new year.

2012 is almost here!

the beginning of a new year means school is almost

back in session!

woohoo!

so thankful for my sister for letting me use her minivan this week while the truck is on "holiday break" AND for having a family pass to Exploration Place.  my kids LOVED it.


we got the boy back late last night and have him just long enough to celebrate the new year before he heads to his level 2 school.  and he's spending today fixing our truck with one of his navy buddies. :) 

happy new year!

'mini whyte house'

here's 'the mini whyte house'...

before and after.

aiden's star wars guys come over for visits, from time to time, too.  i can't wait to get started on his house!

we just found the pink & yellow living room furniture on clearance at target today.  i'd had my eye on it for a long time!  i even made pillows for it a couple of weeks ago. :)

a 'whyte christmas'

pre-christmas fun at pre-k.

[program & party]

the nativity that my mom painted for my sister's front lawn.

christmas lunch at justin's grandma's apartment.

we had our 'whyte christmas' yesterday with

justin's parents.

the kids each got

1. something to wear:

aiden- star wars underwear & pjs; emily- a robe & socks

 2. something to read:

aiden- chris van dusen's 'learning to ski with mr. magee; emily- olivia claus by ian falconer

3. something to play with:

aiden- star wars ship

emily- dollhouse w sleeping beauty doll

(aiden got her a tiana doll, too).

justin even had the kids pick out some earrings for me,

since i only have one pair after getting them pierced this fall.

and aiden picked out a watch for me...black with pink

"diamonds" around the watch face.

i look so girly now.

haha.

justin got a black backpack that he was wanting

for his mil travels.

i had been begging for some new measuring cups and new pj pants.  the numbers on my current measuring cups have worn off and i have to guess at the size when i use them. haha.  my pants i've had since i had emily.  thankfully, jus found new cups and pants for me.  actually, he got me a 3-piece set of super cute pj's, only they didn't fit...

and of course they didn't have any left when i went to the store to exchange them.

story of my life.

****

[so instead of finding new ones, i took him(and the kids) to dinner last night at on the border for his 'last supper' before his trip.  :) ]

****

after working on this dollhouse since august,

that face makes it all worth it.

justin's parents found emily a table and chairs to go in her house.  she was so excited to set it all up.

if you missed it, the house tour was posted here.  the floors weren't painted or papered at the time, though.

papa and granny got aiden a lightsaber and the buzz goggles.  he loves them.

enjoy the last week before christmas, everyone!

birthday girl: year 6

we have a 6 year old in the house now.

i keep telling her she's only 5,

but she insists she's 6 today.

i told her 'happy birthday' first thing this morning

and she did her best scarlett o'hara

impersonation(minus the drawl) exclaiming,

"THANK YOU for saying HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, MOM!!"

we also received a surprise in the mail.

japan sent their christmas present to them.

she's always early.

i'm always late...though at least this year

i have it purchased and ready to send!

they opened the box to find their very own

'elf on the shelf'.

boy were they thrilled!

they made sure i read it right that second!

we still haven't decided on a name.

it goes from 'smarty', to 'japan', to 'rudolph', to 'chimney',

to 'googly eyes'...

we'll figure out his name.

meanwhile, i'm plotting what to have him do. 

i've found a ton of ideas on pinterest. 

can't wait. 

this afternoon, 

emily had her 6 yr photo shoot. 

the high was below freezing today, 

so we opted to take photos at the old shoe shop. 

it's in the middle of being remodeled.

here's an example of what we worked around... 

the walls use to be exposed and i was so thrilled to shoot in there.

then my mom ruined them and put new walls over them.

blech.

thanks a lot, mom. :)

thank goodness for a 50mm.

it worked around the 2x4's and saw dust by her.

after a phone-filled afternoon of birthday calls from

aunts, cousins, grandparents & even daddy,

i made her a special birthday dinner:

pumpkin pancakes.

we are doing cupcakes for her class this week,

so i didn't want to make more today.

i just stuck her candles in the pancakes.

aiden helped me sing 'happy birthday' to her(i got another dramatic "THANK YOU" after that, too).

