The West Family

Law School, Traveling Plans, and Fall

2010-09-01T21:57:00.000-04:00

Hello there friends! I so greatly appreciated the comments that you left on my last post. Thank you so much for your sweet words. It is so nice to know other moms are feeling similiarly. We are all working hard at our house right now to prepare Adam for his LSAT this October. I am very scared/excited/nervous for this potential change in our lives. As we are considering different law schools we want to apply to, I'd thought I'd put the question to our friends- where should we go? It is so exciting to consider the possiblities, and I would love advice about the best places to be :) We have really loved living in North Carolina. It is so beautiful and we have had a lot of fun exploring the East coast, but I am anxious to return back West near our families. So anwhere West of the Mississippi :) In other West Family news, we are headed on a big adventure this month! By we, I mean Eliana, Lily and myself. We are headed to Washington to visit family and help my sister with her new baby Sophia who is due at the begining of October. We are going to be gone for 3 weeks! Any advice about managing a two year old and a 9 month old on an airplane for 7 hours?!? I know, I am probably nuts, but it should be fun! We are so anxious for Fall weather to begin. I must confess, I hate the heat, and am ready for the shift in weather. Although here in North Carolina it may be another two months or so before it really cools off :( But I am ready for it! This week begins Music Makers, a playgroup (hopefully, if any Moms actually come!) and sewing madness for Halloween. So much fun! I will keep this blog updated as things progress with Law School. And as always, new pics on our picasa page! www.picasaweb.google.com/tawniewest Enjoy!

On Being a Mom

2010-06-08T23:14:00.000-04:00

Well, thus far my blog has been mainly about what we've been up to and darling pictures of my kids to go with it :) But I have been deep in thought lately about parenting, and thought I would share some of my musings here. I have been pondering on being a mom a lot lately. I am a Mom that reads parenting books constantly, is always on blogs, websites, and asking advice wherever I can in an effort to be the very best Mother I can possibly be. I don't want to make any mistakes, and I desperately want the very best for my daughters, which I am sure is true for many moms out there. But I have found that most advice can be conflicting- one expert can be so different from the next. I have been in turmoil, and I want so much to be doing things right! But I have found something out- that, well many well meaning experts have great advice that I can look at and take what I can from it, in the end, I need to trust myself more. My "mommy gut" as some put it. I know I won't do everything perfectly, but I really believe that if I always love my daughters first, the rest will work itself out. Love really can make all the difference. If love is in everything I do, every decision I make, than I know it will help them become the people I hope for them to be. People that love others, that love themselves, and love the Lord. So instead of fretting over how many minutes of television my two year old watches every day, how many ounces of juice she drank, or if I am taking them too many places or too few, I think I will focus on more productive things. Like enjoying every minute they are with me. Life goes too fast, and I am going to really try and be in the moment more with my daughters- and stop worrying about what they will discuss in their therapy sessions when they are older :)

Now, for some cute pictures of my girls from the last few weeks. You know I can't resist!

What We've Been Up to Lately...

2010-05-19T21:54:00.002-04:00

This post is going to be all over the place, but my life is all over the place lately, so it fits. We have been having a wonderful May. Adam and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on the first <3 Yay! I love my husband, and I can't believe how long we have been together! Our married years finally outweigh our dating years- we started dating ten and a half years ago :) We celebrated by going to see Wicked- it was amazing. I loved it! I had a great anniversary- thanks honey.

May has also brought on a whole new level of dealing with my two year old- yikes. Two is tough! My little Ellie is so sweet, and smart, and kind, but boy oh boy is she a handful these days! For example, the other day she came to me and told me she drew L's. I said that was great honey, but where? And she said, in the bathroom.... Here is a picture. I didn't know wether or not to be proud, they were correct L's...

Right after I saw her artwork, she told me "We don't draw on walls, only paper!" Well, yeah, if you knew that, then?????

Ellie also got her first haircut! I just wanted to even it out, so it would grow out evenly. She was excited, then scared, then really happy.

This month has also been a busy month of sewing for me. I sewed my first Renaissance dress (won't fit Ellie until at least 2011 Halloween- oh well), an Annie dress for a friend, a teepee, and some other stuff. I have been having a lot of fun, but I have let my house get out of control- time to buckle down and get back to work for a little while. Until my next project, which is my sister Allie's nursery bedding :)

We were also fortunate enough to go to the lake with our friends the Calderwoods. Rebecca's family has a condo out on a lake in Virginia, and a boat. It was so fun! It was Lily's first time on a boat- she was an angel.

We always have so much fun with our friends, and we are so excited that they are expecting another little girl this summer! Then we will both have two little girls in the same grade! Less than a year apart :) Ellie loved the boat of course, and really enjoyed the swimming and the intertube. We all had so much fun- thanks Calderwoods!

Stop and Smell the Flowers

2010-04-29T23:11:00.000-04:00

Tawnie, Ellie, and Lily went on a walk through our neighborhood. They took all the time that was needed to smell all the flowers.

Buddies and Berries

2010-04-28T22:08:00.000-04:00

Hangin out at the park with Mommy and Friends

Her best buddy, Olivia

Yummy strawberry picking!

(She really was happy :)

Nummy Nummy...

Pickin' little baby ones

Cheese! (and strawberries)

Me and my baby...

Fashion statement?

How many rows must a girl walk down?

Oink Oink!

Bock Bock!!!

My war wound-

Moonlight Madness!

2010-04-27T21:56:00.001-04:00

I'm going to double blog tonight because I just didn't get around to it last night. Two kids can really kill the night!!! Last night we played in the yard and laid down dirt for a garden. We also saw a full rainbow arching the Eastern sky. We also played with worms and ladybugs!!!

Tonight we watched the moon rise and found a bunny in the backyard. Great fun!

