Merry Christmas from VA

Well let's begin on Christmas Eve... Lewis wanted to start a new tradition of building a gingerbread house on Christmas Eve with the kiddos but we thought about it so late that we almost didn't get a kit for it. One year I might get brave enough to bake one.

Lewis had to hold the roof on while the kids decorated!

The finished product!

This is Harry. Our family Christmas gift. The kids are in hog heaven and I am enjoying him too. He spent most of the night hiding in the tree. Hopefully he will get braver, and the girls will stop carrying him around :)

I wanted spanish food for Christmas Eve so I made tamales and taquitos and we really enjoyed the evening being lazy with each other.

Look Santa came!

Kids with their stockings and a few pics from opening presents. We had a lazy day in our new robes from Nana and Papa and really enjoyed a traditional supper of ham and potatoes, green bean casserole and then yummy "holiday cheese cake".

Our new Tree

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
We made these in pre-school yesterday and I thought I would share.

The Robinson Spirit of Christmas

Every year one of the local high schools puts on a show for the pre-schoolers in the area. The band plays music and all the kids clap and sing. The band leader shows the kids what all the instruments are called; and there were even guest appearances from Frosty, Rudolph and... Santa. This year it happened to be on one of our pre-school days so we went as a field trip.

Katie clapping and enjoying a good time.

Katie was so excited to see Santa walking around that she was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

The girls from the class (minus one since her brother was sick). This was a ton of fun and I hope that once baby girl is a little bigger and she will enjoy it too.

Birthday Ninjas

So up until two weeks ago Katie wanted a Little Mermaid party. But out of the blue one day she decides that she wants a Ninja party. I did have a few other ideas for games and what not but once the girls got here Ashley gave a few "ninja lessons" and then there was cake, presents and cupcakes.

The girls all got purple sparkly ninja masks and they totally loved wearing them!

Make a wish!

January got her some Hello Kitty stuff.

Mia gave her a bouncy ball that you hop on.

Kylie got her some kewl wooden/paper dolls.

All the girls (plus Mia's little sister hiding in the background).

The girls had a blast and it was not a crazy mess for me. Katie also enjoyed some other family gifts on Friday and then Daddy came home early and took the family to dinner and ice cream too. Katie declared that this was the best birthday ever!

She's Five!

Happy Birthday Katie Bear!!! You have grown and changed so much over the last year and I am very proud that you are my daughter. Five years ago today I held you in my arms for the first time and loved you from that first moment. You are my buddy, and daytime companion. Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Here is a picture from her party last year. She is having a Ninja themed party tomorrow, and I will post pics of that then.

New Hand Bag

So I thought that I would try this pattern out. I picked up the pattern online through another blog. Lewis keeps telling me that I need a bigger bag but this one might be a bit on the big side. I will have to try it out for a little while and see what I think.Here is the lining. It has two pockets and plenty of room for snacks and what not :)

O Christmas Tree

The kiddos really wanted to decorate the Christmas tree before Chris and Kristen leave tomorrow so after dinner we threw it up (almost literally). Poor Ashley was still deep in homework but was able to watch and was happy (well... tolerated) with that.

Katie and Austin being doofy.

Ryan had a blast throwing all the balls on the floor and then proclaiming "Uh, Oh!". But he really enjoyed helping once he got the hang of it.

Kristen and Katie.

This is the finished product. I love the 16 balls on the bottom. It always takes me about a week to spread them all out, but the kids have a blast!

Fun group shots to end the evening! I love The gold ball hanging for Lewis' ear. His kids will never doubt what a silly man their Dad has always been :)

"Mommy, I'm Tired of Museums..."

That is what Katie told me this morning when I informed her that we were visiting the airplane museum (Air and Space, at Dulles: third time for her there) with Chris and Kristen today. I promised her that it was the last museum.

Not the greatest, but I think it looks cool. I got to play with Chris' camera today. It is just like mine but has the way cool lens that Dad wants (28-300), I think. So some of these are not my finest photography moments but I told Chris that if he accidental took my camera instead of his it would not break my heart.

Once Ryan had had enough Lewis was a great help in cheering him up. They would make the lolli-pop sound with Lewis' cheek and Ryan would be all smiles again.

Katie was so sweet always sharing her snacks with Ryan.

Lewis being a dork!

Katie was excited that there was a space suit her size!

Apparently there are all sorts of things hidden on the model here. It is the one from the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".

This was a sweet moment, until....

We had fun and then went to Moe's for lunch. After that we actually squeezed in a bit of Christmas shopping for Chris and Kristen so that they would not have to ship Christmas stuff.

Monument-al Day

Today Lewis and Katie went with Chris and Kristen back into DC and checked out the Monuments on the Mall. Since I still felt the effects from yesterdays adventure I stayed home and will run with them tomorrow instead.
First they went to the Washington Memorial.

Cool view from the top!

Cute!

I like these pics of Lewis with Katie outside the Lincoln Memorial.

Evalee wanted some hanging out pics so I pulled out the camera and took a few. I will take tomorrow night when we decorate the Christmas tree.

Brotherly love. I found out after the fact that the only reason that they were both smiling for me was that they were making weird signs with their hands that I didn't notice.

Ashley and Ryan.

Austin and Ryan.

I couldn't resist this shot. This is Austin's new face that he has been making. Monkey Face!!