St. Patricks Day Reminder!!

For those of you who were thinking about joining me in our homemade St. Patricks Day tradition, I wanted to remind you of what we did last year!

We made up a story to Kaleb about how leprechauns have to watch over the gold and rainbows all year long and that one night a year (St. Patricks Day) they get to leave their duties and go play!! Last year we created a leprechaun catcher (at Joy School, it was a decorated shoe box lid) and set it by the door. We did not catch one, but boy did they come into our house and play! When the kids woke up the house was DESTROYED! Dirty laundry was everywhere, high heels were hanging from the TV, a few dollars fell out of their pockets onto our floor, some green and gold hershey kisses were on the floor and more! Kaleb giggled ALL DAY about the mess that leprechaun made!! Hope the leprechaun makes it to your house too!! :)

Kaleb is going to be in Kindergarten!!?

We recently received the information concerning Kaleb and his up and coming school year. As I looked through the registration dates and school supply lists I sat on my couch, teary eyed, wondering how it is time for school ALREADY. I just had him yesterday. Or so it feels, but indeed, it has been five years and apparently school is important - so off he will go.

Name: Kaleb Whitney

Registration Date: March 31st, 2011

School: Lena Whitmore (he is SUPER EXCITED he is going to be a Lena Whitmore Wolverine!)

First Day of School: August 31st, 2011

First day that mom really sits around and cries all day because her first born baby is growing up too fast: August 31st, 2011

KINDERGARTEN CLASS
Please label with student’s name
o 1 backpack large enough to hold 11 x 13 inch folder, shoes, snow pants, library book,
etc.
o 2 bottom pocket folders
Following supplies will be collected by the teacher and shared as a class:
o 1 boxes of tissue
o 1 box LARGE size Crayola Crayons
o 1 Pink Pearl eraser
o 1 dry erase fine tip marker – blue
o 6 Elmer glue sticks
o 1 box Crayola Washable Markers – Classic Colors
o 1 box Crayola 12 or 24 count long colored pencils
o 1 boxes regular size 24 color Crayola Crayons
o 1 set of washable watercolor paints (8 colors)
o 1 box fine tip Crayola Markers
o 1 ream white copy paper
o Hand Sanitizer
o Collage Materials: Please choose 1 or 2 items to donate for class projects – glitter,
pipe cleaners, feathers, sequins, pom-poms, foam shapes/letters, buttons, ribbon,
yarn, etc…
Extra (your choice if you would like to donate any of the below items)
o White Napkins
o Large white paper plates

Family Home Evening - The Creation

I had a primary lesson to teach on the Creation this month and came up with the idea to do a visual of each step. Unfortunately both of my kids were sick and unable to attend church with me that Sunday - so I saved it and used it for Family Home Evening. This is how it went (and let me brag for a minute that the kids LOVED IT!) hehe -

The beginning - darkness

Day One - "Let there be light" (from the darkness came light)

Day Two - the firmament was created, then He separated the waters from the firmament to the earth
(at the time a big ball of water)

Day Three - The land was brought up from the seas and beautified with plants and trees and flowers of all kinds

Day Four - The Sun and Moon and Stars were created

Day Five - The creatures of the sea and air were created

Day 6 - All other creatures of life were created, the bugs, the cows, the dogs, the cats, and most importantly Adam and Eve!!

Day 7 - I had the kids sit down quietly, fold their arms, close their eyes and take a nice, deep relaxing breath "And on the seventh day, He rested".

It was a great primary lesson but we had such a good time doing it for FHE. The kids loved adding the correct pieces to the display, and now Kaleb can identify EXACTLY what happens on each day of the creation! Dang that kid is a sponge!

Cabela's Store!!!

One friday afternoon we decided to go check out the Cabela's store in Post Falls - IT WAS AWESOME! Joe bought a Glock 30SF which we his VERY proud of! But the kids and I mostly loved seeing all the animals! They have a huge aquarium there with lots of big fish in it. Then the cent of the store is this "mountain" mounted with tons of animals! The kids and I walked around the mountain several times talking about all the animals, if they were dangerous, pretty, big teeth, etc...it was a blast! I love that store! And ladies - it is not just a mans store! They have great prices on girls clothing and the cutest (outdoorsy) house stuff! I got my mom and dad a little wooden wall decoration for their anniversary from there, it says "an old camper lives here, with the best flame of his life!!" Pretty awesome!!

