A Simple Christmas Weekend

We had a more intimate holiday this year, involving mostly just our little family.  It was business as usual for the kids, making messes, fighting, laughing, crying, cuddling, waking up too early, etc. But it was a blast celebrating Christmas together. It was definitely different and more exciting this year, with them being a year older and all, and I can see how that pattern is sure to continue as the years go on. Let’s start on Friday, Christmas Eve Eve.

It was so wonderfully great to have KC home so many days in a row. After a lazy morning together, we decided to take the kids to the National Harbor in the afternoon. We knew they would love all the decorations, even if it wasn’t dark enough to show off all the lights. It was a beautiful, but cold day. The kids loved everything from the huge Christmas tree and street décor, to the glass elevator in the Gaylord Hotel.

On Christmas Eve, we had plans to spend the afternoon with some friends at their house. The kids enjoyed cookies, and making a messes with all the unfamiliar toys, not to mention, their favorite Frosty the Snowman playing in the background. We were also treated with some seriously good mud pie, all thanks to the hosts.  Of course I was too busy keeping the kids from destroying the place to take any fun pictures.

We got home, opened our traditional pjs, courtesy of my parents (the men got a silly leopard print, memory foam bath mat in lieu of pjs, sort of as a joke, but the kids couldn’t get enough of it). I tried to do a short version of the nativity story with the Little People. Maybe the kids understood a little bit even if they weren’t paying much attention. At least I tried. They know who Baby Jesus is, so I’m happy about that. I witnessed a true Christmas miracle when all the kids willingly piled on KC’s lap as he read the entirety of The Night Before Christmas. There was no fighting over who could hold it, no squirming off his lap to do other things midway through, just sweet faces intently listening to the story, only breaking their attention to yawn. We have read this before, and this wasn’t the scenario, hence my amazement. After I snapped some pictures, I joined them on the couch. A true gift seeing my family all snuggled together. We listened to our Christmas lullabies, and put them to bed, whispering to them that Santa was going to come if they went to bed promptly and nicely, and that they did.

We got to work on the fondue, and had a nice little dinner, just the two of us, Festive Nog and all. The Swiss-Gruyere fondue was new for us, and definitely tasty. Probably a little to rich for me actually. Maybe it’s better that way, so you don’t eat too much. The toasted bread/ham/cheese combo is definitely my favorite.

Then the Santa-prep began. We are starting to see what being a parent at Christmas really means. KC was working on their kitchen for quite a while. I excitedly set up the scene that the babies would wake up to, and then laid next to hard working KC on the floor while we watched our movie choice for the night, Lovely Still (one of the more mellow Christmas movies, but definitely one to put on your queue.) We chose to not put out a few things we got for the babies, thinking there was enough out already. I’ll save those for a day when I really need some reinforcements (which has already happened), or for their birthday in September if we can wait that long. I also put out the cart they got last year, since it’s been put away for a while, and I needed a third push toys to go with the stroller and wagon we got. They didn’t seem to care or notice.

The morning was priceless. Their little eyes lit up at the sight of all the new toys. Ruby couldn’t stop talking about her little bear, that she got the night before with her pjs (I stole it back when she was asleep to use a s a stocking stuffer). There was a variety of exclamations  as they discovered everything. “Wow!”, “Oh Cuuuuute!”, “Choo-choo Twain!” and things like that. It was scene every parent pictures when they think about Christmas morning. It wasn’t without it’s fights and tantrums, but that was to be expected. The kids did do pretty well as far as sharing everything. We just turned on It’s a Wonderful Life, and enjoyed the morning.

As the mom, I feel somewhat like Mr. Bean on the Christmas episode when he mails himself Christmas cards and then acts all excited when it looks like he has new mail when he walks in. I set our gifts out anyway, and pretended to be excited and surprised when I saw them again in the morning, cause really I was excited. I have been patiently waiting to open my new Sonicare toothbrush among my the other gifts. We could’ve been party-poopers and opened them early, but them what would we have to look forward too? Among what we put out, KC gave me an early Christmas present, when I found an Roku installed on the tv before he left on his trip to Hawaii. We have used that thing silly. Now, when they kids are old enough to be trusted with a new tv to use it with, we’ll work on that.

