robisoncrew

Emily's Birthday

2010-09-11T20:53:00.004-07:00

Emily celebrated her friends party this weekend at Jungle Jim's. Emily is a very happy, energetic, and load girl that love to play with her older brother Dallin.

Reid's BDay

2010-09-11T20:27:00.004-07:00

Reid had yet another birthday. He had a great day though. First breakfast on the balcony . . . blueberry pancakes, hash browns, eggs, sausage and OJ. Then he went on a quick run before he had a massage, out for Indian with me, and then golf with his brother and father.

Then we had Korean food at his parents house, topped off with cake and home made ice cream. Reid loves to try new food on his birthday. It is always lots of fun to try new things!

Emily

2010-08-10T11:31:00.003-07:00

Emily drew this picture over the weekend. As it says on the picture, it is the Super Babies! It looks like the twins with red capes. From what I can tell, one of them has lasers coming out of his eyes, and the other one has some kind of super power coming out of his hand.

Emily is so darn cute! She loves to play dolls with Amanda, and she loves to play all of Dallin's "super duper games that have so many rules that Amanda can't stand it" games. She loves to dress herself, and she isn't concerned with how she looks as much as if she is comfortable. Oh, and, she has a very loud voice! ;)

Emily insisted on taking swim lessons again this summer because she still didn't know how to swim. I put all 3 kids in round number 2 and after their first lesson yesterday, emily could swim! She was just sooo proud of herself, it was adorable! Good for her for working hard at something she wanted really bad. :)

Let's Sit on Daddy's Head!

2010-03-09T14:58:00.002-07:00

Hair cuts

2010-03-09T14:43:00.003-07:00

I got the boys hair cuts today. I wanted to grow is out long, but that wasn't working for me. We went to a place where they watch a movie and eat suckers while they cut their hair. It worked out great for them, and finally I didn't have hair all over me. Can you believe this is their 3rd haircut? They look very grown up now that they are walking and have short hair. They are finally talking too. Henry says ball. That was Dallin's first word too. James say "no, no" and shakes his little finger. They both say "da" for dog. Can't wait to hear some more words (and less crying) coming out of their mouths.

Funny thing:

When I change James' diaper, Henry likes to hand me one wipe at a time as I need it. He thinks it is his job to hand me the wipes. He is very serious about it.

Hawaii with Twins

2010-02-19T10:09:00.006-07:00

In Oct. we went on an adventure that we would never forget . . . we took the whole family to Hawaii! Reid had a conference there, so we decided to get out of the house and go for it. We haven't been on a vacation since, so maybe it was more traumatizing then I realize. The plane ride there was ok. The babies would cry for about 10 minutes as they fell asleep. The tricky part was keeping them to sleep. You couldn't move, and eventually you either had to go to the bathroom, or a body part fell asleep on you. The older kids did great. They just took care of themselves and each other. Once we got to Hawaii, I felt like it was all worth it. We had a hotel room with 2 bedrooms and a living area, so the babies got all their naps in, and the older kids got to watch TV in their beds.

Emily's Photo's

2010-01-17T15:25:00.003-07:00

Karenin did a photo shoot of Emily about a week ago. All the pictures are so cute! She did a couple of the boys too. James is in the darker shirt. Can you just see how handsome James will be when he is older? Henry is in the light brown shirt. Emily is really growing up. She loves Kindergarten, and she is a super reader. She doesn't hold still, but her teachers don't complain about it. Her and Dallin have become little buddies. Amanda likes to hang out with Mom and Dad. We like having Amanda around too. She is just so easy to get along with. Dallin reminds me a lot of his uncle Mark . . . always coming up with games for his sisters to play.

2010-01-17T14:59:00.002-07:00

Here is Henry showing you his B Ball skills. This reminds me a lot of Dallin when he was a baby.

Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman

2010-01-15T21:55:00.003-07:00

Emily and I built a snowman a couple of weeks before Christmas. Up at our old house, we didn't get a lot of good snowman snow (wet and heavy, not dry and light), so she has no memory of building a snowman before. I couldn't believe that it took less than 15 minutes! I was really glad we got a chance to do it while the babies took a nap.

For the couple of family members that haven't seen our new house, here is half of it!

Ready for Take off!

2010-01-09T09:04:00.004-07:00

Dallin started scouts with a new troop since we moved. At the first Pack meeting they did a rocket launch. The boys had to put together their own rocket before the came (a kit). The rockets went so high into the air that you could only see a dot. I think I distracted Dallin cuz he launched his rocket a little bit late. It still went plenty high in the sky. Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Gardner were in town for some more tests for my Dad, so they came along to see it. It was a lot of fun!

A New Year

2010-01-01T10:03:00.004-07:00

For New Years Eve we had a kid friendly party. We rang in the New Year at 10pm with balloons, noise makers, and confetti. The kids loved it. We played a little rock band, and a game where you had to find the candy in a pile of whipped cream (no hands of course). We had wonderful food, and wonderful company!

Christmas

2009-12-27T14:37:00.004-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Grandma and Grandpa Robison along with Jamie, came and spent the night. So we got to have Christmas morning at our house and have company to share it with. We read the Christmas story from the Bible the night before, and Christmas morning we had the traditional Robison Christmas Breakfast with blueberry pancakes, sausage, and eggs. Grandpa Robison made most of it. He has a great recipe for sourdough pancakes, and he knows the secret of making the best scrambled eggs.

