Christmas/December 2012 continued...



We loved bundling Madi up during the winter.  I am not sure she enjoyed it as much... :) 

Mike went to a funeral with most of his brothers and sisters, and needless to say, they had some fun. :)  What can we say?  The Robbins are a party!

We love giving and receiving all the Christmas goodies from friends and family.  Apparently Madi liked it too!  We found her nibbling on the pumpkin bread. :)

The family Christmas parties are always a blast!!  We were able to go over to Grandma-Great's house and help her set up her Christmas tree.

Madi was able to play one of the angels for the Robbin's annual nativity reading.  She wasn't the most cooperative, but she was dang cute! :)

Most of the Robbin's grand kids, all dressed up, with Grandma Robbins.

Madi loved the Tinkerbell light-up, spinney-thing that Grandma and Grandpa Robbins gave her from Disneyland.

 

So for Christmas, Mike got a sound bar, which we purchased on Black Friday.  He was constantly asking to open it, and "test it out".  I wondered many times if I was going to come home to it set up.  But he respected my wishes, and so on Christmas Day, and 12:00 am, I let him open it and set it up.  He had been so patient!

We went over to the Buhler's house, bright and early, to open presents and have breakfast before my dad had to go to work.

 We were trying to teach Madi how to rip the wrapping paper.  :)  So innocent!

She loved the "quiet book" from Grandma and Grandpa Buhler.  We are have been using it for church, and it is very successful!!

We then went home and opened our presents as our own little family.

"Yay... socks..." :)

 She finally caught onto the whole ripping thing. :)

We felt very spoiled this year!!

On Christmas Day, our little Madi was pretty grumpy. :( Oxymoron right?  Being grumpy on Christmas Day?! It was probably from getting up so early that morning... 

I used my new straightener to flip Madi's hair out.  It's been fun trying different styles on her hair.

 

Well, that pretty much completes our December of 2012.  It was a great month filled with family!



Excuses... excuses... :)

 

I have a million excuses for getting behind in my blogging... I am not going to tell them all to you, don't worry. :)

 

I am going to do my best to update you on our last few crazy months!

 

Hang in there!  Hope you don't get sick of us! ;)

 



Christmas Time!! (And more pics...)

 

 

Our family loves Christmas time!  The music, the smells, the treats, spending time with family and friends, etc... :)  It is also such a great time to reflect on the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and think of all that He has done for us.  As we remember Him during the season, it helps us to keep an eternal perspective. 

This was our Christmas card that we sent out this year... don't be shocked that we finally did one!  I had good intentions last year... :)

 

We were able to get a new tree on Black Friday!  We love this new tree!!  But, I can't decide if I like the colored lights...

 

Or the white lights more... :)  But, I love having options!

 

Notice that we have the tree in the corner, between our two couches.  This has been a LIFESAVER, as Madi has been getting into everything lately!  She hasn't been able to reach the tree yet... So cross your fingers!

 





 

Here is one side of the entertainment center...

 

 

And here is the other. :)  (Hmmm... it looks better in person, in my own opinion...)

 

 

We have a snowman shelf!

 

 

And I love this glittery nativity!

 

 

Speaking of nativities, we love putting this one up!  Mike's parents were able to travel to Israel last year, and they brought this back for us.  It is made out of olive wood!  It's so beautiful!

 

 

 

We have had so much fun so far this holiday season: Christmas parties, the Mo-Tab Christmas Concert, the 1st Presidency devotional, and many other things.  We look forward to these next few weeks as well!

 

Now for some random pictures:

 

 

 

This has been Madi's hang-out for the last little while.  She loves cleaning out the bottom shelf of our entertainment center and climbing in there. What a goofball!!

 

 

She was suppose to be helping me rake up the leaves... But she kept trying to eat them.  Maybe she needs more fiber in her diet... :) haha!

