Justin & Amy West Blogs

Here are more pics from the Greenville Rendezvous:

Here are some random pictures of Tyler after eating yogurt and the kids dancing.

Good Friday was the day of the EF-4 tornado that ripped through St. Louis.  Justin and I were dogsitting for his parents and brother and sister-in-law while they were out of town, and the tornado ripped through his brother's neighborhood that evening.  Saturday morning we loaded up the kids and drove through the neighborhood to check on their house.  While their house was pretty much untouched, we were very moved by the devastation that was within a block of their house. We also drove toward the airport and got some more pictures from I-70.  At home, we got a little bit of hail from the storm.

For Easter, the kids enjoyed their new toys in the Easter baskets and the subsequent egg hunt!

One day, when we went to Home Depot, they happened to have a workshop for kids to build flower boxes, so we said, "why not?"

We continued building the raised salsa garden in April.  We lined the inside of the landscaping timbers with landscaping cloth, hoping to create enough of a barrier between the wood and the dirt that they will not rot too quickly.  As usual, Kyle and Tyler were indespensible helping us build it!

In April, we also took a trip to the Magic House, where the boys enjoyed being construction workers, climbing, crawling through tunnels, playing at the water table, pretending to work at a pizzeria and much more!  They really enjoyed their time at the Magic House!

This was also the month of the Greenville Rendezvous.  Tyler decided to cut some seriously painful teeth this weekend, and the whole camp knew about it! Besides that, the boys really had a good time and Tyler really got to walking well this weekend! He even figured out how to stand up on his own without pulling up on something!  Kyle also had a BLAST playing with the other children there! Before we went to the Rendezvous, though, Tyler was being especially photogenic at Mom and Dad's house while playing with their new puppy, Rascal.

 

March of this year was much calmer than the previous few months.  There were only two excitements this month: I became an Educational Consultant for Discovery Toys and we started building my raised garden bed for my salsa garden!

Kyle and Tyler's new game is to clean out the toybox and play in it!  Perhaps we should have forgone the toys and stuck with a box?  Tyler is also starting to treat toys as telephones. He has long conversations in his own language.  Tyler also loves to play with our rat terrier, Storm at this age.

Apparently, I had too many videos on this past post and the majority of my pictures did not get posted.  Well, here they are. :)

Something I forgot to mention was that in February, the Missouri Valley Wine Society hosted our 3rd annual amateur wine competition.  It was a lot of fun, and the best part is we get to bring home as many of the left entries as we want! :)  The only downside is that they are already opened, but it sure is great having friends and family over to help drink the wines.  

February 2011

The second month of the year we slowed down quite a bit.  Well, we were sort of forced to because of all of the snow! We had plenty of opportunities to shovel snow and make snowmen this year!  This is also when Tyler figured out the easiest way down the stairs and when he really started taking some steps (finally!).  I've provided a few videos and pictures for your enjoyment :)

For Valentine's Day, I prepared a nice meal for Justin that consisted of Porterhouse Steak, Lobster Tail, Twice Baked Potatoes, Cheesy Biscuits, dessert brownies with filling and strawberries, and Francis Coppolla Chardonnay.  Once the kids were in bed, we had a very nice evening! (Flowers provided by the best husband in the world!)

January 2011

We started the year with Tyler's 1st birthday celebration. Literally.  His birthday is January 6, but because of traveling plans we had his small, intimate party on January 1.  As is a tradition in my family, I made his birthday cake.  I LOVE the picture of Kyle and Tyler, as if they are the mob boss and his right hand man, eyeing the cake!

Shortly after the birthday party, Justin flew to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).  I drove myself and the 2 kids to New Mexico to visit my sister (that was a LONG trip!).  I had a list of McDonalds with playplaces and I stopped every 1.5-2 hours if the kids were awake to let them burn some energy.

 Once we got to New Mexico, we enjoyed relaxing with my sister and brother-in-law as they had just gotten home from Brazil.  My sister had a large rubix cube that she made for a Halloween costume that the kids enjoyed playing with, and I got a shot of my little monkeys eating bananas!

