Bowling

I wanted to take the kids bowling on my birthday, but Hannah had croup so we were stuck in quarantine. Since Jaclyn was out and about visiting people, we decided to have Mom come bowling with us the Saturday before Christmas. Matthew loved bowling. He was so fascinated, and had such fun rolling his ball down at 1 mph. Hannah was not so excited about bowling. Her shoes were way too big, to start with. Eventually, we got one of those tracks to roll a ball down. Matthew used the track a few times, but preferred to do it himself.  Hannah slowly warmed up to bowling. At first you had to carry her over and force her hand to push the bowl. By the end, she would walk over, help carry her ball to the track, and then push it by herself with two hands while smiling. Mark and I did well. I did surprisingly well my first game, and even managed to get a strike at the very end. Mark hit several strikes his second game, but the bumpers kept messing him up since they slightly impede at the front of the lane. Poor Mom was not happy that the shoes did not let you slide at all like they should, so she took a nasty spill, and her game was thrown a bit off. Overall, it was a fun family outing.

Visiting Santa Claus

My neighbor had told me about a local diner that has free pictures with Santa Claus and an inexpensive hayride through the lights at Layton's city park. My kids had never sat on Santa's lap before, so we decided to go for a visit. Unfortunately, the restaurant was crowded and Matthew was really tired, so Santa visit's didn't go super well. We put Katherine on Santa's lap first, and she started crying. Then Ayden and Matthew wanted nothing to do with Santa. Hannah managed to take a decent photo, but Jonah was very iffy about the whole situation. However, the hayride was a blast, and the kids loved having shakes afterwards. They quickly learned that Grandma Pingel was super willing to share her shake with them.

Katherine and Santa

Hannah and Santa

Jonah and Santa

Mark and Hannah

Ayden, Steve and Jonah

The Robisons

Hayride

Mom and Ayden

Mark and Hannah

Matthew and I

Feed me, Grandma.

Photo shoot

The kids were being super cute, so I whipped out my camera and we had a fun little photo shoot this morning.

Aunt Anna and the box

On Sunday, Anna came over to drop off Christmas presents from herself and Mark's parents. And even better: she brought a big box. She got the kids to color the box, and then they had fun playing inside it. What a fun aunt.

Aunt Anna is here!

Let's color a box

Hannah in the box

Matthew and Hannah

Let's all sit in the box

Being Cute

A random collection of cute pictures of the kids from the last month or so.

Watching trains on Youtube

Hannah boo

Love that smile

Reading books together

This looks like a comfy spot to watch tv

Hannah and I

Ready to go

Take my picture, too.

What cuties

Uncooperative Hannah

One day I'll get her to quack on camera.

Thanksgiving

We had a fun Thanksgiving. Mark's younger siblings stayed most of the weekend, along with John's girlfriend -now fiancee- Brooke. On Thursday morning, we had the annual Robison Turkey Trot. Matthew and Hannah were excited to line up for the race, but didn't realize they were supposed to start running. They refused to move, and we had to put them back in the jogging stroller. I successfully managed to farm out all the jobs for dinner, so I personally was in charge of nothing. We started rearranging furniture trying to figure out how to fit everyone in. We decided to take our dining table outside on the deck since the weather was so nice. Unfortunately, our turkey took way longer than we wanted, so by the time we actually ate our dinner, it was a bit chilly outside and getting dark. But we persisted, mostly because it would have been a huge pain to move the table. We had a mixed gathering of my family and Mark's family. Along with his siblings and Brooke, Mark's cousins Matt and Jonathan Dunstan came with their families. On my side, my brothers Benjamin and Aaron brought along their families. It was a fun weekend.

Reading with Uncle Michael

Ready for the Turkey Trot

Runners get set

Matthew and Hannah forgot to run

L to R: Matt and Kate Dunstan, Mark, John Robison, Brooke Davis, 

Benjamin Pingel, Anna Robison, Michael Robison, Ali and Jonathan Dunstan

L to R: Matthew, Olivia Dunstan, Melissa Pingel with 

Katherine Pingel, Aaron Pingel, Hannah and Ayden Pingel

Jess and Daniel Pingel

What a cute smile

Mark and Michael

Reading with Uncle Michael

Let's watch "Mr. Grinch"

Aunt Anna

Johnny and his fiancee Brooke