West family musings

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T13:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T14:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T22:00:00.000-05:00

Baby West #4 is here

2011-09-09T19:00:00.001-05:00

Well is has been a couple of weeks since the birth, so I thought pictures on the somewhat neglected blog are in order. Our fourth child, Jefferson, was born on Aug 23, 2011 at 1:40am. At birth he was 8 lbs. 15 oz. and 21 inches long. He was born at home in a birthing tub without complication. It was nice not to have to worry about driving to the hospital and messing with car seats and such. Plus, our daughter, Allie was able to see the birth, something that might not have panned out otherwise. Now on to the pictures…

Here is the birth tub before while I was filling it up. Nothing too technical--just a hose hooked up the the shower.

Jen is now in the birth tub. The birth is imminent.

Just after Jefferson was born. No pictures here of the actual birth.

Here is an announcement made by a family friend photographer

Sleeping like a baby…

Allie getting her baby fix the day after the birth.

And the Jack had his turn, but felt he wasn’t doing it right.

We then had a birthday celebration for Jefferson. Not sure why Jack is missing his shirt…but I guess the draw of cake was too strong.

A family picture at last. Allie is true to form.

Feeling Crazy

2011-07-28T12:00:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had one of these days...

Dunking Booth (Aug 2010)

2011-07-27T12:00:00.004-05:00

We went to the WKU football and sports extravaganza right after we moved here last year. They had a dunking booth that Allie and Jack wanted to try out. Of course, they couldn't quite get the velocity needed to move the dunk arm, so Allie came up with her own way to "get the dunk."

Reading a book...

2010-11-07T09:00:00.004-06:00

Have you ever sat down with your best friend to read a book...

Too much candy...

2010-11-06T09:00:00.003-05:00

The Answer Revealed

2010-11-05T09:00:00.005-05:00

Happy Halloween 2010!

Who is that princess?

2010-11-04T09:00:00.004-05:00

Have you answered all of the questions? Answer revealed tomorrow...

Where is that cat going?

2010-11-03T09:00:00.003-05:00

Another clue appears tomorrow...

Who is that masked man?

2010-11-02T09:00:00.002-05:00

Tune in tomorrow for another clue...

Latest West Family Photo

2010-11-01T13:30:00.004-05:00

It has been a long time since we posted and we apologize. Here is the latest family photo taken Oct 31, 2010. Almost everyone was looking at the camera...

Shooting a gun at the fair and rodeo

2010-04-07T12:00:00.005-05:00

While at the fair and rodeo last March, we stopped to see a comedy show for kids. The guys who perform the show have been there at the rodeo in the past and I have always wondered if the kids get any of their humor. Anyhow, Allie was selected to perform a gun trick. My only concern about the whole thing was that they were teaching gun safety, but as you can see in the video they had no problem pointing a gun at one of the performers. So, our family had to have a little more discussion about gun safety when the show ended.

Rodeo and Fair

2010-04-06T12:00:00.007-05:00

In March we went to the rodeo and fair. Although Jack and Lincoln don't look like it, we all had fun. Notice one of the sponsors in the background.

Easter Boys

2010-04-05T12:00:00.003-05:00

Easter in the Texas wildflowers

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T18:15:00.001-05:00

Toss around

2010-01-05T09:00:00.003-06:00

Here is a snip-it of a Christmas Eve game we play. The game involves passing on wrapped presents (candy) every time the word "the" is read in the "Twas the Night Before Christmas." I videotaped a little bit of the game and find Jacks actions in this clip a bit funny (of course I was egging him on by throwing my boxes at him). Jack is sitting in the center in front of Jen, who is reading the story.

Calling all Spacemen

2010-01-04T10:00:00.002-06:00

Maybe I'm just a biased parent, but I thought Jack looked cute walking around with a motorcycle helmet on. And I thought he looked like he was ready to pilot a spaceship, circa 1962.

What a day

2009-12-27T16:00:00.003-06:00

A candid shot of Allie after church today.

West Family Photo - Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T17:30:00.004-06:00

I think this photo captures each of our personalities...OK, maybe just Allie's.

Sitting with Santa Clause

2009-12-26T11:00:00.001-06:00

Opening Christmas presents

2009-12-25T23:15:00.008-06:00

Allie, Jack, and Lincoln opened their presents together on Christmas morning. Jack, as he has done in the past, opened a couple of presents and wanted to play rather than finish opening the rest of his presents. Lincoln didn't need much help with his first try at unwrapping presents. He was pretty good at it. Allie had an all-around good time opening presents, playing a little, and opening more presents.

Sibling cuddles

2009-12-25T22:45:00.002-06:00

Allie and Jack cuddled for a few moments on the couch today. As most of you know, they rarely sit still long enough by themselves, much less together, to have time to take a picture like this. As you can guess, they were staring at something on the TV.

Christmas jammies

2009-12-25T22:00:00.009-06:00

The kids opened one present each on Christmas Eve. All three received the same gift, new jammies. They had already worn their new pajamas one month earlier for Thanksgiving, but had to put them away until Christmas.

And some pictures from Thanksgiving night:

Crawling update

2009-12-17T11:00:00.004-06:00

Just wanted to give a video update of Lincoln crawling. You may want to check the original crawling post to see the progress he's made. Now that I think about it however, the video here was actually shot at the beginning of Nov 09. So, this isn't the most up-to-date crawling update possible.

Jack's 3rd Birthday

2009-11-01T08:00:00.001-06:00

A few days ago Jack celebrated his 3rd birthday. His birthday started at midnight when he woke up crying with a raging fever. He didn't want to take any medicine, but after spilling it once, he finally took some very bubble gum flavored ibuprofen. He did go back to his room for the rest of the night, but it looked like he wasn't going to be feeling well for his birthday.

After he woke up, he complained that his throat hurt and because I currently have strep throat, we decided to take him to the doctor for a strep test. So, off to the doctor we went (Jack, Lincoln, and Adam). He had a 9:45am appointment and we arrived right about 9:43am, which meant we were technically late. So, we didn't get into the exam room until close to 10:30am and after a quick check-up, including a strep test, we were on our way. Jack tested negative for strep and other than a fever later that night, he hasn't show any signs of illness since.
Jack had previously received a birthday present when a few weeks ago, he and Jen went to see a real life Thomas the Tank Engine. I'll let Jen post the details about that outing (presumably in another blog), but Jack really enjoyed his Thomas experience.

So after the doctor's office, we came home and opened Jacks presents during the early afternoon. That way he could have time to play with his toys throughout the day, rather than opening his presents right before bedtime. Suffice to say, that Jack's favorite present was a talking and signing Thomas the Tank Engine book. While opening his other presents, which included more Thomas toys, books, a movie, some Spiderman underwear that he picked out, a potty-training doll and cards from family and friends, Jack seemed only interested in playing with his talking book. He has since discovered the joy of playing with the other toys he received, but for the rest of his birthday he had eyes only for the talking Thomas book.

For dinner Jack had requested cake, but we talked him into eating pizza, which is one of his favorite foods. He was still not feeling all that well and ate just a little bit of pizza and intially declined to eat any cake. So we thought that we would have cake the next day and gave Allie some ice cream instead. About 20 minutes later, Jack decided he could finish his pizza and then wanted cake. So, Allie swindled some ice cream in addition to cake (we weren't serving them together this time around).

Jack had a pretty nice birthday, after not initially feeling well. He is appreciative of his family and friends for sending cards and gifts.

Cleansing the throat

2009-10-26T10:45:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, Allie and I were drinking some A&W root beer. She thoroughly enjoyed it and pretty much drank the entire can by herself. The kids rarely get to partake of soft drinks, so I think it was a real treat for her. About 30 minutes after we finished our root beer, Allie asked for a drink of water. She said, "Daddy, may I have a drink of water to get rid of all this alcohol in my throat?" I tried not to laugh and her request, and instead asked her about the alcohol in her throat. Of course, she thought that root beer had alcohol in it because of the word "beer." Pretty smart, although she didn't question it while we were drinking it.

Rolling Over

2009-10-02T08:00:00.007-05:00

Here is some old video of Lincoln first rolling over (from May 2009). Again, sound effects added.

Driving the car

2009-10-01T12:00:00.000-05:00

Last month, we visited Jen's parents. Jack and Allie were outside playing together and decided to drive the kiddie car. Notice the amount of time each spends pushing the other in the car. I've added a few sound effects near the end, so don't be alarmed...

Long Live Oscar the Dog 09-30-09

2009-09-30T17:30:00.006-05:00

Oscar, my parent's dog, was put to sleep today. He lived a long fruitful life, but he is in a better place now.

ABC musician

2009-09-30T08:00:00.002-05:00

The other day, Jack set up a keyboard for himself and started to perform. His first song was a good ol' standby--The ABC song. Sorry for the poor lighting.

Crazy Eyes

2009-09-29T08:00:00.007-05:00

Jack having some fun with his eyes.

Lincoln crawls

2009-09-28T15:30:00.007-05:00

Here is some video of Lincoln starting to crawl the other day. Sorry about the lighting, but you should still be able to see it. Also, he is pretty good at "Army" crawling, where he uses his forearms to drag himself along. You can see that in this video too.

New music added - Aug 2009

2009-08-31T14:30:00.006-05:00

Just to update those who care to know, I have uploaded four new songs to my ReverbNation player (check the left side of the page). The other songs are still there, just pushed down the playlist a little.

The first song is a medley of hymns that I arranged for performance at a church meeting this past week (entitled "Sunset Valley..."). The second, called "Samuel tells...," is a Christmas hymn that I arranged for a performance at a church meeting last winter (2008). The third, "Atlantis," is a original song that may not appeal to all, but I've included it for those who may find this type of song interesting. The fourth, "Walking Song," was written by me when Jack was first learning to walk--I'd like to say it helped him walk, but I have no evidence to prove it. All of the songs are not in their finished, professional condition, but I thought it would be nice to add a variety of new music to the player.