We had our traditional pull-a-parts, and strata breakfast, and it was delicious, though I couldn’t eat much due to being still full from fondue. The the smells and tastes were just so Christmas to me. The kids were thrilled to drink orange juice  from their new Frosty cups.

Then is was off to church at 10, which was sweet and lovely. A little program was narrated by a kind man in our ward who used to be a preacher, and you’d definitely know it if heard him speak with such feeling and enthusiasm. Everyone just looked so bright and cheerful. We got home, put the kids down for naps, and proceeded to open our own gifts. It’s nice to do this together, without being interrupted by the littles. When they woke up, they unwrapped more presents (they were too busy playing with their toys to do this before church), then the Christmas/Sunday laze-fest began. The kids played their little hearts out while we laid around, intervening when necessary. Oh, and I prepared our ham, potato, frozen fruit salad, and rolls dinner. Oh, and there was no way to get a group pic of the kids all dressed up for church. Believe me, I tried, but it was impossible. Maybe next year.  

I loved our tiny family Christmas, with no expectations, and no schedule. Just all of us having fun together, taking in the wonderful feelings of the day. We missed our families terribly, but we did have a few webcam sessions with both sides, which helped us from feeling too homesick. It was definitely a memorable Christmas. 

P.S. As much as I love Christmas time and all the decorations, I’m always so anxious to put everything Christmasy away within a day or two after it’s over. Including music and movies. It’s so refreshing to me to just clean up and move on. But I am grateful that there are some Christmas lights and decorations still up in the neighborhood. The kids still can’t wait to see them every time we leave the house. 

Merry Christmas 2011!

It’s time for our Christmas card recap of the year! We didn’t leave a note on our Christmas card directing recipients to the blog this year, but just in case you came for our yearly update anyway, here it is!

It’s been another great year for the Robinson fam, full of all the ups and downs you can expect with three two-year-olds! The triplets, though keeping us extremely busy, have been so very delightful as well. This has been a big year for them! Their speech has really taken off, and they love to sing songs, and sometimes even on key. Right now they are constantly singing Christmas songs like Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, but they also love Old McDonald, the Alphabet song, anything on Signing Time, and The Numbers Rumba to name just a few. When they want to, they play together extremely well, and make each other laugh hysterically. But they also know how to push each other’s buttons, and mine! We’re working on it. Mostly, they are a cheerful, hilarious bunch. There’s never a dull moment around here.

We did a little traveling this year. We were thrilled to go on a Cruise with KC’s family in June. WITHOUT THE KIDS! It was a big step for me, to actually leave all my responsibilities in the hands of someone else. It was so hard to say goodbye to the little ones, but it was so worth it! My parents were so very kind to take on the task of babysitting, for which I am so grateful. KC’s parents were also amazing to take us all on the heavenly vacation. It was crazy to have zero baby responsibilities for four whole days. I‘m ready for another vacation any time!

We also were so happy to be able to attend KC’s sister’s wedding in September! And thanks to her for making it right before the kids' birthday, we were able to get away with only buying three tickets instead of five! KC’s dad helped us with the flights, which was incredibly helpful. We loved seeing everyone in Utah. We stayed at my twin sister Melody’s house, and played with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents non-stop. And the wedding was gorgeous. Such a fun trip.

We had other numerous visits from family, which we always welcome. The kids are always excited to show off to new people, and I always love having others to help me keep them entertained!

We love having the Ribeiras live in the apartment downstairs. Cousin Penny just adds to the baby fun. And I’m so happy to have my sister to here to talk to, cook with, shop with, and all the other sisterly things we do together.