 

 

Madi and I get plenty of snuggling time, as I have been instructed by my Doctor to be "more lazy" for the end of my pregnancy.  With a 14 month old?  Yeah right!

 

 

But she does have "her spot" on the couch.  :)

 

 

So let me tell you the story behind this one:  One day, I am making dinner, and I had strapped Madi into her highchair and had given her a few snacks to enjoy and keep her busy.  I got caught up in what I was doing, and turned around to this!!!  She had climbed out of her highchair, onto the table!  Not only had she climbed out, but look at the straps of her highchair... That's right!  They are still done up, around her pants!  She had climbed out of her pants to climb onto the table!  This is what I get to deal with all day, everyday!  She totally outsmarts me on a daily basis! :)  And don't you love this look?  It's like she's saying, "What mom?"

 

 

Mike has been working like crazy during the holidays, and with the end of the year coming up.  He has 5, sometimes 6 days a week, working 10 to 12 hour days!  We are super grateful to him for being willing to work so hard, but it's not easy, for we miss him so! 

 

 

 

Check out this hair!  After her bath one night, I towel dried her hair, and this is what we got!  Some people work really hard to get a look like this!! :)

 

 

The girl loves her mac and cheese!  Which ends up being really nice for me, since I hardly ever feel like cooking lately!

 

 

It was too quite one evening, and I found her eating all my chocolate covered raspberry sticks!  She loved them!  And because I am a nice mommy, I decided to share... ;)

 

 

I have been having some pretty crazy heartburn the last few weeks.  One day I was reading the label on the bottle of antacids, and I read the last line for managing heartburn, and laughed right out loud!  Duh!!!

 

This picture shows what an example we set for these babies... She is putting sunglasses on her head!  Is that because I do that all the time?  I had no idea she was picking up on that!!

 

 

This was the day she found the baby powder... :(  She was walking all over, shaking it up and down!!  It was hard to get mad at her, when it was really cute to watch.  Needless to say, I make sure the bottle is closed tightly all the time now!

 

 

Oh yeah... here is another one of her climbing out of her highchair... (big sigh...)

 

 

This was so funny!  She loves carrying around the wii remotes.  The other day she had all four on her wrists.  As she was walking, she dropped one.  She picked it up and put the band in her mouth!  I was trying so hard to get a good picture of her, but guess what?!  She didn't want to hold still! :)

 

 

We are also very proud of my little brother Peter!  He just got his mission call to serve in the Missouri Saint Louis Mission.  He will be speaking English, and leaves February 13th, 2013.  That is two days after my due date, so hopefully he gets to meet his little nephew before he goes!  We were able to go through the temple with him this week, and it was a great reminder as to what is most important.  It is critical that we center our lives on the gospel.  What better time to do that, then at Christmas time!  We should remember what President Monson has said, "The spirit of Christmas is indeed the Christ spirit."

Happy Holidays to you all! 

 

Much love,

 

The Robbins Family

 



Free Download!!

 

Hey guys!  Hope your Thanksgiving Day's were wonderful!!!  We are still recovering not only from our turkey comas, but also from the lack of sleep due to Black Friday... :)

 

But, I wanted to mention that one of my friends Callie, has written a book that is FREE this weekend to download.  The book is called "The Threshold Child" and this is what it is all about:

Adesina was trained from childhood to serve her land as a warrior and a spy. When she is selected to combat a group of seditious magic users, she must summon all of her talents--some of which have been buried in the deepest part of her.

 

 

Here is a link to download it from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Threshold-Child-ebook/dp/B009F2BA6C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352826641&sr=8-1&keywords=threshold+child

Remember, you don't need an eReader... There is a free app on Amazon that will let you read eBooks on any device.  Callie is a great author, so enjoy!!

Happy Reading!!

 



Happy 2 Year Anniversary!!! (And our Disneyland Trip)

 

On October 30, we were able to celebrate our 2nd anniversary!!!  Time has been flying by!!  It truly is amazing how our love has grown stronger with each passing day.  I can't even imagine my life without Mike, and I am so thankful that Heavenly Father has orchestrated our lives the way He has. 