Thanks for listening. Comments and feedback are always welcome.
-Adam

Allie's First Two Days of Pre-K

2009-08-31T12:30:00.003-05:00

Last week, Allie started pre-kindergarten at the elementary school near our neighborhood. She previously experienced daytime schooling when she attended a 3-hour, 4-day a week type of pre-K last school year.

The first few days of pre-K were only half-days in order to help the children acclimate to going to school every day. This week, however, is full-day pre-K (well, they finish in the early afternoon). Upon arriving home after the first day of class, Allie reported, in typical fashion, "It was boring." The next day was not so boring, but she did indicate that she is "tired of going to school." Later in the week, she did indicate that she is having fun and generally likes her school class. More reports to come, but we wanted to at least post a few pictures.

Allie's first foray into "swimming"

2009-07-29T23:45:00.006-05:00

Tonight, Jen had a pool party with the young women from church. The party was at an apartment pool of one of the leaders and it was first come first serve. So, Jen and the kids got to the pool at about 5:30pm to "reserve" space for the 15 or so girls that would be coming later in the evening.

When I showed up to the pool at 6:00pm I saw that Jack and Allie had adhered themselves to a group of two young couples who were lounging at the pool. Allie latched on to a girl named Nicole, although every time she was asked what the girls name was, Allie couldn't remember. Allie was wearing arm floaties to help keep her from sinking under the water. Allie and Nicole played around for quite some time, all along Allie wanting to swim out into the middle of the pool by herself.

I finally wrestled the kids away so that the young couples could continue their lounging uninhibited by our children. The kids and I went to another part of the pool and wanted me to pull them around by their arms so they could be "swimming." I did this for a while and eventually Allie remembered that her new friend, Nicole, had told her to kick her legs if she wanted to swim. So Allie started kicking her legs like she was "riding a bicycle" (her words). She started to trust that the arm floaties would help keep her buoyant and kept kicking her legs. By this time I had let go of her and was sitting on the pool steps while Allie and Jack hung on to the sides of the pool. Allie eventually pushed herself away from the side of the pool, all of the while still kicking her legs and the next thing I knew she was in the middle of the pool..."swimming."

Allie was quite excited and started to swim laps around the pool. Oddly enough, she complained that her arms were tired, but that her legs were not yet tired. A few minutes later I caught Allie jumping off the side of the pool and bobbing back to the surface of the water after temporarily going under. I thought she would take a big gulp of water or something, but she did not. I was a bit surprised at Allie jumping off the side of the pool, but I guess I should not have been. She can be quite the daredevil with her body.

Anyhow, I just wanted to pass on a short story of Allie and her new found swimming technique. The kids are slated to go swimming again tomorrow at a friend's house, so Allie can continue practicing her "swimming."

I want some...

2009-07-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

Yes, this was from a couple of months ago...notice the long hair on Jack.

Jen's new church responsibility

2009-07-12T19:00:00.004-05:00

Jen has a new church calling (responsibility) as the Young Women's President in the ward. While it was in the works behind the scences for a number of weeks, I had to hold off telling her about it until the official word came down. In fact, her name had surfaced a few times over the past few months for similar callings, but each time it didn't work out.

As Young Women's President, she'll have the opportunity to work with all of the girls ages 12 to 18. Of course, she will help mold these girls into upstanding adults. Then she can come home and work on the rest of us.

Jen is really excited and until recently has been clamoring for a calling in the Young Women's organization for quite sometime. She really enjoyed working with the 8 to 11 year old girls and told me that her days of wanting a calling with the young women were over. No less than a month later she is now working with said young women. Funny how things work like that.

Hi

2009-07-12T17:15:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to say hello.

10 hours

2009-07-07T12:30:00.003-05:00

Just a little follow-up for Lincoln's sleeping through the night. Last night he went to bed at 7:00pm as normal. I fully expected him to wake up to eat at 11:00pm or so, but other than a little fuss, he did not make a peep until later in the early hours of the morning. He continued to make some peeps here and there and did not wake up until 5:00am! So, there is again hope that he will learn to sleep through the night regularly...

Sleeping through the night

2009-07-06T11:00:00.006-05:00

It has taken almost 5 and 1/2 months, but Lincoln finally had his first "sleep through the night" experience. He has been on a pretty regular schedule of going to bed at 7:00pm, maybe waking up to eat at 11:00pm, waking up at about 2:30am to eat, and then waking up at 7:00am for the day. While it has been a nice schedule, it still involves at least one wake-up to eat time. Well, last night he went to bed at 7:45pm and did not wake up again until 6:30am. Wow! What a night.

The night, however, was not full of sleep for the caretakers. About every two hours, Lincoln would start crying in his normal "I'm waking up, so feed me," manner. By the time an adult (Jen) would get up, put on glasses to see, and make it out to Lincoln's bedroom (the pantry), he would be fast asleep.

We don't really expect the sleep-through-the-night routine to last. The past couple of days, Lincoln has been a little more fussy than normal and just not quite himself. So, he could either be not feeling well or experiencing the myriad of other things that babies make babies uneasy (teething, growth spurts, loud siblings). He was really due for a long night's sleep, because his daytime naps have been pretty short or non-existent for the past few days. So, let's hope that (1) he gets to feeling better and (2) continues to sleep through the night (at least every so often).

Jack's first big-boy haircut

2009-06-25T23:00:00.001-05:00

It you haven't seen Jack lately, you may remember that he can at times look like a shaggy dog. We were worried that his shagginess would cause him some overheating troubles this summer because he breaks out in a sweat (on his head) after being out in the sun for more than 30 seconds. With his wispy, thin hair, we didn't quite know how to trim it...should we simply buzz it all off or just cut it shorter and less shaggy? Well, yesterday (Wed, June 24, 2009) we enlisted the help of a professional hair stylist from our ward and the results are below.

Before front.

Before back.

Getting ready.

Lincoln trying to get a bottle in his mouth...

and after some help, Lincoln gets the goods.

Prepping the hair.

Making the first cut.

The first locks lost.

Trimming the bangs.

Having a great time.

Not having a great time.

Still not having a great time.

Allie decorating herself with combs.

Inspecting the final cut.

Snailing around

2009-05-30T10:00:00.008-05:00

Last week, after all of the rain and cooler weather (mid 80s), Allie went out into the backyard to look for slugs, snails, and any other insects she could find. She proceeded to find every snail and slug in sight. It was really fun for her to make little "homes" for the snails in a bucket of hers. She put grass and rolly-pollies into the bucket so that the snails would feel comfortable. She also enjoyed letting the snails crawl around her arm. Eventually Allie was able to sneak a snail into the house, which she promptly left on the couch--of course, before we discovered Allie's little surprise, the snail started to crawl around on the couch, leaving a nice 4-5 inch snail trail of slime (sorry no picture of the trail).

Monkeyin' Around

2009-04-29T15:00:00.015-05:00

Allie and Jack often make requests of any adult near and far to join them in the backyard for playtime. They usually don't require much interaction from the adults and are quite content as long as said adults are simply in the area. So, last week I took the camera outside to capture their playtime on film (or at least digitally speaking).

Allie started the afternoon by riding a bike on the trampoline.

Jack started the afternoon by taking a break on the deck.

Allie then moved on to jumping off of the slide...

and hanging upside down...

and hanging right side up...

and sliding down backwards.

Jack slid down backward too...sort of.

Jack then climbed up high...

and so did Allie.

Then it was Allie's turn for a break.

Who Do I Look Like?

2009-04-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

Which family member do I look like? Allie, Jack, Jen, or Adam?

Blowing bubbles

2009-04-28T14:45:00.000-05:00

Blowing bubbles, of course, is quite fun. Our children, like many others, could blow bubbles all day if we let them (and if they didn't spill the liquid). Allie and Jack recently received some bubbles and went out in the backyard a few days ago to use them all up. Notice that there aren't many actual bubbles in the pictures.

Family Pictures

2009-04-28T10:00:00.005-05:00

We tried to get the kids and parents to take pictures on Easter before church a couple of weeks ago. You can see the results below.

Working at the car wash

2009-04-18T10:00:00.008-05:00

When it's time to wash a car, Allie is always willing to help. This particular Saturday, she and Adam worked on the van, which hadn't been washed in quite sometime. Allie picked out the red sponge and had a great time washing the wheels and running around the van.

Stepping Stones

2009-04-14T12:00:00.000-05:00

Allie and Jack have been playing a game for the past couple of weeks called "Stepping Stones" (Allie named the game). The game consists of finding every book in sight and lining them up next to each other on the floor, making little pathways. Then you are to walk around on top of the pathways without touching the floor. I remember playing games like these when I was younger, but ours included jumping from furniture to furniture without touching the floor. Luckily, Allie and Jack haven't really tried that yet.

Speeding around on a bike

2009-04-13T15:30:00.004-05:00

Jack can move faster with his feet than the pedals so that is what he does.

Our New Family Pictures

2009-04-09T09:32:00.010-05:00

AMy friend, Emmy, and her cousin, BreAnn, have started a new photography business (http://www.bephotodesigns.com/) and they are fabulous. Emmy had used Lincoln as her subject when he was a newborn to take sample baby announcement pictures for her website. They were so good. It was great because it kept Lincoln from being the forgotten youngest child with no cute baby pictures.

Emmy and BreAnn were nice enough to take a bunch of family pictures for us a few weeks ago at The University of Texas. We figured that since our lives revolve around campus with Adam and Allie both going to school there, it would be a good idea to have our family pictures taken there. Of course being a TexasEx myself and loving most all things UT, I will use any excuse to be able to take pictures on campus. In fact it was nice because it reminded me of when Adam and I took our engagement pictures at UT. Over 6 years and 3 kids later, now we have some great family pictures to remember the university by when we leave (sometime soon, I hope).

