we were on a break... [vader, birthdays, & farewells]

we were on a break from the real world last week,

so i'm a tad bit behind on posting. 

we've been busy around here!

if you didn't know, justin came home last

week and surprised aiden at his party...

dressed as darth vader. :)

here's the video.

and because i don't want this post to take two days to

read, i've only posted a couple of photos from

each of justin's days home.

emily's field day on thursday.

frozen yogurt at peachwave after field day...

[justin swears that the self serve frozen yogurt buffet

is the best idea anyone could ever think up :)]

followed by family photos with my niece, famie.

[you can check out the rest of our family pics here.]

donuts & the exploration place on friday.

our view from our window at hotel at oldtown.

justin & his mom on saturday.

mother's day...sunday at the airport.

break time.

after going around in circles this morning,

just trying to remember all that i still

needed to do,

i decided i needed a break.

i've been so consumed with my son's birthday party,

thinking about mother's day stuff,

teacher appreciation week items to-do list,

AND the arrival of my husband(halleluyer),

i just haven't been able to think straight.

thank goodness for photoshop.  

i love creative outlets.

this was just the break i needed.

the oklahoma outline and stripes were a freebie

that i found on pinterest.

i just added the text.

if you want to print out your own,

just send me an email

[jeaswhyte(at)gmail(dot)com]

and i'll be happy

to send you the file for it.

5.

there's a 5 year old in my house again.

well, as of about 3:30pm tomorrow, there is.

i decided to do his birthday dinner pancakes tonight.

it may or may not have been because i didn't

do any grocery shopping and that was

my only dinner option.

i let emily sing to him and as soon as she was

done, she yelled "NOW BLOW OUT THE CANDLES!!"

before i was ready to shoot.

we had to re-light the candles so i could

get this shot for his dad.

happy birthday, buddy.

zoo day.

zoo day.

the kindergarteners went to the zoo yesterday

with their 5th grade book buddies.

we got to see the new baby orangutan.

aiden had fun being a "kindergartener" for a day.

emily's book buddy is faith.  she is the most polite kid i have ever met.  hopefully she can rub off on emily! haha.

the kids fed the fish.  it's amazing to me that these fish are still alive when they get fed so much everyday.

faith wanted so badly to go to the jungle(my favorite place, too). we watched the fruit bats scale ropes and wriggle around while hanging upside down.  i would usually run through that area when i was a kid, but it was kinda cool to see them move around since they are always asleep when we visit.  while we were in there, i had the kids take a picture together in front of the waterfall, another one of my favorite childhood zoo spots.  

it was a wild day! 

well, see ya later, alligator!

music, the beach & an almost birthday boy.

the boy had his spring program this week.

their theme was 'God made me extra special'. 

the program was quite cute, as usual.

afterwards, gra & pop took the kids out for ice cream.

i spent some more time in aiden's class for his beach day/birthday treat day.  he has a couple of weeks til his actual birthday, but there are about 12 kids with may birthday's, so i was trying to help spread out the parties.

i came into the class as they were finishing making jellyfish and playing in sand.

the kids all grabbed their beach towels and sat on the carpet for a rainbow fish story.

after storytime, we headed to the gym for beach towel games.

they had little relay races to see who could scoot on their towels to the line or skate on their towels, etc.  they were pretty fun to watch!

lastly, aiden shared his favorite cookies with his friends.  my mom always made cake batter cookies for us growing up, and it's what i make the kids now.  he loves them!

and the winner is...

in honor of the pioneer woman book drawing,

the lady of the house chose the cinnamon roll

making mixing bowl...

put on her best clothes...

and drew...

jenny.

message me your address & the lady of the house will send
your signed pw cookbook that way.

if you don't have your own book yet, check out pw's site for some awesome recipes!  happy eating!

spring & the police.

the kids had a busy day today.

first off...

policeman at aiden's school.

officer baird--poor guy wasn't feeling good, either.

emily had her spring program.

my favorite flamingo, sawyer. 

porter & dina.

speaking. onstage. in public.

huge step.

so proud of her.  she has her daddy's genes, obviously.

the program was garden themed.

these boys were the weeds. 

the yellowy-orange glasses in front belonged to my friend.

he's just like his dad.

little short sawyer, on her tippy toes to speak.  so cute!

as the bunny says,
"that's all folks!"