Sometimes life kicks you in the rear

Here are some pictures from the past month to prove that we're still alive and kickin' back.

Becoming one of those bloggers I no longer follow because of their wordy posts

Since entering 2011 our family has been in a bit of a fog. I blame it on the smallest Westra, who has decided that sleep is not a huge priority for her. This will explain the lack of blog posts and, for that matter, the lack of motivation to get out of the house or even out of our pajamas, as well as Zeke's steady diet of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Nick Jr. (which resulted in another broken bone, another bout with the flu, and serious meltdowns over strange things - like me not understanding what he means by "not cold ice"). So, have I justified not updating the blog for 2 weeks?

This week we came up with a plan to end this ongoing nightmare and last night was the beginning of our attempt to get O to sleep through the night. I wanted to reward myself with some good coffee this morning so I convinced Z to get in the car (it took apple juice in the Starbucks cup and goldfish crackers). It was a little more challenging to convince him that O should go with us. He insisted we should leave her at home and that "Jesus will take care of her." We all ended up in the car but a wrong turn on my part led us to Starbucks and not the drive-thru Coffee Bean I had intended. So, into Starbucks we all marched in our pajamas and slippers. Z wanted to hang out for awhile so we sat and watched the nicely dressed (not in their pajamas) customers pass through the store. Z had a question about pretty much every person that walked through the door, "What does that lady got?" "Why does that guy have keys?" And then announced to the entire store that he had to use the bathroom. As we waited outside the occupied bathroom for several minutes I began to dread even more the thought of exposing myself and my children to this public restroom, but Zeke insisted that we wait, explaining to me, "I want to be patient." Awesome.

So, this is really why we don't get out much. Because he is almost three and I am always tired and we both prefer to stay in our pajamas all day. But we are working on it. And I hope things will be different in a couple of weeks or months or years. We'll see.

And some pictures. Because I know that's the only reason you check our blog.

Gettin' out of the house

This morning, after two meltdowns involving bunny fruit snacks and chocolate milk, we forced our precious children into their car seats and drove to the El Monte airport to watch the planes take off.

O Joy was looking super cute in a new outfit.



While Z was wearing his usual Buzz Lightyear sunglasses and ketchup mustache. Sigh.

We were super classy and ate our fast food lunch on the small deck outside of the airport restaurant.

She loves him. So much.

I was feeling sad that neither one of my kids wanted to take a picture with me.

But, being a Bixby girl, I was totally willing to pose for a picture alone.

We didn't see any planes take off...but Z was super excited to see a guy riding a bike on the runway, exclaiming "Look! That guy brought his Kazam! It has two wheels!"

Happy Christmas

Some pictures from our Christmas celebrations over the past few days. Zeke's Christmas wish came true - "An Ironman! With two arms and two legs!" Olive was in heaven with so many delicious bits of ribbon and paper to stuff in her little mouth. And Jeff and I were pleasantly surprised to find our exhausted children asleep in bed by 7 on Christmas night. It's been a great few days!

Loving time with his cousins on Christmas Eve.

Up and ready to go early on Christmas morning.

The girls...

and the boys on Christmas morning.

The highly anticipated Ironman.

Yummers.

The Bixby women in our Christmas jammies!

The outfit she would have worn on Christmas day, if we hadn't stayed in our pajamas all day. She wore it to church on Sunday, instead. A cardigan! A headband! I LOVE IT!

Feeling sad that Christmas is over...

BUT, enjoying a trip to the beach to cheer ourselves up!

Santa Clause came to our town!!

Tonight we were hanging out in the kitchen and all of the sudden we heard loud sirens. We live near the fire station, so this isn't uncommon in our neighborhood, but it was unusual to look out the window and see a police car moving slowly down the street with tinsel and garland wrapped around it. What?! Then we realized - SANTA! We grabbed Zeke and ran outside.

Kind of hard to see, but there he is, on top of the fire truck, with a giant sleigh riding behind him filled with merry Monrovians.


Zeke was confused and then so excited when he realized people were driving down our street throwing candy canes at us!


I told him he couldn't have any tonight, but that he could look at it. Well, then he opened it, so I told him he could have one lick...so then he quickly took two licks and one tiny bite.


I asked him, "Are you so happy?" And he said "Yeah! I saw Santa!"


Then he thought for a moment, "But, it's a little bit sad. The candy is spicy!"

Back in Action

Sorry it's been so long. We've been busy.

Turning 7 months.


Saving the day.


Starting a small business.

Living in a mess.

Trying to take a Christmas picture.

Finding new ways to get around the house.

Getting ready for Christmas!