Family Christmas

Here's a picture of all the cousins taken about two weeks when we had an early Christmas get-together.  The funny thing about this picture is that it includes Alyssa....  We had all the cousins together and were taking bunches of pictures.  We decided we were all done when my brother asked if we were going to put Alyssa in the picture.  Doh!!

Front Row (l-r):  Jaden, Colin, Brandon, Noah and Nathan

Back Row (l-r):  Taylor, Alyssa, Robin and Courtney

Siblings

These pictures are from November, but they are too cute to skip.

Halloween

Here are a couple of cute pictures back from Halloween, with Colin as Mario (from Super Mario Brothers), Noah starring as Flash (DC Comics) and Alyssa as a cute ladybug.

Principal's Club

For the second six weeks of school, Colin was recognized for the A Honor Roll as well as Principal's Club (95 and above in all subjects).  He had told us his goal was to get it at least twice and he has now done it twice in a row.

The Takeover of the Robot Christmas Tree

Below is a story created by Colin that he wrote with a friend at school.  His teacher was quite impressed with the story and helped them type it up and format it.  Then she gave them each a copy and they illustrated it.  I just love the creativity of the story and the drawings.  For example, pay close attention to the pictures of the Christmas tree.  Notice that the "fingers" are the lights from a tree and the feet, in several of the pictures, are presents - "To Colin" and "From Santa".

He just loves to write.  We have a ton of stories he has written at home and they are quite entertaining.

Picture Update

While I am way behind on updating our blog, things are going well here.  Just extremely busy (go figure).

However, here are a few recent pictures of the kids. 

Colin's Second Grade Class Picture

Noah's Preschool Picture

Alyssa, just looking cute

Compare and Contrast

This is fun.... trying to determine if Alyssa looks more like one or the other of her brothers.  These are pictures of each of them taken while still in the hospital.  It's interesting as Alyssa was reminding me so much of Noah until I went back and looked at Colin's pictures...

Colin Wester

Noah Wester

Alyssa Wester

Big Brothers

The boys are so excited to have a baby sister.  They give her a lot of attention and often offer assistance to help out.  Noah was playing with her yesterday and said, "I'm so glad this is not a dream."

Here's a few pictures of some proud big brothers.

You Are My Sunshine...

We just got some pictures from the professional photographer here at the hospital.  She really got some great photos of Alyssa.  I've added some here, but there are more at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/westerfamilyphotos/AlyssaSPictures#

 

Tickled Pink (A Party of Five)

Welcoming our new baby girl, Alyssa Brooke Wester, into the world.

See this link for a lot more pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/westerfamilyphotos/AlyssaSPictures#

Born Wednesday, 10/13 at 8:09 a.m.
Weighing 7 lbs, 10 oz
19 3/4 inches

Pink Is In The Air

As hard as it is to believe, we are only four days away from having our baby girl, assuming she doesn't have other plans and decide to come early.

We have the c-section scheduled for 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning and we will be welcoming Alyssa Brooke Wester into the world.  The boys are so excited about her coming and getting to see her.   Well, I guess the parents are too...

Recognition Galore

Over the past few weeks, Colin has been recognized at school for several things.  Which of course, makes Mom and Dad very proud of his accomplishments.

First of all, he was recognized for Responsibility, which is the character trait they are focusing on for the first 6 weeks of school.  He received this recognition last year as well, so I'm proud of his constant focus on being responsible.

This past Friday, Colin was recognized for reaching 50 AR (reading) points.  Last year, he reached 205 points by the end of the school year.  He set a goal this year to reach 300 (or at least more than 205) and he's well on his way.  He's actually already above 70 points now, but he wasn't recognized until this past week.  He's such a speed reader....

In addition to this on Friday, he was recognized for the A Honor Roll, which is quite an achievement.  However, he did one better and was also in the Principal's Club, which is for those who have 95 and above in all subjects.  Quite the scholar....

 

A Scouting We Will Go

Colin has officially joined the Cub Scouts.  He has several friends who were in Cub Scouts last year (Peter, Dylan and Adam).  This year, Colin was very interested in joining and I think this will give him some great extra activities and interests to pursue.  We've only been to one den meeting so far, but there are lots of activities coming up such as a pumpkin unloading at a church here in Wylie.

Here's a picture of our handsome Cub Scout:

First Day of Second Grade

Colin started second grade last week.  He think his new teacher, Ms. Fox, is really nice.  We would have to agree.  He was disappointed that one of his best friends from his class last year, Eduardo, had apparently moved to another school in Wylie (Akin Elementary).

The first day, when Ms. Fox brought Colin out to the car, she told Tammy, "I wish I had 19 kids just like him." 

Baby Pictures

Okay, so the title of this post is a bit misleading - no, we haven't had our baby yet.

But we did go and get a 3D sonogram, which gave us some great shots of our little girl.  We think we are settling on the name Alyssa Brooke, but need to wait on an indecisive pregnant woman....  Did I say that?  Quick, gotta delete this blog!!

Click here for some additional pictures of the baby, but below is one in which she appears to be smiling a little.

Fun At Great Wolf Lodge

We went to Great Wolf Lodge last week and had a blast.  It's located in Grapevine, about 45 minutes from our house.  The place is huge and there are lots of water activities to do, an art/craft place and an arcade.  The boys thoroughly enjoyed their time and were completely worn out after two days. 

Click here to see more pictures.


Below is a fun video I took of Colin on a ride called The River Canyon Run.  It's actually quite exhilarating to hold the camera and go down this ride backwards.

Super Reader

During Colin's year in First Grade, he really proved to be an awesome reader.  Many of you with kids are probably familiar with AR Points.  If not, basically they are points given for reading books and taking comprehension tests.  For example, if Colin were to read Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss and make a perfect score on the test, he would be awarded 1/2 AR point.  If he read the full unabridged version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and made a perfect score on the test, he would get 6 points.  The kids are then recognized for reaching 25 pts and 50 pts.  Once they reach 100 pts, they get the special recognition of receiving a cool shirt.

Keeping in mind that Colin was in the First Grade (when I remember reading See Spot Run), he was recognized in February for reaching 100 AR Points, which was a tremendous accomplish.  I would estimate that from September-February, 90% of his books were 1/2 point each, meaning he read close to 200 books.

It took Colin 6 months to get to the first 100 points, but he had begun reading much more difficult books.  For example, I bought him the book "How to Train Your Dragon" after seeing the movie and it's a pretty significant book.  He read it in less than 4 days.  It has 240 pages and here's an example of one page:

He has completed the first 6 of those books in the series as well as some other challenging books.  He is working on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe now, with my help (as C.S. Lewis was from Ireland and they were written back in the 50's, the grammar makes for a more difficult read).  Within 3 months, Colin had read enough to reach 200 points and so in May he was awarded a 200 point shirt at a recognition in front of the school assembly. He also got to participate in a 100 Point Club Party at the end of the school year, which was very exciting for him.

It boggles my mind how he excels at reading.  I always have loved reading and we've tried to instill that in our boys as well, but I know I wasn't anywhere near this level at his age.  We just found out last week that he was accepted into the GT (Gifted & Talented) Program for next year.  It's great, as it gives him an opportunity several times a week to be in an advanced class and get additional learning challenges.

He's already set his goal for Second Grade to get a 300 point shirt.  Even though he will start over at 0 points at the beginning of the school year, I don't doubt that he will make that goal based on how he did this past school year.