Thank you Emmy and BreAnn! We love them.

Family Picture

Jack

Allie

Lincoln

Baby School and the Lawn Man

2009-04-09T09:11:00.006-05:00

Allie is such a great big sister to Lincoln. She wants to help take care of him all of the time. In the evenings when Jack is in the bath Allie usually plays outside until it is her turn. Lately she has been asking if Lincoln can come outside and "play" with her. It is so cute. I put him out there in his bouncy seat where I can still see him from inside and she reads books to him and they go "camping" or have a "picnic". The other night I heard her saying "Lincoln, now we're going to have baby school and I'm going to be the teacher." She came in and told me that she was going to be Meena, her preschool teacher. She then went on to teach Lincoln all about the stick that she had found. Pay no attention to the fact that it looks like she is about to poke his eye out with it. She is actually very careful with him.

Yesterday we came home from dropping Allie off at lab school and Jack went into the back yard to play for a few minutes before nap time while I fed the baby. All of a sudden he heard some lawnmowers start up behind us. The family that lives there has a lawn service that comes once a week. He loves watching and listening to the sounds of the lawnmowers and blowers out there. He seriously sat on that swing for about 30 minutes until I finally had to bring him in for a nap. We used to have some neighbors who owned a very successfully lawn service of their own. In fact, it was so successful that last year they moved on up and out of our neighborhood. The husband had a very large truck with a license plate that read "lawn man". I wonder if Jack was contemplating his future as a lawn man.

Notice the cool shoes he is wearing. He is quite fashion forward.

Lincoln's new room

2009-04-07T15:00:00.008-05:00

The only problem with Lincoln's new and amazing sleep schedule is that he was sharing a room with Adam and I along with Adam's office/music room. I think I'll just start calling our bedroom "the multipurpose room". This meant that Adam wasn't able to be in there to get his work done at night which he really needs to do if he's ever going to graduate. The obvious thing to do would be to put Allie and Jack in a room together and Lincoln would have his own room. The problem with that is when we have tried that (and we have tried it several times now) the kids don't go to bed until midnight because they are to busy being crazy in there together and then they wake each other up at 6am. Let's be honest, I need sleep and that is about the only need that I have in my life, so Allie and Jack sharing a room doesn't work at this point in the game. Adam and I decided last night that since we don't have a walk in closet and our master bathroom is too small for Lincoln's bed, his new room will have to be the pantry. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I guess at least he'll never go hungry. Luckily his bed (it's not a crib or pack-n-play, it's an Amby Bed) fits perfectly in there. That bed has really come in handy. We got it at a consignment shop for Jack, to help with his horrible reflux and now Lincoln is making great use of it. It's a good thing that even though I didn't get as much cleaned/organized during Spring Break as I wanted to, I did get the pantry cleaned out.

Oh Sweet Baby Sleep!

2009-04-07T13:25:00.023-05:00

I feel like a new woman. Lincoln is finally on a sleep schedule. Mind you that in no way means that he is sleeping through the night without waking up, but he is sleeping at night. He has been a fairly decent sleeper since he came home. The problem was he would scream every night for about 2 hours straight (we figured it was just colic) then fall asleep for an evening cat nap. Then he would wake up after about 45 minutes and be awake until around midnight. The other problem was that he would wake up in the middle of the night and want to play for a couple of hours. His sister pulled this trick on us until she was about 8 months old. It was exhausting even back then with just one child. Of course right about the time Lincoln was ready to go to sleep, the other two kids would wake up and it was time to start the day on very little sleep. Oh, I hate that feeling of needing to wake up to be with the kids, but feeling like you would give anything for just for 1 more hour (or even 5 more minutes) of sleep.

A couple of friends (thank you Sarah and Melodi) told me about a book called Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. What an amazing book. It is so right on, at least for our family. Basically what it says is that your baby should never be up for more than about two hours. At first I thought this was crazy, but I noticed he was right. At about 2 hours Lincoln would start getting fussy and then would get overtired and have a problem sleeping. He also says that after I think it was the first 3 months you should be able to put your baby to sleep around 7pm and have them sleep about 12 hours only waking for feedings. Then they should go back to sleep about 2 hours later for a morning nap, take an early afternoon nap, and a late afternoon nap and back to bed at 7pm. "Yeah right" I said. "our baby won't go to sleep until about 11pm and then has to wake up in the middle of the night for play time". Lincoln was right on target for his morning naps, but I didn't think that bedtime would ever work out. In order to get him taking the regular daytime naps I did find that I had to let him "cry it out" a little. I know that this method doesn't work for everyone, but it works like a charm for me. If I didn't let him cry for ten minutes or so to fall asleep on his own, he would end up crying for hours while I held him. That didn't make any sense to me. Daytime naps were working so well that I decided to try his method in the evening at 11 weeks (a little earlier than the book says, but what the heck). Basically all I did was when he starts getting fussy in the evening which was around 9pm the first night, I put him in his Amby Bed and let him cry/fuss until he fell asleep. It took about 15 minutes the first time, but again that was better than the 2 hours he usually spend crying at night. It worked. Now I needed to keep him asleep. I decided that when he woke up to eat I would feed him and put him back down even if he didn't seem tired. I would let him cry for about 20 minutes and then take him out if he wasn't asleep by then. I tried it and within 1o minutes of crying he was back to sleep for 4 more hours. That has been the last times he has cried or tried to play in the middle of the night. Even if he seems pretty awake after a nighttime feeding, I just put him back down in his bed and he may fuss a little for a couple of minutes but that is it. Our little guy is so much happier now that he is sleeping well (and so am I). We don't have the 2 hour crying sessions every night and he doesn't need to be held all of the time anymore. Life is good and I am starting to see the light at the other end of the loooong baby tunnel. So, a shout out and big thank you to Marc Weissbluth who wrote the most useful parenting book of them all.

Lincoln's Birth Story

2009-04-06T17:00:00.017-05:00

I typed up Lincoln's birth story and attached it as a link rather than post the entire thing on the blog. Be forewarned that it's pretty long and includes most of the gory details (it's really not that bad). Click on the link below to access a pdf file of the story.

Lincoln's Birth Story

We sure love the little guy.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

2009-03-24T13:40:00.000-05:00

Since this is our family journal as well as a blog to share with our friends and family, I have decided to share a couple of stories that may not paint the prettiest picture of family life. I was inspired by my friend Emmy's blog where she posted a story of her son (about Allie's age) leaving the house unnoticed (by Dad) and then being spotted (by mom) running across 5 lanes of traffic on a very busy street. Luckily he made it across unharmed and ran right into a police officer on the other side. I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories like that one to tell soon enough.

But for now here are some fun ones from several weeks ago.

Story #1
When Lincoln was born we had some friends stay with the kids while we were at the birthing center. When we got back with the new baby, the husband was concerned that Allie and Jack might really hurt the baby because they were being a little too rough with him. He told the kids that if they weren't careful with Lincoln they could kill him. Ever since then Allie has been obsessed with whether or not something might kill a person.

During my mom's stay with us, after Lincoln's birth she came up with the idea to put him in his bouncy seat and then put the seat inside the pack-and-play so that the kids couldn't "accidentally" rough him up too much. It was a great idea until "the incident." I had Lincoln in the pack-and-play asleep in his bouncy chair. I was sitting in front of the pack-and-play on the couch with my back turned to it. Allie was also back there playing. All of a sudden I heard a weird noise and turned around to find that Allie had fallen into the pack-and-play on top of Lincoln. I ran over and pulled her off of him and out of it and then sent her to her room so I could make sure that Lincoln was OK. After all, he did just have over 40 pounds of big sister on him. Interestingly enough Lincoln was still dead asleep and had no idea what had just happened.

Allie on the other hand was in her room screaming "is he killed, is he killed?" I felt bad for her and told her that he was fine but that she needed to be more careful. It turns out that she was climbing on some couch cushions next to the pack-and-play and fell into it. All day she kept checking on Lincoln to make sure he wasn't "killed."

Story #2

Allie has recently learned how to name call, but not very well. A few Saturdays ago I was about to take the kids for a car ride to put the baby to sleep and Allie did something she wasn't supposed to do. At this point, I don't even remember what it was. After I told her that she needed to go for a time out she yelled at me "mommy, you're stinking." She ended up not being able to come for the car ride and had to stay in her room while Jack, Lincoln and I were gone (Adam was home with her, of course). Oh, the joys of now having a four-year-old. They are so mouthy.

What do kids do when mom & dad aren't watching?

2009-03-21T13:00:00.004-05:00

Sometimes, when parents aren't watching, kids will have a little fun of their own. Such as...

Create things to stick on the wall.

Dismantle gingerbread houses.

Eat all of the candy from a bowl.

Pull bags of sugar off of the counter and dig in.

Dump a whole bag of Chex mix on the floor (once again, from the counter).

Smear lip gloss all over yourself.

Throw stickers, paint, and bananas in an old box (from the counter, of course).

Drag Race!

2009-03-21T10:00:00.005-05:00

This is a little bike ride from last month. I like Jack's choice of a hat.

Three kids under four

2009-01-27T13:53:00.002-06:00

Today is the last day that we will be parents to three kids under the age of four. I don't think that things will magically get any easier tomorrow when Allie turns four-years-old, but it has been a little crazy these last 12 days with three kids so close in age. I often think to myself "what the heck was I thinking". Adam, I take full responsibility for the craziness that is our life. After all it was my "master plan" to have these kids so close together. It does give me some peace of mind to think that the closer together we have them, the sooner we will be done with diapers, wipes, finding pacifiers and sippy cups that have been dropped and lost, middle of the night feedings, sleep deprivation, bottle washing, diaper bags, strollers, infant car seats (I guess we still have to deal with other car seats since kids these days seem to need one until they are in high school), high chairs, and the ever dreaded potty training. I'm sure there are many more joys of having little ones around that I've forgotten to list-feel free to add them to the comments to remind me. The down side to this is that all of our children will be in college and/or on missions at relatively the same time. I guess we better start saving now. Talk about empty-nest syndrome. I'm sure by then it will be a much needed break. Four years down, only eighteen more to go. Despite all of the insanity in our house right now, we really are having a great time with all of the kids, especially watching them be so sweet to their new baby brother.