The funniest thing that happened was when I lost a toy down the kitchen cabinets. This year we had to store all the wrapped presents out of reach from Henry and James, so I put them up above the kitchen cabinets. While I was getting them down, one dropped all the way down to the floor. It was small and tiny enough to get by putting chewed up gum on the end of a broom stick. Thanks Jamie for the idea!

Henry and James turn 1

2009-12-27T14:21:00.004-07:00

I can't believe that I survived this year! I couldn't have done it without Reid. Twins is very much a two parent job! Last year at this time I was holding crying babies about 3 hours a day and feeding babies about 2 hours a day! I do feel like it has gotten easier, but mostly because I am sleeping through the night and I have my health back (and my body!). Here are some pictures from their birthday party. Some say it was a bronco's themed party, but please notice that the blue is baby blue.

coming out of retirement

2009-12-27T10:30:00.003-07:00

And you thought our blog was gone forever... nope, we're back. We just took a 3-6 month hiatus because of a little something we like to call James & Henry. So, while all our faithful readers may be gone, long since given up on us, we're going to post a little love from time to time for posterity's sake.

movers and shakers

2009-09-20T10:16:00.000-07:00

We did it. We escaped our quiet little mountain house at 7000 ft just in time for winter.

: not even the biggest uhaul could house our clan

After 6 months of trying to sell our house, a buyer came along. Well, two of them actually.. it turned into a bit of a bidding war after nothing for months. So we did a little celebratory jig, and then frantically rushed to get make the SLC house habitable.

: Lisa casually packing up her belongings for the leisurely move

: One of the twins (don't ask who) helping with the packing efforts

Lisa devised a pretty nice system of packing one room a day for the couple of weeks leading up to the big moving day. It worked out well, but no matter how hard to you try, nothing really prepares you for the pain of moving day.

: James (?) enjoys a ride on a fat kid pizza (coincidence), while my parents help us pack in the background

: the twins swept the floors of the old place with their army crawls and fuzzy pj's

In our cheery optimism, we agreed to bump up closing a week, but of course things on the other end don't always go as planned and we ended up with a floor sanding/staining project going on as we were moving in and still going on as we were all crashing on the floor in the lone finished room.

: we slept on a mattress in the old place up until closing day, then slummed it on the floor in our new bedroom too

The new place has come together pretty quickly. Because of the work going on, we had to just throw everything in the garage for the first few days (week?).

: floor to ceiling stuff

We owe a big thanks to everyone who helped us get ready for the move, survive the actual moving day, and help us get things moved around and unpacked in the new place.

: Lisa & Diane feed babies amidst piles of boxes

: the first supper on the new deck.. bombay house takeout (notice how everyone is making a funny face)

Everything has taken about twice as long with twins. Unpack a box, console a crying baby, unpack another half a box, pick up a baby, keep unpacking, change a diaper or two..... But we're getting there (slowly).

: the new front porch (minus the house number that I magically made disappear with one swoop of the iphoto retouch tool)

: where's emily?

: 'twas the night before moving in

kungfu twins

2009-09-19T10:16:00.000-07:00

kung fu twins, originally uploaded by reidjustin.

James & Henry Kung Fu fighting

blogging is like pulling hair

2009-09-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

IMG_0346, originally uploaded by reidjustin.

Hello. Anybody out there? We're back in the blogosphere. Our last post (albeit a brief one) was just a month or two ago, but I'm guessing all of our thousands of loyal readers have been slowly fading away after many disappointing visits to robisoncrew dot com, only to find nothing new. I keep trying to get Lisa to officially take over the blogging responsibilities of the family, but that's not working out. So I have a bit of catching up to do... Where to start? Hmmm... Our big move to SLC, kids starting school, Emily's bday, mine, NYC trip, etc...

i heart ny

2009-08-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

boo york, originally uploaded by reidjustin.

Just got back from NYC with Dallin and my dad. We had some good times, and Dallin took approximately 167 photos. He says he is planning his biggest blog post ever (including some polls!!!!), but in the meantime, here's a look at people looking at new york.

funny day

2009-08-04T10:14:00.000-07:00

Today James fell asleep for his nap with both legs sticking out of the crib slats.

Later today, I dropped Dallin and Amanda off at a golf camp. On the way back home I noticed that Henry was cracking up. I looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Emily was ducking down behind the seat, so I assumed that Emily was playing some kind of peek-a-boo game with Henry. Henry kept cracking up and I looked in my mirror again, but this time I saw that Emily was actually asleep. Henry wasn't laughing at a peek-a-boo game, but he was laughing at Emily's sleepy head that was bobbling back and forth as I drove around the corners. Too funny.

--Lisa

wipedout

2009-08-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here it is. We're on a blogging roll. Yet another video coming your way, live from Dallin's 10th bday party wipeout course:

petting zoo

2009-08-03T10:13:00.001-07:00

zoo, originally uploaded by reidjustin.

Don't feed the animals

wipeout

2009-08-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

"Take that Katy!" says Lisa, about her wipeout ball cake, complete with fondant and all

Yesterday was Dallin's bday bash, with a wipeout theme. If you don't know what wipeout is, click here.

Henry watched intently (and chewed on his swing) while we set up the course.

The kids had fun, and I have some good (funny?) video footage that I'll try to post soon.

