Growing Wests indeed!

Big day for our growing Wests!

Nathan had a surprise day off today (love those) and I decided to take "off" myself. Off, as in no coooking, cleaning... even had a nap! But you know, with four kids you never actually have time OFF :)

See this 'little' guy?
(And golly, my kids can DANCE)

Can you believe he's FIVE?!  Nathan and I made bets on how many times we would hear "They're so tall!" today. He said six, I said four.

Well, those "berry berry tall" kiddos (according to Brynn- they hear it all.the.time) are now officially registered for Kindergarten!

CRAZY. I think they're pretty excited? I know Brynn is, and I'm really excited for her. We've both been MUCH more aware this year that the other two are in school and she is not. She will love it, but it is definitely going to be a challenge for her; she's gonna have to learn to tame that personality a little bit! She'll do great :)

Cale is hard to read- as usual. The GOOD thing is, I think he's a little torn over how he feels about leaving his current school/teachers/classmates. He chooses different words to express that, of course ;)  And after such a wonderful week last week, this one has been quite the opposite- although he has enjoyed visiting Kindergarten classes in his current school.

Neither of them are very excited about shots on Monday :/ I'm not either. Taking Layla was SO traumatic for both of us!

We managed to time registration just right to see Layla coming in from the playground. She yelled, "I want you to eat lunch with me!" across the whole school lol. So... we did. Six Wests going thru the lunch line with our little yellow trays :) Brynn and Cale LOVE having lunch at the school and it was especially fun to do it today as future students!

(2nd graders dressed up today because they were reading "Cowboys". Cale is trying to smile... but also make sure Brynn doesn't touch him... She did, which led him to use his mouth for something else instead.)

After school, Layla went strait to her eye appointment. It turns out, her eye sight has reversed completely- she's gone from being far-sighted to near-sighted, so new glasses are on the way.

Anna Gray has her first eye appt at Vandy early Monday morning, although we're pretty sure they are working just right.  We also had her first visit with her teacher :) She's a sweet lady and will come every Friday from here on out.

Things are comfortably chaotic- especially with all the BabyCakes orders coming in! We have had an amazing response so far! So excited for "Mayah" and the Hogeland family who will benefit from this month's sales! I hope June is just as busy!!

We had a really successful auction this week and our cupcake bouquets are a huge hit with Mother's Day coming. We will also be donating cupcake bouquets to a luncheon in White House for mother's who have or have had breast cancer! Message me for more details!

Peek at our Week

I meant to do this Friday and would like to do it every Friday, but... who am I kidding? I don't even know what day it is.  And for that matter... some of these aren't from the last week. More like the last week and a half or so, but you get the idea. Carry on.

'Atta Boy!

Last week, our sweet Cale got to pick his seat at dinner (big deal for him!) because he brought home a "certificate" sent home for being a good friend to a classmate. Considering the notes that usually come home in regards to his behavior toward a classmate, this was HUGE.

But then he did it again... and again... and again- he came home with "high fives" every day this week! I think he's maybe had one the ENTIRE YEAR until now. Today, he even got a certificate sent home from his principal for having a whole week of good behavior!!

That earned our little man a trip to the "treasure store" (also known as Goodwill, but they all call it the treasure store thanks to Evan and Our Sara).

$.99 well earned, Little Fella.
Cleaning his plate for the 2nd night in a row (and didn't complain or gag or anything!), and thanking us for his dinner resulted in a smidge of ice cream ;)

 I am so so proud of my son.
Just a few more weeks until his last IEP meeting before kindergarten!

BabyCakes.

If you are my friend on FB, you probably saw a few snippets about my latest adventure... BabyCakes!

I'm partnering with my new friend/former sister-in-law, Sara (we'll save that for another post). Read her version of how BabyCakes started HERE.

