The Nutcracker

Aaron and I took Gracie to the Nutcracker Saturday night. She was so thrilled to go "special" with mommy and daddy. Jonah stayed home with a sitter and was not pleased (at first) that his sister was leaving him. We both felt horrible leaving him but he had his special day with daddy today! We had a wonderful time with you Gracie girl!

Sugar Cookies 

("Granma's" Special Recipe!)

The Big Reveal...

The 2009 Robinson Family Gingerbread House!

I know you have ALL been anxiously awaiting this very special moment.

It really was special for my little girl and me!

"O Cwis-mas twee, O Cwis-mas Twee, How Wuvely are Your Banches!!"

sung by Jonah

Our tree is up and was completely decorated by both kiddos!!

Our BOY is almost three!!!

We had a small celebration for Jonah's Birthday.

His wish was to have a "Wee-oo0, wee-ooo" party (aka Fire Truck Party).

The best part of it was having a fire truck visit from our local fire department. Jonah was in heaven!! The firemen were incredibly gracious and kind! 

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!!! We LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

Anyone want to...

Paint ?

We're back! Whew, how time flies! I cannot believe it is December! 

To sum it all up here is what has been going on with each of us.

Aaron: 

New job keeping him busy, busy, busy and still making time for our family. Thanks Honey!!

Sinus surgery--OUCH. We are happy to report he is well on his way to a full recovery and can breath clearly again!

Tickling the kids until they turn purple--their favorite!

Kelly:

Playing "Dash's mom" (off the Incredibles). If only I had elastic arms!!

Spelling words that I don't want Grace and Jonah to hear and having them blurted out by Gracie... "Mom, that spells scary man! Where is the scary man??" Spelling days are now short-lived.

Making cakes and lots of quick breads. Mmmn Yummy.

Preparing myself for my sweet, little, edible boys 3rd Birthday.

Gracie:

Getting first black eye. (You should have seen the other kid!) Just kidding. We were dancing in the living room and G and J slammed heads. No more heavy metal music. Just kidding- again.

The greatest "helper" in the world!

Can spin 2 million times without getting dizzy.

Has a great big heart!

Loving art and crafts. YAY!

Addicted to bubble gum.

No longer napping- for good!

J-Man (a.k.a. Jonah):

Perfecting the art of snuggling with mommy--the greatest feeling ever!!

Newfound love of "Choc-wet" (Chocolate).

Loves to be chased.

Loves to run, really, really fast!

Getting sweeter and funnier every day.

Being 100% boy.

Pics from our Mt. Vernon Thanksgiving trip. THANKS GRANMA!!!        

Spinning

Cool J-Man on his motorcycle

Weeeeee!

For those of you who have never experienced the funniest grumpy face ever!

Eating Granma's Pumpkin AND Burnt Sugar Pie with a

BLACK EYE.

Family Thankgiving-- YUMMY!

Out at Aaron's Uncle Chris and Aunt Sheila's house with Farmer Aaron taking us on a tractor ride! 

Brother and sisterly love.

Wheelbarrow racing! (Great work-out, by the way!)

Has Anyone Seen...

Grace or Jonah??

Grace, Jillian (holding hands, how sweet!) and Jonah

Feeding goats food from "Ice Cweam Cones" (as Jonah says) at the Pumpkin Patch

In the hay maze

The birthday boy + family blowing out the candles. 

Ariel with ADORABLE little Pebbles (Madeline Mitchell) and Bam Bam (Owen Greer- a.k.a. "O-wee")

Sweet Mrs. Ann handing out yummy candy to the kids!

Our church had it's annual Trunk or Treat yesterday and the kids LOVED it! I always love seeing all of the cute kids dressed up in their costumes! Somehow my pictures got all jumbled up, but this past week we visited a pumpkin patch (Finally!) and celebrated Aaron's birthday. Aaron and I took a little trip down to Mizzou, ate lunch at Shakespeare's Pizza and then went to the football game. It was nice to have a day all to ourselves! Thanks Mom!

This past week was spent making "sick beds" (with special pillows, blankets, stuffed animals and juice), wiping little noses, going through four, yes four, boxes of kleenexes, visiting the doctor, and administering the yuckiest tasting antibiotic in the universe! (A candy pumpkin can take that horrible taste right out of your mouth, thankgoodness!) Thankfully, both kids are well now and I really hope we stay that way for a while! Tip for all you mommies out there: Don't ever, EVER tell anyone that "Your kids haven't been sick for three months" because you will completely jinx yourself!