For the wipeout course, you start on the zip line, and go over the stream and land in a kiddie pool full of jello. You then run to the blow-up waterslide while dodging flying water balloons. After sliding down, you proceed to the doughnut station and try to eat a powdered sugar doughnut off the string while powdered sugar falls from the sky onto your head. The last step is just to walk across a pool noodle over the river to the finish line. Nothing to it.

And here he is.. the young man of the hour. 10 years old today:

(check out this photo)

And this is how the Moyers came dressed for the wipeout party:

While they do look sharp, it wasn't very practical for the muddy obstacle course.

Disclaimer: Lisa didn't really say "Take that Katy!" .... And you might think Jason was wearing a white shirt to impress the father-in-law, but they actually just came from a baptism.

please sir, may I have a smore?

2009-08-02T10:10:00.000-07:00

We haven't gone camping this summer (or even last summer, for that matter) for some strange reason. So we decided to set up camp in the yard, and just stay up late watching the stars (while the babies sleep in their cribs).

Before dark, however, we needed to indulge in some perfectly toasted smores:

The secret is putting some good chocolate on the graham cracker and placing it somewhere near the heat so the chocolate melts... and of course the golden brown marshmallow, roasted patiently to perfection.

Our big tent has a nice panoramic screened moonroof, and the stars are just amazing up here in the woods. So we'll have to do it again soon since Dallin just got a little telescope at his birthday party yestserday.

in flanders fields

2009-08-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Where have all the robison blog posts gone? Well, we ran into some technical difficulties: 1. No more storage left on picasa web albumns, and hence anything you upload to blogger.. didn't want to pay the $20/yr 2. Malfunction in the iphone camera phone (the source of many blog posts), but I fixed that last night 3. A decision between picasa vs. smugmug vs. flickr for photos, and smugmug vs. youtube vs. vimeo for videos... We went with a flickr pro account for $25/yr which gives unlimited storage for photos (including the original huge jpg file) and short videos (up to 90 seconds). Still deciding what to do about videos (youtube for free, or vimeo paid account). Anyway, that's all ancient history now and we're back with a few stories to tell.

Here's a sneak preview of what may show up on our blog if we can find a few spare moments to organize our thoughts and our photo library.

We went to Boise to stay with aunty Jo Jo. Our collective 10 kids make quite a crowd at the pool

The babies took turns eating an octopus

Jack made some funny faces

Lisa made one of the babies cry by not sharing her popsicle.

But the twins had fun trying out their cousins' toys.

.. and Jack continued to make funny faces

.. like his dad...

Homecoming behind the scenes

2009-07-14T05:54:00.000-07:00

My parents big homecoming talk and open house was on Sunday, with a huge turnout.

What they probably didn't notice was the party their little grandkids were having while they were entertaining missionaries:

--

smokin'

2009-07-05T19:31:00.003-07:00

Jamie is such a great uncle. He teaches the kids fireworks safety:

(Emily sprinted away as soon as Jamie started though..)

And then taught them how to play dodge ball with smoke bombs:

happy 5th of july

2009-07-05T07:17:00.001-07:00

July 4th photos coming soon(?). Here's some random video footage to tide you over

casey wandering from Reid Robison on Vimeo.

Prodigal parents

2009-07-02T21:31:00.002-07:00

My long lost parents have returned, after 3 years in the west indies. Yay!

For our kids, it has been 3 long years of talking on the banana phone

And playing candyland solo

But not anymore!! Gramps camp is back:

Jeremy & Karenin made some pineapple tshirts for the grandkids (5 new ones in the last year -- from 5 kids, 4 are married ... You do the math)

We've been having all kinds of fun since they returned

Filling up the hot tub:

Playing on the new gigantic inflatable slide:

Relaxing (?) on the hammock:

A quiet night on the town:

Trying out some new Utah county gems

Making flip flops

Getting flat tires:

Petting (and dropping) lizards

Touring islands and 3rd world countries nonstop is gonna feel like a vacation compared to these 15 high energy grandkids...

Big weekend

2009-07-02T20:56:00.001-07:00

OOPS: forgot to publish this draft last weekend

After an action packed weekend, the festivities are coming to a close. We had some friends over from work on Friday, and enjoyed a Greek feast on the deck, and then watched the kids put on a show.

On Saturday night, we tried 'five guys' with Bob, Sandy, Kevin, Candee & gang. That place is chaotic

Then we went through the Oquirrh Temple open house in the pouring rain.

I was spoiled today for fathers day, getting to sleep in until 7:30!!!! And then breakfast in bed

After church and a big indian lunch, we set off for the stake center for Amanda's baptism.

twins wrestling match

2009-06-28T17:47:00.003-07:00

So the twins are 7 months today. James has 2 bottom teeth, and Henry likes to feed himself. They're rolling around, but not sitting up yet.

Twins wrestling on the floor on their 7 month birthday from Reid Robison on Vimeo.

hot dog

2009-06-28T16:47:00.005-07:00

Today, the twins spent some quality time with casey the dog.

They had a howling contest

and a staring contest

space twins

2009-06-28T16:38:00.003-07:00

Here they are, sitting in their space seats with their space helmets, ready to blast off:

They do get a 1 hour break from the helmets each day though. Right James? (or Henry... we don't know).

NEW SET OF TWINS

2009-06-26T15:18:00.004-07:00

Amanda loves her American Girl doll. They have matching outfits, and now they have matching hair too! What do you think?

