Easter

We had such a fun Easter weekend! My sister, Melanie, was able to come and visit with her family and so it made it so much fun for the kids to see their cousins. Landon was so excited he begged to spend the night at Nana's house so that he would be there when the Stumpf's showed up late Friday night. Mackenzee was pretty bummed that I didn't let her do it too. :0)
Lucky for her, we went to Nana's house the next morning to greet everyone. My mom's ward was having an Easter Egg Hunt/Luncheon on Saturday afternoon and so we all went to party down over there. Mackenzee was one of the oldest in her age group I think and so she got quite a haul from the hunt in her area. I actually told her to stop picking them up towards the end so that way the littlest kids could have a chance. :0)

Landon got quite a few eggs himself. It helped that there were oodles of eggs and only a few kids in his age category to find all of them. :0) I think it was way more fun that way. The kids were so excited that they had their baskets full of sugary goodness.

Here are the kids showing off their full baskets. Of course, sharing IS caring and so I stole a few for myself. :0)

We were sad to learn that the older kids would not be able to hunt for eggs at the ward party, and since I just so happened to have lots of extra eggs already stuffed with yummy treats, I told Shelby and Jon that I would let them hunt for eggs at my mom's house. Stephen and I hid the eggs the best we could and let them go at it in a race to see who would find the most.

Jon got a little help from a certain 3 year old.....but even so, Shelby ended up with one more egg than him. :0)

After the hunting festivities were over, we broke out the hard boiled eggs and dye to color Easter eggs of our own. I think between the kits that I had bought, my sister bought, and my mom bought we had 5 or 6 different ones going on.

When you have this many people dying eggs, though....it sure makes it easier when there are so many cups of color to share.

We had oodles of beautiful eggs when we were done, but I must say that I was super proud of my sparkly camoflauge egg that I created. Isn't it wicked awesome?

My mom kept the fun going by having the girls help her bake and then frost a bunny cake.

I think the girls ended up eating more frosting than they actually put on the cake. It was rather yummy though.....

Shelby helped to put the finishing touches on the cake.

I thought it turned out pretty good...don't you think? It wasn't until after we took this picture that we realized the bunny was missing it's cute little pink nose......Oh well. The cake sure tasted good!

The Easter Bunny did make it to our house this year. The kids were thrilled to find all the little trinkets that were left for them.

The kids got all foofied up for church on Sunday. Landon looked so handsome in his white shirt and tie and Mackenzee was a doll in her cute little pink sailor dress. She was so in love with that hat and was sure she was just spectacularly amazing when she had it on. :0)

We went to church with my mom on Easter morning. As you can tell by the crooked ties, it was slightly windy outside that day. :0)

After church we went out to Jerome to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Burnham. Grandma had the kids do an Easter egg hunt at her house too.

Jeremy was more content to just sit outside in the sun. {BTW....he turned one last weekend! crazy isn't it?}

Breanna and Whitney.....

Kaden....

Gage.....

Of course, because I am a slacker mother and was trying to run around getting pictures of EVERYONE, I failed to nab an actual picture of Landon hunting for eggs.

Michael didn't quite take the time to grab a bag to hold his eggs. Lucky for him his dad didn't quite take the time to actually HIDE his eggs so he was able to find them all rather easily on the grass in the backyard. :0)

Poor Jordan had her Easter eggs hidden the hardest.....Seriously....just because you are older doesn't mean you have better hunting skills. :0) It took her a while to find all of them.

Apparently Grandma had filled two eggs with a $20 bill in each. One was labeled "Money egg older kids" and the other was "money egg younger kids". The older kids spent most of their time searching for their egg as Grandpa hid it in the middle of a bunch of tall weeds. After a little hinting Meghan ended up finding the older kids egg. The little kids egg was hidden quite a bit easier and it turned out the Mackenzee actually found it on her own. She was so excited!

Anyway, it was a fun-filled weekend full of family and good times. Thanks Nana and Grandma for helping us to whoop it up! :0)

Getting Shown Up By My Mother

Because there were so many of us together this last weekend, we decided to all go bowling. I haven't been in over a year and, to top that off, I stink anyway. So, you can imagine how great my game is. My parents came along, and because they normally just watch instead of participating, we were all surprised when my mom came walking over with bowling shoes in hand. :0)

Want to know a secret? I'm pretty sure my mom is a closet bowler. Because seriously....she's got game. Two strikes, a few spares.....and the whole time she's telling us how horrible she is. Yeah right! My score? 69. Her score? 113. Sad, isn't it? I got shown up by my mother. Sigh. Actually, the kids beat me too. Sure, they used the bumper, but still! I think next time I need to bowl on their lane. I might at least have a fighting chance. :0)

It's Birthday Time Again...

As I've said before, October is a busy month in my family. Not only is it Mackenzee's birthday, but it is my mom's, sister's, neice's, and three nephew's birthdays. All but one of those are part of the Robinson clan. It's crazy! So, every October conference weekend, we get together at my mom's house and have one big birthday party for everyone celebrating this month.

