Christmas with the Robinsons

We went to Idaho for Christmas this year and had a wonderful time. It was a short but well worth trip. We finally closed on our house on Christmas Eve!! That was a great Christmas present to Cam and I! We are house shopping and looking at our first one here in Riverton tonight, we are so excited.

The great thing about going to Idaho for Christmas is all the cousins. I love that my kids enjoy being with their cousins, they have so much fun. This year was especially fun because we had Crystal, Melanie and their families sleeping over.

Cameron's mom made the kids pj's and they all looked so cute, she did a wonderful job. It looked like a toy land Christmas morning, there were 8 kids that were on the good list this year:)

It was a very full filling Christmas and so good to be with family.

Here is what the kids got from Santa:

Austin-soccer goal set and 40 yu-gi-oh cards

Greta-a doll house that I even love to play with

Alina-a barbie princess castle vanity

The kids were spoiled rotten, they got all that plus what we got them. Cameron was also spoiled rotten, he got a Wii for Christmas and you can tell by the photo he was surprised. I've been keeping that a secret for over 4 months, it was so hard!!! I did it though:) My dad and brothers all had a bet going on if I could keep the secret or not, I did, so there!!:) Cameron also got me a ruby necklace, it's beautiful and I love it.

Christmas with the Egans

The kids got to open up their presents early with my family. They were so excited and could hardly wait until church got over.

Austin got the coolest Yu-Gi-Oh card holder with about 400 new cards in it from Grandma and Grandpa and a basketball arcade game from Tessa and Kevin.

Greta got a Bella dance video and she tried it out right then and loved it! Her and Alina put on their princess dresses and danced all over. She also got a puppy in a purse from Tess and Kev.

Alina got a toy piano with a microphone from G-ma and G-pa. She's such a little performer. She also got a puppy in a purse from Tessa and Kevin.

Caden and Carson opened up their presents from Tessa and Kevin so they wouldn't be left out. We got Caden the "Pizza Elmo" it sings the most annoying song, but it's really cute, the pizza even sings and Caden loved it. He also got blocks from Tessa and Kevin.

It was great, family time is awesome!!!

Temple Square

We haven't been to Temple Square at Christmas time for about 3 years. It was nice to have kids old enough to not have to worry about the cold as much, and they could all walk on their own.

There were so many people there. It's nice to know that so many people in Utah even if they aren't mormons can appreciate the beauty of Temple Square. We love to go there and love the spirit that we felt.

Cameron took some great pictures!

Home Alone

Alina watched Home Alone for the first time and when it was over I asked her if she liked it and what happened in the movie. Here is what she said, in her own words.....

Boy Home Alone
monster came (bad guys)
boy screamed AHHHHH (she put her hands on her face just like the famous scream)
boy hide in room

Her little scream caught me off guard, it was so cute. We now ask her to do the scream all the time. It's so adorable, look and see for yourself..... However it's sideways and no matter what I do I can't change it.

Our Newest Christmas Tradition

I went to our Relief Society dinner and this tradition was shared with all of us. Luckily a friend of mine in the ward is very good with wood and she made me this manger. It's perfect in it's simplicity. The idea is that you bring out the manger and a bag of straw after Thanksgiving. For every good deed done and for every act of service you get to put a piece of straw in the manger. The goal is to get the manger as soft as possible for baby Jesus to be lain it Christmas morning. My kids are on fire with doing good deeds. It's really been a blessing. They also had a lot of fun picking out a doll to represent baby Jesus. Alina takes the doll everywhere and makes sure he always has his blanket.

Here is the poem that goes with this tradition:

The season for giving is coming

Is the Spirit in your home this year?

If the Christ Child were coming to visit

Would He find you have room for Him there?

The way to add Christ to your Christmas

Is to live as He asked us to do.

Feed the hungry and cheer up the lonely

Act with kindness the whole season through.

For each good deed add straw to His manger,

And soften the small Christ Child's bed.