Amanda had just enough to cut off that we are going to donate it to "locks of love". We have everything ready to send off.

Amanda's Baptism

2009-06-26T10:15:00.002-07:00

As much as we wanted Amanda to be baptized in the West Indies, we decided against it in order to keep our sanity (long flight with twin babies and such). What is important is that Amanda was baptized. It was so nice to have Candee and the boys, my parents, Kevin, Jamie, and Jer and Kar and kids there. Thanks everyone for coming. It meant a lot to me, and I am sure Amanda too. Reid baptized her and my Dad confirmed her. Amanda looked so beautiful. Amanda has a very sweet spirit. She is always wanting to help, she smiles a lot, and is very social. Every year I enjoy going to parent teacher conferences because all of her teachers love her so much. They think she is the perfect student and a joy to be around.

After the baptism we ate Asian food back at home. It all turned out very well. Congrats Amanda on making a very important step on staying close to your Savior.

for all you engineers and scientists out there

2009-06-26T08:42:00.002-07:00

Father's Day

2009-06-26T07:59:00.003-07:00

Reid did such a nice job of posting this morning that I thought I would add to it. We did find the camera (thanks Dallin).

Father's Day breakfast was buttermilk pancakes made with white whole wheat and blueberries. Potatoes and yummy scrambled eggs went with it, along with some fresh squeezed OJ. For lunch we had Indian with homemade nanns and masala chicken. Dinner was made by our friends Joost and Hanna. We had Korean food. Chicken squers, spicy cucumbers and rice noodles were a few of the things.

Mom and Dad came up for lunch, the baptism and dinner.

People say we haven't been blogging very much

2009-06-26T06:17:00.008-07:00

Which is true, I suppose. We still need to upload the obligatory father's day post with a picture of breakfast in bed. And more importantly of course, was AMANDA'S BAPTISM! last Sunday. Once I find that little camera we took pictures with, I'll post them.

In the meantime, here are a couple super-exciting things to share. First of all, why don't I tell you about my day yesterday.

6:30am. Woke up. Changed diapers. Yes, plural. There were 2 diapers because there are 2 babies. Dressed twins. Lisa ran, babies played on the floor. Ironed a shirt. Babies done with floor, moved them to saucers. Tried out new t1i camera. Dallin reading in his room, girls still sleeping. Ate whole-wheat english muffin & OJ. Moved babies to bumbo seats. Girls woke up, gave Emily her signature dish (plain yogurt). Lisa returned, I left for work. Late for 8am meeting. Oops. A little late for 9am clinic, but didn't matter. Patient didn't show. How rude. Another no show. Is it me? Do I smell? Can't be that since it was a first time patient. Had a conference call. Multi-tasked. Ate a lean cuisine. Manicotti. In front of the computer. My friends in france would be appalled. Oh, and a water. But I shared this with my plant. Done with clinic, back to research. Too many emails. Distracting. Gmail is too. Launched a couple human genome alignment jobs on the supercomputing cluster. Sold laptop on ebay. Packaged it nicely in a dishnetwork box. Mailed it to NYC. Lady in the post office was mean. Made me buy tape and go to the end of the line. Felt like elementary school. Until she saw my twin photo debit card. Then she smiled. Drove to baseball game. Saw a big ant. A few minutes late. Dallin walked. Made it to 3rd. Forgot to tag base after pop fly. So did everyone else. Struck out. Walked. I did many laps around the diamond. 1 of 2 babies fell asleep. James. I think. Girls played at park. Dallin pitched. Had fun. Didn't hit any batters. Wouldn't hurt anyway. Drove home. Quite hungry. Cooked salmon. Ate piece of key lime pie. Yes, before dinner. Ate dinner. Indoors. Raining outside. Surprise, surprise. Kids in PJs. Scriptures. Emily wasn't listening. "Listen or go to bed." She chose bed. Older kids read harry potter. Twins in cribs. Not asleep. Gave them break. Tried again. Twins in crib. Henry asleep. Got James out. Drank hot chocolate. James acting sleepy. James in crib. Right to sleep. Lisa at grocery store. Emily said "Don't forget grape nuts". Many times. Kids asleep. Time for exercise bike. New show. The Philanthropist. Not bad. Lisa chose SYTYCD. Shower. Bed. Babies up at 5:30am. Asking for Lisa.

So there you have it. Lisa's description would be infinitesimally more exhausting. And here's your next treat:

7th inning stretch

2009-06-26T06:15:00.002-07:00

Last night was Dallin's last baseball game of the season, but his first time pitching. Check it out... some wild pitches, some walks, and a few strikes here and there:

Crash

2009-06-15T20:02:00.002-07:00

So sad.. Emily's shiny new cereal bowl didn't make it home in one piece

UPDATE: Since two people have said that this photo above looks like a liver, here' s another version for you:

Buzz & Woody

2009-06-15T19:36:00.001-07:00

The helmets have arrived.

Our poor little babies don't know what to think if these plastic things on their heads.

I suspect that thet will have these off long before Halloween, but it will still make for somw funny pictures for them to look back on someday.

And thankfully, they were both still able to fall asleep tonight.