KC continues to work at the same firm as a Civil Engineer. He recently worked on a major project that took him to Hawaii. I was insanely jealous, but more than that, I was grateful to see him enjoy his work, and be given these great opportunities. He also got to spend some time with his sister Camille, who lives there. He is naturally a great father, and a very helpful husband, which he proves every day as he cleans up the toys, and shows never-ending patience with me. And that’s saying something! 

I have been keeping busy with the triplets, and the occasional me-time, when I go running, shopping, watch Law and Order, or most importantly, sleep. Mmmm, I love sleep.  I continue to LOVE my job as a mother to my sweet babies (yes, I know they are toddlers, just humor me), and although sometimes this job seems impossible, there is nothing else in the entire world I’d rather do.

We celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in March, and couldn’t be happier with where those 5 years have taken us. Not in distance, since we’re still living in the same house we moved into when we got married, but with how our family, and love has grown. We’re very excited to see what adventures our many more years together will bring us.

So that is our short and sweet recap. I’m grateful for this Christmas season, as it is a great time to reflect on what I try to keep in my heart throughout the year. That Christ was born to save us all. And that he loves and forgives me every day. We hope all of our friends, family, and any strangers that may stumble across this blog, also feel the love of Christ in their lives. Have a very merry Christmas, and the happiest New Year!

Twas the week before Christmas…

I thought it was time for a Random Christmastime sampling of what’s been going on around here. I found that our events can be divided roughly into a few categories:

Lights

After dinner last night, we put all the kids in their pajamas, and headed for the Watkins Park Festival of Lights. I was impressed by the number of light displays they had up. It was a nice leisurely drive, through the park, and the kids were more than excited to point out everything they saw. See here, how they demonstrate this, just on the way out of our little neighborhood.

So you can imagine how excited they were with endless colorful lights to gaze upon. When Bennett saw the candy canes, he just exclaimed “J! J!”. Ruby Broke out into a rousing singing of “Fwosty the SnowMAN!” every time we passed a snowman, and Alex love the gingerbread men, which he pronounces “Giberbed”.  They will be sad when all the Christmas decorations are taken down.

The Washington DC temple lights are always on our list of outings. Thanks for poking your head in the picture, Ruby.It was getting late, and when this starts to happen, you know you’ve hit your limit. 

We kept the kids up especially late one night (two hours, which never, ever happens) to let them see our neighborhood tree lighting. I wouldn’t say it was worth it. Ruby was not happy, they took forever to turn the lights on, and we were nowhere near it when all it finally lit up. Oh well, I might have regretted it if we hadn’t even tried. And they did like the lights when they got up close.

One Saturday we took the kids to the mall. They couldn’t get enough of the great decorations, of course, but it was also a fun surprise that they had snow coming from the sky (a bubble machine) as we passed the food court.

Parties

We were happy to attend another NICU Christmas party. Ruby insisted on climbing on the tables to collect all the decorative foam snowflakes. It was great to catch up with some of the nurses there. We went at the very beginning though, so were didn’t stay long enough to see any of our friends. Maybe next year. They gave each child a small gift that included a little snowman. Ruby has adopted all three of them as her own. She seems to be most enthusiastic about all things Christmas.

Our ward had a Christmas breakfast. The kids and youth got to wear pajamas. Since we never actually get to eat at gatherings where food is involved because we’re always chasing children, and keeping them away from the food table, we decided to just bring their boosters. It worked! We all ate at the table together! It was still a bit chaotic, but an improvement! Before long though, the kids wanted to get down and play. We spent some time in the nursery, but eventually made it back to the party for music, a nativity film, stories, and having fun playing on the table storage racks. We were sad to miss the Primary nativity while walking the halls, but we made sure to not miss Santa! I have been dying to see how the kids would react to meeting him. They are more than happy to point him out on every movie, sticker, or even ornaments at the store, but in person, they were terrified of him. The official picture hasn’t been sent to us yet, but my sweet friend got one on her phone and sent it to me. You get the idea. I got a shot of Ruby, who wouldn’t even look up, she was so uneasy. It’s all part of the fun, right?