 After a day or two Justin flew from Vegas to ABQ, and we picked him up and went skiing. It was my first (and most likely last) ski trip ever!!  Unfortunately, after trying the "bunny" hill several times, I took my first trip down the easiest green hill and managed to twist my knee in such a way that I was able to bruise my tibia (as I found out several weeks later).  At any rate, I was seriously injured, and will most likely never try downhill skiing again.  On the bright side, Kyle seemed to do a GREAT job skiing!

We had a great time visiting with my sister an brother-in-law in New Mexico!  We went out to eat a few times, and at one restaurant Kyle took it upon himself to take the pictures: On the way home from New Mexico (2 adults to drive and take the little ones into bathrooms and rest areas this time), we stopped at the big McDonalds over the highway in Oklahoma.  Normally, this would be fairly uneventful, except for Justin's cheeseburger. Awesome.

Once we got home, I went to work trying to get the disaster of a downstairs room converted into a play room for 2 reasons, only one of which was known to Justin at the time.  I really wanted to get the majority of toys out of the rest of the house and put into one place.  The second reason was so there would be a place to put kids during Justin's SURPRISE graduation party at the end of the month (I will talk more about that later)!

So, Kyle has been very difficult to understand.  In 2010, I had him evaluated by First Steps.  They informed me that his problem was articulation and they do not deal with articulation.  I had him evaluated by Scottish Rites (a Masons charity), and they accepted him into speech therapy, but there was a HUGE waiting list.  When he turned 3, I went to Early Childhood through the public school system.  In order to evaluate him, they put him in 3 weeks of a "diagnostic classroom" where they could evaluate and observe him for problems.  In the long run, he did not qualify for Early Childhood because he was capable of making the sounds that normal 3-year-olds can make, he just often opted not to. Shortly after their conclusions, Scottish Rites had an opening and he has been in speech therapy ever since and has been doing great!  This picture is from his first day of the Diagnostic Classroom (Preschool).

Tyler LOVES soft blankets!  There is one brown blanket that we have that is very soft, and he rubs on it like a cat! It is incredible.

Although Justin graduated with his Masters in December, I threw his surprise graduation party on January 29.  He knew we had some friends coming from Kansas City, and then he went to see a "guy movie" and when he came home we had a house full of people. Congratulations, Justin! We are all proud of you! 

The morning after, we had some air mattress fun!

Here are some final January pictures:

 

December 2010

Now that Kyle is 3 years old, he is ready for his first dentist check-up!  He was quite a trooper! He took directions like a champ and came through with a clean bill of health!

We all know that Christmas is a time for traditions and family.  We are no different.  This is Tyler's first year visiting Santa Clause, and I can't say that he was that thrilled about it.  One of the traditions we have started in our family is choosing and cutting the Christmas tree, and for the second year in a row, Kyle had to help his daddy carry it.  Next year it might be a 3-person job!

Here are some random pictures of the boys.  At this age, Tyler is starting to get very interested in things with hinges, like doors - he is opening and shutting them a lot!  For some reason we met Mom and Dad at Dairy Queen one day (they were keeping the boys or something), and Kyle wanted Tyler in his lap.  They both seemed to enjoy that. The dog chilling with Kyle is Storm, our Rat Terrier.

On December 18, we went to Justin's Dad's family Christmas.  It is a large family with a lot of children. The night before, Kyle entered the annual cookie decorating contest and enjoyed decorating and eating cookies. Tyler was quite a hit with all the girl cousins, and as I think the youngest member of the family at the time, he got quite a bit of attention! I included a picture of Justin's grandma with both of the boys, Justin's mom sleeping with Tyler, and a picture of us with Justin's family and his grandparents - there are 4 generations in that picture!

Kyle helped me bake cookies for Christmas Eve!  We went to Justin's parents' house for Christmas Eve, and Santa came that evening!  Kyle is starting to get the concept of Santa Clause by this point, and Tyler is just happy to have wrapping paper top play with.  Tyler is also starting to take a step or two here and there, but he isn't walking, yet.