--

--

posted from my mobile device

fashion

2009-06-14T21:27:00.000-07:00

There's always a show to watch at our place:

SOLID

2009-06-14T21:20:00.001-07:00

This footage is a few weeks old now, but here they are.. the twins eating solid food for the first time:

It's a date

2009-06-14T19:35:00.001-07:00

Last night, Emily and I went on a little date. She chose to paint herself a new cereal bowl.

Emily loooves painting. She's sitting next to me as I type, and just said "that date was super fun.". While we were there, Emily insisted that I get to pick out the bowl, because she was going to be the one painting. "That way, you get to do something fun on the date too"

-- posted from my mobile device

School's out

2009-06-13T12:10:00.001-07:00

School is officially out and the kids are ready to partay. Check out Henry's party pants:

(Apparently these are Emily's shorts and just somehow ended up in the twins drawer)

The babies got a new bike trailer in the mail

So we tried out the jogger feature to pick up the kids from the bus stop yesterday, but the babies grew tired of it

Let's see.. What else is new? Casey found a snake

I'm sitting at Amanda's dance rehearsal right now. They're pretty good. If anyone wants to come to the real thing, talk to Lisa or Amanda bout tickets. I think it's on Tuesday night.

We had a little cabin fever from our swine flu quarantine, so we busted out last night for some sushi. The kids love the little screened in room. Henry tried to steal my miso soup and dumped it on my lap.

Well, that's about it. Be sure to check out Lisa's new blog for a delicios truffle recipe.

http://fivehealthykids.blogspot.com

moving sale

2009-06-13T07:37:00.007-07:00

No, we didn't delete our blog.. or make it private. We've just grown tired of paying $8 per year for the domain name robisoncrew.com for no good reason. Soooooooo, we've converted our blog back to the good old blogspot address:

http://robisoncrew.blogspot.com

We have setup a temporary redirect page at robisoncrew.com and at blog.robisoncrew.com, which will be up until our domain expires on March 10, 2010. This should give you plenty of time to get around to updating your bookmarks and such...

hey cuz

2009-06-10T16:35:00.005-07:00

The cousins were reunited briefly on Monday night. We hung out downtown SLC at the library (which in retrospect, wasn't the most conspicuous place to take 15 rowdy kids), and then went out for some spoon me fro yo.

(isn't Joelle SO funny??)

to infinity..

2009-06-10T16:30:00.001-07:00

Coming soon: James & Henry space helmets.

swine

2009-06-10T16:26:00.003-07:00

So apparently I've got it. H1N1, aka swine flu. It has been going around the neighborhood, so, because of the babies at home, when some symptoms hit me recently, I started tamiflu and went to the clinic to get tested. And voila..
For those of you who hung out with us yesterday, tell your children I'm sorry. And squirt them with santizer..

mush

2009-06-07T15:55:00.004-07:00

The twins are enjoying solids now.. so far, they've wolfed down everything we've thrown at them: rice cereal, peas, carrots, oat cereal, and some other incredibly appetizing smashed up veggies. No fruit or meat yet, but they're getting there.. They share a spoon and just take turns spitting all over their faces.

Five healthy what?

2009-06-06T12:42:00.004-07:00

Ok, so I'm sure you've heard about the new hot blog in cyberspace. It's called five healthy kids and it's from this lady who knows a lot about nutrition and kids. I've never been to the site myself yet, but I hear it's great, and you should definitely check it out. Here's the author:

But get this: The paparazzi have spotted the blog author feeding one of her babies diet coke! "No way!!" you must be thinking. Yes way. See for yourself:

I can't wait to see her post on the nutritional value of aspartame for young growing brains.

Amanda is about to turn

2009-05-30T12:23:00.001-07:00

EIGHT! (tomorrow). So she had her friend bday bash today, HSM-style (I heart Troy).

Here she is with Flaming Barbie.

Make that Prosthetic Barbie.

They played some games, ordered food at Amanda's bistro, played outside (until the thunder scared them all back in)...

We only had a few zip line injuries today.

Don't forget the DANCE PARTAY!

-- from mobile device

A couple movies for you:

2009-05-24T20:10:00.004-07:00

Movie #1 = "Isn't that Swirling in the Summer?" (aka, James chillaxin in the tub)

Movie #2 = Sad movie... Happy Henry, Crying James

who taughted you how to txt?

2009-05-24T20:00:00.004-07:00

Lisa lost in San Fran

mo no ca

2009-05-22T20:16:00.005-07:00

We made it home last night after a treacherous hand cart journey through the dessert. Actually, we don't have a whole lot to complain about -- the trip home was pretty smooth. We left the greater gardnerville metro area around 9am, made a quick stop in Dayton for some sunsine muffins chez Katy, and then rolled into our driveway around 9pm. Long day, but the twins performed considerably less screaming on the way home.

Here they are. We permanently have a sticker on one of their foreheads to tell them apart:

And here are some more twins:

We made a quick stop at Lake Tahoe yesterday for a photo or two:

Taken by strangers. Yes, we have our hands full.

And the view from our window on the way out of Napa

Eating organic '3 twins' ice cream in Napa:

Playing on the beach at Crissy field on Wednesday morning:

old mac

2009-05-22T20:04:00.005-07:00

After our business/pleasure trip to San Fran, we decide to head up to Napa for a couple days since we had never really explored this area (and you know how much we like food). There isn't a whole lot for kids to do in Napa, but while planning our trip online, we did come across this cool educational farm right in the heart of wine country. It's called the Connolly Ranch, and it's a farm that sits on ~12 acres that was donated to the Napa land trust by the Connolly family. The kids had a blast playing with the 5 week old goats, feeding Olivia the pig, petting honker the goose, and performing CPR on baby chicks while a turkey went nuts in the background. Amanda took a pretty good wipe out while gathering eggs in the chicken coop. Here are a few pics:

It's official...

