San Diego in the Morning

I am sitting on the little deck outside our hotel suite while Gabe is napping and Jonny and Julia play at a nearby park. Soon we'll leave for another day of fun with Shamu (Julia has been chanting the whale's name for two days, since we saw the spectacular show on Wednesday) and finish it off with dinner at a beautiful, green sea-side park that we noticed yesterday on our bike ride. From the half-shaded spot where I am typing I can see the ocean. Can't we stay one more week?

P.S. I just found this picture in my inbox, Jonny must have emailed it from his phone during our early morning walk. Julia loves to race to this pretty mosaic along the marina path just outside our hotel. Yesterday she said, "This is way way me awesome!"

five and counting

The past year has been full of babies. Gabe was born in May. My twin sister Emily's triplets Alex, Bennett, and Ruby came in September. My oldest sister Amber's little Brady joined us less than a month ago. And my youngest sister Elise is due with a baby girl in March. We are surrounded.

Emily and the triplets are back in Maryland now after five weeks in Utah. I loved all the time I got to spend with the Robinsons - even the night shifts. The babies grew so much in the weeks they were here. I loved witnessing some of their changes and milestones. We already miss them all like crazy.

As you can see, it was quite the adventure at Mom's house. Often there were five babies plus the toddlers Jane and Julia! (I wonder how many diapers filled up the garbage can each week.) Check out Gabe with all his wimpy little cousins. No offense, preemies! Actually, the triplets are growing amazingly well and newborn Brady is putting on some weight too. It's funny - in a year or two these babies will probably all be about the same size. Maybe Brady will even be able to take on Gabe.

Thanks to Cami for the following pictures:

The photo shoot had to end when Gabe started grabbing Alex's head with his giant hands.

So he grabbed tiny Brady's head instead.

Here are the toddlers. Silly Jane loves the babies.
Julia refused to pose with the baby cousins. She is over two and a half years old, after all. (Going on 16?)

And a good cook... apparently

I was congratulating Julia (now just over 2 1/2 years old) on eating everything on her plate. She said, "Mom, you made way, way good dinner."

I could leave it at that, but I guess I'll confess that our way simple meal consisted of ham, cheese, onion turnovers (with store-bought pizza dough), a can of tomato soup, and iceberg lettuce wedges. If that warrants such a compliment, I think I'll stick to easy, semi-homemade meals more often!

All dressed up... apparently

Am I the only one who wears lounge clothes most all of the time at home? The other day I put some jeans on and Julia asked where I was going.

Hello, 2010

After watching and enjoying the movie Julie & Julia, I have a New Year Resolution to eat more butter. No, not out of the tub or straight from the stick as Julia does at times, but to make more delicious things and not be afraid and shy away when a recipe calls for more than a half stick of butter. And I don't think befriending butter means I have to buy jeans in the next size. One serving of something amazingly buttery is worth three not-so-that-way.

Jonny fully supports me in this endeavor. I think Julia and Gabe will too.

Holiday Slide Shows Galore...

Here are our holiday celebrations documented in captioned slide shows. (Sorry it took me so long to post, Cami.) "Miss-us" was awesome and quite magical, thanks to Julia and Gabe. And who knew we'd be spending the holidays with Emily, KC, and the triplets!? We had plenty of fun with the Graham side of things and missed the Rejholec side at the same time. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! Now, onto 2010. Crazy.

Before Christmas



Christmas Card Attempts



Christmas Eve



Christmas Day



After Christmas

"Merry Miss-us"

Julia is crazy about anything to do with Christmas, or "Miss-us." She can sing nearly every word of "Jingle Bells" as well as many other songs. She can't stop talking about how Santa is going to bring her toys. When I asked her where Santa lives she thought for a few seconds then said, "to town!" (knowledge drawn from another favorite "Santa Claus is Coming to Town")

She also loves the snow. Last week she and Jonny were out there enjoying the fresh powder three evenings in a row. Thanks to our fenced-in backyard, I let her play out there all morning one day. I had to bribe her with hot chocolate to get her and her red nose inside.

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to share some Christmas words and phrases Julia-style. We love how she talks. See if you can translate these. I'll try my best to spell them as she says them. The answers are in red below the pictures.

1. "Sat-a"
2. "Roo-sauce"
3. "Ties!"
4. "Ding Boughs" (mentioned in a previous post)
5. "Tan-Bom, lees are so un-cheen-een."
6. "Bossy Snow-mine"
7. "Oh-wha-fun-is-to-rie" (said really fast, like one word)
8. "Caa-cane"
9. "Peasants una chee!?"
10. "Sockings"
11. "Baby Jee-iss"
12. "Mama Me-ee"
13. "Daddy Joe-zis"

And a bonus, non-Christmas phrase that she has picked up from me lately: "Okay, choke-chokey." I laugh every time she says it.


1. "Sat-a"= Santa
2. "Roo-sauce"= Rudolph
3. "Ties!"= toys
4. "Ding Boughs"= Jingle Bells
5. "Tan-Bom, lees are so un-cheen-een."= Oh Tannenbaum, Oh Tannenbaum, your leaves are so unchanging.
6. "Bossy Snow-mine"= Frosty the Snowman
7. "Oh-wha-fun-is-to-rie" = Oh what fun it is to ride...
8. "Caa-cane"= candy cane
9. "Peasants una chee!?"= presents under the tree
10. "Sockings"= stockings
11. "Baby Jee-iss"= Baby Jesus
12. "Mama Me-ee"= Mama Mary
13. "Daddy Joe-zis"= Daddy Joseph
Bonus: "Okay, choke-chokey"= Okey dokey, artichokey