Going on a Tree Hunt

We are kind of serious about our Christmas Tree hunting...  This is the first year we have taken Calder and Lincoln.  Calder has just been too sickly and the snow has been too high, blah, blah, blah.  We went for it this year and it was a success!

 

 

  Also, I am not a big fan of dressing kids alike.  I think it is suuuper dorky.  But, these coats were on sale at Costco.  And I could not pass up the hats because they are awesome.  These poor boys will hate these pictures in a few years.

 It is difficult to see but Lincoln and Shane were about to cross a little stream.  Lincoln was completely focused on crossing. 

 I told you we were serious.  The big kids climbed this steep hill to look for more tree options.

 

 Lincoln and I stayed off the big hill and played with some sticks.  He was fascinated by all the young trees we could weave in and out of.

Success!

One of my favorite photos.  We are all looking at the camera!  T is holding the tree!  and Look at how cute Lincoln and Calder are holding hands...Calder was helping him...it was a Christmas miracle. 

Tayler's Birthday

15 Years!
Whew.  That is old.
This year will be full of many firsts.  First, high school football game, first high school dance (gag me), drivers ed, to name a few. 

T had a few friends over and a costume party.  She has a great, small group of friends and it was so fun.

This picture is a little wonky but LOOK shane dressed up.  He is Clark Kent.  Tayler is Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter.  She has always been a good character from Harry Potter but this year she was evil. I don't even know what to say about that.

 

All the friends/siblings at the party

Swimming Lessons

 

 

Calder was, by far, the littlest little guy in his swim lessons.  It was for 3-5 year olds and he was just three (and really should not have been three yet).  He loved it.  But he was so cold!  We had to go buy him this special suit after the first few days because he was shivering so badly.  He is a little tippy and the first day went under for a minute.  Shane nearly jumped into get him but the teacher grabbed him first.  If you ask him anything about swim lessons he can tell you exactly what he did and exactly which days he had a substitute teacher and what his name was.  I can't wait to sign him up for winter lessons.  Right now he tells us a few times a week that "we should go to family swim sometime!"  One of his favorite things is on Friday night when they open the pool for family swim and the hot tub is also open (and cooled down) so the whole family can go in.  His favorite part about family swim is the big, dark, tunnel slide.

 

 

Fishing

Shane and his Dad or Shane and Tayler (depending on the day) went fishing a few times this summer/fall.  The boys were fascinated with the fish and Calder had fun helping Shane clean the fish.

Four Westby Fishermem

Sweet Sweaty Baby

The cute thing about camping was Lincoln was so sweaty his hair just went crazy.  This is him in bed for the night with crazy curly hair.  And chubby cheeks reminiscent of Tayler when she was a babe.

Also...

Gary and Ludie brought their cute little puppy to visit one day while we were camping.  The boys kept calling it a kitty.  Ha!  They had just never seen a dog so little (smaller than our cats!).  Tayler was cracking up at Lincoln who kept saying, "meow".  Seriously, the cutest little dog and I love when they visit because their puppies just make themselves right at home in our house.  It is pretty fun.

We Went Camping

I would like to say it was awesome.  But that would be a lie.  It kind of sucked.  This was waaay back in August.  Yes, I am that slow.  The fun part was Shane's family up in our neck of the woods at Scenic Beach Campground.  The not so fun part was pretty much everything else.  The boys just don't do well without naps and without vegetables.  Also, Calder and I suck at snuggling.  The problem is he has (pretty much) always fallen asleep in his crib by himself.  So, when forced to fall asleep while laying next to me he can't take it and I am not very patient with him wrestling all over the place.  Calder woke up one night at 4am WHALING at the top of his lungs.  Shane had to take him for a drive so as not to wake the other campers.  It was a little ridiculous.  I wish I could say it was awesome and in a few years it will be but this year was kind of a disaster.  Tayler had fun and stayed almost five days with Grandma and Grandpa Westby.  So, there were a few good side!!  Tayler had fun and we got to hang out with the Westby/Kincade family.

 Brother Love

 I included this picture because of the bunny crackers.  This kid would eat them all day long.

 Camo pants, Bull dozer shirt, curly hair.  This kid!

And some of the Westby men.  Missing Shane's brother Karl.  But, we have Gary Robert Sr., Gary Robert Jr.  and Lincoln Nicholas Robert.  Plus Shane and Calder.

Pumpkin Patch

We did not get to go to Spokane this
fall and I was sad.  Very sad.  To placate me we headed to a local pumpkin patch.  It was pretty fun.  They had about a dozen old apple trees and you could pick a bucket of apples for $10.  Same with some old walnut trees.  I had heard some co-workers/neighbors complain that the pumpkins were not very orange this year.  Some were green some were getting a little squishy.  I would rather have a green-ish local pumpkin than a bright orange ball shipped in from california any day.  Everyone under the age of 21 picked out a great pumpkin!

