Christmas Day 2012


Giving Grandpa and Grandma their presents.  I love Colin's face.  What a joyous day.


Santa must be crazy but nonetheless, Colin got a drum!!!

Santa surprised John with concert tickets...the concert is in May so we have lots of time to look forward to it.

Heaven Help Us


Santa brought Seth a watch.  He asks what time it is roughly 35 times a day.  I had fun asking him what time it was at various moments in the day.  About the third time Seth said, "Mommy, I'm getting tired of answering this question."  Oh how I giggled.
It was a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas 2012

We enjoyed a lovely week in Oklahoma to celebrate Christmas with John's parents. 

Eating hamburgers as big as our faces at the local (and only) restaurant

Not a problem for this one

Christmas Sunday


Hangin' out in a tree

The weather was better this Christmas so we were able to roam around looking for the perfect tree.

Goofing off while Daddy cuts down our tree


Bundled up for some chores.  Colin is just interested in catching snowflakes on his tongue.

I'll post pictures of Christmas day soon.

Turning that Frown Upside Down

Today was the last day of school before Christmas Break.  If you remember from when you were in school, that also means that today is the day for the classroom holiday party.

The problem is that right now it looks like this...


 And school has been cancelled.

I was just telling John last night about the time I had to miss my classroom party because I had the flu.  I still remember it as one of the saddest days of my childhood.  So this morning, when I read and confirmed that the boys would indeed not be going to school, I knew there would be two disappointed little boys.

Luckily, several weeks ago I told the boys that we could have hot chocolate when it snowed for the first time. 

The Polar Express and hot chocolate with marshmallows


I think we've successfully turned their frowns upside down.

Holiday Baking Extravaganza 2012

We've done it again.  My sister came over this weekend to bake our family Christmas recipes.

We made pumpkin bread, popcorn balls, and honey cookies.  With the addition of peppermint bark I made earlier...that's four generations of recipes. 

The boys helped some.  Seth packaged up the popcorn balls and Colin ran around asking if anything was "licktable yet".


Neighbor, teacher, and friend holiday gift bags...done!!

For a look back to last year and for copies of the recipes see here

Family Night Out

We enjoyed a nice family night out a few weekends ago.  I just found these pictures on my phone and thought I'd share. 

First some subs...



Which just happen to be right next door to frozen yogurt.



Watch Dog Daddy

John recently spent a day at school with the boys as part of the Watchdog program.  Dads (Grandfathers, Uncles, etc) sign up to spend a day helping in various classrooms, checking that doors are locked and kids are safe. 

Seth has been looking forward to having Daddy at his school for months.  Colin didn't know he was coming (We didn't know Colin would be there when John signed up at the start of the school year).  Colin came home and told me he was "SHOCKED" to see Daddy walk into his class. 



John enjoyed it too.  He visited five classrooms throughout the day and got to hang out with kids from the basketball team he coaches through the Rec Center.

These two boys have one awesome Daddy!

Pet Pic Friday

I call it "Stocking Feet"

Deck the Halls 2012

Colin's turn to put the angel on the tree
Just for fun...here's the last time Colin put the angel on the tree.  Little pudgy Colin. (Christmas 2010)

We have three trees this year.  The boys each have a tree full of ornaments they've made and ornaments people have given them.  Seth's tree has baseballs, and glittery S's.  Colin's tree has animals and lots of homemade glittery paper ornaments. 
The Grown Up Tree

And So it Begins Again...

Someone started Preschool today.

He's clearly terrified of the idea.

Waiting with a smile
I held it together long enough to say goodbye and drop something off at the office...then cried all the way home.  Off goes another one. 

Christmas Cookies

Heather, Jenny and Kelly came over this weekend to bake Christmas goodies.  There was quite an array of baked goodness in my kitchen.  Everyone brought a recipe to try and off we went. 

I made two batches of Peppermint Bark.  I left out the canola oil and used crushed candy canes instead of peppermint candies.  It's delicious.  At the current rate of consumption, I'm not sure they'll ever make it to any gift baskets. 

Heather worked on chocolate peppermint pretzel sticks and crafty Hershey treats. 

Jenny and Kelly made sugar cookies and whole wheat ginger snaps.  I have to admit, that I scoffed at Jenny when I found out she wanted to make whole wheat ginger snaps.  I can appreciate a healthier dessert option (I'm made more than one cake with zucchini in it) but given the other recipes we were doing I couldn't help but make fun of her just a little.  However, I have to admit they were delicious and I may have taken a couple (or six) when she offered them to me. 

I made some frosting and Heather broke out a plethora of frosting tools.  Between Heather and Kelly, we ended up with some gorgeous frosted cookies.

Jenny asked if I had any baking soda.  Do I have baking soda?  Umm...yea just a little.


The Crafting Station

The Frosting Station

Seriously...Check out that snowman army.
 Thanks for a fun time girls.  My waistline will not be pleased but my tummy sure will.  And just for fun...John meant to play this song while we were baking.  Enjoy!



Under the Sea

Over the holiday weekend we ventured out to a new exhibit downtown.  Aunt Kelly came with us and provided the photographic proof of our fun day on the town.  John's parents had given the boys some birthday money for a "family activity" so thanks Grandpa and Grandma.  It was a fun day.






Happy Thanksgiving 2012

We had a lovely quiet Thanksgiving Day.  We were close to home this year and had Aunt Kelly over.

Every holiday Aunt Kelly brings a stack of library books to share, usually to go along with theme of the holiday.  There were many books about Turkey and traveling to Grandparents houses.  She brought 15 books which her co-workers thought excessive but Aunt Kelly knew...it might actually not be enough.  The boys (mostly Colin) had her reading aloud for hours today.  That is not an exaggeration...hours of the day were spent with Kelly reading while Colin listened intently.  She finally asked permission to take a 10 minute break so she could eat her pie and enjoy a conversation with one of us.  Oh Colin...We love that you love books but the day you learn to read them yourself is a day we will all rejoice.  It's been a joy sharing in your love of reading but we have lives to lead little one. 

...more reading

...and still more reading

Preparations.  John was in charge of the Turkey (with brown rice stuffing) and Mashed Potatoes.  Kelly had green salad and appetizers, pumpkin pie and sparkling water.  I made green bean casserole, two different sweet potato dishes (one traditional which I don't like and another casserole that I do), biscuits, cranberry stuffing.  It was a feast!

There was football watching of course.

The Feast

The Robinson side of our family always take a walk after dinner.  We got out just as the sun was setting and it was still close to 65 degrees.  Usually we have to bundle up for the after-dinner stroll but we lucked out. 

This is Thanksgiving in the 21st Century.  We skyped with my parents in Idaho earlier in the day then again when they met up with aunts, cousins, and great-grandparents.  What would have made our day great would be to have all of them sitting close by at the table but if circumstances make that hard to do...this is the next best thing. 

A Successful Thanksgiving Celebration!  There is no evidence in the photos above that I was there.  I assure you I was.  I have the leftovers to prove it.  And now that Thanksgiving has had it's due...onto Christmas.