The Robbins' Nest

It's gonna be a good day 'Tator!

2011-07-11T03:38:00.000-07:00

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I work 12 hour shifts at my job. 5am - 5pm. As crazy as this sounds, I love these hours, they allow me to spend four whole days every week with the baby and there is no greater joy than being present for each moment of his day. Mondays are usually a little bitter sweet because it is my first day back after my four day weekend. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my co-workers, but you know what I mean. Well, this morning as I was gettin gmy game face on while driving into work I saw a sign that it was going to be a good week. I saw an armidigger (that would be an armidillo to the rest of the world) make dodge through cars across three lanes of traffic on the interstate!!!!! After witnessing this amazing feat how could it not be an awesome day!!

I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and let me know what the best part of your Monday is.

Yay for Rainy Saturdays!!

2011-07-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

This has been an awesome Saturday!

In an effort to save money and eat healthier, earlier this week I made a menu for our upcoming week. Just to honest, I hate doing this. I am not much for planning, it's not that I don't appreciate a good plan or to do list. I love the feeling of living out a well-planned task, or checking something off of my honey-do list. For me it is more of a commitment issue. You see, I LOVE to eat. I love anticipating an awesome meal, I love each bite of fabulous food, and the feeling of satisfaction I have after satisfying a culinary craving. But, when planning a menu, how an I suppose to know today what I am going to want to eat three, four, or five days from now! Then, I go grocery shopping for the required ingredients, and then I get cold feet. Its like I am locked in to only eating certain foods for the next seven days. For some reason, simply realizing this fact makes all the meals that I had planned on eating sound less appetizing. However, I am willing to give it another shot for the greater good of my family and my sanity (no more racking my brain on the way home from work trying to figure out what to make when i get there, know what I am talking about?) So, here is the menu for this week. I hope to let you know next weekend how this works out. So, without further ado.....

Breakfasts:

Smoothies or Blueberry Muffins

Snacks:

Sara Snow's Energy Sustaining Breakfast Bars

Greek Yogurt

Carrots and Humus

Lunch:

Leftover dinner from the night before

Dinner:

Southwestern Pizza with Black Beans and Corn

Chicken Manchego with Sweet Potato Fries

Minestrone Soup

Unique Turkey Burgers with Sauteed Squash Ribbons

Quick and Easy Black Bean SoupSante Fe Chicken Salad wrapped in Lettuce Leaves

Chicken and Black Bean Quesadillas

Desserts:
Grilled Fruit Kebabs & Dip

Rasberry-Strawberry Soup

Now for the explanation behind all the excitment, I have already started cooking for the week. I love these days that I get to spend it in the kitchen working away on some good tasting nurishment for my little fam! To make matters even better, while I was ~~slaving away~~ working diligently in the kitchen, the hubs opened his own Etsy store!!! Just head over here to check out a few of his custom made furniture.

Leave a comment below and let me know what is a staple on your families weekly menu.

Good Morning Baltimore....

2011-07-01T04:08:00.000-07:00

Can anyone name the movie that tune is from? I convinced my wonderfully easy-going hubby to watch it when it first came out on DVD and now when ever one of us wakes up in an exceptionally good mood we inform the other of said mood by belting out this tune at the top of our lungs.

I'll be honest it's not that I started out in such a wonderful mood this morning, but after waking up to this face

my mood has turned around.

I am a supporter of the "Fake it till you make it" philosophy, and so I am embracing that I am up at 6:30am after a week of being sick, and I have a feeling I am going to get a lot done! Here's the list of what I hope to accomplish today...

Make one of these homemade organic creamers to enjoy in our coffee
Get started on making one of these for my sweet baby boy, I already have the fabric and I am going to be following the instructions from one of the sites listed on the link and I will let you know which one and how it goes!!
take a few pictures to restart my quest to make to make Ryan Seacrest jealous
maybe if there is time I will pick up the house a little, but this one is totally negotiable and probably not likely since everything else on the list is way more fun (just being honest).

3 People, 3 Places, 3 Events, Part 1

2011-06-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

Luke and I recently joined a small group at our church and we are still in the "getting to know you" stage. In an effort to encourage everyone to actually open up about their lives, each person volunteers to tell their story at one of our meetings. Now, the whole point of being in a small group is that we learn to live in community and "do life together." Therefore, the format that our leader has chosen for our stories is that you tell everyone about 3 meaningful people, places, and events. I thought that since I was introducing myself to all of you that I would also share my story here. So, without further ado....

