Christmas with Friends

Saigel, Riley, Addison, and Dalton...
anxiously waiting to tear in to the presents!

Doug and Cindy got Dalton a Crayola Artist set.
He was so excited!

Riley showing off her sparkly shirt and headband I got for them at Justice. I really enjoy shopping for these girls. I think John and I would go bankrupt if we had a girl of our own. There are so many cute things to buy for girls!

I texted Todd and Paige last week while I was keeping their girls for them and said "If Dalton turns out to be half as sweet as these girls...I will call it a success!" They are all precious and I am so glad Dalton has these girls to grow up with.

A Christmas Surprise

Last Tuesday, my mom and dad brought my Mamaw Hillis to see us. My dad said his Christmas present to her this year was to bring her up to our house from Forrest City to get to see us and where we live. They had a long day in store because after they left my house in Maumelle, they went to my sister's house in Damascus, and then to my brother's house in Bald Knob. We had fun getting to see her and visiting with her for a while. It also makes for a perfect photo opp! (You'll have to excuse the "no make-up" look. They got there earlier than I thought and I did not have time to put any on. Oh, well!)

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Our church is going through a study about Christmas written by Rick Warren called, "The Purpose of Christmas". In the book, he talks about that Christmas is a time for Celebration, Salvation, and Reconciliation. He says that as a three-year-old child, he asked his mom, "Why do we have Christmas?" His mother explained that Christmas is the celebration of Jesus' birthday. He said, "Well, then, we should have a birthday party for Jesus! We can have cake and Kool-Aid and sing happy birthday Jesus!" His mother said, "Okay, we will!" He says that started a five-decade family tradition of having a birthday party for Jesus. John and I really liked this idea, so we began this tradition this year with our little one. I am not sure he totally got it, but it was just another way that we could emphasize the fact that yes, gifts are nice, but the greatest gift we have been given is the birth of our Savior, Jesus.

Dalton and dad blowing out the candles for Jesus.

"....Happy birthday dear Jesus, Happy birthday to You!"

Our birthday cake for Jesus.

This party sparked a lot of theological discussion afterwards like "Where is Jesus?" and "Why isn't He here at His party?" I know he doesn't "get"it all now (I don't think I really "get" it all, either!), but my prayer is that we are just slowly planting little seeds in his heart and that one day those seeds will take root and he will come to know Jesus as his own personal Savior. What a joy, privilege, and awesome responsibility we have as his parents to share the Good News of Christ with him.

Ms. Becky and Mr. John came over after our birthday party and brought Dalton a Christmas present. Ms. Becky made this scarf and hat for him. Is it not the cutest? Love it!


I use this blog as a way to share with others what's going on in our lives, but also a way to journal about the funny and memorable things that happen. We started another tradition this year of reading "What does God want for Christmas?" This book tell the story of Christ's birth while putting the nativity scene together, piece by piece. Every night you open a different box and it has a person to add to the nativity. I have always heard about this and thought it sounded so neat and spiritual. I wonder sometimes if the authors intended for it to be as funny as it was at our house! On the night that we opened baby Jesus, who, granted, was laying on some funny looking hay, Dalton says, "Is he laying on macaroni and cheese?" I could not help but laugh! The night we opened Mary, one of the questions in the book was "Are you ready now to give your life to service for God?" John read the question and when he was finished we both looked at Dalton, expecting him to not really even understand the question. But as soon as we looked at him, those eyes widened and he emphatically shook his head "no"! John said, "Okay, let's pray." Too funny!
When we opened the last box which tells what God wants for Christmas by putting a mirror in the box. The answer is "You!" God wants "You" for Christmas! We gave Dalton the box and really built the anticipation of "What does God want for Christmas?". He opened the box and said, "He wants a mirror!" I think God knew we would go crazy as parents if He did not add some kind of humor to the mix!

Santa comed to my house!

I woke up Christmas morning really unaware of what day it was. Mom and Dad got me dressed and then Dad said, "Do you know who came to our house last night?" I said, "Who?" Dad said, "Santa!" Dad said I could go see what Santa brought me but first I had to wait for him to get the video camera ready. As soon as Dad said "Ready!" I ran in the living room and said a big "Wow!" Santa brought me my "big paint brush and big paint" that I told him I wanted plus more! Look at all the stuff he brought me!

My big paint, big brush, and big paper

"Dalton's Snack Shop"
He also brought me this super fun snack shop equipped with menu boards, money, food, clock, price tags, and it even folds up for easy storage which makes my mom and dad very happy! Good job, Santa!

Santa left me a sweet note in my artist pad of paper.