5 vs 5

2009-01-24T20:10:00.008-06:00

Try to spot the similarities and differences between the two families of five (one when Adam was just a new infant in 1978 and the other when Lincoln was just a wee little infant in 2009).

Introducing Lincoln!

2009-01-18T23:00:00.013-06:00

Lincoln was born on January 16, 2009 at 1:27pm. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. It was a relatively short active labor, but I am sure Jen would say that it was not really that "short." I'll let her fill you in on the details. Now on to the pictures.

Here we are at 5:45 am before leaving for the birthing center

This is the room where Lincoln was born

Lincoln was born at 1:27 pm

Jen and Baby Lincoln about 3 hours after his birth

Little Lincoln Logs

Link-a-doo

Already asleep before even getting in the car

West family of five

Snow Day???

2008-12-12T16:04:00.006-06:00

I'm not really sure if it snowed on Tuesday night or not. When I went to bed it was hailing a ton and when we woke up the next morning our backyard was somewhat of a winter wonderland (or at least as close as it gets in these here parts of Texas). The kids were so excited to go outside and play in it. I had to get ready for my midwife appointment, so Adam got the kids all bundled up and took them out. I think they looked pretty cute and they had a ball playing until they got their gloves soaked and their hands started freezing.

Allie and Jack all dressed and ready to go out.
Jack ate or licked a ton of the ice which is no surprise because he licks everything (including people-he thinks it's hilarious).

The kids playing in the ice.

Allie filled the sand box up with ice. Later it melted and Jack fell in. He was freezing.

Baby Blog

2008-12-11T16:31:00.007-06:00

Wow it's been a long time since I've written a blog. So I figured I'd give a pregnancy update since we've had an interesting few days with it. Saturday I planned on going shopping all day for Christmas. I had a ton of places to go in search of a red sweater for Jack. We were having family pictures taken today at the capitol and all I really needed to find on Saturday was a red sweater. It shouldn't be that hard (oh, and a long black skirt for myself-not even maternity). After over 5 hours of shopping and looking in every store in Austin, no red vest (just a sweater) and I had only found one long black skirt which was perfect. Anyway, the point is that very early that morning it felt like the baby had dropped. All of a sudden I could feel a ton of pressure and the kicks were much lower than normal. Throughout my shopping expedition I did a ton of walking and I could feel my hips separating (0uchhhh).
on Tuesday I had an ultrasound scheduled to check the position of my placenta and make sure it had moved up and out of the way. I expected it to be a quick appointment, in fact I almost brought Allie with me. It's a good thing I didn't. It took forever. The ultrasound tech remeasured all of the babies body parts because it had been a while since my last ultrasound. Everything measured well. I also had her check to make sure the baby was still a boy and she said it was very obvious that he was. So the problem that took so long is that she couldn't get shot of my cervix to make sure the placenta was far enough away from it. Of course she couldn't because the baby had dropped so low on Saturday that his head was right over it. Eventually she had to go talk to the doctor (which is always a little scary) and they decided that she would have to do a vaginal ultrasound. That worked. She was able to see that the placenta is out of the way of the cervix and everything looked good.
The next day I had an appointment at the birthing center with one of the midwives. I told her that I thought that the baby had dropped on Saturday and she didn't really seem to be too worried even after I told her about the whole ultrasound ordeal. Then she felt my stomach to check the way the baby was lying (head down) and started to get worried when she realized the baby did in fact feel like he was engaged. So, she did an exam and said that his head is really low and that my cervix has started to thin. She didn't really check to see how far dilated I was because she was afraid that would send me into labor. She estimated about 2 cm. Then she said that she should put me on bed rest, but realized that was ridiculous since I have two little ones at home. She said to stay off of my feet as much as possible, no cooking, no walking and no cleaning. So, I went home and cleaned the house for Activity Day that night. But that's it, no more major cleaning (luckily Adam did the mopping). She did move my due date up almost one week as we went back and looked at early ultrasounds and checked dates. If I deliver soon (which I'm not going to) then the baby should be ok. I would just have to deliver at the hospital and I really don't want that. If I can hold off until the day after Christmas that will put me at 36 weeks, according to my new dates, and I can deliver at the birthing center. In the meantime, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed and saying some serious prayers and I'll take any prayers that anybody else has to offer.

34 weeks pregnant (can't really see my belly since I'm wearing a black shirt, but it's there)
About two weeks ago (at 32 weeks)

Pumpkin Patch & Halloween Party

2008-11-03T20:13:00.008-06:00

The Saturday before Halloween we took the kids to the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm to play at their pumpkin patch. We looked at the animals, found our way out of the maze of hay, took a tractor ride, and looked at lots of pumpkins. Later that night we went to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat at church. We all had a great time. The kids were quite happy with the candy that they collected. Allie was just happy to finally get to wear her Little Mermaid costume. She's been so patient.

Jack and Mommy driving the tractor.

Jack and Daddy during the big tractor ride.

Daddy and Jack hanging out on the pumpkins.

Jack looking cool among the pumpkins with a ring of drool around his neck.

Allie and Jack sitting in the pumpkins. The sun was in their eyes and neither of them wanted to cooperate so this was the best picture we could get.

Batman and Ariel (The Little Mermaid)

Jack would not leave his mask on long enough to get a picture of it.

Jack turns 2!

2008-11-03T19:12:00.004-06:00

Jack turned 2 this past week. We just had a low key family party. This was the first year that we didn't have any of the Grandparents here for one of the kid's parties. Maybe next year we'll have a party with friends. I was asking Adam the other day if we should have a party with friends for Allie this year and he reminded me that this year might not be the best idea since her birthday is my due date. Good thinking Adam. Maybe next year for Allie too.

Things we love about Jack:

-The way you gallop and prance instead of running.

-That you never get tired of playing peek-a-boo.

-Your belly laugh when you are getting tickled and that you still love being tickled.

-You sometimes cuddle for about 30 seconds.

-The way you put your head down on our shoulders every night when we sing "You are my sunshine" to you.

-The silly sounds that you make while you're trying to fall asleep at night.

-The way you stomp your feet when you dance and clap your hands when a song is over.

-That we have you in our family.

Jack coming through his door first thing in the morning. We hung up some of our Halloween streamers on his door. I love this picture!
I made the cake in the morning and then made the frosting in the afternoon after we dropped Allie off at school. Since it was just Jack and Mommy, we shared the mixers with frosting on them. Jack doesn't look very impressed...yet.

Now he's loving it. How could any child of mine not like chocolate.

Adam made his mom's recipe for mac-n-cheese. Of course we all loved it. This is Allie shoveling it in. She had just gotten done throwing a fit over something. So, she still has some tears and snot for the camera.

No pictures please. It's my birthday and I just want to eat my mac-n-cheese.

The Cake

Weekend visitors

2008-10-12T18:30:00.013-05:00

Over the past 36 hours, we have found two little friends around our house. These little friends are not the kind of friends that are invited, but their appearance would make you think we live in West Texas.

On Saturday morning, Jen noticed a little snake coiled up in the corner of our garage, near the garage door. She came inside and asked me I if I had seen it, which I had not. I went and peeked at the snake, but didn't have much thought as to what to do. I knew we wanted it out of the garage, but my snake experience is quite limited. I continued working for a few minutes on the computer and Jen returned to ask me if I noticed that the snakes head was now moving. That was my cue to figure something out. So, I decided to grab a shop broom and shoo the snake out. By this time the snake was slowly starting to move, so I went ahead and swept the snake out of the garage. The snake skidded to a stop a few feet down the driveway. The snake looked a little dazed and was flapping his tongue in and out of his mouth like snakes often do. I took another swipe at it with the broom and the snake went a few more feed down the driveway. Jen came outside and took a closer look at the snake. The snake's head was up in the "strike quickly" position and his tail was rattling. So, on closer inspection, we had a little rattlesnake in our driveway. And we thought we were living in an urbanized city, 15th largest in the nation. Jen, who has more snake experience than I, suggested two options. One, shoot the snake with a gun loaded with snake shot. Or two, and the more practical option, take a shovel to the snake and take it's head off. Of course, we don't have a large shovel. Jen ran across the street to ask a neighbor for a shovel. The snake started to slither onto the grass next to the driveway. It was heading for a tree bed that is full of lantana, which is dense, leafy vegetation. I took a few whaps at the snake with the broom, but it went into the tree bed and disappeared. At this time, Jen returned with the shovel, but I couldn't even see the snake. I took a few more whaps at the lantana with the shovel, but nothing. I then sprayed the tree bed with a high pressure water hose, but again nothing. So we have a squatter on our property.

Then on Sunday evening, I was casually walking by our piano and looked down to see another visitor--a scorpion. Although I don't have much scorpion experience, similar to my lack of snake experience, I did know exactally what to do. Step on it. So that is what I did. The scorpion was about 2-3 inches long, and was easily squashed. The last time we had a run in with a scoprion, Jen was pregnant with Allie and we were alseep in San Angelo, Texas.

So, there you have it. Two univited guest, one of which is still roaming around our grounds and the other who is on the way to the county trash dump.

It's a....

