New Word for the Year--DISCIPLINE!

While reading one of the blogs that I subscribe to, the writer was talking about how last year she committed herself to one word for the year . . . BREATHE. To her it resonated on many levels because she was pregnant at the time and knew that she would literally be using her word when that baby came. She also wanted to remind herself to BREATHE in life, you know, slow down and smell the roses. Anyway, it got me to think about what word I would want to incorporate into my life this year and I think I am going to try to make word DISCIPLINE.

Having been in the military and just being stubborn by nature, I think that DISCIPLINE actually comes pretty easily to me. I've always been the type that if I set my mind to it, then I will do it; however, there are definitely certain areas in my life that while I say I'm going to do it, I always come up with an excuse not to.

My MAJOR goals in using DISCIPLINE this year are as follows:
--get in better shape (notice I DID NOT SAY "Lose Weight"
--clean and organize the basement
--complete each child's hospital scrapbook
--complete Kanin's 1st year scrapbook


My DAY-TO-DAY goals in using DISCIPLINE this year are as follows:
--don't go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink
--don't let clean clothes set in the laundry basket for more than 1 day

Santa Claus Hits the Westerhold House

After doing Christmas Eve at Deb and Dave's, the kids fell asleep in the car and we were able to put them straight up to bed. Scott and I got to work right away and started putting out Santa Claus gifts. We, luckily, remembered to take Chuckie down because he had to go back to the North Pole for the year. We also put out some milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Rudolph actually dropped a couple in the fireplace. They must have fallen out of his mouth!


I was really excited for Christmas this year. I could hardly sleep because I wanted to make sure that I was down here and had the camcorder going for when they came downstairs. I think Kanin was a little overwhelmed with everything and all Gracie said when she came down the stairs is, "I gotta scootah". It was really cute!


I had the toughest time figuring out what to get Scott for Christmas so I went against my better judgement and bought him a Wii. Of course, I knew that Kanin would love it, too, so I let both of them open it.


As for myself, I got the best gift ever--a new camera!! I am so excited with it. It is a Nikon D5000 and it is awesome. I am so excited to take pics of the kids on this thing.

After opening our gifts, we continued our new tradition of going out to eat at the Ameristar Casino. Deb, Dave, Alissa, Mom and Dad all met us out there and we ate and ate and ate. It is fantastic and there is no mess! We came back and put out pj's on and just laid around the rest of the day.

What a great Christmas!

Christmas Part 2

After having Christmas at mom and dad's last Sunday, we went for round 2 with the Westerhold side of the family on Christmas Eve.

This Christmas Eve brought changes. The biggest change is that Debbie and David were able to sell their house this past year so instead of being in North County, we were out in Lake Saint Louis in their new home. Since they are out here, they have found a new church, too, so we didn't go to Chapel of the Cross for Christmas Eve service. We also decided to try going to the early service instead of the late night one and it worked out great! We went to church with -Debbie, David, Sarah, Alissa and Ben out at Emmanuel Lutheran in Wentzville and then right after church we headed to their house to eat and open gifts. Jeff, Dayna, Kelsey, Kurt,Rick, Michele, Emma, Mindi and her friend, Jay, met us out there. It worked out so well because in the past we have always gone to their house and did the gift-giving and then went to the 10:30 or 11:00 service which meant that we didn't get into bed until 2am or after.

Since Daryl is currently in Iraq with the Navy, Mindi was able to set him up on Skype and we all said hi and Merry Christmas. That was kind of neat. He woke up at 4:00am to see us and he wasable to show us where he is staying.

Of course, we had to continue the tradition of taking each individual family's picture in front of the Christmas tree and then we took our big family picture, too. Of course, we had to take quite a few of these, as always, because someone is always blocked or not looking.

At the end of the night, we got smart and we put pj's on all of the kids so in case they fell asleep in the car then they would already be ready for bed and for Santa to come.

