Raising Robinsons in 2015

Happy New Year!

Today I'm recapping our amazing, fun, lovely, adventurous, growing, learning and joyful 2015. 
Whew! We were busy. But every day was filled with love. 

January
In January, we celebrated our big boy turning three! He had a Paw Patrol party and couldn't have loved it more. 

I mean...that face. Love his spirit. And I CANNOT believe he is almost four. FOUR! So thankful for these captured memories. 

February
In February, Ryan and I both hit the ground running with work. So family time was so precious to us. We spent long days away from the kids, so knowing we had family and an amazing friend to watch our kids was something we did not take for granted. God blessed us in abundance with a new sitter  for the kids this year. Kendra and her family are more than an answered prayer. And she is way more than a babysitter. She has become one of my closest friends. And I love her family like my own. 

We love our Wednesday date nights with Pops!

March
In March, we were still in survival mode...preschool, work and family summed us up! Busy and fun.  We started getting pretty bad cabin fever-so we booked a Florida trip for May since we didn't go on Spring Break. 

Also, at 16 months, Kerigan took her first steps!

April
In April, our sweet Bailey went to heaven at the age of 13. We had her since I was 16 and a sophomore in high school. She was more like a sister to me than a dog. The sun shined a little brighter the day she went to heaven. I think she was telling us that she was okay.  I'm sure the first thing she asked Jesus was if she could swim in His swimming pool. Love that precious girl. 

We also attended our first MS Walk in honor of my beloved mother-in-law. We had a pretty great team despite the cold and rainy weather. 

May

In May, Briggs graduated his first year from preschool. We are so proud of the boy he is becoming. During his time in the 2's class, he went from being a toddler to such a big boy.


Towards the end of May, we took our first vacation as a family of four to Orlando! It was such a great vacation full of precious memories.

June

In June, Daddy came home from the Army...for good! We are so thankful for his service and sacrifice. But wow! What a world of difference it has made since he's all ours now.


This is where we spent all of our free time. Either at our neighborhood pool or Yaya's pool. I think I told Ryan 972 times that I just love June. I love it!


We capped off June with an extended weekend get-away to Nashville, IN. Our trip to Brown Co. included lots of hiking, exploring and eating...all to the tune of "Homegrown"

July
In July, we celebrated America every chance we could get. Indy is great in July because there's always something going on. We attended free concerts, parades and dance parties. 


Party in the USA!

We celebrated the 4th at the lake house with family. And we spent a lot of time on the water.  Thanks to Aunt Bev-o and Papa Tim for always including us as a part of the family.

We also introduced the kids to our county fair. The fair is so special to us-it was such a big part of our childhood into high school. The kids got to experience their first ferris wheel ride too!

August
In August, the kids both started back up at school. Briggs is now in the 3s class and Kerigan was accepted into the PDO class. They both go on the same day and for the same time period. We just love their school, the community and school family so much. 

We also soaked in all things State Fair. There's nothing more Hoosier than the Indiana State Fair. We love this place. 

We had to visit the Glass Barn for our farming family. <3

I think 3 out of the 4 Fridays in August, we came to Traders Point Creamery for the free concert and petting zoo. This was one of our favorite summer hangouts. 

September
In September, we celebrated my 30th birthday by meeting up with both sides of the family in Nashville, TN. I love all things southern and country...so this was the perfect spot with the perfect people. While in Nashville, my sister announced to us that they were expecting their second baby due in May 2016! What an awesome birthday gift!!! 


September was also the month Briggs scared us with his hospital stay...but with prayer and careful watch he made a full recovery. Praise Jesus!! I love this family so much. I'm so thankful God chose them to be mine.

October

In October, we visited our home away from home. Our happy place...Siesta Key.


This was Ker's first visit to the beach in which she could walk...I think she liked it.


The family engineers building sandcastles, of course.


We made a day trip to visit Mickey for his Not So Scary Halloween Party. Briggy's happy place. I'm so thankful we got to experience this with Yaya and Papa too. Such special memories.


We got to spend a lot time with Uncle Scotty since he moved to Florida in August. We toured his beautiful school and are already planning our next visit.


We did all things Halloween in October. Zoo Boo, pumpkin patches and trick-or-treating.  October was packed with fall fun.

November

In November, our baby turned TWO! We celebrated with a purple tutu party. She had the best time singing and dancing with all her sweet little friends.

Thanksgiving brought unusual beautiful and warm weather. So we took full advantage with outdoor family pics. This is a lot of the Vargas crew who live around Indy. I'm so so thankful that the Robinson crew celebrates with us too. Don and Ryan's brothers will never know how much it means to me that the merging of the Vargas and Robinson family happened so seamlessly. Our families are one. 

December
December was really special for us. The kids are starting to understand the real meaning of Christmas and truly how much Jesus loves them. We try to focus more on His birthday and how He was the best gift ever. I am so proud of them. Their prayers to Jesus are beautiful and their love for Christ is growing. After Jesus, they are our greatest gifts. This life is so much more joyous when we step back and focus on what really matters. And that's Jesus, friends. 

