The Whitelaws

We took the kids bowling at the Fish Bowl at Bass Pro Shops - something we've been wanting to try for awhile. Kellen learned to bowl instead of rolling it down the ramp.
It was a fun time of being together. And, Kellen always brings the fun - enjoy his funny little dance! (See video 2149 in Kellen 6 yrs old)

Friday, February 27th was Silk Road Day for 4th grade - a culmination of their study of China, the Silk Road trade route, and The Great Wall. Jenna wanted me to take a picture of her hair.

After they traded their silk for more substantial items such as porcelain, horses, camels, rugs, they presented their items to the Emperor. She did a great job of averting her eyes . . .
Kellen went with me to watch what the class got to experience. He did a great job of staying out of the way and he took it upon himself to copy some of the Chinese words around the room and draw a dragon.

As a culmination of studying Colorado history, Kindergarten had a Colorado Round Up Day today. They played games like toss the snake into the boot. "There's a snake in my boot!" from Toy Story kept running through my head. There was also a stick horse race, cans of beans bowling, and tossing playing cards into a hat.
They had a cowboy meal of pork and beans, applesauce, and cornbread. Kellen DOES NOT like beans, but I convinced him to try one. (I'm just loving his toothless grin!)
I wished that I had timed how long it took to get these kids to line up and pose for this picture. It took A WHILE - like herding cats. Good thing they're cute! It was a fun day!

Sunday, January 15th -  Kellen lost his other front tooth! I just love his toothless smile!
When we noticed that his tooth was hanging loose, Jenna said that her tooth was loose too! And hers was more loose than his!
So, both kids had a tooth for the tooth fairy on the same night! Really fun!

I spent a lot of New Year's Day sleeping off sickness and Kevin was still sick as well. He did make it out to Redbox to get us some movies. We watched BFG (Big Friendly Giant) as a family and then when the kids went to bed, Kevin and I watched Sully. Both really good movies!

Monday, Jan 2nd, involved more recuperating. We watched the Rose Parade. And Papa took the kids to the skating rink.
Tuesday, Jan 3rd - Finally feeling better. It started snowing and we ventured out to have lunch at the mall and then went to see Rogue One. I had just enough energy and just enough time before dinner to get all the Christmas decorations put away. Yay! Kevin, Jenna, & Kellen were great help with this and I was glad to get it done (was beginning to think they might be up 'til mid Jan at the rate things were going). After dinner, Jenna was inspired to institute game night.

We started the new year with Kellen out of a car seat and into a booster! This marks the end of an era for us - nearly 10 years with at least one child in a car seat!
Wednesday Jan. 4th - Our final day of Christmas vacation. We met Papa and two cousins for lunch and then went to the skating rink. The cousins got skates for Christmas too, so they've been having fun skating together. (See video 4457 in Christmas '16)


One of the Christmas presents that Grandpa & Grandma ordered for Jenna didn't arrive in time for Christmas, so the store sent a $20 gift card. Plus the store was having a sale where almost everything was 40% off. PLUS we had a coupon for 20% more off. So, after skating we took the kids on a little shopping spree. Jenna got pjs, leggings for school, a fleece hoodie, & a headband. Kellen picked out the plaid shirt - he LOVES it! We got all of this an only paid $10. Pretty fun! We enjoyed a broccoli cheese soup dinner and then I went to work from 7pm - 11:30pm.
When I finished my shift, I was overjoyed to see texts from my friends that school was cancelled for Thursday! Snow Day!! An extra day of vacation! Such a blessing to have a little of the time (robbed by sickness and work) returned to us.
I was able to sleep in after my late shift. We spend the whole day in our pjs watching movies, writing thank you notes for our nice Christmas gifts, making cookies & chex mix, and enjoying watching the snow. A perfect bonus day!!
Thursday night, we enjoyed introducing the cousins to the Pie Face game after Thursday dinner.
Friday, January 6th - Another snow day! (Really a 2 hour delay, but since the Jenna only has school until noon on Fridays and Kellen no school at all, that equals no school for both!) Kevin had to work for a while though for teacher inservice. We enjoyed another lazy day and then when he got home we celebrated by going out to dinner and then the kids wanted to go to Target and see if they could find a way to spend their gift cards.
They bought these great toy horse sets and have had a great time playing together!

We ended the old year with a fun visit with Jenni (in town from Abilene) and Kelly on Dec. 30th. It's always a joy to be with them! In the evening, we celebrated our oldest nephew's birthday. 13 - so hard to believe!
On the 31st, Kevin was still sick, so the kids stayed with Papa and Mima while I worked. At the end of my shift, I was feeling sick too. So, our New Year's Eve was pretty uneventful. I took Jenna to a friend's birthday party and then went to bed at 8pm. I got up again at 11:30pm to go pick her up so we could watch the Pikes Peak fireworks together and then we went home. I then slept from 12:30 or so until 10:30 am! We seem to have a hard time staying well during the holidays.
Here's a 2016 year in review of sorts:

• I read 44 books (up from 38 in 2015) - 2 of which were big nursing text books.
• We had approximately 6 school snow days & 5 delays (Kevin) and 5 school snow days & 1 delay (Jenna/Kellen). (That's down from 6 snow days & 8 delays in 2015.) Amazingly, no school snow days for the kids this fall - just one delay! (I still need to try and record this more accurately.)
• We attended 8 band concerts (missed 3).
• We attended a couple LPHS basketball games and three LPHS football games (missed 2 basketball and a couple football games).
• We visited Estes Park, Gulf Shores (Sara), New York (Sara & Jenna), San Francisco (Sara), Winter Park, Alma, Indianapolis (Kevin & Sara) and Wichita. Kevin went to Pueblo, Boulder, & Greeley again for band.
• We went to the North Pole approximately 6 times and the Zoo approximately 4 times.
• Jenna continued to learn piano.
• Kellen started kindergarten and his first piano lessons.
• Both kids lost a tooth or three (Kellen).
• Kellen finished his time in a car seat and advanced to a booster. No more car seats for us!
• I went to school to renew my nursing license and started working on the pediatric floor at St. Francis Medical Center.
• We've had good days and bad days and blessings throughout.