birthday lunch.

gra and pop came by the house for birthday lunch today.

aiden got his birthday gift:

toy story ball.

man does that kid love toy story.

we gave gra her mother's day gift.

a photobook from mypublisher.

photos of the kids...rainboots and sunglasses photos.

we went to five guys for lunch,

but it was packed.

so we went next door to cinnamon's deli.

potato soup and grilled cheese.

it's like 60 here today, but the wind makes it

feel about 45 at times.

okay, i exaggerated a bit.

maybe 48. :)

there's not much pop can do with the kids,

but the one thing that has never failed are the hand games.

he's always tickling, clapping, and playing with his hands.

he would bang on emily's hand

and she would follow along and do it to him.

she knows about the spider hand.

i do this with her.

she squealed when he got her head.

and then she went after him.

like i said, there was wind today.

a lot of it.

my mom would kill me if she knew i put this online.

hair everywhere.

i always call jack 'don king' when his hair is everywhere.

haha.

i think i may blow this up and frame it.

three.

the day has come.

THREE.

i can't believe he's three.

well, he definitely has the attention span of a three year old.

his funny face.

he wears the same size shoes his 4 year old sister wears.

9.5(only his are extra wides).

happy birthday to my little man.

oh, washington.

justin is heading to washington this summer

for his annual training.

i want to go soooo bad!!!!

but i've decided(or talked myself into, anyway)

that i need to wait.

sigh.

i hate waiting.

cause if i go for 3 days,

i want to stay here.

absolutely gorgeous.

as much as i would love to go and spend

even one night there with my husband,

the price alone shouts, "don't do it!!"

i seriously can't see myself spending that

much money on a trip that'll last 3 days.

and honestly,

i can't imagine going to washington

without my girls.

i mean, my husband is super supportive about

the whole 'twilight' bit and all.

but there's no way i could go without them.

and no one would enjoy that trip more

that a bunch of crazy twi-girls.

so i'm impatiently waiting to visit la push.

first beach.

forks.

the olympic national park.

 port angeles.

all in the fall.

not this fall, but some fall.

i need leaves.

i need the rain.

i need to be able to wear a hoodie.

and rain boots.

not that i have rain boots,

but i would totally invest in some if i went!

so, i will just stay home this summer and enjoy

my 105% humid 102 degree july days

and dream of the 80 degree weather my husband

will be savoring.

for 2 weeks.

i think i might cry.

at last...sleeping at last.

i made it.

finally.

tonight i was able to see 'sleeping at last' in concert.

so excited. :)

justin took off work early to get home and

watch the kids so i could go.

happy mother's day to me!

unfortunately, i have a massive headache

(the computer is making it worse--i need to get to the eye doc asap).

so here's some photos from the show.

i took like 200 and i could only manage to edit these

few.

my head hurts that bad.

aaron lee martin--he's from mcpherson.  superb live.

he'll be at mead's corner next saturday, from what he told me.

that's right. i got to talk to him. heck, i got to talk to all of the guys.  i love that.

jeremy larson.  i found him via his girlfriend elsie from 'a beautiful mess'.  i seriously can't look at the

screen, so i'll link it tomorrow(a beautiful mess is on my list on the side column.). i am kicking

myself for not having jeremy sign his cd for me.  i was a tad excited. :)

jeremy with sleeping at last.

ryan from sleeping at last.

i had all the s.a.l. guys sign my cd's.

and they stole my sharpie.

kidding...i told him to keep it.  one less marker for aiden to get ahold of at home!

wonderful show, boys!!

few more photos at whyte house photography.

siiigh.

i'm happy to say i'm married to him.

check out the rest of his photos here.

this weekend.

(edit with today's happenings.)

SUNDAY:

so today we took the kids 'exploring' again

at our new favorite wooded park.

it's pretty awesome.

we also found out that we walked

2.5 miles,

so i may have to go there everyday.

we took justin to the bridge,

since he missed it last time.

i had him check out an awesome trail i found

to see if there was any poison ivy.

it would be a great place for photos. :)

on the way back through the park,

i told aiden i heard the mower and started

making a noise...

he ran to daddy and wanted him to carry him.

haha.

so....

funny story.

um, i've been bugging justin to go to washington

ever since i saw this website.

i told him last week that i just found out

a state was not charging for salt and pepper

(justin puts gobs of pepper on food--blech).

he was in awe and asked where.

i told him washington,

so he knew i was lying right there.

(if you're completely lost as to why i want to

go to washington, remember, i like the twilight saga.

that's where the story supposedly takes place.

poor justin gets called "TwiWhyte" at work cause

he went to the midnight showing of New Moon

with me last november.

honestly, i'd love to move to anywhere in oregon or washington. 

my parents went to oregon when i was in high

school and i loved their photos.

so pretty!)

i've been re-reading 'eclipse' (since it's out in

theaters next month)...

so the subject of twilight has come up a lot.

anyway...

we saw these 3 teen boys coming into the park.

i didn't pay too much attention...

2 were very tan with no shirts

and one had a gray tee on.

i immediately think to myself, "those boys without

their shirts have watched new moon too much"

and dismiss the thought, since i'm a complete

twilight nerd.

