Holiday celebrations

As I sit here, enjoying the kids' third day of vacation (which means sleeping a bit later and moving at a much slower pace), I am truly thankful for these few days of calm before Christmas Day. Our family had such a wonderful week last week, celebrating the season in so many ways, but it was packed full! Tuesday night we walked Christmas Tree Lane as a family. We had joined some friends on the first walking night (a Saturday), and were a bit over- whelmed by all the people. We decided to try again and walk right when the Lane opened at 6 (we started at 7:15 last time). It was so much better, less people, Santa was there to say hello, and hadn't run out of candy canes, and the kids could spot most of Santa's reindeer that are "hidden" along the Lane! We also enjoyed the joyful serenading of Violet along the way, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. So much fun it is to ride in a one-horslopen sleigh, oh..." Wednesday morning was Violet's last day of gymnastics before a 2-week break, and her class did a little show. They ended the routine with a little pyramid, and Violet got to be on top of the coach's shoulders (yikes!). But she did great and waved with both hands like a pro! Wednesday afternoon was Isaac's last karate class for two weeks. Wednesday night, a party at church for the kids. Thursday morning I made baklava at church with some other moms (thanks, Debbie, for teaching us all). Then Friday night we took a deep breath, and relaxed over a fantastic dinner with our "neighborhood family". Saturday morning, Audrey and her Grandma Arlene hosted a tea party with some of Audrey's friends and Violet as well. The girls had a fabulous time, dressing up, making candy with Grandma Arlene, and eating a lovely lunch with tea, of course! Cheers! Saturday night was another dinner with our "work family". We let our kids stay up to greet the guests and say hi to baby Lila. As you can see, Audrey was quite disappointed that Lila was sleeping when she arrived. Audrey had not yet met Lila and went to bed pouting that she didn't get to hold her (Lila stayed asleep until our kids' bedtime). As always, we had a great time with all of our friends! And...whew...that was our week! Like I said earlier, this week has been much more relaxed, and Randy and I even managed to get out by ourselves on Monday night (in the pouring rain) for some last minute errands and a hot, quiet dinner to ourselves (thanks Arlene)! After today, Randy has seven days off of work to be home with the family and even take a quick trip to the beach while my parents are here! We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas and we'll talk to you in the New Year!

X-Country Finals

Just a small post about Audrey's Cross-Country season. The team qualified for the Finals out at Woodward Park by being 2nd place in one of the three qualifying meets. Audrey was so excited since she was a couple runners off from making the Finals individually. As a qualifying team, they get to take the top 7 runners on their team, and Audrey placed 6th of 10 on their team that day! They ran great last Thursday and their team (3rd grade girls) came in 3rd place out of all the elementary schools in Fresno Unified! They got to bring home a trophy for the school...way to go girls!

Snowy weekend

This past weekend we got a lot of rain...which meant lots of snow in the nearby mountains. Randy couldn't stand it, he had to get together some friends to go up and snowshoe for the day! So he, Rod, and Jaime got up early and headed up to Kings' Canyon National Park. They started at the Ranger Station and hiked up to Panoramic Point, a 1000 foot elevation gain, and about 4 miles round-trip. Randy's been wanted to take his friend Jaime up snowshoeing for over a year now. I'm not sure this was the best weekend to introduce him though. They got snowed on the entire time! And the view from the Point wasn't all that great, but it was an adventure they'll never forget, nonetheless! The scenery looks quite different than our trip just four weeks ago, huh?

Elf

I have a new favorite Christmas movie, Elf! Granted, I still have a list of other movies I like to watch during the Christmas season, but none makes me laugh longer and harder than Elf. A few nights ago, after setting up our Christmas tree together, we sat down together to eat popcorn and watch Elf. There are so many parts I love, like when Buddy puts syrup on his spaghetti, or when he spins in the revolving door until he pukes, or especially when he jumps on the couch to jump on the tree in order to put the star on top! But my favorite part is when Buddy first gets to Gimbels, finds the toy area, and is listening to the manager give an announcement. The manager says, "OK people, tomorrow morning, 10 am, Santa's coming to town."

He can barely get through his sentence when Buddy yells as loud as he can, "SANTA! Oh my God! Santa? Here?" Then he grabs the manager and says, "I know him! I know him!"

