NEVER put your face on a groundhog :)

We had a serious BLIZZARD yesterday. They are saying 14.5" of snow, but the wind was blowing like crazy, so it seemed like triple that. Yesterday morning Maggie checked to see if the Groundhog saw his shadow and she (very seriously) announced that it was definitely Spring because the Groundhog hadn't seen it. I said "Look outside, I don't think I'd put my faith in a groundhog." Gracie looked rather perplexed and said,"Why would you ever put your face on a groundhog!" :) Bahahahahahahahah......that makes about as much sense as a groundhogs shadow dictating whether or not it's Spring.

 

Yesterday was the first Norfolk Iron Snow Day in the 8 years we've lived here. Most of the roads in town were impassable and for most of the day the highway was closed. Today the snow has stopped and the sun is shining. The kids are enjoying the worlds largest snow pile that dad made with the tractor!

 

 

 

 

We used our snow day to get the girls Valentine boxes ready, watch movies and snuggle.

 

 

Not bad. They didn't require power tools and are aren't quiet as amazing as when we leave Grandma & Grandpa in charge, but they'll do :)

Arnie spent a few hours plowing snow last night and a few more hours cleaning up this morning. I was feeling kind of guilty about telling him we didn't need a tractor with a heated cab. Glad he has some warm coveralls!

Hopefully tomorrow school will be open and life can start to get back to normal. We're headed to Cabo for a week on Saturday, so it would be nice if Maggie got in a couple of days of school this week.

 

Last weekend we were in Omaha celebrating Dad's Birthday. The weather was beautiful, the girls even got to go to the park with Grandma (what a difference 72 hours can make!)

 

 

Crazy girl at the park in her basketball shorts :)

Grandma and all her grands :)

 

Gracie is such a little mommy. She takes her baby holding (hogging) very seriously!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!

 

Poor Reid!

We came home Sunday afternoon in time for Gracie to go to her friend Gracie's Birthday Party. She was SUPER excited. It was her first big girl party, where mom had to leave :) She had a great time and was totally wound up when we picked her up. She can't stop talking about what kind of Birthday party she wants to have.

 

The infamous BFF Lily. Without Hudson around they seem to be getting along great!

 A couple other things....

They couldn't agree on a frosting color so we had to have both pink and purple cookies!

 

Gracie has taken to wearing her Halloween costume glasses around.  She needed them to read to Chelsea at Maggie's basketball game.

Monday when I picked Gracie up at school she had a bit of a black eye. Her teacher told me another little girl had hit her with a bowl (preschool is becoming a pretty violent place). Sherry told me she'd put some ice on Gracie's eye and asked her if she wanted a popsicle, Gracie told her no, she didn't want a popsicle but she sure would like some dark chocolate :)

 

English?

Yesterday after school the girls watched a movie with a bilingual girl in it. At dinner Gracie looked at me and said, "Do we speak English, French or Western?" I suppose that's how you know you officially live in a horse house :)

What does it say about my parenting that the horses are wearing coats but the kids aren't??

 

 

I'm pretty proud of myself, I'm starting to figure this horse stuff out. Breezy has been a total pain to exercise lately, she has no idea how to act on a lunge line and she can be a really pain....Arnie worked with her some a couple of weeks ago and this week I went back determined to win.....and I did! Yah! When I left she was running in circles like she'd been doing it her whole life. As I stood in the middle of the circle (so dizzy I wanted to puke), I was struck by how different my life looks then it used to and/or maybe I thought it would. I use to wear heels and suits every day and this particular day I had on boots covered in horse crap and mud. I wouldn't change it for the world but it sure isn't what I had "planned".

 

Last Thursday I had the chance to check on Baby Chip again. All is well. The tech looked at me at one point and said, "do you remember how big your other kids heads were?" :) I told I didn't remember exactly but they were big and she said that made these measurements make sense. In true Robison form he/she seems to have a big noggin. The baby weighed about 2lbs 10oz last week, so we're getting there. The girls are getting anxious to know who's in there. We've started bringing a few baby things in and just setting them in the nursery, Gracie thinks it's the BEST baby doll playroom she's ever had, I'm not sure she'll be thrilled when she can't use the stuff for her dolls. Thanks to my "advanced age" we'll get to check in on baby a couple more times before he/she arrives, but so far 'my age' is handling this one like a champ.

 

Our countdown to baby calendar is getting pretty full.

Some evenings baby sure gets an ear full. Usually they just each try to talk louder then the other.....poor kid!

 

Gracie's new favorite game is Sorry, and incase you're wondering, she's not actually sorry at all!

Our first born turned 11 on Saturday!!! Where has the time gone? The girls decorated the kitchen and threw her a party, she even had Hannah over to celebrate....she was thrilled :)

 

  

Maggie has her last basketball game this weekend. She has really improved this season and says she loves playing. She's quiet the little defender :)

 

 

....Gracie's not nearly as impressed with basketball  :)



 

Jen is SO much nicer then me.....just ask my children :)

 

Sunday Arnie and I had a dinner to go to, so the girls got to have a babysitter.....I'm getting the feeling

they were excited (or really sick of us!) The babysitter lives 2 houses over so they watch at the front window and stare at her

driveway so they know when she's on the way.

 

ABC Mouse is pretty thought provoking :) I asked if she wanted to do

our taxes while she sat there, I figure she has about as much chance as I do of doing it right.