Unfortunately, only my sister Melanie was able to make it this time, so we were short a "few" people. But, we still had a good time and were able to have a great celebration.

Yesterday was actually my neice, Savanna's birthday. She is now 7. I can't believe it! I used to babysit her when she was just a little bit older than Mackenzee is now. :0( And now she is so big! Mackenzee just adores her and whenever Savanna is around, I am no longer her bestest friend. Her "Nana nana" takes that spot from me. I've always called Savanna "Savanna banana" and so apparently Mackenzee has now taken it upon herself to use that nickname as well. Though, the way she pronounces it ends up taking on the form of "Nana nana" instead. :0)

My mom's birthday then comes on the 8th, though she swears she doesn't have anymore birthdays. :0) Mackenzee was actually supposed to be born on the 8th and we were hoping for a double birthday. Mackenzee even has her Nana's middle name as her middle name. But, she obviously wasn't ready to come and play for a few days, because she was born 4 days late.

My sister's birthday isn't for another week and a half, but we share the love with her too. And my two nephews don't celebrate theirs until the end of the month. All in all, there are 6 Robinson birthdays in October. It's a popular month around here. :0)

Landon really enjoyed the cupcakes I made for the brirthday party....can't you tell? :0)

Anyway, happy birthday family! Austin...I still have your present here waiting for you {along with Alina's}. I can't wait to see you at Thanksgiving so you can open it! :0)

Just Peachy!

I have wanted to more "homemaker"-ish for a long time. I don't sew, though I really want to learn. My mom is an amazing seamstress and my grandmother is the Queen seamstress of them all. And then...there's me. Sigh.

Though this is the third year I have planted a garden all on my own, this is the first year I have produced more than a few green beans. Bugs ate everything the past couple of years at my old house. :0( This year...I've finally got tomatoes, corn, squash, and jalapeno peppers! The watermelon plant still died...but hey! It's a start right?

I picked more strawberries this year so that I could make more freezer jam. I think Jaysen would die without it. :0) But beyond that, I have never canned ANYTHING all by myself before. I helped in the process growing up, but haven't ever done it alone.

Well, Jaysen's mom has a peach tree. And she wasn't going to can them. And so they would be FREE! My mom....she has about 40 million quart canning jars and said she would give me some....for FREE! So how could I NOT can some peaches? Seriously! FREE!

So, yesterday I went out to Jerome and with the help of Mackenzee and Rita I picked two ginormous bins of peaches. Sadly, though I grabbed my camera on the way out, the memory card was not in it. So, no pictures of my little one picking them. :0(

After picking, we went out to my mom's house for a crash course in canning. Fourteen jars and two hours later, I had it down. I had only made a slight dent in one of the bins of peaches though. :0)

Today...

today was the day I pushed up my sleeves and finished off the first bin without my mom's help.

I did have others helping though. :0)

Notice how thrilled Jaysen was to come home to a messy kitchen and a pleading wife. Isn't he so nice to get his hands all peachy for me?

And look! Another 14 jars! I did it! I know...It's sad how excited I am. But it's my first time! And they turned out...and the lids sealed and everything! {That was my biggest fear}

Now....only one ginormous bin and about 30 jars left.

Anybody want some canned peaches? :0)

Garden Goodies

I took these pictures tonight while we were out at my mommies house. :0) Mackenzee LOVES to look through our garden with me and her dad. She thinks it so fun to find new sprouts of veggies coming up. My mom's garden is bigger than ours and she planted green beans this year, which basically means you can pick almost every day because they grow NON-STOP. Kenzee and I went out to visit my mom last week and my mom took her out to look at the garden and you'd think that Mackenzee was in heaven! :0) She had so much fun picking green beans. It was like she was finding treasure. Sadly, I didn't have my camera.

BUT! We went out to my mom's house for dinner tonight for one last hurrah before school started and I remembered to take my camera this time. It was inevitable that Mackenzee would want to head out to the garden again, but this time Papa took her and Landon out to find some "treasure". Both kids had so much fun finding, and then picking green beans. Who knew that one little patch of ground could be so much fun for two little kids?

Christmas Recital

Tonight was Landon's Christmas Piano Recital. He got to play Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer for his solo piece and then two ensemble pieces as well. Before my mom had to cut back a bit a few years ago, she had oodles of students who took group lessons. Meaning, she had four full sized keyboards hooked up and each student used their own keyboard and they all played together. So good for kids who need help with timing and counting (which is most of them!) Anyway...she got out three of her keyboards and had the kids play a few songs as ensembles. Each child playing a different part (harmonies and what not). It makes it so much fun for the kids. Landon was really having a hard time with one of the songs, and so in order to coax him into playing I told him that I would play the treble clef during the recital and all he had to play was the bass clef notes. He did awesome. And it's always fun to play a "duet" with him. He even got to play the final song, We Wish You A Merry Christmas, with a couple other students while we all sang along. He was so proud of himself and he had so much fun with it. I think all of the kids did. No memorizing pieces, just playing fun Christmas tunes with their friends.

Good job Landon! You did great!