Now here's my side:


I have yet another (that makes three) blog out there in the blogging universe. It's called "Love Me True" and I only share it with a few people I really trust. It's where I blomit (blog vomit) all my crazy. It has funny little antidotes about forgetting to pick up my son from school and frilly underpants (two separate posts!), an honest battle against my eating disorder, well-timed curse words and brilliant metaphors. I started it because I was too afraid to share the whole me here. On this blog, things are/were light and fluffy and easy. It seemed easier, at the time, than taking the risk and hurting someone's feelings, offending someone with my feelings, or taking crap for those feelings. I started Love Me True just over a year ago. HOLY COW has this last year changed me. I can't say for sure if it was a year's worth of time or what I experienced in that year that did it, but change indeed.

During the adoption, I didn't only blog the light, fluffy, easy stuff. I blogged it all, and it felt good. There was some backlash, but way more people identified with the way I was feeling instead of judging me for it. And sometimes, what I wrote even HELPED people. I read back thru Love Me True today and realized not only how far I've come, but that had I put a lot of that here for the world to see, it may have helped someone too. So, I plan to do that. Soon. But I'm getting off-topic...

As I was reading thru those old posts,  I saw one I called "Career-ADD" where I discuss what I want to be when I grow up. Yes, I wrote it at age 29. At the top of the list were: special education teacher, pastry chef, and missionary.

Well, I'll be... (Southern accent required)

What is a special education teacher?
Is it different than helping my son with autism use flashcards to tell me how he feels instead of throwing something across the room? Is it different that using sign language when I speak to my daughter with Down Syndrome so soon she can communicate as well?  Is it different that finding fun, creative ways to challenge my uber-smart oldest?  Don't I advocate for those that are "different"?  I don't know about you, but I think all my kids have "special needs" because they are all different people!  However, even by society's definition, I would probably consider myself a special education teacher. (Too bad Tennessee Tech University hasn't given me a degree that says so.. yet).

And pastry chef? Oh, how I love me some pastries. I looked into culinary school, but it is so expensive. I've been baking cupcakes for quite a while. It would probably require a therapist to figure out how it started exactly, but once it started- there was no stopping it. I love it. And not just the tasting part! I love the creative process and the art of it. I love being challenged to create and dream something wonderful (usually). I have had several people politely request that I start selling and there has never really been an opportunity to do it. So when Sara presented the idea ( you read her post, right?) with a slightly under-developed plan to go through with it, I was all in!

Yes, let us bake cupcakes. And SELL cupcakes. But it gets better... let's do it with a purpose.
"Sweet treats on a MISSION."

Know what else I learned this year?
I AM a missionary.

I am a person on a mission. Sometimes, my mission is just about one person. One very special-adorably squishy- little Ukrainian- person. Sometimes, more than one special, adorable, little Ukrainian person.

You may have seen me mention Melody. I adore her and she needs a family fast.

And Titas. Oh, sweet boy. I LOVE Titas so much!

I so badly want to help them both find a family!

And then there are those families who are ready and willing to rescue these orphans. On the adoption blog, you read about my friend, Kate. Kate and I flew home from Ukraine together with our newest little loves and they are already ready to go back! Not because it was such a blissful and easy experience, but because that's where their little girl is. They just need the funds to get there. There are so many other families in the same position. One family was EXTREMELY giving when I was in Ukraine and needed help getting home, and now they don't have the finances to complete their own adoption. I HAVE to help. I don't have cash at my fingertips to give, but if I can bake cupcakes to get it, I will. I'm on a mission.

25% of ALL orders from BabyCakes will go toward a family in the process of adopting a child with special needs through Reece's Rainbow.

A different family will benefit from each month's sales. Right now, sales will help bring "Mayah" home to Kate and her family :)


You can stay most up-to-date by following us on Facebook, but I will try to do occasional updates here too to let you know how it's going! Spread the word, order some cupcakes, and help bring an orphan HOME!

Already, we have several orders ready to make a difference!

BabyCakes!  Get excited :) 

14 months!

Our little Annie-girl is 14 mos old today!

