Family Circus

Bath Time

2011-03-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today was Corbin's first bath in his little tub. Based on the evidence, I think he liked it!

Before

During

After

3 Little Puppies

2011-03-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

The other day Maggie had two friends, Lizzy and Lexi, over to play. While they were here Maggie got a doggie treat out to give to Lady. These doggie treats are the ones that look and smell like bacon. Rob walked in and saw the girls with the doggie treats and started telling them that the treats not only looked and smelled like bacon, but they tasted like bacon too! He went on and on about he eats them all the time and how good they are and that they should try one too. He finally talked Lexi into trying some. She took a tiny little bite and we were both shocked when she didn't spit it out but kept eating more! Then in an effort to get Lizzy and Maggie to try some he made a deal with them. He gave them each a little piece of doggie treat and told them they each had to eat their piece and then he would eat a whole treat. Lexi ate ALL of hers (oh my heck), Lizzy and Maggie took a bite of theirs and spit it out, and so it was Rob's turn. Just as he was about to take a bite he said, "I'm not eating that . . . it's dog food!" Cheater.

Rob then told them that because they ate dog food in a few days they were each going to grow a little tail. Maggie and Lizzy were laughing and thinking it was pretty funny. Lexi was laughing too but only because the other two were laughing. I think if they hadn't been laughing she would've been bawling. She kept walking back and forth between Rob and I saying, "Is that true?" "Is that really going to happen?" Poor thing.

After a while they went upstairs to play and then about 5 minutes later they all came down looking like this

Don't you love the bandanna/belt tails?!? I told them they had better go show their mom (Nikki). Rob called Nikki earlier to let her in on our little joke (we're so glad she has a good sense of humor) and she said she'd play along. When the girls got there she gave them a "magic berry" that would make their tails fall off. So funny!

Exercising, the Unicorn, and Welcom Home

2011-03-08T19:28:00.000-08:00

Rob's been really good at watching what he eats and exercising. It is rubbing off on Daynan although Rob doesn't look like he's going to die as much as Daynan does. Personally I think I would be dying too if I was sitting down on the bike like Daynan is . . . Owch!!

Poor Corbin's IV's kept going bad so the nurses had to find new veins to use. He had been poked so much that he didn't have any "good veins" left in his hands or his feet. So, they had to put one in his poor little head. The nurses told me that the head is actually an ideal place for IV's because there are really good veins and less nerve endings so it doesn't hurt as much. I sure hope that is true! Trying to find the humor in the situation we started calling him the unicorn because of the striking resemblance.

We finally got to bring Corbin home last week. It is so great to have him here and not have to travel to and from the hospital. My other kids, Maggie especially, love to hold and feed him. It's so fun to watch them take care of Corbin.

Corbin James

2011-02-25T15:13:00.000-08:00

Our little (well not so litte) guy was born on February 20th and weighed 8 lbs 15 oz and was 20 inches long. He is still in the hospital because he has a little infection in his lungs :( He is expected to come home this Wednesday. Yea!! Here are a few pictures and videos of him.

Choices and Consequences x 2

2010-05-20T21:41:00.000-07:00

This choice (among others that involved more serious crimes) . . .

led to this consequence . . .

Fun in the Tub

2010-05-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

Diaper Disaster - HELP!

2010-03-11T19:42:00.000-08:00

The past couple of days have been a nightmare because the twins have figured out how to pull their diapers off.

Tuesday morning I went to get Bronson out of bed and found he had pulled his diaper off and threw it out of his crib. This was made worse by the fact that there was poop, yes POOP, in his diaper thus it was all over his crib, his room, and all over him. Brooke was in on it too. She wasn't poopy, but she too had stripped down, thrown her diaper out of her crib and then PEED. OH MY HECK!!

I remember a friend telling me her 2 year old did this too and she ended up taping her toddler's diaper on. So I tried that. It worked for a day. But then today happened.

Rob went in to get the twins out of bed this morning and yells, "Anna, get up, Anna.Oh Brooke.(dry heave) Gross. ANNA! (dry heave)" I fly out of bed and into her room and Brooke is completely naked and there's a huge poop right in the middle of her bed AND she's got poop all over her. SO GROSS!! Neither of my other two kids did this. I 'm trying duct tape tonight but if she figures out how to get that off I don't know what I'll do. Help!!