2008-09-08T12:07:00.007-05:00

Boy! Allie didn't get the sister that she has been asking for for her birthday, but it looks like Jack is getting a brother. Allie told me last week that she didn't need another brother because she already has one. I was a little afraid to tell her that the baby wasn't going to be a sister, but all she said was why not (typical 3 year old). We told her that Heavenly Father wanted us to have another brother and she said "why". After that, all she seemed concerned about was when the baby was going to get here. I think she's over it.
As for me, I'm not going to lie, I really was looking forward to having another girl to wear all of those cute clothes that Allie hardly got any use out of because she grew so fast. I really just want Allie to have a little sister at some point. We'll see. I am glad to have two children of the same sex close together so that the boys can share a room sometime soon. Things are kind of out of control with Allie and Jack sharing a room right now. And Adam, in true Adam form didn't care either way (he's just glad the baby is healthy), but I do think he's excited to have another boy. He's already talking about Olympic aspirations for both of the boys and Allie too.
Everything seemed really good at the ultrasound as far as the baby's health is concerned. He weighed about 12 ounces and was measuring about 20 weeks which is right on. She said that put my due date at January 26th (the original due date is Jan 28th). The only problem is that the tech said that my placenta is lying low, but that often times that corrects itself as the pregnancy progresses. If not, it sounded like another c-section. I hope not. I really want my natural birthing center birth. Again, we'll wait and see.

The baby sucking his thumb

Full body shot

What a fun week

2008-09-07T21:00:00.002-05:00

We spent Labor Day with some friends from church. They grilled and Adam was able to get his meat fix for the month. The food was all so yummy. I used my mother-in-law's recipe to make fish/frog eye salad which is always a big hit with the kids. The kids had a water balloon fight with a couple of the brave dads. It was a really fun day.

Allie is so excited to be drinking soda and it's pink

Daddy and Jack playing soccer-Jack forgets to use his feet

The kids waiting for their turn to get the next water balloon

Allie had her first day of preschool at the University of Texas Lab School. From what Adam told me she did really well. I asked Adam to make sure to take some pictures of her before she got too deep into playing. Apparently she ran off to play so fast that Adam couldn't even get one picture. When he came back to pick her up, her teacher said that "Allie is made for school." I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not, but she seems to be loving it. This week she only went for two days, two hours each day. Starting tomorrow she'll go four days a week for three hours each day. On Mondays and Wednesdays Adam takes her to school and brings her home and on Tuesdays and Thursdays I drop her off and Adam brings her home. I think that Mondays and Wednesdays are going to be great for Jack and I.

The only picture I got of Allie on her first day of Lab School (I think that skirt is getting a little short). Allie loves her new pink puppy dog.

For the most part potty training is still going fairly well. No major accidents, just lots of little ones this week. Jack on the other hand has taken to going poopy in his diaper when he is in his crib, then taking all of his clothes of (onesie included) and smearing the poop everywhere. We had a major mess after nap time today. Yuck!!!

On to better news...I had my first appointment with my midwife at the birthing center this week. Things went well. I love how laid back they are about most things. I also really liked that they paid a lot of attention to the nutrition of the mother which my OB/GYN usually doesn't have time for. The office was very busy because it was the first day back after the Labor Day weekend, but the midwife didn't seem rushed at all. I was 18 1/2 weeks and I measured 15 weeks, so we'll see how big the baby is tomorrow at the ultrasound. It's the big one. By lunchtime tomorrow, we'll know if we are having another girl or another boy (assuming the baby cooperates). Stay tuned. We'll post another blog when we get home from the appointment.

Oh what a week!

2008-08-31T21:00:00.003-05:00

We have had quite a week of transitions for the kids. Allie got up Tuesday morning and announced that she wanted to wear panties instead of putting on a diaper. I was shocked because I have been trying to get her to do this for months with no luck. She loves her diapers. If Jack wasn't still in diapers (the same size as her), I probably would have thrown them away by now. Amazingly, Allie stayed dry all day. Even at nap time I let her stay in her panties rather than put a diaper on her. On her own she went into the bathroom and went potty during nap time. She did wait until bed time when she got her diaper put on to go poopy. The next day she stayed dry all morning and asked if she could wear panties to her preschool open house in the afternoon. I let her and she had no accidents. Dry all day. On Thursday Allie stayed dry again all day and this time went poopy in the toilet.
Adam and Allie decided months ago that if she stayed dry for 3 days in a row and used the toilet all day on those days (instead of just holding it in), he would by her rainbow ice cream with sprinkles. So, Adam dropped by the store on the way home from campus and picked up some rainbow sherbet. Luckily we already had the sprinkles at home. Allie was in heaven. That was Thursday and she has been dry and using the toilet ever since. I'm not sure what the sudden change of heart was for her. The only thing I can think is that since she is starting school this week, she wanted to be able to use the toilet like some of the other kids or maybe it was timing and she was just ready. I hope this is it and we don't have any backsliding.
I think we have finally had a breakthrough with Jack also. After four months of being in nursery at church, he is finally OK with being left there alone while Adam and I go to our Sunday School classes. So it looks like I have almost a 5 month break before I have another baby to be walking the halls with for 18month-2years. I'm just grateful for a break at all.

Baby, Jack, and Allie update

2008-08-17T19:45:00.011-05:00

I can't believe it myself, but I'm almost 17 weeks into this pregnancy. I think it has gone by so fast because I'm not obsessed with finding out the gender of the baby. I figure I have a boy and a girl and either way with the next one I will be excited and a little disappointed.That's probably good because I was devastated when I found out that Jack was a boy. What was I thinking!
All is still going well with this pregnancy. I had my last appointment with my OB/GYN this past week. We have decided to deliver at the Austin Area Birthing Center if everything goes as planned. So from here on out I will be seeing a midwife there. Surprisingly, my doctor was very supportive of our plan. I was a little nervous to tell her that I didn't plan on delivering in the hospital. But as usual she was great.

We have scheduled the BIG ultrasound where we hopefully find out the gender of the baby if it cooperates. We'll be going to that 3 weeks from tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out more.

Baby #3 at 16 weeks

So, on to Jack. I'm sure by now all 3 of our readers know about Jack's nut allergies. Several months back we gave him a trail mix that included cashews in it and he broke out in huge hives and went into anaphylactic shock. His mouth started swelling up and he was having major trouble breathing. So, I had to call 911. Luckily before I called 911 I was able to give him some Benadryl and by the time the paramedics (and about 15 firemen) got here he was just wheezing a little. It was so scary. We now keep an Epi Pen Jr on hand just in case. Recently we had another scare with Peanut Butter. Again he broke out in hives but this time I was able to get the medicine to him sooner and he was fine. We had some more allergy testing done on him about two weeks ago because I suspected that he had more than just nut allergies(the last Dr. would only test him for nuts for some crazy reason). We found out that he is allergic to peanuts, cashews, eggs, wheat, and soy. So, my latest dilemma is figuring out what the heck to feed him.
We also found out a couple of months ago that Jack will need eye surgery in the next two months or so. He is having problems focusing his right eye with his left eye when he looks at things at a distance. I had been noticing that when he was in his high chair and would stare off at things his right eye looked a little lazy and sure enough it is. Oh, Jack what a mess you are. But you sure are cute.

Jack with a patch over his eye before his last visit to the opthalmologist

Jack kept pulling the patch off so I had to put band aids all around it. It worked. The Dr. had a hard time getting it off.

In Allie news, she will be starting the University of Texas Lab School (preschool) in about 2 weeks. her teacher is coming to visit on Tuesday and Allie is excited to meet her. Adam and I are hoping that going to school will help her desire to get potty trained once and for all. As she says "Mommy I know how to use the potty. I just choose not to. I choose to wear my diaper." I'm about to throw the diapers out if this doesn't work. Then of course I'll be left to clean up the mess since she also chooses to go in her panties. I don't know which is worse, having 3 kids in diapers or "helping" her clean up her messes and just having 2 in diapers.

Oh, one last thing, I promise. We put Allie and Jack in the same room to sleep (Allie's room) for the first time tonight. We'll see how that goes. Jack was very upset when he first realized that we were leaving him in there. But by the time we closed the door they were having a grand time. Allie has been being a little mother in there. It is hilarious to hear the things she tells him. She's been reading to him to help Jack to feel better abut things. It's 8:15 and they are still playing. Maybe they'll sleep in tomorrow. Not likely. We'll let you know how this goes on our next blog posting sometime next month.

Family News!!!

2008-07-13T21:00:00.006-05:00

So, most anybody (all three of you) who reads our blog probably knows by now that we are expecting a new Baby West in January. Allie has been asking for a baby sister for her birthday for quite a while now and my due date is actually Allies birthday, January 28th. We did what we could for the birthday present part, but as for it being a sister, I'm not sure if I can help you out on that one Allie.

We have had a couple of scares so far with the baby's heartbeat. At our first ultrasound (at 7 weeks) the baby measured right on for its age, but the heart beat was pretty slow. The doctor said that could mean nothing at all or it could end up in a miscarriage, only time would tell. That was on Friday and she scheduled us to come back in on Monday to do another ultrasound. The baby had grown over the weekend (amazing that they can tell that) and the heartbeat was normal. In fact the doctor said that the baby showed much more movement than normal at that age. I was just happy that the baby was moving, but when I told Adam that he said something like "uh oh, another wild child for us."

This past week I went in for another appointment at 11 weeks. Normally I wouldn't have come back until 12 weeks, but my doctor was getting ready to have her third baby and wanted me to come in before her induction to have another ultrasound to check the heart again. I had to see a different doctor (She broke my water when I was in the hospital delivering Jack) and she wasn't going to do another ultrasound until she tried to hear the heartbeat on the Doppler and couldn't. She looked for a heartbeat for what seemed like forever before she finally said "looks like we need to do an ultrasound." Of course I was thinking no wonder I've been feeling so much better than the last two pregnancies. It's because something happened to the baby. Then I had to wait a very long 15 minutes in the ultrasound room until she came back in. When she finally did the ultrasound everything was fine and once again the baby was very active. So, for now we are just keeping our fingers crossed and saying lots of prayers that everything will turn out OK. We'll keep you posted.

