Let it SNOW!!!

Caden is in Heaven...it finally snowed at our house!!! He has been telling me for weeks that it doesn't snow at his house. I'm not sure why he thought that but he was convinced of it. However, Wednesday morning (one of my days to sleep in since I don't go to the gym that day) Brady stirred me awake before heading out the door to go to school. He was begging to wake Caden up so he could show him the snow that had fallen during the night. Brady was so excited I just had to let him share his excitment, although I must admit I wasn't completely ready to start my day. After a little coaxing Caden was awake and soooooo very excited, he just couldn't believe it. He wanted to go out and start playing right then and the sun wasn't even up yet. We wern't able to play in it right away because Kamrie had to go to the doctor and things must have been taking too long for Caden because as we walked out of the office he couldn't stand the suspense any longer and he just plopped down in a snowbank by the sidewalk and made a snowangel...it was so funny. When we got home they got all dressed in thier snow clothes and we played outside. We loved it!!! The cold...not my favorite, but they were having so much fun it made it berable. Brady was sad he missed all the fun so after dinner last night he took Caden out again to play. They made a little tiny snowman and threw snowballs at the window so Kamrie and I felt included. As soon as Caden got up this morning around 7:30, he got dressed in his snow clothes again only to find out he had to go to school. He was pretty bumed. On the way there after much contemplation he said, "mommy, I didn't think it can snow at my house but my daddy showed me." It is so fun to share in their excitment.

Kamrie after getting a snowball in the face, not too fun, but she was a real trooper

Caden making another snow angel, one of his favorite things.

I Heart the YMCA

This title comes from a dear friend who uses the word "HEART" in reference to things that are very special to her. I felt that it was the only way to properly say how I feel about the YMCA. Where do I even begin??? I have been contemplating my love for this particular establishment for sometime and this morning I discussed it with some friends as we were in the parking lot walking in to our kick booty spinning class at, you guessed it the YMCA. So I decided post about it because it has been in my thoughts so much lately. It plays such a big part in our lives and oh how I will miss it when it comes time to leave Indy. I know a lot of you are probably saying, "what, you must be crazy" because I have heard that this particular one is very out of the ordinary, and for the most part YMCAs are just a poor and failing attempt to bring programs to communities in need. However ours is neither poor nor failing but it is greatly succeeding in bringing so many wonderful things to us. Let my just tell you some of the many things that we enjoy at the Y. First of all they have a wonderful workout facility with any and all of the equipment to slim down even the chubbiest of thighs (this I know from experience). Along with that there are tons of classes form Yoga to kickboxing and anything else you can imagine for all ages. They even have a child watch area where you can drop your kids off while you work out if you are into that. Caden goes to preschool at the Y, where he learns all kinds of good things including this prayer they say at snack time, "God is great, God is good and we thank Him for this food, amen." I love that even though it's not just like the prayers we may say at home, they are teaching them to be thankful to their Heavenly Father. They also have a really fun indoor jungle gym that helps the kids to get their wiggles out when it is too cold to play outside. This is a real blessing to us as Caden has way more energy than he knows what to do with even when he can play outside. They have a big indoor pool where they teach swimming lessons all year long. In the summer we spend tons of time at the two outdoor pools, one of which is made for young kids so I don't have hold on to both of mine but can let them roam and play freely. In addition to this they have Family Fun Nights once a month were they do fun activities for your entire family, like making ginger bread houses or having breakfast with Santa and doing Christmas Crafts. So anyway, I realize I'm rambling and this really doesn't effect any of you directly in any way but now maybe you can understand to a small degree why I HEART the YMCA so very much.