Some Things Never Change

2010-02-26T20:50:00.000-08:00

Daynan doing dishes for me when he was 2. I remember this day well because this was the one of the first times he'd done something to help without being asked first. This was fantastic but there was something else he did that was even more amazing to me. He'd gotten into the towel cupboard (it's open in the 2nd picture) and pulled towels out to lay down on the chair so water wouldn't get onto the chair and ruin it. The thought process involved in carrying out this little plan just blows my mind. So sweet and so smart!

I came in the kitchen a while ago and there was Daynan doing dishes for me again. I think wearing red must get him in the helping mood.

What is it with boys and vacuums and kitchen gadgets that make noise?

Then . . .

Now . . .

Peanut Butter Ammo

2010-02-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

Bronson has this fascination with sticking things in his nose and ears. So far he's put, among other things, licorice, a kernel of corn, marshmallows (maybe he's confusing these with ear plugs??), and popcorn up one or both edifices. We caught him the other day trying to stick a penny up his nose. Luckily it was too big for his tiny little nostril.

On Sunday Rob was making PB&J sandwiches for church. Yes, I take a sandwich to church for my twins because snacks just don't cut it and actually a sandwich is much, much, much less messy. Anyway, Rob must've let Bronson help because Bronson discovered a piece of peanut butter in his ear during sacrament meeting. He pulled it out, looked at it, and flicked it onto the head of the guy sitting behind us. Nice.

My Skating Story

2010-01-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

Went Roller Skating with Daynan for his birthday. Thought I would remember how to do it. Ya, not so much. Stepped off the carpet onto the rink and fell right on my keester. Then Clay fell. The Britt fell. Then Austin Fell. Then Daynan fell. Then Austin and Daynan cried. Then Austin and Daynan decided to stick to their scooters. Smart boys. Hmmmm . . . maybe I need a scooter?!? vrooom. vrooom.

December At a Glance

2010-01-12T20:56:00.000-08:00

This year for neighbor gifts we (me, my mom and Ellen) made my Grandma Jensen's donuts. Yum, yum!!

Maggie watched for a while and then decided she wanted in on the donut-making too. So we gave her a cutter and let her go for it.

On Christmas Eve my whole family congregates at my parent's house for the annual reigning in of the Christmas Spirit by eating fabulous food, singing "Christmas for Cowboys", wearing strange things on our heads and having a reading of the Robinson version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas. So fun!!

Brandon (Ellen's boy) playing with the light switch while the guys sing "Christmas for Cowboys"

Look, Mom, I can find a chord anywhere!! I'm so smart. Now all I need is an outlet . . . Honestly the kid is so lucky he hasn't been shocked or electracuted yet. He is obsessed!!

"Christmas for Cowboys" Singers: All the guys in the family (minus Alex who will be home in July ya) and Rob who was helping kids get drinks. Thanks, hun!

Trent, Ellen and Brandon

Us in our Halo's and Daynan in his reindeer antlers. If you've ever been to a Christmas Eve party and the Robinson house you will understand :)

My Aunt Connie. She is literally the sweetest, kindest lady on this earth. She teaches Daynan violin and is THE reason why he loves it so much. If any of you have a child interested in playing the violin I would highly, highly recommend her as a teacher. She is awesome.

My sister, Lindsey, came down from school. So very, very fun to see her.

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Katie, Kent and Baby Emma

We didn't put any presents under the tree until Christmas morning for fear that my twin tornados would pull all the paper off and reveal all our secrets. So you can imagine how surprised the kids were when they woke up and saw all the presents. The twins were in shock. My kids still don't quite understand that some of them were from Rob and I. Oh well. This video clip isn't anything special, infact you'll have to excuse the camera turning sideways. I'm not quite sure what I was trying to do but whatever it was it didn't work. If you listen closely you'll hear Daynan say, "Every Christmas is the best." After I turned the camera off he came up to me and said, "But I think this Christmas is the best of the best." I'd have to agree.

Double Trouble

2009-12-07T22:02:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest thing my babies have figured out how to do.

Then the other day Rob and I were putting up Christmas decorations and I realized I hadn't seen or heard the babies in a while. Never a good thing. Well, I found them shortly thereafter and this is what they were doing. OH MY HECK!!