A New Ride

2008-07-13T20:45:00.013-05:00

Now that we are expecting a new addition to the fam, we thought we should try to upgrade the space for transporting these various kids and their luggage around town. Actually, Jen has been keeping an eye out for larger vehicles for quite a while, just so she could be prepared for the time when we actually pull the trigger.

Some might wonder, "How can these poor saps (literally and figuratively) afford another vehicle. Well, you can thank our Uncle Sam for that. We decided to use our tax refund from last tax year, the government stimulus checks from a couple of months ago, next years estimated tax refund, and a special county rebate program to purchase a new 7-passenger van.

The rebate program involved "trading-in" a car that is either over 10 years old or has failed the most recent emissions testing. Adam was driving a 1993 Dodge Shadow with a few miles on it.

So, we applied to take the "Purple Plum" off the road. The rebate program basically counted the car as a trade-in valued at $3000. Of course, the car was worth about $25 in parts, so we thought it was a good idea to look at getting in on the rebate program.

Jen, who never thought of herself as a "mini-van gal," has been researching vans since Allie was born. So she settled on looking at a Honda Odessey or a Toyota Sienna. The Toyota's are a little cheaper on the used car market, which we were in, but none-the-less still have great track records. So Jen found a small local car wholesaler who also sells a few cars to the public. Their gimmick is that you pay the price on the sticker (i.e., no haggling), but they also don't really dolly-up the cars or put add-ons to increase the resale value (often a tactic of other car dealers). When we got to the dealer, we could tell that the cars were washed and vacuumed, but nothing much else.

Jen was originally looking at an 2007 8-passenger Sienna LX (middle-tier van). All of the LXs on the lot were previous rentals with about 20,000 miles or so on them. Some of them sure seemed like rentals, with stains on the carpets and funny smells from the interior. But they were 8-passengers and had an automatic sliding door (just one door is auto on the LX-you have to get the top-tier van for two side auto doors). We couldn't decide which of the three or four we liked.

While we were mulling it over, we decided to check out a 2008 Sienna CE, which is the low-tier van of the line. Basically, it doesn't have auto doors or color-keyed side mirror, but it has the same engine, safety features, and interior setup. We took it for a test drive and noticed that it had only 4500 miles on it and it smelled brand new. It even looked as if it was hardly driven. It had a price tag of a $1,000 or so more than what we were expecting with the 2007, but it was basically brand new.

So, now we have a new van to think about, although it didn't have the two things Jen was looking at: 8-passenger and auto-sliding door. We thought, however, that while it was being sold used, it seemed too new to pass up. We also thought there was some catch as to why this almost new, hardly driven van was being sold as used. We don't know the back story of the van, but a carfax check showed no problems, just that it was sold at an auction to the dealer we were visiting.

Anyway, we decided to get the 2008, which happens to be the same exterior color as our 2005 Toyota Corolla (thanks Grandpa West for helping us get that car!). So, now we don't have to worry about where to put a third car seat, because there is plenty of room for even two or three more car seats in our new ride (don't get any ideas).

Staying out of trouble

2008-05-26T08:00:00.002-05:00

We teach our kids to always keep their noses clean.

Long time, no post

2008-05-25T20:32:00.011-05:00

The day before Mother's Day we went to the local Farmer's Market to pick up some veggies for dinner that night (grilled vegetables and tofu mixed with bow tie pasta-yum). We also picked up some peaches that the kids wanted to eat right away. What a mess, but they were so good. I'm not sure about that face that I'm making but Allie sure loved that peach.
Jack ate the peach so fast. We couldn't find the seed so we just thought that he had dropped it on the ground. I even stuck my finger in his mouth to check if it was in there.
After the peach was gone we saw him sucking on something. It was the seed. I guess he must have been hiding it in is cheek like a little chipmunk.
I've been taking the kids to the park pretty much every morning lately. It really helps the day to go better. Our favorite park which happens to be really close by has this dolphin that shoots water out of it. The kids love to play in the water and then go play on the play scape or in the sand.

Last summer the dolphin never worked so we figured it was just old and broken. We were really surprised earlier in the month when Allie pushed the button and water came out.
Allie threw something at her brother and this is me putting her in a time out. If you look very closely you can see that she is screaming and kicking. Gotta love toddlerhood.
This is Jack at the top of the play scape climbing out. He's learning from his sister to be very brave. I just thought this was a cute close up of Jack
Here is Daddy racing down the slide with Jack in the background.

So, my latest cooking adventure (other than experimenting with new vegetarian recipes) is bread baking. I've always been afraid of making yeast products because they take so long to make and if they don't turn out well then you've wasted a whole day in the process. We had a church activity that a friend of mine named Kristen taught. She showed us how to make a basic refrigerator roll recipe. I told her that I really wanted to learn to bake whole wheat bread so that I didn't have to buy the stuff at the store with high fructose corn syrup in it or spend a fortune buying it at Whole Foods or Central Market. She offered to come over and show me how to make bread using this recipe she has from a 1950's Betty Crocker Cook Book. It came out really great while she was there (of course). A couple of days later I tried it on my own and it didn't go so well. I tried again a couple of days after that and low and behold it turned out terrific (or at least I think so). Now I'm baking 4 loaves every week and a half and then freezing it to use throughout the coming week. It's so nice not to have to buy bread from the store with 50 ingredients in it. Plus it's always such a sense of accomplishment to make lunch every day for the kids on my own bread.

Adam's mom recently came to visit us for a couple of days. we had a really good time with her. I wish we had taken more pictures, but it's hard to get the kids to sit still. We didn't do much on this visit. It was nice and relaxing.

Grandma brought these two chairs with her for the kids. Of course they fought over them the whole time and almost killed themselves pushing each other over in them on the tile floors inside. So, now they are officially outdoor chairs. They still fight over them, but at least it's outside on the grass. Every morning when they go out into the backyard, they each pick their chair and then just sit in it for a few minutes before pulling it all around the yard and putting it on the trampoline.

These are some cute pictures with Grandma before she left to go back to Dallas.
Jack and Grandma
Allie and Grandma

Holding Hands

2008-03-08T11:00:00.004-06:00

We took a trip to the Austin Zoo last week when Auntie K was here visiting from Tennessee. I decided to try and get a picture of the kids holding hands. Here is what I got.

Cookies anyone?

2008-03-08T10:00:00.001-06:00

Larger than average

2008-02-18T20:00:00.004-06:00

The other day, Jack had his 15-month checkup and Allie her 3 year check-up with the pediatrician. As with most visits, the children are weighed and measured and rated according to some ranking chart that somehow includes ranges of US children’s measurements. The rankings are given as a percentile. For example, “Your child is in the 60ith percentile, for weight” means that the child supposedly weights less than 40% and more than 60% of other children of the same age. You can check out a sample chart that pediatrician's offices often use at Keep Kids Healthy.

Jack has always been a larger child than his playmates of the same age, so we were expecting the results to be approaching the 100% marker. Over the past year, Allie, on the other hand, while at one time was larger in all measures compared to her counterparts, has slipped back to just “average,” or around the 50% range for all measure.

Well, here is the latest report, with percentiles in parentheses:

Jack (age 15 months)

Weight: 25.8 lbs (70%)
Height: 32.5 inches (85%)
Head Circumference: 50 cm (greater than 97%)

Allie (age 3 years)

Weight: 34 lbs (80%)
Height: 40 inches (97%)
(no head circumference at this age, although her blood pressure is normal)

So the verdict is that our children really are supposedly larger in some respects than other children their age. What does that mean? In my opinion, not much. I would, however, like to find a way to shrink Jack’s head. It’s huge! We have trouble fitting some of his t-shirts over his head.

Music for the ears

2008-02-11T15:00:00.000-06:00

I know we haven't updated in a while and that I should post something informational rather than self-serving, but I thought I would post a link to my free MySpace.com music account.

http://www.myspace.com/adamrwest

If you have some time, drop on by and listen to the 5 or so songs that I have posted. I am in the long process of getting some songs together to put out a real album for download and purchase. At the rate I'm going, however, I'll be in my 40s before that happens.

Who is that girl?

2008-01-06T21:23:00.001-06:00

I was straightening my hair one morning and Allie came into the bathroom and asked me to do hers. So, I just did her bangs, but when I was done she wanted me to keep going. I was totally surprised because I had tried to do her bangs once before and she reached up and
grabbed the iron and burnt herself. She let me do all of it and for the first time she had a head full of straight hair instead of curls and waves mixed with frizz. We couldn't believe how different she looked.

Allie had her end of semester preschool party that day at Gymboree and was able to show of her new hair for the day

Earlier in the day Allie had a friend over and they both wanted pig tails in their hair

Allie and Jack on the rocking horse at Gymboree
Jack had a blast playing with the big kids
Jack doing the hard work pushing Allie

Jack on the trampoline

A new church calling for Jen!

2007-12-16T21:59:00.000-06:00

I finally have a new calling. As most everybody I have ever talked to knows, I have been teaching primary for almost 5 years now and I am completely burnt out. About two weeks ago I was called to be the new Activity Day Leader. I love it. We had our first activity this past week and it was so much fun. All of the girls are really great. There were about 11 of them (I think it is usually about 12-15 that come). It was a 2 hour activity rather than the usual 1 hour, since the next scheduled activity falls on Christmas. We obviously won’t be having that one so we had an extra long Christmas Extravaganza. I was a little nervous because I had less than a week to plan it after I was called. We made Christmas cookies, Christmas tree ornaments, an advent chain, wrote thank you notes to the old Activity day leader, had popcorn and eggnog, and read Christmas stories. Wow! We got a lot done in 2 hours. Anyway, I’m just really excited to have such a fantastic new calling. Oh, and added bonus, after January (I’m still filling in as a Primary teacher) I’ll be able to go to Sunday School and Relief Society or just help Adam wander the halls with Jack.

