Halloween 2009!

Like our past two Halloweens in Virginia, this one was filled with activities for the kids. We started the week off with the library party, then had the preschool party, and spent Halloween night at the branch trunk-or-treat activity. The kids got so much candy from the first two parties that I (secretly) used it to hand out at the trunk-or-treat. Isn't that horrible? Haha. Don't worry, they both got TONS of candy at the trunk-or-treat and didn't even notice that they only ended up with 5 pounds of candy instead of 10....which is better for ALL of us!

Here are the pictures I got throughout the week.

This is one of the Halloween songs they learned at the preschool. Sydney and Jackson sang it for weeks at home and it was fun to finally hear the whole class sing. Accents and all. ;-)

And lastly, here's a picture McKay snapped yesterday before church of our handsome little Jackson.

37 weeks

Due to some issues with my placenta (which I won't go into detail about) and a stubborn baby who loves to act up during fetal monitoring, I have been able to have several ultrasounds over the last couple of months. Today was one of those visits where I got a surprise ultrasound to check on our little guy. From the looks of things he's got lots of hair, chubby cheeks, and the ultrasound tech asked if his Dad is tall (um, no... he's not)but maybe that means that the baby looks long..? Anyway, here's a cute little picture of our baby. 18 more days and we'll finally be able to hold him in our arms. (Thank heavens because there just isn't any more room for him to grow inside of me.)

Fall

Fall is in full swing here in Virginia. It's beautiful everywhere you look and we finally got out and took a few pictures. I don't have any good pictures of the red and orange trees, but here are a few cute ones of the family.

In our front yard.

Across the street from our chapel.

Jackson and McKay doing the "Grandma Gifford Eye".

Jackson showing off how strong he is.

And here's me 9 months pregnant with twins.
(Ok fine, I'm only 8 months pregnant with one, but I could sure pass for the other...)

Last year we waited until a week before Halloween to go buy pumpkins and everywhere in Grundy was sold out. It was sad to miss out on carving. So, this year we bought our pumpkins nice and early and went over to our friends the Gilberg's house to carve. We had lots of fun.

Jackson with a pumpkin lid. I'm not sure why he held it to his ear...

Our finished masterpieces....oooh... ahhh!

It was funny how grossed out both kids were with reaching inside the gooey pumpkins. Here's a video.

We've got a busy busy busy week ahead. I'm looking forward to getting lots of fun Halloween pictures to post. I really love this time of year!

Also, just 22 more days until baby #3 will be here!!

Coming soon...

-Fall pictures

-Pumpkin carving pictures

-Pregnant belly picture....we'll just have to see about that.

What's going on with the Whitneys...

Just a few random things that have been going on around here.

On the way to church on Sunday our car was flashing between 'ICE' and '33 degrees'. Brrr. I'm loving every second of the cool/cold weather!

Curious George visited the library this week. We read lots of books about him and other monkeys before he made his appearance. After every book Jackson would ask, "NOW is it time to wake him up?" (I think the librarian told Jackson that he was sleeping when we first got to the library.)

I love just-out-of-the-bath-kids. It's been a while since I took a picture like this...so here ya go.

This is the last picture I took of the kids in their towels. It was shortly after moving to VA in 2007. Crazy how fast they grow!!

We made a chain tonight to help count down the days until some fun things that are coming up.

-Primary Program (there are videos of the kids doing their parts at the bottom of this post.)

-Library Halloween Party

-Emilie's (Sydney and Jackson's friend) birthday party

-Preschool Halloween Party

-Branch Trunk-or-Treating

-Grandma coming (in preparation for the new baby)

-THE NEW BABY!

Jackson's primary part.

"I am a spirit child of Heavenly Father."

Sydney's primary part.

This next video is of Jackson singing I am a Child of God. He's known the words to the song for a long time, but is recently learning how to carry a tune. Of course when I took the video he sang the wrong tune a few times...but it's better than his usual monotone singing. Cute boy.

And lastly, tonight when I was helping Jackson put his pj's on he showed how he can be a "muscle guy". Maybe some day there will be some muscles to go with those nice ribs. Haha. (Sorry...I turned the camera and can't flip the video.)

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

Funny boy.

Something Jackson often says is "I'm just tired and hungry!"

The other night at dinner he proved his point.

On another note, it's cooling off in Grundy and we're loving it.

September in Review

It's flying by.

