Happy Birthday Boys

Today was full of craziness. Good craziness. I decided a little while ago not to do a birthday every year. I love to throw parties but it can be a lot. Plus with us having three in March, two in December and one in November it puts them really close together. I decided I would do it every four years. When they are four, eight, twelve, and sixteen. Those are big birthdays for them anyway. At eight your baptized. At twelve you graduate to YM and YW. Then at sixteen you date and drive. On the off years they can have friends over but I'm not going to plan a big party. Well unfortunately we didn't really time things right and had Jacob and Andrew four years apart on the same day. Oh well, every four years it will be crazy. Plus I only have to decorate for one day ha ha. I have a twin sister and I know how bummed I was to share a day at times so I didn't want the boys to feel like they were gypped from having their "own" party. Cake and all. What's funny is they both wanted the same cake. So I ended up doing two Ben Ten watch cakes. I think their omnitrix cakes turned out fun. We had Jacobs party first. We played bingo and duck duck goose (one of Jacobs favorite games). They liked the heavy heavy hangover part for the gifts.

The four year olds were tame compared to the eight year olds. Man they were wild. For Andrew's party they learned how to make Ninja stars out of paper then had a contest to see who could throw the most in a basket. Then they played pin the ninja star on the ninja. I'm surprised Andrew didn't want me to make a ninja cake since he likes ninja stuff so much.

They had a good time and thats all that matters. I have to add this picture because I think it's so funny. We gave Andrew left handed junior clubs for his birthday. We got a great deal while we were in Missouri. I love his reaction. Kevin is excited to take him out with him come Summer. To end a fun day of birthdays we also got an offer on our van WOO HOO. Happy Birthday Andrew and Jacob, we love you!!!

Just my thoughts...

I have had a hard time this Christmas season. It's nothing awful, just blah feelings. I love the spirit of Christmas and the reason for the season. I just worry about my kids.

Danika found out a few months ago about Santa. She kept it from the other ones and has been getting them excited. I love it because she is more thankful for the things she received this year knowing where they came from.
Maybe our first problem was that we didn't have the kids write a letter to Santa. This may have avoided some of our issues. I just didn't want them to think that whatever they write down they would get. We had asked them which I figured would be the same but you know how kids change their minds weekly if not daily. Plus some of the things they asked for were not even an option. Andrew told us he wanted an IPhone. "Yeah right...Mom and Dad have a pay as you go phone and your seven!"

So our issue is... that a couple of our kids are complaining that they wanted what another sibling got. I think it is so ungrateful. I had to sit and remind Andrew about the story of the Christmas Orange. Some kids get nothing for Christmas and here he is with so much and he complains. After that I didn't hear anything more about it.

I worry that they feel entitled instead of grateful. It's calmed down a lot but yesterday we had crying over gifts. I told Kevin I was ready to forgo presents all together next year. Really...who's birthday are we celebrating? Who is the one getting the gifts? I'm sure we won't but I'm tempted. I want them to give more than receive. To be grateful.

I know we will try some different things next year but if you have any thoughts or ideas on how to help children feel grateful instead of entitled, I would love to hear them. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Thanks for reading my babbling.

All at once

I don't know if you have heard this, but I've heard that people pass away in three's. I swear thats how it goes with problems too.
We came home from a wonderful Christmas party at my parents this weekend (of course I forget to take the camera) and find that the dishwasher is having problems. The heating coil won't turn off. If the door is not shut it won't go on but if it's shut (not even turned on) it will heat it up. So I'm on the phone for an hour on hold trying to get someone at Maytag. There is someone coming to check it out tomorrow.
Then I go upstairs and open the blinds in the boys room and find that their is water damage by the window. (What??? it's a new window, maybe it's a bad seal?) I call the company and they are coming next Monday. Then we go to Andrew's orthodontist appointment. He tells us that he will most likely need braces at two different times. Yikes.
It's frustrating when things happen at once but I just think, "the house hasn't burned down from the dishwasher and no one was hurt", "the window stuff should be covered by warranty" and "sure braces are big chunk of money but it would be a lot more without insurance."
I feel like I dwell too much on the negative sometimes. So that will be one of my new years resolutions, to see the positive even in negative situations.