October-Jack's birthday party in San Angelo

2007-12-16T21:51:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, before my Aunt and Uncle had to leave, we had a birthday party for Jack. He loved his cake as you can tell from the pictures. Thankfully he got a lot of really cute clothes, since he is growing out of all of his old ones so quickly. He’s only 13 months-old and he’s wearing 18 month clothes. He’s a big boy.

Jack's not quite sure about the cake yet.
Mmmmm good

I love it, I really love it!
I can't wait for next year.

More San Angelo Pictures

2007-12-16T21:36:00.001-06:00

Mommy and Allie in the process of getting dressed.
Daddy and Jack-they are two handsome guys!

Auntie Kathy and Jen
A picture of Uncle Joe taking a picture of Jack.
Mom, Auntie Kathy, and Jen

October-Our Trip to San Angelo

2007-12-16T20:45:00.000-06:00

So, no big surprise that I have not been able to keep up with my blogs like I said I would (that was back in October after having not posted one in over 2 months). So, I may just have to post one giant blog every month to chronicle what we have been up to in that month. At the rate I’m going, I’ll be lucky to write a blog quarterly.

At the end of October we went to San Angelo to visit my parents and to celebrate Jack’s first birthday. My Aunt Kathy and Uncle Niko were visiting from Boston. My brother, Joe, was also visiting my parents. My other brother, Matt, lives in San Angelo. So it was a family reunion of sorts. We had a great time. Joe has recently taken up photography as his latest hobby. He bought a new camera for over $2000. It takes amazing pictures, especially compared to our camera. Joe spent most of his time taking pictures of the family. It was so nice not to have to worry about snapping pictures of our own. Luckily he should be there for Christmas, so maybe we’ll get some decent pictures then too.

We were hoping to find a local Halloween party to go to since we would be missing our church party. But for some reason in San Angelo, they had all either already happened or were going to be on Sunday. So, we (I think it was my Mom’s idea) decided to get the kids dressed up in their costumes and send Allie around the doors of the house to get candy. We had a ton of people there, so first Allie went to all of the outside doors and then she went to the inside bedroom doors. She had a great time and was quite excited by all of the candy that she got.

Allie wanted in on Jack's pumpkin pics
The closest thing to a decent family picture that we'll have for a while
Me and my brothers (Joe and Matt)
My whole family (we finally got one without my Dad putting bunny ears on my Mom)
Grammy and Allie
Aunt Kathy and Uncle Niko
Mommy and Jack

What a happy little pumpkin
My Mom got Allie a cowboy hat while we were in West Texas (how fitting). She decided to put it on with her butterfly costume.
For some reason my Mom thought that the people who were passing candy out to Allie should also dress up. I reminded her that usually only the tricker-treaters dress up. Her dramatic side really comes out when she is with her sisters
Nana looking beautiful
This picture of my Dad's dog ("Girlie Dog" -that's the best name he could come up with for her) was taken at night. It was completely dark, but with Joe's new camera (did I mention it cost over $2000) we could see her in the picture. We thought it was funny that she looked like she was smiling.

I Spy...

2007-12-09T08:00:00.000-06:00

Anyone remember playing the game I Spy...? Take a few minutes and try playing a game with the person on your left.

Plump Halloween Pumpkin

2007-12-08T09:15:00.001-06:00

Jack was a pumpkin for Halloween this year. He actually was wearing the costume that Allie wore two years ago. There is a pumpkin hat that goes with the costume, but he kept pulling it off before we could get a picture. Maybe anyone with Photoshop experience can edit in a hat.

Last year Jack dressed up as a 3-day old baby for Halloween. He was cuddly and cute.

Halloween Princess Butterfly

2007-12-08T09:00:00.000-06:00

Allie was a princess butterfly for Halloween this year (she was a cheerleader last year and a pumpkin the year before). As you can see in the below picture, she wore a pink leotard with a fluffy skirt and wings. She added a wand to complete the ensemble.
What were you for Halloween?

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-29T20:30:00.000-05:00

Ok,I'm back. It's been a really long time since I've posted a blog. I'm really going to try to keep up with things now (We'll see how long that lasts). Even though I haven't gotten any blogs posted lately, if you check out my book lists, you'll see that I have gotten a lot of books read. That counts for something, right? I have so much to post...Another trip to Sea World, Auntie K and Grandma's trip to Austin, Our trip to San Angelo, Jack's first birthday, Halloween. I think I'll start with last weekend (October 20th-I guess it's been two weekends ago now). We took the family to the pumpkin patch at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. It's supposed to be world famous (or maybe it's just Texas famous). The weather was beautiful in the morning, but by the time we got everyone ready, loaded up, and drove out there (about a 45 min. drive) it was getting pretty hot, so we only stayed for about an hour. That sounds like a short period of time but we were able to do a lot. Mostly Allie wanted to sit in the swing at the playscape (this is Allie's new favorite thing-just sitting in the swing and being pushed forever). We also went on the hay ride which took us all around to the different activity areas. Allie was surprisingly good while we were on it. Jack was a little wiggly toward the end. After we left, Adam and I decided to take the kids to one of the local barbecue places that we see advertised on the TV all of the time. We figured we wouldn't be in Elgin again anytime soon. We got in line to order our food and Allie had a major meltdown. So, we left and ended up with all the other families who had toddlers, at McDonald's. At least they had an indoor playscape. Maybe we'll have to wait another10-15 years to take the kids anywhere but Chik-fil-a or McDonald's.

Allie reliving her glory days as a pumpkin

Jack-the cutest pumpkin of all

We finally got one of Jack sitting still. Every time we were about to take the picture, he would crawl off.

Mommy and the kids

Daddy and the kiddos

A little bit taller

2007-10-21T11:30:00.000-05:00

Some of us wish that we were just a little bit taller.

Now that Jack likes to climb up on anything he can get his hands on, we have to keep the counters clear. He'll try anything to reach as high as he can and pull down whatever his fingers touch.

Allie likes to play in the kitchen sink and often uses a stool for extra leverage. The other day, Jack found another stool and placed it next to the kitchen sink, trying to emulate his sister's every move. For him, it sure beat trying to stand on Allie's stool.

We're still alive

2007-10-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

Those of you who only know us only through our blog might be wondering to yourselves, "What on earth happened to the West's?" Actually, our readers have probably stopped checking for new blogs and moved on to other things.

Well, I am here to say that we are back (hopefully). We have a bevy of pictures and stories that beg to be told on the Internets. So sit back, relax, and await our the next chapter in the Tales of West. (FYI, our stories are being optioned for a big time Hollywood production staring Nicholas Cage or somebody.) Or you may want to do something more productive with your life. It's up to you.

Fall 2007 TV picks

2007-08-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

What will you be watching on TV during the upcoming season? If you haven’t already done so, now may be a good time to start planning. I guess your viewing habits may vary based on the technology you employ. Those with the ability to record shows with a DVR may plan differently than those of us who don't have such a device. Also, your type of service may vastly affect the amount of stations and thus shows to choose from. You have more channels to choose from if you have cable or satellite TV.

Below you will find the shows I plan on following during the upcoming Fall 2007 TV season. We don't have satellite or cable and also don't have a DVR. We do have a VCR which will be used here and there to record a few things. So, we are limited to over-the-air channels.

Sunday

None (I may record Dallas Cowboys football games)

Monday

None

Tuesday

Law and Order: SVU (NBC)

Wednesday

None

Thursday

My Name is Earl (NBC)
The Office (NBC)

Friday

None

Saturday

Saturday Night College Football (ABC)

Midseason shows I will try to watch:

It looks like I am pretty much confined to NBC and ABC. If The Simpson's (FOX) didn't show on Sunday, I may add that to my list. Others shows of interest to me are Dateline (NBC), 48 Hours Investigates (CBS), and 20/20 (ABC).

Jen and I share a mutual interest in The Office, which is my favorite show on TV right now. I can bet Jen's schedule will include shows such as Desperate Housewives and the midseason return of Lost. She'll also probably catch Supernanny.

Drop us a comment with your Fall 2007 TV picks.

There's something to an early bedtime

2007-08-24T19:00:00.000-05:00

Over the past few years, I have come to value sleep. At night or during the day; I just love the feeling of resting my head and eyes for a few minutes or hours. Actually, sleep is quite great anytime I can get it. My trouble is that I like to catch the late-night talk shows or catch-up on some TV on DVD once the kids and Jen go to bed. I guess I really have no one but myself to blame if I stay up too late.

I think the kids, too, have come to value their sleep. Just see the two of them at bedtime when naps haven't gone so well earlier in the day. It's not a pretty sight. The bedtime routine around our house used to be a bit hectic and at times still is. We have made a few changes, however, that have helped. We now put Jack down to sleep at 7:00pm and Allie stays up a little later. Both kids used to go to bed at 7:30pm, but that meant trying to get two tired kids ready for bed at the same time. Staggering the bedtimes has made the routine a little easier, especially when Jen has to get both kids ready for bed because I am not home.

One great byproduct of staggered bedtimes is that we get to spend a little one-on-one time with Allie before she goes to bed. On good days she stays up until 8:00pm or so, a full hour after her younger brother goes to bed. Allie likes to play "peek-a-boo," which is her version of hide-and-go-seek. She also like to read books. We use the time before bed to do some of those things that she really likes.

Both kids seem to be taking to the staggered bed times pretty well. Jack is usually quite tired by 7:00pm, and he was the main reason for the change in routine. Allie likes the extra attention before bed. And Allie will often sleep until 8:00am or so the next morning, which is a pleasing change from her 6:00am-6:30am awakenings she was pulling a few months ago.

So, as I mentioned, I like sleep. It is nice to get everyone on a nice sleep schedule. Now I just have to cut out watching late-night talks shows and maybe I'll get on a good schedule too.

