New Aprons, Valentines, Icecream...What Have You

There is really nothing cuter than kids with ice cream all over their faces. Cameron's mom has a picture of him when he was a toddler. He is out in the yard, clad only in his diaper, eating a vanilla ice cream cone. The icecream is all over him, but it's my favorite picture.

River helped me make these Valentines that Cameron took to his office for a presentation.

And lastly, these are pictures that River took herself. I love the nose shot.

Apparently River thought that our lunch of Doritos, bananas and canned peaches was photo worthy. Look at how black that banana is! Yikes.

Sister Johnson sewed Riv and Riah these new aprons. Aren't they amazing? Leah and Kayla wanted to get in on the picture action too so we set up a neat stair shot, complete with Oopma Loompa hands. ;)

A few words for our girls.

For River:

When River woke up on her fourth birthday this year I told her, "You're four years old today!" She burst into tears and said "No I'm not Mom! I don't feel like I'm four!" It was so sad. I thought she would be excited, but instead she kept stomping around and saying "I'm NOT four, Mom!" I think she expected to wake up and have something magical and wonderful happen. When I finally convinced her that she was indeed four, she was still upset, so I asked her what she wanted to do now that she was four. She wanted to crack an egg. So we made cookies and I let her crack the eggs. She smashed the first egg and got it everywhere and she started to cry, but with a bit of coaxing I got her to try again. And she did it! She was pretty happy that she could "crack an egg now that I'm four!" It was so cute. She is still mad that she can't do handstands or whistle yet, but I keep telling her to practice. (ah, the dreams of a four year old!)

The other day River was playing by herself when I heard her shout "WHAT IN TARNATION?!"
It was hilarious.

When Cameron asked her to help set the table she said, "Sir! Yes sir!"

She loves to dance around and sing her own songs.

She tells stories while creating "masterpieces" with her new art kit.

River and Sariah are really sweet together. I love it when they give each other hugs, or when River pretends to be the baby and Sariah will put her arm around River's neck and feed her "take"(cake, hee hee) Ah, it melts my heart.

Riv isn't shy. She likes to make new friends where ever she goes. She told the cashier at the gas station, "This is my little sister Sariah. She's the cutest little sister ever! We are buying her a potty treat!" Too much information!

She's been sleeping with her baseball bat lately to "kill the monsters" that come into her room. At times she can be very girly and at others times she is rough and tumble. Her favorite game to play with the neighbors is "war" which I'm not sure I like, but it involves all the neighbor kids with swords and shields protecting "Princess River" from the bad guys. River's the youngest one (besides Riah) so she always gets protected and she always has to have her own sword. One time I looked out the window and she was carrying a HUGE toy bazooka. I have no idea where she got it from, but it was pretty hilarious seeing her pack it around.

River keeps us on our toes, but she is also very caring and kind to others. She's curious about everything and when she doesn't understand something she tilts her head crinkles up her cute little nose.

For Sariah:

Ah, my little Riah. Why is her age so darn cute? Sariah is talking like crazy. Some of my favorite things she likes to say are

"I'm tute." (cute)

Or she'll grab my cheeks, look me straight in the eye and say "I want take!" (cake)

"I want ba -lue crayon." Her favorite color is blue and when she says it her lips poke out like a little fish.

"I look for toe jam now." That is my cue to take off her socks so she can search her toes. Ah ha ha ha. So silly!

Cameron loves it when she says,
"I get tandy?" (candy)
"Love you!"
"Where mommy go?"
"More milk, pleeeaase."
"Look at my baby Riv!"


Sariah has been potty trained for a couple of weeks now, knock on wood! She really does great and hasn't ever had an accident after the first few days. If I'm washing the dishes or something when she has to go, River will even take her and help her go potty.

Sariah loves to run up and down the kitchen floor as fast as she can yelling, "Look at me, Daddy! I fast!" When we are on a drive she also loves to spot all of the American flags in town. (River did this too, I suppose it's my way of keeping them occupied in the car)

She knows her colors and shapes and loves to draw and paint. She will also dance and "jump" off of things like pillows. Even though her feet don't leave the ground she thinks she's jumping SO high.

It's hard to ever be unhappy when Sariah is around. She's a little ball of chubby cheeks and pouty lips and warm hugs.

