the Barbie Jammin Jeep

Behold the power of the well produced television commercial. Ask Ella what she wanted for Christmas, and she'd tell anyone just one thing: "the Barbie Jammin Jeep." She really didn't even know what it did, but it was pink and the music on the commercial was fun and the little girls were riding and dancing and that's what she wanted.

She told Santa this. (twice) She told friends, family, babysitters, and her parents this multiple times. We've had several talks about this jeep, how it's really big and Santa only has so much room in his sleigh, how it's meant for outside and this is winter in Kansas so it would be months before she could ride in it, how many other fun things she might like??? She bought none of it.

This is a nearly $300 dollar motorized jeep, for a 3 year-old, and I'm unemployed this Christmas, so we decided Santa might have to focus on a few other gifts for miss Ella. It didn't help that baby brother had a little push car under the tree, she wasn't thrilled with her fairy tent, even the dance cam that lets her sing karaoke and watch herself on TV wasn't a big enough hit to take away the sting when Santa failed to deliver her jeep.

We were only half way through the gifts, when she was already telling us she was "having a rough Christmas" morning, and asking if we could take the tent back and get her Barbie jammin jeep instead.

This was really tough for us. This was the first Christmas Ella has really "got it." She picked her gift for Alex with great care, she made a wonderful gift and gave it to us, she sat on Santa's lap for the first time, etc... It broke our hearts that Santa might not be able to come through for her with her big request, but we also felt it was important to set some boundaries and cash was still tight this year.

(A side note: she had waited in bed for 4 hours on Christmas Eve. She sat in the dark, silent, just "listening for the jingling on the roof mommy!" Santa made two trips to our house that night. The first time, Ella was still awake, so he left the other gifts and told her he'd stop back by on his way home to the North Pole, but she had to go to sleep to get her gifts. Finally she dozed off sometime around midnight.)

So we made it over the hump, but even two weeks after Christmas when the teacher or my friend Kim asked her "what did Santa bring you?" her answer was simple and direct, "not the Barbie Jammin Jeep." What really pushed it over the top, I think, was when she told papa, "I must not have been very good."

So then she broke her wrist, and didn't want the splint, etc... and Papa promised to bring her a surprise when they came up the following weekend to celebrate a belated Christmas, if she'd take good care of her splint. (I suggested Pop-Tarts.)

I still don't know exactly how he fit all the pieces and parts of that pink jeep into his 4 door Buick. I know they had to take it out of the box and stash bits of it everywhere, but when he carried in that pink car carcass with the purple wheels, a little girl believed in Santa again. She was up at 6:30 the next morning, for her appointment to get a cast, but she sat in the drivers seat while I fixed her hair, put on shoes, etc... She even picked a hot pink cast to match her new wheels.

Papa explained that Santa just ran out of room in his sleigh and so he asked papa to drive it to Ella's house. I guess she'll be sitting on Santa's lap again next year,.We're just working on a request for something smaller next time around.

Christmas isn't about what you receive, of course, but explaining that for a 3 year-old who just realized that Santa is brining her stuff, it not so simple.

Oh, and baby Alex loves it too, they sit in the jeep, in my living room, listening to the radio with no idea they should be driving it around outside, if it gets back up above freezing soon!

Potty Training 2.0

Alex has been asking and climbing up onto the potty by himself, so we're giving it a whirl, when he wants. It's usually because he's already pooped or peed in his diaper, but at least he's starting to see the connection. Boys are supposed to be so hard to potty train, so we're trying to embrace this. I could really use one easy child on the toilet techniques!

Our first broken bone

It's Alex's fault, just ask his sister.

We took the kids to an indoor play gym on the Monday after Christmas to let them burn off some energy and have some fun. It was cold, we'd had a lot of guests in town, and the kids had really been on their best behavior. They kept things picked up, kept relatively quiet, made minimal messes, etc... this was to be their morning of fun.

We'd been playing for almost 3 hours when Troy, Alex and Ella were all climbing in one of the giant gerbil cages and sliding down the slide. Ella was first, and she's not very fast to move out of the way. Alex came next, and he waits for no one. So he slid into her left wrist and jammed it a bit.

I ran to the rescue, and had her move it around. She passed with flying colors, but she was inconsolable and wanted to go home, no lunch at McDonald's, nothing... this should have been my indicator. But they were tired, and I assumed she was being a little dramatic. (not unusual for Ella) We gave her some Motrin, put a band-aid on it, had a nap, and really didn't hear much about it for the next week.

