Happy Valentine's Day!

I love having girls who let me me doll them up - they loved having ribbon in their hair today!

Some funny Valentine's Day stuff:



 

Christmas at the Whittle's

It was nice to stay home for Christmas this year. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Thank you everyone for your kind gifts, everything was a hit this year. I don't take great Christmas morning pictures, I'm still getting the sleep out of my eyes :) I shouldn't complain though, they slept in til 6:45. It's been worse. A tradition from Troy's childhood is all the kids sleep in the same room Christmas Eve. So we did that, and I think they all like it even though some of them pretend not too.

 

Another attempt.....

 

 

Okay, I am going to blog again! I've been having technical difficulties with a broken computer, replaced finally, then a broken screen due to fighting children, zero computer while being repaired, after being 'repaired' for 6 weeks we were informed it wasn't worth it for them (fortunately the warranty covered the accident) to repair the screen so they replaced it, then my phone (where I take most of my pics these days) died and I finally got a new one right before Christmas, and now I am finally uploading them to the computer and onto the blog :) A few times I 'almost' blogged when I got some pictures uploaded from my camera and spent 1/2 hr putting a post together and somehow it didn't post and disappeared. Anyway, I'm here to try again. Here's just a few pictures from before Christmas. I'll do the holidays soon. I might have time this weekend as it's actually been snowing today and we may have a snow day tomorrow! Yippee!! (Before I was working a snow day did not mean excitement for me:)

Troy made breakfast for dinner tonight and they are having a picnic while they watch Transformers, so I figured it's quiet upstairs-and why not blog?!

 

Troy was excited when I got my picture taken for the staff wall at the high school. He and I are both on the far left. So weird to see it still!

 

              Troy got to go to a Monday Night football game with a buddy. He was really excited, although a little torn as to who to root for since both his favorite teams were playing.

Here's a lovely blurry picture of Audrey's winter concert. She did a good job! The 4th graders each get their own recorder and learned some really pretty songs. I decided a recorder only sounds nice when played as a group. Played around the house all by itself it's torturous. I felt bad when I realized everytime she played it she was told to stop or go in her room and shut the door. Yeah, we probably crushed her recorder dreams.

Not being home during the day has been a hard adjustment, and the house definently has suffered. I told Troy one Friday after work that he would be the best husband ever if he took all the kids somewhere for a few hours so I could be home to clean without anyone there to mess it up right after. He obliged and took them for a bite to eat and I can't remember where else he went, but they were gone for 4 hours, it was sooooo nice! His friend and his son came along too, so he had company.

Great Women Born in January!!!!

                                           Great Grandma's 90th Birthday Dinner at Olive Garden.
                                          Last Saturday we had a small Open House for her.
                                           She thought it was wonderful.  About 15 friends came.

                                                 Happy Birthday to Abigail today!!! She's 5

                                               I love this picture of Kate and her Kids!

                                               Lizzie LOVES cats!!  This is Grandma Gubler's

It's great to be 8!

Lizzie's birthday was two weeks ago.  Mom came up for Lizzie's birthday, and that was SO AWESOME!!

 I took Lizzie and two of her friends ice skating & then out to frozen yogurt for her birthday.  

Then Sunday we had our family party.  

Lizzie's baptism was the next weekend and was great.  Rod & his dad were back from Brazil and two other ladies (mother/daughter converts) were getting baptized as well, so a lot of people from the ward were there and it was great to be able to share the baptismal day. It made it more special, I think, to share it. 

Rod's dad gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost, and Caitlin sang "When I Am Baptized" (I played for her and didn't mess up! Yeah!!) beautifully.  It was a great day!

 

 Mom made Lizzie's cake.  Lizzie had quite an elaborate drawing of what she wanted her cat cake to look like, and mom's cake fit the bill!

 After Lizzie's baptism, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, then we came home and had dessert: cupcakes and sparkling Martinellis' apple-cranberry cider....which must've been a bit too much for Lizzie's stomach, 'cause she barfed in the middle of the night after this.  But the next day she was fine and went to church & was confirmed. So I think all the excitement of the day + decadent food and treats were a bit much for her!

Happy Late Birthday Kate!!
 
I feel bad I didn't get on this sooner, cause I really was thinking about you Kate! And I don't have any pictures on this computer yet, so I will have to late post some awesome Kate pics. Wow, you're 30!! I love Kate because she is "chill". She is just relaxed and easy to be around. She has a great sense of humor that I appreciate. See previous post :) She always stands up for what is right and isn't afraid to share her beliefs. She is thoughtful and kind. She is always thinking of others and how she can help them. I LOVE YOU KATE!!!