As I was watching the hilarious antics of Will Ferrell, something inside me clicked...I want to be like that! No, not like Will Ferrell, and not about Santa, about Jesus! I want to live my life so excited about my Savior that when he comes back I will shout, "Jesus! Oh my LORD! I know him! I know him!" I want to spend my Christmas season overflowing with hope to the point of craziness in celebrating the fact that Jesus CAME, and He IS, and He's COMING!

"Amen! Come Lord Jesus!" Revelation 22:20

All aboard!

The kids' program wasn't our only fun event last weekend (scroll down for the videos and pictures). I (Jamie) had a cookie baking night with some girlfriends on Thursday night! Thanks, Andrea, for hosting this fun evening once again! And thanks, gals, for the yummy dinner and company! Pictured on the "cool train" (L-R) Lila (Andrea's 7-week old daughter), Christa, Me, Andrea, Myra, Megahn, and Julie.

Kids' Christmas program

I never get tired of watching the kids' Christmas program at our church each year. Even before I ever had kids, or was even married, I loved to come and watch! Until just a couple years ago it meant coming back to church in the evening (which brings back childhood memories of attending church twice every Sunday), it means watching at least one child pull their dress over their head, grab the mike and sing DIRECTLY into it, it brings back memories of toot bags (ask me sometime), and it also brings back memories of snow (yep, in 1998 we exited the children's program to a light snow fall, and I got a great photo with my mom with falling snowflakes), and it always makes me remember a 4-year-old Isaac holding his bell and shaking as hard as he could, then yelling out, "It doesn't work!" and stomping off the stage to get a new one that "didn't work" either (yeah, they don't ring when you hold the actual bell). Well, enough reminiscing, this year was wonderful as well. Violet did a great job singing! You don't have to watch all the videos, just thought we'd include them for the grandparents.



Isaac's class (1st and 2nd graders) did a special 12 days of Christmas song. Ironically, Isaac was cast as 2 silent nights. Here's the video (in 2 parts). He did a great job, remembered his line and sang it on tune, loud enough, and on time except for the very last time. He actually thought that was pretty funny though.
They also did this really fun song "Halelujah, Jesus is born today", which included some square dancing at the end of the song. Unfortunately, I didn't get it all recorded.

Audrey's class made ornaments for the church Christmas tree and made a little video introducing themselves and their ornaments, along with a "LEGO Christmas story" (which was so creative). Taking a video of a video doesn't come out well though...sorry. Ask her about her ornament some time! And here's a few more pictures from the morning!

So much to be thankful for!

Our family had a wonderful Thanks- giving week of vacation! We started the week with a drive up to Kings' Canyon. We packed a picnic lunch, drove up to the Ranger Station, hiked up to Panoramic Point, and took in the amazing view. I must say though, it was much colder than we expected, or were prepared for! Here's Randy and Audrey jogging a couple laps around the Panoramic Point parking lot to warm up! There was a bit of snow along the side of the trail. Audrey's just trying to keep warm! It was so nice to be up in the mountains, even if only for a couple hours. We were the only people at Panoramic Point the entire time. Although we did get a visit from a few deer. We are so thankful to live in a place so close to the natural wonders of Kings' Canyon, Sequoia, and Yosemite National Parks (not to mention all the other great "nature" destinations nearby). They are places we love and constantly visit. And they remind us of the amazing creativity of our Creator, and the responsibility we have to take care of this earth that God has given to us.

We also celebrated and took time to be thankful in many other ways last week. Our church congregation celebrated it's 40th anniversary, and we celebrated with a Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday night. We spent Thursday morning out at Woodward Park with 1700 other people for the annual Turket Trot. Randy ran the 5K trail with his friend Aaron, while I walked the 2.3 mile route with the kids, my friends Myra and Christa, and Christa's kids too! We had a great time and got some good exercise before eating a big lunch with Randy's mom and brother. We also drove to Visalia Saturday afternoon to visit with my dad's side of the family. The other parts of our weekend were spent relaxing as Audrey, Randy and I tried to keep our little colds from turning into big ones.

At the dinner table last night, we asked the kids what they were especially thankful for this year. It was so encouraging to hear the kids' responses! They shared some very "normal" things, like, my friends and my family. But they also shared about how thankful they were for a school that they could go to for free, and teachers they enjoyed, for a warm house and a bed to sleep in every night, for the ability to share food with our friends and neighbors, for the farmers that live near us that grow our food, and for the gift of salvation that Jesus gave us when he died on the cross. It was a very good reminder that they are paying attention to the words I say and the way we live (hopefully ALWAYS in thankfulness for what we are given).