2009-05-22T20:01:00.001-07:00

...the twins have eaten

-- posted from my mobile device

Excuse me, I just tweeted

2009-05-18T19:58:00.009-07:00

So if you've been following us, you know what we've been up to. If not, here's a little sampler:

We had some fun at the pool this morning. Here's dallin practicing his deliberate belly flops.

And the kids relaxing in the hot tub.

The Kamauu's were gracious enough to let us invite ourselves over there for dinner on Sunday night. We hadn't seen there new home

They even fed us raclette.

Even though it has been many months (years?) since they got to play with each other regularly, Jared & Dallin got right back at it like they'd never been apart... playing swords and all kinds of hyperactive boy things..

Unfortunately the babies didn't behave very well. They were fine at first, but they got very tired right at dinner time and tried really hard not to go to sleep, despite our great efforts.

Today, thanks to a tip from Julie & Tim, we went to a nearby redwood forest for a nice little 2 mile hike on paved roads

And sure enough, as usual, anytime we go out in public with the twins, we get a handful of "you've got your hands full" comments. And it doesn't even matter what language it's in.. A couple walked by us speaking spanish at the redwood forest, and I overheard him counting our kids, "..quatro, cinco, seis?" "nope", I told him, just "cinco". Then he and his wife said "mucho trabajo" as they left us in the dust..

It was Henry's first time in a backpack, and he liked the change of scenery.

Well, that's about it. No time to post details because this is a vacation!!! We're supposed to be relaxing.
So we're off to Napa tomorrow for some fine grape juice...

Our alarm clocks

2009-05-17T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hello San Francisco! James & Henry are here and ready to play.
We made it in last night after a longer than expected trek. It took
>15 hrs over 2 days due to frequent baby stops, and some serious
traffic.. But we made it. And the long drive means we just need to
have a blast while we're here to make it worthwhile. We found a big
enough (2bd) hotel room, and the kids enjoyed the pool last night, and
the breakfast buffett this morning.

And as usual, we got up bright and early thanks to the twins.
Stay tuned for more adventures of James & Henry...

I'll spare you the quiz

2009-05-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

We made it to Minden. It took 2-3 hrs more than we had hoped, but we
did it. The babies really didn't like the drive.

Later today we're off to San Fran via Dayton for big 2 yr old twin
birthday bash.

I won't ask you which baby is which in this picture ---->

And we're off...

2009-05-15T10:03:00.001-07:00

The suburban is loaded with 5 kids + gear, and we're off to California.
Follow our adventures at http://twitter.com/reidrobison (also in the
sidebar of this site)
Yes, we want to be like Jamie.

Give it up for Dallin

2009-05-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

Way to go DALLIN!!
He got the top score of the 4th graders in math (and his school's 4th
grade class was 6th in the nation for math scores)

it's time

2009-05-12T06:58:00.003-07:00

The moose has come out of his hole and seen his shadow, so we shall now post the answer to the quiz. See the comments below. 3/8 isn't bad. I love how it is always less than would be expected by chance... it's like the twins are trying to trick all of you on purpose.

Brand new braces for Dallin & Amanda

2009-05-11T09:50:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, Emily celebrates with a diet coke...

slumdog

2009-05-10T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ok people, it's quiz time again. With the twins approaching 5.5 months, some say they are getting even harder to tell apart. Let's see how you do. Which one is wearing the brown shirt, and which one is wearing blue?

Happy Mothers Day

2009-05-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

dallin in c

2009-05-08T19:55:00.001-07:00

I never did post any video from Dallin's cello recital last month, so here's a sample clip... There is much more where this came from.

801st post

2009-05-03T07:38:00.005-07:00

So I just noticed that our blog has 800 posts on it. Make that 801 now... since 2004. Not bad, eh? That is 801 publicly accessible embarrassing photos for our kids' friends to find an tease them about when they are teenagers and care about that kind of thing.

So let's see.. what can we tell you about in our 801st post. Ummm.. School is out for a week and a half due to confirmed swine flu in park city. Happy anniversary and birthday and mother's day to Lisa! What a treat to get to spend 24/7 with all 5 kids during these special occasions!

James & Henry got a new car:

Now they don't have to take turns in old round heap of yellow and green plastic

Since school was out, Dallin came to work with me on Friday, then we went out to lunch (he chose Vietnamese)

and played some golf:

The snow is melting, slowly but surely

which means that we can now access our BBQ

and even eat on the deck

Let's see.. what else is new? Yesterday, the kids (Dallin & Amanda) went to the orthodondist to get spacers put in.

Emily got a kick out of Amanda's x-rays, and said "Look! It's Amanda's skeleton head!"

Emily was having fun watching until they had to take an impression of Amanda's teeth with blue goopy stuff, which made Amanda gag and throw up on her lap. Then it was like a scary movie for Emily, and she was asking to leave.

