love this picture b/c it totally captures her personality!

Papa wasn’t able to come to the recital b/c he had just had knee surgery, so he sent the girls cards-with peppermints in them of course!

A Day in DeRidder!

Yesterday the girls and I headed over to Granny & Papa’s to visit with Joanna and the kids before they went back to TN. The kids played so well together & we even had a fashion show (thanks Granny for letting them play with your old nightgowns!)!

Anna LOVES swinging at Granny & Papa’s. By this time, she was FILTHY-notice the dirt on her nose…what was I thinking with the white shorts?! :-)

We really should have bought stock in American Girl 8 years ago!!!

What’s a summer afternoon without WATERMELON?! Yum!!!

As hot as it was, the kids still played outside some. Maddie loves to jump rope!

Worsham Family Fun

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Shreveport with Ryan’s side of the family, celebrating Grandma Worsham’s 90th birthday. Four generations gathered for lots of visiting and LOTS of fun! Maddie and Anna got the chance to play with their cousins from Tennessee (Jay & Joanna’s kids) and New Orleans (Chad & Cole’s kids). Since we spent about 7 hours at the church where we were having Grandma’s party, we were extremely thankful for DS’s, Leapsters, and iPhones!!! I have to say I was proud of all the kids, as there were no naps and no meltdowns this day!

We don’t get to Shreveport as nearly as often as we would like, and as a result our girls don’t have the opportunity to know their Great Grandma Worsham as well as I wished they did. I think Anna had only met her once before this weekend, and that was when she was a baby, so it warmed my heart when I saw how she reacted to her. I honestly thought she might be a bit stand-offish, but it was quite the opposite. As soon as Great Grandma arrived, Anna went right up to her and gave her a hug-and pretty much stayed by her side the rest of the day…keeping her hand softly on Great Grandma’s arm and drawing her pictures (which Great Grandma told her were the prettiest she had ever seen!)

Great Grandma Worsham & Anna Katherine…I love this picture!

Anna & Great Grandma Worsham with one of the MANY pictures Anna drew for her.

After Great Grandma’s birthday party, we played the Worsham Family Minute to Win It game…SO much fun! We all laughed so hard and had a great time! I’m looking forward to the next one already!