We hope that all of you had a relaxing week as well and found time to reflect on all the things that you are thankful for this year!

Breakin' in to the Top 10

Yesterday was Audrey's 4th meet of the season. She has gone from 41 out of 83 (her first meet) to 29 out of 92 (2nd meet) which earned her a ribbon! Her third meet (her only home meet) was canceled last week due to rain. Yesterday she ran at St. Anthony's school. There were five schools there to run, but all of them had fairly small teams. She got 9th place! Mr. Dawson, the coach, told the kids at the beginning of the season that if they placed in the top 10 at any meet, they get to come to a pizza party at the end of the season (and they get their name announced in the morning announcements today)! Well, first she reached her goal of a ribbon (top 40), now she reached her goal of going to the pizza party! Great job Audrey! I managed to snap a shot of all the third grade Robinson girls and Mr. Dawson after their race...ways to go girls!

Good job sharing!

Do frogs eat ladybugs? Well, whether he needs a drink after dinner, or he just enjoys the swim, this resident frog has taken a liking to Lucy's food and water bowls. Lucy doesn't seem to mind at all, she just gets little bites of her dinner and carries them across the yard to eat them in peace. Good job sharing, Lucy!

Big Girl Violet & Great Job Daddy!

This weekend there were two big events for our family! Thursday was Violet's birthday... here she is talking to one of her many friends and family that called to wish her a happy birthday! Between the calls and the cards she felt very special that day! She spent the morning playing with friends (at Mom's group), ate lunch with her friends Charlotte and Grace at her favorite restaurant, Ginza (us mommies tagged along too), and ended the evening with Spaghetti-O's and grapes (per her request). Saturday was her birthday party. Violet wanted a "Ladybug Picnic". So we had a picnic in the front yard with all of Violet's favorites, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, cheese sticks (the orange ones), stick pretzels, apples, and juice boxes. We also had a bounce house (from Grandma Arlene, a carry-over present from last year that had to be postponed because of Violet's broken thumb last year), craft odds-and-ends at a table to let the kids build-a-bug, a ladybug cake and cupcakes, and then a big surprise! Randy and I had purchased 3000 live ladybugs (online @ Gardening Zone) to release in our backyard for the kids to catch. We also bought some Little Bug Lockets for the kids to keep their bugs in for the ride home. They had so much fun! And we adults had a great time watching them! 3000 ladybugs is a lot! Our yard probably still has almost 500 left! Our neighborhood gardens should be a lot better off because of Violet's party! Take a look at all the fun pictures from the day (and the videos of the kids trying to catch some bugs)!

The other big event of the weekend was Randy completing his 2nd half marathon! We went out to dinner on Saturday night with 8 other friends that were running the next morning and had a great time celebrating all their hard work (along with eating a few carbs and calming their nervousness)! Randy ran his fastest time ever on Sunday morning, coming in just under 1 hour and 40 minutes (a ten minute improvement from last year's time)! The kids and I headed out to Woodward Park in the morning (where the race finished) but just missed seeing him finish by 8 minutes...bummer! He just ran too stinkin' fast! We stuck around in the park to cheer on lots of other friends as they came across the finish line! Uncle Aaron, Isaac, and Randy waiting for Auntie Christa to cross (she walked the 1/2). Luke, Randy, Christa, and Aaron in the finisher's sweatshirts at dinner Sunday night! Great job everyone! We are so proud of you!

Trick or treat!

Our kids had a very fun time on Halloween night. Isaac finally conceded to wearing his race car driver costume (even though we didn't have a helmet for him), Audrey loved wearing one of daddy's white shirts to make her chef costume complete, and Violet wanted to be a pancake. So with a little felt, a little nu-foam, and a great idea, we made her a pancake costume for under $8. She loved it!

We had an early dinner, got them all dressed up, and then had a quick video chat with Grandma Janice and Grandpa Bruce before heading out to trick-or-treat. We always go up and down our own block (we know almost every neighbor by name), and the kids get a chance to collect some candy. This year, two of our neighbors hadn't purchased any candy, thinking they wouldn't open the door to anyone, but when they saw it was our family, they opened up to say hello and gave the kids money instead! Too funny! Even funnier, Violet didn't want her dollar bill! "You can have this momma," she said. She was too focused on candy! After that we headed to our church, where they host a community carnival every year. The kids had a great time seeing their friends, jumping through the bouncy obstacle course, winning cupcakes at the cake-walk, and playing all sorts of other games to win tickets that they redeemed at the end of the night for prizes (pencils, stickers, little toys or books, etc.). Violet and Charlotte "fishing" for duckies. Isaac and Tyler enjoying their snow cones (hey, that dollar came in handy to buy a snow cone)! Audrey at the cake walk. Isaac loves to hammer nails.