3 People

1. My Parents

I was my parents first born (and yes I am a textbook first born child) in 1985. Rocky and Teri provided me and my brother with the best childhood that anyone could ask for. Our days were filled with reading books, playing outside, taking long bike rides, and make Christmas gifts for friends and relatives. We went to church occasionally, but we prayed often and we talked about God a lot. They weren't perfect, but they were perfect for me. They taught me what it feels like to be loved and supported unconditionally. They encouraged and motivated me to be all that I could even when their own worlds were falling apart.

My mom has truly become my best friend (besides my husband, more about him later). She is a person that I trust completely and respect tremendously. She has taken her role as a mother very seriously and I appreciate all the effort that she has put into being a good parent.

I feel that I owe a huge portion of who I am today to her. She is the parent that was literally there for me at 1 o'clock in the morning when I felt like my world was falling apart and I needed to cry to someone. She planned my amazing wedding in four months, and she has let me come back home numerous times over the years when I just needed my mom. My dad, oh my dad. He was what a dad should be. He worked hard, but spent all his spare time with me and my brother. The best way that I know how to describe him is through a lesson that I heard one time at a Women of Faith conference I went to. They were telling us that our opinion of God and our relationship with him is influenced by our relationships with our fathers. I remember after hearing that thinking, "No wonder it is so easy for me to believe in a God that loving, forgiving, always present God. That is how my dad is." Unfortunately, my dad was killed a few years ago and our story together was cut short, but more about that in the events section.

I truly pray that I will one day be as good a parent as they were and continue to be.

When I was ten my parents divorced and they each remarried. However, once again my parents were incredible and my brother and I remained the top priority and they were awesome about not fighting in front of us, and neither parent ever talked bad about the other in front of us.
My mom married Troy.

He was and still is a kid trapped in a grown-ups body. He was spontaneous, loud, and joked around a lot, and he taught me how to laugh.

He has been around since I was ten and I have learned a lot from him. But, I think that the thing that has effected me the most is the fact that he has never referred to myself or my brother as his step-children. We were always just his kids. A few years after he and my mom married they had a daughter of their own (Jackson, who is the sister I always prayed for), and I can honestly say that I don't think he loves her any differently then he loves me and my brother. My dad also remarried, her name was Anna. She loved my dad very much and I believe that she loved us the best that she could, but she never wanted kids and though she was usually nice to us, we knew that she loved her niece and nephew more and mine and my brother's relationship with her was a constant struggle and an area of frustration. Everyone did the best they could for my dad's sake, but she was killed with my dad long before we ever established a sincere, meaningful relationship.

This post was originally going to encompass all 9 parts of my story, however, I am quite long winded and Grayson is getting tired of entertaining himself so I will write more late. Hasta!!

P.S.: I will include more pictures as soon as I can get my old computer to come back to life so that I can access them.

Eat Your Heart Out Ryan Seacrest!

2011-05-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

Am I the only one that wishes I had a film crew following my family around, documenting all the ordinary and mundane moments of our lives. I wish that I had hours of film of my husband and I hanging around the house, or of Grayson playing on the floor and cooing at himself. However, since I am not nearly dramatic or interesting enough for Ryan Seacrest to enter into negotiations with me over a new series, I have decided to take matters into my own hands. I am going to attempt the 365 Project and try to take a picture everyday for the next year. I do plan on cheating with a couple of the pictures each week since I also have other picture ideas that I am going to be working on at the same time (and will be revealing to you soon!!). So here we go, May 21, 2011...

Day 1: After years of reading other peoples blogs and wishing that I had one of my own, I finally dove in head first (without knowing a thing about blogging) and wrote my first blog.

Day 2: Watching Jonah, A Veggie Tales Movie in the children ministry section at church. I highly recommend veggie tales movies, it is hard to tell who is more entertained by them, the kids or adults!

Day 3: Going to sleep while it is still daylight outside. Luke and I both have to be at work at 5am and with an infant that stays up until around 9pm we don't get much sleep. This night we were so proud because we were sure that we were going to be asleep at a decent hour. We were in bed at 7pm. However, Grayson had other plans and we wound up waking up every hour, on the hour, throughout the night. Oh, well, who needs sleep any ways.

Day 4: I attempted to make a recipe for Roasted Tomatoes which were going to be served with pasta. I didn't have the plum tomatoes called for so I decided to roll with it and use the grape tomatoes that we already had from our co-op. Well, needless to say, that substitution should not be attempted without some modifications to the recipe. So, instead of the healthy Roasted Tomatoes and Pasta, I had Pasta and Alfredo Sauce and Luke had Pasta and Vodka Sauce (that I bought on sale for BOGO free with a coupon, I know, it was very Extreme Couponing of me).

