Vacation Day 1

Yesterday, we made the drive to Aunt Katie's house!  We left around 8:40 a.m. and made it to the outskirts of St. Louis before Momma stopped for a bathroom break.  A few minutes back on the road, and Julianne was out for her first nap!  We had packed lunch meat sandwiches (lunchables for the kiddos), so we kept right on rolling through the lunch hour and nap time.  We made another stop in Mt. Pleasant, IA; and as luck would have it, there were many trailer loads of tractors leaving town.  The boys were in heaven getting to see so many antiques while pumping gas!  By the time we reached Waterloo, all three kiddos were sleeping.  They all slept for a little over an hour, talk about a quite van ride!  We were so extremely pleased with how well everyone did...especially Julianne.  She has never been a good traveler, but she rocked this trip.  The last 20 minutes, she was pretty unhappy, but we could handle 20 minutes of a 10 hour trip!

While we were driving, Pa-paw, Ma-maw and Aunt Lisa (they drove out on Tuesday), we running errors for Aunt Katie.  One of which included picking up drinks for the reception...

Today was spent making the cakes for the reception.  Aunt Katie baked some of them last week, and Ma-maw finished baking the others yesterday.  After an extra trip to the grocery for more icing coloring and supplies, we were able to get the 6 sheet cakes and the tiered cake decorated by mid-afternoon!

Those are (peppermint) snowflake candies on the sheet cakes that I had made last week!  I also made some smaller ones in red and white to have on the dessert table at the reception.

The bottom two tiers are styrofoam, the top tier is a real cake for the bride and groom to cut at the reception.

After finishing the cakes, and cleaning up a bit, us girls headed to the "city" to have a little pampering!  We went to the beauty college as the other places in town seemed to be highway robbery for the price to get your nails done.  Ma-maw, Aunt Lisa, and Aunt Katie had both manis and pedis, while I went for just a pedi and Reba got her fingernails polished.  In the end, we all had a good chuckle about the gals that did our nails.  Let's just say my pedi and polish took the same amount of time as the other's manis and pedis!  Either my gal was really slow, or their's were really fast!

A few before shots...

Then, Little Miss got bored and started using my camera...

She was pretty excited to spend the evening with the girls and to get her nails done.

Until next time...

Fun Friday Fotos

Last Friday, while on the way north to spend the weekend with grandparents, Doug and the kiddos decided to pass some time by having fun with the camera...

 

Until next time...

Thanksgiving

Late Tuesday morning after Reba's doctor check up, we headed northwest to Iowa!  We had decided to spend Thanksgiving at Aunt Katie's.  After about 10 hours on the road and very little napping, we arrived. 

 

Doug and my dad went pheasant hunting on Wednesday in nearly 60 degree weather!  The "women" and children stayed at Aunt Katie's and did prep work for the feast.

 

On Thursday, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, followed by naps and football :)

 

Black Friday found Doug and my dad hunting again; only this time the high was in the low 30's and wind gusts at 30+ mph!  My mom, sisters, the kiddos and I went shopping for some deals; but believe me, we were not out there with the die-hards in the wee-hours of the morning!

 

Saturday morning started with some family pictures, and in the afternoon, we headed to Belle Plaine to visit with Reba's godparents.  We spent the night there and attended Mass at our former church, and then headed back to southern Indiana!

 

Doug had Monday off from work, so we spent the day working outside.  It was getting near naptime and Reba wanted to go in.  I helped her get the door open and went back to help Doug with a project.  When I came back in the house, this is how I found Reba...I guess she was a little worn out from the trip.

and yes, that was the only picture I took between her birthday party and returning home...

Until next time...

My "Golden" Birthday

That's right, this year I turn 30 years old on the 30th.  So why it isn't actually my birthday, we have already celebrated here at home.  Doug left Friday morning for work and headed to Georgia to help that group with their harvest.  Since he knew he would be gone, he took the kiddos shopping early in the week and let me open my cards and presents a week before my birthday :)

Reba showing off the art work she did on my card

Opening my card from Reba

Dallas opened the card he picked out for me

Reba picked out some new flip-flops for me - she knows her momma loves shoes!

Dallas picked out a new bird feeder for me and a big bag of feed (Dallas was explaining to me that we can hang the feeder out by the swingset so we can watch the birds eat while I push him in the swing...always thinkin' that kid!)

Doug also took me out to dinner before he left.  We ate at a local sushi restaurant!  It was the first time I have had sushi and it was really good.  As we were leaving the restaurant, Doug said, "I expect to see this on the blog."  I replied with, "Why didn't you have me take pictures then?"  So I apologize for no pictures.  I must be getting forgetful in my "old" age.

