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.]

so many projects.

my garage is being taken over by projects

these days.

a chair and two houses.

well a "boy house" for aiden's star wars/toy story/army men, etc., and then a doll castle for emily made from my 1928 standing radio.  the chair actually has a coat of turquoise'y paint on it, the anchor decal off to reveal the stained wood underneath.  it still needs some more paint, though.  it will be merely for show and sit in our room, as it's not be a sturdy sitting chair for the living room.  i don't mind, though.  it was a free find.  currently, there is a lot of stop and go with the houses, as i have to wait for shelves to be cut and paint to be bought.  ugh.  hopefully they're done by christmas!

annual st joe trip.

our annual trip to st. joe, mo was 2 weekends ago.

it was a typical trip.

we lost things that we brought.

we ate out.

we heard "are we there yet" 13 times.

there was vintage shopping.

and ears being pierced.

oh, wait.

the ears thing was a first.

that's right.

30 years old and i'm just getting my ears pierced.

i blame my sister and how many times her ears

were infected growing up for my lack of wanting

to get my own pierced.

but i bit the bullet.

heidi took me for an early b-day gift.

justin wanted proof on camera of my

ears being pierced.

heidi obliged.

this is for my mom.

though i called her(2 wks later..sorry, mom)

and told her, here's her visual, as well.

my sister saw them for the first time at the maize parade yesterday and was shocked herself. :)

we also had a bonfire, or "campfire" as the kids called it.

for weeks, i had been so excited to go to the navy ball.
i had completely forgotten about the flea market sale that weekend outside of our (heidi & i) favorite shop,
'the rusty chandelier'!

hooray for junk!

[heidi, scoping out the goodies, while i was up on the hill taking a pic. :)]

i really regretted not getting this sign.  i wanted it bad.
i may just have to break down and make one.

i did find this bookshelf.  it has "potential dollhouse" written all over it.
i've already taken the back off of it and done some sanding to the shelves.  there will be a new back to it, as well as some boyish charm added to it for aiden's christmas present.

per justin's order, i wasn't allowed to spend all weekend

out with heidi.

we did our 2 hours of shopping,

the kids went to a story time at the church,

while the boys went shooting.

:)

in the afternoon,

we all took the kids "fishing". 

it was a sad excuse for fishing.

no fish were caught.

the fish probably laughed when they saw aiden fishing for the first time.  he's not quite ready to go pro. :)

that's st. joe in a nutshell.  hopefully we can make one more trip this year!

national tumbling day.

last weekend the kids ventured out into the

cool backyard.

do you see the pants and boots??

she's been begging me to wear them.

apparently it was 'national tumbling day' at the whyte house.

daddy was showing them how to do cartwheels and roundoffs.

that was quite the site.

if i wasn't afraid of breaking my neck,

i'd show them how to do a front handspring.

however, the only tumbling i do is when i'm tripping over

one of the kid's toys.

a boy's first day of pre-k.

two of them in school.

oh, the awesomeness of it all.

it's only pre-k, a mere 2.5 hrs,

three days a week,

but still.

awesomeness.

i didn't get a hug.  i didn't get a kiss.  heck, i didn't even get a goodbye/glance/i'll see you when i'm hungry before he walked into his room to play.

blasted kid.  you will tell your mom goodbye. 

oh, well.  at least i didn't have to shove him in the door like i did to his sister.  makes it that much less obvious that i'm happy to have him out of the house. :)

we are STILL waiting(a month later) for justin's per diem check to come in, so we don't have pennies to take aiden out to eat for his first day of school like we did his sister.  instead, i gathered up my quarters, stopped by the dollar tree on the way to school pickup and got him his very own bag of twizzlers.  that and his dad decided to stay in bed and sleep instead of going and picking up his only son from his first day of school...and twizzlers are dad's favorite, too.  i gave aiden his treat and told him daddy didn't get any 'cause he didn't come. haha.  punishments are awesome. :)

the little boy liked that agreement of not having to share.
very happy camper.

here's to a great pre-k year!