2010 Christmas!!

2010 at the Whitney house! It was AWESOME!!! My family, my parents, sister, and Uncle Russ all came to our house for Christmas. What a great time we had! Joe and I made our world famous steak and shrimp k'bobs! They were delicious and NONE were left over! haha...

The kids got to stay up about an hour later than usual, they were just too excited to go to bed. The kids and I made cookies and set out a glass of milk for Santa. Then we put the "Santa Key" on the front door so he could get inside since we dont have a chimney. Then they reluctantly went to bed after Joe read "The Night Before Christmas". And, of course, having to explain to them that Santa wont come if they are awake!

Once they were down, us adults watched a movie (I cant recall which one) and went to bed.

5:00 AM - "mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom, mom....get up mom." I slowly rolled out of bed as the kids walked to the other side of the bed:

5:02 AM - "dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad, dad...get up dad." haha...Joe and I got up and sent the kids to go jump on grandma and grandpa. We all headed downstairs - OH MY GOODNESS!!! Santa came!!! And he brought A LOT of stuff with him! Kaleb's eyes grew to the size of saucers as he noticed the brand new bicycle fully assembled and waiting to be ridden! The kids woke up Uncle Russ and Katie and we began the opening!! It was a blast, they got soo much stuff!!

Kaleb - a new bike, a leapfrog with some games, a new learning letters laptop, movies, an outdoor vest with all sorts of bug catching items, a buzz lightyear snuggie, a new comfy little chair, a big buzz lightyear doll, and lots and lots more!

Cameron - a little girls dream doll set up (3 dolls, a crib, a swing, a play pen, a high chair, play bottles, and more), she got a little mechanical "lifelike" baby bear, play costume jewelery and high heals, fake make up, a learning laptop, a comfy little chair, an indoor/outdoor play tent, and much more!

After the opening of presents, came the OPENING of presents. Poor Joe and my mom sat there patiently unwiding twist ties, and biting all forms of plastic to open the items, the kids had a blast! Then I began cooking dinner! We had prime rib (cooked to perfection if I do say so myself), dinner rolls, potatoe cassarole, salad, deviled eggs, cheese cake, pumpkin pie, and more! It was DELICIOUS!

Then - Joe and I were talking about how disappointing we remembered the evening of Christmas being, because there is nothing left to "wait for", well not for another whole year - so we let the kids have a slumber party. They set up their tents in Camerons room, each made a bed in one (with a tent tunnel connecting the two) and all their toys. They were told they had to go to the bedroom at 8:00 like normal but didnt have to sleep until they passed out! And we let them play until they couldn't play anymore! At about midnight Joe and I went and checked on them, like little angels they were both tucked into their beds fast asleep!!

PHOTOS: So, I did really bad at taking photos! We were hosting and cooking and opening presents and I didnt get to taking as many pictures as I would have liked, but I did get some:

Kaleb's 5 years old!!!!

MY BABY IS 5 YEARS OLD - WHAT HAPPENED?!!!!!

Kaleb turned 5 on December 31st, 2010. We had a great birthday party with 3D party decorations, delicious chocolate cake and lots of family and friends to spend it with us!

The guests were: The birthday boy, Mom, Dad, Cameron, Alicia, Jay, Addison, Aunt Katie, Grandpa & Grandma Smith, Grandpa & Grandma Zerbe, Andrew, Tanner and Chandler.

We started at 1:00 pm - everyone arrived in their winter's best bundled clothing and we headed to the hill behind our home to go sledding! It turned out to be a HUGE hit! We had several sleds, a great hill, and some wild daredevils that really liked to fly!! Kaleb got a snowboard sled from Grandpa Smith and Kaleb LOVED going down the hill with it! He did really good too! He will be very excited to know that Grandpa Smith and Daddy are taking him to the real mountain next year!!

Then after about 1.5 hours of sledding, we went over to the house, got out the snack foods, ate cake, opened presents and visited. The kids played and played and played!! Then that evening Kaleb got to stay up late, play with his toys and watch "How to Train Your Dragon" with mom and dad (and have an extre "bed time" piece of cake!) Lucky ducky!! I cant believe he's 5, I just had him yesterday :( - Oh, how time flies too fast.