Along with the new house, new church and new church time, another big change that really started last year is that Doug, Susie, John, Sherri and Kenzie weren't there. Doug and Susie have decided to start doing Christmas in Chicago and, of course, Paul couldn't be here because he is in the Marines out in San Diego. With so many members of the family gone it does take away from some of the fun and chaos with that many people gone but we still had a great time!

Kanin's Winter Party

I am so thankful that I get to go to Kanin's little kindergarten parties. The kids are so excited about everything and even though they are in school, you can really see that they are still babies.

Yesterday was Kanin's Winter party. We divided the class up into 4 groups and we had 4 little crafts/games for them to play.

They each made a snowman ornament.

Played pass the snowball.

Blew a snowball across the floor.

Played walk like a penguin.

Then, we had an ice cream sundae bar set up where the kids could walk by and add oreos, M&M's, strawberries, chocolate and strawberry toppings.

Right before we were getting ready to walk out the door, Kanin was soooo cute. He walked around to every kid in the class and gave them a hug and told them Merry Christmas. Many of the children hugged him right away but some of them were kind of standoffish. I could tell the kids that he is good friends with because they stood up and hugged him right away. With the other children, I could see a bit of shyness come out of Kanin as he stood there and really wanted to hug that person but didn't know how to ask. It was so sweet.

Christmas Starts Early

We started our Christmas early by going to Mom and Dad's this past Sunday and opened up gifts there. A few years ago we decided that we would do my family's Christmas on the Sunday before Christmas Day.

Here are a few pics:

Just Another One of Those Days

Every year I say that I am going to start Christmas shopping early and every year I am running around like crazy trying to get it finished. This year is no different.

Things have been crazy around here this week. Scott has been super busy with work so I've been doing a lot of single parenting. You all know about the debacle the last time I tried to go to the mall with the kids so I planned all week long to go today (Saturday). I knew that we wouldn't get an early start because of Scott working so much and because he dj'ed last night but I was hoping to at least be out of the house by noon. Nope, that didn't happen. We decided to go to the mall and take 2 strollers so that we could split up which meant that I had to pack 2 separate diaper bags and everything that goes with them, get myself ready, get all 3 kids ready, let the dog out and put him in the crate, the list goes on and on.

We finally walk out the door at 12:38 and just as I am getting ready to put Gracie in the car, I smell something. That's right, she pooped. So, I take her back inside, change the diaper, send her out and take the diaper straight out to the trash bin.

Finally, we are on our way to the mall but little did I know that Scott had to Fed Ex something out to KC. So we veer off toward the Fed Ex parking lot. He gets out and gets the package and can't find the packing slip. He searches everywhere in the trunk and no packing slip anywhere. In the meantime, Jeff and Dayna had called and we were going to meet them for lunch at Ruby Tuesday's. So Scott takes the package inside and has to fill out an actual slip, stand in line, etc. Meanwhile, out in the car, WWIII is approaching because apparently Gaga let Kanin wear his gloves but now Gracie wants one. I had 2 other pair of gloves in the car but they were screaming back and forth because they both wanted Gaga's gloves. Jeff and Dayna were able to get right in and get a seat at Ruby Tuesday's so they start blowing up Scott's phone wandering where we are. Wouldn't you know it? Who would have guessed that on the Saturday before Christmas at a mall restaurant there wouldn't be a wait.

25 MINUTES LATER . . . we finally leave Fed Ex and turn on Mid Rivers and are totally stuck in traffic. It is now after 1:00pm and the kids are hungry, Gracie's nap is approaching and Scott and I are both grouchy. We finally get there and eat a relatively uneventful lunch.

Now we have to decide what we are going to do. Initially the plan is to go to the mall, go to Costco and pick out my new camera and then head over to a car dealership to test drive a car that will actually hold our family comfortably. It is 10 after 2 now, though, and I'm thinking Gracie is not going to last long shopping so Jeff and Dayna took the kids and we just decided to go to the car dealership.