 

On Christmas morning (Saturday) we all went to Effingham, IL for Justin's mom's side of the family.  We did not stay long.  Let me back track to Tuesday.  Tuesday Tyler was sick.  He was vomiting, and, well, I won't get too graphic here.  He was over it in a day.  Wednesday, I got sick. Same symptoms.  Thursday night we went to Justin's parents' house and stayed the night (we discussed whether we should come, based on the recent illness, and his parents encouraged us to go, honestly).  There were 13 people at their house Thursday and Friday.  So, here we are on Saturday, Christmas morning, at Justin's mom's family's Christmas in Effingham, IL.  We weren't there long when Justin's brother got sick (vomiting).  Then his sister-in-law wasn't feeling well, so they left. If memory serves, they had to pull over on the way home for both her and his brother (2nd brother sick).  Then his mom got sick.  We decided that we should leave, but not before spreading the infection to the rest of the family! We are, of course, a very generous people!  We left shortly, and throughout the course of the next couple of days learned that 9 of the 13 original people at my in-laws have gotten sick....along with over 15 more people in Effingham!  I had friends over a few days later, and even though I disinfected everything in the house that I could think of, illness struck still, just in time for New Year's.  I believe the grand total was right around 29 people infected by my little Tyler.  That sickness (which left many sitting in the bathroom with a trash can in front of them) is now affectionately known as, "The West Flu."  Needless to say, there are not many pictures from Effingham that day.

If you remember, we had a White Christmas in 2010, so naturally we had to go sledding!  

 

Kyle really enjoyed building with their new blocks!  To end the year, we went to the St. Louis Zoo for Lights at the Zoo.  We were amazed at how beautiful it was, and will probably go back again multiple times!

I would like to start by apologizing to my non-Facebook friends and family members!  I have been slacking off in posting pictures of the kiddos and keeping you up-to-date on the happenings in our life.  I see that I have since Halloween to update you, so although I will keep it as abbreviated as possible, there will be several posts over the next few days to try to catch you up to today.  

November 2010

At almost 3 years old, Kyle has learned to crawl into the crib with Tyler.  He really enjoys climbing in and keeping Tyler company when he wakes up.  Tyler has started successfully feeding himself with a spoon, and is happy about it! 

 

For Kyle's birthday (November 17) Kyle and I decided to try our hand at a Black Forest Cake.  I think it turned out pretty well!  We invited several of Kyle's friends to celebrate at the McDonald's Playplace on Mid Rivers Mall Drive.  The kids really enjoyed having the opportunity to run wild and drive the grown-ups crazy!  He also got his first board game, Candy Land.  He LOVES playing board games, and he picked up pretty quickly on how to play!  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera at his birthday party (can you believe I forgot it???), so had to rely on my phone. :(

For about 3 months during this time, I took on babysitting a neighbor girl while her mom did training for a work at home job.  She is 2.5, so I had a 3-year-old, 2.5-year-old and a 10-month-old all at once for a while! That was tiring, for sure!

We spent Thanksgiving at Mom and Dad's house last year.  There were several family members who attended and it was really a very pleasant time.  Since my sister was in town, we also celebrated Christmas, Kyle's birthday (which was November 17) and Dad's birthday (December 7) at this time.  This was the first time Mindy and Jamey got to meet Tyler in person.  They were there I think about 3-4 days before I went into labor with him and had to go home.  Unfortunately, the next time we saw each other, Tyler was 10 months old!  The whole weekend really went very well.  Kyle also likes Mom's bubble-jet bath tub - Mamaw puts in extra soap and he has bubbles so high he can dig tunnels and hide in them!

 

Last year, I hosted a Discovery Toys Party.  I was very impressed with the products and how much free stuff I got as a hostess.  Over the course of the past several months I had been tossing around the idea of becoming a sales representative for Discovery Toys.  Well, over the weekend I took the plunge!  I am now an Independent Educational Consultant for Discovery Toys!  I am very excited for this opportunity to make a little extra income on my own time.  I really think I can do well with this venture - these are products that I believe in.  They are very durable and really promote open-ended play, which is how kids really learn.  The motto of Discovery Toys is teach.play.inspire. and it really does ring true with these toys.  

