We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Welcome to our Christmas Card post/recap of our 2014! It’s definitely been a memorable year for the Robinson family full of a lot of excitement and craziness as usual. Never a dull moment over here! We’ll start at the beginning of the year.

We loved spending our first Christmas in our new home. We made a lot of memories and started some new traditions, along with continuing some old ones. Kids really do bring so much magic to Christmas time. The triplets are at such a fun age for holidays. They love to celebrate and although it can be exhausting for mommy here, we love watching their young eyes light up as they experience all the wonderful things this time has to offer.

The day after Christmas, we piled in the car and drove to Utah to spend the New Year with our families.  The kids rode the North Pole Express with Grandma and Grandpa, we rang in the New Year with fireworks, got a visit  from the New Year Baby, and as always, ate plenty of delicious food. I also chopped about 10 inches off my hair. It was a great trip, and the perfect way to have our own family Christmas at our home, and still feel like we were with our families for the holidays.

We decided to take another trip to Utah during our Spring break. Both of our entire families would be there (from Hawaii, Colorado, and Maryland) so we couldn’t pass up the chance to play with all the cousins. Another eventful trip with more fun than we could handle.  Pedicures, swimming, ice skating, trampoline jumping, birthday parties, bouncy slides in the front yard, and much more. Even after living in CO for over a year, we’re still happy to be so close to these people we love.

In June we celebrated the Triplets’ preschool graduation! It was hard for all of us to say goodbye to their teacher that we loved dearly. The kids really grew a lot that year. It was such a good change for the triplets to start school, we’ll never forget what a great experience it was for the whole family.

For the first time in about six years or so, I decided to take on a little work outside the home. I started teaching pastry classes at a little shop right here in Town called Al Dente. I only taught about 2-3 times a month for a few months, but it was great to get my hands back into my pastry roots on a professional level. I even invited my dad to help with the Father’s Day doughnut class!

The summer quickly flew by, and all of the sudden, it was time for school to start again. This was a big year for my Kindergarteners! They love their teacher, and have learned so much already. It was a bit of an adjustment with the new big school and new friends, but these kids are resilient, and adjusted well. I love that they love to learn. Here’s hoping that attitude continues throughout the years.

Not long after the start of school, we announced our most exciting bit of new of the year. We’re having a BABY GIRL! We couldn’t be more grateful, excited, and relieved that she is going to join our family. We are incredibly blessed to be given this opportunity again, and this little girl will be loved like crazy. The kids ask about her multiple times a day, and are already showering her with hugs and kisses. She’s due to arrive the first week of April, and that day can’t come soon enough.

In September, I made a trip to Utah by myself to see my twin sister Melody’s new twin boys! I love that we share this experience of mothering multiples and love those boys so much. A few weeks later we went as a whole family to see the new additions. It also happened to be during Melody’s and my 30th birthday, and the babies’ blessing! So many big occasions to celebrate, and we loved being with family for all the fun.

KC has been well and continues working with the same company. They have plenty of work to go around and he’s happy there. Between that and his church calling he’s a pretty busy guy, but we never feel like we lack quality time with the man of the house. We don’t know what we’d do without our superdad.

As the year is wrapping up, I have been reflecting on the blessings we’ve seen in our lives these past months. Our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ have been to thank for our happiness and their love for us has given us the strength to get through both the small and large challenges that life has given us this year. I love closing the year with Christ’s birth fresh in my mind. I love watching my children gain a better understanding of His love for them, and how important He is in their life. I love the Lord, and pray for others to feel the power of his love in their lives as well.

Merry Christmas!

Love, the Robinson Family

Trick-or-Treating, and Giving Thanks

It’s been a busy holiday season as usual over here, always having places to go, and things to do. Though maybe not as eventful as years past. It doesn’t take much to make me feel busy and tired with this baby getting bigger by the day. But I don’t think the kids will notice if we do a little less this year. They are having fun just putting up decorations, and listening to their favorite few Christmas songs over and over. Let’s start with Halloween and go from there.

My friend Emily mentioned they were going to the Halloween Fest at the Denver Aquarium the weekend before Halloween. Kids in costumes get a discount, so we thought we might as well tag along. As we were dressing the kids up, Alex sweetly mentioned he was thinking about being Superman instead of Redbird, the costume we decided on and bought weeks earlier. Wanting to preserve the peace of the morning, I told him to go into the dress-ups and find the costume quickly, and he did. A little curl on his forehead and he was the happiest little boy you ever knew. I wasn’t so happy, not feeling my best that morning, but he’s hard to argue with because of how sweet he is. So we took a few quick pics ( never as easy or as pleasant as it sounds or looks) and were off.

