3 months later...

Wow...it's been a long time since I've posted anything on my blog. I've been really bad about this, but can I use the holidays as my excuse? I know...I know...the holidays don't last 3 months. Anyway, here is what has happened in the last 3 months. In a nutshell.
October 2009: Colten was sick for about 7 days and missed an entire week of school. Joel had a birthday. Joel's grandfather, James Shipman, passed away on October 21st and we drove to Texas and spent a few days with family and attended the funeral. He was a wonderful, godly man and is now with his Savior forever!
November 2009: Joel and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary. We spent Thanksgiving at my Aunt Mary's house and deep fried a turkey.
December 2009: We went to Louisiana and Texas for the Christmas holiday. We spent 3 days with Joel's parents at their home in Alexandria, LA. Then we traveled to Fort Worth to have Christmas with all the Yeats and Shipmans. We got home on the 28th, which was my dad's 60th birthday! On New Year's Eve we stayed all night at my parents so we could have our Christmas together.
January 2010: On the 2nd, we had a "somewhat surprise" birthday lunch for my dad at The Seasons in Nashville, In with his brother and sisters. That night, we took Addison to the hospital. She had been sick with a high fever for 5 days, had stopped eating and drinking, and began vomitting. We found out she had pneumonia and was dehydrated. They had to start an IV on her and couldn't find a vein. They ended up putting it in her head - so scary! That lasted only one night, she pulled it out the next day and then it took them around 2 hours of probing and poking to get another IV in her. Those were some of the hardest days of my life! She stayed at Riley Hospital for 2 nights. She recovered pretty quickly and is now doing great!! The next weekend, we went to Chicago for Joel's Snap-On Kick Off meetings. My mom and dad and grandma went with us and we stayed at the beautiful Westin in Lombard, IL. It was a nice place! We were all sick with sinusitis and colds...but still managed to get over to IKEA. Some of us are still sick!
Well, that's what we've been doing for the last 3 months. Joel will be traveling alot over the next 6 weeks or so. So, it's going to be a very cold and lonely winter for me! I hope it's not another 3 months before I post again...I guess, we'll just wait and see. Here's a few pics from the last few months.

My beautiful kids playing in the leaves.


Joel and I on our 10th anniversary in downtown Louisville.

Papa J praying with his grandkids after reading Luke 2.


Snow in Texas??


Papa J, Ema and all 7 of their grandkids.


My handsome Colten


My beautiful Addison


The Yeats Christmas card

Addison is 1 year old!

I can't believe my baby is a year old! She is becoming quite the little lady. She loves baby dolls and walks around patting her baby on the back. How does she know to do that? It's so cute! Addison had a great birthday weekend with her Grammy and Papaw and Ema and Papa J. It was a Hello Kitty theme, because she loves kittens. And Tricia made her a beautiful birthday outfit for her to wear to her party - it was adorable! And she LOVES to wear that tutu - she is ALL girl! Happy Birthday, Addy!










Getting ready to sing happy birthday and her foot goes right into the cake - YUM!

First Day of School!

Colten started school Monday and he loves the first grade! He tells me he has 2 recesses - wowee!


Here we are walking into his new school. It worked out so great that Joel was home and able to go with us on his first day!


His teacher's name is Mrs. Maze - she is the one in the back wearing blue.

He was so excited about all his school supplies - he couldn't wait to use them.

It was a great day - I'm so glad he gets excited about school right now. I know it will change in a few years though. I'll enjoy it while it lasts!

Summer is almost over :-(

It's back to school time again! Colten is so excited to start a new school and make new friends. I can't believe he starts 1st grade on Monday!

Addison is really starting to get the hang of walking. She's not all the way there yet, but she is taking 3-4 steps at a time. If only she would wear those walking shoes...she'd be running all over the place by now. She loves pushing her Pooh push toy, but screams when she hits the wall or couch. She hasn't figured out how to turn it around quite yet. Addy also has a love for cats - I have NO idea where this comes from. She can say 'CAT' very clearly and gets excited when you meow or if she sees a cat. It's so funny!

