Merry Christmas!

"Tommy Did It"

Little Cam was diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech about 4 months ago.  In simple terms there is a breakdown of the ability to form words somewhere between the brain and the mouth.  He tries to talk but the words are often unintelligible.  Speaking is extremely effortful.  It has been so frustrating for him (and me at times) when he tries over and over again to tell me what he wants and I just can't figure out what he's saying.  He manages to use a little bit of sign language and comes up with a lot of his own in an attempt to get his message across.  There have been days that I have just started crying, I feel so bad for him and his inability to get his message across because I can see how disheartening it is for him.  But on a happy note he has been going to speech therapy 2-3 times a week and we have seen some good improvement in his ability to verbally communicate and yesterday he said his first 3 word sentence!  We had the Lever's over for dinner and Tommy is just a month younger than Cam.  They have spent a lot of time together over the past 2 years and Cam adores Tommy.  They played so quietly together in Cam's room while we visited and after they left I went into his room and saw that they had been very successful in tearing his room apart.  There wasn't a toy left on the shelf or in a basket or bin.  When I asked Cam, "Why did you dump ALL of your toys out all over your room, it's a mess?" he responded, "Tommy did it."  I laughed because I knew Tommy had help and I laughed because I was thrilled with Cam's ability to communicate these three words to me!  It's amazing the things we take for granted, like something seeming as simple as the ability to speak.      

Cinco De Mayo

I  have the best cousins ever!  My cousin, Janet, came out to watch the boys so I could go to a conference in Palm Beach with Jared.  I went for walks and runs along the beach in the morning, sat on the sand and read a book and when Jared was done with classes at noon we went out for good eats, went boogie boarding and sea kayaking.  It was fantastic R&R!  I wish I could say the same for her "vacation."

Jared and I got home on May 5th and were welcomed by a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta!!  There were Mexican flags, tissue paper flowers, a pinata and 3 little sombrero clad muchachos, complete with 'staches!  It was adorable!!  Janet was so cute with the little guys, they all adore her!!  My boys may have been more excited to have her come stay with them than I was to go to Florida, and I was pretty excited for a little break!  They all had a blast and I have to admit I was a little jealous of all the fun they were having with Janet.

A few pictures of the muchachos at the fiesta!

We gave Janet the honors of breaking the pinata open after the boys gave it a valiant effort.

'Stache Kisses!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! 

Marathon Madness!

I did it!  I ran another marathon.  The cheesiest marathon to be exact (Wisconsin Marathon) and it was pretty cheesy.  I ran, I laughed, I sang, I ran, I questioned my sanity, I cried, I smiled, I ran, and ran some more and I finished 26.2 (or 26.55 according to garmin) in 4:13:24.  I had hoped to finish closer to 4 hours but there's always next time!  I still beat my last time and considering the craziness in getting there and that I only got 3 hours of sleep the night before the race, I'll take it.

We had hoped to leave home at 3:30 but all piled into the car at 4:33, one hour behind schedule in true Robbins fashion.  With a 5 hour drive ahead of us we could still make decent time and were hoping for decent traffic going through Chicago.  Just as we were pulling out of the driveway we got a call from Carmen, my friend who was also running the marathon and who we were meeting in Kenosha.  They had broken down in Jackson, MI and needed an alternator and couldn't find one in Jackson.  After driving around trying to find an alternator we finally found one and headed out.  I think Jared may have been a little over confident in his ability to help Alan change their alternator.  After 3+ hours they finally had the new one in.  We called in some take out to the Olive Garden just up the road, loaded the kids back in the car and started to leave.  The Hillstead's weren't following us, we circled around.  Their car now wouldn't shift out of park.  They must have done something wrong.  It was now after 8:00 and we decided to call it a loss, loaded Carmen and her stuff in our car and headed to Wisconsin (after dropping her family off at a hotel).  I felt terrible leaving Alan and their kids stranded in the middle of Wisconsin with a broken down car but there wasn't much more we could do.  We finally got to Kenosha at 2am.  A little less than ideal the night before the big run.  I had quite a bit of anxiety at this point and didn't sleep great for the 3 hours I was in bed and finally got up and got ready for the race.

The forecast had said rain, which I was dreading.  I was thrilled to head outside bright and early to be greeted by the sun!  The first half of the race was great, I was keeping a good pace, just under 9 minute miles.  The sun was shining off and on again, the scenery was gorgeous - right along Lake Michigan, and there was a good amount of crowd support.  At mile 12 the marathon and half marathon split and it didn't take long to realize the marathon crowd was sparse.  My split at the half marathon mark was 1:58 and change.  I was doing pretty good!  At mile 18 I could feel the exhaustion start to kick in and I started to slow, I was having a hard time keeping pace and was running around a 10 minute mile.  After "holding it" for 4 miles I finally spotted a port a potty at mile 18.5 and made a quick pit stop.  At mile 22 exhaustion took over, everything hurt, my arches, my toes, my ankles, my knees, my hips, my quads.  I had muscles aching that I didn't even know existed.  I asked myself why I thought running a marathon was ever a good idea and swore I would never do another one.  Everything from the waist down was screaming at me to stop.  I wanted to stop and walk, rather my body wanted me to stop, period.  I couldn't stop.  My goal when I ran my first marathon was to RUN a marathon, no walking (with the exception of the few steps it took to take a drink at the water stations).  I couldn't let myself walk, so I kept on trudging.  There was a lot of self talk going on between miles 22 and 26.