We love you girls!

4 is a Magical Number

This year I was debating if we should have a family party or a friend party for River's 4th birthday, so I asked her.

She said, quite decisively, "I want a friend party. Like Uncle Joe and Aunt Jessica and all those guys." I said, "So a family party." "Yes." she says.

After that I asked her what kind of cake and decorations she wanted to have. Dragons, bugs, dinosaurs, princesses, etc. She said, "No Mom! A family party!" She was adamant about it, even when I waited a few days and asked her again.

So we played 'Pin the Tie on the Daddy' and had a family cake, complete with cake ball heads of our family: Cameron, Me, River, Sariah and our pet fish, Minny. Unfortunately this is the only good picture I got of one of the heads. The rest got gobbled up too fast!!! You can see the completed cake in the video.

We also had a heart tablecloth and hearts hanging everywhere because family=love! Plus, I couldn't think of any other 'family' oriented decor.River ate Sariah's head.

The birthday girl opening her first present.
Macee and Sariah eyeing all the presents.

River and Uncle Ty. Free birthday rides!
Lots of family came to help us celebrate. Thanks to everyone for being there!


River opened this present and yelled, "ANOTHER WORKBOOK! I LOVE WORKBOOKS!" I hope she will say that in a few years when she starts school!

Jacob with his prize from one of the party games!


River and Sariah having a blast with Grandpa and Grandma White.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIVER. YOU ARE DEAR AND SWEET AND BRING US SO MUCH JOY.

Christmas Dresses....

Oh, and River's softball bat she got from Santa. League of Their Own, anyone?

Sariah looks like a ballerina in this picture. Love it. She was spinning around too. Until she fell down. Whoops!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We stayed home for Christmas this year, and my parents and Blake came to celebrate with us! This picture is of Sariah 'reading' all the names on the presents. It was hard to keep Sariah out of the all the gifts, but luckily she just liked to transfer them around the house, not tear them open. She didn't know what wonderful surprises lurked behind the wrappings.

Ah, my beloved sander I got from my folks. Love it! Thanks guys!

It's was so wonderful to be with Mom, Dad and Blake for Christmas. Good times!

This is the present that River decorated and wrapped for Papa Brent. Pretty snazzy.

Grammy and Sariah

Daddy and the babe. Too cute.

The girls had so much fun with Uncle Blake. After he went home Sariah kept asking, "Where Unca Blake go?"River and Sariah both got big art kits from Santa. And it's a good thing too, because they burn through crayons and paint like crazy. It seemed like I was buying crayons more often than groceries!

White Family Christmas Party

My favorite part of the Christmas party is THE NAVITY PLAY. I love that Cameron's family has this tradition. River really, really wanted to be a shepherd. Doesn't she look adorable? Heck, they all look adorable. Aftynn, the lovely angel, bringing good tidings of joy. River and Gabby, shepherds watching their flock.

Sariah was a cute little manger animal. Like a horse or a camel or something else cute!This picture kills me. Sariah, I mean, the camel, is crying her head off, and then there is the donkey, who is pooped out from trodding all the way to Bethlehem. The animals always get the hardest jobs. Ah, gotta love kids.

This is Jacob in an awesome wiseman costume.

Mary and the shepherd are tight.

Santa also came to the party. River asked him for "a pink purse with a heart on the front, a it has lots of toys inside." We actually saw Santa 4 times this year and River asked for the same thing everytime.

Sariah wouldn't sit on Santa's lap and cried when I tried to put her on his lap. At home Sariah loves putting on our Santa hat and saying "Ho Ho Ho!" so I don't know why she was scared of Santa. She did like the present he gave her, however.

I Painted My Chandelier Lime Green....and other fun stuff.

What can I say? Green makes me happy. I actually LOVE the way it turned out.

Oh! I can say thank you to Cam for going along with my crazy schemes. Thank you!

I also loved the way this earring-hanger turned out. I made it for a friend's Christmas present. Now I want one for myself.

I am sorting through a MASSIVE amount of Christmas photos and videos, but I did download these pics of the gingerbread house River and her grandparents made. A little ramshackle, but cute none-the-less.

I love the pictures of River and Papa. They are ALWAYS silly!

More Christmas photos to follow. Sigh.