Colten, Addy, and I went to the Hendricks County Fair with Becky, Kayla, Shawna and Jadon not too long ago - it was pretty boring, because we went on the last day and all the animals were gone. But we still managed to have fun together!





Here's a great pic of Addison a few days ago. She fell asleep in her jumper - this NEVER happens, so I had to get a pic!

Summer of '09

It's August 1st! Where has this summer gone? Colten starts 1st grade on the 17th and Addison will be 11 months old on the 24th! It's time to start thinking about her 1 year birthday - I can't believe it!

Addison is so close to walking. Yesterday, she took a very small step by herself, but fell to her knees. She can stand by herself for minutes at a time now. And she doesn't need any assistance standing up either, she just does it from the middle of the room! It won't be long now until she's running all over the place!

Colten is very excited about starting 1st grade and at a new school. He just finished taking swim lessons at the high school and even jumped off the diving board! He didn't even hesitate...just walked right up there and jumped right off (his teacher was there to catch him, of course).

It's been a hard summer for Joel. He has been out of town just about every week, only coming home on the weekends. We did manage to fit in a vacation to Pigeon Forge for our Robinson Family Reunion in June. It was a great week! Joel's mom and dad came for a visit at the end of June - we had lots of fun with them. Tricia, Madeline, and Micah were here at the first of July. Tricia and Maddie stayed one night with us and we went to the zoo the next day. It was so great hanging out with them. Then in middle July, I had my high school reunion. It's been 14 years since I graduated - I can't believe it! They had an alumni tournament and it was great to see all those familiar faces. Melissa (good friend from high school) came up from Texas and we were able to spend some time together. Oh...then there is CoCo Key Water Resort in Chicago! Joel had some meetings at the first of July - so Colten, Addy and I went with him and we stayed at a hotel with an indoor water park. It was sooo much fun! Well, that's about it so far for this summer. Hopefully, I will start posting more often. Hope everyone has a great end of summer!

Robinson Family Reunion at Dollywood in Pigeon Forge

Father's Day - Addison showing off her standing skills.

Papa J and Ema with Addy and Colten - getting ready to watch the fireworks!

CoCo Key Water Resort - Colten had a blast! We couldn't keep up with him...

Addison had fun at the waterpark too!

At the zoo with Tricia and Maddie!

I miss Tricia - why does she live so far away?

Colten is showing his "Face the Fear" pose that Papa J taught him!

Tricia and Mae

Me and Melissa

Class of 1995 - give or take a few!

Colten's 6th Birthday!

Colten turned 6 years old on Saturday. I can't believe he's 6! Where has the time gone? Kindergarten is almost over and he'll be in the 1st grade. His graduation is May 22nd - here's a pic of him in his cute little cap and gown. I just love the crooked smile!

For Colten's birthday this year, we decided to go to King's Island instead of a big party. Our great friends, Becky and Andy, and their 3 kids went with us along with my mom and dad and my grandma. We had such a fun time!

It was a very windy day, so we tried to Addison out of it as much as possible. But, of course, she's way too nosy! She has to see what's going on.

Our first ride was the Scooby Doo Haunted Castle. As you can see...it was VERY SCARY!!

The kids were so brave riding the roller coasters...

Time for the Fairly Odd Coaster or better known as The Beastie! Here we are climbing up the hill - the anticipation made us giddy!


And we stopped to have Colten's birthday ice cream - Dippin' Dots!

We had so much fun that I hardly took any pictures. :( Of course alot of my time was taken by waiting in line for their new coaster Diamondback. Andy and I stood in line for over an hour - which isn't too bad for a new coaster. I didn't even get a picture of it - it was so much fun.
(Here's a pic of Diamondback I found on the web...shhhh - don't tell anyone!)

We even got to ride it in the front row, which was really intense...but AWESOME! Here we are at the end of the day, getting ready to go home.