Holding Hands

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?

Larger than average

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

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?

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!

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

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

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

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...

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