Kicking off the Holidays

So the turkey was great and we had a blast with our friends from school on Thanksgiving, now that it is over we are getting sooooooooo excited for Christmas. Every year since we have been here in Indy we get up on Friday morning (not crazy early like the ambitious Robbins' in Utah) and head out shopping. Don't get me wrong I would love to go with them at 2 am but with our kids it is easier to get up at our regular time and just go out and enjoy the day. This year Caden was old enough to walk through the isles and make a list for Santa....it is about 30 pages long if anyone is interested!!! It was a blast to see how excited they got and they were really good about just looking, writing it on their lists and then putting it back. We also got ideas of what we want to get for others and we even got some of our shopping done...hopefully it will all fit on the plane as we will be spending Christmas in Utah this year and will have to take everything we buy with us. What a good way to kick off the holiday season. We also got to go to the Circle of Lights Celebration downtown at monument Circe. There was music, dancing, a big Christmas tree lighting and firework show. I have always wanted to go but usually after a long day of shopping we just don't feel up to it. This year we planned for it so it worked out great and even though it was FREEZING we had so much fun. The people were packed in so tight we could hardly feel how chilly it was. During the weekend we also started playing Christmas music, got out the Cinnamon candles, and started putting up decorations. I would say we are ready...now the only thing that stands in the way of us and Christmas are finals and a plane ride.

The kids and their buddy Jon "Jepps" looking on as Dave carves the bird

Downtown Indy During the "Circle of Lights"Celebration

The family enjoying all the festivities

Let the Christmas Preperations Begin

Well it has officaially started...the preps for Christmas have begun and the turkey isn't even in the oven yet! I must admit these aren't the first real preps because I have done a little shopping here and there and we had to buy our plane tickets to go home, but this is big!!! Finally after 5 years of marriage I bought some stockings today. Hooray!!! I have always wanted cute matching stockings for the entire family and I have toyed with the idea of making them but I have never seen anything I am completely in love with so until now we have just had cheap stockings to get by with at our families homes. I was beginning to think we would never have our own wonderful dream stockings, so I have been feeling badly because Caden is getting old enough that the idea of his very own stocking will be so fun. However, after this long of a wait I didn't just want to settle. Wait no longer...thank you Pottery Barn Kids and Aimee, I have found some that are so adorable. We even bought extras for future kids so we can all match (silly I know, but blame the dream I have of the perfect mantel and the perfect matching stockings). So the stockings are on their way but the mantel with have to wait for a couple of years, but we are getting there. I'm so excited for Santa to fill them.

A Season of Thanksgiving

Since it is almost Thanksgiving, I thought I would write a little about what I am Thankful for just to get in the spirit before the big day. We are blessed with so many wonderful things but it seems like sometimes in the day to day shuffle we lose sight of it all and forget just how blessed we really are. So here we go the biggest and most wonderful blessings in my life (in no specific order).
1. My amazing husband. He is the hardest worker I know! He gets more done in one day than some people do in a week. Sometimes I admit I wish he would be a slacker for just one afternoon but Iam greatful for all his hard work.
2. My fantastic kids. I know its silly but I think I have two of the greatest kids on the planet. They bring us so much joy and just when we think there is no way we can love them anymore they do something perfect and poof...more love. I can't paint this little picture without a touch of reality so, yes there are hard days but never a moment when I am not greatful to be their mom.
3. Family! Brady and I have such wonderful families that love us and support us. We have alway felt that love no matter how far from home we are. What a blessing it is to be a part of these great families
4. Good friends!!! I have always been very blessed to be surrounded by great people to form relationships with. Throughout my life one thing I have never been without are people who I can trust and count on.
5.The Gospel! I am greatful to have a knowledge of a plan and a Father that loves me. The eternal perspective this knowledge offers is irreplacable and a tremendous blessing in my life.

So there are a few and I could go on and on... but you get the idea. Isn't is wonderful that we have a day set aside to reflect on all the things we are blessed with.

I took the PLUNGE

Okay so today was my hair appointment, the one I have been waiting for for about two months now. It seems like every time I have gotten my hair cut in the last two years or so I have really wanted to go short but I just didn't have the courage. Well, I finally did it!!! I found a style I liked and even though I had some reservations, I gave my consent and she chopped. Thank you to everyone that voted, it looks like eveyone either really likes short hair or you all just wanted me to cut it so you can laugh when I am crying because I miss my long hair, either way it gave me the added courage I needed to do it. I can't say I love it but hey I haven't even had the chance to do it myself yet...maybe with a little time to get used to it...who knows. I'm sure you all want to see the product of your voting so here you are.

