Happy Birthday Kaden!

This week was my nephew, Kaden's, birthday. He turned seven this year and it seems like not so long ago he was smaller than Mackenzee. :0(

I remember first meeting him almost 5 years ago. Jaysen took me out to his brothers house when we were dating and Kaden was two years old. I believe Steve and Becky had recently found that Kaden had autism. As an outsider at that point I would have never known. :0) I remember playing with this ball he had. He brought it to me and I tossed it across the room and he would laugh and go get it and bring it back to me so that we could do it all over again. The most memorable part is that his laugh was almost a scream when I threw the ball, so I would scream with him. :0) He thought it was hilarious. :0) Such a cutie.

If you met Kaden now...as an outsider....I still don't think you would realize has autism. He has come so far in these last five years and is still just as cute. :0) Mackenzee completely adores him and he is so good to her too. He loves to read stories to her and run around Grandma Burnham's house with her.

Happy Birthday Kaden! I hope you enjoy your book of "nastiness". :0)

We love you so much!

Shelby Welby

My neice, Shelby {whom I lovingly refer to as Shelby Welby and have since she was little}, stayed here in Twin for a little over a week after her family came to visit for my mom's birthday. Where she lives, they let school out for a couple of weeks for potato harvest. And, since she wasn't planning on harvesting any potatoes :0) she got to hang with my mom and me for a while. We just love Shelby Welby and had so much fun having her here. Especially little Mackenzee. She adores her older cousin and ate up all the attention that Shelby gave her. Honestly, when it was time for Shelby to go home, I'm pretty sure that Mackenzee had decided that she was 12 years old too. She became quite the little diva during Shelby's stay. :0)

Even though I was able to steal her from my mom for a few days already, her last couple of days in Twin were with me as well. Her last night we stayed up till the wee hours making these adorable hair ribbons. Shelby loves to do her hair and looks so cute with the sassy little ribbons tucked in her beautiful red hair. She made one in every color and then some...and I made oodles for Mackenzee too.

The next day I made her get all dolled up so I could take a snap of her with one of her ribbons in her hair. She decided Mackenzee needed to get dolled up too, and, amazingly, Mackenzee actually let someone curl her hair. {Like I said, she thought she was as old as Shelby} They both looked super sassy. :0)

Mackenzee bawled when my mom came to pick Shelby up to take her home, and cried the next day too. It's hard to say goodbye to cousins when they have to go home because we miss them all so much when they're gone. We can't wait until Thanksgiving when we can all get together again! :0)

Happy Birthday Mackenzee!

Happy Birthday Mackenzee! We love you so much!

{More pictures to come}

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)

Go figure....

I can hardly believe it, but in 12 short days my baby will be 3 years old. When did she get so big? :0( Sigh.

In anticipation of her upcoming party, I have had a few people ask what to get her. So, I figured it was best to get the answer straight from her. I'm thinking maybe I should have just left it alone. :0)

What does she want for her birthday you ask?

Cheese.

You know, the kind you eat.

Go figure....

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)

Priceless

Dora Hair Barrette..

$0.25

Dora T-shirt...

$7.99

Dora Tights...

$1.25

Dora Shoes...

$12.99

Being able to put together this "amazing" outfit to show it off to Great Grandpa Anoot....

Priceless!

Mackenzee has been so excited to go back over to Grandma and Grandpa Burnham's house to visit with her Great Grandpa again. He lives in Texas and because the hurricane was coming, he decided to head up this direction to avoid the problems associated with power outages and bad weather. We went to visit him earlier in the week over at Jaysen's parents' house. I don't think that Mackenzee has ever met him before, and if she has, she was too small to remember. But she informed me before we even went in the house that she wanted to give him a big hug.

I don't think she was prepared for how long the hug turned out to last {she's not the biggest hugger}, but obviously the visit made an impact on her. All week long she has asked when we were going to go and see BIG PAPA again. :0) I told her this morning that today was the day and so she carefully picked out what she would wear....clear down to the hair barrette and shoes.

I'm not sure if Grandpa Anoot has even heard of Dora, but he has definitely been educated today. :0)