Day 5: Our first day of cloth diapering. I have always loved the idea of cloth diapering and when I was pregnant I did lots of research on cloth diapers and which ones I wanted to use on my little poop maker. I picked them all out, taking great care to choose ones that were gender neutral and could be used on future Robbins babies. I choose ones that got great reviews for durability and longevity. Then my baby shower came and I got so many wonderful gifts, and not one single cloth diaper. However, my wonderful grandmother, in all her wisdom, did get me three months of a diapering service. She thought that this would be a great way to gauge the actual practicality and commitment to the process. So, this was day one and so far so good.

Day 6: This was Grayson's first night in a hotel. We went to the Florida Parent Educators Association Convention in Orlando this weekend. I know that it seems a little early to be thinking about these things when Grayson is only 4 months old. However, I do tend to be a little over-analytical and I take my role as a mother seriously. Luke and I both really want to homeschool Grayson and I want to make sure that I am fully prepared to take on this challenge and responsibility before the time comes. But, more about the conference later, Grayson had a great time in the hotel. He loved the bed and we enjoyed the time with no distractions. We had nothing else to think about or focus on except Grayson and those are the moments that seem to be so rare, and are held so closely to our hearts.

Day 7: This was Grayson when we got home from Orlando. Apparently riding around in the Moby during the second day of the conference took a lot out of the little guy. He falls asleep in this position all the time and every time we see this Luke and I think Grayson looks like he was just busted with his hand in the cookie jar and someone told him to "Freeze!". He is just so darn cute!!

Now for the Second Half of My Family.

2011-05-28T15:38:00.000-07:00

The next member to eneter of family was....

Jorja. She is our custom doggy that weighs all of about 40 pounds when she is soaking wet. However, she is convinced that she is a full hundred pounds of fury and she acts like it. My husband is a huge animal lover and he found her when she was a teeny, tiny puppy and we adpoted her. She really is a great dog, loves my husband dearly (she thinks I'm ok, but I am clearly not her favorite. I'm ok with that), and she has provided hours of great fun. These pictures were taken when Luke first got his new camera, and yes, she is posing.

Sidebar: Please ignore the dead grass in all of these picture, we lived at the beach in Florida and didn't have any irrigation. We tried but it didn't take long for us to realize that we were fighting a losing battle.

This is probably the most candid picture that we have of Jorja. She always has this look. It is because of this look that we are convinced that when we aren't around she walks around on her back legs smoking cigarettes and drinking straight whiskey. She is slightly judgemently, and not at all girlie. But she has a good heart and we love her.

And finally, our favorite member and newest edition to the fam......

Grayson Stone. He was born on February 3rd. and life has never been more wonderful. I have always thought that I was a mother waiting for my children. And now I know that is true. He is the most incredible human that I have ever watched. It is truely a joy to be his mother. I say all the time that God has blessed him with a joyful heart and a contented spirirt. Most of the time.....

This face is usually an indication that he is hungry and it is only going to get worse until the situation has been address. Once he has had a chance to tie on the feed bag and get a belly full, we are back to the happy baby that is so easy to fall in love with.

Well, there you have it. Those of the four members of our little family. And now that you know the characters, on to the rest of the story....

Today is the day!! (And I am soooo excited)

2011-05-21T15:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!! You have no idea how excited I am to meet all of you. I have been obsessed with blogs for some time now. I love learning about other people and watching their families go through life (I guess that is probably the analytical, psychology major in me). As a peruse through the postings I feel as though I am turning the pages in a living family journal and I want that for my kids. You see, I have a terrible memory (its true) and I can barely remember what I did last week, let alone all the funny and profound things that have happened along my journey. Therefore, I have decided that today is the day that I go from a mere spectator in the hobby that I have so enjoyed, to becoming a participant. Documenting the life of my family not only for my benefit, but also for future generations. Yeah, I am a bit sappy and sentimental, I just can't help it. So here we go......

This is me, Alli Robbins. This picture was taken two years at Epcot when my husband and I were celebrating his birthday. As you can tell from the picture, I like my aviators, I need to be in control (you see that I am the one with the map), and I LOVE a nice cold Coca-Cola. MMmmm, just looking at the picture now is making me feel like one of Pavlov's dogs.

However, in an effort to keep it real, this is me two years, two moves, one job change and one pregnancy later. Much heavier, darker hair, and not quite so tan. Oh my, my, my, what a couple of years can do.

This is my awesome hubby and best friend Luke. He wooed me back in 2006 and we have been enjoying the journey ever since. As a total sidebar, what is it about guys that makes them better looking as they age! This is true for most of the guys I know and I am completely baffled by this. If anyone has an explanation I am all ears. We have two more important members of our family that I will introduce soon. But, this is enough for now. It was nice to meet you, and I look forward to talking again soon!!