Mrs. P

This will probably mean very little to most of you but it is a little attempt to pay a small tribute to a woman who played a very important role in my life. I got news last week that my very favorite teacher of all time was in the hospital and only had a few hours to live. Mrs. P was my Honors English Teacher in H.S. for 3 years and she was brutal, not usually a trait found in a teacher that you love, but while her class was difficult (more difficult than anything I encountered in college) I learned a ton and loved going. We read so many books, wrote so many essays, and oh the TESTS (any of you who had her can remember the TESTS). Through all the reading, writing, and studying my brains out I got to be in the presence of this great woman and I learned just a little more about the person I wanted to become. I learned so much from her that has nothing to do with English but everything to do with life. She cared about every simple little thing that was going on in my life when I thought it was important but now can see she must have been laughing inside at the things that I thought were critical. I live far away now and haven't seen her in quite some time, but just the fact that when I go home I will not bump into her in the store or pass her on the street is heart breaking to me. When we were in her class a few of us talked about how she seemed super-human somehow, like the need to eat, drink, or sleep didn't exist for her as it did for mere mortals. The fact that she passed away so early in her life brings those thoughts flooding back. She touched so many lives and she will be missed. Good bye to a great teacher, mentor, and friend.

Fall Fun

Well it seems like nothing exciting happened for a while and then a bunch happened all at once that I want to post about. The kids are at such fun ages right now that it seems like everything that we do is so much fun and I want you all to see and be a part of it. So here goes...I hope you enjoy.


First on the agenda, Saturday night we went trunk-or-treating at the church. Caden dressed up as Woody from "Toy Story" and Kamrie went as his little lady Bo Peep. They were so adorable. I was a little worried that Kamrie was too young for the bonnet and the staff that I had her carry but we discovered that she is all girl and she is definitely down with the whole idea of dress up. We got so many comments on how cute they looked. It was way fun to see them have so much fun.


Daddy sported Caden's hat and cape so he could be dressed up too. Our trunk was really boring compared to most. Some people got really festive and all out decorated their car for the occasion.


Next, we spent Monday evening at the Pumpkin Patch with some friends for our Family Night Activity. The Pumpkin Patch here is so much fun. They have such great little activities for the kids and it couldn't have been a more beautiful evening.

Caden and Kamrie both loved digging in the sand on the CAT diggers. They really got into it, I didn't know if I would ever get them to go see the other things.

The Pumpkin eating dinosaur helped get the kids out of the sand. When Caden heard him growling and chomping he had to see what was going on and Kamrie was quick to follow. I didn't get any pictures of him actually eating but this was cute anyway.

These carts were another real highlight (well who am I kidding the entire night the kids were running around like they just didn't know what to do next so every part was pretty much our favorite part) but Caden had a ball on these even though he could barely reach the peddles.

Finally, we got to take a hayride to the pumpkin patch where we picked out the perfect pumpkins.When I asked Caden which pumpkin he wanted the simply replied "the best one" it took him a minute to find it but after he did he was perfectly satisfied.

These are just some cute pictures of the kids posing for me. What little cuties they are!!!

Last of all, tonight we got the kids all dressed up again and took them out trick-or-treating around our little complex. We were lucky to run into some friends so the kids had some pals to run with. They looked adorable, the little group consisted of Woody, Bo Peep, Pocahontas, a Lion, a Skunk, Cinderella, the Black Spider man, Super girl, a Power Ranger, a Ninja Turtle, a Flamingo, and beautiful Princess all around.

Bo Peep couldn't get enough of the Trick-or -Treating thing. She loves candy and she thought it was great that everyone was just giving it to her. One thing about it though, she never forgot to say thank you. People were surprised to hear her speak so it was kind of funny.

The group doing their thing.

Caden and Kam with their heap after the big night, I don't know what we will ever do with it all, but we sure had fun getting it :)

So we are having a great time with our little ones. I really do wish that we were a little closer to grandparents, family, and old friends so we could celebrate with you all but I hope you all enjoy your little glimpses into our life.

