Christmas Love: Eve!

I am in need of some serious holiday cheer.

So, I'm going to share with you my favorite things about the holidays!

Ready?

First stop, Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year!

We spend the day usually preparing for the excitement. It is the pinnacle of suspenseful days and I love it! I usually spend time wrapping presents last minute for my parents, relaxing or cooking. My family has a special program after dinner where we share the Nativity story, we get to open one special present early (usually jammies!), and my Mom has always cooked a spectacular feast for us!

One thing I love is that my hubby and sister in law have incorporated some of their family traditions into our "Tobler-ness". We have started making and decorating cookies for Santa. M has already started reminding us that we need to do this! It's something the Holmans and Martins do and now the Toblers. Love it!

Of course, it wouldn't be holiday goodness without yummy tasty food goodness!

When we lived in California as kids, we would have fresh Pacific coast crab. So yummy! We stopped doing it because you couldn't get good crab in Arkansas or Utah. Now, thanks to modern freezing technology, we can have it again along with our wonderful shrimp, artichokes, rolls, salad, and jello. And don't forget the chocolate and pumpkin trifles!
Last year, LG was our baby Jesus. We finally have enough grandkids to have almost a whole Nativity successfully. I love that part. Singing, reading from the scriptures, and teaching our kids what Christmas is about.
Christmas is so different with kids. I'm loving the excitement that comes with preparing Christmas for my girls!

Is it any wonder that Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year?

a funny video my cousin showed me

This is funny! Enjoy!

Planning a Second Baby - The New Baby Hilarious Loves Video - watch more funny videos

thankful for

this pretty, silly, moody, humming, sing-song girl

and the princess inside of her
this snotty, gimpy, grunty, dancy, happy happy girl
and the demon inside of her
my sweet hubby who puts up with his girls and takes good care of us

family and friends

near and far

renters who help pay our mortgage so we can pay our rent

cheesecake

cute speech kids who say funny things

crunchy leaves

boston creams

potato refrigerator rolls

flowers

the Temple

beautiful music

kit kat bars

apples

frito chili pies and friday night football games

movies

the Atonement

books to get lost in

squishy baby cheeks and tummies to kiss

belly laughs

clean laundry

my many many blessings

Oh Dear!

This one might just sum it up. I think this is how my Dad has felt about my sweet hubby for going on six years now and is summed up by one of my hubby's own favorite phrases, "Oh dear!" Now Dad has two of them to deal with!

And this one is just funny. Enjoy it for the shot of her beautiful veil I made! :)

Jason comes from good stock. They do goofy things.

I'm a little teapot, maybe?

Grace's bridesmaids were wonderful and fun to be with!
my favorite part of this picture is my brother Sam. He's the boy to the left of Grace. Everyone else is having a blast...and Sam is well, Sam. Love it!

The Ten Most Annoying Things About Being A Vampire's Girlfriend

I loved New Moon

I'll admit it

I liked it better than Twilight

I want to see it again.

Until then, however, you can laugh with me at this list. It's funny.

Beautiful Day!

We had a wonderful day.
I'll expand more later!!
This whole day was a dream come true for M!

thankful

my feet hurt but my heart is full

She's married!

I'm exhausted!

See you next week! :)

How's that list coming?

Well, I've made time to blog. That's one thing!

And I made the nail reservations!

But I still have to hem those darn dresses!

And find black heels! I searched high and low Friday to no avail.... but I did find a pink tie! You're excited to see it on W, arencha? :)

But we're getting there.

And to reward your patience. Here's some cute randomness from miss LG.

She LOVES loves loves Sam! She lights up when he enters the room. She clamors for him to hold her. Last Sunday, she was just sacked out relaxing on him. so cute.
And she also spent some quality time watching football with Daddy. She stood up and peeked over the back of the couch while I worked in the kitchen, loving that she could peek at me!
Learning, Touchdown!

Weather woman

Ask me what the weather's like tomorrow and I haven't a clue.

Ask me about Saturday however and I can tell you that I'm watching it like a hawk!

I'm hoping and praying that it doesn't rain. The last two weekends have been gorgeous and we're hoping for one more!!!!

wishin' and thinkin' and hopin' and prayin',

plannin' and dreamin'

Wish us luck! Marathon week begins now!

**Weather update! It's dropped from 30% chance of rain to 20% and back to partly cloudy rather than showers! Phew!!

Another wedding sneak peek!

That's my head and part of my sister's veil.

The groom can see the veil before the wedding, right? It's not the whole veil anyway. My sister asked me to make her veil. I hope she likes it. I"m proud of how it turned out. It looks a lot like the model she wanted me to copy so I am hoping she's happy with it.

My latest creations

First, I fell in love with the red, pink and orange floral fabric.

Then I went gaga over the black and white brocade.

So, I found two more fabrics to go with them and copied my friend's idea to turn my twirly skirt into a twirly jumper!