Please feel free to browse around my website and see what you think.  You can order products or contact me about hosting a party or becoming an Educational Consultant for Discovery Toys!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween this year!

When I became a mom, I decided to keep a tradition.  Just like my mom did for us, I decided I would make my kids' Halloween costumes every year.  Kyle's first Halloween, he was a Pirate, complete with a pirate ship umbrella stroller.  

Last year I sewed a dog costume.  

This year, I undertook the project of building a Thomas the Train costume for him, and a simpler Gnome costume for Tyler.  The Gnome was an easy costume: I simply cut a round-bottom triangle out of red felt, sewed it into a cone-shaped hat, attached a jagged triangular shaped piece of faux fur to the elastic under his chin and voila! He's a gnome.  That costume lasted....minutes.  Tyler was not happy about having something on his head!

As for Thomas the train, it took a lot of thought to figure out how to do this one.  I did some online research and got some ideas at Coolest Homemade Costumes.  During this time of thought, we had to get a new car seat because Tyler outgrew his old one. Perfect! There's the main part of the costume!  So the first thing I did was I taped it open, cut holes in the top and bottom of the "train" for Kyle, and I added another box (using hot glue) that we had lying around to the back.  I also gave my sister the charge of sewing a conductor's hat for Kyle.

After a lot more thought, I got some poster board.  I cut 2 slits in the top of the train to slide the rounded posterboard into, and I put a small piece on top of the small box in the back to give it a rounded roof.  I then spray painted everything with gray primer, then blue. Once it was all painted, I added the black poster board to the front of the engine.  I also cut a circle out of cardboard to put inside the rounded cardboard to add support, and then created the blue front from the rest of that piece of cardboard.  I used white poster board for the face and spray painted it gray.  I also backed it with cardboard for support.  Then, I painted the face (I used a drinking glass to trace circles for eyes, freehanded the rest).  I left tabs on the poster board outside the face so I was able to fold the tabs into the black part of the engine and glue the face in place.  I used dinner plates to trace partial circles for wheels and a glass to trace round windows.  The rest of the painting was done freehand.  Some of the paint I had, the rest I got from the hardware store (sample paints).  Kyle helped me to paint rocks black and we hot glued them to the back of the train for coal. After realizing that the train was really too bulky for an almost 3-year-old to carry around,  I found some castor wheels at the store and we were able to screw them right into the cardboard on bottom.

Throughout the course of creating Thomas, Kyle spent a lot of time asking for "Thomas the Train for Halloween?"  I had the costume downstairs in our spare room, and Kyle often asked to "go downstairs to see Thomas." I'd let him go, he'd be gone for 20 minutes or so and come back upstairs.  Finally, one day, I went downstairs to see what he was doing when he asked to see Thomas.  I sneaked in the room, only to find Kyle sitting on the bed, staring at the train costume.

We went for a trial run when we went Trick-or-Treating at the zoo on Saturday, Oct. 30.  Everyone thought he was adorable! We got a lot of compliments on it.  We had two problems: The cardboard collapsed around one wheel so it made it difficult to roll.  I also forgot that I had painted a funnel for the front and forgot to glue it on!

On Halloween, we glued on the funnel (a Gerber puffs container painted black) and added dry ice and water to it (which was a cool effect, except we added too much ice and it froze the water, so the "smoke" didn't last long) and Justin reinforced the bottom with a wooden frame.  This made Thomas heavier, and because we forgot to cut out some of the poster board that was in his way, Kyle found it very cumbersome to walk around the neighborhood.  We ended up spending a lot of time pushing Thomas while Kyle walked from door to door.  

All in all, I would say that Thomas was a success, even if it was cumbersome.  Kyle still got his candy, and now he has a new friend in his bedroom (he wouldn't let me leave it in the garage).