Congrats Aunt Beth & Uncle Robert

May 23 was a special day for the family...Aunt Beth was married to Robert - congratulations to them. It was a beautiful day and it was smooth sailing throughout. We had a nice time there and we wish them the best. Patrick did a great job with the kids as I was busy a good part of the day with being in the wedding. It was great to see so many friends & family at the event. Here are a few pictures from the beautiful day (the family picture from the blog title is also from the wedding day)...afterwards, I realized I didn't get to capture much of the entire day...had some from before the wedding and then a few at Mom & Dad's between the wedding & reception. The wedding was held at St. Francis Borgia Church in Washington, MO & the reception was held at Jesuit hall, there at church. Very beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day to me! (A little late recap)

Mother's Day this year was very nice. We went to mass with all my handsome, beautiful family dressed in their Sunday best: suits, dresses & more. I was spoiled for the day with lunch & dinner prepared for me. For dinner we had grilled steaks, grilled vegetables, and gazpacho soup - nice and fresh and seasonal. Desserts for the day included Beth's favorite - angel food cake/strawberry chiffon and my childhood popular dessert of ice cream pie. Yum, yum! On Saturday of that weekend, Patrick took the boys to Lowe's and they made me very nice planters. They are really able to do some work on their own these days. Leyton & Nathaniel also made me a present at school this year. They were teacups with their own artwork decorating them along with a teabag and some honey. They said, "A cup of tea for Mommy & me." I was honored to receive them and they were so proud. I guess I'm into that phase now, where I can truly see why when your kids make something for you, it's one of the best gifts. Seeing their pride in giving it to you and how hard they've worked, it just makes it so special. I'm so blessed to have my family. I told the kids that if it weren't for God sending them to us, I wouldn't even be a mom. Am I worthy of these precious gifts?

FYI-Jacob wasn't in the mood for his own picture...hard to get everyone together!

Leyton's Quotes Today

1. "The fact of the matter is, Mom, is that these eggs are good. You're the best; thanks for making them."

2. "And now, welcome to the Kindergarten Catholic Speedway." (just playing around - thought it was cute he called it that)

Nashville 2009

The week after Easter, we were able to make a family trip to Nashville. We hadn't been there since fall, 2006, so we were all excited to return. I think this is the first vacation that Leyton & Nathaniel really remember, so they have talked about it for a long time and how they wanted to return. If I had to change one thing, I would have hoped that maybe I'd have made it to the Grand Ole Opry to see some of my favorites - like Dierks Bentley would have been great! Oh well, the resort was just so close to there, I was thinking I'd go if there was someone playing that
I liked. We typically have a vacation in the summer, but we figured by the end of May, I will be 34 weeks pregnant, we didn't figure it was the time to make a trip too far from home.

We arrived on Sunday and spend Monday hanging around the resort & swimming. I think we managed to swim every day. The kids are all really enjoying swimming and becoming more and more brave. Jacob stands well in 3-ft deep areas now and Leyton & Nathaniel are really branching out away from the sides, jumping in some, etc. And Leah was ready to play all independently on the steps and as far as you'd let her go. She's made a lot of progress since we swam in Branson back in February.

Other activities for the week included all the boys going golfing at a "real golf course" while Leah & I shopped/browsed. We also returned to the Opryland hotel to walk around and enjoy the beautiful scenery. I need to post the pictures we have from our first trip to compare the same poses/background - it's cute to see how much the kids look different over the 2 1/2 years (standing by the guitar-playing animals)! Hmm, what else did we do? Another day we played on the resort playground - basketball, swinging, etc. and we created our own putting area. The boys also did some nature hunting - ladybugs, snail, etc. They are so much fun. Oh, looking at my pictures I was reminded of the fact that I think Nathaniel wore the same outfit every day we were there. Each night he'd ask me if I'd wash it so he could wear it again - thank goodness for condos with washer & dryer! I liked the picture of Jacob with Patrick, too, for some reason - caring Dad taking care of his Jakey.

The trip itself was really nice. The kids do very well in the car. We drove to Grandma & Grandpa's first, to break up the trip, and then made the rest of the trip. I guess it's about 10 hours total from our house.

Happy Easter 2009!

This year we were home for Easter and went to visit with Grandpa Dan & Grandma Sally for the day. We had a great time. We went to mass and then Aunt Beth & Robert came over for a bit to watch the kids have an egg hunt at home. It turns out that our Easter Bunny(ies) felt we rushed home from church too quickly to allow adequate egg hiding time. Sorry! We were just so excited. The boys all wore their great suits and Miss Leah wore such a cute pink dress. Here are a few pictures from the great time.
The egg hunt pictures are from our neighborhood hunt on Saturday. This is the first time they really would stand there for a picture. All dressed up and looking great. Although Leah is unhappy in this picture, she did have a good day and I think she looked super cute. I just can't seem to get a picture with all four happily together too often (sorry Beth, I know you were wanting a picture).

