"Fwiends"

Hope and I have been talking a lot lately about friends. She has been such an amazing trooper each day going to preschool with me to help prep both of the rooms. She loves being up there but frankly she is ready for her "fwiends" to come. I keep telling her that soon the rooms will be full of new and old friends for her.

I must just say that I am so excited for preschool to start. I have two full classes with lots of cute kids in them. I love teaching and I love lesson planning. Meeting with the fire marshall and doing all the other administrative things is certainly not my strength or my love, but if I want to teach children then I must. I adore creative lesson planning using great children's literature. I love the Mailbox teacher books, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time searching the internet for new and cool ideas. My job does not pay a lot of money, but it is such a blessing to me and I cannot wait!

To reward my little "helper" for being so good we went to Hungry Mother today for a picnic and play. We ran into some special friends and got to have fun playing with them spontaneously. I love when that happens. The weather here has been picture perfect lately with sunny and warm days with temperatures only in the mid-70's and cool nights. It makes me ready for fall pumpkins and football season!

This little brave one has mastered the entire playground and had such fun playing with her friend Owen from church.

She was super obsessed with these ducks and we stalked them. They finally got tired of waddling away from us and flew off.

My fearless one went down the climbing wall.

You know you have had fun when your hot pink Crocs are dusty and dirty! I love spending my days with my favorite girl. I think I am boring Hope though because she is so ready for her preschool friends to join us next week.

As we were leaving the playground today Hope was worried to death about where her friend Owen was going. I explained it to her several times that he had to leave early to go to the dentist but we could play with him again soon. She then said "Mommy us girls are fwiends too-right?" My eyes teared up as I answered here with "yes, baby we will always be best fwiends"

Back in the Saddle

We are all adjusting well to our new school routine. The boys love school and we are so thankful. Miss Hope and I have been working hard getting two preschool rooms ready for preschoolers. I am so excited for my year to start after Labor Day.
This little girl has missed her brothers so much while they have been at school. She is ready for preschool to start. In fact she is obsessed with her princess "pack pack" that we bought months ago for the start of preschool. She wanted to get pictures made in her backpack this week:)

She has watched her brother David make funny faces at the camera for so long that she now does it too! This little girl worships her big brother David. They are really hilarious together. I often joke that they are like an old married couple-she bosses him around.

Her backpack is almost as big as she is.

This weekend has been super low key but we did take time Saturday to celebrate Mike's birthday! He hates having attention on himself, but we got him some fun presents and we went out to dinner with a few other families to celebrate. I cannot believe he is 43 considering the fact that we started dating when he was only 29.

Here are the kiddos with the presents before we gave them to him. We got him the Directv college game day plan and then a cool Under Armor jacket and a Steelers shirt.

Saturday night we went out with some friends for dinner before heading to church to watch the second movie in the sermon series "The Gospel according to Disney." Last night they showed the movie Aladdin and it was so good. The rest of our state was contending with Hurricane Irene and thankfully our pretty town in the mountains only got some wind. We were able to bring our lawn chairs and enjoy a pretty night out under the stars watching a movie.

Here is a cute father/daughter picture before the movie. She was excited that the movie was about a princess and Mike being the good girl Daddy can rattle off all the princesses like a champ now. He has not quite mastered painting her toe nails yet, but the man knows his princesses.

Kyle and Tanner were put to work at the move fixing drinks to set out. The soda, candy, and popcorn were all a hit with the kiddos.

Here are Grace and Macy waiting for the movie. Grace is in Kyle's class and they are good friends, and Miss Macy will be in my two day class. We are so thankful to have such sweet family friends. Suzanne and I often joke about having an arranged marriage for Kyle and Grace because they both love presidents and I would love for him to find a sweet preacher's daughter like her one day:)

Today Jonathan preached about the fact that we are all diamonds in the rough just like Aladdin from the movie and David from the bible. He preached from First Samuel today which is my all time favorite scripture where God reminds Saul that man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. That scripture tenders my heart so much because of my David. My sweet David is not going to have the highest IQ or be a brain surgeon clearly, but he can still be used by God. If God judges us based on our heart, then my David is fine:)

I have so enjoyed this sermon series and the Saturday night movies have been AWESOME! It has made me even more excited for our upcoming Disney trip in 22 days-not that I am counting or anything:)

Weekend Happenings

We are officially back into the school routine around here. The boys both really love school and for that we are so thankful. I love hearing about all their new friends, and both boys love their teachers.