I was thrilled with how cute they turned out! They still need a bit of tweaking and I wish I'd made the tops a bit more like a normal jumper bib but they're still bright and fun and cute!
fun tidbit: LG's shoes were MINE when I was little! M wore them too and I love it! Except that M was walking when they fit her. LG is still crawling and I must admit, the rubber sole isn't very rubbery anymore so they won't be reappearing until she's walking and not kicking me with her thirty year old stiff shoes anymore! :)
LOVE these cute girls!

So Cute I Could Eat Him Up!

This is my new nephew.

Isn't he beautiful? I'm quite smitten with him. I brought home his sisters this afternoon. It was their first time meeting him with all the strict hospital guidelines right now. It was a treat to hold Hazie and watch her just grin at her baby bwudder with absolute adoration!
I could hold and stare at newborn babies all day long!
And this is my brother, very happy with his newest little one.

Happy wishes on their first night at home as a family of five with five extra family members in town visiting!!

All For One Halloween!

Halloween afternoon, W took M shopping.

LG NEEDED a nap and M was so excited for the day that she kept waking little sister up. So they left to run errands and I stayed to keep the house quiet!!

They picked up a pumpkin and brought it home to carve!

M was a trooper and so into everything we did!
She drew the face she wanted us to cut out on the pumpkin and had fun coloring ALL over the pumpkin! In the end, she picked out shapes and I cut it out.
Tada!

For Halloween this year,

M wanted to be a Musketeer.

That is, a Barbie Musketeer.

Her name was Corinne.

She wore pink and had a pink cape and a pink mask.

If you don't believe me, watch the movie. It's cute actually.

I took the easy way out! I told her that she could wear her sleeping beauty dress from last year, made her a cape and a mask and she got a sword from her uncle!
LG was our angel.

She didn't need to dress up. But I put her in a tutu and she wore her onesie that says Angel on the front and has wings on the back.
This is M and her friend Emily at the church trunk-or-treat. Her dress was so fun!
And of course Halloween night we gathered with the cousins to trick-or-treat. It was so fun for them all to be so excited!!
Duke, Barbie musketeer, Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, bride, flamenco dancer and angel. We were quite the diverse group!

The List

There are 12 days until Gracie's wedding!!! AUGH!!! How did that happen?????

I have lots to do. Sorry, but it may not include blogging. We'll see how that works out...

- find camera (check!) and FINALLY post Halloween pictures (no, I haven't forgotten)
- make nail appointments for bachelorette party
- clean my apartment so my grandma can safely sleep in my girls' princess toy cluttered room
- figure out where said girls are going to sleep while grandma's here! :)
- get all the extra boxes that I still don't know what to do with in our small space into mom's attic
- hem flower girl dresses
- buy a pink, yes pink, tie for the husband (and yes, he's gonna love it! :)
- visit, hold, and adore my new nephew (appearing tomorrow!!!)
- write my church talk to give the day after the wedding
- and more other exciting tasks that I won't bore you with... and I may add more to the list too!

Friday Night Lights!

Robinson Senator style!

Sam is in the marching band.

That means Mom is in the band concession stand!

We all like to help out, eat, and have fun at the games.

Tonight was the perfect, crisp, Fall night so we took the girls to cheer on Sam's high school. (they lost by one point) :(

LG hung out with Daddy who spent the evening on the sideline grilling burgers and dogs.She was very content to sit, eat her popcorn and shake her hips and bob her head with the band!
M sat with Joe and T and their family on one of their last outings before Solomon joins the crowd (TUESDAY!!!!)


The band is teeny but did awesome. They sounded as good as the huge band from Camden.
Our fantastic trombone-ist. Is that a word?
TOUCHDOWN!!!

Love it! I just raised my arms and said Touchdown LG! and she did this. Love love love this girl!!!!

milestones

M always wants to get to the next big thing. Ultimately, she'd like it to be her birthday today.

And every day.

For weeks, it's been

first it's Halloween

then it's Gracie's wedding

then it's Thanksgiving

and THEN Christmas (W is reminding me that when M relates it, she skips Thanksgiving, not important on her scale!)

Well, Halloween is over.

That means Gracie's wedding is next!!!!!!!!!

AUGH!!!! Let the crazy month of November with birthing babies (not mine, thank heaven!), weddings, visitors, holidays and general merriment and fun!

Wish us luck!!

Weekend Events

Last Saturday was the Mud Run.

I did not run.

But it's just as much fun to watch!

Joe is the monk to the left of the smurf. Jake is the ghostbuster to the right of the smurf! :)
At the end of the race, you have to run through a mud pit to the finish line. Jake was a little timid in the mud. Joe dove right in.

When Jake didn't go for it, Joe slung a clod of mud at Jake.

It was funny.

And when that still didn't work, Joe tackled Jake. (look for the muddy orange monk)
LG enjoyed watching!
Later that day, we worked on outdoor projects, danced, and sewed!
a little wedding preview... :)

Sunday was Jonas and Maria Mae's birthday party! I made MM a cute bag with fabrics that are sooo her! She loved it!