Christmas: The Short Version

River with one of her favorite gifts, three pairs of Dora underwear.

* she is wearing all three pairs at once over her pants

* they are all backwards

The much anticipated tricycle.


Cameron when he saw his iPod. Our house may never be the same.

Christmas this year was just our little family of three, and it was really fun. River opened each present with such excruciating slowness that Cameron and I were dying with anticipation to see what was inside! River did get excited once she actually opened the darn thing.

What We Do When it Snows

SWIM! We escaped the frigid Buffalo weather Saturday and swam all day at Splash Lagoon with our friends. It was AWESOME! (Thanks Jesse, Andrew, Weston and Rhett!)



River and Weston ran around like crazies splashing in the water. The picture above was soo soo soo cute because they both wanted to go on the ride but they weren't tall enough. They have their faces smashed between the bars to get a better look.

River eyeing the kids on the alligator. "Hey, how come you get to ride on a ferocious crocodile and all I have is this dumb log?"

(please ignore my mickey mouse voice in this video. thanks.)


River loves this Santa hat. When Cam or I put on the hat, she says "Say 'ho ho ho' Mommy!"

We have been getting hit with storm after storm...we've gotten even more after I took this pic.

Random picture.

On the way to the water park, this puzzle kept River entertained.. Also, she will not ride in the car with shoes or socks on. It can't be done.

Christmas Letter and the Real Reveal

Happy Holidays to all of our friends and family!

Although we have made many friends and enjoy living in Buffalo, we miss all of you! Since we live so far away, we wanted to update everyone on our progress and new adventures in life.

Cameron is thoroughly enjoying his experience as a new administrator for the Buffalo VA. We moved to Buffalo last July after Cameron accepted an administrative fellowship with the Veteran Affairs as part of the Government Health Administration Training Program. There are only 23 other fellows in various VA’s across the country, so we are very proud of him. Cameron loves the fact that Buffalo is the nation’s hotspot for buffalo wings and pizza. You can even order buffalo wings ON pizza. Also, much to Sheena’s chagrin, Cameron won’t settle with ordering medium or hot buffalo wings, but insists on getting fire, suicide, or the infamous DOA wings (dead on arrival).

While Sheena also enjoys buffalo wings, she is more partial to New York cheesecake. She enjoys teaching the 11 and 12 year olds Sunday school class, attending play group and going to story time with River. She is also working part-time as an after-school program teacher for the YMCA (anything for a free gym membership!) and sells the hats she crochets. Oh, and she also updates the family blog once in a while. Please stop by and visit us at cameronwhitefamilyblog.blogspot.com.

River is no longer our tiny little infant. She will be turning two in January! She is inquisitive, full of spunk and keeps us on our toes. Her favorite phrase is “You no do that!” However, our favorite is when you ask her if she wants a drink or something, she says “Oh sure! That sounds nice.” It is really funny when all you expect is a ‘yes’ or ‘no’! River also loves to dance, sing and read. All of which are hilarious to watch. Her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite things to play with are cars, balls, puzzles and her horsey (aka Daddy). We can’t believe how grown up she is, and she can’t wait to be a big sister.

The most exciting thing this Holiday Season is that we are expecting our second baby on April 3rd, and have just discovered the baby’s gender. Hold your breath everybody, the baby is a… girl! Today, River officially wants to name the baby “Fuzzball Ava”. Has a ring to it, don’t you think? If you have any better ideas, please let us know!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.



With Love,

The Whites



More Christmas-y stuff.

We decorated our tree. Sadly, it looked WAY more impressive before we put our presents under it. Thanks to everyone for all the packages of gifts we got in the mail!

And River and I went with friends to eat breakfast with Santa at the mall. For some reason all the kids got a Bob the Builder hat. Not Christmas-y, but whatever.

River got a candy cane from Santa and she wasn't even scared.Well, maybe just a little.

Also, VERY BIG NEWS. River has been sleeping in her big-girl bed for a week now. She started climbing out of her crib at four in the morning, so we decided it was time. The transition went so smoothly I wish we had made the switch sooner. River loves climbing up under the covers and has me get under the covers too, so I can see how nice it is. I must admit, it's pretty nice! Now that I'm pregnant we often take our daily nap together, and it's my favorite part of the day. Is that pathetic or what? Don't answer that!

Baby Names

Last week our whole family got together (well we weren't there, but pretty much everyone on my Dad's side was) in Roosevelt for Thanksgiving. After the turkey was eaten they all got out slips of paper and wrote down 2 boy names and 2 girl names they liked and sent them to us in the mail. It was really funny to see who wrote down which names. Thanks everyone! Ty's were actually the worst....don't worry he knows it ;) ...and we really liked a few of the others. We had a blast reading each name. River even picked her favorite, as you will see in the videos below.