Audrey's cross-country debut

For months now, Audrey has been 'in training' with Randy for the cross-country season. She is definitely following in her father's footsteps with this one. I was never interested in running as a kid, nor in sports that involved running, like soccer or basketball. I was even asked by my P.E. teachers in Jr. High and High school to be on the basketball teams because of how well I handled and shot the ball during P.E., but I never accepted their offers. I always said I wouldn't do it because the end of the basketball season overlapped with the start of the swimming/diving season. Honestly, it's because of all the running I knew I'd have to do. But I digress. Audrey has been excited to start running for months now. She goes out running with Randy at least once or twice a week. Last week they started after-school practice for an hour three times a week. Yesterday was her first meet. Audrey ran the whole way without stopping (3/4 of a mile) and came across the finish line, smiling for the camera. Did she run her fastest? Well, she is Audrey. We'll have to work on that...the fact that it is a race, I mean. There were 63 third grade girls that ran (representing four elementary schools). Audrey came in 41st. They gave ribbons to 1st through 40th place. She was a bit disappointed, but that just gives her something to strive for next week. Good job, Audrey! We are super proud of all your hard work!

Wack-o-ween

This past weekend we celebrated Wack-o-ween, our made up holiday that we (the Wiens and Mack families) have thoroughly enjoyed for 4 years now! One month after Charlotte was born, I flew up to Portland to visit, and Christa and I made a pumpkin-chocolate cake that was so good, we decided right then and there that we needed to make it every October! So the next year, we did just that...and carved pumpkins together on the same night as well. Last year, we continued our tradition, carving pumpkins and eating cake! This year, we celebrated Wack-o-ween with a weekend together at Shaver Lake! We took walks through the neighborhood, looking at fall colors. We hiked along Big Creek up to Indian pools for a picnic lunch. We played board games, made paper-bag puppets, and of course, carved pumpkins and ate pumpkin-chocolate cake!

Thank you Lentell family for so graciously sharing your cabin with us! And thank you to the Wiens family, not only for being such great friends and neighbors, but for "carving" out the time for us to spend a whole weekend together! We love you guys!

Our tolerant dog

I love this picture! It gives you a pretty good glimpse of Lucy's life. We are so blessed to have an extremely tolerant dog, because I don't know how she'd survive in this house otherwise. Isaac doesn't mess with her so much any more. But between the hugs from Violet and the squeezes and "petting" from Carly (a neighbor girl I babysit often) which usually leaves Lucy with a little less tail fur, Lucy gets her share of rough love. Luckily for Lucy, I recently did some cleaning under my bed, so there is now a perfectly sized hiding place for her under there when she's needing a break!

Fall in Fresno

We took full advantage of the fantastic weather this weekend and went to the park for a family picnic and playtime! I took the camera along thinking the clouds would allow for great pictures...and then the sun came out as soon as we got there. It doesn't change what great lookin' kids we have though! Even Dad got in on the swingin'.

Fresno Fair

The mommy group that I am a part of went to the Fresno Fair this past Friday. It was one of five "education days" when the Fair allows children (along with chaperones) to visit for free! I decided to take Audrey and Isaac out of school for the day to come with Violet and me. We had a great day! The Fresno Fair has 10 exhibit halls, including 4 that are very hands-on and kid-friendly, as well as a huge play area, with three huge structures for the kids to explore. We were there for 4 hours and only visited three exhibits and one play structure! We saw all kinds of animals, including baby chicks, newborn lambs, rabbits, pigs, cows, birds and reptiles of all shapes and sizes, and lots of really neat pictures, and craft items made by kids. Of course, we stopped for a corn dog, and finished the afternoon with an ice cream too! Audrey and Isaac petting the golden python. Violet and Charlotte petting the tortoise. Learning new things about reptiles! My friend Andrea joined us for the day also. She is expecting any day and is already on maternity leave from work, so it was fun to spend the day with her! Eating ice cream with Auntie Christa! Violet chose a frozen banana. It was huge! So big that the camera focused on the banana instead of Violet...how funny!