the girl next door.

the girl next door.

katelynn.

she turned 2 in january.

she's aiden's new friend.

he was just at the computer looking at this photo

and said, "that's my girl, katelynn".

the term is "friend", son.

you don't have a "girl" at age 2 1/2.

man, i can't wait til his dad reads this.

best day ever.

i think i've watched too much 'veronica mars'.

spying on my own kid.

what is the world coming to??? :)

new toys.

the boy turns three next month.

what should i get him??

sticks from the backyard is high on the list.

this is the before and after of aiden...

aiden happy,

aiden in trouble.

my sister practically paid us to take her swing set.

well, if she had paid us, there'd be a whole 'nother post

just for the rejoicing of that.
anyway, the kids are a tad bit excited about it.

the first thing they ask when they wake up is,
"can we go play outside?!?!"
not in your pj's you can't. :)

         

  this one scares me a bit,

but there's no tears...

which means there's no screaming. :)

played with some paint today.

the chairs are future photo props.

here they are before...

...and after.

just coat # 1 on the brown chair,

but you get the idea.

 and here's the fabric that will be sat on

for photos.

last of missouri finds. i promise.

a few more finds from missouri.

finally took photos.

my fave movie growing up was

'babes in toyland'.

i found a book with the full story at jesse james antiques.

couldn't pass it up.

then there were these beauties.

$4 a pin at rusty chandelier.

they are just waiting for their photo moment!!

heidi spotted this afghan at jesse james--$5.

it'll be great in the fall with the leaves and green grass!

and finally the new do photo.

it's angled and is shorter in back,

longer in front.

(thank you lightroom for spot removal. you are wonderful.)

let me out.

this is how excursions out of the house go for us.

they run away from me as fast as they can.

this is true in fields or parking lots.

there's always something on the ground(it's their level, ya know)

to examine, touch, almost get your hand stuck in.

there's some kind of attempt to share something,

though it usually ends in tears.

(sweet morgan was sharing this leaf with em...she took it and then threw it on the ground rudely.

the tears came from emily when i sat her butt on the ground in timeout.)

then they start figuring out ways to climb, crawl, sneak out

and away from wherever they are.

(aiden actually saw the moon in the sky and thought he could "climb up and get it!")

and then when i tell them to do something,

they're suddenly soooo tired.

(i told aiden he couldn't have the baseball--hello! gonna kill someone with it! i told him to come

grab his drink and jacket so we could go..."my too tired, mom!")

thanks for inviting us out to baseball practice tari!

i had fun when i wasn't yelling at the kids to get back here!! :)

ha ha.

you'll understand(and your friend will thank me) if i decline

coming again next week.

HA!

baseball practice photos are posted on the photo blog,

if you're interested in seeing the actual reason for our outting.

a powerful scent.

just throwing this out there....

have you ever done anything because a smell made you??

i'm not talking about eating a pizza cause you smelled it

and started to crave it...

seriously.

i had the strangest urge to read some books

again this week,

despite reading them several times each already.

i couldn't figure it out.

finally it came to me.

my soap i was using.

cherry blossom from bath & body works.

i was reading the books last spring and whenever

i would have to stop reading and go to the bathroom,

i'd of course use the soap.

then i'd rush back to my book to read on.

i bite my nails when i'm reading,

so the scent was right there!

we haven't had that kind of soap since last spring.

how weird is that??

makes me wonder what else i connect smells to.

i mean i know i love the smell of old spice and why,

but that doesn't make me want to read shakespeare...

hmmm, though it probably should(sorry, you wouldn't get that).

whatever.

any scents make you want to do stuff??

and i don't mean hurl, either. :)

dear heidi.

dear heidi,

i know you don't want anyone to know,

but today is...

(in whispered voice)

your birthday.

i won't cuss and say how old you are,

even though you were a dope and put your year of birth

on your facebook.

goodness.

instead i will just remind you what you're celebrating.