Invisible Flowers and Visible Angles

2010-04-25T22:59:00.001-04:00

Boring picture, but a great time we had! On the way to pick Tawnie up from the airport, we stopped at a state park to find wildflowers to pick for her. We couldn't buy flowers because we don't shop on Sunday, but we didn't want to show up empty handed. Unfortunately the pictures didn't save on my phone. The only one that made it was this picture of Ellie's Triangle. She was running and stopped on a dime when she saw this shade pattern and said, "It's a triangle, it's a triangle". I love to see that my little girl is using her knowledge all the time.

2010-04-24T20:25:00.000-04:00

Okay, so the only time we got to spend outside today was getting some yard work done, but in the process we were able to see some ants and bumblebees. And so what if I made her pose:)

All Day with Dad!

2010-04-23T22:21:00.000-04:00

What an outdoor day we had today! We woke up, went and had some breakfast at waffle house and started our day. First we stopped by one of my favorite leisurely hiking trails in the area. I love walking the trail because the trees are so thick and the green just seems greener there than everywhere else.

Daddy and Ellie on the Bridge

Of course she found another stick.

Exploring a magnolia leaf

We are the world! We are the children!

Such a good learner!

Queen of the woods!

We found this beautiful little pine warbler. Yellow!

Then we went to Harris Lake and found this beautiful Eastern Bluebird - Blue!

(and to finish the primary color spectrum, we saw a cardinal and a red headed woodpecker, but we didn't get pictures of them.

Doin' the frog hop.

Finding shells.

Yes, another stick.

Daddy playing with the camera #1

Daddy Playing with the camera #2

The moon's awake now! (That's how we acknowledge night time around here these days :)

After playing at Monkey Joe's Inflatables, we came home and explored the back yard again at sunset.

These are our tadpoles we keep checking on. We're waiting to see when they grow legs.

This is out by the little stream in our back yard. (where the tadpoles are)

Our own little Garden of Eden

Before going in she had to "Drive to Adventure". I still don't know where she picked up that line.

Fishin' With Daddy!

2010-04-22T21:09:00.003-04:00

So today after dropping my beautiful wife off for at the airport, I took Ellie to Wal-Mart to get a phone charger. While we were there we saw the fishing poles and I asked Ellie if she wanted to go fishing. Excitedly she said, "YES!" I bought her a little Disney Princess fishing pole and made a sunset trip to our local lake, "Bass Lake". It's wonderful having this local lake only 2 miles from the house.

We cast her line in only about 3-4 times before we caught our first fish. She loved watching the little fish come out of the water and dance on the dock. Even more though, she loved getting close, touching it, and yes, she even had to give it a hug before she threw it back. She had a BLAST!

After fishing, we went to see the geese coming in. She loves to chase geese. We worked on a slow and quiet approach (which only lasted about 2 steps), and she fed them bread. We also were able to see a turtle that another guy reeled in. It was A LOT of fun, and as you can see from the pictures, it was a beautiful sunset looking over the calm lake. The videos are cute as heck, so check them out. I LOVE MY LIFE!

Just a Stroll to the Back Yard

2010-04-21T21:50:00.001-04:00

Hey, it's Adam again. When we went outside this evening there were a lot of birds singing. We expected to see a lot of birds, but this fox stole our attention. We had the hardest time getting a good picture though.

She loves wearing headbands and crowns and quite frankly I don't know the first thing about doing a girl's hair.

Okay so I did make her pose with her "nocliars". I'm an avid bird watcher and I'm hoping to turn her into one as well.

I SEE ONE!

Take time to stop and smell the weeds!!!

Sidewalk Chalk and Bug Investigations

2010-04-20T21:50:00.000-04:00

Today Ellie and I played right in our front yard while Lily slept. She loves art, so we did outdoor coloring- side walk chalk! She also took the opportuniy to say hi to all the little bugs and investigate what they were doing and where they were going.

And as always, my little one spends much of her time running away from me... little stinker :)

A Walk in the Woods with Ellie

2010-04-19T22:12:00.000-04:00

Hey, it's me, Adam. I've been given the charge to blog tonight because my poor tired wife needs her rest. Today we just went out into the woods behind our house. We went to check on the little tadpole pool that we discovered the other day. We also found this really cool salamander. It was a slithery, tiny little thing and Ellie LOVED touching it. The whole way back to the house she kept saying, "No home, no home! I wanna touch the mander lizard again!" I have loved every minute of this outdoor challenge!

Bubbles, Buddies and Big Bows

2010-04-18T23:21:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful Sunday! We are enjoying this challenge so much. Here are a few pictures from today's play time :)

Playing with her cousin and best buddy Aiden. They are crazy together!

Love my girls in bows :) Especially this one.

Bubbles- one of the least expensive and most fun toys for kids ever invented!!!

Best of Friends

2010-04-17T22:05:00.000-04:00

My kids have the greatest Dad ever! Adam spent today playing with Eliana. She has missed him so much lately with work and scouts keeping him so busy. So today was for Ellie. First, yard saling (she loved it!) then over to the library for Beauty and the Beast in the theater. Then home for a break, then on to a boat ride at the lake followed with a campout in the backyard. What a lucky lucky little girl! She is having the best day. I am so blessed to be married to a man who strives every day to be the best possible dad he can imagine, and succeeds. Here are a few highlight pictures of their day- Lily and I joined them for the first half of the day, but declined the boat ride and camping experience :) Maybe next year!

She fell down in the boat at the very end... so of course Adam gets his camera first! Ha ha, poor Ellie :)

What a big girl rowing the boat!

And one picture of our Lily when Adam was playing with her. Love my girls!

Spring Weather is Wonderful!

2010-04-16T21:58:00.001-04:00

We live by this beautiful park that we like to walk to often. Lately we have eaten our lunch there at least once a week! It has a pond, stream, bridge, swings, slides, picnic tables, volley ball, horse shoes, stage, and beautiful green grass and trees.
Day 3!