There were some cute crafts before we walked in. The aquarium itself was amazing and the kids loved it. They even had a mermaid show. I was about the triplets’ age when I saw The Little Mermaid for the first time, and I would have DIED if I saw this show. It was pretty cool. We got talked into face paint, and decided to take a little train ride, all the while there are people giving out candy all over the place. The kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Just put it on the record that I did, in fact, make Halloween cookies with the kids. I was downright exhausted, but they had been talking about it for weeks, so I didn’t want to let them down. We made some fun memories.

We let the kids draw their desired faces on their pumpkins, and attempted to carve them. The kids were so thrilled to see their ideas light up when we were done.

The night before Halloween, the boys dressed as a skeleton and a ghost. They don’t let any opportunity to be festive pass them by.

One Halloween Day, we were pleased to find out the kids were allowed to wear their costumes to school! Just for the little party, and then they had to take them off. Still, they were excited. Alex happily wore his redbird costume this time. We got all ready, and took more pictures. I was able to squeeze in last years costume, but this year I was a peanut m&m. I decided to join the party and help where needed.

We went to KC’s work  to do a little pre-trick-or-treating.

The weather cooperated pretty well for the main event. The kids had a blast as we went around with some neighborhood friends. There were some pretty scary set ups and the kids were not at all interested  in getting candy at those houses.  I must admit, I laughed pretty hard when they screamed and ran as something jumped out at them.

We somehow managed to get them to stop eating candy, and go to bed. The next morning, I did this, and had a good laugh.

Our ward party was the next day. We were so tired of Halloween, and dressing up, and pictures, this is all we have to show for it. At least I got rid of some of their candy at the Trunk-or-Treat.

I guess Ruby wasn’t tired of dressing up, because she decided to make a cat costume before church, inspired by her shoes.

We took a fun weekend trip to Breckenridge. I don’t think the kids remember the last time they stayed in a hotel when they were about to turn 3, so this was especially exciting. Of course the pool was the highlight. It was so warm, and you could swim inside or outside despite the cold temperatures. Even the splash pad sprayed hot water. They thought we had moved there and were sad to find out that wasn’t our new house. Sillies. We tasted some amazing food, and did some shopping. It was more than enough space for us, so we invited my mom and dad to join us for a day or two. It was such a beautiful weekend, and we were so glad we went.

We’ve had a lot of snow which made the kids ask constantly if it’s Christmas and why we weren't putting up the Christmas tree. Love their enthusiasm, but wow, it can take a toll. I did let them put up their little tree, while I put up stocking and things the weekend before thanksgiving, and they were beyond thrilled. I don’t mind an overlap, especially when it comes to Christmas music. A few weeks isn’t enough time to listen to it all!

We had most of KC’s family in town for Thanksgiving which made it feel extra festive. His parents were staying with us, and Michelle was staying with Nicole. The kids sure kept those grandparents busy, and they were so kind to happily oblige to almost every demand.

Janice did a lot of the food prep, while I took on a few assignments of my own in between rests. It seemed to go smoothly. The other girls arrived around noon with a couple more sides, and we were sitting down to a beautiful meal by about 2:30. My constantly hungry body was looking forward to this meal for weeks! Actually, since the moment I started feeling sick at the beginning of the pregnancy, I knew that by Thanksgiving, I’d be past 20 weeks and definitely be feeling better for the big feast. Knowing that got me through some of the more discouraging days. It’s hard to believe it’s already come as gone. This year, I was very thankful to enjoy the smells, and food, something I didn’t think was possible a couple of months ago. It was so delicious, and fun to have cute baby cousins sit at the table with us. The kids were adamant about having “yellow corn” (had to be on the cob) in the feast. They learned a song about foods we eat at Thanksgiving and corn was one of them. Thanks to Costco for having fresh ears for us!

I didn’t go on a picture taking frenzy of all the food and people like I usually do. I’m just a tad lazier this year than usual, so I guess it was just too much to ask of myself.  

Later that evening, we went to KC’s cousin Alicia’s house were more relatives were gathered. We enjoyed many pies, watched movies, Facetimed with Camille. and dipped chocolates in honor of KC’s Grandma. It was a great end to the day, and I was more than ready to relax in my bed when it was all over. My back was feeling the extra time on my feet.

Now that the Christmas season has officially kicked off, the kids are in full swing Christmas mode. A paper chain in necessary for my sanity, since the kids ask almost every single day if it’s Christmas Eve and if Santa is coming tonight. There are almost always tears when I tell them we still have a few weeks. They may want to rush things, but I love soaking up the season as it passes much too quickly.

Here’s to a great start to the holiday season!