coming up to breathe

It has officially been over a month since we last posted on our blog, so needless to say things have been crazy!

- We had the kids Curious George themed birthday party
- Becca had the stomach flu the night before the party and still had the strength to show up and put together a party.
- Becca has a great group of girl friends that really helped out at the party.
-We moved out of our rental and purchased our second home.
-We purchased on a Tuesday, painted that night, and moved in starting the Thursday before the kid’s party.
-Directly after the birthday party for the kids I had a couple friends help me move on Friday & Saturday. The entire time we were moving, both Grace & Becca were sick with the stomach flu.
-I apologize to Bobby & Kayden, for they came to help us move and both got sick with the stomach bug.
-Becca and the kiddos got in a car accident on the way home from Branson.
-Spent that evening in the hospital with Ben to make sure he was fine.
-Becca has some lingering back issues and an arm that continues to fall asleep,
-Grace was closest to the point of impact and she was the least impacted by the accident.
-I highly recommend the new Dodge Caravan’s. The other drivers Ford F-150 pickup was totaled with full air bag deployment and we were able to drive away from the scene.
-Ben has had a couple head bleeds but they have been caught right away and the nurse has been here within hours.
-What a blessing it is to have a nurse on call for Ben. Ben’s medicine is so expensive that if we order it through a particular home health care company, they provide nursing for free. They bill our insurance but we don’t have a co pay. Anyways, anytime something happens with Ben, all we have to do is call our nurse Terri and she drives 3 hours from Little Rock to give Ben a shot that takes 5 minutes.
-Becca’s Mom & Grandmother came to help us unpack.
-We all got sick as soon as we moved in and getting settled in our new home has been a challenge. So, we were extremely grateful when Debbie & Betty offered to come help us unpack.
-Grace got her first big girl bike with training wheels.
-1, 4, 28, 30. That is the new ages of the Robbins family since we last posted.

-Next Steps – I know nothing is as pleasing as pictures so as soon as my precious wife has time we will get some pictures up.

Let the Birthday's Begin!

Happy Birthday to my precious husband and my dear dad, the two most amazing men in my life! Kirk is the exact age dad was when I was born. I couldn't ask for two better fathers, to have been raised by and to raise my own children. May you both be blessed with a wonderful year ahead, filled with health, joy and comfort. I love you both so very much!

Simplify

Okay, I really, REALLY should be packing and not wasting my precious time posting on this blog. But as I was packing I've been thinking about how much we hate moving, yet, we've done it so much that it's really become part of our lives. And, while I can list a dozen negatives about moving, the one positive that I love about moving is it gives me a chance to simplify. Every time we've moved, I've thrown out, got rid of, gave away, sold, left, about 15% of our household items. I have a general rule: if it hasn't been worn, used or played with in the past year (or in our case, since our last move), we get rid of it! Books and wedding gifts are my only exception to this rule. I even secretly go through the hubby's collection of music and movies (come on honey, if you haven't noticed, then you're not missing it!) In the last week, I've made two trips to the Salvation Army and have another pile I'm adding to. I love it! It's refreshing and it's therapeutic, inside and out. It reminds me that materialism is all relative. Do we really need all this STUFF?!?! So, in the midst of complete chaos, simplicity lingers. Okay, gotta get back to work packing and simplifying.

Sticky Fingers

I know every mom (and grandma!) can relate to this. I'm going to start blogging about my 'interesting findings' or better yet, stuff that has a place, but ends up (due to sticky little fingers), in some place it's never been before and an unsuspecting mommy would never dream of looking in!

In the past few weeks, I've found:

-Moon sand in my garlic press
-My blue tooth in my toothbrush holder (hey, at least she was maybe relating the "tooth" commonality!)
-My missing bottle of prenatal vitamins from months ago in a toy bin

Oh, the joy of those sticky little fingers!

Kid's soccer 101

Awww.....we knew it was coming, we have looked forward to it, yet dreaded it at the same time.

This Fall marks the beginning of our 18+ year journey of kids and sports. My guess is that Grace, just like her dad, will do much better emotionally and socially when she is involved in sports. And while Kirk still credits his years of football, soccer, baseball and track to much of his character, drive, competitiveness and self-discipline that makes up who he has become as an adult, I'm looking at Grace and thinking "we have a loooooong way to go"!

Let me describe our first few soccer practices. First off, since we were late in getting registered, Grace could only get into the league if Kirk agreed to coach (very cleaver tactic on the league's part). So, by default, Kirk is now the head coach of team "Black 2" in our local kids soccer league. In the U4 (under four) division, there are about 12 teams of 12 kids each. They practice and have their games on the same field (divided into about 12 mini fields) at the same time every Saturday morning for the next 6 weeks. Some really bright person with a horribly dark sense of humor decided to make every single team the same color, and every kid the same number...#3. So, if you're doing the math, that's about 144 three-year-olds, all wearing black #3 jerseys, running in about 33 different directions (because 3 year olds really don't have a clue yet about the concept of staying inside the white lines and kicking the ball into a goal).........all on one big field! Ironically, the majority of team "Black 2" has blonde hair. Whew!

To top it off, in the 24 hours before the first practice, Kirk got about a dozen calls from parents asking questions about where, when, rain, snacks, attire, etc.

Honestly, we really have NO IDEA WHAT WE'VE GOTTEN INTO!!!

Ben's trick

Wednesday funny