I wanted to share this quote. It has been going through my mind this season. It's helped me see past the worldly things that force their way into my life. To focus on what's important.

Receive it,
Feel it,
Just to know God loves you,
The gift is to be felt continually day by day.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Where's ???

Our camera isn't the greatest when it comes to zooming so I'm sorry these pictures are blurry. You'll have to play Where's Waldo or in this case Danika, Andrew and Luke. I took them at thier Christmas program.
Danika is pretty easy to spot in front. Andrew isn't as much, he is on the right by the wall in the middle.
I took this picture because Danika is helping Colby move his hands to the songs. I'm glad they have an opportunity to help out the handicap children. It's a good experience and she enjoys doing it.
Now Luke is the toughest to find. He is on the 2nd row down under the H in the sign.

The next picture is from Danika's Orchestra performance. They also performed tonight at the High school and did a fabulous job. I'm impressed at how much they have learned in such little time. They only started taking lessons at the end of September. Way to go Bridger bears! I'm a proud momma what can I say. I tried and tried to upload a video but it's not working :(

Holiday Greetings

Today I'm at home sick with the BriLynn and Jacob who are also sick. (Yucky head colds, tis the season) While the others were at Stake Conference I watched Mr. Krueger's Christmas with littler ones. I didn't know if they would pay attention but they did. Jacob is asking if he can watch it tomorrow. My favorite part is the end when the narrator says:
"I love you. Thats what Christmas is all about.
Klarrisa said it to Mr. Krueger, Mr. Krueger said it to Jesus
and Jesus in so many ways said it to all of us."

Isn't that beautiful! I'm always in awe when I think of the Love our Savior has for us.


Christmas Letter and Card 2010
Sorry it's not the clearest, I just took a picture of it.

Twas a Few Weeks Before Christmas

Twas a few weeks before Christmas and all through our home,
not a child was sleeping, they were up writing this poem.

The stockings were flung on the couch with great care,
'cause Santa forgot to bring us a chimney last year.

With Mama in maternity, Dad in his suit.
With another on the way, were gonna need some more loot.

Then what to our wondering eyes should appear,
but a crying child, "are you hungry my dear?"

More rapid than eagles for dinner they came,
I whistled and shouted and called them by name.

Now Danika, now Andrew, now Jacob and Luke.
On BriLynn and Daddy, come get what I nuked.

As we bowed down our heads and gave thanks for the food,
We hoped the burritos would lighten the mood.

We had messy faces and little round bellies,
That shook as we laughed like bowls full of jelly.

A wink of Kevin's eye and an ache in my head,
soon gave us to know, it was time for their beds.

But we heard them exclaim as we crept out of site,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

May the Lord bless you and your family this Holiday Season.

Love the Westwoods

PS Sandra really does make home cooked meals.
PPS We rarely have frozen burritos.

Good bye van, hello humongous!

With a baby coming in a few months we figured it was time to find a vehicle that would fit us all. Our van is only a seven passenger. I'm sad to have to sell it. It really has been a good vehicle. If you know anyone who is looking for a van let them know. It's a 2004 Dodge Grand Caravan. It has 82,300 miles. We are asking 7500 but are negotiable. It was a rental car when we bought it five years ago so we are the only personal owners.
As for our new car it's a 9 passenger 2005 Yukon XL. A 9 passenger Yukon is hard to come by, they don't make as many bench seats for the front as bucket seats. We wanted one though just in case we are to have a number seven. My max is seven :) It's HUGE!!! Notice the tennis ball hung. I know when to stop when that hits my windshield ha ha. We did ourselves a huge injustice by looking at newer Yukon's. They were super nice but after figuring we would have a payment of over 700 dollars we came down to earth.Good bye van you will be missed.

To grandmothers house we go...