My child has a weird obsession with very large sticks- she makes me laugh!

A little scientist- she has to figure out what noise things will make, and what happens when she rubs them together :)

Do all kids love to throw things in water? You can't see it, but she's aiming for a little stream.

Playing Outside

2010-04-15T23:21:00.000-04:00

Day 2: We played at Bass Lake Park. Ellie really loves walking along the water there and seeing all the animals that play! We have a really neat nature center, boats to rent, docks, and classrooms available there by the city. Here is Ellie enjoying the beautiful day!

Lily is still a little young to fully appreciate nature, so we sort of inserted here into nature for a few pics :)

Children and Nature Awareness Month!

2010-04-14T22:04:00.002-04:00

I have been inspired by my friend Vanessa to complete a challenge issued by the blog 5 orange potatoes. In honor of Children and Nature Awareness Month, they have challenged parents to play outside every day for the rest of the month of April and take a picture. So here is day one for us! (I have pictures of today and a few others from April).

10 Things...

2010-04-08T22:49:00.000-04:00

There are many things that I am grateful for, but a few things have come to mind as I have embarked on having my second child. The last 3 months of my beautiful little Lily's life have been gratifying, exhausting, amazing, and, at times, challenging! She has so many little tummy troubles that she has cried much of her little life already :( But, life goes on, and things get better for her every day, and now we see much more of her smiles and laughter, and less and less of her little tears- yay! So, to celebrate, I thought I would share a list of the 10 things that have best helped me to survive the last 90 days!

1. Adam

Not only is he my best friend, and many days my only adult conversation, but he is also a doting daddy which helps so much on those really long nights

2. My itouch

Wow, this has been an amazing help to keep me awake for late night feedings, entertain Ellie when I have my hands full, and provides great music and facebooking distraction!

3. Eliana

She gets me burb cloths, blankets, rubs Lily's tummy for me, and, best of all, adores Lily and makes this whole transition for our family a breeze!

4. Mylicon

couldn't live without it!

5. My boppy

My back thanks you boppy makers!

6. Baby Whisperer

Check it out, amazing! It helped me get Lily to sleep in her crib, and most of the night already

7. Cell phone

Keeping me in contact with my family so far away, and my friends who I miss so much.

8. A good book

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Catching Fire to name a few :)

9. Prayer

Heavenly Father in general actually. I couldn't have stayed awake some of those late nights or just when I needed to without the power of prayer. And the comfort and knowledge it brings into my life keeps me going on even the most difficult of days :)

10. First smiles, first giggles, first laughs

And here are a few pictures of my little chunk- I love her so much!

Hello 2010!

2010-02-24T15:56:00.000-05:00

Hello friends and family! My update is long overdue as we have been super busy here at the West household! In the past few months we have celebrated Christmas, enjoyed a visit with my Mom, John, Johnathan, and Grandma Kay, welcomed Lily Addison West into the world, celebrated Eliana's 2nd birthday, had a wonderful visit with my Dad and Jenny, blessed Lily, and potty trained Ellie! Whew! I'm still exhausted just thinking about all of it :)
I have been keeping up with my online photo albums, so you can go there and see what we have been up to! Here are a few pics from the blessing and our first snow of the year. For the rest visit:
www.picasaweb.google.com/tawniewest

It was so much fun having Dad and Jenny come visit. We love and miss them so much.

Eliana just loved the snow! We had to make her come inside, and even though she was soaked and shivering she cried to go back out!

Eliana is a wonderful big sister! She loves Lily so much, and she is so sweet with her. It's been two months now, and she hasn't asked to take her back to the store ;) In fact, she cries for Lily whenever they are apart! I just love my little sweethearts!

A little about Lily- She is such a chunk! She was 9 lbs 3 oz, and has stayed in the 90 percentile for height, weight, and head size. She is a beautiful, healthy little girl with the lungs to match! She came out screaming like a full grown child- even the doctors comment on it every time we see one! We are seeing opera singer in her future- lol. She is already smiling, cooing, and I think I heard a laugh tonight! She has the chunkiest little arms and cheeks, and can hold her head up really well.
So, adjusting to two kids has been a little more difficult than I expected, but we are surviving! They are both so sweet, and I know I am really blessesd to have two such beautiful, healthy, loving little ladies in my life. And when I have had some sleep, I'm sure my perspective will be even better! Ha ha :)

Thanksgiving!

2009-11-30T10:16:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! We had a wonderful holiday weekend. Our friends Shaun, Rebecca, and Ella came to visit from D.C. We all had Thanksgiving dinner together, we went on a sleigh ride, picked up our Christmas tree, and played at Pullen Park- train ride, carousel, boat ride, and swings and slides of course! It was a beautiful weekend. The girls had a lot of fun playing together, and everyone helped out so much. It was so much fun, and we have so much to be thankful for this year. We are really excited for the Christmas season, and the birth of our second daughter Lily!

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T18:16:00.000-05:00

Well, October has been a fun month of craziness! We had so much fun at the County Fair, the Renaissance Fair, the pumpkin patch, the ward party, Holly Springs Festival, Adam's Fall Festival at school, and trick-or-treating! It has been so much fun, especially watching Ellie enjoy it all so much! She is having trouble moving on from Halloween, and still wants to watch pumpkin movies and draw ghosts and monsters- lol. She was a darling cupcake though, and we had fun dressing up for music makers! Here is Ellie, Quinn and Kai (the twin boys I watch), Aiden, and Cali all dressed up. They are so cute together!

Ellie won 3rd place in the town Halloween contest! There were around 100 kids competing, so it was pretty cool! She had a blast, and is still enjoying the little toys they gave her :)

This is a pic with some glasses she won- she loved wearing them and didn't take them off! Such a cutie pie.

Ellie the cupcake with Daddy the chef- I think it is so cool that Adam made his own hat!

