The Lillywhites Blog (Cody and Kiara)

Hello again everyone and a late greetings to 2021. Despite the troubles of last year we plan to make it the best year for our family yet! Here are some memorable things since the last post. Enjoy! New years goals: Kiara - Finish 6 crochet projects Cody - Complete 12 programming projects and run a marathon Spence - Learn to go potty on the toilet Christmas in Texas   We played D&D with my dad, put together a trampoline, played love letters, played racketball with my dad, and went to Space center Houston. Unfortunately we were not able to make the trip to see my cousins in Arizona but we still had a lot of fun! We will have to go there later. We got plenty of wonderful gifts. We was definitely spoiled with our new cowboy clothes and D&D books. We were blessed enough to see Conrad as well who allowed us to binge watch the Mandalorian. Christmas in Kentucky Wait I thought we just had Christmas?! Well... now we had Christmas in January. What a blast! With Katia back home we watc...

Here are some of the things we are thankful for: The way of kings This month the fourth book of this series came out and we started listening to it over Audible. It was introduced to me by the DeGooyer's and has become one of my favorite book series. I like the way it presents creative ideas and teaches me writing as well as good principles. Container and Packaging Everyone was blessed with a gift card for the hectic time it has been to keep up with all the orders and incoming trucks. Though it was difficult, it also gave me a chance to grow in my abilities. We also have been getting new technology to help us be more effective. This has been a big relief to me because it has made my job significantly easier and more enjoyable. The DeGooyers Although I do not like staying with them I am grateful for the chance we had to come to Kentucky to be able to take care of Spence. Not only does it mean little rent, we also get free babysitting, more family to be around, a job, and meals. We d...

 Well this week has been filled to the brim with things to do. We had our finale for the Game of Storms Dungeons and Dragons, where our heros captured an evil spirit. Despite covid we were able to do some trick or treating with the Bettenhausens. We started writing for National writing month starting Halloween at midnight. Kiara is not solid about what she will write. As for me I am doing 30 paintings and 30000 words (1000 word story for each painting). I am reaching out to some fellow software engineers to try and build a good resume for a software engineering job (internship first) and other things I need to know about applying and moving into a software job. I gave a presentation for my design thinking class proposing a way to balance areas of our lives in college. I am also helping with designing an app for fishing in my UI evaluation and design class. Let me know if you have any tips on getting internships or balancing your life in the comments. 

 To recap last week the DeGooyers were out of town, we had two sessions of DnD: Game of Storms, we had an indoor picnic, and we watched the original Tron with the Bettenhausens. I was also finally able to get python arcade graphics to work on Nathan Bettenhausens mac (I am teaching him python). We redid our flights so that we would stay in Texas and see my brother Conrad who is usually too busy to contact. We will be going to see the Ark display next month with my dad and sister. This month though, we got a new dog! We call her Syl for short. Her name comes from a book called the way of kings. She is very kind and playful but she needs potty trained! We hope you like her too. Her favorite thing to do is bite and scratch absolutely everything she sees as that is her way of exploring the world. Luckily it does not do that much damage... yet.  I played little big planet with the bettenhausens and did our second to last session of DnD Halloween. In this DnD we fought our way throu...

 For kiara's birthday I took work off and we played Terramystica, Cover your assets, and Citadels. Unfortunately, kiara had to finish doing an order for Nancy so we had to spend a few hours at work reboxing tubes. Kiara got a yarn bag, yarn,  a dress, a bundt pan, diamond art, and a shirt that says 'support wildlife: raise boys'. She said her favorite part was all of it. She also got to make dinner and red velvet mini bundt cakes (She wanted to do this. We did not force her to make her own cake!). She is a fantastic chef by the way. This month we move on to a new theme. This will be my second year doing my own homemade Dungeons and Dragons adventure with the Bettenhausens. It is the second in a modern day series. The first was titled, "House on the hill". This time it is called, "The game of storms". It is centered around a family that moves into a haunted house and finds out about this strange spirits called rifters. They go on to free the house from th...

 Kiara just started a new job labeling for the company I work for, Container and Packaging Supply. Kiara has gotten a new violin student, bringing her up to three students. They are learning fiddle music. They recently played Rubber dolly. Boil them cows down, and Oh Susana. I also have three students for programming. As far as the Great Cycle Challenge, I just went on my first ride with brother fielding. You can see us riding around his area in the video. We went 20 miles bringing me 10 away from 100 miles this month. We are nearing the end of the cycle challenge, so please donate to fighting kids cancer with me! I am getting closer to reaching my goal of 100 dollars donated so anything you could do would be great. Here is the  link  for donating to fight childrens cancer. This challenge only happens twice a year. A brief moment of the route we took. My ride with Douglas Fielding. Otherwise outdoors activities we have done lately include: swinging, walking, and tennis. I...

 We enjoyed labor day together with the Bettenhausen's. Nathan, Jacob, and I started creating a board game which I will call Star Conquest. In Dungeons and Dragons (we play every Tuesday with the Bettenhausen's) we are near the end of mines of Phandelver. I am getting into teaching Jacob and Nathan functions and classes on Python/C++. We went to Claudia Sanders on Wednesday. I bike with the Bettenhausens Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday. We got home too late for date night. We went 10 miles on Saturday. Today (Sunday) is grandparents day. We took our 5k at 6am at the park and the DeGooyers took Spence. I decided to walk with Kiara this time. Taking Spence for a walk on Labor day morning. Biking at the Beckley Creek park. Fun smiles from Spence! Spencer got some more practice painting.