Pinewood Derby 2013

Cori and Paul made his Pinewood Derby car this year, but Cori had to miss the actual derby because he had a meeting with all his staff members at the Boulder restaurant, which was only days from opening.  Paul had a great time and did awesome!  I couldn't keep track of their bracket, but I think he got either 4th or 8th...who knows.  Either way he was so ecstatic!  And Cori was .1 oz. under the weight limit, which we just called good rather than try to hit the limit!  Paul put graphite on the wheels and then he was ready to go!  These pictures were all taken from my phone, so some are a little blurry as I tried to get the action!

Isn't he adorable?!

We are time's subject, and time bids be gone....

The first picture was taken in 2012, just a few days after the kids came to our home, the second a year later.  How can they grow and change this much in what seems like the blink of an eye???  It's hard to see time pass so quickly by, especially because we missed the first 6 and 7 years of their lives.  I want the 3,153,600 minutes I've missed of Lizzy to land on our lawn and dance around so I can see them.  And the 3,679,200 minutes I've missed of Paul could park themselves on my living room floor if they don't mind.  I just want them to slow down, to give us a chance to really absorb everything and wring every minute out of it.  I hate that by the time we got them, they were a third of the way to grown and gone.  I tell them all the time they aren't allowed to ever move out.  That they must live with me until they are 97.  Because I just don't think that by the time they are ready to leave, I will be ready to let them go.

Drake's Blessing

Drake Bradley Robinette was blessed by my dad on April 14, 2013.  He is such a good little baby and it was amazing to see how much he's changed and grown in the last two months.  We love him!

I have very few pictures of my dad with the kids, and he's rarely smiling, but these turned out so cute.

Ryan's parents and little sister came for the blessing.  They aren't Mormon, but they are super supportive and came when Reed was blessed too.  And if I remember right, Ryan's sister Ali made the pants she has on!

Reedo looking for his pacifier Grandpa (they call him Coach) took.

Cute little family of 4.

Love Reed's smile.

He looks so much like his Daddy!

Sealed for Time and All Eternity

Cori, Paul, Lizzy and I were sealed as a family for time and all eternity on April 13, 2013.  We had planned to be sealed the same weekend that Paul was baptized for the convenience of traveling family members.  Life had been so chaotic leading up to the weekend that we intentionally didn't invite as many people as we originally planned to the sealing ceremony.  We wanted the kids to really know and remember the people there, and it was a very cool experience.  

We didn't know, and neither did our bishop initially, that Paul, because he was 8 years old, must be baptized and also get a temple recommend in order for us all to be sealed.  It was somewhat of a scramble getting the temple recommend piece done on short notice, but it worked out.  We ate lunch as an extended family group after Paul's baptism and then we traveled down to the Denver Temple.  The kids were taken into a waiting room while Cori and I attempted to get the paperwork completed so we could have the ceremony.  However, we FORGOT the affidavit of adoption through the courts that verified it was legally finalized.  We didn't even actually forget it so much as not realize that we needed to bring it.  We were so stressed out because basically everyone that could get into our house was down at the temple with us, and we absolutely had to have that paper before we could be sealed.  As we wracked our brains trying to figure out what to do, I texted my long time visiting teacher and friend, Camille, and asked if she was home.  She was, and thankfully she was able to come to our house, get our spare key from the hiding place, open our safe, take a picture of the affidavit, and text it to me.  Then, I was able to email it to the temple president's email and they were able to print it.  We were never so relieved as when that printer kicked those two sheets of paper out!!  And thank heavens for Camille.  We got the biggest bouquet of flowers we could find and a gift card to P.F. Changs and delivered that the next Monday night for family night.  If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have been sealed that day!!!!

This is Camille, and her hubby Ryan.  I swiped this off her Facebook page and I hope she doesn't mind, but we were so so thankful she was willing to save us!

Cori and I changed into our white temple clothing, and Paul did as well.  Lizzy was already wearing her white dress, so she didn't need to change.  Cori and I and everyone that came to the temple were in the sealing room when they brought the kids in.  As Paul walked in, he exclaimed, "I knew it!"  When I asked him later what he was referencing, he couldn't tell me, but it was one of those situations where I knew he just intuitively remembered something about the temple and the sealing room.  Lizzy was beaming the entire time and looked so sweet and Paul was so handsome in his little boy-sized white suit.  It was a great experience and I think it really helped the kids to understand that even though they have lived with other families and had to leave them, we will be a family forever.

Our kids plus both of our nieces and both of our nephews.

Paul's Baptism

Paul was baptized and confirmed by Cori on April 13, 2013.  It was a stake baptism day, so there were a ton of people (the stake center was full) and it was a little too chaotic for what I had pictured.  There were so many people in the baptismal room that some of the people who had come for Paul couldn't see anything.  We were lucky to have our entire immediate families come, as well as some extended family and friends.  We split into separate rooms for the confirmation and that was really nice.  After Paul was baptized and confirmed, we had lunch with family members at my favorite Mexican food restaurant in Windsor (I can't remember the name, it has changed at least once).  It's so crazy having a child come into your life, and then be baptized 15 months later.  It feels like there is so much they need to learn in such a short time.  They seem to just innately know it, but even so it feels like such a huge responsibility.

Paul on his baptism day.

My cute little family

3 Generations (Paul, Gary and Cori, and Randy)

The Hanson Clan

The Hanson Boys

The Angus Family

Paul with Pops and Mamaw

Aunt Lori, Greg and Chelsea, and Paul

Austin and Ashley-newly engaged.

Winter Photo Dump

Tons of happenings over the winter months-all condensed into one post to save time and my sanity-which needs all the saving it can get recently!

 We played:

Cori takes his sledding seriously.

We gave Paul Battleship as a Christmas gift, and it was a hit!  Haha, get it?

On our way to Wisconsin-they travel awesome, all they do is watch movies, since they very rarely watch them at home, we let them watch as much as they want, and I can count on one hand the number of times I've been asked, "Are we there yet?" 

You don't mess with these girls.  There is more sass and attitude in these two than in a stadium full of anyone else!

Cori let a Monster freeze, explode, and subsequently thaw in my car.  He still owes me a car detailing.

We got our redneck on...

We wore cute little gowns for our well-child check ups-don't know what happened to Paul's head.

It finally snowed-a lot!

It snowed some more...

And some more...

We slept...

Lizzy graduated to tennis shoes that tie-and she's only one size away from Youth instead of Toddler!!

Photographic evidence that Austin touched a girl!  See, over there on the far side of the chair?  He was not very happy I snuck this picture, but hey, first time in a decade requires proof!

We re-did the border tiles in the bathroom.

We went to the Farm Show and watched Pops race in a simulator!

We teased Pops while at the Farm Show...

We climbed the walls when things got boring.

We wore cute hats.

We were cute in general.

Lizzy turned into a zombie-again with the missing head, thanks a lot Blogger!

A cute zombie though...

We played with friends...

We gave performances.

Lizzy's class created Washington D.C. out of tape and cardboard boxes and then told about the building they made, I was super impressed-they are in first grade!! 

Lizzy cut her hair.

We howled at the moon.