I hope everyone survived the holidays and is enjoying the New Year!  It was a whirlwind couple weeks for us, but we had a blast!  Of course – it is back to normalcy at work and all the stresses that life brings!  We have been enjoying unusally warm weather lately!  IT was over 60 degrees yesterday so that prompted a lot of outdoor playing!  It is wonderful for Andrew to be able to run around and get some energy out outside as opposed to running and biking through our house! We are definitely ready for Andrew to go back to preschool this week – he needs some structured activity with other children to help keep him focused and calm!  And  I am sure this weather won’t last much longer, but we have greatly enjoyed the refreshing break!

But in other news – I got notified right before Christmas that I was accepted into the St. John’s Hospital School of Clinical Laboratory Sciences!  In the end – I will be able to take the boards to obtain my medical technologist certificate.  I’m hoping this opens up other various job opportunities within my company or in the Springfield area that will allow me to use my science knowledge and background as opposed to simply managerial and logistical common sense.   This competetive program is full-time for 44 weeks, which will be quite intensive and difficult because I will continue working my current 40 hour job and go back to school.  School is during the day Monday-Friday so I will be working early morning, evening and weekend hours to help keep up.  I know this sounds awful, but I feel that anyone can do something for a set amount of time and 44 weeks is not that long in the grand scheme of things.  And this is the next logical step in my career path so that I don’t stagnate at a lower level supervisor position at 29 years old!  The program typically only takes 4 students out of all the ones that apply, and I was fortunate to be one of the chosen ones this year!   The program starts in July so I have about 6 months to “get my life in order” before everything will come crashing down!

My biggest fear with this program is not failing or being unable to do the course work – it is failing as a mother to Andrew.  I know that the timing seems odd – Andrew is turning 4 and is growing and changing every day.  How could I do this program while he is so young?  Unforunately – it was a “now or never” situation.  Science classes tend to “expire” after so many years and this program doesn’t require any college prerequistes that are 7 years or older.  So that knocks out Freshmen year, sophomore year, and most of my junior year when I started my planning for this program.  If I waited – even one more year until Andrew was in kindergarten – I would have to retake all of my college science classes prior to being able to apply!  Thus…why this is happening now.

But – now more than ever – I have my family and friends to help out.  I have a strong emotional base at home and I have strong support through work.  I know that I will get through this.  While it will be a difficult year for me and Andrew and most improtantly West – who will have to help out a lot – I know that we will make it!  I hope this opens up opportunities and advancements for me and my family and that it is worth it in the end! 

We had a wonderful and exciting Christmas!  It was full of family, friends, smiles, presents, laughter, and joy!  What a wonderful holiday season!  Here are some of the highlights:

Andrew and Mommy spent Christmas Eve morning baking lots and lots of cookies for Santa!  Andrew’s favorite part was decorating the sugar cookies.  He enjoyed the sprinkles – can you tell?!

After cookie baking - we went outside to spread out the Reindeer Food that Andrew made in preschool!  We had to make sure that the reindeer were able to spot the house and get a yummy treat while they waited for Santa to finish.  We had to talk Andrew out of wanting to put the reindeer food on the roof – that is of course where the reindeer are….

 Every Christmas Eve – we do the Martin Family Christmas!  Andrew posed in front of Grandma and Papa’s Christmas tree with his sweatshirt that he made with Aunt Cindy and Grandma!

Andrew and Hannah were SO excited to open the presents that had been under the tree.  Here they are ready and willing to dig into the stockings….

 Following the Martin Family Christmas – we went to midnight (Ten-night) mass at our church.  Andrew and Daddy looked sharp in their shirt and ties!

 Following church – we had to hurry home to put out cookies for Santa and get to bed!  Andrew was very worried that Santa was going to come before he was asleep!  Andrew even made a card for Santa and wrote his name and drew him a picture!!

Christmas morning brought lots of squeals and smiles!  Andrew got all the presents he has asked Santa for and got much more!  In this picture – Andrew found mints in his stocking….who knew mints could get that that kind of smile! 

 Overall – the West Family had a wonderful and joyous Christmas!  We hope that you and your families were as blessed as we were!

Guess I should be on Santa’s Naughty List if someone was going to track the number of times that I have updated the blog this year!  In looking back at my 2010 Christmas letter – I stated that I was going to keep it updated more…I think I failed miserably.  Luckily – if most of you follow Cindy’s blog – she has posted most of what has happened with Andrew since Hannah experiences most of the same things!  Let’s see….

Andrew spent most of the fall months playing outside, running with Annie, and going fishing with Daddy.  We have a small pond right down from our new house and they both enjoyed walking down after dinner and fishing.  They actually caught quite a lot of fish in that little pond, but of course threw everything back to make sure there was some for next time!

 During the fall – we also did all the traditional fall festivities!  We picked out pumpkins from the local pumpkin patch!  Andrew had a blast riding the train, playing the games, running through the maze, and of course – picking out the best pumpkins!  It was quite the adventure trying to find three perfect pumpkins with a picky 3 year old!

Andrew was Spiderman for Halloween!  He wore his costume all the time leading up to and following Halloween!  We trick-or-treated with Hannah and Ben & Bekah before heading over to our old neighborhood and trick-or-treated with Andrew’s friends from our old house!  He had a blast this year and really got into the whole experience!  He made such a cute Spiderman!

Andrew is greatly enjoying preschool still!  I love all the art projects and activities that he brings home!  This was their homemade Indian (Native American) outfit that they made when they were learning about the first Thanksgiving!  He wore that around for two whole days before I made him take it off for fear that Annie would jump up and rip it!  It was too cute to mess up!