"My Stupid Mouth" story by Anna, song by John Mayer

2009-11-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

So the other night I'm putting Maggie to bed and she is going on and on about her Primary Lesson. "Mom, these guys put Jesus up on a cross and then he died for us and his body went into the ground and his spirit went to live with Heavenly Father and then a little while later he came alive again."

"That's right," I tell her. I should've just stopped there but then I decided this might be a good teaching moment so then I say, "You know Maggie that's going to happen to all of us." Maggie gets this look of horror on her face and says, "But I don't want those guys to put me up on a cross and make me get dead."

HOWLING GOOD TIMES IN OCTOBER

2009-11-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

HALLOWEEN PARADE
Daynan had a Halloween parade at his school and as part of the pre-game show there was this guy dressed up as the grim reaper. My kids couldn't quite decide if he was mostly cool and a little bit creapy or mostly creapy and a little bit cool. What do you think?

Daynan, the SWAT police man, walking by in the parade. My pictures of kids in the parade never turn out very good because they walk so darnfast. However, I was rather proud of this one. Finally!!

SCARECROW FESTIVAL
Rob's parents came down and we took them to the Scarecrow Festival. It was really, really fun. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

Rob, Britt, Maggie, Daynan, JC, Bronson and Brooke

Brooke, Bronson, and Grandma McNeel

Grandma McNeel and Brooke

Bronson's Cheesy Smile

Maggie getting a unicorn painted on her face. Apparently only certain people can do unicorns because Maggie had to wait for this girl to be available.

AHHHHHHH!

Maggie, Austin, and Dayan.

**Side note: it drives me crazy when you pay to get into something (like the scarecrow festival which was NOT cheap) and then they charge you to do things once you get in. Like, for example, the face painting. It was like $4 per face!! Then they had these race cars that looked way fun but were they included in the entrace fee. . . no! And how about the bottle rockets. Nope, they weren't included in the entrace fee either. Seriously! I think if you are going to charge people to get in then everything should be free (except maybe the food) once you're in. Drives me crazy!! 30 minutes after Daynan got his face painted he asked for a wet wipe to wash it all off. Well, at least I got some good pictures to remember that $4.00 face with. **

PUMPKIN CARVING PARTY

HALLOWEEN
There was some confusion about Brooke and Bronson's costumes. No, they are not Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog (although that is a fabulous idea). Brooke is a pink poodle and Bronson is a turtle. Emma, Katie's baby girl, is a Lady Bug and Brandon, Ellen's son, is a Doctor.

I decided it was high time Rob and I dressed up for Halloween. So this year I dressed up as Cleopatra and Rob is Caesar. Thanks for being a good sport, Rob. Love you !!

Conference Weekend Fun and Not So Much Fun

2009-10-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Rob and I decided to go to Star Valley to visit his family over conference weekend. Rob's parents have a gas fireplace (they call it a stove) in their living room that they use to heat the house. Over the years they've purchased little space heaters to use instead of the stove because they're so worried about the grandkids getting burned on it. Well, conference was about to start and so Pat (Rob's mom), Brittney (Rob's sister), and I were trying to get the kitchen and living room clean so we could relax and watch conference. The next thing we know Bronson just starts screaming. I turned around and saw that the stove was on and instantly knew what happenned. His little hands got burned :( I grabbed him and put his hands under cold water while Pat filled a bowl up with ice water. Then I sat down and Pat and I held his little hands in the ice water on-and-off for about an hour. Meanwhile we called Aunt DeAnn who is a nurse at the hospital and told her what happened. She ran and got us a good burn ointment and helped us bandage him up. Poor little man. Once we got the burn ointment on, you wouldn't even know he got hurt. He was happy as ever! We all thought he would take the bandages and the socks off his hands, but he didn't. What a good boy!

At first sister was very concerned, but then she decided brother was going to be okay.

Once we got home, Bronson decided he was done wearing the bandages, but he still had big blisters. Owey . . . but the kids is still smiling.

The Wyoming cousins: Austin, Daynan, Jordan, Alyssa, Peyton, and Maggie

General Relief Society Meeting

2009-10-05T16:19:00.001-07:00

The evening got off to a great start with the finding of a celestial parking spot.