Thankfully we didn't go through snow though. We headed south on I70 since we heard a storm was coming. It was clear sailing except for wind. On our way back we hit a little snow while on I80 but nothing to what we saw when we got home. We missed all the craziness of the schools and businesses closing. It's amazing to me that we were wearing jackets a few days ago. We got to Kevin's parents house Wednesday afternoon and it was in the 70's. Now we are FREEZING. I'm so grateful for our neighbors that shoveled our driveway while we were gone. I love our neighbors!
Here are some pictures of the fun we had while in Missouri.
The kids had lots of fun with their cousins. They especially liked Grandma and Grandpa's hot tub. (I couldn't get in...sigh))
Jacob and Luke playing with Molly. Their cousins dog.

Danika and MaKayla climbing trees
Andrew and Joseph playing in the trees.
Breakfast, Thanksgiving day. Tables were already up from pie night before. His parents have a Pie night the night before Thanksgiving. A chicken pot pie and shepherds pie are made and everyone brings their favorite dessert pies. I don't know about you but I never have room for the pie on Thanksgiving day so I love it. Definitely keeping that tradition!
The kids put on a little skit on Thanksgiving. They were so cute, and did a good job.
I must say I'm getting in the Christmas spirit. We put up our tree today, the lights are all on woo hoo.

Happy Thankbirthday

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a yummy dinner and it was great to go around and say what everyone is thankful for. The kids have loved being around their cousins and Grandma and Grandpa.
This year BriLynns birthday landed on Thanksgiving. We had some pies so we decided instead making a cake we would use pie instead. It was an ice cream pie, the best of both worlds right? Happy 2nd Birthday Beautiful BriLynn.

A Birthday nap with Grandpa

Once there was a Snowman

The kids were so excited to get outside and build a snowman after church today. I must say I was really impressed with how fast they made the balls. All I helped them with was to put them on top of each other. Which took us a few minutes, they were so heavy. Great snow for snowman building. Then they decorated it and ta da.

Say Cheese

Kids crack me up

I love it when all the kids start dancing together. I pulled out the camera last night and recorded this. I'm pretty sure they won't be doing this together when they get into High school ha ha. Three things to point out
1. Notice the flower in Luke's mouth. (I don't know where he got that from.)
2. After Luke dances with Danika he starts dancing with BriLynn behind the other two.(so sweet)
3. Jacob head banging as he comes in and then whacking his head on the counter. (I know I shouldn't laugh but I do every time I see it.)

Something more uplifting

Sorry the previous post was such a downer. I re-read it today and thought...man am I depressing or what? So I figured I better do something else. Thanks for your comments though, true friends will listen to your ramblings.
It's amazing how hard 'ol whats his face works on you to keep you in that mood though (I like to call Satan that cause ya know cause he doesn't have a body ha ha). These past few days he has been working on me to make me feel like a horrible wife and mother.

The smile on this little ones face says otherwise.
Can't believe my baby is going to be two this month. Speaking of baby...I get to find out what the baby is on Thursday. At the last visit the doctor thought it might be a boy but she wasn't sure. I guess we will see if she was right.

Maybe...

This is going to be a venting post so if you don't want to hear it just click out now....just wanted to warn ya.
Being pregnant brings so many emotions to the surface. I swear when I'm not pregnant I usually never cry or get so dramatic. Lately I've been extremely moody.
Tonight I snapped at Kevin and afterwards felt extremely awful. Have you ever done something that you feel that saying sorry just doesn't cover it. After I thought about how hard he is working and all the pressure he has with his calling. Here he has a moody wife, just icing on the cake right? There are many times I feel like he's physically here but not mentally because he is thinking through things with the ward. The poor guy has so much and I want to help him but I can't.
You hear about those wonderful women who never complain. I can't say I'm one of those. I have found myself getting upset easily. For example, when someone calls during dinner and Kevin has to come back to cold food.
I guess I feel like the time with his family isn't respected. Luke said to me the other day while Kevin was at meetings "Daddy is always at the church". It's been an adjustment for them not to have Daddy around as much.
He works so hard and I love him. I know for me, I will try harder to be supportive. It's so hard not to take the burden from him but there's no way I can.
Maybe eventually I will be one of those women who don't complain. Maybe..