A Weekend Away

So it worked out that a few friends and I got to go to Chicago to see "Wicked" last weekend. the shopping was good, the company was great, and the show was amazing. It was nice to get away but it was the first time I had ever left either of the kids over night so even though I had a ball it wasn't easy to be away from my little family. However, the kids had a good time with daddy so I think we all won. Here are a few pics from the trip. Thank you to Adri for always having a camera handy.

This was an amazing show!!! It made the trip spectacular.

This is part of Chicago from the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier. What a beautiful day!!!

We weren't terribly excited to pose on the wall but Adri insisted, I think it turned out cute.

All in all we had a really good trip. Most of the girls that went will be leaving after this year so it was kind of a last bash. I'm really glad we got to go!!!

Fall is Here

Yesterday the kids were wearing shorts and tank tops and today our walk required hats and gloves. It is amazing to me how it can be 90 one day and the next it is like cold fall. We were excited for cooler weather but we were hoping that it wouldn't get quite this cold this fast. Oh well, I guess it is time to get out the jackets and long pants and settle in for a few months of winter. On an exciting note the cool down also means that I can start getting excited and ready for the holidays. It is really hard to start thinking about Halloween costumes, turkeys, and Christmas trees when it is 90 degrees outside. It is always sad for me to see summer go but living here in Indy, where fall is normally beautiful, I have learned to love it as well. Hooray for fall, finally!!!

Fall Break

Well I promised that I would post an update of all the fun things we did over our fall break and here it comes...I hope you are ready because we really had a blast. Brady had a couple of days off school and the clinic was closed so he couldn't even work if he wanted to, so we were able to go out and have some fun time as a family. Since it was our anniversary, we decided to do something a little out of the ordinary, but we brought the kids and let them be a part of the fun too!!! There is an indoor water park not far from our apartment that is inside a hotel so we went up on Thursday after Preschool and spent the night there. Our kids absolutely love the water so they couldn't have loved anything more. We were able to swim Thursday and Friday and we had lots of other fun things to do as well. After swimming until we were water logged on Thursday we went to a little cafe that was a couple of stories above the pool but you could still see the really island like decor so it felt like we were off in some exotic place and since it was a weekday we were almost the only ones there, how fun! After that the kid in Brady took over and we played arcade games for a few hours...all of you that know him probably don't find this hard to believe. He isn't really a gamer but for some reason he loves the old school arcades and Caden and Kamrie were in Heaven. It was so much fun just to play together and not have to worry about all the little details of our lives for a minute. After cashing in all of our tickets and getting our prizes we went back to our room and watched Ratatouille. We had a king sized bed and the kids jumped around and crawled over us until they just couldn't go anymore and they finally crashed. The next morning we ate an awesome breakfast and then played a little put-put golf, which Caden loves, before going swimming for a while longer. The day ended with Brady playing double header softball games with a team he is on here with some other dental students and some guys from our ward. He loves to play, the kids love to be there, and to me it is great to see him doing something he loves so much. I also have a group of wives to hang out with that are pretty fun girls so it is a nice time out for me too, I guess we all win!!!




We were also able to listen to conference (I am jealous of all of you who are still in the Utah/Idaho area where conference is on TV. We either have to get it on the Internet or go to the church and watch, with two little ones, not the easiest task), go to the apple orchard, and get some pictures of the kids taken over the weekend. All in all I think we had a pretty great time. Like all good things I am really sad to see Brady go back to school tomorrow, it was almost like we got a much needed break from life to just enjoy each other. I really love and look forward to times like these.

This is the pirate ship at the water park that was designed for the kids , they loved it... there were little water slides for them and everything.

Caden and daddy playing games at the arcade

These are the prizes we won with our tickets from the arcade...hardly worth the 20+ dollars we probably spent but it was a blast, and hey that's what vacation is all about right?

My little golfers!!!

I think she ate just about as many as we brought home but she was content as long as there was an apple in her had so we just let her go.