Friday afternoon I was working hard getting my room ready for preschool and Mike needed to mow and get our yard back in shape, so my parents offered for all three kiddos to come to their house for a sleepover. They had a blast and Mike and I enjoyed an evening to catch up around the house, eat a nice meal out and actually watch a movie together. We fall into the trap that so many busy couples do where you often put your marriage behind kids, work, house, etc.. and at times you just need to stop and reconnect. We are thankful to my parents for giving us a night off:)

Saturday night we had such a fun treat. We went out to dinner with two other families that we get together often with. The adults sat at one table, and the kids sort of sat at their own table. After dinner I headed to church for popcorn detail with my friend Suzanne to prepare for.....

THE LION KING MOVIE!


At church Jonathan just started a new series called "The Gospel according to Disney" and last night they showed the movie The Lion King on this inflatable and huge screen! We all brought our chairs and sat out in the parking lot to enjoy the movie.

Here are Hope, David and Mike waiting for the show.

Between dinner and the movie Suzanne, Tonya and I popped lots of batches of popcorn and set out candy and drinks for the movie-goers to enjoy. The food and drink were all free and as you can see from the grease on the bags we made the popcorn nice and buttery!!

Here is a side view of the screen and our really tall friend Andy in the red shirt gives you perspective of how tall this screen was.

There are Simba and Mufasa on the big screen! The Lion King is one of my favorite movies and it reminds me of my Frost Valley YMCA days in New York. I was shocked to realize that my children have never ever seen this movie!! Gasp! Embarrassingly I sang every word to every song during the movie last night!!

Today during worship Jonathan took the clip where Simba remembers that he is the son of the King and tied it to how we often forget who we are in Christ. We often forget that we can be more than what we are because of Christ. We so often forget our focus because we forget that we too are the sons/daughters of the King. Great service today at church and now I am even more excited about next week's "drive in" showing of Aladdin!

Life is certainly not perfect, but I am thankful for parents who are willing to host my children for a sleepover, a great church, fun family friends to get together with, great teachers for my boys, a roster full of preschoolers coming my way in two weeks, and the reminder today that I am the daughter of the King.

First Day of School

Today I had two smiling faces heading out the door to first and fourth grade. I am always so emotional on the first day as we mark another big milestone. They are growing so fast.

Here are my sweet boys in their matching outfits bought specifically for the occasion. For now they still like dressing alike:)

My silly silly David hamming it up!

My shy but excited fourth grader!

Sweet boys with their backpacks. Davidwill have Mrs. Hubble again this year in first grade and Kyle has Ms. Oborne in fourth grade.

This little princess missed her brothers so much today but after school the reunion was so sweet. We went to preschool to prep the rooms for the upcoming open house.

Here is Mr. Indepedent trying to walk in by himself. He was determined to do it solo, but I had to walk him in today.

Here is David with Ms. Hubble. This is the third year that she has had a Robinson child:) She is a great person and wonderful teacher.

The first morning is always so crazy, but here is david with Ms. Hubble and Ms. Scott. David will spend some of his day with her since they are team teaching this year. Both of my boys are in wonderful hands this year and I feel so blessed.

So Flippin' Fun

Last night both David and Hope got to go to gymnastics! David tried it a couple of years ago and it was not a super positive experience, but last night both LOVED it!

He was so excited that he willingly posed for pictures outside in one of his many Under Armor shirts! We are blessed that both of their classes are on Monday nights!

Hope is in the parent/tot class and we had such fun together. She was so proud of her new leotard that we bought last week at Target.

She really did such a great job and after a few minutes of warm-up time she was really a brave girl!

The tumble track was popular with both and here is Hope on it with her teacher, Miss Karen.

Here is Dave warming up! I was really unsure of how he was going to do but he amazed me and did AWESOME! I so enjoyed watching him try to do everything by himself and then to see the pride when he did!

Here he is doing his forward roll with the help of his teacher!

WAtching him try to do his handstand brought tears to my eyes. He worked so hard to perfect it and I was such a proud Momma. When he did it he stood up and said "yes!" This class is so good for his social skills, gross motor skills, and his confidence. It is pricey for two to do gymnastics, but it is so worth it after watching my two gymnasts come out of their shells and build their self confidence.

The last thing they did was different jumps on the tumble track. Here is Mr. David doing a very impressive tuck jump!

I am so proud of my little gymnasts and I am so glad that they had such a flippin' fun time at gymnastics last night. Usually we do swim lessons in the fall but because of David's upcoming surgery water is not the best option for him so gymnastics will be a fun fall activity to keep him active and working on all those gross motor skills:)

Last Hoorah!