There were so many fun things to do at the festival, and Ellie enjoyed the puppet show, painting pumpkins, the bouncy houses, and the petting zoo. Here is a great shot Adam got of her in the park painting her "baby punkin"

She had a lot of fun trick or treating, and thanked everyone repeatedly for the candy :) She kept saying more houses, but when her bag was full we called it a night! She has loved all the fall festivities, and I am really looking forward to celebrating Christmas with her :) With her talking so much and understanding so much more this year, I think it will be so much more fun! I just hope I am not in the hospital delivering this baby! I am 31 weeks today!! So exciting! There is still so much to do before this little girl gets here, but I am so excited to see her, and pretty excited to not be pregnant anymore :) Well, happy holiday season to everyone!

My Big Girl!

2009-10-05T13:57:00.000-04:00

I love fall! We have been having so much fun enjoying this North Carolina fall with the cooler weather, pumpkins and getting ready for Halloween! I have just been realizing how fast time is passing- Ellie is growing up so much! I can hardly believe it! Her memory is amazing, and after we took her to Pullen Park (in pic above) she is still asking for trains and ducks weeks later. She is talking so well now and knows all of her colors and is learning her letters and can count to two! She is such a friendly little girl and loves to talk to everyone wherever we go. She is so fun! We took her to the pumpkin patch, corn maze and hay ride last Saturday and she had a blast! She loved seeing the "mean mean monsters" and riding on the "truck" (tractor) and she LOVED getting "punkins'" from the "punkin' patch"!

But time seems to pass too quickly. She is sleeping on a big girl bed now, and is starting to use the potty, and now the pacifier is gone forever. We have been letting her use it only when it is time to go to sleep since her first birthday, and now we have said bye-bye for good. Ellie threw it in the garbage so she could be a big girl. Daddy rewarded her with a big girl bike! When she is really sad and misses it, she tells me "wassy (pacifier) bye bye, threw away, bike!" and calms herself down to go to sleep. I love her so much! It is so fun to see her grow up, but it happens too fast!

Hello Fall!

2009-09-28T10:51:00.000-04:00

Hello friends! It has been a really long time! So, I finally have uploaded pictures on my picasa, and I thought it was time to update my blog :) Life has been busy, as always! I have taken on a part time temporary nanny position with a family who's nanny is on maternity leave. These are the twin 2 year old boys and 4 year old girl I watch during the week. Ellie loves having friends to play with! They have one more son, but he is older and I only watch him for an hour or so 3 times a week. I am so grateful for the work, and even though I am 6 months pregnant, I am enjoying keeping up with all of these super cute kids!
Work is going great for Adam, he started a creative writing class a few times a week after school that the kids just love! He has a great class this year, and some really sweet and bright kids.
We have finally finished Ellie's new room and setting up Lily's nursery. Yay! I was so proud of Adam. He painted Ellie's new room all by himself, and it took days! We did flat on gloss stripes of a light purple- it is beautiful! Adam did an amazing job :) And, Ellie has been sleeping in a big girl bed for a whole week now without any problems! I am so so so happy!
We are so excited to have our friends the Calderwoods come for Thanksgiving and my family at Christmas. I can't believe that Christmas, our baby being born, and Ellie's birthday all will happen within weeks of eachother! Aaah! I'm trying not to panic :) Here are a few more pics of our going-ons, but for more you can visit my picasa at picasaweb.google.com/tawniewest

New York, New York!

2009-05-13T10:04:00.000-04:00

For those of you who know me well, you know that I have wanted to go to New York my whole life! I have always wanted to go since I read a certain Babysitter's Club book... well, that's embarassing enough :) Well, I finaly got to go! Josh and Stacy took me along when they went to visit Stacy's parents who are mission Presidents in NY, NY. We all squished into a ar and took off for a seven day long trip! It was amazing. I had so much fun!!! The city was beautiful in all of it's constant buzz of energy and towering buildings. I even loved the freaky looking pigeons, the long rides on the subways, and the mobs of people everywhere we went. Times Square was so cool, and Grand Central Station was beautiful! I still can hardly believe I got to see a show on Broadway... The Phantom of the Opera! It was so amazing. Stacy and I went one night, and my wonderful older brother watched the kids.
Ellie and I had a wonderful time. We had a few crazy adventures, of course, but overall it was just so fun. Some of the more memorable moments might be when Ellie peed on me on the Subway and I had to change her diaper on the bench, a bird pooped on me in Central Park, due to Subway construction we sat an extra hour and a half taking alternate routes (ugh!), or the bright fire engine red pt cruiser thing we parked in the Bronx under a church building, or the one time I got on a different subway car than Josh and Stacy and thought I was lost...
Those moments are what make great memories later! I also had a very positive experience with the amazing kindness and helpfulness of New Yorkers, suprising and beautiful old buildings in the middle of skyscrapers, and the beautiful peacefulness of central park.
I love NY! But I am so glad to be home :)

Craft it Forward!

2009-05-11T14:45:00.001-04:00

The first 5 people to leave a comment on this blog will receive something made by me. However there are some limitations:
1. I make no guarantee that you will like what I make.
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It will be done this year.
4. You have not a clue what it is going to be; poetry, shoes, bags or a little invention of my own. I may even bake something and mail it you! Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. It may blow your mind!
Here's the catch... if you choose to do this, you must post this on your blog and be ready to make something for five people too. This will be fun! And, when you receive the fabulous item I make you, you must post a picture of it on your blog. Or if you don't have a blog, send me a photo and I will post it! Ready....Set....Comment!

Pretty in Pink for Easter!

2009-04-13T22:06:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! We had a wonderful day. Ellie hunted for eggs, wore a pretty pink dress, we went to church, and shared a ham dinner with Josh and Stacy. It was a beautiful day here, and I had so much fun watching Ellie really enjoy Easter this year. She loves jelly beans! And chocolate, of course, and hard boiled eggs, as you can see here...
This is her Easter basket and Elmo egg, which was easily her favorite egg :)

Daddy showed Ellie how to dye eggs. We didn't let her help this year, but maybe next?