Yuckies and Yummies

We had an eventful Halloween this year. We went to some stores and to the Whittier Center for their carnival. After all the running around we thought the kids were just tuckered out (clue 1). They went trick or treating up our street. Then we headed to the Trunk or Treat. Andrew was the only one who went around to get candy. The other kids sprawled on the floor behind our chairs (clue 2). Kevin started to take the other kids out to the car and Luke threw up on the outer door of the church. Great place right? One open door and one more step and he would have been outside. Anyway to end the day we had three kids throwing up. You know it's a nicer bug when they only throw up once or twice and it's done. This was the case with this one. We stayed home from church. They woke up happy and excited to eat their candy.This is the Principle at the Elementary school. I love that he dresses up! Can you guess who he is?
The neighbors were outside and took a picture of us before we left to go to the stores.
How to train your dragon to sleep ha ha. As I said, the kids were tuckered out. Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!

These are a few of my favorite things...

I love my in laws. I grew up thinking I wouldn't (you know the stereotypical of a mother in law) They are so kind and loving. Yesterday we got a package from them. Kevin's mom had made each of the kids a trick or treat bag. I wish I was as good at sewing as she is.The kids were super excited. As am I...the bags will be much easier to store than those pumpkin buckets. Now onto the kids schools pictures. I always opt out of buying the ones at the school because they are so expensive. I do buy a class picture for memory sake. I wanted to show the difference between their class picture and then the one they took at JCPenny. I always use their 7.99 coupon. You get 2- 8x10's, 2- 5x7's, 4-3x5's, and 16 wallets. It is of one picture but you get to choose from all the ones they take (which is about 15). The ones taken at the school are on the right.


Can you see the difference and why I like to get it taken elsewhere?
These books are one of my favorite things. My mother kept one for me while I was growing up. I still have it, it's fun to look through. There are pockets to keep awards, art work and report cards. You write who your friends are, what you want to be, your signature (which is fun to see how it changes) and more. I have one for each of the kids except for the one incubating he he. If you are interested in them you can find them at harrietcarter.com. Type school in the search. They are only 5.98 and they come personalized.
Another favorite of mine is finding kids sleeping in fun places.

Oh how I love Halloween

Some friends of ours have a yearly Halloween party. This years theme was super heroes. We didn't want to be the regular super heroes you think of. There were some pretty wacky costumes. You could make up your own super hero also. Kevin was such a good sport. I know he hates dressing up but he knows how much I love to go to these parties. We went as Word Girl and Captain Huggyface.
We had an awesome time. We were put with another couple (We were with Matt and Erin McNiel. They used to be the Greenfield ward so we knew them). We were sent on an "amazing race". We all had cameras and were to take pictures along the way. This was a clue that went with the next photo.

Oh golden arches, here we come, it's time for a small snack.
A Happy Meal is what you'll eat, don't have a heart attack!
Only one can do this task, you'll take it for the team.
Be sure to take some pics of this for fun, or so it seems.

Being pregnant and knowing that fries (my fav food) come in a kids meal, I offered to scarf the Happy Meal.Those eating there got some pretty good laughs. WORD UP! ha ha
So what are you going to be for Halloween?

Ahh much better

We got new windows installed in our home yesterday. The first thing Andrew said was "Wow I can see outside."
I promise I did clean them. Just not as much on the outside. We have had condensation and mold on some of the windows. I guess they were not sealed properly and they let in so much cold air in the wintertime. We hope to see a major improvement. I love how they look. I took a before, during and after picture. Maybe you can't tell the difference but I can. I especially love the new sliding glass door....it slides ha ha. The last one you had to jerk hard on to open. The guys were amazing! There were only two of them but they replaced 10 windows and 1 sliding glass door in five hours.
On a sad note we had to take our car in the shop. They told us that if they replaced the part they thought was causing the problem, and the check engine light didn't go off then we would need a new transmission. WHAT? That van has less than 80,000 miles. Is it just me or does anyone else have a hard time trusting auto mechanics?
Well we picked it up and so far so good. I'll be saying a silent prayer every time I drive it though (that the light doesn't pop on). We have to buy a new vehicle soon that can seat at least 8 so I hope nothing else happens till we sell it.