Until next time...

Family Vacation!

Well, we have been back for over a week now, so I guess I should start blogging about our big family vacation to Wisconsin!  For the last several summers, the Robertsons have vacationed at the Iowa State Fair.  Since, Doug, I and family no longer live there it was more difficult for Pa-paw to bring the sheep out for the fair; therefore, we decided to do something different this year.  We decided to take a trip!  We decided on Wisconsin Dells.  Over the next few days, I will be posting photos from our trip.  Enjoy!

We left on Friday, June 15.  We had planned on hitting the road at 7 a.m., but of course, we didn't leave until a few minutes before 8!  We met Pa-paw, Ma-maw and Aunt Lisa in Covington, IN (home of the Beef House!)  From there, we headed west to Bloomington, IL, ate lunch, and then headed north to Wisconsin.  Doug, I and the kiddos broke off around Dekalb, IL, and went to meet our friend, and Dallas' godfather, Fr. Chris.

Fr. Chris gave us a tour of his church where I snapped this quick photo of the kiddos in front of a huge, beautiful stained glass window.  I saw quick because they were much more interested in moving after having spent around 8 hours in the van.

We then went out for dinner at a local Mexican resturant, and we were able to visit and catch up with each other.  Before parting ways - so we could continue north - I was able to get this picture of Dallas and Fr. Chris.

We ended up taking a two-lane highway "across county" from the Chicago suburbs, and it didn't take us long to cross into Wisconsin and see those famous dairy farms!  Most of the farms were the "old" family farms, but we did find this rather large operation along the way.

The kiddos did very well on the drive - it took about 12 hours in all for us to get to the Dells.  Little Miss was able to catch a few naps along the way!

Once we arrived in the Dells, we met back up with Pa-paw, Ma-maw and Aunt Lisa, got checked into the hotel, and then crashed for the night!

Until next time...

Side Trip on the Drive Home

When we left Aunt Katie's house, we stopped by the Williamsburg area to visit friends.  We were able to see many of Doug's former co-workers, our former neighbors, and Reba's Godparents (and friends from church).

At our former neighbor's house, the kiddos took a liking to their bunny! 

It was a fabulous end to our vacation to see so many friends!  Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedules to visit with us.

Until next time...

Christmas in Iowa

This year, we took the Robertson Christmas to Iowa to Aunt Katie's house!  We were excited to make the trip back to Iowa, and the kiddos were excited to get to open presents two weeks before Christmas!

Both Reba and Dallas loved tearing in to the presents.  They started out waiting their turn, but by the end they could care less what everyone else got as they were just focused on their gifts :)

Thanks again Aunt Katie for having us. We had so much fun!

Until next time...

Early Trick-or-Treating

We were up to visit the grandparents over the weekend, and since we won't be around for Halloween, we thought everyone would enjoy a little trick-or-treating fun!

Dallas was very insistent on the cat being in the picture.

We also went to see GG (Great-Granny)

The kiddos loved playing with the chalk at GG's apartment.

I thought this was a good one with Ma-maw

Next weekend we are dressing up again for Boo at the Zoo!  I hope the weather stays decent and that the kiddos enjoy it.

Until next time...

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

As most of you know, last week, the kiddos and I traveled to Iowa with Ma-maw, Pa-paw, Aunt Lisa and GG for the state fair.  Here are a "few" of the pictures from our trip!

Dallas decided Aunt Lisa's boots were a perfect fit

Don't see these in southern Indiana!

Welcome to Iowa!

Playing a little peek-a-boo to pass the time

Getting ready to see some of the fair

Dallas fell asleep right as the sheep show started

Reba on the other hand was wide awake

After Dallas woke up, he and Reba helped in the ring

The entire Triple R Dorset flock

We ate breakfast at the Machine Shed one morning, this pig was outside

Then, at the fair, Dallas got a chance to "show" a pig

As did Reba

A couple cool cats, Aunt Katie and Reba

Too much fun

After naps and lunch, the kiddos each had a turn going down the giant slide
Dallas went first

Reba went next

Lots of time was spent climbing on the tractors and equipment

Look what we found at the FFA exhibit - a purple Oliver!

Momma and Dallas on the sky glider

Aunt Katie, Reba and Aunt Lisa on the sky glider

Ma-maw, Reba, Dallas and Pa-paw at supper

On the trip back to Indiana, Dallas had to check on the sheep at every stop!

Until next time...