One of our favorite things about this December is that we took a family road trip to Memphis,TN. This is home to Uncle Scott and Aunt Mel. Uncle Lance's basketball team had a tournament here. So it was the perfect opportunity for family, Christmas and basketball -->Love language for any Robinson

Love this family!

On Christmas Eve, we attended our church's service. It was beautiful and all about Jesus and His love for us.  He loves us so much that He came down to love us, teach us, die for us and save us. Nothing can separate us from God now. Thank you, Jesus. Just, thank you. 

Christmas morning, brought smiles, happy tears, gift giving and laughter. The kids made gifts for us at school and were so excited to give them to us. Even Kerigan zoomed right to the gift she made so she could watch us open it. Their handmade gifts were my favorite this year. 

Our sweet girl couldn't contain her excitement. 

After Christmas morning at our house, we headed to Yaya and Papa's for brunch and gift exchanging. Then the rest of the day consisted of a lot of ping pong...and naps for the kids and I :)

The cherry on top of 2015...was finding out I'm going to have a nephew!! Ryan, Kara and Kinsie had their reveal this week. We're SO excited for another boy in the family. Briggy did a happy dance all night :)

2015, you were so wonderful to us. We have deepened our faith and have grown so much this year. There was SO much good. And there was some pain too. But that pain was with a purpose. And that purpose was Jesus. That purpose was love.  God bless you all!
And again, Happy New Year!!!

Our December 2015


December proved to be a wonderful month of celebration and family time. It was a good balance of busy and cozy. We started off with Polar Express, made a trip to Memphis, celebrated a lot of family birthdays, gave our fireplace a makeover, visited our family's farm and celebrated Jesus's birth all throughout. It was a pretty special month for our crew.


This is what the kids have been up to this month:
  • They have a new love for "warm" cocoa (not hot)
  • Briggs is really into Christmas movies. Especially Mickey ones.
  • He has really wanted to help...with everything. Baking, wrapping presents and stamping Christmas cards are his specialties
  • On the farm, he had special compassion for cow #10
  • Kerigan has been battling viruses here and there...but she came back on top by Christmas
  • They love practicing for their preschool Christmas programs
  • Learning about baby Jesus has made Kerigan especially obsessed with babies 
  • Every time we asked Briggs what he wants his new baby cousin to be, boy or girl, he responds "whatever it is" 
  • His favorite Christmas present and obsession is Disney Bingo. He would play it all day erryday if we let him.
  • Kerigan is still my little velcro. The only exceptions are her teacher, Miss Kendra and Yaya. She'll go to them. But daddy is working on softening her heart towards him. She'll come around...one day. 





Here is our video to celebrate this month:

We pray for a blessed 2016 for y'all. Happy New Year!

Our Christmas 2015


We hope you had the Merriest Christmas. Ours was very special. For the first time ever, the Robinson and Vargas clan spent the entire Christmas day together. Both of Ryan's brothers and our sister-in-law made their ways from across the country to snuggle in and have a great family day.  My sister and her family stayed for the majority of the day as well. Nothing better!

We have a lot of traditions leading up to birth of our Savior. The most important is that we focus and worship our King. We love the sparkle and glitter of this beautiful holiday- but nothing outshines that sweet baby boy. I'm so thankful our kids know this and are loving the Christmas Truth and its significance. Briggs kept telling us that "Jesus is the best part about Christmas". You got that right, kid. 

Here is a recap of our Christmas:

The kiddos were helping mom with gift wrapping and  finishing touches Christmas Eve. They love to help. 

She's loving White Christmas. Its been my own tradition since I've lived with Ryan to watch it every Christmas Eve. And now I have someone who appreciates it too. A girl after my own heart. 

Walking with Papa at our Christmas Eve service. 

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus one more time before we left church. <3 <3 <3

Christmas Eve dinner at Yaya and Papa's in our Christmas jammies!

Early Christmas morning, I snuck downstairs to document Santa's work ;-)





We made Santa our favorite M&M cookies. I think he liked them. 

Then then kiddos woke up around 8am. And the real magic took place :) Some of my favorite home videos growing up are the ones my dad took of us Christmas morning. I love that B and K will get to watch the magic of their mornings through videos like this: 

Briggs loves looking through stockings first. 

Joy

Our little artist was so excited about their new easel. 




Then after exchanging gifts at our house, we headed over to Yaya and Papa's to celebrate with everyone. 

Kerigan loved her new baby doll crib...a lot.

Briggs and Uncle Lancey pumped over Mickey magnets

Christmas chaos 


My kids LOVE popcorn. So Aunt Mel and Uncle Scott's gift was genius. A Mickey Mouse popcorn machine. And for K, jammies are optional while enjoying the popcorn.

Making a Christmas parade at the end of the night. 

We hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. May the light of Jesus shine in our hearts all year through.
Merry Christmas! Love, The Robinsons