 

 

These are the beautiful roses that Mike surprised me with.  How did he know how much I love roses?!?! ;)

We were saving our celebrating for the next few days, because we went to Disneyland!  Just Mike and I!  It took some time to psych myself up to leave Madi for 3 full days... But it was a success!  And it seemed like she had a ton of fun with the Buhlers!  (Thanks again guys!!!)

 

 

We loved getting random pictures and updates on how Madi was doing while we were gone.  I am sure that she LOVED all the constant attention!! ;) 

 

 

Disneyland was soooo much fun!  We got there on Halloween, spent a few hours in the park, but decided to bow out of the Halloween party that night.  We had tons of fun exploring and enjoying the rides together!

 

 

We had lots of fun in the new Cars Land.  Last time we were in Disneyland, there was tons of construction as they were working on it still.  It was super fun to see the finished product!  At times we had 30 minute waits, and other times we waited for 80 minutes!!  But still way fun!!!

 

 

We even found a suite dedicated to Lizzie!  Unfortunately, every time I tried to take a picture, this guy's arm would appear in the picture.  Oh well... prime example of Sarah's photography skill... or lack thereof! :)

 

 

California Screamin' is my FAVORITE ride!  Of course we had to get a quick pic as we were about to take off!  We only rode it twice though, as I started feeling some "baby" pains, and decided it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

 

Now, you can call me super cheap, but I am shocked at how expensive food is at Disneyland! I am shocked every time!!  Needless to say, we would frequent the Corn Dog Castle often for lunch!  It is probably the cheapest think you can eat, and we both really liked it! (Thank goodness!)

 

 

Probably the most expensive hamburger I have ever eaten... :)

 

 

Yummy, yummy to Mike's tummy!! :)  And yes, we were matching in blue that day, cuz we are cool like that! ;)

 

 

We really enjoyed wondering around Downtown Disney.  One of our favorite things to look at, (besides searching for pins...) was the Lego store!  They had the most amazing statues made completely of Legos!!!  It was insane!!!  Here is Beauty and the Beast (obviously...),

 

 

Toy Story...

 

 

And the Genie from Aladdin.  Incredible, right?!?!

 

 

 

Of course we had to take a picture of the Tower of Terror, just for Mike's Mom.  This is Sheila's favorite ride! :) 

 

 

Mike definitely kept things interesting the whole time!!  I love spending time with him!  Unfortunately, this Disneyland trip was a little harder on my pregnant body, then when I was pregnant with Madi.  We were constantly taking breaks, getting my feet up, and were often done much earlier than Mike wanted to be.  But despite all my whining of back pain, sore feet, and shin splints, Mike never made me feel bad.  He was so supportive, and understanding.  It made me love him even more!!!

 

 

The weather was perfect while we were there... low 70's during the day.  A little brisk at night, but not too bad at all!  I am pretty sure that it made Mike want to move to CA even more!!

 

 

We concluded our fun on Saturday, by enjoying our tradition of Pineapple Whips!  These are sooooo good!!!  Too bad we had just had a huge lunch, so we decided to share one.  Mike thought it would be so funny to have the picture look like the straw was up his nose... When we tried to take a normal picture, this is what we got...

 

 

He was laughing so hard!  So much for a normal picture... :)  I love this guy!!

 

We made it home, safe and sound, and now Mike gets to work 6 days a week for a few weeks.  When your shifts are 10-12 hours, and you are on your feet the whole time, it should be interesting.  Keep him in your prayers!  Just grateful he is willing to work so hard!! :)

 

Oh yeah... by the way...

 

 

MADI IS OFFICIALLY WALKING!!!!!  She has been taking lots of steps the past few weeks, but she is now full fledged walking, with minimal crawling!!!  We are so proud of her!  She was a skunk for Halloween!  So adorable!