So I've Been Out of Blogging Touch...

Here's to catching up - I'm working on it; pictures & all. In the past month, we've had Easter, gone on vacation to Nashville, worked tirelessly (truthfully, exhaustingly) on our house, had Mother's Day, my birthday, last day of school, and NOW, we're 4 days from Aunt Beth's wedding. We'll see if I can get things caught up as I know there's been a lot of memories I wanted to keep track of and probably already lost out of my mind, but I'll do my best.

Speaking of Baby...

Well, what a morning. All I can think of is that maybe it was God's way of telling me to take a break for a few days. We've been very busy and I have been carrying on full speed ahead. This morning, though, I got to spend a few hours at the hospital being monitored, getting extra ultrasound pics, etc. of the next little Robinson. This morning when I was laying in bed, delaying getting up, I had a significant amount of bleeding so of course started to freak out a bit. It turns out after nervousness, waiting, monitoring, and lying around at the hospital, it seems all is fine. They figured it must have been some sort of fluke. There was no sign of any problem and they really don't know what happened. In any event, I got nice instructions to settle down a bit for the next few days to make sure all is ok. I go back to the doctor next week, so we'll hope things just stay calm. On the brighter side, the day has gone well and I haven't had any signs of any other problems. And, the baby is measuring about 10 days ahead so that was interesting to know. It is estimated to be 3lb 14oz (which is larger than Leyton was when he was born). The due date they calculated is July 3, for whatever that is worth. Guess we'll see how things go! I'm relieved that it seems like things are ok.

Leah's Word of the Day

"Baby, baby, baby." She just kept saying it. It was cute hearing her and watching her smile. She's a fun little lady.

Today's Random Find

This afternoon I poured a cup of milk for Jacob. I was surprised to find a regular table knife in our milk jug. Random, but no surprise.

And Last but not Least...

A baby-sized update. I was at the doctor this week and was able to thoroughly enjoy the wonderful taste of Glucola for my glucose tolerance test. I was shocked (as I have been before) to be at the end of my monthly visit period. As I'm just about 30 weeks, he's having me back in 3 weeks when I'll be around 32 and then onto twice monthly for a month, then weekly! It makes it seem close. Well, 10 weeks is not too long in my timeline these days anyway. I sometimes still can't believe it's happening. Sometimes in the evening after I finally sit to take a break from the day, the baby will start moving around a lot. It's then that I think, "Oh yeah, the kids are all in bed and this little one is saying, 'Mom, don't forget about me. I'm here, too.'" It is sometimes still hard to imagine how things will change again, for the better, this summer. Dr. Snider says I'm measuring a bit ahead, for whatever that is worth. I'm feeling well; no complaints.

Big Boys Update

Well, with the updates on Jacob & Leah, I just couldn't leave out my big boys. Preschool is almost over and I am looking forward to summer! It will be fun to have the time to goof around with them. They are really growing and changing, too.

Nathaniel is such a great helper. He's always willing to help, especially helping Patrick with real projects. I'm often amazed at the depth of his logic and problem solving capabilities. He really does think things through and understands cause/effect more than I would expect. He (and Leyton) have also become quite the handsome little men at church. I bought all three boys suits recently (they've been wanting them "to be like Dad" and to wear to Aunt Bethy's wedding). Well, let me tell you we will get our money's worth. We've had them about a month or so and every weekend other than when we were out of town, at least the big boys have worn their suits to church. And, with the suits, we have new belts, shoes, and we need gel and cologne as well. You know, to be like Dad. Patrick made a cute comment and realized that he needed to really cherish that because apparently kids won't always want to be just like their parents? I know, sounds shocking, ha. Nathaniel is also very encouraging. Jacob has been working on his bike riding lately and Nathaniel has just been so helpful and encouraging to him that I can't help but sit back and enjoy. What a neat kids.

And Mr. Leyton. Aunt Beth swears he's not 5 because of the way he conducts himself in person and on the phone. On the phone, I'll admit, he does sound older with the flow of his conversations and phrases. This week he's also been into doing a lot of chores to earn some money. That is lots of fun for me! I'll welcome the help anytime. He truly is a wonderful big brother, also. He is so sweet, especially to Leah, whenever she needs anything or needs out of her crib. His greetings to her are still a highlight of the day to hear. She will smile and just be so happy with him.