Just before mile 26 I spotted my boys and their neon signs cheering me on, my heart melted, I got a huge smile on my face and I started running faster.  I blew them kisses and kept on trudging for the last little bit.  They ran across a park and greeted me once again right before the finish line.  They were the best (and cutest) cheerleaders ever!  

I crossed the finish line and wanted to collapse.  I kept moving and soon realized my teeth were chattering and that I could see my breath.  It really was cold out there.  I finished!  A little slower than I would have liked but I finished!  The post race party was very Wisconsin, brats, beer and cheese, go figure!

I was online 2 days later looking for another race.  That's the crazy thing about running...it's very addictive.

Shiver me Timbers, such swashbuckling fun!

This little pirate is 5!!!

We had an abundance of madness with

9 little pirates for the par-tay.

Lots of swashbuckling fun with pirate stories, games, a treasure hunt and of course a pirate ship birthday cake!

Heavy, heavy, hang over your head,

What do you wish John with a bump on the head?

I love freezer paper...it makes it so easy to make the perfect shirt to complete the pirate party get-up. 

Lumpy the snowman even got in on our pirate action!

The cutest pirates I've ever seen!!

Happy Birthday Gage!! You are the sweetest 5 year old in the whole world!  I love your hugs and kisses and that you still love to cuddle.  You have so much energy and spunk, I love it!  You know what you want and you go for it, I love you're determination -- except for when it contradicts what I want :)  I love you little man...never forget your promise that I will be your best friend forever!  

PHEW! Birthday month is over...3 birthdays in 4 weeks is exhausting!

He's Famous...

...or so Carter says.  Carter's Cub Scout troop was on the front page of the Royal Oak Review.  Of course I missed it!  One of Gage's classmates saw the picture and showed it to her mom exclaiming, "look mom, Gage is in the newspaper."  I guess they look a little bit alike :)  She asked me about it and I had no clue because of course of all the times I've read the dinky little newspaper from front to back, the week my kids in it I junk it without even taking a peek.  Well, a friend send me the link and here Carter is in all his notoriety and prestige, hehe.

photo by Patricia O'Blenes of the Royal Oak Review

Celebrate the BIG Day Mad Scientist Style...

This week Carter wants to be a scientist when he grows up, and actually it's been the future profession of choice for a several months now.  So when his birthday rolled around we celebrated mad scientist style, with dry ice, exploding soda geysers, kool-aid concoctions, exploding "atoms", slime and lots of laughing and fun.  We got into costume and went to work in the lab.  When I started dressing the boys in their white coats and goggles and doing their crazy Einstein hair one of the boys yelled, "Makeovers!"  Too funny!  Even little boys like to get makeovers of the right variety.

None of Carter's friends have baby's at home.  It's so fun to see them dote over Camden.  They insisted Cam get a scientist makeover too!

Our Kool-Aid mixers

 Such a fun party, probably my favorite so far!  Happy Birthday C!

They're Home!

My mom and dad came home from their mission in Austria last month.  In some ways the 19 months went by really slow but at the same time I find it hard to believe their home!  I didn't think I would be able to get home when they returned, but thanks to a credit card offer from Southwest that was too good to be true (2 free roundtrip tickets just for signing up for the card and using it once) the trip home was suddenly affordable.  All of my brothers and sisters were able to make it home, it doesn't happen often enough with 7 kids.  It was such a sweet reunion.  The hardest part was being reminded of how hard it is to live so far from family!  Look at all these great cousins my boys have!



My mom admitted that she fully expected to see me but was VERY surprised to see my boys (I hadn't told them I was going to be there and was hoping to surprise them).  Once she saw Rustin (he managed to book his flight so that he was on their same flight from Atlanta to Phoenix) she knew I would be at the airport.  She said she knew I wasn't going to be the only one not there, and she was right!  However, I could tell the surprise in seeing my boys was genuine.  Once they got on the other side of security all of the grandkids ran to give them hugs.  Mom started the rounds of hugs and kisses and the look on her face when she leaned over to hug Carter and realized who she was hugging was priceless.  "Carter!" she exclaimed, "how'd you get here!?!"  So fun to all be together again, even if it was for just a few days!

Grandma and Grandpa meeting Cooper and Amelia for the first time.  Tiffany was brave enough to have twins while my mom was gone...not that she planned it that way.

My parents got home on Camden's birthday and sang him a very special Happy Birthday song.  Being with Grandma and Grandpa may not have been his birthday wish, but my birthday wish for him came true!

With all 17 grandchildren. 

Sisters are the best!  We became even closer while my parents were gone, they became the ones I leaned on while my mom was away.  Love you guys!