We had grand plans for dinner at a nice restraunt, but spent too much time bargain shopping at Old Navy. Here we are modeling our $4 shirts. Mande, sorry about my head blocking yours :) love ya!

Then we were off to the Conference Center with everyone else.

Kristy's mother-in-law, Pam, is on the General Relief Society Board so every year she gets us these great seats. Thanks Pam!! We all tried to get a picture of her, but every time she kept talking to her neighbor. Finally Kristy snapped this one. She's the one in the gray jacket. Notice Elder Uchtdorf on the bottom left.

The First Presidency: Elder Eyring, President Monson, and Elder Uchtdorf

I think this picture is really cool because you can see how close Pam's seat is to the First Presidency.

The whole evening was a success. Fab Speakers, Fab Friends, Fab Food. I highly recommend the hot fudge sundae at Emmit and Ethel's. yum yum!!

Bugged but So Proud

2009-09-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

Bugged: I just jumped on the internet to look at the new trailer for New Moon, which by the way is fabulous, and noticed that it the movie doesn't even come out until November 20th. What? I totally had it in my head that it was showing November 2nd so basically I have to wait 18 more days on top of the 33 I was already planning on?!? ARG! I am so bugged. Guess I'll have to add some more loops to my paper chain.

So Proud: Daynan scored a goal at his freezing cold soccer game today. Go Daynan!!

To Can or Not to Can

2009-09-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

Rob is always giving me a bad time that I don't can. In fact it has become a hot topic in a joking way between the two of us. It's not that I don't agree with him; I want to learn how to can. It's just that things always go very wrong around the house when I get busy doing something that doesn't involve wiping noses, serving snacks, or some other child-centered activity. I try telling this to Rob and he just doesn't believe me.

Well the other day Rob brought home a box of peaches and they were super yummy, but we just couldn't eat them fast enough and they were starting to go bad. We didn't want to waste them so Rob and I tried to think of what we could do with them. The obvious thing to do would be to can them but seeing as I don't know how to do that, that option was out. Then I remembered my sister-in-law made some peach jam last year and it was delish. I had made strawberry jam before and it really wasn't that bad so I suggested it to Rob and he thought it was a great idea. I told him my only concern was with the amount of peaches we had left we would get a lot of jam. He didn't believe me. Oh well, I thought, if we're going to make jam, let's REALLY make jam.

STEP ONE: PREPARE SUPPLIES
Ran to the store and got everything we needed . . . I thought.

STEP TWO: BLANCHING
Ya I had no idea how to do this so I called my trusted cooking advisors for help. Evidently I must be a real slow learner because it took explanations from my Aunt Teresa, my mother and me reading a selection out the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook before I felt like I knew enough to try it out. So embarrassing!

STEP THREE: JAMMING
Everyone at my house was either sleeping or happy when we started this step. Even Rob was helping happily!

Unfortunately this happiness did not last long. The first problem we ran into was we didn't do a good job of planning in step one. I knew the peaches would make a lot of jam, I just didn't think it would be this much! I ended up running to the store not once, not twice but four times for jars and pectin. Yes you heard me, FOUR!!

The second problem was my kids went from happy to this:

Poor Kids. It's so hard to not have all of mommy's attention :(

Well to make a long story short, after cleaning up many mommy is busy so look what I can get into messes, saying "no . . .No . . .NNNOOO" to children making those messes more times than I care to admit, and trying to keep everyone calm by ensuring them Mommy and Daddy will be done soon . . . we were finally done. And what did we have to show for our 7 hours of hard jamming labor? 49 jars of luscious peach jam.

I'll be dreaming about jam tonight.

EPILOGUE:

After we were all done with the jam I asked Rob if he could now see why I don't dothis very often. He said yes. But he still thinks I should learn how to can.

A Much Needed Change of Scenery

2009-09-13T20:03:00.001-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend we went with our cousins Matt, Andra, Jen, Bailey and Aiden to Bear Lake. Our Aunt Teresa joined us on Saturday for the boating fun and to help with the babies. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This first picture was suppose to be just that, a picture, but somehow it ended up as a movie . . . oops! Andra's sister, Jen, had a boat and so that's where most of our time was spent.