Well, that's about it for now.

mmmmmaybe far awaaaaaaay

2009-04-28T19:30:00.004-07:00

Sing along with Amanda:

[ANNIE]
Maybe far away
Or maybe real nearby
He may be pouring her coffee
She may be straighting this tie!
Maybe in a house
All hidden by a hill
She's sitting playing piano,
He's sitting paying a bill!

Betcha they're young
Betcha they're smart
Bet they collect things
Like ashtrays, and art!
Betcha they're good --
(Why shouldn't they be?)
Their one mistake
Was giving up me!

So maybe now it's time,
And maybe when I wake
They'll be there calling me "Baby"...
Maybe.

Betcha he reads
Betcha she sews
Maybe she's made me
A closet of clothes!
Maybe they're strict
As straight as a line...
Don't really care
As long as they're mine!

So maybe now this prayer's
The last one of it's kind...
Won't you please come get your "Baby"

[ANNIE AND ORPHANS]
Maybe

Emily's Gallery Stroll

2009-04-27T18:48:00.003-07:00

Check out all of Emily's masterpieces, thanks to her year at the fine arts preschool:

what does it spell?

2009-04-25T07:52:00.003-07:00

hands full

2009-04-19T14:54:00.004-07:00

by the way-

As you can imagine, we get a lot of comments walking through a crowded Costco with a flat bed full of 5 children + groceries.
By far, the most common comment by strangers is something about us having our 'hands full'.
But yesterday at costco, everyone was a comedian (at least they thought they were) and wanted to know what aisle we got the babies on... "2 for 1 special" "double trouble" etc etc etc

spring break

2009-04-19T13:59:00.008-07:00

Spring is in the air:

The kids spring break is coming to an end, and it officially hit 60 degrees up here at 7000 feet.

This picture was taken just a few days ago, and believe it or not the snow is down way below that kitchen window now:

Yesterday, we decided to head down into the valley to spend the day at a park, riding bikes, etc. Luckily there was a special swing for our siamese twins:

Here comes the underdoggie:

And earlier this week, the kids and I hit the driving range for the first time, and the local course should be open for business before too long.

hi

We've also been out on the town quite a bit this week during our 'staycation'.

Here are a few pics from our recent trip to the blue lemon bistro down in Highland. It's a little off the beaten path, but we found it worth the effort.

Dallin took this photo on my phone:

The kids are actually all at a really good age for restaurant outings. The older 3 can sit through a meal and mind their manners. The twins are too little to run around and trash the place, and even too little to grab your food. That will all change very quickly.. right Mark & Katy? (PS- ask them about their recent trip to Costa Vida)

We weren't kidding about a lot of restaurant outings this week. It has been a nice escape with the kids after playing with each other indoors all day. We decided to try out the sushi place near out house and we were happy to find these cute little private rooms with sunken tables and shogun screens.

James and Henry pretty much slept through the whole meal.

Let's see... what else happened this week. Well, Lisa got her hair done for the first time in months (6?). She says this is her natural hair color. Do you think she looks like Cindy here at first glance?

We also took the boys swimming for the first time. They hated it.

Oh well.

Speaking of James & Henry... they're getting a little bit harder to tell apart these days.

Well, I guess that's all for now.

twin cousins

2009-04-15T20:26:00.003-07:00

Travis & Trevor, and James & Henry had a good time getting to know each other this week:

(Travis had to be bribed with chocolate chips for this photo...)

easter sunday

2009-04-13T18:52:00.005-07:00

We promised my Dad a shiny new family photo for his recent birthday, but had to wait until Easter to get everyone looking half-way decent. I've already posted a couple of these on facebook already, but for all you old school folks, here they are:

let the games begin...

2009-04-11T12:12:00.003-07:00

the james & henry show

2009-04-10T15:15:00.007-07:00

It's time for another quiz. Name that baby!

Here is contestant 1, let's call him "baby 1"

And "baby 2":

No, they are not the same baby..

Shower power

2009-04-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

Amanda has been working hard to build a new (working) shower
downstairs, but sadly, it won't be done in time for our next guests.

the week in review

2009-04-07T18:07:00.003-07:00

Here are a few photos to show what we've been up to lately:

Picture of the day

2009-04-06T18:09:00.001-07:00

4 months

2009-04-04T19:50:00.004-07:00

The twins are now 4 months old. Henry laughs more than James. Both of them are grabbing things. Amanda is most likely to play with them, with Emily in a close second. Emily mostly just plays around them, but that keeps them entertained too. James and Henry both got their first cold recently. They are sleeping right now, which is always a plus!

April Fools

2009-04-04T19:44:00.002-07:00

We didn't do much for April Fools day this year. Reid was out of town, and I only had energy/time for one trick. Dallin and Emily had been planning it out for weeks that they would put plastic wrap over my toilet seat, but I finally explained to them that if they did that, they would have to clean up the mess. This year I made fish sticks and peas for dinner, or should I say cookie fish sticks and candy peas. The kids didn't give me that big of a reaction. That might have been because I was watching them eat with 2 screaming babies who also needed to be fed. They did eat all their peas that night.

boys

2009-04-04T19:36:00.004-07:00

Last weekend the Coverley's came to visit. All the boys had a great time playing together. Here is a cute cousin pix, plus Rod. After I took the pix, I said, "now you can only be in the picture if you are a twin." I guess I forgot to tell my kids that their uncle Rod was a twin too! Rod is currently my favorite brother-in-law because he loves my babies so much! Thanks Candee and Rod for all the shoveling and baby holding!