Movie reviews on the brain

2007-08-18T14:00:00.000-05:00

I like movies. In fact, you too may have at least a slight interest in what we call the motion picture. Well, I’m thinkng about putting a few movie reviews on our family blog. We don’t see too many new movies in the theater, but do see some a bit later on DVD. So, not all of the reviews will be of current movies.

Now you may ask out loud, “Why should I listen to another person on the Internet reviewing movies?” That’s a great question and one I don’t really have an answer for. Here's how I see it--I like to see movies and thought that I might share with others my thoughts and ideas about the ones I see. Hey, for all we know this may be a one-and-done adventure!

My goal is to provide simple, clear reviews that don’t go over the head of the average movie viewer (that’s me). There are plenty of professional (and amateur) reviewers who will take an artistic look at all of the cinematic features and blow you away with their technical knowledge of the movie making process. There are also plenty of people who log on and give their quick opinion after seeing the latest movies. For example, you can check out simple MSN.com user reviews of Evan Almighty or potentially more comprehensive Yahoo! user reviews of the same movie. I hope for my reviews to fall somewhere in between. Not too technical and not too sparse.

I don’t have much on tap of what to include in the reviews. I bet I will mention the soundtrack and music in most reviews, because those things matter a lot to me. I probably won’t be critical of colors and wardrobes, because those things don’t matter a lot to me. I don’t know if I’ll have a star or thumb rating system…maybe I’ll try out a few different things and see what works best. Please leave a comment or contact me through the normal channels if you have any suggestions of things you’d like to see in my reviews. You can also let me know of things you don’t want to see in the reviews, but I’ll probably ignore your requests (just trying to be honest here).

If you would rather skip my reviews and read movie reviews elsewhere, or just learn more than you ever needed to know about a particular movie, then check out a few of the sites below.

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) (database of movies, TV shows, performers, etc.)
Movie Review Query Engine (database of movie reviews from around the world)
Filmcritic.com (an oldie that employs its own reviewers)
Screen It! (well-detailed movie reviews for parents[and others]; free reviews debut a few weeks after the movie hits theaters)
Parent Previews (family run movie review site for parents [and others])
Eric D. Snyder movie reviews (satiric freelance movie critic who reviews almost everything--and his a fellow BYU graduate)

Piano on the cheap, anyone?

2007-08-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

How much would you pay for a free piano? Of course, quite a goofy question. Well, we did just that this past weekend. We were able to snag a free, upright piano, as long as we could pick it up and transport it to out house. Seeing that we don't own a truck and only have two adults in the house, we were going to have to find some help.

On Thursday, Jen forwarded me an email from a family at church that is moving and getting rid of their piano. Jen didn't even read the email, rather simply forwarded it on to me. I felt I had to jump on it because the email had gone out to all of the church members and I wanted a shot at a free piano. I shot off an email to the family saying that we would love to take the piano off of their hands. Now, I had never seen or heard the piano, but thought that a free piano is worth it, right?

The reply came back that we could have the piano as long as we come and take it away. By this time, Jen was wondering what we would do with a piano. We already have a small digital piano that has suited us just well for a number of years (and will continue to do so). I felt that the chance at an upright that the kids could bang on and play without having to use a power switch just couldn't be passed up.

So, I arranged a couple of guys from church to help us out. One happened to have a pick-up truck and offered it's use. On Saturday at 1:00pm we all showed up to move this piano. It turns out that the piano is a converted player piano and still has most of the player piano parts inside of it. That makes an already heavy piano a little heavier. Now there were four of us big, strapping, young lads to move this thing, so we shouldn't have any trouble, right? One of us lads was an active fireman, however.

After all of that build-up, I am sorry to report that we didn't drop the piano on a toe or let it roll down the sidewalk. Too bad, because that would get a great addition to the story. It took a total of 30-40 minutes to move the piano from one house into the truck, drive a couple of miles to our house, and unload the piano into our living room. And the piano is definitely used (by a few families, I hear), but is actually in good condition considering it's age and history. I'll try my hand at some tuning, but I suspect most, if not all, of the strings could use replacing, among other things.

The funny thing about the whole process is that the family who gave us the piano was so, very appreciative that we took the piano. They keep saying things like, "We can't thank you enough," and "You have helped us out so much." I wonder why they wanted to get rid of the piano so bad...

What would life be like without your nose?

2007-08-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago at church, while Jack and I were in Sunday School and Allie was in nursery (Sunday School for kids her age), Allie began not feeling well. She was brought to me because by this time she was consistently crying. Jen was teaching her primary class (Sunday School for toddlers to pre-teens) and couldn't accommodate one or both of our children. To be fair, Allie was not feeling well earlier in the day and had a cold the previous week.

When Allie arrived with one of her nursery leaders, she was mumbling something that I asked her to repeat. She then clearly said, in a small, whimpering voice, "I can't smell anymore." The nursery leader initially thought that Allie had said, "I can't spell anymore," which would be quite a feat for a non-spelling toddler. Allie's nose was quite stuffed up at this point from the previous cold and the crying. It was quite cute and it got me thinking about living live without the ability to smell.

I guess I shouldn't take my nose and the ability to smell for granted. I would hate to not be able to "smell anymore."
(It was later discovered that Allie had an ear infection in both ears and since that time has had a difficult time returning to nursery on her own.)

Random Pictures

2007-07-30T22:36:00.000-05:00

These are just some random pictures of the kids that we thought were cute. Oh, we added a new link on the left side of our blog to some of our family pictures. So if you want to see anymore pictures of these cuties, you can just click there. Allie all ready for church
Allie loves her little brother
Allie helping Daddy wash the car (they make a great team)

Allie reading to Jack-they look like they just got caught(the pacifier is officially gone-Adam threw it away)
Allie and Jack playing together at their "new" (craigslist) kitchen
Jack playing in one of his favorite places, my mom’s down blanket
Jack and Daddy looking cute and comfy

C is for Cookie

2007-07-29T22:52:00.000-05:00

Adam has had a hankering for his mom's ginger snaps for weeks. He kept claiming he was going to make them (I know better than that). So, Allie and I decided we would surprise him and make them ourselves. I emailed Kristen to get Cynthia's recipe. In the meantime, I looked online to find a similar recipe for moist ginger snaps. I found one that looked really good and when Kristen emailed me back, it turned out to be almost identical to Cynthia's (the only difference was it had salt added and cooked at a lower temp.) I used that recipe and they were so yummy, just like the ones Adam's mom and sister make. They were so good that we had to make a second batch before the weekend was over (sad, but true). I never ate ginger snaps growing up. It's one of the many things that Adam and his family have introduced me to. I am kind of surprised that his family likes them so much since, as Cynthia often reminds me "Adam doesn't come from a spicy food family". I'm just glad that this is one recipe full of spice that they do like. Yum-O!

Here is the recipe I used

3/4 cup shortening

1 egg

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup molasses

2 cups flour

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 t salt
Combine the shortening, egg, sugar and molasses. Add the remaining ingredients. Chill for 1 hour, then shape into balls. Roll the balls in sugar and arrange on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for a scant 8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. They come off the cookie sheet much more easily if you let them sit for a minute after they come out of the oven.

How much would you pay for a hub cap?

2007-07-27T09:30:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, after driving a number of miles from home on the freeway, we noticed that a hub cap was missing from the right, rear tire on our Toyota Corolla (see right). We tried to back-track on some of the roads we had just traveled, but did not find out missing hub cap. I thought to myself, hub caps are usually made out of cheap plastic and polycarbonate materials and shouldn't be too expensive to replace.

I started my price searching at a local Toyota dealer because I figured I would get a ceiling price for one hub cap. Needless to say, $85 for one lousy hub cap was too much for me. So I tried the trusty old Internet. A few online stores offered good deals at only $75 per cap. Wow, I thought. I had better jump at the chance to save $10 off the dealers, price.

None-the-less, I decided to keep checking for a lower price. I made my way to eBay and found a few sellers offering "slightly used" hub caps for only $35 a piece. Now, we are talking! Upon further inspection, however, some of the ads mentioned that their hub caps may or may not have the original Toyota symbol in the middle of the hub cap--in other words, they are selling "original" Toyota hub caps, but shipping cheap knock-offs to customers.

By this time, I had decided to give up and buy a set of 4 cheap, non-Toyota hub caps. Last Saturday, I ventured into Wal-mart to pick up a few odds and ends and made my way to the automotive aisle to price hub caps. Low and behold I found the exact hub caps that are on my 1993 Dodge Shadow for $13, so I now know where to find some replacements, if I need any. I also spotted a set of hub caps, also for $13, that looked very similar to my authentic Toyota hub caps.

So, for less than $15 we are the proud owners of four new, Toyota-like hub caps (here's a comparison of the two types).

Anyone need three, slightly used 2005 Toyota Corolla hub caps?

Only $85 each.

He's a stand up kind of guy

2007-07-22T23:04:00.000-05:00

Jack just learned to stand up by himself (holding onto things). Now that is all he wants to do.

Jack standing and holding onto Allie’s bed (he is so proud of himself)
This is usually how I find him when he wakes up.

Our week with Grammy and Nana

2007-07-22T21:15:00.000-05:00

Last week my mom (Grammy) and my grandma (Nana) came into town. We had so much fun with them.

Here is Grammy putting makeup on Allie.
The finished product
We have been trying to get a four generation picture taken of me, my mom, my grandmother, and Allie since Allie was born. We have all of our matching outfits picked out, we just never make it to Sears when we are all together. So, we decided to just go ahead and snap one as Grammy and Nana were on their way out the door (no matching outfits).

While my mom was here, she stayed home with Jack so that I could take Allie to the Austin Children's Museum. We met some friends there and had a great time together. The picture above is of Allie driving a replica of an Austin City Bus. I think there may be a future in it for her.
Allie and her friend, Ellie, at the museum dressed up as construction workers.
My mom stayed with the kids for the day on Tuesday so that Adam and I could go to Sea World by ourselves. We had so much fun together, just the two of us (and Shamu).