Westerfield Christmas!

This weekend the whole Westerfield Clan made the trek to Norfolk! We were so excited to have them. All 22 of us ate, played, ate, slept, ate, showered, ate and celebrated under one roof. There were people everywhere, and I wouldn't have it any other way. (by the way, that 22 people included: 4 babies, 2- 4 year olds, someone who'd had a plate and several pins surgically installed in her arm on Friday and a partridge in a pear tree :)) Whoa!

"Where is everyone??"

"....here they are!"
Ellie-2, Oliver-1, Maggie-4, Elsie-6 weeks, Alex-4, Gracie-1

Ben taught Grandma to play Angry Birds....then she got an ipad for Christmas,
so maybe she'll become an expert :)

movie time!

PRESENTS!!

beautiful!

Chaos!

We've never done this before, but I have a feeling it'll become a regular
snow day activity at our house. The kids (and grown-ups) had a great time!

Good exercise for Reagan too!

Oliver liked sledding, but I think he liked "tractoring" even better!

Uncle Jeff and Oliver were a little bit crazier drivers then Arnie...poor Aunt Trisha had
to hold on tight!

I'm so glad everyone was willing to make the trip up, we had the best time and were happy to have them all. I hope they'll all come back next Christmas! Yesterday marked the official end to Christmas celebrations at our house....I think I'll leave the decorations up and the lights on a little longer. Merry Christmas to all!

Christmas!

We had an awesome Christmas! It seems like it came and went so quickly again this year. I put the tree up early, thinking we'd have more time to sit and just enjoy it....well here it is almost time to take it down and I don't think we've done much of that yet. Maybe I'll leave it up a little longer!

Dig pile Mom! Thank goodness the dog didn't really join.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Grace didn't actually need Christmas presents, just a sink with running water!

Christmas Eve lunch at Danny's! I love tradition (and cheeseburgers!)

Elsie's first Danny's lunch!

Merry Christmas!

I half expected Gracie to just yell "hot, hot, hot" during the whole
candle light service....thankfully, she didn't!

Did Santa come???

Of course he did!!! Maggie got an art easel, a Cabbage Patch kid, and a car seat for her babies.

Gracie got a balance bike, a baby and a car seat. They got a new stroller to share, but Grace
seems to have monopolized it so far.

It took Gracie a minute, but once she got the hang of unwrapping presents, she couldn't be stopped!

Maggie got "REAL" tools, a tool belt and PINK safety goggles. They were just what she
was hoping for! She couldn't wait to get 'fixin' things.

All the presents they got, and they were playing with bubble wrap! The blanket
that Grace is holding was her Christmas present from Maggie. Maggie made
a doll blanket for Gracie's babies, it was SO sweet!

"baby" had to go everywhere with us.

COUSINS!

Maggie got to stay in Omaha when the rest of us came home. It looks like she and Grandpa are
putting her new tools to good use. When I called this afternoon she didn't even want to talk to me
because she was afraid I might make her come home :)

 It's still Christmas at our house. Snow has been falling all day and we're busy getting ready for Westerfield Christmas this weekend. We can't wait to have everyone in Norfolk! Merry Christmas to all!

Almost time!!!

It's almost Christmas. The last few days have been filled with Christmas projects, a little baking and lots of fun. (and thankfully 2 HEALTHY kids!)



Nothing like a little glitter glue to put us all in the spirit!


The girls have been playing together alot, frequently it ends with Maggie in a headlock. Gracie is a pretty tough little thing.


Arnie and Maggie were "bowling" and Gracie really wanted to help, so she climbed herself right up there. (notice the lack of puffy diaper? She's been a full time panty wearer all week, if you ask her about it, she'll immediately lift your shirt and try and make sure you have them on as well.)


Cupcakes!!!





Maggie turned the oven light on so Grace could see them baking too.


Rudolf! (Arnie keeps singing "Blitzen the red nose reindeer" and Maggie gets so upset!)


"Naughty? What would make you think I'm naughty?"


More glitter and glue......oh goody!


Last night we went to Carly and JJ's we had a great time and the kids did lots of "shows" for us. :)

$$$$

Maggie has been asking for months if she could have her own bank account....usually she thinks of it when we're on our way to school, in the middle of something, etc....but this morning she asked and I didn't have a good reason to say no, so off to the bank we went. She is now the very proud owner of her own Savings Account.....

....as long as we were there we got one for Gracie too. She didn't care much, she was better occupied rearranging business cards in each cube, going through the candy dish and running around saying hello to everyone.  Thankfully we were the only customers in the bank, so we weren't bothering too many people.

WHITE....

Several people have inquired about how Gracie is doing....I've spared you all the details thus far, but now whether you want to know or not, I'll share. We've made 2 trips to the Emergency room and one last minute trip to the pediatrician in Omaha since Friday. The good news is after being poked and proded, all signs show that she's healthy and all is well in her little body. Why are we concerned.....well, her poop is WHITE. Not like light brown, but WHITE like marshmallows, snow, milk....(you get the point). It's very strange and can apparently be a symptom of several really awful things and doesn't very often happen in a healthy child. Leave it to Gracie to defy the odds. I'm still praying that it is truly a fluke and nothing else will develop, we don't have any reason to believe otherwise.

So now you know all the gory details, thanks for worrying about and praying for our girls...the lesson to be learned here is, if your poo is white, call the doc, quickly! AND you're welcome for not including any pictures in this post :)

Gracie, What do you think....

....of Santa??

Maggie was a little unsure of the big guy....then he said "How'd you like that John Deere Gator I brought you last year?" and she warmed up quickly. She told him this year she'd like a baby doll car seat and she thought maybe her sister would like a baby doll.

LOOOOOONNNNGGG Week!

It's been a LONG week at the Robinson house. Maggie got sick Sunday night and spent all week sick. The doctor confirmed Monday that she had tonsillitis and said it could hang on awhile. He was right! She had a high fever, was throwing up and was just generally pretty miserable all week. We spent most of the week on lock down at home. It was enough to make Grace and I stir crazy!

Friday morning things were starting to look up, so she did get to go to her last swim lesson. She was so excited to get a certificate and the nod to move on to the next class....she was pretty happy that she's no longer a "swim tyke" now she's a "swim kid"......just ask her :)

This morning started with a trip to the doctor for Grace. Thankfully it looks like she's okay and by this afternoon she was her usual self.  I'm not ready for another week of sick kid.

This afternoon Maggie had her first gymnastics meet, ever! She was really nervous, because she didn't get to go practice this week, but she was SO excited. She did awesome. At the end of the meet everybody got their medal and tshirt, she was beaming from ear to ear. It was fun to see her so proud of herself.

I'm pretty sure her favorite thing about gymnastics is the chalk!

She usually falls off the beam a couple of times during her routine,
today she did the whole thing without a wobble!

Are we done yet??

I'll stay, but only if you give me another cookie!

Ta-Da!

The gymnastics meet and then dinner were Gracie's first 2 long outings in her panties and she did great! I think we can officially say she's potty trained! Yah!!!!! That's the best Christmas present a mommy could ever ask for!

Maggie was pretty worn out tonight, hopefully after a good nights rest she'll still be feeling good. I'm ready to start checking a few things off the long to do list and hopefully slow down a little for Christmas!