Back to preschool the following Monday and I held her hand to cross a parking lot, which caused her to scream in pain. "MOMMY, that's the wrist that baby Alex slid on!!!" I knew we were in trouble, but it was never swollen, never bruised, never even caused pain. She had asked for one additional band-aid that week, but nothing else.

So we went to the doctor the following morning, and he poked, prodded, and bent her wrist, before assuring me he didn't' think it was broken, but we'd do an x-ray just to be sure. We're all wrong. She had a split up the center of one of the bones in her arm and would need it immobilized.

They put on a splint, and told us we'd go to the pediatric orthopedist on Friday for an evaluation and likely a cast. Ella was NOT happy. She may like band-aids, but the split was confining and she didn't like it. She refused to show it to Troy at first, insisting that she hated it, she wasn't keeping it, and her arm was NOT broken. We finally convinced her to let us take a few photos.

She did see the pediatric specialist and did end up getting a cast, more photos of that to come in a later blog so you can see the color selection. She'll wear the cast for another two weeks and then we're done.

I thought Alex being so rough and tumble would make for many trips to the Urgent Care or ER. I can only hope they won't all be injuries he's inflicted on his sister!

More Christmas images....

Because I just couldn't fit them all in one post.

Merry Belated Christmas!

I know it's been more than a month since I've blogged, but this was a
hectic holiday season with MANY guests in town and all of the festivities at our house!!!!

Now that things are slowly returning to normal, I wanted to share a few photo highlights of our Christmas in KC. Troy's parents joined us for a week long visit and we loved having them here.



Ella and Alex really enjoyed playing with Grammie and Grandpa Robinson. Troy's grandmother (Grandma Gray), his Uncle Bill, Aunt Charlotte, and their son Willie and Charlotte's daughter Rachel also joined us over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. (We also celebrated Uncle Bill's birthday on Christmas Eve.) This was our first time to meet Bill and Charlotte and their family. It was so funny to see the resemblance between, Troy and his Uncle Bill as well as Uncle Bill and Alex.

We had lots of food, lots of fun, and the kids had a new audience to enjoy their antics.





We tried to keep things pretty tight, financially speaking this year, since I'm still out of work, but really, it didn't feel that way at all. We all had such a great time together, it was just wonderful to watch the kids enjoy this season so much!


The kids loved Daddy's "Green Grinch pj's." We always get new pajamas for everyone and we open that gift on Christmas Eve. (My tradition, and I like the look of clean new jammies in our Christmas morning photos. Of course, since I buy the jammies, I pick my own, but Troy always gets a surprise in what I pick for him. This year was a family favorite!)


My highlight was Ella bringing us her gift on Christmas morning. She'd made it at school and wrapped it with a beautiful handmade card. We insisted it go on the tree, like the other little gifts and we'd open it on Christmas morning. I burst into tears when she grabbed it and brought it to Troy and I to open. She was so excited for us to see what was inside. It was an adorable, snowflake ornament for the tree, with our most precious girl's picture in the middle. I know it will be one of my favorites to hang for years to come. As I was in tears, I failed to take a picture, and now everything is packed away, so you'll have to trust me that it's the most gorgeous ornament ever, and I'll share it next year.


Hope you all had a wonderful celebration with friends and family too!

Trike training

Should she be able to pedal yet?

Ella has a Barbie trike, but I can't seem to make it go. She may be a little too short to reach the pedals. I'm wondering if she needs a different style, where she sits more on top of the pedals, instead of having them out in front?

For now, she enjoys just pushing it around the house and basement, sometimes with Alex along for the ride. I'm hoping we can have her pedaling by spring.

Casualty of the Economy

For those of you who haven't heard I was laid off from my job on Halloween. We should probably be terrified, but actually, we're trying to take it in stride. Yes, the economy is horrible and yes, it is a rough time to be without a job, but I'm luckier than most.

I'd saved up 27 days of paid time off this year, anticipating possible brain surgery, which didn't have to happen after all. Plus they gave me a severance package, so that helps.

I do already have some exciting prospects! I'm not saying there aren't some rough times ahead, but Troy and I have been praying about this. We've been concerned about my job for several months, and really struggling with what God wanted us to do. I guess he gave us an answer. Now we're just searching for that next step.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we consider the possibilities. In the meantime, we're busy preparing for my family over Thanksgiving and Troy's family for Christmas. That should be enough to keep us busy for the next couple of months!