Caden really liked picking apples with the claw and deciding weather they were good enough to go in the bag or not, believe it or not most of them didn't make the cut. They either had too many "dimples or circles" as he called them. I'm not really sure what criteria he followed but we sure got some good apples.

The Long Awaited Pictures

I finally found a way to add some pictures, however the aren't compressed at all so if you have slow internet like we do it may just take you a year to download them. Sorry about that, I will continue to work on it and hopefully I will be able to perfect the art soon so everyone can enjoy. Anyway I hope the pictures were worth the wait...we think these two are prettey adorable.

Still No Pictures

Well, I am a little bumed about the fact that I can't get my pictures posted. Brady and I tried to shrik them and then post the other night but it ended up taking forever and in the end it didn't work because the software we need isn't on our computer anymore. Long sad story I know but I love looking at everyones adorable pictures and I would like to provide you all with the same quality intertainment. Anyway, I figured I had better post an update eventhough the picture thing is still in the workings.
We had a crazy week last week. It took a while, but I think we are all finally getting healthy again. After the doctor visit on monday I was able to relax because I knew it wasn't totally serious and as soon as I did everyone started showing improvement... hooray. Caden had a birthday party on Tuesday and he had a blast. It was a puppy party and they all got doggie ears and collers with their names on them, he thought he was pretty important. We also went to an open house at Caden's preschool which was really fun. We got to talk to his teachers and see all the fun things they do during the day. He was excited for his daddy to see where he goes to school. Finally, over the weekend, Brady had to go on a campout with the scouts in our ward so the kids and I got together with some friends at our complex and ate pizza and hung out together. On a sad note, Brady's green car that alot of you will remember, it has been with us for a long time, finally died. It lookes like it will cost more to fix it than it is really even worth so we are probably just going to be a one car family for a while, which doesn't really sit well with me but I guess we will do our best until our van is finished. I never thought I would be so exctied about getting a van but the idea has really grown on me. It looks like my little update is turning into quite the novel so I will say farewell for now. We have fall break coming up and we are hoping to find something exciting to do so hopefully I will have something fun to tell you about next time.

Birthday Pictures (Hopefully)

I must admit, this blogging thing is pretty addicting. I love looking at everyone's blogs and hearing about what is going on in your lives. I can't believe I didn't start this sooner!!! Since I just posted yesterday I am not going to say too much but I have worked on a few things to make the blog a little more exciting and I'm sure as I learn it will just get better and better. I am going to try to post some pictures of the kids at Caden's Birthday party this summer so that everyone can see how they are growing, but I'm not sure what I'm doing so we will see what happens...well it is pretty self explanatory but I can't get them to upload (maybe my Internet is just too slow). I know of something I can try but I will have to have Brady help me.

Intimidation

Okay so as I checked my email today and saw the response from everyone that I had emailed about my new blog I had a little wave of nervousness hit me. It seems like you all are pretty experienced bloggers so you will have to bear with me as I learn my way around this mess. I had so much fun looking at all the blogs you guys sent that I totally missed my nap time clean up session (too bad). However, I've had sick kids and they still aren't doing real great so we will probably be stuck in the house which means i will definitely find time to clean the toilets (don't worry). We were unlucky and caught a bit of the croup that is going around here so we have not been at our best as of late. Brady is even pretty sick but his life can't be paused so the poor guy just has to dope up on NyQuil at night and hope it all feels better in the morning. It usually works okay but when it starts to get dark he crashes like a little tyke. Anyway we are still loving life just experiencing one of the many joys of the changing seasons (sickness). I really need to get some pictures posted because I am sure most of you are just dying to see the adorable little Robbins kids and really I can't wait to share, I will try a little later (maybe after bed when I get to take another breath).

Converted to Blogging

I think i am finally going to try this blogging thing that i have heard so very much about. it seems like it will be the perfect way to keep everyone up to date on what is going on with us while we are so far away from all of our family and friends. the downfall is...we still have dial-up internet so i may not post stuff as often as i want to just because it will take so much time but we will just get started for now and see how it goes.