November 2013

November brings a lot of good things...Barrett Whitlows, Thanksgiving, rivalry football.  Here I am scouring the Joy of Cooking for a recipe for apple pie.  Don't worry.  I found it.

 And then I mushed the crust into the pan.  It was delicious.

 Playing at the park:

 Passed out after playing at the park:

 Here we are on Whit's birthday, making cupcakes!  Poor guy.  He had to make his own birthday treats.  Just kidding...that's our favorite part!

 He hates it when the whisk is licked clean.

 Sporting awesome bed-head:

 Helping Daddy install the new water filter under the sink:

I said to Daddy at one point, "This is hard work, but we are strong."

 This is how I like to play football in the house:

I also like to give Whit the football just so I can tackle him...those are the rules, right?

 Jumping in the leaf pile we made with Mommy:

 Deep thoughts with Duncan:

 Cheese!

 Lori gave us these awesome Brutus the Buckeye hats.  They are our favorite...meaning we will actually keep them on when Mommy puts them on us.  Whit calls him, "Boot-us" and like to snuggle him.

 Being outside makes us happy...

 More birthday party shots:

Whit loves to share dessert with Grandpa.  Whit likes the icing and Grandpa likes the cake...so we both get our favorite parts!  :)

 Celebrating birthdays with Nana and Grandpa:

 And the annual laundry room picture with Mommy on Whit's birthday:

 
As you can see, we love to cook and bake with Mommy.  Here we are checking in on the bread as it is being kneaded in the bread machine:

 Here I am reading to Whit.  Mommy heard me reading the book to him and sneakily snapped this shot.

 Aunt Katie and Whit playing the piano at Nonni's house on Thanksgiving:

Hope that you had a great Thanksgiving holiday...and that the Christmas season is filling you with joy!

Halloween 2013

Hey everyone!  I know we already did an October post, but it didn't include Halloween pictures, which I know you want to see.  It was pretty awesome.  We started off going to church for the Harvest Party...and if Mommy had her way, that would have been all that we did.  You know this is her least favorite "holiday," don't you?  She can't stand things in masks, so this puts her way outside her comfort zone.  I think Daddy sees it as encouraging personal growth.

Here Cassie is helping me put on my costume.  She really loves Spiderman, so she was excited too.

 Sneaking a peek in the mirror:

 Whit playing around...

 Showing off my muscles...they're all mine, you know.  The costume added nothing to my physique.

 Down in Spidey-stance:

Whit wasn't very excited to get in his costume at the beginning.  We had to ditch the shoulder pads in compromise.

Here's Whit playing at Harvest Festival at church.  They had awesome games and activities for us...and candy, of course.

 Bowling...

 Shooting web...

 The money shot for the day:

Go Hokies!  I think Mommy came around later in the evening when we met up with our friends the McManus Family.  We all walked around our neighborhood together and had a great time.  Ashton taught me how to say "Trick or treat!" when we walked up to a door, but to be polite and always says "Thank you!"  My Mommy and Ashton's Mommy were very proud.  At the end of the night I said, "Can we do Halloween again tomorrow?"

Happy Birthday, Whit!

Happy birthday, Whit!  Today we had lots of emails, phone calls and texts from all of our family...thank you for all of your birthday wishes!  This is a video of us watching an animated card from Nonni and Papa.

As you can tell, Whit has a very advanced vocabulary.  When we started telling him "Happy Birthday!" this morning, he said it back to us!  He doesn't quite understand what it all means, but I do!  I keep telling Mommy that we should have birthday cake after every meal...you're supposed to do that, right?

Love you to all...especially my little brother Whit-Whit.

September and October 2013

We went on a grand adventure to a train park one day in Richmond.  We got to climb on REAL trains!  I kept trying to get them to move, but they wouldn't budge.

Whit really thought he was steering!

See what I mean?  I couldn't get that thing to move an inch!

The most well-behaved grandson of Nonni, Lincoln:

We all fight over Nonni's lap space...

 When we got back to Aunt Ali's house, we decorated train cakes!  It was so much fun!  More "decorations" were eaten than were used on trains, I can tell you.

Mommy has a Christ figurine on her dresser, and Whit grabbed it the other day.  He said, "Cheez-us" and gave him a hug and kiss.  For a few days we took him everywhere, like a mascot.  I think He was probably pleased.

Daddy's college buddies all came to go on a camping/canoeing trip.  This is the "before" picture.  We didn't take any "after" pictures.  :)

Fall festival 2013!  It definitely didn't disappoint!  We painted pumpkins...

Enjoyed each other's company...

And celebrated my birthday!  Can you believe that I'm 4 years old now?

We went ahead and celebrated Whit's 2nd birthday too!

We went to Carter Mountain with some friends for "Apple School!"  It was so much fun!  Cassie, our awesome nanny, came with us too!  It was a beautiful day, and we got to do so many activities!

We learned about the life cycle of the apple tree:

Here's our teacher explaining it all to us:

 With our beloved Cassie:

We got to go on a hayride!  Mommy was not pleased with her choice of fleece pants for Whit.  Clearly he isn't either.

 I was so happy!  There was a tractor pulling our hay ride!

 Then we got our own bags and picked apples!

 Whit may have taken a few detours...

 Mommy helping Whit pick apples...

 I was a champ at picking apples...I graduated from Apple School, after all.

 Whit also couldn't resist biting into the apples...this one was a bit tart.  Serves him right, eh?

Have a great fall!  We are!  :)