 (there are indian boys in the movie

that don't have shirts on..are you following??)

i didn't see faces or anything else on the boys...

i was looking back at emily making sure

the strange boys weren't freaking her out.

she's skittish around strangers.

so we get passed the kids and justin

says, " i think one of those boys was jacob."

my first thought was, "ESP?? how did he know

that's what i was thinking??"

then it dawned on my that our next door neighbor is

named jacob, with a teen brother named austin

and he got their names wrong.

so i said, "jacob?? you mean austin??"

he says(serious as can be), "no i mean

i think one of those boys thinks he's jacob from

TWILIGHT."

oh, man.

i laughed so hard.

SATURDAY NIGHT:

last night i went on a date with 3 boys!!

THREEEEE!!!

my old chum, adrian, and his brother were

both in town.

so nice to hang out with them again.

i don't think adrian embarrassed me once last night.

very out of the ordinary.

maybe that's what happens when you turn 30.

anyway...adrian was down from minnesota

and gabe flew in from oregon.

his wife kari stayed home w the 4 kids.

4.

wow.

we missed you, kari!!

gabe spoke at their old church in bel aire this morning.

he and the family are heading back to bolivia in july.

he is a principal at a christian school there.

they've been in oregon for a year now,

just before their 4th child was born(kari had a lot of

complications with their 3rd when she gave birth in

bolivia).

(gabe, kari and their kids in oregon last month.)

i probably have a zillions photos of adrian

making that face.

back from the days of FRIENDS marathons,

bowling and karaoke nights.

those were the days.

haha.

thanks for hanging out, boys!!

adrian, next time you're in town,

we will try for a cheap date night!!

(that's going to blockbuster, sitting on the floor

watching the movie that is on the tv. haha)

sunset on the way back to my sister's.

we left the kids with her. :)

 FRIDAY:

i tried my hand at photographing babies....

not sure if i'm ready for that one.

but she was so cute.

cribs: 3 year old boys room.

aiden would like to welcome you to his room!

i've been trying to get it all together.

there are still some things missing,

but here it is!

some things are removed periodically.

like his books.

he had a bookshelf, but it wasn't being utilized very

well and to be honest if i see an empty shelf,

i throw things on top.

plus he's back to chewing on things again,

so it's easier to remove the whole basket

during bedtime.

you'll find this same look in my niece's room in missouri.

i totally stole the idea from my sister-in-law, heidi.

her basket is way cuter, though. :)

 i've said this before, but i feel i have to give her credit anytime i show something that she came up with!!

i unintentionally decorated in 3's.

3 pins.

3 photos(collage of aiden's 3 year shots, papa & granny

last fall and his "just born" shot from the hospital).

3 signs on his shelf(in another photo)

3 things hanging on his wall.

if you weren't reading in march,

i found the vintage bowling pins in a store

in st. joseph, mo.

intended purpose:

photography.

i'm sure i will borrow them later on, too.

i used emily's red door for a shoot yesterday,

and then we attached it to her wall last night.

the wall art--the sailboat one was PAINTED by aiden.

i added the sailboat and waves.

we did that with the cousins in missouri.

the sailor hat was justin's from when

he was active duty.

the number 3 was recently used in aiden's

3 year photos.

this is in no way, shape, or form a quality photo,

but i wanted to show the red table.

the table is in a horrible spot,

used frequently for climbing

(it has a little red chair that is currently in the basement,

due to climbing issues in his room).

aiden's 3 has been pulled and torn up

a tad, angering his mother.

and the sailor hat has been found in his bed.

another issue with having a little boy.

however, the table is passed down from my mom

and i am fighting to keep it in his room.

therefore, i take down the wall art half the

time instead of moving the table out.

my mom's grandfather made it for her in the late 1940's.

story was that he made it by hand,

during his battle with cancer, with only one working eye.

he had planned on giving it to her before christmas

and my grandma had him hold on to it at his home.

my mom's house caught on fire and they lost

everything in the fire.

thankfully, the table wasn't there.

so it is something that will continue to be passed down,

from atteberry's, to kennedy's, to anderson's/whyte's,

and so on.

aiden's bed is still a work in progress.

my mom made him the blanket before he was born.

it's bigger than a toddler size,

but not big enough for a twin.

more a throw size.

he loves it and carries all over the house.

he has a big gray plush blanket,

but it's getting too warm for it now.

and we are searching for a new curtain for his closet.

he had a nautical one,

but because of the poop incident on halloween/justin's birthday last year,

(you can check the archives for that bad boy)

we had to toss it.

his bed, of course, houses his best friends;

woody and buzz.

the shelf holds aiden's favorite phrase...
"to infinity and beyond", which he says numerous times,
daily(the chalkboard was an etsy find).
...'no parking' sign from missouri (we have the other parking sign in our room over our bed--it says 'faculty and staff parking only').
...a photo from my stepdad's 79th birthday this past january.
aiden loved helping pop blow out his candles.



and now aiden says goodnight!! it's naptime at the whyte house.

and "i love you".

one day i will have someone take a photo

of us saying this to each other.

aiden's said i love you to us this way for about

2 years now.

it started more as an "ET phone home" look...

fingers touching when we said it.

now we just point and say "i love you" to him

until he points at us and says it, too.

g'night buddy...

 STAY IN BED AND DON'T CHEW ON THE RADIO CORD!!