i swear i didn't give all 8 pancakes to her! :)

happy birthday, 'mimi'!

official.

well, it's official.

he's now a petty officer 1st class.

my niece famie was nice enough to come and photograph his frocking ceremony this weekend.  so glad to have a photo of this moment, with my face in it, as well. :)

thanks, famie!!

two holes.

justin's brother & family are in for the holiday week.

my sister-in-law wanted to get em's ears pierced for her

when we were in missouri,

but em was too preoccupied w her cousin chloe

to want to leave the house that day. :)

so we all(my SIL, niece, nephew, em & my MIL)

went to the mall over the weekend

and she got her ears pierced.

she decided so quickly to get her ears pierced, i didn't even get to call her dad while he was out of town and tell him she was doing it!  he found out via facebook photos. lol.

to my surprise, my nephew video'd it all with his ipod touch. i thought he was just taking photos!  when we made it back to my in-laws house, k-man was playing the video for his dad and my father-in-law.  so glad he taped it.  justin was able to watch it when he made it back home yesterday.  made me feel better about not calling him first!

i think it's safe to say that it was the most painful gift she's ever received. :)
(thanks to my SIL for manning my camera so i could hold my kid still!)

now we have more stocking options! :)
she's still pretty dramatic about the earrings, especially when i have to clean her ears, but she does love them.
i'm pretty sure she showed everyone at school on monday.
we ran into an old pre-k parent of mine at the store and she whispered, "mom, tell him i got my ears pierced!" haha.

not too much longer and she'll be an official 6 year old.

1st Class.

three years ago this month,

we were watching justin swear back in

to the navy reserves as a Boatswains Mate 2nd class.

(BM2)

 today he got the call that he had advanced to 1st class (BM1)!!!

oh, he was so excited when he called me from work this morning.  he was 8 points away from advancement in the spring and so disappointed when he didn't make it.  i'm so thrilled that he's finally accomplished such a huge goal of his!  now he moves on to the next huge task before he goes...getting his coxswain pin!



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as a lot of people have heard, we've had some crazy weather around here.  my friends in okc were extremely close to the earthquake that hit to the NE of them.  we've felt two so far...the earthquake from saturday and then the aftershock on monday.  in kansas of all places.  so crazy.

we've had rain, earthquakes, flooding, tornado watches, and as of last night, snow falling.  for the last two days,
it's been extremely wet out.
which i don't mind. :)  however, the flooding on monday during school pick up time, i did mind.

(via my blackberry)

today it's bright and sunny out, fall leaves covering the ground.  perfection.

october

i realize i'm behind on the photo sharing.

 i'm okay with that.

we've been a little busy.

the whyte kids 'star wars' photo is in a photo contest over at sarah shah portraits page on facebook.  click on the link above, 'like' sarah's page, and vote for your favorite shot.

parades, donuts, and dirt roads.

fall is here and so are all of the festivities!

we attended the maize fall fest parade last weekend.

we don't live in maize,

but justin's an alum & we had people to watch

in the parade.

my nephew is in band at one of the middle schools.

his teacher happens to be the husband of one of my

best friends, jen.

conner was on the other side of the street from us,
so i didn't get a great shot.  my sister, however, got a great view, since she ran across the street, mid parade to see him.  so smart.

the man and his band: mr. whitcomb.

he was waving at my kids and aiden was just so thrilled.
he told me afterwards that he got to see his friend grant in the parade.  so cute.

jen & morgan were also in the parade with morgan's daisy troop.  jen's heading it up this year.  what an overachiever. :) (ha, jen!!)

since kindergarten started, i've been enjoying hearing emily read sight words and write all kinds of things. 
daddy was going to miss her 'donuts for dad' at her school,
so she made him an invitation to her own 'donuts for dad'
at lamar's. 

i'm pretty sure it was more fun than the one at school,
anyway.

i took fall photos for dina yesterday.

it was a hilarious time, for sure.

you can check those out on the photo blog.

[i had a truck driving up behind me and we were standing in the middle of the dirt road.  they were getting a little concerned about it. hahaha.]