Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016 Top 5 Posts

For my last post of 2016, I thought it would be fun to look back at what you guys liked the most this year.  I went and checked the stats for all of my posts from 2016 and found the top 5 posts for readership.  Some I was not surprised by (I figured our weightloss posts would be high on the list), but I was surprised by at least one (very random) post that made the list.  So here they are - my top 5 posts from 2016:

#5 - Weekend Recap: Random Edition -  This is the post that surprised me the most for being in the top 5.  This was a very short, very random weekend recap.  There aren't many pictures (or even that much that I talked about, actually).  I'm thinking that maybe there are some buzz words from this post that make it pop up when people google?  I have no idea!  But this post came in as #5!



#4 - Girl's Trip to Disney - 2nd Annual Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party -  This one did not surprise me!  This was such a fun trip with some of my favorite girls.  We had so much fun, and hopefully it will stay a yearly trip!


#3 - Weekend Recap - Kid's Dig It Edition -  This was another one that I thought was interesting to fit into the top 5.  We have gone to Kid's Dig It for the past several years, and it's always a fun thing to do on a September Saturday.


#2 - Weightloss update - 100 lbs . - This I was not surprised about!  My posts about our weight loss have been the most popular by far!  Our post about finally hitting 100 lbs of weightloss came in as number 2 for the year!



#1 - Losing Weight - 80 lbs  -    We did our first post in June when we hit a combined loss of 80 lbs and that ended up being the most popular post for my blog for all of 2016.  I should have a new post up soon talking about how we've been doing since the latest update!



A big thank you to all of the readers here at The Robyn's Nest for 2016!  I hope 2017 is going to be a great year for all of us!

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Thursday, December 29, 2016

2016 Recap

I always love my "year in review" posts.  It always puts the year in a good perspective for me when I go back and look at it in its entirety.  Looking back, I can honestly say that 2016 wasn't a bad year for us.  I don't think it was a spectacular year, but it wasn't terrible either.  I would say that this year has been pretty normal - but sometimes normal is just what you need!


January
2016 kicked off with a bang!  We started the year off with a trip to Disney World!  This was our Christmas present to the kids, and we honestly just had the best vacation ever.  It was so great, and it was the perfect way to kick off the year.  Cooper also had his first "destroy a room with a mess" (hello baby powder) moment.  LL had her 100th day of school and had a fun visitor at school one day - a baby kangaroo!

February
February is always fun because we get to celebrate our girl!  It's hard to believe, but LL turned SEVEN!  She had a campfire birthday party (complete with horse rides, roasting smores, and fireworks!), and it was our most fun party yet.  LL and Daddy went to their annual Father/Daughter Dance while Cooper and I had a date night.  The month also ended with our first big kid accident - LL broke her ankle!  Celebrating Valentine's Day is always a fun part of February, too.

March
Thankfully, March was filled with less drama and more fun stuff.  Cooper started his first season of t-ball, and caught his first fish.  LL was losing teeth like crazy!  We had the Bunny Hop at Cooper's school, celebrated Easter, spent some time with friends, and tried to fit as much fun into Spring Break as we possibly could!

April
April was more of a low-key month for us, which was perfect.  We celebrated Matt's 36th birthday.  Cooper still had tball, and we took him to Marvel Avengers Live for his first solo trip with Mommy and Daddy out of town.  LL also got her boot off and has had no lasting effects from breaking her ankle!  Ben came to visit for a little bit, and we got our garden planted for the season.  I got in some girl time, we said goodbye to Greenridge, and we celebrated my 32nd birthday a little early.

May
May kicks off our favorite season - summer!  Cooper finished tball, and we all finished school for the year.  Cooper started swim lessons, and LL went to cheer camp.  Matt and I celebrated our anniversary (12 years!) and we took our first beach trip for the summer to Ormond Beach!

June
June is in the thick of summer and our favorite time of year.  We got our family pictures back from Captured by Colson (and they were amazing as usual!).  Matt and I celebrated finally hitting 80 lbs of weightloss between the two of us!  We spent time going to the movies, hanging out at the peach shed with family, fitting in some girl time and going to Wild Adventures.  Cooper had a blast at his shark birthday party and was so proud to be turning 4!  We also got a new addition to ur family - a yellow lab we named Aspyn!

July
We spent July soaking up every last drop of summer that we could!  We took our annual trip to the fire station with friends.  Cooper got some boy time at the park and LL had her best friend over for the day.  Laura and I snuck away for a quick girl's weekend at the beach.  We celebrated the 4th of July, spent more time at Wild Adventures, and went to pick blueberries.  We ended the month with a trip to the beach with Aunt Laura, Uncle Gino, and Ben!