 Here is a video of Gracie singing with her baby....she played the song so many times ABC Mouse told her she couldn't listen again until the next day....thank goodness!!! https://youtu.be/w2y5qCmwYCQ

 



Yesterday as we walked into Target, Gracie asked me to take her picture because she was "fancy" :) Yes, yes she was. 

Maggie gets to have a friend over after school today and Gracie gets to go to her first big girl (without Mom, just ask her) Birthday party on Sunday evening.....it'll be a big weekend full of hyper kids around here. Hopefully the snow predictions for next week are WRONG, I could get use to these 45 degree days.

Is Daddy chicken to surf?

Two weeks ago the girls headed back to school and Arnie & I took a quick trip to Grand Cayman. He was busy with meetings part of the time and I truly did nothing! The weather was beautiful and it was a nice few days of relaxation. The girls were super excited to have Grandma come stay with them. Other then Gracie locking them all out of the house, I think it was pretty uneventful. (Thank goodness Grandma knows how to use a drill! We found out the hard way that the town locksmith went out of business.)

I've always wanted to learn to stand up paddle board and I had my chance while we were in Grand Cayman. We sent the girls these pictures and Gracie was surprised I knew how to surf :) and she asked if Daddy was to chicken to try it! It was really fun, I'll do it again....though I might wait until my belly is a little smaller, I only fell off once, but pulling yourself back up with a baby on board is hard (and definitely not graceful)!

Daddy's safer mode of transportation :)

You can take the boy out of the office......I suppose the view was better then from his desk!

After a sprint through customs and the Charlotte airport we arrived home to -9 temperatures.....I think maybe we should move to Grand Cayman!

Gracie is all of the sudden very dedicated to learning to tie her shoes. She's getting close. She really wants to go to Kindergarten and I think she thinks if she masters this she can go now.

We've been fighting germs around here. Last week Maggie was down a couple of days....then we thought we'd kicked it so we went to Omaha to meet baby Reid! Yah, we're so glad he's here and that everyone is healthy.

Gracie is a baby hog! She thinks she should get to hold and snuggle him all the time! She slept all the way back to Norfolk and
several times, in her sleep she said "but I want to hold the baby!" :)

Maggie got to help him get dressed, she'll be such a big helper when Baby Chip arrives.

And then there were 4....but not for long!

Uncle Mark was trying to keep the baby hog occupied so someone else could have a turn....it worked for a few seconds :)

Unfortunately, Saturday the germs reappeared and poor Gracie had a miserable weekend. It takes ALOT to get this little lady to sit still but she spent most of the weekend alternating between the couch and her bed. After a trip to the doctor and some medicine things are definitely getting better.

Gracie and I had to miss Maggie's basketball game on Saturday. She played great. She's improved a lot this season and says she LOVES basketball. We hated to miss it.

Thursday I head to Omaha for another look at Baby Chip, he/she sure feels like its growing. The girls are both excited to start getting things ready around here. Gracie's pretty sure she can get the crib ready by herself (but she thinks we should put it in her room) and Maggie says she's ready to take care of the baby, except for diapers, she doesn't want to do that :)

Yesterday when I picked Gracie up at school her teachers pulled me aside to tell me she'd had a fight with her best friend Lily. Apparently Gracie and Lily were fighting about who get to play with Hudson and Lily got mad and choked Gracie. Obviously my first concern was Gracie (she's fine, her neck was a little red, but there are no bruises and she seems to be over it). My second thought was, this kids teenage years are going to kill us......Hudson should probably save himself and go back to playing with the boys!

....and now it's 2016!

Yesterday we cleaned up the house and got everything back where it belongs after Westerfield Christmas and today the girls went back to school. Christmas vacation is over!

Friday and Saturday we had 24 Westerfields here for Christmas. I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did. I love having them all! Next year we'll need a bigger kids table! Hopefully Madeline will be able to join us and there will be at least 3 new babies....I better start rounding up high chairs and pack n' plays :)

Friday night we made a trip to the barn so all the cousins could ride Breezy (I should have taken a picture or 2!), then Saturday after all the presents were opened and we'd eaten (actually I think we'd already eaten twice) all the kids geared up and headed out for some sledding. We had a nice sunny day!

You can see the Reagan is thrilled by the commotion!



Alex, Oliver, Gracie, Ellie, Elsie......Maggie & Arnie on the snowmobile.

After everyone headed home we were all pretty exhausted. We enjoyed a quite evening at home. By Sunday night Maggie was tired of eating leftovers, so she begged to go out for dinner (in her defense, I was likely going to feed them the same leftovers again, she was right!)


Sunday was a good day for a little 4 legged Follow the Leader!

I think Gracie was more excited about Breezy's new sign then Breezy was :) Now when she's making trouble in
the barn everyone who walks by will know her name, to yell at her.

 A couple of pictures from Maggie's days at Grandma and Grandpa's last week....

2 Chefs in the kitchen...Chocolate Chip pancakes were on the Menu.

"Mom, I got to use the lathe!" Maggie and Grandpa made a cute little toy. She loves being in
the shop with Grandpa.

Mom is headed for Norfolk right now, when she gets here Arnie and I will head for Omaha. Tomorrow we're off for a few days in Grand Cayman. He has to sit in meetings but I get to just enjoy the sunshine! I'm not sure I've been to a beach without my kids since I had kids......ahhhhhhh the peace and quiet! I won't know what to do with myself, it'll be so peaceful! I hope the weather holds out and the kids can behave! Good luck Mom! (and thank you!!!!!!)