I was a little overwhelmed with all the stuff!

Counting my money I had earned from my snack shop.

Painting with my big paint brush and paint, painter's palette, and big paper.

I love you, Dad!

Christmas at Aunt Gigi's

We went to my sister's house in Damascus for Christmas lunch with my family. We had a great time. It was there that I realized the difference between a 2-year old and a 3-year old. I remembered that last year I spent most of the time following him around and making sure he was not getting into anything he wasn't supposed to. It was more exhausting than anything. Not this year! He and his cousin Jameson had the best time playing together. Aunt Gigi has a basement in her house and that's where Jansen and Tanner's bedrooms are. Those boys played down there together for at least an hour without fussing or fighting the entire time. At one point, I told Dalton that Jameson was his cousin. He said, "Yah, and my friend, too!" Which is even better! Most of the afternoon was spent playing my nephew's, Jansen and Tanner, Wii game. I found out that my Wii fitness age was 58. I did great at the bowling (I was the intramural champion for bowling at CBC :), but I stunk it up at the baseball and tennis...poor eye-hand coordination, I guess!

Me, Gina, and Spencer
(It appears that Gina is the same height as Spencer and me. But, truth be known, she is standing on her hearth and we are standing on the floor. Good try, Gina!)

Our silly pose...Mom is so proud!

Uncle Jason and Dalton drawing on his Magna Doodle.

Gran and Pop got Dalton 2 movies: 101 Dalmations and Pinochio.
(BTW, Gran, he was watching that movie while I was blogging and loving every minute!)

"Playing" Jansen and Tanner's Wii.
(Notice it's plugged into his pocket!)

Gran and Pop and all their boys. Aunt Kim is expecting boy #5 in February. Boys, boys, boys!

Gina's family

My Mom and Dad

Whew! This Christmas stuff is exhausting!
(Notice the leg stretched out completely touching the seat in front of him. No wonder his 3T pants are almost too short. I just hope they make it until summer!)

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's

After a good nap at home, it was time to go eat Christmas supper with Grandma and Grandpa. Just like every year, Grandma outdid herself with a delicious supper. As a tradition, we always have a family discussion about God and what He has done for us this year. The discussion this year was to name your favorite Christmas song, sing it, and then tell why it was your favorite. It was fun singing Christmas songs together and it was something that the little kids could get involved in too. When it came time for Dalton's turn, he first said his favorite song was "Backyardigans", but then with further thought, he changed it to "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer". Super fun singing that song with all the Herring's! :)

Jeff, Austin, Kristin, Abby, and Grandpa

Grandpa, Autumn, Grandma, Dalton, and me.

Dalton found some chap stick in his stocking.

Bring on the presents!

Uncle John and Austin

Watching Christmas movies together

One of the hardest jobs comes at Christmas every year: getting toys out of the box. This year two of his toys required power tools to get them out! Dalton is giving Dad a hug for working so hard to get his remote control car out of the box.

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Kristin got Dalton this Buzz Light Year robe with his name on it! He has been wanting a robe like mom and dad wear. He said, "Can I go take a shower, now?"

One of his favorite gifts was this echoing microphone. Thanks Grandma!

Breakfast with Santa

Saturday morning, Dalton and I left the house bright and early to go to AR Children's Hospital for their "Breakfast with Santa". Not sure who had more fun...me or Dalton!

Our breakfast was made and served by the Little Rock Fire Department. They made pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausage, orange juice, and an orange. They parked their fire truck outside and gave the kids tours of the inside. Dalton loved that!

He got to write a letter to Santa....

....and then sent it to him in the special mailbox.

The elves had Santa on the "mainline" and were calling him so that the kids could talk to Santa.
Too cute!

Listening intently to what Santa had to say.

Christmas would not be complete without a tattoo!

I love this picture!
My how things change in just a year. I remember last year we had to have a family picture with Santa because Dalton had such a death grip on me that I had to be in the picture too. Not this year! This boy went up there all by himself and even told Santa, "Merry Christmas!"

When Santa asked, "What do you want for Christmas?" Dalton answered, "A big paint brush and big paint!" I asked him later why he wanted this and he said Ms. Becky paints the walls at church and he wanted big paint and a big brush like she has. Uh-oh! I am scared! I have been wanting my living room painted....

Making a Chrismas card...we got a little "happy" with the glue!

Santa was letting the kids test drive his sleigh outside. So fun!

We had a great time! I am thinking this will have to be a yearly tradition and dad is going next year to pull double-duty in the long lines! More than a great time, it was all for a wonderful cause!

These are pics from our trip to Silver Dollar City a few weeks ago. We had a great time.