She is most definitely in the beginning stages of teething and does not like it one little bit. She is much sturdier when sitting up and getting very strong!  She has decided that she does very much enjoy pasta and scrambled eggs afterall. Although, cut up peaches and pears are her absolute favorite.

She is still in a 12-18month size clothes, though maybe getting closer to the 18 and further from the 12. AG loves music- she especially enjoys our version of  "I'm stinky and I know it" and any song you can work her name into. She's such a fun little bundle of happiness!

April 2nd

Hard to believe on April 2nd this year, we celebrated these little bugs being home for FIVE whole years!

They are most definitely on my list of Most Interesting/Entertaining/Awesome People! I am beyond thrilled to celebrate them today and love them forever. *So* grateful to be one of their moms!!

They got to celebrate however they wanted and both picked ice cream @Sweet Cece's! Sutton and Lelly celebrated with us :)

It also happened to be World Autism Day! Our special little guy doesn't always make our lives easier... but he sure makes them better!!

He has come SO SO far in the last year. It's almost unbelievable. (Thank you Miss Sarah and friends!!). We have one last IEP meeting in a few weeks to discuss what Kindergarten is going to look like for him. Crazy! Also have his yearly appointment scheduled with the Autism Clinic at Vanderbilt- can't wait for Dr.M to see how far he's come! So stinkin' proud of our boy :)

P.S Two years seizure-free (we think...)!

Cousins galore!

I have been getting to keep my neices and nephew a lot more lately. Some days, I can barely tell that three more kids are here... others... I can :)

But I do love getting to see them and that the cousins are getting to spend so much time together!!

It's so funny figuring out which personalities work together ...

...and which don't! LOL

My other nephew, Isaac, recently spent the night with us. He and Layla (generally) play SO well together. They had the best time and he was so so sweet.
Age 4 and Age 8

Oh, Darlin', don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up... just stay this little."

Spring Break

Day 1: Park, Anna Gray's first time!

Day 2: (rain- boo) Crafts upon crafts upon crafts.

A

B



C



Day 3: Storytime at Nashville Public Library

Days 4:  Zoo (Again... Anna Gray's first time AND her first piggies!)

* Layla is wearing the same dress at the zoo as she was on Day 2. Please note that we bought that dress on Day 2 and she needed to try it on immediately and only wore said dress for about 7 minutes with an agreement that she would wear this particular dress to the zoo on Day 4.

** We had awesome free things planned for Days 5 & 6 as well, but that's when Vandy called to say they had openings and we ended up spending those days at the DS clinic and cardiologist.

*** This was the first time I had ever been ready for my kids to go back to school. I was exhausted. (But we had so much fun!).

Layla turns 8!

I'm just going to chug along like I never left ;)

Layla opted for a "low-key" slumber party with her friends this year instead of a big to-do with everybody. Of course... I can't JUST do a slumber party. It has to be the slumber party to end all slumber parties!  Between my DNA and Pinterest, there just is no other option.


She had a blast and all of her friends declared it the "Best Party Ever" (I'm pretty sure at ages 6-8, every party is the best party ever- plus they were all on sugar highs- but I'll take it).

Her morning started with a little trickery. Very little. As in, she crawled underneath it and then asked us why the heck we did that. When we told her it was for the birthday girl to run thru, Little Brother took off and busted it up before she could.

She chose IHOP for family birthday breakfast and then on to decorating before picking up her friends.
The bed/table:

 Layla from 0 - 8. Sweet sweet!

 The sky jello needed more jello...

They played Twister, school, house, and fashion show. I painted 50 little toes with polka dots, zebra stripes, and rainbows. They made their own pizza and decorated pillow cases. We sang Happy Birthday and watched movies.

Basically, I wore these little girls out :)  All were tucked in their sleeping bags by 9:30 and the last one fell asleep by 10:30!

The next morning, Annie helped make rainbow pancakes...

... before all five girls headed off to church with Nathan :)

(I had a photo shoot/rehearsal. I managed to get five little girls ready in time, I just couldn't get myself ready!)

 Aren't they sweet?!