Holiday in SC (Part 1)

Addi and I have been in SC for over a week now. Scott is in Florida working, and I worked from here until Friday and am now taking some time off. Here are some of the pictures of our trip so far. We've visited with friends and are really enjoying ourselves. We spent a couple of days in Charleston and Michelle and Charles took Addi to the Children's Museum in downtown Charleston. While they were at the museum I worked on grades and collected the last bit of my dissertation data (yippee!!!). We also went to the James Island Festival of Lights. We got to finally meet little baby Cholly and spent time with Lindsey and Dana. Addi loved baby Cholly and wanted to hold and cuddle him. I didn't want to put him down! We went to the zoo with Erin and Eli. Addi LOVED the penguins, and we fed the giraffes. She was so excited to see Eli and was so sweet with him. She spent a weekend with Mimi and Granddaddy and has also enjoyed time with her Sitti and Papa. We decorated Christmas cookies twice - once with Michelle and once with my mom. This morning we visited with Meg and just hung out this afternoon. So far we have had a blast! Tomorrow we head to NC for a few days. We just love being here!

decorating sugar cookies at Aunt Chelle's

Look!

Yes, mom!?!

Festival of Lights

Addi and Michelle wore Uncle Charles out at the museum 

Holding baby Cholly

Look at that smile!

Dana and Addi

Giving kisses to the sweet baby boy!

heading to ugly sweater party 

Eli is ready for the zoo! 

I've got my ride!

Can we take him home?

Oh the penguins! The penguins are fun and exciting!

So we are actually in here with the kangaroos and wallabees?

Mom and Addi

Feeding the giraffes!

Addi, Erin, and Eli

Chuck and Maglio

Just hanging out with my cows

Talking to her cows

Playing in the yard

Just us girls

Last weekend Scott went to NC to watch Clemson play in the ACC championship (GO TIGERS!) and Addi and I had a girls' weekend. I had a lot of work to do so I couldn't make the trip, but with help from Natalie, I was able to get a huge amount of work finished. We had a busy weekend...after Addi's trip to the playground with Natalie, Addi took a nap and then the two of us went to Lake Ella to see the ducks, pet the friendly dogs, listen to the music, and just hang out. That night Natalie, Brandy, and Cristal came over for Natalie's 30th birthday, and we had more girl time with dinner and drinks! Sunday after church, Addi and I went to Vanessa and Sylvie's for a play-date, and then had lunch at our favorite restaurant. Scott ended up catching an earlier flight so we picked him up early and were able to spend some family time before the day ended. It was a nice weekend filled with a lot of friends, family, and fun!

Addi wanted to help me clean...of course she was wearing pjs and her birthday tiara, but that is the fun of it!

A rainbow at Lake Ella

Seriously watching the ducks

Rocks and leaves!

Happy Birthday, Natalie!

Cake pops at Sylvie's house

A few pictures from Thanksgiving

Here are a few pictures of our trip to SC for Thanksgiving.

We had a lot going on during that week...

Wednesday: Michelle and I spent time in Charleston doing baby stuff...I LOVE baby stuff and Michelle is gorgeous!
Thursday: Two Thanksgiving dinners with family - oh my the yummy goodness and lots of fun with family!
Friday: Black Friday Shopping with Mom, Michelle, and my aunts and cousins - so fun and great deals!; Aunt Mary's 50th birthday party
Saturday: 60th birthday parties for Mr. Ricky and Aunt Jane and Clemson/USC game
Sunday: Travel home

I have a TON of pictures that I will put on Shutterfly and send out via email. Miss everyone dearly!

This is the face Addi makes if you ask her to say "cheese"

Addi's first roasted marshmallow...she looked at PaPa like he ruined the marshmallow and asked for a new one (haha!)

Happy 60th birthday! Orange velvet cake!

My AECT Trip

I won the 2011 AECT Internship award and went to the conference back in November. I had a great time and learned so much from the experience. It was such an honor (although I knew this I didn't REALLY know this until we got to Jacksonville). During the week, I spent time learning from the top leaders in our field and when I left Jacksonville, I was a different person. I learned so much about our field, about research, writing, publishing, academia, mentoring, what being a leader truly means and so on. It was eye-opening! My experience doesn't stop here. During the next year the other interns and I will work on our service project to the AECT organization, and we will determine how we can best give to our field and this professional organization.

Santa Pictures 2011

Addison was very excited to see Santa Clause and said this multiple times on Saturday. When she saw him she said hello and waved excitedly. But she did not want to sit on his lap...I felt a little guilty making her but figured it was a rite of passage. Until this year we were 2-0 for Santa pictures (2009 and 2010) and 0-2 school pictures (although not smiling and happy at least she took them). The tables have turned :)

Picture 1

Picture 2 (Picture 4 really but they didn't give us the ones of her grabbing me - I am to the right of the chair)

Last picture - she was like whatever let's get this over with and go get a cookie

Trick or Treat!

This year Addi was a butterfly for Halloween. She was excited to dress up and kept saying, I'm a beautiful butterfly. Yesterday we went to a church down the street for a Halloween festival and Trunk or Treat. Addi enjoyed it but it took her a couple of times before she understood that they were giving out candy! She also took a while trying to decide which piece to take and got really excited when they said she could have two. So sweet.

I'm trying to eat my candy...stop taking pictures, mom!

This morning before school. They are having a Halloween party at school :)

We also entered Dylan into the costume contest at our vet's office. She was able to wear Addi's costume as well.