August
With school starting in August, we had a much more laid-back month.  LL started 2nd grade and Cooper started 3 year old pre-k.  We did a build-and-grow at Home Depot with Ben.  We went to a birthday party for a sweet friend, and spent as much time outside as we could!  This month, Matt and I also hit a new milestone - 100lbs lost between us!

September
September officially kicks off our "fun fall" season.  We took our annual trip to Kids Dig It, I went to a fun scarf-exchange party at Emily's, and our entire family got Strep Throat.  I ended the month with our super fun girl's trip to Disney!

October
October was filled with so much fun!  We all went to support Ben at a soccer game (he did so well!).  Matt and I took our yearly trip to watch an FSU game.  Cooper and I had a mother/son night hosted by Chik-Fil-A.  We visited the pumpkin patch, and we had so much fun at Halloween!

November
After such a busy October, November was a little more low-key.  We attempted to take family pictures for our Christmas card (it didn't go so well).  I had two girl's nights, and all of us went to a birthday party for a sweet girl in Cooper's class.  Matt and I went to Atlanta for a weekend to help my sister move into her new house!  We celebrated Thanksgiving and we went to cut down our Christmas tree!

December
Hands down, December is a month of fun!  Both kids did a great job in their Christmas performances.  LL had a solo, and Cooper was the cutest sheep ever!  We met Santa, went to a birthday party at The Mix, and celebrated Christmas at the kids' schools.  We took a Christmas trip to Atlanta and to go to Snow Mountain (so much fun!!).  We also fit in our favorite Christmas traditions (like Jammy Cocoa Christmas), and celebrated Christmas with family!

This is officially a wrap on 2016!  So long!  We're looking forward to 2017 and we're hoping that it will be a great year for our family!
You can look back at our past year-end recaps here:
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009

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Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Christmas 2016

Christmas is just my absolute favorite holiday as a parent.  It is just so much fun, and I love seeing Christmas through the eyes of my children!  Christmas is always a super busy time for us, but we love every second and try to soak it up as much as possible.  Here's a Christmas recap for 2016:

Christmas Eve

I honestly think that Christmas Eve is my favorite day.  It's already got the magic of Christmas, but it still holds onto all of the anticipation.  I just love it!  

I don't often have time to straighten LL's hair, but we had plenty of time that morning.  Straight hair twins!


Since we had family coming over on both Christmas Eve Christmas Day, both dogs got Christmas baths.  Aspyn loves water and baths, so she was actually pretty happy about the process.

Everyone took a nap on Christmas Eve!

After naps, Gigi and Poppy came over for a big dinner, opening presents, and all of our fun Christmas Eve traditions.

Our yummy meal!  Every Christmas Eve we have the same thing - pork loin with a plum sauce (SO good), mashed potatoes, green beans, and rolls.

Christmas Eve is also a special day for me and Matt - it's the day that he proposed to me in 2002!  This year marked 14 years since he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him.



After dinner, we got busy on making cookies for Santa.  Surprisingly, LL wasn't too into helping me, but Cooper was super involved!  

Eating cookies and watching The Grinch (well - waiting for the previews to get over with)


Happy Christmas Eve!

After the movie, we put out a cookie and milk for Santa.


LL's sweet note.

Then we went outside and put out the reindeer food to help them find out house!

A really nice surprise this year was LL and Cooper reading The Night Before Christmas to me and Matt!  It was so precious!

Santa came!!

Christmas Day

Both kids were up super early (5:30!) and ready to go!

Here's a video of them coming out and seeing what Santa left them.  I just love their sweet faces. 

PJ Masks!

We also started a new tradition last year of making Rudolph pancakes for breakfast!


While I really wanted some pancakes, I was trying to be good and just eat some yogurt and strawberries.

Later that morning (which is a relative term when you start the day at 5:30), Oma and Opa came over for a big Christmas lunch and more presents!

The kids were so excited about their Power Ranger dress up!

Christmas lunch: ham, mac n cheese, green beans, and homemade bread!

After nap time, we headed to Grammy and Pop's house for the last round of Christmas.  

The kids sat with Pop while he read the Christmas story.

And then the red Power Ranger came to help.  :)

We always have a big breakfast-for-Christmas-dinner at Grammy and Pop's.  Grammy found these cute Christmas crackers that come with fun little surprises and paper crowns in them.  Everyone wore their crown while we ate - it was a pretty funny sight.




Matt and Pop always get a picture together on Christmas.



Merry Christmas!


I told Matt, this was a low-key Christmas as far as gifts go.  The kids still got a lot, don't get me wrong, but there were no huge gifts (like when we've done power wheels or Disney), but I actually just loved having a "normal" Christmas with no huge surprises.  You can look back at our past Christmases here:
2015
2014
2013
2012
2010
2009

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