The Joy of not being German

Jenna went over to her friend Emma Tracy's house last Friday. As we were driving in the car, I gave her some last minute instructions, you know the kind on being polite, following instructions, being other's minded and so on. Jenna was going to eat dinner at the Tracys so I told her not to tell Mrs. Tracy "I don't like that!" but just to eat what was given to her and say thank you. I then told her a story of when I was little and I went to a new friends house. (I can't remember her name so we must have not been that good of friends.) I told Jenna that my new friend's parents were German and I had lunch over their house. My friend's mom made us lunch and served me a tuna sandwich with butter! I looked at it and almost died but did not say anything. I told Jenna I just ate the sandwich. Jenna was quiet for a moment and then responded "I'm glad the Tracys aren't German!" :-)

The Love List

Jenna always carries a bag to church with her. It usually has her bible some toys, notebook, pen, or picture. Today in church she was writing in her notebook. Here is her "Love List". This is her list in the order she wrote. Notice I am before dad. :-)

Love List
1. God
2. Mom
3. Dad
4. Bella and Roxy....sad, the dogs before the brothers. And Roxy isn't even our dog! We will need to talk about this later. :-)
5. Jonny
6. Kyle
7. Grama
8. Grump-pa
9. Grama Betty
10. Grampa
11. Dani
12. Anty Tracy
13. Uncle Robert
14. My too cousins (she technically has one, my brother has one child and my husband is an only child) Not sure who the other one is.
15. Uncle Michael
16. Bria
17. Emma T.
18. Price
19. Emma S.
20. Jenna from Nebraska

To Move or Not to Move....

Since Kyle started high school this past year in Murrieta, my husband has wanted to move. He hates to drive and driving daily to Murrieta is pain to him. The men in the West household would like to move and the women (Jenna and I) want to stay in Canyon Lake. Jenna is constantly writing in notebooks and this note she wrote explains perfectly her thoughts about the situation. :-) Spelling and Punctuation errors are intentional. :-)

........"To Dani" (Her dear friend who lives in Canyon Lake)

"Dani, I mite move by Kyle's school. And it is not close. It is by J.T.'s house and you no it is not close. So can you help me by E. mailing my mom and talk her into not moveing. Rite me back."

Love, Jenna in Tears

Dreaming in the 21st Century

When Steve is home, he puts Jenna to bed and lays down with her for awhile.  I can hear them talking and laughing and it is so sweet.  He tells her to dream of sugar plums, he makes her stuff animals talk, and tells her all sorts of funny things.  When he gets home from work, Jenna tells him about the sugar plums she has tasted in her dreams and sometimes she is so excited about her dream, she calls him at work.  She told me she has tried a cherry sugar plum, Dr. Pepper sugar plum, and all kinds of sugar plums.  I asked  how she dreams about sugar plums all the time.  She told me she uses a "user name" and two "passwords" to get into sugar plum dream land!  Ahhh, you gotta love her 21st century response!  

Young Author Writing Contest 2008

Every year my kids participate in the Young Author Writing Contest....not always by their choice. :-)   We now have a great collection of books authored by the West kids.  This year Kyle wrote a few short allegorical stories.  These were assignments he had to do anyway. :-)  Jonny wrote two books, one a tall tale and one a chapter book after he read an abridged version of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.  Jenna wrote a tall tale and wanted to write more but we didn't get a chance to do it.  I will have to start earlier next year.  Here are just a few pictures from the Young Author Tea and one picture of the Imagination Machine.  The Imagination Machine turned one of Kyle's short stories into a play.  His original story was called, A Man Name Complainer.  

An American Girl Birthday 2008 More Pictures

After a long day we stopped by Nordstrom's and I let the girls play with make-up.  Here they are with a ton of make-up and silly faces.
Dani posing with one of the statues.  We were entertaining the people who walked by.


Wrestling in the hotel room.  Here Jenna is showing Dani a few "Friday Night Smackdown" moves she learned from her brother Jonny.

An American Girl Birthday 2008

This year was Jenna's 7th birthday and we had decided to make a girls' trip to the American Girl Place in Los Angeles.  I booked a hotel and Jenna brought her good friend Dani Dodson with her.  We had a great time just the three of us.  We would have loved to have Steve and the boys along but felt the American Girl Place would be too much torture for boys. :-)  We drove up on Friday, March 21, 2008 and after a full day at American Girl Place, we went to our hotel, the Marriott in Los Angeles about 20 minutes away normally!  But I got lost!  The girls had a blast.  They even had their doll's hair done!  It was a fun trip.  Happy Birthday 7th Jenna!  Dad and I love you so much!