Get there and test drive a Traverse. Actually liked the car and decided to go get the Mercedes to bring back to see what we could get for it. Get all the way to our driveway and realize that we can't get into our house because we drove Jeff and Dayna's car to the dealership so we wouldn't have to remove all of the car seats and the only way into our house is through the garage door opener in our cars. We don't even carry keys to our house. So, instead of going back to the dealership, we just go over to Jeff and Dayna's.

Jeff and Scott have no desire to go shopping but I really need to get to the mall to get a gift for Scott so Dayna and I decide to go. It's about 4:30 and we don't plan on being there very long. We get all the way to the mall and I realize that I didn't bring my little wallet with my credit cards in it. I have a little bit of cash but not much. Dayna offers to drive me home to get it but, once again, I can't get into my house because we are in Dayna's truck and not our car and I don't have a stupid garage door opener.

I was able to get a shirt and tie for Scott and do some window shopping. Scott, Jeff and kids call and say they are hungry and we decide to go eat out at this new place that serves that buffalo chicken dip as an appetizer. Dayna and I get there first so we go ahead and order it and the rest of them show up a few minutes later with Caleb crying. It is 6:45 at this point and he is supposed to eat at 7. I get the diaper bag out and get ready to make a bottle but there is no bottle. When Dayna had fed him earlier in the day she had rinsed the bottle out and set in on her counter and when Scott and Jeff were packing everyone up to meet for dinner, they didn't see it. So, I grab Caleb and put him in the car and head home to get a bottle. It is only about 5 miles so it was really no big deal. After being in the car for about 30 seconds, he was asleep but I went ahead and went home and got the bottle and headed back to the restaurant.

So, I get back to the place and the buffalo chicken dip is gone. Scott asked if I wanted him to order more but I didn't want that whole appetizer just for me and they had already ordered pizza so I just decided on a bowl of chili. The chili arrives and I swear it was some of the most godawful stuff I have ever tasted. I tried putting in hot sauce and 3 packages of crackers to give it some texture and taste but it was just not happening.

Fast forward to now and I hear I sit. Christmas shopping still not completed, didn't go get the camera, didn't get the car and starving. Oh well, just another day in paradise. Next year, though, I WILL start shopping early.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

So today was the big day. The day that we finally got to go see the jolly old man. I was torn on what to have the kids wear. I could put them in their Christmas outfits but that would be way too easy so I ordered them matching Christmas pj's about a month ago. Since Caleb has turned into a chunky monkey with all of the rice he has been eating, this will probably be one of the last times he wears his 3-6 month outfit. We've graduated to 6-9 months, I think.

Anyway, of course, the day couldn't start off easy. Gracie decided that it would be fun to take her sippie cup and push the nipple part against her head which, in turn, left her with a head ful of milk. So I had to give her a bath and wash her hair. While I was at it I gave Caleb one, too, since he always has that smell of dried puke and formula underneath his double chin.

For some reason, Kanin wasn't really excited about seeing Santa this year. When I picked him up from school I told him that we were probably going to go take our Santa picture and he just kept saying that he didn't want to. I really, really hope that some little brat hasn't told him the truth about Santa already. He is only in kindergarten and I'm hoping that I get a couple more years out of him. He didn't make a big deal about wearing the pj's, though, not even out in public. I took care of that last week when I bought him a case of rootbeer at Costco. I'm usually not one to go with bribery but I really wanted these pictures with all 3 kids.

Gracie was not a fan of Santa Claus last year. Last year our Santa picture looked like this:

So I was anxious to see how she would react this year. This morning when I told her that we were going to see Santa, she was really excited. That is all she talked about all day. That could mean a couple of things: either she wouldn't be afraid at all and was really excited or it could have been a sign that she had no idea what I was talking about.

We waited for Scott to get home from work because #1 I didn't want him to miss it and #2 there was no way that I was going to try to do it by myself. We got there fairly early and I was happy because I hate waiting in lines, especially with kids.

Seeing Santa for the first time while in line.

Kanin was an old pro at this game and walked right up. Gracie was a little bit more hesitant.

I think having Caleb there made Gracie want to take on the big sister role.

The final result! Baby Caleb's 1st Christmas and Gracie not crying.