Build a Bear

2009-04-04T08:35:00.002-07:00

Emily used some Christmas money from Grandma and Grandpa Robison to make a Build a Bear. She is a blue bear with sparkle in it. Her name is Melody. Melody sings a special birthday song when you press her hand. Emily picked out a beautiful ballerina outfit for her to wear. It was a very special day for Emily.

We had biscuits and gravy this morning for the first time in our house. Dallin and Amanda loved it, but Emily did not. Emily does not like anything that is saucy or has dips. The only sauce that Emily likes is ketchup and mustard. No mayo, no sweet and sour, no dressing, no gravy. She is a very dry kind of girl. We love Emily!!!! Love, Love, Love, Love .

PS Dallin and Amanda now have email addresses and Emily is totally jeleous.

Every dot com has thrree w's

2009-04-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

Quotes from Emily while driving to preschool today:

"Every dot com has three w's"

And when I just got out of the car to get gas, Emily said "Be careful
out there honey!"

Secret Person

2009-04-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

>
>

> To: Secret Person
>
> Thank you for the cookies yesterday. We regret to inform you that we
> never got to taste your delightful oatmeal raisin cookies because
> Casey (the dog) ate them all before we could get to the door. (Some
> say that this is a fortunate occurance because it was, after all,
> April fools day)
>

you're invited

2009-03-28T08:39:00.004-07:00

Look out

2009-03-27T15:29:00.001-07:00

For our giant icicle:

poor buggy

2009-03-22T21:50:00.002-07:00

This video goes downhill fast:

surviving with twins

2009-03-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

Desperate times call for desparate measures:

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-21T21:24:00.004-07:00

On St. Patrick's Day Emily had a lot of fun. First, the Leprechauns turned her cream of wheat green. Then they turned the milk in the fridge green. Emily was surprised that they were able to open the fridge all by themselves since they are so small, but I explained that they have magical powers. At lunch she was amazed when I gave her a cup to fill with water, and the water magically turned green as the clear water went into the cup. She was also excited to eat green bread. Although she liked all those green things, she wouldn't touch her green cabbage in her coleslaw that night.

Here is also a picture of the twins on St. Patrick's Day. Their shirts say, "Twins are 2 cute". They sure are!

Grandpa Gardner

2009-03-21T21:13:00.003-07:00

Emily brought home a little book that she colored on "feelings". On the picture of the "older" man she wrote about Grandpa Gardner. Here is a picture.

It says, "Grandpa Gardner is happy because he is going on vacation on a cruise where there's beds and everything. There's this club with lots of toys and things to do."
That does sound like a lot of fun, doesn't it?

Mom and Dad got another chance to see the babies while they were here for more tests. Isn't this a cute pix of the 4 of them?

name that tune

2009-03-15T08:54:00.002-07:00

bobble-head dolls

2009-03-14T15:10:00.001-07:00

you know you have twins if..

2009-03-13T09:28:00.002-07:00

... from an email sent by Lisa this morning.

-You get peed on and spit up on all with in being awake less than 1 hour
- You put your glasses on your pillow after waking up in the middle of the night and then have to pull your entangled glasses out of your hair in the morning
- You are the last one to show up to exercise class and the first one to leave
- You get to see 2 babies smile up at you from their crib in the morning
- You are on time to the bus stop to pick up your older kids, but that is only because your babies need a nap
- You are told by complete strangers that you have your hands full on a daily bases (I get this comment if I have Just the twins with me, or any of my other kids)
- You think going to Walmart with only your 4 year old is your weekly outing.

random photos

2009-03-12T19:11:00.003-07:00

We went to the Draper temple open house today.. The twins did great, wheeling around in style in their double stroller. They were even able to smuggle in a couple baby bottles.

And here are the twins getting to know their west indian grandma

This evening, we all enjoyed a gourmet meal (Asian Salmon salad) chez Lisa (Lisa's Bistro)..

science experiment part 2: iphoto versus james & henry

2009-03-10T15:16:00.012-07:00

Here's a little follow-up study to the kids recent science fair experiment (that you all unknowingly participated in while trying to guess which baby was which on the blog)

So here is our rigorous test of iphoto's new facial recognition feature:

Nice work, but what about the twins?

Yes, as a matter of fact it is.. Impressive since he was like 1 month old then.

I don't think so..

iphoto picks Jack out every time.. It must be looking for the designer digs.

Right again

Close, but no.

Umm.. No.

Good guess..

Impressive.

Nope, that's not James..

Sorry Mason, but this is how iphoto has you stored in the database now..

I guess the crying threw off the software:

Huh?

alone time

2009-03-08T16:10:00.002-07:00

Hello Helicopter did a special preschooler show for a dozen kids yesterday. Cooper ran and got his guitar hero controller and joined them, and Sylie and Amanda added some vocals and dance moves. Sylie made up song called "Mommy Daddy Alone Time"

for giggles

2009-03-08T00:16:00.001-07:00

here is some laughing that will make you laugh:

scary movie

2009-03-07T23:40:00.001-07:00

Ok, here's a very scary movie. You need to watch it in full screen mode, with the volume at full blast.

And here's the outcome

Tic tac woah

2009-03-01T16:51:00.003-07:00

This caught me by surprise.. Emily beat me on her first try. I didn't even know she knew how to play.