"When you've done it to one of the least of these

You have done it to me," He has said.

Soon your heart will find joy in the giving,

And your manger will fill up with hay.

You'll have room in your home for the Savior

As His love rests with you Christmas Day.

Special Visitor

Austin, Greta, Alina, Caden, and Carson had a big surprise tonight......Santa came to see them. They all sent a letter to him about 2 weeks ago. They have been patiently waiting for a letter back from him, but he surprised them with a visit. He told them that he only visits the very best behaved children and they made the list.

The all sat on his lap, except Greta and Alina had to have dad there too. He remembered their lists and also knew all about what they were doing in their life. He even gave them a bit of advice on how to improve on some behaviors.:)

Austin is a true believer. Santa brought him a pack of Yu-Gi-Oh cards and every single card in the deck was a new card to his 500+ collection. He's never gotten a deck that didn't have at least 3 duplicates. It even had a card with a tiger on it, his favorite animal. He was astounded, so were we:)

He brought Greta and Alina matching cases of makeup. We are in for some fun. Alina got into Greta's makeup from her birthday and oiled her whole head with body glitter. I've washed her hair 3 times and I can't get the glitter or oily look out. We'll see how it goes with the new makeup.

Caden got a book and Carson got a teether. Caden wasn't scared at all, he even gave Santa a high five when he left.

It was so much fun! To make it even more magical 2 minutes before he showed up it started snowing. We already have a good 4 inches!

The kids can hardly wait for Christmas, they are going to be very happy with what Santa has in store for them Christmas morning.

There are 3 more posts after this one. I've been really busy this week and didn't have time to get them on every day so scroll down:)

Living Nativity

We had the opportunity to see a live nativity last night. It was so amazing! A stake in Draper has done it for the last 7 years and we just found out about it this year. We were lucky to find out, yesterday was the last day.

The costumes were amazing. Everyone played their part very well. There were shephards herding sheep in the field we walked by. The wiseman were looking for the star. And then they had a building set up to be just like Bethlehem. They had merchants, beggers, and someone telling us there was no room in the inn. Then we got to baby Jesus. They had a real newborn baby that was quietly sleeping. Everyone was very reverent and the Spirit was very strong. The kids just stared, we held up the line for a good 5 minutes. It was one of the best Christmas experiences we have ever had.

Gingerbread House

We made our first gingerbread house on Tuesday! The kids had more fun eating the candy then putting it on the house. It turned out great! We have to watch Alina closely though, she moves chairs around to sneak a taste!

Snow!!!!

On December 1st we got our first major snow storm. It was a great way to start December. Shan-the kids were so upset you missed it, only by a few hours. Did you see snow falling while you were flying back to New York?

We went to Matthew and Melinda's to build a snowman. Alina just laid flat on her tummy and ate snow the entire time. Then she found a raquet to pick up the snow with and munch on it that way. Her little face was so red, but she loved it!

Caden and Alina went to the backyard and turned on the water faucet and there was still a bit of water coming out so they thought it would be fun to take a little shower. Then we heard screaming because their hands were so cold. Those two, they can't be left alone for a second, they are both devious, but adorable!

Austin and Greta loved the snow, they never complained about being cold, it was a beautiful day that was perfect!

Doesn't my nephew Carson look adorable all bundled up! He's the most content baby I have ever seen. He just sat there and watched us play and smiled everytime we looked at him. He's adorable.

We all had some hot chocolate afterwards that Alina spilled all down the front of her so we got to see the naked dance the rest of the time we were there!

It snowed so much! We were so glad to have snow this winter, we missed it last winter! And it's snowing again right now!!

Enchanted

My sister Shannon and I took the kids to see "Enchanted" last week on Greta's birthday. The girls wore their princess outfits and put makeup on. Austin even got out of school early.

The movie was so cute, very cheesy, but a great movie. Even Alina sat through the whole thing and she never sits through anything. Go take your kids to see it, it's great!