This isthe classic Easter morning shot. Pajamas and crazy hair, gotta love it!

Here is Ellie in her Easter dress from Grandma and Grandpa Sailsbery. I made her a little bunny bow to go with- it is so much fun having a little girl! She really loved Easter, and we really enjoyed making it special for her. We had so much fun!

Spring Break with the Calderwoods :)

2009-04-13T21:26:00.000-04:00

For Adam's Spring break, we went to Washington, D.C. and saw our friends Shaun, Rebecca and Ella. We had a wonderful time! We went to the D. C. temple, we walked around downtown Washington D.C., and we finished the weekend off at Colonial Williamsburg, VA. We had a lot of adventures, and ended our trip in laughter close to tears at our exhausted state. Having children does change everything, including how much can get done and how much energy it takes to do it. But it does also make it that much more fun! Watching Ella and Ellie have fun was the best part of my trip :) Here are some shots of our adventures...

Shaun at the temple, and all of our reflections in his glasses

Our family in front of the Jefferson Memorial

Ellie :)
Ella

The D.C. temple

Ellie and the Cherry Blossoms. We missed the peak season, but they were still so beautiful.

Ellie's Daddy feels shoes are optional at all times...

Dinner at a tavern in Colonial Williamsburg with our whole crew

We really do feel blessed to have such good friends close by, and to be able to visit with them! The girls played so well together, and were such good sports the whole trip! With only several leaky diapers, many late mealtimes, miles and miles walked, and all kinds of weather, we definitely pushed them to the max! This was so much fun, and I can't wait for more family adventures in the years to come!

Spring is Here!

2009-03-24T00:18:00.000-04:00

Spring is finally here! Yay! Ellie, Adam and I have been eagerly waiting the warmer weather. We have been outside almost every day playing, walking, hiking, jogging- whatever we can think of! We love it here in North Carolina, it is so gorgeous!

Ellie loves being outside too :) She loves to pick Mommy flowers and brings them to me with such a big happy smile- I love it! She has also recently learned ring around the rosy- and likes to play it over, and over, and over, and over, well, you get the point! Between that and her new games like tickle the parents or hide and go seek, we have quite an active little toddler these days! We have been having a lot of fun lately, and here are some of my favorite shots of Ellie.

We had some fun at Marbles Children's Museum and dressed Ellie up as a princess ballerina butterfly- gotta love a girl with ambition!

This is shortly before church one Sunday. This is Ellie's "silly Mommy!" face :)

Also at the Children's museum, we dressed Ellie up as a firewoman. We thought we should support at least one occupation that did not require a pink tutu :)

And, last but not least, a devil pic. Because she was being such a stinker one day, I thought her hair should reflect the demon inside...

Videos

2009-03-10T19:41:00.000-04:00

I know that there are several people who wish they could be around Ellie and Aiden a liitle more often, so I am posting a few little videos to share a little bit of daily life with these rugrats. Enjoy!

I know I'm just a proud papa, but I have proof that my daughter is smarter than a captive adult gorilla. Check out the proof!

2009-03-09T14:47:00.000-04:00

Every parent alive has gloated about their child's intelligence and I swore I would never be the one to blog about it, but here I am, doing exactly that.
Last night as I was giving Eliana a bath, I was reminded of a time I was at the Salt Lake City Zoo. While I was there I witnessed what I thought to be a remarkable display of animal intelligence. I looked on as a gorilla picked up a water bottle, carried it to a stream, filled it up, and drank from it.
I went home that day thinking that I had witnessed an evolutionary miracle.
I have since learned that the real miracles are part of every day as a parent. Thankfully Ellie is always into some kind of miraculous monkey business that keeps me laughing in amazement. I enjoy every second of my life with her.

Circus :)

2009-03-07T21:17:00.000-05:00

Ellie and I went to the Circus! It was so much fun :) Although, I must say, the circus is not quite what I remember... It is a lot more like a show on the strip in Vegas than I thought it would be! With lights, a diva singer with a full back up, and a constant overwhelming assault on all of our senses, it was a lot for my little one year old! But all in a ll, she loved the animals and seeing all of her little friends, so it was great :)

We went with Stacy and Aiden, and Liz and the two kids she nannies for, Dane and Cali. All of the kids were really great, and the only really uh-oh moment was when Aiden dropped his sippy cup from the balcony onto the ground floor! Luckily it was intermission, or he may have taken out some poor little child...

And Ellie in the laundry... just thought I would throw this one in for kicks and giggles. Adam and Ellie are always getting into mischief and and then calling me in to see what they have come up with now! I know I am in trouble when I hear "Mommy, bring the camera!"

Ellie is One!!!

2009-01-24T16:55:00.000-05:00

So we celebrated Ellie's first birthday this month. We had a wonderful time! On the fifteenth, her actual birthday, we had her pics taken. Follow this link to see them- too cute! http://smilestore.picturepeople.com/my/images?tk=b37b72f1-5ef4-4b9d-a134-7b981c1bd1f4

After that we went to Olive Garden for lunch. She loved them singing to her! The Saturday following we had a party at home for her and invited our friends and family. I made Ellie a giant birthday cupcake, but she showed much more enthusiasm for the blueberries :) To see more pics of the big day, visit our family photo album link or click here:

www.picasaweb.google.com/adamwestfamily

Ellie's First Christmas

2008-12-11T23:37:00.000-05:00

I am so excited about Ellie's first Christmas! I love Christmas so much, and I can't wait to share it with my sweet little daughter. She loves so much about the holidays already, and in this picture you see her holding a jingle bell, her new favorite toy :) She also loves torturing our tree and the train, but at least she's excited! One of her favorite things is decorations, especially window clings, so I got some for her room. Then one day we were letting her have some diaper free time, and well, here are the results...

