Thanksgiving 2014

Oh my full and grateful heart. I love Thanksgiving. I love my little family. And my big crazy family too. I love laughing together and eating together and dancing together. I love holding on tight to the things I am the most thankful for. And the pie. I love all the pie.

 First place on my thankful list for six years now. 

Colter is now too old for pictures. 

The dream team. 

Thankful for the open mouth slobbery kisses we get from this kid all day everyday. 

 Playing some Madden and pulling the EXACT same face as Landon. 

My sweet mom helping Jack with his turkey.

Matching Family Sweaters. 

 Pie on his face. 

 

Pie on the wall. 

The Tree is Up

I used to be very set on absolutely no Christmas- anything until after Thanksgiving. Then I met Parker. The tree is up. We have already watched White Christmas several times. There has even been Christmas music. It is all in full swing over here. They talked me into it. It seems Parker's love for all things Christmas is hereditary. To be completely honest… I am pretty happy about it. Maybe these two are making my Grinch heart grow a few sizes.
I guess it all works out though. Because as we decorated the tree as a family, I felt pretty thankful.
We are all geared up for round two of the holidays with Jack. He was so itty bitty last year, this year is going to be a lot more fun. I'll probably say the same thing for the next several years. Until he gets all teenagery. Last Thanksgiving he sat and slept on my lap through all of dinner. I have a feeling he won't be quite as well behaved this year.
Parenthood is really fun. I mean it.  All the warnings people tell you are true. It is hard and you have to make sacrifices and it is a huge responsibility. But parenthood is so much fun. Marriage is fun. Being a family is fun. Anything in this life that is worth having is going to require "hard work". But it can still be fun, and bring so much joy and laughter.
I hope I can always remember decorating the tree with these two. Their excitement. It was wonderful. We really do have so much to be thankful for.

Little Helper

Jack likes to "help" us do whatever we are doing. He likes to "help" by taking our clean clothes out of drawers and putting them in the dirty laundry hamper. He likes to "help" clean up by taking all of his shoes and throwing them in the garbage can. He likes to "help" in the kitchen by rearranging all of the kitchen cupboards and taking everything out of the pantry. After he finishes "helping" he always claps for himself. It is pretty darn cute.
He is also hiding things lately. I recently found my shoes tucked away in his toy box.  My phone always ends up under his stuffed animals in the teepee. Oh and the remote. He will hide it anywhere. He likes to put it in his dresser drawers.
But he really does like to help. He will help me put all of his toys away. It sort of makes my heart melt. Especially when he starts clapping once the room is clean.  Then of course it is time to make a mess again.
Last Saturday he got to "help" his dad and uncle Ryan hang up the Christmas lights. He was in heaven.
Parker he is already watching you. He wants to be just like you. So you know.. don't mess up. 

Family Night: Thankful Tree

I LOVE this time of year. Thanksgiving is the best. What a great reminder to slow down and count our blessings.  We started a new tradition this year that I am really excited about. Jack is way too young to understand what is going on but we included him anyway. Hopefully in a couple of years he will really like it! For family night we made our first ever Robertson Family Thankful Tree.
We cut out a tree and leaves from construction paper. Let me tell you it looks pretty snazzy. First we put our tree tree on the wall. Then we spent all evening writing down things we are thankful for on the leaves and hanging them on the branches. We helped Jack hang some leaves with things we know he is pretty thankful for.
It turned out looking like this:

We made sure to hang it high enough that someone couldn't pull it down. It is a patchwork of badly cut construction paper but I love it so much.  I can't look at it and not smile. We really have so much to be thankful for! I am planning on doing this every year. 

Sundays Are Hard

I am just going to say it. Sundays are hard. 1:00 church is right during nap. We have seven more Sundays until we switch to the 9:00 block and yes I have been counting down for awhile.  My son likes to throw things during church. He likes to make a run for the pulpit. A while ago he stole an old woman's walker and pushed it down the hall. He crawls under the benches. And over them.

But Sundays are also wonderful. Exhausting. But really wonderful.  We do the very best we can each week and it's all worth it. The time spent out in the halls, the tantrums thrown over not being allowed to play in the drinking fountain. It really is worth it.
And Sunday evenings are pretty great too. Especially ones spent watching movies from inside the teepee.

Little Jack Frost

I have a little boy who loves to be outside. He craves the fresh air and open spaces. We have to have outside play time everyday. He needs it as much as he needs to take a nap or eat dinner. Every morning after breakfast Jack and Dax beg to go outside. 

We had an unusually warm October so we played in the sunshine. 

But November came in and the temperatures dropped. So we played in the snow flurries and frost. 

He cried and cried when I finally made him come in. We are getting our snow gear ready because I have a feeling we won't be staying inside a whole lot this winter. 

Just because I love them here are two more pictures. 

Jack napping with his favorite stuffed dog Leroy. 

A gem my mom sent me while she was watching Jack one night. My dad was fixing the dryer and Jack wanted to "help".  They had to find a way to keep this walking tornado contained. 

Halloween Night

Our little dragon boy had so much fun last night. My sister had such a fun Halloween Party and Jack loved being with so many little kids in costumes. It was everything I hoped it would be. Everything it should be.
Jack is a trick or treating prodigy. Yes that's a thing. He seriously ran from house to house with a big grin. I don't know if he caught on that he was collecting candy, or if he just liked dropping things in his jack-o-lantern bucket. On the way home we let him open a sucker though. He was on cloud nine.

 A dragon, a princess, and a knight in tinfoil armor. 

Jack was thrilled to take family pictures.

My brother Ryan and Parker being awesome dads. 

Best. Halloween. Yet. Can't wait till next year.