TAKE 1

TAKE 2

However, she who wears a bowl as a hat may not pick a baby's name. It's an ancient rule.

ps. We had an awesome Thanksgiving with friends who should seriously think about becoming professional chefs. I forgot to take pictures, because uh, I was busy eating, but I did manage to take a picture of the leftover pie we brought home. Yum diddly um.

Like Sand Through the Hourglass

So Are the Days of our Lives

MONDAY

It snowed!!!


TUESDAY

We made this Christmas ornament for family home evening. It was really fun once we convinced River that the clay was NOT EDIBLE.

WEDNESDAY

Started crocheting this octopus. River and Cameron played Super Mario and Tetris!


THURSDAY

Made this delish garlic loaf.


FRIDAY

Finally gave in to my pregnancy craving of Necco Wintergreen Lozenges. You know, the candy that tastes like pepto-bismo? They are divine, by the way.

SATURDAY

We had girl time and put curlers in River's hair.

SUNDAY

The Red Smurf goes on potty patrol.

You done? You wash your hands again? Ta Da!

Hope your week was as eventful as ours!

The Big Reveal

We, by choice, did not find out River's gender until she was born.

It was a huge struggle for us to decide if we wanted to know the gender of our second baby before the birth. However, after much debate, and a few 'rock-scissor-paper' contests, we decided to take the plunge and find out.

And we now know that the baby is...


a girl!





a boy!

That's right my friends, we have deduced through the superior technology of modern medicine that our baby will be either male or female! Isn't it amazing what ultrasound machines can do?

Seriously though. We were thwarted by our very own baby, who was curled up in the most adorable little ball you've ever seen. There was no peeking between those legs!

(I thoughtfully created this 'key' for those of you who aren't adept at deciphering the crystal clear images an ultrasound can produce ;) )

And the little stinkers' legs were even crossed. I have proof! Look at these cutsie crossed feetsies.

This is my favorite sequence of pictures. Here, the baby seems to be waving. It's a profile picture of the baby laying on it's back, cute little nose and chin visible...and there's the hand right above the nose.

The good news is, the baby is perfectly healthy.

And we'll be having another ultrasound Dec. 3. Because of the baby's position there were a few other things the doctor still needs to check on. Well, wish us better luck next time!

Scat! Halloween Cat!

River loved trick or treating this year. She would say "Trick or Treat" and get her candy. Then, as soon as the door closed she would say, pointing to the next house, "That house, mommy! That house!"

I crocheted our costumes this year for about two bucks total. River was a teddy bear, I was a panda bear, and Cameron was a lumberjack. Sweet beard, eh? There's no picture of me, but trust me, my baby belly made the perfect panda pudge.

And Cameron won the pie-eating contest at the church party. Really, though, I knew he would win the whole time. I mean, this is Cameron we are talking about. And he sweetly marched River around the gym for the costume parade. He's such a great dad. Happy Halloween everyone!

Bonus video:

The Master Multi-Tasker

River cooks dinner while putting teddy down to nap.

....Mission and Vacation...

First and foremost.

Cameron's parents received their mission call to the Washington D.C. Temple Mission! The best part is, Washington D.C. is only a quick 7.5 hour jaunt from Buffalo. We just have to drive through Pennsylvania and Maryland and we're there!

The D.C. Temple is absolutely gorgeous. When we were engaged, Cameron and I saw this temple on a military field trip. It was really breathtaking. I can't wait to see it again.

Second.

My Mom and Dad flew into Buffalo to see us! River already misses them. She got spoiled silly with candy-corn, a new dolly and fancy new pink boots. ;) Not to mention reading through River's entire book collection three times. Hey, what are grandparents for?

Anyway, we did tons of fun stuff.

We went to Niagara Falls.

And to Palmyra, The Sacred Grove, the Smith Farm and Hill Cumorah. My parents came at the perfect time to see all the beautiful fall colors of New York.

We also went to a pumpkin festival and to the mall to decorate Halloween cookies. If you look at the middle picture carefully you can see the 'pumpkin' that River picked for herself. It's actually a tiny yellow squash! She wouldn't let it go, and kept saying 'no. my pumpkin!'-'River's pumpkin!' , so the nice farmer man let her have it for free.

We dressed River up and met some friends at the mall festivities. Look at their cute costumes....

Parker is a soccer dude, McKenzie is a biker chick and River is a country bumpkin. While River got to scribble a face on a pumpkin and even got a 'Halloween Cat' painted on her arm, her favorite part was decorating the giant sugar cookie with Grandpa.

And by request. The newest addition to 'Wheels on the Bus'. I guess Cameron was feeling left out.

And animals noises. I love the 'baby sounds' face! (by the by, River is saying 'cat' in sign language while she says meow....just in case you were wondering what she was doing.)