Gotta love chubby legs! Now, although my little girl seems to love all things Christmas, Santa scares her to pieces! We tried three mall santas, and on the third attempt, after much coaxing and bribing with nilla wafers, we at least got her on the chair. She even offered to share her cookie with Santa! Even though it was half eaten and covered in slobber, I think the sentiment was definitely appreciated.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-10T11:22:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving!

2008-12-04T00:11:00.000-05:00

Adam and I were able to visit our friends in Virginia and explore Washington D.C.! I was so excited because Adam has been talking about D.C. for the last three years that he has taken his fifth graders there, and everytime we watch a movie he says "been there, been there." Lol. So now I can too! It was so nice to see Shaun and Rebecca and their little girl who is only a few weeks younger than Ellie. We haven't seen Shaun in such a long time, so it was so good to see him again and finally get to know his beautiful wife Rebecca better.
We spent Thanksgiving with the Calderwoods and more of their friends and family. Here are some pictures from the big day.

Ellie's first Thanksgiving! She loved all of the food :)

I made her a turkey dress and bow- so fun!

Ella and Shaun at Ella's first Thanksgiving :)

The next day we spent at D.C. touring the beautiful city. I saw the Hope Diamond and other jewels at the Natural History Museum, so awesome! We also saw the Capitol, the Smithsonian Castle, the National Archives, the White House, and the Lincoln Memorial (my favorite part!). We saw many other things, andwe still need to go back! It was so much fun, and Ellie was quite the little trouper :) Then Saturday we went to Mount Vernon with Shaun, Rebecca and Ella. It really was a fun trip, and we really enjoyed spending time with friends :)

I made the girls matching reversible Chirstmas dresses with bows. Aren't the girls adorable? I just love that they are so close in age!

My family with the Washington Monument

Ellie and me at the National Mall

Where MLK gave his famous speech...

The dads with the bjorns (as Adam says, bjorn'n it) at Mount Vernon

All of us Having a Dream :)

At the Lincoln Memorial

Ella attacking Ellie at Mount Vernon (hehehe) :) Ella was always so excited to see Ellie, that it often ended in tears for Ellie :( But I just know they are going to be great friends!

We had so much fun, and we are so grateful for our friends for having us. I am grateful for so many things in my life. Even though things are stressful and sometimes difficult, I am so grateful for my many blessings. I am grateful for wonderful friends who I miss terribly, I am grateful for my family and my home, my beliefs and the gospel, my sweet little girl and my hubby. I am also grateful for silly things, like peppermint hot chocolate and sewing all night, diet coke, long conversations about nothing, finding old friends and making them new again, Ellie's naps, cheaper gas prices, craft day, baking, a clean house, Adam talking in his sleep, and The Soup. I love it!

See our picasa site for lots of pictures and narrated captions by my adorable husband: www.picasaweb.google.com/adamwestfamily

Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T00:02:00.001-04:00

Happy Halloween! For Halloween, I made Ellie a flower costume. I modeled it after an Anne Geddes pic, and the pot was last minute inspiration from Adam. I am just so thrilled that my daughter is so cooperative! Everyone was so amazed she kept that thing on, and smiled and giggled too! She is such a happy little girl :) She won first place in a costume contest at the mall here. It was so fun! While we walked around the mall the judges hunted us down to enter her becuase several people had told them about her! A lot of people took her picture, and later I wondered if I should have maybe stopped them? I don't know, I don't see a problem, but it seems sort of weird that about 50 people I don't know have pictures of my baby. Oh well! I also realized Halloween with a baby is very different from one without, in that I was exhausted by the time it was over! And she can't even walk yet :) I'm in trouble next year...

The Zoo!

2008-10-13T21:46:00.000-04:00

So we decided it would be fun to go to the zoo before the weather chilled down too much. It was a blast. I mean, it was exhausting, but it was definitely worth it :) Ellie and I, Stacy and my nephew Aiden, and Liz with the two children she nannies for, Dane and Cali, all headed to the very large zoo about 70 miles away and spent the entire day there. We were probably quite a site with all four children, three strollers, two baby bjorns, and the various baby accessories. The kids loved the animals! Ellie especially adored the flamingos, meer cats, and cougars. The kids did really well, we were so thrilled. We saw so many animals and rode a carousel and the tram, so the boys loved it :) Yay for adventurous field trips in fall!!!

Here we are in the tram. We asked some poor woman to photograph us while the tram was in motion so we could hurry and get the kids off when we stopped. It was quite the process to get on and off, so we mostly walked the five mile zoo. And most of us are looking at the camera, so I call this victory!

I just loved this picture of Aiden. He is such a little cutie pie!

Liz is so cute with Dane and Cali, and I loved this picture of her entertaining Cali while we stopped to look at some animals. She is so great with the kids, and they adore her!

September Pictures

2008-10-06T19:56:00.000-04:00

So now that I have posted a million pictures, maybe I have caught up with last month! We went to the carousel at the mall, and Ellie loved it! She laughed and smiled the whole time. She loves the motion! We went with Liz and the two children she nannies for, Dane and Cali. Cali is only one day younger than Ellie. We have so much fun together on our little adventure play dates :)

We took family pictures in our back yard. It is so green here! I can't believe how much Ellie looks like her Daddy!

2008-10-06T19:55:00.000-04:00

Ellie's 8 month pictures! Yay! I made this little dress for her, and it is reversible, so we had some fun with it. It is great camoflouge in the last shot! She loves to put everything in her mouth of course, but she seems to finally be interested in touching the books too :) The only interesting side effect has been that since I read her the touch and feel books, she has learned to scratch every book! Now even reading the scriptures or hymn book, Ellie sticks out her little pointer finger and scratches away. Oh well!

Random Pics Cont.