Each summer we try really hard to meet Chad and his family at the lake for a cousins afternoon. Today we sadly realized was probably the last weekday that we all would get together before school started. We had planned to water ski, but Pops bought a new tube that the kids all LOVED-even Dave!

Here are Hunter and Clayton trying it out! We got so tickled at Clayton and Kyle because they like going straight and fast only-no turns!



Kyle's sweet friend Bre went with us and she really loved the new tube too! I LOVE this picture of Ashley-her facial expression totally sums up her tubing experience!

Here are the straight and fast guys!

They got so brave that they decided to even let go for a minute-Uncle Chad made them pay for their cockiness by doing some Crazy 8's!

Kyle and Bre bouncing on the waves-she was the brave one for sure!

Trying some tricks while the boat was NOT moving:)

Sweet sweet David loves the boat more than anyone. He is Pop's co-pilot!

Sweet Hope took a snooze in the shade.

Aunt "Net Net" was sweet and went swimmng with Dave. He has gotten so brave swimming in the lake with his life jacket on!

I think these three cousins may have exceeded the weight limit of the tube but they certainly had such fun. We love spending time at the lake with family and friends. The week days at the lake are usually so quiet and peaceful.

Somehow Uncle Chad talked David into tubing with him and he did it! We were so proud of him-thanks Uncle Chad!

There goes Uncle Chad and Dave!!!

Sweet Clayton looking like a true first grader with his front teeth missing:)

Uncle Chad checking on DAvid! When the ride was over he yelled "more!" He really loved riding the new tube!

Finishing up the ride with their crazy windblown hair!

I cannot believe summer is winding down. We got to check class lists today and my boys are so happy! They both have wonderful teachers and lots of friendly faces in their classes. This Momma is happy because my boys are happy. Knowing that they are going to have a great year makes it a little bit easier to think about putting the sunscreen and beach towels away for the summer. The Summer of 2011 has truly been wonderful and I am so thankful that I have had so many sun-filled days with my babes. The days may be a little crazy sometimes, but I am a blessed Momma to get to spend each summer day with my kiddos. I pray that these are precious memories that they will keep with them forever-I know I certainly will.

Our Summer List

Well, the first day of school is on the horizon so the kids and I are finishing up our "must do" summer list. In our county there is a wave pool and we went there yesterday for an afternoon of fun. We had two hours of fun before a nasty storm ran us out. No problem though, because we have rain checks to come back!!

Here are my three in the water waiting for the waves to be turned on! Hope is so funny these days. We typically do not let her wear bikinis where her belly is fully hanging out but the bathing suit she is wearing in this picture is a two piece but just fits together. I guess it is technically called a tankini. Anyway, she hates for it to ride up and she will yell for me to "pull my belly down" if it rides up!

This little water girl loved the calm when the waves were turned off. It took her an hour to like the waves!

This picture is sweet because David would hold her on his lap at the shore when the waves would start because she was scared. Sweet sentiment however, then the waves would just splash her in the face!

Warming up a little to those waves....

This picture cracks me up because last year David was the one crying about the waves and here he is out there enjoying them! He has truly come so far this year with his swimming.

Here are Kyle and Grace. They were so brave and here is Kyle butterflying through the waves.

This cutie loved the mushroom best!

My little water bug. We really had such a fun afternoon with friends at the wave pool. It is only about 20 minutes away but we usually only venture there once a summer. My friend Suzanne and I both mentioned that the wave pool can be pretty stressful to keep them all safe. Her two boys were braver than she wanted them to be and we were both on alert. Hopefully next week we can take advantage of our rain checks and head back one more time before the school bell rings.

I can tell that my boys are getting excited to start school. Kyle is so anxious to find out his teacher and to see what friends he knows in his class. We already know David's teacher since he will be repeating first grade, but we are excited to see his class list as well.

Today we are going back to the audiologist to revisit David's hearing issues. Earlier in the summer the audiologist reported that David had moderate hearing loss in his left ear due to fluid. The ENT wanted to wait and see if the fluid went away during the summer to see if tubes would be needed. I am anxious to see if the fluid has gone away or if he will still need tubes before school starts. I used to think that getting tubes would be so sad, but now I just want him to hear well so he can learn well. I really do not want to face surgery in the next week or so for him, but I also want what is best for him. God is in control and for that I am extremely thankful.