The kids were way excited to go tubing, wait that's not true. Maggie and Bailey were excited to go tubing, but Daynan and Aiden were not. Side note, do these two look like they could be brothers or what?

Because they took so long complaining about how cold it was and that they wanted to go to the beach, the girls got the wet suits. Hey, you snooze (or in this case complain) you lose! Notice the big smiles on Maggie and Bailey's faces (ha ha we got the wet suits!)

After some pretty intense coaxing and several direct threats, they decided to go for it. Hallelujah! We get them loaded on the tube, threw the boat in drive and started to go when we realized . . . Oh no . . . We forgot to hook the tube to the boat. Sorry boys!

After a good laugh, we turned the boat around and hooked them on and were off for reals this time.

We did have a few minor mishaps while the kids were on the tubes. Auntie Jen instructed the kids that when the boat starts pulling the tube they have to lift up on the handles or the tube will sink. Yikes! Well on more than one ocassion the handles didn't get pulled up on quite hard enough so the kids got to take a little swim. BRRRRR. No worries, though, Auntie Jen was there to rescue them!

This was the first time the babies had been on a boat and they did surprisingly well! They mostly just sat on laps and took in the scenery or slept. Teresa kept Bronson entertained by letting him play with her camera. And yes, Kristy, I warned her about what happenned to your camera so she kindly took it from him when we got to the beach. I'm happy to report that no cameras were ruined on this trip. Ya hoo!

When it got to be lunch time we decided to go see Andra's brother who has a cabin on the other side of the lake (lucky). He told us to look for a big red tractor and they were right by it. Apparently a lot of people who have cabins at Bear Lake also have big red tractors because there were a ton of big red tractors. We were getting concerned that we might not find them when Jen and Andra spotted them. Phew. This first picture is of Matt holding Bronson (who is fast asleep) and all the kids looking for the big red tractor. The second picture is of Brooke excited to finally get of the boat and play in the sand!

What can I say, the beach was awesome!

It was getting time to head back for dinner so we all piled in the boat and started to head back. Bailey and Daynan wanted to give tubing one last try. Look Mom; No Hands!

For the rest of us, though, it had been a full day!

New Backpack

2009-08-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

I bought Daynan a new backpack for 1st grade. When I gave it to him I was really talking it up and showing him how neat it was with all it's zippers and compartments and buckles. The wheels in his head were really turning and he'd ask "what's this one for?" so I'd give him a few ideas and then say, "or whatever you want". He took what I said pretty seriously. Hey, maybe his teacher will allow a class pet?!?

Kids Sleeping in Funny Places and Positions

2009-08-17T23:07:00.001-07:00

The other day I sent Maggie to her room for time-out. She was very, very upset and I could hear her throwing things and stomp, stomp, stomping around. Deciding to not let my four-year-old bring out the four-year-old in me, I just ignored it and busied myself doing "mommy things". I must have done a really good because the next thing I knew more minutes had passed than I care to admit and it was really, really quiet. Oh no. Quiet is never a good thing. I go into her room to find out what she has gotten into and she isn't in there. I call her name, look under her bed, look in the closet. She isn't anywhere! I even checked the windows to make sure she hasn't escaped (yes she is that kind of kid). Where could she be? I start calling her name and walking around the house. Still no Maggie. I go back to her room and look around thinking where have I not looked? Then her toy chest (which we use as a blanket chest) catches my eye. I lift the lid and . . .

The little turkey had fallen asleep in her toy chest.

What is it with babies sleeping with their bumb in the air. Can that really be comfortable?

Kisses

2009-08-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

The other day Bronson walked up to Brooke, gave her a bear hug, and layed a big kiss on her. At first Brooke just stood there and didn't know what to think. Then she got that "I think I just got my first kiss" look and laughed and laughed. Now whenever you tell them to do "kisses" they look at each other, giggle, and go for it. So cute!

Now I must say there is a part of me that says "ewe gross" but then I remember they are just babies and then my mind goes to how much fun we could have with this when they get into their teenage years. Oh no, am I going to be one of those mom's who embarrass their children by pulling out baby pictures?!? You bet I am!

Just Practicing

2009-08-05T13:12:00.001-07:00

All our kids playing in the little pool

Don't you love Bronson's belly??