MORE.

more candles on your birthday

(more reason to update the fire extinguisher).

more wrinkles. more gray hairs to color.

more stiff joints. more reasons to stay in bed all day.

more whining. more crying. more screaming kids.

more yelling at ku. more snow than you've ever seen in a year.

well, at least since you lived in colorado.

more traveling. more spare time.

more cups of coffee. more shopping. more yummy foods.

more cute messages from your favorite sister-in-law.

more reminders that your sister-in-law isn't even 30 yet. :)

more pictures from the kids.

more hugs.

more kisses.

more friends.

 more love.

more reasons to love and trust the Lord.

so, happy birthday to my friend,

my sister-in-law,

my sister in Christ.

we love you more today than we did yesterday.

love from the "small" whyte house. :)

for the love of all things old and rusted.

the boy has found a new place to sit.

he wants nothing to do with the dining table.

shopping with heidi, we found an awesome old step stool

seat at jesse james antiques.

it was the most expensive purchase made that day,

coming in at $30.

however, i've seen these chairs for more on etsy,

plus shipping,

so i jumped on it.

aiden says it's "my faavwit chehr evva".

that's what he told me when i came home

from my movie yesterday.

he doesn't say "i" yet.

just "my".

"my wuv you".

"my fine"

is the response we always get when he falls and gets hurt

or we hear a thud and yell,

"are you okay?!?!?"

as you can see,

he's perfectly content with his chair.

poor emily got left behind.

here are the other photos i promised,

minus my new hair cut one.

above is the door(already cut) for emily's headboard.

below is the header that will run across the top of it(door $35 & header for $10 @ madget demolition).  

a crate that will be screwed into the wall in our bathroom

and house our towels($6 @ jesse james).

my drawer that will rest in the living room for

throw blankets($8 @ jesse james).

above are some yard sticks...

we are getting sheet metal,

putting it on the wall and the sticks will frame

the metal out.

using for magnets,

writing on with dry erase markers, etc.

heidi's idea was to put it in aiden's room.

love it.

so it's going in my office area instead.

ha ha.

i want to do the same in aiden's but find some rope

or something for the frame part.

so he can have his toy story woody boyish stuff.

utilizing justin's car in the garage...

signs purchased at rusty chandelier for $7 each.

something i didn't purchase: snow.

it's apparently free. 

priceless, as the visa commercials say.

i'd pay for it to go away.

missouri occupants, no more.

we're home from missouri a day early.

aiden's allergies are kicking his butt today,

so i am glad to be here with his humidifier.

i don't think his inhaler works at all.

the kid is immune to it.

he coughed and coughed forever in the truck til he conked

out for naptime.

i seriously had to check and make sure he was

breathing.

so sad.

anyway, here are lots of photos from the trip!!

okay, so this is the newest member of the whyte family.

twister.

why is this chicken named twister??

karsten named him that cause jason told him

that's what they were gonna do...

twist his neck.

isn't that awful??

either way, the kids loved checking him/her out.

he lives in the basement of their landlord's house.

the landlord, danny, and karsten are very good friends.

i got to take a photo of them at church last night.

they bought two more chickens this week, too.

justin took the shots below of all the chicks at the store.

too cute.

this is the naked painting club.

topless painting club??

topless toddler painting club!! :)

either way, no clothes were ruined with paint.

other than yelling at aiden not to paint his face,

it was a good time had by all.

some more good times.

little girls can only be friends for up to 2 days.

after that, it's just not pretty.

stylist.

aiden and i got our hair cut in missouri.

weird, eh??

a girl from the church has her own shop.

$18 for my cut AND aiden's.

not so weird, is it???

um, this is actually the before shot.

i haven't gotten around to taking the after shot.

i know.

i'm getting around to it.

so, if jack black ever came to emily's school and did

a rock band project like on 'school of rock',

emily would totally be in love.

her homemade microphone and guitar.

the sunset visible from their kitchen

that jason made me run to get

my camera to take a photo of.

boys.

naps.

we missed naptime.

not just the kids,

but the parents, too.

we could not get these kids to sleep!!!!

aiden was up til 12am one night!!!

seriously...

this was a wonderful moment.

breakfast of champions.

chloe's slippers. :)

a little air hockey.

we could hear them yelling in the basement from upstairs.

so funny.

there's the last of missouri for ya.

hope you enjoyed it.