2008-10-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Here are a few more pics of Ellie's new room. It turned out so sweet! It took forever, but I am so glad it is done. It finally feels like we are completely moved in. Ellie not having a room for the past two months has been really rough, and now we can finally get back some semblance of a schedule!

7 months old!

2008-10-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

I know it's a little late, but here is Ellie's 7 month picture. It was taken August 15th. I can't believe how fast time is flying! Ellie is now 8 1/2 months old, and she is crawling, says mama and dada, waves bye-bye, and pulls herself up. She is so sweet, I just can't get enough of her! She definitely has a feisty side to her as well. She likes things when she wants them, especially my cell phone. And she keeps us laughing :) The other day we were at the mall, and Adam looked down at her in the stroller, and she was chewing on a plant! Apparently she ripped it out of a pot in the mall without us noticing, and proceeded to suck on it- gross!

September 2008

2008-10-02T10:57:00.000-04:00

Here are some random pictures from our first month as official home owners in North Carolina!

This is Liz and me after our first cake decorating class. It was so much fun, and yummy :) We had so much cake we brought it over to share with Josh and Stacy after.

These are some pictures of Ellie's new room. Adam and his dad remodeled it with beadboard and chair rail and painted it a lovely pink :) We were so thrilled to finally be able to paint after years of renting!

Our New House!!!

2008-08-07T09:14:00.000-04:00

So we just purchased our first house...YAY!!!!! We found this cute little house in Holly Springs, NC. It is a small town of under 20,000 people, but it is only about 15 minutes to Raleigh. It is a brand new house and we got a pretty good deal on it. So far we are loving North Carolina. I start working in about a week... New School...New Year...

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-07T13:10:00.000-04:00

Happy 4th everyone!
We had such a wonderful holiday! We went to Boulder City and had a barbeque at Adam's Aunt's house, and then watched fireworks at the park there. They were so beautiful! I made that cool whip American Flag dessert, which is the one in the picture of our little family. My sister Allie joined us, and it was so fun! I just love spending time with her, I miss her so much now that we live so far apart. She really is such a beautiful, thoughtful, loving little sister, and I am so grateful for her in my life.
The fireworks were beautiful! And if any of you know Adam very well, it won't surprise you that he lugged our camera, video camera and tripod down to the fireworks and took about a million pictures... gotta love him! Ellie did so great! She loved the fireworks, and she just watched the sky, mezmerized. She didn't even flinch at the big booms, and we were really close. The child never ceases to surprise me. It was such a wonderful evening, beautiful, warm, with a gorgeous sunset to make it a perfect setting. It was so fun to be together with so much family, and to watch Ellie enjoy the fireworks. It was my favorite fourth of July of my entire life, by far. I love it!

Eliana's First Poem

2008-07-03T15:58:00.000-04:00

The other day I was holding Ellie in my arms while I was typing on the computer. She showed great interest in what I was doing and decided that she would like to give it a whirl. I decided that I would open up a word document and let her type her very first document. I then decided that it I would help her put her document in to a poem. Together we created an acrostic poem. Below you will find her original as well as the Daddy / Daughter Version. It is a poem that signifies the time that passes us all by so quickly and the bonds between a mother and daughter. Let us know what you think.

Original:

T U J J J J J J J M M N S M N M N J , K , 8 H N 7 H M M J M T R C Y Q 6
^ M 5 H [ } “ { [ [ [ , M , I / / G N A B B B B B B B B B V “
I I I I I I I I I I I I M (The “I”s were actually straight slashes… but Blogger could handle that.)

(Remember the "I"s at the beginnings are supposed to be straight lines)

To my mommy,
U are my special fwend
Just you
Just me
Just Daddy
Just us
Just loving each other
Just for a moment
Just forever
My family means the world to me

MY HEART GWOWS EVWY DAY
NUZZLE ME AGAIN MOMMY
Hold to the wod wif one had and hold my hand wif the other

Show me how to do that mom

Make my peanut butter sandwich into a heart shape pwease
Nummy nummy for my tummy
Mommy, can I have a glass of milk?
Now sit and play wif me
, Wait just one more minute pwease
Key to Mommy’s hear is my bottom wip
, Wait for just one very lastest minute Mommy
8 all my vegables
Happiness
Nub you too Mom
7 kisses just for you
Hold me close

My mom’s the bestest

Mom it’s okay. I’ll be home from kinder garden soon
Just relax
My teacher is really nice
Take me to the mall please mom
Ready!
Can I get this dress mom? It’s Perfect!
Y are you crying mom?
Quit worrying so much
6 o’clock is when the dance starts

^ Why did you wait up? I told you I’d be fine

Married! We’re getting married!
5 more days until the big day
Happy as can be
Hold to the rod with one had and hold my had with the other
[ The bride’s family is on the left
} The groom’s family is on the right
“I do”
{The groom’s guests left
[ My guests left
[ Daddy left
[ Mommy left

,Take a deep breath
My family is still my family

, Take another deep breath

I Hold to the rod
/ Oops!

I Hold to the rod again

G, I didn’t know life could be this tough

No, I can’t come home for Christmas Mom.
A BABY!

Boy
Blue eyes
Brown Hair
Beautiful
Best thing I ever did
Benjamin Adam
Beautiful
Bawled like a baby
Beautiful
Very painful!
“I will”
I (1)
I (2)
I (3)
I (4)
I (5)
I (6)
I (7)
I (8)
I (9)
I (10)
I (11)
I (12)
I’ve heard that families can grow apart like the 12 tribes of Israel

My mom always told me that families can be together forever….and I’ve always believed her.

