The West Family Blog

The updates of a little family in North Carolina trying to figure it all out....

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Law School, Traveling Plans, and Fall

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!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

On Being a Mom

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!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

What We've Been Up to Lately...

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!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Stop and Smell the Flowers

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




Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Buddies and Berries

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-

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Moonlight Madness!









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!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Invisible Flowers and Visible Angles

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.
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Saturday, April 24, 2010

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:)

Friday, April 23, 2010

All Day with Dad!




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.