We ended up buying the kids some ponies last weekend and they just love them. It's so nice to just get them up on the horse and let them ride all around New Town by themselves. They do this for hours upon hours. They only got into trouble once when they were racing each other in rush hour traffic. Lesson learned.

Oh, I couldn't resist. Yes, I am joking. This was a pony ride at a fall festival. :)

Little Miss Gracie (AKA My little baker)!

I just LOVE baking with her. She is so cute and careful and does a great job helping me.

Here she made a pumpkin pie, her favorite, so she says. All I did was help measure and she did all the rest. She even made "Granma's Special Pie Crust" and it all turned out great! Watch out Food Network!

My friend Chris and I took Gracie, Jackson and baby Ava to see the Backyardigans Live. It was such a cute show. We had TONS of fun!! 

Grace and Jonah are opening up their Halloween Package sent from Granma! Thank you Granma!! We love your special packages!!!

Happy Fall to everyone!

Catching up...

It's Fall! Here are some random pictures of the kids. We have been super busy going here and there and it's been great! It's nice that Jonah is getting a little older and can enjoy more things and kindof :) sit still. All of you mommies out there know exactly what I mean. Here they are riding their scooters together on a beautiful day.

We drove about 2 minutes from our house to visit a little farm that supposedly had seasonal fresh veggies and fruit. (That is ONE good thing about living out in the country- there are so many little fun farms and places to get freshly picked produce!) Turns out they had pumpkins, apples, tomatoes, mums, and the farmer even took the kids on a hayride! He was really sweet to all of us and it was so nice to see someone who genuinely loved his job. The kids were super excited and everyone there was so nice to them. It's always a plus when someone goes out of their way to act kindly to kids!!

Grace and her friend Jackson on a hayride

Yummy apple!

Jonah taking in the scenery

Parents As Teachers invited "The Reptile Man" to put on a show for all of the kids and boy did he follow through! Here is Grace holding an alligator. The gator was super sweet and actually cute!

Now here is something that you will NEVER see me (Kelly) do: HOLD A TARANTULA. I was doing all I could to encourage Grace to hold it and try to knock out any fear of spiders at an early age! The man said, "Now, I am only going to let kids who will promise to be very, very gentle with "her" hold her. She can die if she is dropped more than 2 feet and her body is very fragile." Gracie was one of the 3 kids who raised her hand to hold it and she was so sweet to the tarantula. One little boy was sitting very closely to me and the hood on his jacket rubbed up against my arm and because Grace was holding the tarantula, I thought for some reason the hairy little thing was on ME and I jumped up off the floor scared to death. Yes, everyone laughed at me. So much for trying to teach my daughter to not be afraid of spiders...
Then, the Reptile Man got out an Anaconda. This particular Anaconda is the only snake of its species in the world that is docile. Grace loved her! Jonah was there sitting in my lap the entire time. He did, however, pet the alligator. :)
Here are Grace, Benny Cope, and Jonah during our first official SLEEPOVER! Benny was a true champ and so well behaved!
We went to the park and waded through a stream, threw tons of rocks in the water, made fall cookies and popcorn, watched a little movie, had a bath and then hit the sack. I love kids.
At the New Town Blast petting zoo. I posted this because it is so typical of Grace and Jonah's personality. Grace saw this little sheep and ran right up to it, gently petting his "wool." Jonah, stands back with a look on his face (furrowed brows and all) as is he is saying, "Now, are we sure this is a safe thing to do??" So funny!
MMMnnn, "poppin can-ee" as Jonah calls it. 

Ballerina

Gracie started her ballet and tap lessons last week. When I told her it was time to get ready for her lessons, she screamed, "REALLY MOMMY??? Oh, my DREAM has come TRUE!!!" I have to admit that watching her in her little pink leotard dance, spin, jump and tap around the studio was one of the cutest things I have ever seen! One other funny thing she said to me after dressing up in just about every piece of play jewelry she owns plus a pink princess outfit: "Mommy, a princess is ALWAYS prepared." Have no idea where she got that from, but she is most definitely correct!

Apple picking with the Copes