 In November, West’s family came out to visit and spend an early Christmas!  We are lucky that we bought a bigger house – 7 people drove the 11 hour drive to spend a fun-filled weekend at our house!  We had plenty of beds and bathrooms for everyone so it was nice to have everyone under one roof!  The cousins enjoyed playing together, opening presents, and venturing out to Scheels and riding the ferris wheel!

In December, I had to take a long business trip to STL over a weekend.  West and Andrew came down to spend the weekend in the hotel and just hang out with Mommy while I was stuck down there!  We took Andrew to the Magic House and he had a BLAST!  We probably spent 3 hours there and didn’t even see or play with everything!  Andrew is at a great age to start going to these types of places!  He had a blast with the “picture taking room”, the racing tracks, the construction site, the 3 story beanstalk, and so much more!  It is located just down from where my work is at – I see more trips to the Magic House on my next big business trip!

 Last week – Andrew had his first Preschool Christmas Program!  We were so amazed at how wonderful and entertaining the program was!  His teacher did an amazing job picking out the program!  We had no screaming/crying kids and everyone sang!  I was super impressed that even the 3 year olds – sang EVERY song (a total of 8 or 9 songs!).  Andrew had a blast singing and doing the “commotions” for us every night leading up to the program!  He has had an even greater time dancing and watching himself on the videos that were taken during the program!  We bought him his first “dress outfit” – including his first tie!  Man – he is really growing up!  Look how big he is!

And of course – it wouldn’t be the holiday season without a couple visits to the “Real Santa”!!  Santa came to Andrew’s Christmas program and visited with all the kids!  Andrew and Hannah were the first in line!  Andrew enjoyed telling Santa everything that he wanted for Christmas!

 Last but not least – Andrew had his Christmas party at his preschool this week!  I was fortunate to be able to help and be a “Room Mom” for the day!  It is always so special to be able to take him to preschool and spend time with him!  It is one thing that I do miss out on when I work during the days!  But – we had a great time!  The thing on Andrew’s head is a paper plate Santa.  One of their art projects was making these paper plate Santas with a beard and cut-outs for the eyes!  All the kids thought it was hilarious to pretend to be Santa!  The kids made ornaments, reindeer food, beaded candy canes, and of course filled up on yummy cupcakes!

Now with just 3 days left til Christmas – this holiday season has seemed a bit rushed and overwhelming, but I’m blessed to have been able to share it with our family!  We have a very excited 3 year old that can’t wait for Santa to arrive and to leave presents and suprises under the tree!  I hope that everyone (if anyone still reads the blog) has a wonderful and joyous holiday!

Merry Christmas!!! 

The West family had our pictures taken by one of my best friends – Michelle Yeager.  Michelle has her own photography business on the side while being a stay-at-home mom to 4 awesome kids!  She does such an amazing job!   You can check out some of our other pictures @ Michelle Yeager Photography .  I am so excited to get the prints in and to hang them up at our new house!  We loved that even Annie got to be part of our family pictures!  Enjoy!

I am super excited to have a new picture of Cindy and me.  It has been awhile since we have had a really good one – and I love this one!  I have to admit that I have missed spending time with my sister since I went on day shift.  Our walks at the mall, sharing a coffee drink, visiting while the kids play – it was always nice to have a cofidant and friend to rely on and face the uncertainties and joys of motherhood with!  While we don’t see each other very much or as often – I cherish our talks and moments that we do have in our crazy lives!

We got back last week from a wonderful and fun-filled 12 day vacation!  We went to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week and rented a beach house.  We spent a relaxing 7 days on the beach - playing in the water, putt-putt golfing, exploring, and just being a family!  On the way there and back – we stop in West Virginia to spend time with West’s family.   We pretty much turned our cell phones off, left our works behind, and had a wonderful time!  So many new memories were made and we came back rested and relaxed!    Now…back to the real world…

Andrew had his first official day of preschool today!  He was so excited!  As you can tell from the pictures – he wasn’t always excited about having to stop for pictures, but he was excited to walk around with his new Buzz Lightyear backpack!  I was extremely proud of him this morning – he was such a big boy!  He had no apprehension about leaving Mommy and staying at the school with the teachers and kids.  Mommy – on the other hand – was a little sad to see her little boy walk away so easy, but I honestly couldn’t be prouder!  Enjoy the pictures!

Well, I have been meaning to make an updated post about our new house for over the last month.  We moved in at the beginning on July, but so many things have prevented me from having the time to sit down and actually update!  I finally gave up on the notion that I would clean the house before I would take the blog pictures…I realized that may never happen with a dog and a 3 year old – so I post these pictures with the disclaimer to ignore the toys and clutter on the desk and counter tops, etc! 

Enjoy!

 The Living Room

Living Room – facing into kitchen

Part of the Kitchen

 Andrew’s Bedroom

The Master Bedroom

Andrew’s Play Room (newly painted!)

Andrew’s Bathroom

The Basement – Family Room

 I had a lot more pictures to post, but they were vertical pictures and I couldn’t get them to rotate.  If you have Facebook – then you can see more of the pictures on my Facebook site.  If not…then I guess you’ll just have to come visit in person!  I’ll post more pictures as we update the rooms, paint and finish decorating!

Sprinkler Fun….

Trips to the lake….

Slipping and a Sliding…

Eating some Ice Deli (sno-cones)…