 

 

The Beach

Well, we have lived here for 6+ year (really almost seven).  Every time I think of that I feel so pathetic because I haven't even painted the upstairs hallway yet.  It really is pathetic.  Just this summer we found the best beach ever.  Actually, Shane found it one day when he was driving around with the boys.  Super sandy and at the perfect spot around a point of land so that there is very little wind.  The boys loved playing in the sand and I was pleasantly surprised that they stayed well away from the water except for when Tayler took them close to throw some rocks.  This was our favorite outing for the 2nd half of the summer.  We even took Grandma Westby one day when Shane and Grandpa Gary went fishing.  I cannot get enough of this beach!  One of the fun surprises was one day when we were there around 6pm and all of the huge cruise ships leaving Seattle started motoring by one by one.  Beautiful.

 Amazing beach wood and structures that people build.

 I just gave his hair a trim and I miss his long-ish hair and curls so much.

 

 You can tell who the boys favorite person in the world is!

Chopping Wood with Dad

This was so so long ago.  Calder's face is even thinner now...in these pictures there are baby remnants left.  Not anymore.  I had to put this up when I found these photos last night.  Shane was cutting up some trees that fell down on our property.  Calder went down to help him load up the pieces.  Calder had so much fun.  He was in heaven.  Then I told them both to look over at me so I could take thier picture and Calder proceeded to copy what Shane was doing.  Looking over several times to make sure he had his hands folded just right.  The pictures are blurry but the idea is there...

 Checking to see what Dad is doing.

 Folding his hands just right.

First Time at the Barber

Calder's hair grows fast.  And I like the skater/shaggy look A LOT.  But, we (ok, I) felt like he would be missing out on a valuable life experience if we didn't take him to get his hair cut soon.  He did great sitting so very still.  He is obsessed with this creepy little baby that used to be Tayler's.  He takes it and his "purse" everywhere these days.  He took the baby to the haircut appointment...Shane is just shaking his head all of the time...I am sure.  I will say that it is nice that he no longer pretends to nurse his baby.  I am not joking...this kid.

 And now he looks sixteen.

First Day of HIGH School

First day of high school for this girl.  I snapped this photo at the end of the day so she was looking a little "first day of school is over and I want to collapse-ish."  I took T and her friend Hannah back to school shopping in Seattle and she picked out this sweater/tank/jean combo.  With our unusually warm september I thought she might melt when she insisted on wearing it on day#1.  So, high school...wow.  Really, no words.  She is doing well.  A lot of homework.  A few days of no one to eat with at lunch (the schedule is really strange-she has a different lunch every day due to block scheduling) but she eventually found her friends in all of her different lunches.  I look back at high school with a "mehh" attitude.  Shane is the same way.  He got info about his 20th reunion and his reaction a cross between indifference and I have zero interest in going to that.  I have mixed feelings about my next one.  The people I want to see probably won't go and the people who live close enough to go I probably see already.  I don't want high school to suck for T but I think a lot of people loose track of the fact that life gets better after high school.  Sure, it can be fun.  But it can also be brutal, hard tiring and mehh...none of those things.  I hope Tayler has a great high school career and tons and tons of fun adventures.  But, mostly, I hope she learns how to make life after high school fantastic.

Spokane

Shane had an AP conference in Spokane.  So, we got to spend a week.  We probably would have anyway but it was a good excuse and kept Shane from getting too bored.  Not that he would have been bored anyway.  We were SO busy.  Sorry if we did not see you.  We were SO busy and I am still getting the hang of three kiddos and timing naps and teenage outings, etc.

 

 Lincoln made himself right at home on the orchard.

 

 This handsome boy is exactly three days older than Calder.  Fun to get to know him and his mama who were staying with my brother.

 Floating the River
(and nobody panic, this was a floating pit stop at a park where the boys, my mom and I were hanging out.  Shane was high centered in about one inch of water in every direction for about 20 yards and there was absolutly no current.  We didn't have the boys out without life jackets)

 

Silverwood was a blast!  We did the waterpark and the amusement park.  We could have easily spent two days there in order to do all of the rides.  Some of the highlights were... 

The log ride.  Everyone but Lincoln (and I) did this one.  And everyone loved it. 

 Madi, Kadene, Robert, Stephanie.

Tayler, Caitlin, Calder, Grandma:  This is the cutest picture if you can zoom in at all and see thier faces. 

The airplane ride:  Robert was not suuupppper excited. Don't worry his Mama rescued him before take off.   Calder only wanted to know how it worked. I don't think he looked around at all.

More River Adventures. 

Coeur d'Alene Lake.  Calder and Lincoln LOVE LOVE LOVE water.  It was so warm and so sandy.  Oh, to live in Eastern Washington just for the lakes!  They could have stayed in these positions for several days. Tayler and Kadene and Madi rented a paddle board.  For some reason when I mentioned that to Shane I said, "parasail" and he kind of got really excited (like, oh my gosh HOW FUN!) before I realized my mistake and had to break the bad news to him.  Next time we'll rent you a parasail, T.

 

We also did Manito park, lots of orchard work, a Microbrewery grand opening with a live Jazz band, visited with Erica and Brayden and sweet sweet Delaney, lots of cousin time.  It was a really really busy and fun week. Thanks to everyone who made the week fun.