Carving Pumpkins, Dressing up, and Trick-or-Treating....Happy Halloween!

Saturday was a day filled with lots of Halloween fun. I am not sure, though, who had more fun... me and John or Dalton! We invited our sweet neighbor friends over for some pumpkin carving fun. I think the jack-o-lantern turned out very spooky!

Dalton, Ashley, and Claire picking a template for the pumpkin.

Dad is putting setting the template on the pumpkin
(So glad John has skills...if it were up to me to carve that pumpkin...who knows what it would look like!)

We bought at Wal-Mart these great "kid-friendly" pumpkin carving knives, scoopers, and templates. Honestly, this was my first pumpkin carving experience too! I was more excited about it than Dalton was, I think!

Digging out the inside of the pumpkin.

This kid is "all boy"! Loving to feel it between his fingers. He said, "Ooooh, it feels mushy!"

Our spooky jack-o-lantern!

I got this cute little cut-n-paste worksheet from work for him to do after our pumpkin carving.

And here he is...the cutest little UPS man I have ever seen! UPS men have always had a special place in my heart because my dad was a UPS man when I was a kid. I saw this costume back in August in a magazine and I knew this is what Dalton had to be for Halloween. He kinda has a thing for UPS guys too! Whenever he sees a UPS truck, he always says, "Look! a PS truck!"

John and I dressed like jail birds. Our story is that we escaped jail in a UPS truck and we are holding the UPS man hostage! Notice our #s on our costumes are the same. John said we were "cell mates". Funny!

"Trick or Treat!" We were probably the first trick-or-treaters in the city of Maumelle, starting at 5:00. That was good saying that we had been holding Dalton off for 2 hours! He woke up from his nap at 3 and was "ready to go!" He did great saying "Trick or treat!" at the first couple of houses and then I guess he got tired of saying it and just went straight to "I want candy!" I'm sure it looked hilarious seeing a little UPS man with 2 jail bird parents walking the neighborhood. Needless to say, we got many head turns!

Saturday night we got to go to Doug and Cindy Mickan's house for their annual Halloween Party. I thought last year's was awesome...but these 2 totally outdid themselves this year! The party was fully equipped with a craft table for the kids (or the moms :), delicious finger foods, spooky Halloween decorations, Rock Star game, and fire pit to roast hotdogs. Thanks Doug and Cindy for all your hardwork to put this together every year. We look forward to this party all year long!

The Rock Star Robinson family
Scott and Jamie...or should I say Olivia and John?
Addison and Riley West....too cute!

Autumn, Abby, Austin, and Dalton

Benji and Lindsay Carlisle

Astronaut Ben Carlisle. I love this costume! This picture does not really do it justice. Lindsay had embroidered on the chest "Commander Carlisle". She said Ben kept asking all day, "When am I going to get to go to outerspace?" Too cute!

Erik and Keasha Montgomery.
Erik was "Nature boy" and Keasha was an Egyptian princess. You look great guys!

Uhmm...this is Paige West, the pastor's wife! She was telling everybody that they had to behave because their was a nun at this party. Mrs. Robinson told her we did not have to behave, she did!

I could not figure out how to get this picture straight, but I loved it so I could not leave it out! Saigel Mickan was the cutest little rock star!

Amy Fly....Miss Cellaneous.

Brian and Karla Gates...blues brothers.

P.J. and Lauren Noland...Meow! That face paint on P.J. was a little creepy though! He said Dalton was not scared of him at all and totally knew who he was! He said he walked up to P.J. and said, "Hey P.J.!" like nothing had ever changed! Too funny!

Carson Morado...Our blind ref!

Jailhouse Rock!

Cowboy Danny and Sara Hill the gorilla and sweet baby Caroline.

The UPS man and the astronaut playing Rock Star.

Cindy had a craft table at the party that was supposed to be for the kids. But once all the moms saw how adorable the craft was, we decided to turn it into a Mom's Craft table! We made monster pillows out of felt that she had pre-cut all the pieces out before the party. It was super fun visiting with these girls as we made these sweet pillows for our kids.

The Rock Star Band

So...as I was putting all this together for my blog, I decided to look back at all my pics on my camera. This picture below was taken early last spring. It's the first picture on my card in my camera. I have started the tradition to save all the pics on this card to a CD every year on Dalton's birthday and then start fresh with a new card for that year. Just wanted to show how much he has grown in less than a year...

Then.....

Now!
We had a little photo session this morning before church because I thought he looked sooo big and handsome in this outfit he was wearing. Just when I think he couldn't get any cuter....he goes and does something like this!