Jackson barfed only a few minutes after we had put the kids to bed. When we went in there to help him, he was covered in it. He was really scared and in a crying/ trying to keep control voice said, "What is this?" Imagine his thoughts. Doesn't feel good, some kind of stuff is all over him, what's the deal?!

I don't know where he got it, but Jackson started saying, "You betcha!" When I say it back to him, he says, "No, YOU betcha!"

I was being lazy in the morning and hadn't put my teeth in yet. I didn't think anyone could tell... Sydney was listening to me and interrupted to say, "Dad, your voice doesn't sound so good. It's like: Tss Stss tssssstts. Maybe you forgot to put your teeth in today."

I asked the kids about their belly buttons. They pulled up their shirts and showed me. Then I asked if Mom had one, so they attacked her trying to see. While they were distracted, I pulled my pants up really high to cover mine. Then I asked if they thought I had one, so they came and pulled up my shirt -- but couldn't find a belly button. They decided maybe only some people have them.

The kids watched Go Diego Go, and on one part Diego had to choose the left or right path. The right had snakes on it. A few days later Sydney was singing a church song about "a child must choose which path to take..." and Jackson interrupted and said, "But is there snakies on the right path?"

Sydney said, "I bet you know why you have so many friends Dad. It's because you are Soooo strong!" (score 2 points to Sydney -- one for saying I'm popular, one for saying I'm soooo strong) :)

Jackson has reached the age where he too must stop sucking his finger (Syd did it at age 3). Luckily our kids just do it when they are holding their blankies with soft yarn "strings" hanging off. So Keresa talked to him about it for a few days, then when the day came, she put away his blankie. It was pretty easy for him - more so than for Sydney. With Syd, both she and Keresa cried. drama.

I laid on Jackson's bed while he was getting on his pajamas (jammies). I said, "This bed feels soft. You wanna trade tonight so I can sleep here and you go sleep by Mom in my bed?" He quickly said in a deep voice, "Ok Son, good night. Go to sleep Son so I don't have to spank you." Then came to give me a little kiss.

Keresa fed Jackson some flaming hot cheetohs. They made his eyes water. He told her, "Mom these kind of cheetohs make me so sad." (because the watery eyes)

Keresa is only 5 ish weeks away from delivering the new child. She will sure be glad to get that baby out. I'll be glad when she stops making me feel her belly all the time. I know Moms have this bond when the child inside hiccups and moves around, but I think it's kind of creepy. Like something out of Breaking Dawn... We will all be glad when we get the next child.

MK KGW SRW JGW

Grundy Homecoming Parade

Sydney and Jackson got to ride on the preschool float for the Grundy Homecoming Parade. It's really fun being in a small town for events like this. It seems like the whole town participates. It was nice and cool and the kids had a blast throwing candy to the crowd. Our float was out of candy after just a couple of minutes....and not because we didn't 10 huge bags! It's fun being able to participate in things like this here...these are the memories we won't forget.

It made my jaw drop when I saw "Class of 2024" on the side of the float. Doesn't that seem SO FAR AWAY?? (Jackson wasn't in the mood for a picture I guess.)

Sydney shook that pom pom with one hand and threw candy with the other. She was very serious about the whole thing.

The fire trucks were a little too loud for Jackson.

Jackson's birthday celebration(s)

Since Jackson is in preschool this year we were able to do a nice little party at his school. There's no way I would normally take on a birthday party for 14 three & four year olds, but with the help of the teachers, McKay, Sherri, and a couple of Moms I think it turned out good. The kids had fun and Jackson got TONS and TONS and TONS of presents. We did a pirate theme and it was really fun.

Here's a picture of his invitation.

All the kids (including McKay) got eye patches and earrings. I bought this pirate hat for Jackson, but his dad liked it more I guess. ;-)

The making of the cake.

After looking at pictures I think I should have done the smile without the teeth. He looks pretty goofy...oh well.

Jackson also got a package in the mail from Grandma Gifford with gifts and some of McKay's friends from school sent home some fun stuff. This boy was very spoiled with gifts this year!

We went to a pizza buffet/arcade for Jackson's birthday dinner. Here are a couple pictures of that.

Thanks to everyone who gave/sent gifts. I can't believe Jackson is 3 years old already! What's even crazier to think about is that we've celebrated all of his birthdays here in Virginia. He was only 10 months old when we moved here! CRAZY. Thanks again everyone. He had a blast.