Dates

We have been able to squeeze in a few date nights here and there. I had heard that the Nation Harbor was a great place to be during the holidays, so we got a babysitter, and Elise, Jeff, KC and I made a night of it. We got there just in time to see the fireworks.

The Peeps store was incredibly crowded, but I am told you get a free piece of candy if you brave the crowds (which I did not).

The real attraction there was the Gaylord Hotel. The lights and decorations were really amazing. We were going to go ice skating, but decided it would be more fun on the National Mall, where we usually go.

Instead we went to Nando’s Peri-Peri and got a sampling of appetizers, desserts, and hot chocolate.

And we were nerds posing in front of the heart statue.

KC and I had Groupons for the International Spy museum, and the hours were annoying, like they closed at 6 pm. So we had to go on a Saturday, and Elise was more than kind to babysit for us. The kids were napping most of the time, so that’s good. The museum was fascinating, and so interactive. A great stop for anyone in the area. Across the street there was a holiday market, so I took a stroll to see what the haps were. There was nothing I was interested in buying, but festive all the same.

We were going to go to KC’s work party last weekend, but didn’t RSVP in time. But since we had a babysitter lined up, we were decided to have a night on the town anyway. We had planned to go ice skating, and scored a great parking stop on the street just a couple blocks away. But the line was insanely long, and we missed the first session. We weren’t about to wait another two hours, so we enjoyed the walk back to the car, passing the National Archives, quickly perused H&M, and then ended up at Target to buy our secret stocking stuffers for each other. I was disappointed our plans didn’t work out at first, but was happy to be out with KC anyway.

Baby Cuteness, Etc.

First of all, I finally got my ever-loving Jury Duty taken care of. After dropping Elise and fam off at the airport at 6 AM last Wednesday, I headed to fulfill my civic duty. The drive there was annoying. My GPS was acting up (resulting in some cosmetic damage due to my frustration—oops) , but I got there with time to spare. And except me thinking my color card was blue, instead of purple, and them having to call my number a million times before I realized it, all went well. I was in a group that was being chosen for a criminal trial, and when they asked all the questions to determine who would be on the jury, they asked if there was anyone who wouldn’t be able to continue if the case lasted more than a day.  I stood right up and told them it was hard to find trained childcare for my two-year-old triplets. Thus, I didn’t end up on the jury and was home by noon! It was a neat experience though, and the people in charge were very kind, and happy. They tried to lighten the mood by telling jokes, and we waited in quite a nice lounge, making it not so bad for the hundreds of us that obviously had other places to be. There was even free wifi that I didn’t even have time to use. I'm glad I’m off the hook for at least another three years!

So onto other randomness. Ruby loves putting stockings on her feet.

They were so excited about these silly mittens I got them.

Alex and Ruby insist on wearing shoes all the time.

Alex usually looks like this, since he can’t seem to keep his clothes on (so now we have two kids in backwards pjs, and soon to be three, since Bennett has shown signs of taking his off as well.)

And we also have two kids with diapers taped on since Alex can’t seem to keep that on either. Ugh.

Ruby’s footwear isn’t limited to stockings, or shoes over her jammies though. Puppets are also commonly found on her feet.

I found Bennett “reading” a Christmas piano book the other day. He just read aloud the numbers on every page.

One of the many places I’ve found the Little People nativity pieces.

 

They kids take their nap around noon, and have a quiet time in the late afternoon when they listen to music and read books in their cribs. It used to be pretty quiet, and I’d just here them singing along quietly to the songs, but now this is what happens during “quiet time”. (And sometimes during the first hour of nap time, and very rarely around 3:30 AM--ahem, this morning). Oh, these kids are a bundle of fun these days.

So that’s the latest. I wanted to get all that down before the real fun begins. Less than a week! I’m not ready to say goodbye to the season yet. And we haven’t even watched our best Christmas movies yet (probably because I keep watching those silly Lifetime, or ABC Family movies. Don’t judge, you know you love them too). It’s time to cram! We’ll see how much of White Christmas the kids let me get through before they start begging to watch Santa Claus is Coming to Town. . . again.