Merry and Bright

As every year, Christmas day consisted of tearing into too many presents for a few hours and then playing with them all day!  Shaye and Syd got new bikes, Santa brought a ping pong table for the whole family, and there were plenty of toys to go around!

Jaxson giving Shaye a thank you hug for the Texans pennant she got him all by herself.

 Sam made Jaxson this lego table so he could keep it in his room and have a place for all the pieces and a place to build them.  Legos are such a pain - I mean, so fun!

Shaye also got Sam a gift on her own.  She picked out a baseball that says All Star DAD and a bat to go in his office.

Guess what Paigey got for Christmas?!  Bad news - she made a giant mess. Good news - she loved it and it was all gone that day!

 Then it was time for Christmas dinner.  We had turkey, ham, and all the usuals.  Afterwards, GG and Grandpa headed home and me and Aunt Colie took the 3 older kids to our annual Christmas night movie.  Another holiday season come and gone.  I always hate it when its over!

Traditions

I love traditions!  We have a few we do every Christmas Eve with the kids.  This year we did them at GG and Grandpa's house so Brooks, Leah, and the boys could do them with us.

First, the cookie decorating contest.  If course if there's kitchen work to do Paige is on the counter helping.  Everybody decorates a cookie or two and then they are judged.  The kids love this activity.  I mean cookies, frosting, and endless toppings... why wouldn't they?!

This year Sam and Brooks did the judging.  There are several categories to choose from and fun prizes to be won.  Serious competition.  :-)

 We also always read the nativity story from the Bible.  Grandpa or Sam will read it and the kids usually use a fabric nativity set and put out the pieces when the story calls for that.  This year, to accommodate more kids, they dressed up.  Grandpa read and the kids played their parts.

Then we exchanged gifts with Brooks' family and headed home to put our beautiful cookies out for Santa.  But not without getting a few Robinsons family photos!  The second picture is a reenactment of an old family photo we took all staggered and with sunglasses - super cool!

Christmas Eve with the Springers

We had a great Christmas Eve day out at Chic's house.  The weather cooperated better this year andit made for a lot of fun outside!

Jaxson was super anxious to open his presents this year.  He has gotten accustomed to only having to wait till Christmas eve when everyone else waits till Christmas, so he wants them immediately!  We held them off long enough to eat the yummy lunch that had been prepared and then in they went.

Jaxson got the bow and arrow he had been asking for!  He was thrilled!  Daddy's little boy right there, and daddy has a bow so Jax must too!

After lots of great gifts, it was time to play!  Chic has a 4 wheeler and they spent hours on it.  And when it was somebody else's turn they begged to ride on the lawn mower.  I'm so glad they can do these things at his house.  That is one major bummer of living in the city.  I miss all fun we had riding 4wheelers and motorcycles growing up as a kid in a small town.

Kyleigh loved riding around with her daddy or Poppa.

Jaxson spent quite a bit of time siting his bow in and by the end of the day he got quite good at hitting the target.  Sydnee played with her lala loopsy doll and we all enjoy sitting out and visiting with Pappy.

Christmas Happenings

Right after Thanksgiving, it was tree trimmin time!  I LOVE Christmas time and wanted all the decorations up as long as they could be, so the next morning we got to work.  The kids always enjoy decorating the tree.  We had all the ornaments at the bottom of course - which had to be remedied later when they weren't looking!  

On December 13th, Sydnee had her Christmas concert at her preschool.  Poppa, Emmy, and Grandpa came to watch her.  She was very excited!  This is her waving to us as her class came down the aisle.  She is so sweet, you know, most of the time.

Her class sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Jingle Bells and two others.  After the concert their were refreshments and Sydnee presented us with a gift - a plate with her "Mistletoes".  Very cute!

 

Tis the Season...

With Fall and Winter comes ear infections and colds.  Paige, like Jaxson, seems to have double ear infections every time her nose runs.  The ear tubes worked wonders for Jax, but the doctor here in Houston hasn't been as quick about letting us get them for Paige.  This trip to the doctor was actually for Sydnee.  She had had a cold for some time, and it turned into a sinus infection and an ear ache.  Paige knows how this doctor stuff works so she hopped up on the table by her big sis!  And yes, it was still warm here in December - in the 80s, so it was not there shorts and t-shirts in the winter that caused this sickness!!