Written by Eliana Virginia West with the help of Adam West
Summer 2008

2008-06-28T13:25:00.000-04:00

This is a video that came by I.C.G. (Inspired Creative Genius)

I was watching my beautiful baby play in her crib and naturally I thought...Let's make a movie. So together we created our first installment of the Daddy and Baby Independent Films. This one is called Babyzilla. The inspiration for this film was sudden and yet, it's a timeless tale. A story that transcends racial, ethnic, and gender lines. The recurring theme throughout it is as ancient as time itself. Behold...the uncontested truth... Babies will eat anything!!!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-24T16:45:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to take a second and wish Adam a happy first Father's Day! I know he has looked forward his whole life to becoming a father, and I know he is the perfect father for our little daughter. He loves her so much, and she adores him. I am so grateful for them both! I adore the way he gives her a bath every night and the way the play and laugh most of the time. I love being able to hand her to him and not having to worry for even a second that she will be unhappy or unsafe. I am ecstatic that he wants to be a big part in her life, and I secretly laugh at the way he mourns the end of each day as she grows bigger and bigger.

Father's are such an important part of a child's life, and they do so much for their families just by sticking by them and doing their absolute best each day. I wish all the dads out there, including my wonderful father and Adam, a Happy Father's Day!

Random June Thoughts

2008-06-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

So this month Ellie was really ready for solids and she is enjoying her rice cereal very much :) We have a little chair for her that attaches to our table, and she is doing so well sitting up! Her and Daddy have sitting practice every day, and she just loves to look at the world from a new point of view.

These other pictures are my silly husband's attempt at Cinco De Mustache, which is apparently a festival in the summer somewhere in the midwest. He just cracks me up! It's like having my own personal entertainer 24/7!

Wisdom Teeth

2008-06-24T16:42:00.000-04:00

This month has also been busy because the day Adam had his last day of work, he had his wisdom teeth removed! He had to have the procedure done in a hospital because of his heart condition, but everything went just fine. He got a little swollen, and he was out of it for a week, but he is back on his feet now with only a little tenderness!

Ellie and I took care of him while he was out, but he was a very good little patient :) This has been such an ordeal, and we have been trying to get his teeth out for 6 months now! I think we are all relieved it is finally done.

5 months!

2008-06-24T16:38:00.000-04:00

Eliana is now 5 months old! Yay! It is so exciting to watch her grow and develop every day. I have not been keeping up on my pictures like I should have lately, and I now have several blogs to publish in a row, but it has been such a busy month so far! Ellie got her first tooth on the day she turned 5 months- yay! These are some of my favorite pictures of Ellie this month. She is such a cutie, and I love love love her little chubby cheeks! We could not have asked for a sweeter, cuter, easier baby- I am so in love!

Eliana Laughing!

2008-06-12T11:22:00.000-04:00

Some Firsts for Ellie Belle

2008-06-03T15:48:00.000-04:00

Ellie had her first solid food! She seemed to really enjoy it. She even tried "helping," which means grabbing the spoon and feeding herself! She was pretty good at it too, she actually made it in her mouth some of the time :)

It turns out she is not quite ready for solids yet, though. She liked the rice cereal, but she isn't hungry enough for it quite yet. We will try again in a few weeks :) It sure is fun to see her experience new things though! Watching her encounter the world for the first time with such wonder and awe, it is so sweet. This month was filled with a few other firsts, including the first time her toes touched the grass and the first time her toes were dipped in a pool! She just loves new experiences. She is so much more interactive with the world around her everyday. She smiles and coos at all the new faces she meets, and is such a happy baby. I just love her!

Texas!

2008-05-21T22:54:00.000-04:00

This past week Ellie and I went to Texas to see my family. Adam was in Washington, D.C. with his fifth grade class, and I thought it was a great opportunity to go see my mom :) We had a great time! We flew into San Antonio and spent the day at the Riverwalk. Ellie went on her first boat ride, and she was such a good baby the whole day. Of course she has captured her grandparents' hearts, and they doted upon her the entire week.
This picture is of my mom and Ellie at Johnathan's baseball game- it was so cold! Ellie also did a little flirting with a certain toddler boy with blonde curly locks... tsk tsk tsk :)
We hung around my mom's restaurant and ate really good food during the week, and really enjoyed spending time with mom, John, Johnny, Grandma Kay, Athena the great dane, all ten of her puppies, Atlanta the border collie, Snow Balls the cat, Angelo the cat, and many many more animals all on the Mcdonald farm. My mom always loved a house full!
We are very glad to be home, in our own beds, and ready to take on the huge task of moving across the country. It sure was fun to have a little vacation though :)

Daddy is my homeboy

2008-04-29T11:53:00.000-04:00

This is a onesie Adam picked out before Ellie was born, and he was so excited about it! When Ellie turned 3 months, we took this pic because she finally fit into it. I can hardly believe how fast she is growing, it is so amazing to watch! I am so blessed, I really do have a wonderful family. These two are so cute together, I just love it! Adam told me he would have a million children if he could, he was born to be a father- lol! I am definitely enjoying this one, but I think my maximum number is much closer to 4 than a million...

A day in the life of a teacher in Vegas...

2008-04-10T01:09:00.000-04:00

Adam in his protective gear- Tooth Proof!

For Career day at Adam's school, the Airforce came and Adam volunteered to be attacked by a German Shepherd! (It was a famous dog - one who sniffed Saddam Hussein's prison cell and court room for bombs in Iraq.) His students loved it, and it was quite a rush for Adam. He normally deals with our little doggies, and used to be a little afraid of big dogs. He sure faced his fear :) It was pretty hilarious!

To see another video, visit our picasa site and look under Adam's Airforce Experience: picasaweb.google.com/adamwestfamily

Eliana's new quilt!

2008-04-09T23:19:00.000-04:00

We received such a beautiful gift for Eliana this week- a handmade quilt! As a seamstress in training, I appreciate how difficult, time consuming, and how much love is put into each creation, and I think this is the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen. I am so grateful for this gift, and I am sure Ellie will treasure it for many years to come. I put Ellie in her big white bow her Daddy picked out- I know it's big, but it's oh so cute!!!